Chapter 27: Despicable

After the man in the suit was burned to ashes, I finally took a breath of relief, while Xu Meng next to me covered her mouth to keep herself from crying out, her face full of horror.

The scene just now was indeed terrifying. The transition from a living person to burnt ashes was eerie enough to give one nightmares.

But it was not over yet. At this moment, a human-skin lantern drifted up from the balcony, ghost-like, with an unsteady greenish fire inside, flickering on and off.

Apart from the human-skin lantern, there was the eerie sound of footsteps that suddenly began to march in order on the edge of the balcony, getting closer and closer to us.

"What...what is this?" Xu Meng asked in fear, the footsteps were so loud. How many people were coming up the balcony?

But strangely, I didn't see anything. The balcony was dark, apart from the human-skin lantern, there wasn't a silhouette in sight.

"Let's go!" I shouted, grabbed Xu Meng's hand, and ran out the door.

Luckily, nothing was in front of the door. After we descended the stairs, we ran out of the complex like mad.

When we looked back at the fifteenth floor, we could see Xu Meng's balcony from afar.

Due to the distance and the fact that it was night, we couldn't see clearly, but we could see the balcony crammed with people, which made our scalps tingle. We dared not look any longer and ran off.

Xu Meng dared not return to the parking lot to get her car, so we had to hail a taxi. With nowhere else to go, we could only head to my tattoo shop first.

Upon returning to the shop, I had just opened the door when I suddenly saw the human-skin lantern again. This time someone was holding it, but I couldn't see who it was; the room was very dark, and the green glow from the lantern didn't seem to illuminate anything.

"Who's there? Stop playing tricks!" I said, protecting Xu Meng behind me.

"Hehe, are you having fun?"

The voice of an old witch resounded in the room, and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could make out a bit more.

Someone was sitting on the sofa, another standing beside her holding the lantern, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make out their faces.

"So, you broke my paper man. Not a grand feat, but you're clever enough," the old witch continued.

"Hmph, stop playing your tricks. Your thimble rigging won't scare me," I responded coldly, holding Xu Meng's hand tightly, ready to escape at any moment.

The old witch was indeed formidable, and I could only run if I couldn't fight her. Hopefully, Su Qing gets her so-called senior brother to come back.

"Ha, don't worry, I'm just playing with you. If I were serious, you'd be dead already," the witch laughed disdainfully. What an arrogant old hag.

"Don't be nervous, I only came tonight to give you some CDs to watch. After you've seen them, you can decide whether to have a corpse baby or not! Well, let's end tonight's game right here!" With those words, the old witch extinguished the human-skin lantern with a puff, and the room once again fell silent as the grave.

Had they left...? Are they human or ghost? I finally understand why she's called the old witch.

I turned on the lights in the room, and as expected, there was no one on the sofa, just a CD left behind. Luckily, my computer had a drive to play it. Xu Meng and I went upstairs, and I played the CD on the computer.

When we saw the contents of the CD, Xu Meng's face turned green, and I embarrassingly averted my gaze.

Everything on the CD was voyeuristic, and Xu Meng, as the female protagonist, seemed utterly unaware. Everything she did in the room with clients was recorded, and it wasn't just one instance.

If this content were uploaded to the internet, how could Xu Meng ever show her face again? Though it's her profession, such exposure would be unbearable.

Enraged, I punched the keyboard. The old witch had stooped to such low methods, employing any means; was she even human?

Xu Meng was scared; she sat on the ground with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Who are they? Who could they be? Why are they threatening me like this?" Xu Meng cried out in despair. I had no choice but to tell her about the Lin family's conspiracy, which was just using her to bear an undead child as an heir for their lineage.

After hearing this, Xu Meng became even more frightened. She looked at me and asked, "Can we fight them? Should we just give up? To give birth means to live; my life is worthless anyway. If I can survive, I'll try not to die. We'll deal with whatever comes afterward."

Xu Meng was beginning to falter. She felt her lowly status and was alone; how could she fight against the wealthy and powerful Master Lin?

I held her tight, saying nothing, while she nestled into my embrace and cried herself to sleep.

When I woke up the next day, Xu Meng was gone. There was a note on the table with her handwriting: "Don't worry about me. I've decided to have the undead child. Master Lin won't treat me badly after all, and I might not have any worries for the rest of my life. Why not?"

There were tear stains on the note. You could imagine how reluctant she was while writing it.

Bearing an undead child was risky; she could die, and all the money Master Lin promised would be worthless. Xu Meng knew this but felt she had no choice but to submit, and she left the note to stop me from interfering, afraid that I'd be dragged down with her.

Damn it, I was determined to intervene. I couldn't stand such bullying. Did having money mean you could do anything you wanted, including such despicable acts? I've always despised these kinds of people.

But dealing with such people required careful thought. At this time, I needed to find Dwarf Xing, who had been off the grid since last night; I feared something had happened to him.

At Hu Bingbing's villa, I started ringing the doorbell. Hu Bingbing herself opened the door and immediately asked if I had come to do the underworld tattoo for her.

I replied that the underworld tattoo could wait and asked her if Dwarf Xing was there.

Hu Bingbing gave me an enigmatic smile and nodded, then led me up to the second floor of the villa.

After arriving at a room, Hu Bingbing knocked on the door, but she called for Zhu Li, not Dwarf Xing.

Zhu Li was Hu Bingbing's assistant. I had met her in the car yesterday, she was pretty and had a notably nice figure.

I was confused. Weren't we looking for Dwarf Xing? Why did she call Zhu Li?

Seconds later, Zhu Li came out in a nightgown. Her hair hung over one shoulder, and her figure filled out the nightgown beautifully.

"How is it? Did she take good care of Uncle Xing?" Hu Bingbing chuckled.

Zhu Li folded her arms across her chest, glanced inside at Dwarf Xing, and shared an inscrutable smile with Hu Bingbing.

"Guess he'll have trouble standing up today!"

After saying that, Zhu Li went downstairs, and Hu Bingbing followed, telling us to wait for them downstairs.

Damn it, now I finally understood the meaning behind Hu Bingbing's enigmatic smile. This Dwarf Xing was so unreliable, sent to investigate the villa and Hu Bingbing yet ended up indulging in pleasures instead!