Otherworldly Merchant

Chapter 26: False Alarm

In the next moment, an old woman with disheveled hair peeked into the room. Her cloudy eyes looked at us with expectation, and her face was covered in wrinkles.

Was she a ghost or a human?

Li Mazi's mind collapsed, and he promptly sat on his butt, looking at the woman in a daze.

"Have you seen my daughter?" the old woman asked.

I shook my head. "No, we were just passing by."

"Oh." The woman sighed, disappointed. However, she didn't leave and entered the room.

Her worn-out and dirty black clothing shone under the starlight.

Her legs were twisted, and her posture was bizarre. She was crippled.

Yin Xinyue clung to me, gently pulling my clothes. She wanted me to leave this place as soon as possible. Shed already given up on looking for the Human Bones Necklace.

I was also unwilling to stay in the same room as this woman that looked neither human nor ghost. As such, I quickly left with Li Mazi and Yin Xinyue as soon as she got out of the way.

As we reached the head of the stairs, the woman suddenly shouted, "Stop! You guys, stop!"

Hearing her hoarse voice scared us further. We rushed downstairs with our hearts beating like crazy.

Even though wed already reached the sixth floor, her sharp voice still echoed in my ears. "Come back! I know that youve seen my daughter!"

Only after arriving at the fifth floor did we heave a sigh of relief.

Shit, that was too scary! Do ghosts really exist...?

"Handsome guy, why don't you come over and have some fun with me?" Just as I was catching my breath, an enchanting voice echoed in my ears.

I looked in the direction the sound had come from.

There, I saw a red-haired girl in revealing clothes winking at me. Her mouth was covered in blood, and her tongue was sensually licking her lips.

The scene left me scared out of my wits. Whered this vampire come from?!

I immediately pulled Yin Xinyue's hand, running downstairs at full speed.

"Handsome guy, let me drink some blood, just a little bit," the girl wailed.

I turned my head to look at her again and discovered that shed pulled out a dagger, cut her wrist, and was starting to greedily drink her own blood.

This scared me further, and I didnt dare to look back again.

Just as we were running downstairs, we met a group of emancipated men with naked upper bodies. They had daggers in their hands, and thick white mist lingered behind them.

The crowd jumped at us, seemingly planning to hack us to pieces.

I could only grit my teeth and drag Yin Xinyue, who was sobbing, downstairs.

Yin Xinyue looked especially weak and fragile at this time.

I ran to the second floor and only then turned my head back. After seeing that they hadn't caught up to us, I heaved a sigh of relief.

On the second floor, we discovered that one of the rooms was lit, and there seemed to be a lot of people inside.

I had no time to bother with them and just pulled on Yin Xinyue's hand, continuing downstairs. But, when we passed by the room, I curiously glanced inside.

In the next moment, my scalp went numb. I saw a group of young men and women skinning a stray cat inside the blood-covered room. I could hear the wail of the animal and the happy laughter of the group. Their laughter made me shake with fear.

Just what kind of place is Azalea House?!

We ran and stopped only after reaching the streets.

I was exhausted and gasping for breath. Yin Xinyue tightly held onto my arm, her face lifeless.

I tried to comfort her, "Don't worry, everythings fine."

However, Yin Xinyue swiftly burst into tears.

I turned my head back and said, "Li Mazi, quickly call a taxi."

However, when I turned around, I didnt see Li Mazi.

I couldn't help but furrow my brows.

I grabbed Yin Xinyue. "Yin Xinyue, listen to me. I have to save Li Mazi. You call a taxi and leave this place first. If I don't call you back within half an hour, tell Song Longji to come here and save us, got it?"

Seeing that I was planning to leave her in the streets alone, Yin Xinyue panicked and jumped into my embrace. "Don't leave me! I'm afraid..."

I said helplessly, "You have to be strong. Li Mazi is still trapped inside Azalea House. If I don't go back and save him, he might die..."

Then, I ran back to Azalea House without looking back at Yin Xinyue.

I was dead tired, but Id been quick-witted enough to prepare ahead of time. I held a handful of royal salt in my left hand, and a hunting knife in the right one.

Then, just as I was preparing to storm into the place, I heard Li Mazi's cry coming from the first floor.

"Ouch, my foot seems broken!"

I was happy that the situation wasnt as bad as Id expected. I mustered my strength and entered the building, grabbed Li Mazi, and brought him outside.

After seeing us, Yin Xinyue was overjoyed. She ran toward us and hugged me tightly.

I furrowed my brow and asked, "How come you haven't called a taxi?"

Hong Kong was full of taxis, and it shouldn't take that long for one to arrive.

Yin Xinyue shook her head. "None of the drivers were willing to come to Azalea House. They hung up as soon as they heard the name."

With this being the case, I could only support Li Mazi as we slowly headed back to the hotel.

Along the way, Li Mazi scolded me nonstop, saying that I put hoes before bros and that I only had eyes for Yin Xinyue.

If he hadn't been quick-witted enough to slide down a pipe, he mightve died in Azalea House.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was already 4 AM.

The experience had scared us to death, and we were all exhausted.

I lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling, deep in thought. Of all the things wed seen in the building, what was real and what was fake? Were they humans or ghosts...?

But, even after pondering it for a while, I wasn't able to make sense of the situation. I felt that I was too deeply involved in the matter.

As the saying goes: Those involved in the affair were easily confused, while onlookers see everything clearly.

I carefully recalled everything that had happened, and aside from making a good impression on Yin Xinyue, I got no harvest from this trip. We found no clues whatsoever about the Human Bones Necklace.

Yin Xinyue had already fallen asleep and was still tightly holding my arm.

I lay on the bed and kept thinking until dawn.

Around 7 AM, the hotel's staff sent over breakfast. I woke up Li Mazi and Yin Xinyue and told them to eat.

Once wed finished breakfast, Song Longji came over. "How did things go? Did you make any progress?"

I didnt know what to tell him. Would he believe me if I told him that wed met a ghost last night?

However, Li Mazi didn't seem to be of the same mind. He spiced up the story, gloating about how brave hed been and how hed escaped with his life. He was trying to act cool in front of Yin Xinyue.

After hearing the story, Song Longji laughed loudly, which left us puzzled.

Song Longji explained, "I thought youd already investigated Azalea House, but you guys actually went there while knowing nothing."

Song Longji told us that the people we met last night weren't ghosts, but all kinds of different Hongkongers.

The red-haired girl was a famous figure around the So Uk Estate. She was a crazy woman that believed drinking blood could lead to Heaven.

Therefore, she would hang around Azalea House every night and seduce men, using her body in exchange for their blood.

Azalea House was a lawless area, making it a paradise for drug addicts, and thugs would often do drugs there to increase the excitement.

As for why theyd chased after us... they were probably high and were looking for some additional excitement.

There was even an explanation for the scene wed seen on the second floor.

There was this QQ group in Hong Kong, and the young members liked to abuse small animals. Theyd skin the poor animals alive and enjoy their wails. 

In short, the So Uk Estate was the place where the scum of society gathered.

Moreover, gangs would often choose to fight there. The fact that we didn't bump into real gangsters last night was already a stroke of good luck.

Song Longji's explanation infuriated Li Mazi. He clenched his teeth and glared at him. "Why didn't you tell us about all this earlier? We were scared shitless last night!"

Song Longji laughed. "What? Didnt you just say that you were a total badass last night?"

Li Mazi was immediately rendered speechless.

I seized the opportunity to ask Song Longji, "In that case, what was the deal with that woman knocking on the various doors?"