Otherworldly Merchant

Out of the blue, one of the drivers screamed. I immediately turned to ask him, “Are you okay?”

He nervously pointed at the door with his chin. I turned to check, but the door seemed normal at first sight.

He then pointed at the door panel.

I lowered by head and saw a stream of water flowing underneath the door. However, there was a clear streak of blood flowing in the water.

Lin Longshan was scared; he retracted his legs and placed them on top of the bed. He nervously asked me, “Did somebody die outside?”

Li Mazi grabbed a shotgun that was hung on the wall, loaded it, and then passed it to me. “Little Brother Zhang, back me up. I’m going to see what’s making a mess out there.”

I hurried to stop him. He might fall into the trap of the other party if he went out unarmed!

I smeared the salt and flour mixture on the shotgun Li Mazi had given me and threw it back to him. I held some flour in one hand and the Sirius Whip in the other before carefully opening the door...

I was chilled by the wind that crazily blew in through the door. The wind also dispelled the wine aroma.

I took a deep breath and opened the door wider, throwing the flour and salt mixture outside.

The mixture fell on the floor together with the rain, and I clearly saw a headless figure in a kneeling position by the door.

I was undoubtedly scared by this, so I quickly moved back, but I still used my Sirius Whip to lash out before drawing back.

The figure didn’t react; it remained still after the attack.

From inside the shed, Lin Longshan asked, “What’s going on?”

I took a deep breath and waved my hand at him. “Nothing.”

Li Mazi rushed forward and pointed his flashlight at the space outside.

The figure turned out to be a stone statue!

Damn, who moved the stone statue here? The sentient item would be the only one able to do this, if it wanted to harm people. It was impossible for the statue to move around on its own.

I checked around, and nobody was there. I thought that person had already run away.

“Who did this? Get your ass out here. Come and fight me if you have the guts!” Li Mazi angrily fired a shot into the air.

However, no one answered.

Lin Longshan was curious, so he moved closer to see; he gawked in shock when he saw the stone statue. “Bastard! Zou San’er, I’m sure I never treated you badly. Why are you hounding me?!”

I wondered if Lin Longshan was an idiot, since he kept on insisting that it was Zou San’er who had done all those things.

I inspected the stone statue, trying to see where the blood came from.

I didn’t take long to spot it. The rain water was washing away the blood from the neck of the statue; there was a chicken head bleeding on top of it.

As it was pouring down, the chicken head slowly slid downward.

My pupils enlarged as I screamed, “Don’t let that chicken head fall!”

I stormed forward, trying to reach and support the head.

However, it was too late. After barely taking two steps, a strange gust of wind rushed over and the chicken head fell, splashing water as it reached the ground!

“Damn,” I cursed, “Someone will die tonight…”

I closed the door and turned to see the people in the shed. “Guys, don’t panic. Stay calm. One of you will die tonight if you don’t do what I say.”

Lin Longshan was frantic as he replied, “Absolutely! We will do what you say!”

I asked them, “All of you should go and sit on the bed. I want to check who was targeted by the bandits.”

Li Mazi sat on his bed and asked me, “What do you mean?”

“The resentful bandits’ souls have just started the ceremony. They want to recruit one of us to become a bandit. That’s why we saw a chicken head on the statue. If we could have stopped the head from falling, at most, one of us would have ended up in some evil gang.

“But the chicken head did fall. That means he was rejected by the guardian or their ancestors. According to the bandit’s rule, rejected candidates must be beheaded!”

Their eyes were wide open in shock after they heard what I said. They looked at each other, unable to utter a word.

Lin Longshan was terrified. “How can we spot the one who the bandits have laid their eyes on?”

I said, “It’s simple. That person knows he’s been followed because he has been notified.”

My eyes moved from one driver to the other. I wondered if that evil thing had told one of them about their recruitment while they were possessed.

I noticed that the driver who had driven us there had a strange expression. He was looking at Lin Longshan with panic-stricken eyes. He quickly looked away when he saw me watching him.

I walked to him, smiling coldly. “You must know who it is, right?”

If I guessed correctly, he had to be the one who was notified.

The driver shook his head. “It wasn’t me. Really, it wasn’t me.”

“Nonsense!” Lin Longshan ran to him and cursed, “Spill it quickly! Damn, you want to die?! Now, only these two brothers can help you!”

The driver shook his head harder. “Boss, I-I… I saw an illusion earlier today. The bandit told me that he wanted to recruit you. Tonight’s ceremony was prepared for you. I didn’t think it was true, but now it seems it wasn’t just my imagination...”

Lin Longshan paled immediately. “That’s impossible. You’re spouting nonsense!”

“Stay calm.” I patted Lin Longshan’s shoulder. “I can ensure your safety.”

Then, I turned to look at Li Mazi and he quickly understood what I meant. He approached Lin Longshan with the intention to tie him up.

Lin Longshan was bewildered. “What do you mean by this?”

“The bandits can’t come here and take your life,” I comforted him, “They can only make you hallucinate so that you cut your own head. I will tie you down to prevent you from harming yourself.”

Lin Longshan cooperated, although he was scared out of his wits. He allowed Li Mazi to tie him onto the bed.

The wind was still howling outside. I walked to the door and glanced at the beheaded statue. I didn’t know why blood was still trickling down. It had been a long time and it was just a small chicken head... why wasn’t the blood washed away even after all this time?

Right when I was ruminating in front of the statue, Lin Longshan shrieked behind me, “Hey, Little Liu, what are you doing?!”

I was shocked when I saw that Driver Liu had already undone his ropes and was standing in front of Lin Longshan, his expression menacing.

Lin Longshan was scared out of his wits. He wiggled and shrieked, crying for help.

Driver Liu swiftly took out a dagger from Lin Longshan’s pocket and prepared to use it to slit his own throat.

Everything happened very quickly, but Li Mazi was on alert. He immediately grabbed a chair nearby and smashed it on Driver Liu’s head.

The man seemed all right even though the chair was broken to bits. He then rushed toward the window and jumped out.

I chased after him, but Driver Liu had already disappeared.

Holy crap, I cursed under my breath.

Needless to say, the bandits wanted to recruit Driver Liu, not Lin Longshan. Driver Liu had deceived us!

I hurried to untie Lin Longshan. He dashed to the window as soon as he was freed and hurled curses at Driver Liu.

The other driver begged me to save his friend.

I hesitated. Can I even save him? I didn’t bring anything, aside from the Sirius Whip. I’m afraid I won’t be unable to return alive if I take on the opponent directly. 

While I hesitated, the other driver cried out in surprise, “Little Liu’s right at the door. Look! He’s right at the door!”

I ran to the door, and a shadow swiftly passed by, disappearing soon after. Before leaving, it threw something near the shed.

I dashed out to chase after the shadow. However, Driver Liu was nowhere to be seen. At the same time, the people behind me shrieked in fright.

I took a deep breath and slowly returned to the shed. On my way back, I almost tripped on something very slippery.

I lowered my head to check and was immediately scared. There was half a tongue on the ground, and I had just stepped on it. Blood splashed out from the cut.

The tongue looked fresh. Needless to say, it was Driver Liu’s.

Why did the bandit make Driver Liu cut his tongue instead of his head? It wasn’t supposed to go like this... 

The window behind me was gently pushed open, and I subconsciously turned around to look. Driver Liu was kneeling by the window, emulating the beheaded stone statue’s pose.

He raised his head, giving us a faint smile while blood streamed from his mouth. I was barely coming to grips with the situation when something black brushed past his neck. Right after that, his head fell off and rolled like a ball. The cut was awfully neat. Blood spurted very far, dyeing Lin Longshan red.

The head also rolled and stopped by Lin Longshan’s feet. Lin Longshan’s eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.

I was also terrified! What was that thing that could cut his neck so neatly?