Chapter 192
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: The Ghost's Whisper (1)
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Left Responder claimed that Ye Hoe was not the Ghost Face. Flying Tiger asked who the Ghost Face was then, but the old man clamped his mouth shut tight. With no forceful way to pry the truth from those sealed lips, Flying Tiger resorted to leading questions while scrutinizing his expressions.
"Listen up. One reason I suspect Ye Hoe is because his movements in the Face Pursuit Squad have been suspicious. It all fits together perfectly, you know? You might not be aware, but from the moment the Face Pursuit Squad was formed, they declared their top target to be the serial killer Ghost Face. And crucially, from the very start up to now, it's been Ye Hoe's Face Pursuit Gap Unit that's handled that key role."
"Yet there's been zero news all this time."
"......"
"That's why I figured Ye Hoe's Face Pursuit Gap Unit must be surprisingly incompetent. I also wondered why Squad Leader Gwak kept assigning them the pursuit missions despite that. But get this—turns out the Gap Unit leader has a pretty tight bond with you lot who tangled with the Ghost Face just a few days ago."
Left Responder squeezed his eyes shut, clearly unwilling to exchange even a word with Flying Tiger. Undeterred, Flying Tiger pressed on with his line of thought.
"If Ye Hoe is the Ghost Face, it explains why the Gap Unit has produced no results. They'd have buried every scrap of evidence that surfaced, like handing fish to a cat. And that cat would've fed some plausible fake report back to its boss, fooling even Squad Leader Gwak."
Flying Tiger caught the look on Left Responder's face—the man had something to say but was holding it back.
Does he want to defend himself, but that hits too close to home?
"At first, they probably planned to just coast along vaguely until the Face Pursuit Squad disbanded. But then disaster struck. The Face Pursuit Jeong Unit, under Squad Leader Jin Ga-yong, actually pulled off a real win. Unlike some utterly useless outfit. The rumors haven't fully spread yet, but people will start saying it soon enough: As expected of Ye Mountain's Zhao Family Manor!"
"......"
"So Ye Hoe must be burning up with envy right now. He could be losing his mind to jealousy and stirring up trouble somewhere. Or maybe... scouting a spot to cause it? After seeing what happened to your ruined Superficial Appearance Formation, it's probably not Ye Mountain's Zhao Family Manor. So where's he planning to vent his rage on some innocent place?"
"...You're spouting nonsense on your own."
"Oh? Look at you, acting like you'd stay silent forever, but one unpleasant truth and your mouth opens. What rubbed you the wrong way? Did I hit the mark— is Ye Hoe really prepping something on the side? Scared I'll figure out your plan?"
"Bullshit!"
"Really? Then did the part about Ye Hoe losing his reason to jealousy get under your skin? Makes sense. After getting utterly humiliated by that Zhao Family Manor bastard's constant tricks, his emotions would boil over. Must've been mortifying. Probably made him question if he's a total idiot, drowning in self-loathing."
"Don't insult us with such absurd ravings!"
"Insult? Nah, it's pretty convincing—hear me out. Even Ye Hoe himself: Word is he grew up hailed as a prodigy in Hanjung Fortress as a kid. Must've strutted around thinking he was the real genius. But then he grew up, met other late-stage talents from Shaanxi Province, and saw a true genius. Unrivaled Sword Jin Ga-yong. Heh heh, you can't deny that. Just ten-odd years ago, ask anyone who was Shaanxi's top prodigy, and they'd all point to Jin Ga-yong without hesitation."
"......"
"Must've crushed his pride. Then, when Jin Ga-yong suddenly secluded himself, Lion Hall's young master Narak rose up alongside Hoyeon-sang as a pair of stars. That probably patched up his bruised ego. At least until Jin Ga-yong reemerged in the jianghu. Foxes playing king in an empty tiger's den, basically."
Left Responder looked deeply uncomfortable. Time to poke a little harder and see what spills out.
"Realizing that, how crushed must Ye Hoe have felt? Jin Ga-yong must've felt like an insurmountable wall. Blinded by jealousy, he veered off course and got hooked on playing fake Ghost Face, rampaging with murders. Probably started with..."
Flying Tiger glanced at the red-faced, vein-popping Left Responder.
"At first, maybe he planned to frame Ye Mountain's Zhao Family Manor—and by extension, Squad Leader Jin—for the crimes? The jianghu already thought the Ghost Face was holed up there. The atmosphere was ripe for it. But when Squad Leader Jin took over Face Pursuit Squad duties and started operating publicly, things got messy. The Face Pursuit Squad became his shield, limiting the fake public opinion ploy. Then, when he snapped out of it..."
Here, Flying Tiger infused his voice with feigned emotion, as if he were the one in Ye Hoe's shoes.
"Huh? I've devolved into some pleasure-addicted lunatic, while that bastard Jin Ga-yong is about to make a flashy heroic return to the jianghu? Superficial Appearance Formation wrecked... Fuck, what now? Uncle Zuo, am I screwed like you? Was our whole Hanjung Fortress full of real losers?"
"Hey, you bastard!"
"Uncle... don't just curse me out—help this poor nephew with some plan. Please~"
Flying Tiger whimpered back at the cursing elder like a terrified child.
This ignited something in the dying old man; he glared ferociously, summoning strength from who-knows-where.
"Wielding not a blade but a three-inch tongue to mock others—you're a disgrace to warriors! Nay, a stain on the Zhao Family Manor itself!"
Flying Tiger dropped the act, revealing his true colors. Not that they were any prettier.
"Sigh~ Now you're worrying about the Zhao Family Manor after fretting over me? Disgrace? Nah, in my book, you gutter rats banding together is the real shame. Backlash from splashing shit water! So kindly fuck off."
"Heh heh heh, do you see the Zhao Family Manor as so noble and pure? Innocent of crimes? Even knowing how dangerous they are, can you still condemn us outright?"
As Flying Tiger dug in his ear with a What're you on about? tilt of his head, Left Responder's floodgates opened, words pouring out.
Exactly what Flying Tiger wanted.
The only issue was that most of it wasn't the intel Flying Tiger craved—it was just the old man venting curses to vent his spleen.
Still, Flying Tiger listened patiently. Something useful might surface.
......
To Flying Tiger's ears, Left Responder's claims were baseless ramblings, incoherent fragments of boiling emotions.
Even so, boiled down: the Ghost Face was the problem. Not the serial killer, but that freakish thing—one of Shaanxi's Ghost Trio. No evidence backed it up, though. Just the forced logic that without borrowing that freak's power, how could they wield such terrifying might?
Flying Tiger sneered and pointed it out.
"You're just dressing up your own weakness and fear. Can't admit your failings or the enemy's strength, so you spout nonsense?"
Left Responder offered a lame excuse. If you'd directly or indirectly encountered the "Ghost's Wailing Cry," you'd think differently.
The day before, the Martial Qin Alliance sent a forty-nine-man suicide squad, all reported wiped out. But three survived. Those three were so shocked they babbled incoherently, remembering nothing clearly. Except one thing they repeated in unison: the ghost's wail. Just recalling it made them tremble in terror.
How's that normal? How not to chalk it up to supernatural horrors?
Left Responder retorted.
Hmm. So the fake Ghost Face's wail was an imitation based on those testimonies back then.
Flying Tiger thought, then voiced his next doubt.
Did he really think the Ghost Face was demonic arts? If so, why not declare Zhao Family Manor a public enemy of the martial world and crush them unitedly long ago?
Left Responder spat with venom. By now, already in poor shape, his overexcitement had his mind flickering erratically.
"Lion Hall's master! Both Narak and Gwak Bu-ui were in the same boat. And all those so-called 'righteous' faction heads, from our Hanjung Fortress on down—they were all bootlicking dogs fawning over him."
"Whoa... Lion Hall's master is in cahoots with Ye Mountain's Zhao Family Manor? That's a fresh one. What kinda bullshit is this?"
"Hmph. If you call the Ghost Face demonic arts and make an issue of it, what does that make Lion Hall, who rose with the Ghost Hand of the same Ghost Trio? That's why they couldn't touch it!"
"Ah! So the Ghost Hand was in Lion Hall."
Flying Tiger exclaimed, then a past memory surfaced.
The day before, when Elder Wang Baek-gun mentioned a secret about the "Duel at the Endless Plains," he'd said the Ghost Hand appeared there.
At the time, facing off against the Yellow Turban Unit led by White Horse Deng right before, Flying Tiger had tabled it for later. Then Wang Baek-gun died, and the story faded away.
Yet here it was again, circling back.
What did Protector Wang say back then? Worried it'd summon a massive storm in the jianghu, right? I brushed it off as future talk. But that future's 'today' became the past, and now that future's here? Ugh, hate that...
Others might leap out of bed at "Ghost" mentions, but Flying Tiger truly wanted no part of it.
Looking back, from the day he first heard the fake Ghost Face's Wailing Cry by chance—sneaking into the manor where Six Jia Gate was staying to deal with Fufeng Four Heroes' third—that's when he'd wanted to steer clear.
So he'd consciously and subconsciously avoided anything Ghost Trio-related. Best not to even glance at ominous shit.
Even days ago, when Jin Ga-yong asked if he was still curious about the Ghost Shell, he'd brushed it off with "Nah" and refused to hear more. He'd ignored even inferences or known facts.
Of course, Flying Tiger had never laid eyes on the Ghost Trio. Knew little about them. In a way, they had zero connection to him.
But...
An ill premonition stirred in Flying Tiger. A stifling sensation, like formless things encircling him, slowly rising to the surface. Until finally, they'd lock eyes and whisper to him.
Flying Tiger gave a wry smile.
What do you want from me? Can't get much worse at this point, right? Just one evil spirit meeting another.
Flying Tiger asked Left Responder if he knew anything about the Ghost Shell's whereabouts. This line of thought had struck him.
Zhao Family Manor and Lion Hall each held one: Ghost Face and Ghost Hand. Hanjung Fortress, Dance Melody Manor, Chongyang Sect, and Stone Sky Pavilion—what they lacked, they blamed on the Ghost Trio. So hadn't they scoured for the last piece, the Ghost Shell? And in the process, a fake Ghost Shell ended up in Dance Melody Manor, even reaching Wang Baek-gun?