Chapter 273
Chapter 273
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 273
>Chapter Title: Ghost
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Chapter 273: Ghost
Not long after, the inn waiter gently knocked on the door of Li Huowang's guest room. As soon as he entered, he saw the guest with the copper coin mask on his face, sitting at the head of the round table sipping tea.
“Sir? I heard you were looking for me?” He hunched his back and approached the round table, asking cautiously with a fawning smile.
“Sit.” Li Huowang held the teapot in one hand and poured a cup for the man across from him.
“Aye, aye, no need to stand on ceremony, sir. I can stand just fine. Did you call me for something? Has the inn fallen short in any way?”
After so much contact, the inn waiter was no longer as terrified of these outsiders.
“Clink.” A tiny gold ingot the size of a pinky finger was placed in front of the inn waiter. Li Huowang said, “I have some questions for you. Answer them right, and the gold is yours.”
Before the inn waiter could even process what was happening, Li Huowang cut straight to the chase. “Why are the people of Pi County so afraid of shrunken yang? What causes the shrunken yang and shrunken yin?”
At these words, the inn waiter’s face, which had barely managed a smile moments before, drained of all color in shock. He spun around immediately, trying to flee outside.
But as he turned, his head collided with the stone slab on Jian Dun’s chest, stars exploding before his eyes as he collapsed limply backward.
When he came to his senses again, he found his four limbs tightly bound with tough ox-sinew ropes, unable to move a muscle. A towering man stood watchfully beside him, glaring down.
“Clatter.” With the sound of metal clinking, Li Huowang slowly unrolled his torture kit in front of the inn waiter.
Seeing the dark red bloodstains seeping into the sharp tools, the inn waiter shuddered violently.
“Sorry about this. I’m no good with words, so I have to use the methods I know best to get answers. Don’t laugh. I haven’t learned much in this world, but I’ve mastered every way to make people suffer.” Li Huowang’s calm words sent the inn waiter into a frozen chill.
“This one’s for scooping out eyeballs. Let me tell you something—eyeballs themselves don’t feel pain. Don’t believe me? Try prying open your eyelids and poking it. Whatever hurts is just the flesh around the eyeball.”
As the round iron tool slid along the edge of the inn waiter’s face, goosebumps erupted all over his body.
The inn waiter seemed utterly terrified by Li Huowang’s words, but his bloodless face clenched his lips shut tight, refusing to answer.
Seeing this wouldn’t work, Li Huowang set down the iron eyeball clamp and picked up an iron spindle, displaying it before the inn waiter.
“Do you know what this is for? It’s not for winding thread. It’s for winding intestines.”
“It’s simple to use. Just cut a slit at your navel, yank out a loop of intestine, hook it on this spindle, and keep winding and winding.”
“Know what that feels like? Close your eyes and imagine it.”
“Or don’t. You’ll feel it soon enough. Spoiler: it’s not pleasant. Feels like your body’s hollowed out.”
As soon as he finished speaking, with a rip, Li Huowang tore open the inn waiter’s clothes, exposing his sunken belly. When Li Huowang’s five fingers touched his navel, the inn waiter finally broke.
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!!” A foul stench of urine seeped out from beneath him.
Jian Dun scratched the back of his head nearby. He thought Senior Brother Li was pretty good at talking— he’d scared the man senseless with words alone.
Li Huowang’s hand slowly withdrew from the man’s belly. “Speak! What causes the shrunken yang and shrunken yin in Pi County?”
“There are ghosts! Ghosts!” The inn waiter’s voice was wretched, his appearance equally pitiful, snot and tears streaming down his face.
“Some lost souls and wild ghosts want to reincarnate as men, so they come to the human world to steal!! That’s why they take ours!”
The inn waiter’s words struck Li Huowang as utterly absurd. “What nonsense is this?”
It wasn’t at all what he’d expected. He’d thought the shrunken genitals were caused by some evil being.
“Could they be mistaking some evil beings for ghosts? Some particularly strange kind attacking them? In that case, the Surveillance Bureau should’ve sent someone.”
Li Huowang furrowed his brows, pondering for a moment before asking the inn waiter again, “Have you seen these so-called ghosts? What do they look like? The kind you can touch with your hands, or the kind you can’t?”
Better to know now, so he’d be prepared if they encountered it again.
At this, the inn waiter shook his head frantically like a rattle. “No! No one can see the ghosts at all! They shrink you to death in the end!”
Seeing the man could talk properly now, Li Huowang untied him and helped the terrified fellow sit on the stool.
Compared to before, Li Huowang’s tone was much gentler.
“Alright, it was just a simple question. Why hide it? Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Believe it or not, we’re really here to help you.”
Hearing this, the inn waiter covered his face and burst into sobs. He seemed utterly terrified, his voice laced with despair.
“Can’t say it! If you say it, the ghost will haunt you too!”
At these words, a chill ran through Li Huowang. He gripped his sword hilt with one hand and swiftly scanned the room in alarm.
The window, the wooden door, under the bed—Li Huowang checked every corner of the room, but found nothing. Everything seemed perfectly normal.
Recalling all the evil beings he’d encountered before, this was the first time he’d heard of something so bizarre—something that spread through word of mouth!
Though the inn waiter’s story was full of holes, Li Huowang preferred to believe it for now rather than not.
Li Huowang immediately looked up at Jian Dun guarding the door. “When we go out later, don’t mention this to anyone!”
Jian Dun nodded vigorously. He didn’t want to pass the danger to his companions either.
Ignoring the risk, Li Huowang forcibly pried the inn waiter’s hands from his face, staring gravely at his despairing features.
“Who told you this? Who said telling others would get you haunted by ghosts? Did they mention any way to deal with this evil thing?”
Though he carried two ghost-slaying swords on his back, this thing seemed exceptionally strange.
“I—I don’t know! Everyone says so!” With that, the inn waiter ignored Li Huowang right beside him, fumbled with his belt, and peered inside his pants in trembling fear.
The next moment, the inn waiter froze in place as if struck by lightning.
(End of chapter)