Chapter 132: The Real and Fake Ghost-Faced Men (Part Two)

There is a saying: a person leaves a name, and a tree leaves a shadow. There is another: fine wine fears no deep alley.

Overnight, Mister Ghost, reeking of alcohol, became famous throughout Green Vine City, like the fragrance of wine drifting out of a hidden lane. Green Vine City was known for its stinky tofu, but this time Mister Ghost’s reputation outshone even that.

Television, the Internet, newspapers—everywhere people could look, there were stories about Mister Ghost:

A female celebrity named Hao Qian had previously been molested and sought Mister Ghost’s help in punishing the culprit. She never expected him to be overcome by lust and violently throw her to the ground. Just as Mister Ghost was about to commit his beastly act, the honest and simple-minded Steward Chen happened to pass by while out buying soy sauce. During the ensuing argument, Mister Ghost, enraged by embarrassment, not only raped and murdered Hao Qian but killed Steward Chen as well.

The physical evidence consisted, naturally, of Hao Qian’s and Steward Chen’s corpses. The eyewitness was a female reporter who had hidden in the corner of the alley. She had originally intended to follow Hao Qian, hoping to capture some gossip for the front page of the next day’s entertainment newspaper. Instead, she witnessed the entire crime and recorded it with her camera. Unfortunately, Mister Ghost eventually discovered her, and she damaged the camera while fleeing.

With both witnesses and evidence in hand, and the facts supposedly beyond dispute, Green Vine City suddenly produced countless champions of justice, each clamoring to bring the despicable and depraved Mister Ghost to justice.

A ghostly shadow flowed through the dim alleyways. He knew perfectly well who was behind all this. He should have gone straight to settle accounts with the mastermind, but at that moment he wanted to have a word with the upright female reporter first.

“If you’ve been kidnapped, blink.”

Mister Ghost did not know when or where he had heard those words, but some words needed no deliberate remembering; they carved themselves permanently into the heart, just like the words he had spoken to that young girl when he was eighteen.

He had seen the upright female reporter in the white miniskirt blinking repeatedly on television, and he wondered whether her uprightness had likewise been forced out of her by kidnappers.

After passing through one alley after another, the ghostly shadow reached the lane behind the television station. He was just about to slip into the building in search of the reporter when a sudden cry rang out from around the corner. Frowning, he turned and floated toward the sound.

“I’ve given you every cent I have. Please, just let me go!”

“Let you go? Certainly! Make the seven of us happy, and naturally we’ll let you leave afterward…”

A woman’s pleas mingled with the sinister laughter of several men and echoed through the alley. Hidden in the shadow of the wall, Mister Ghost watched as seven drunken, burly men surrounded a long-haired woman in a pale-yellow dress. She trembled like a lamb that had wandered into a pack of wolves.

“Get away!” The long-haired woman swung her handbag at the men advancing toward her, putting on a brave front despite her fear. “Take one more step and I’ll call the police!”

“Go ahead. Let’s see whether the police arrive faster, or whether we do…” The burly man in front seized her handbag and leered obscenely. “I suggest you cooperate nicely. Otherwise, your big brother here may not be very gentle later.”

The woman tugged at her handbag several times, but the man wrested it away from her. Her face went deathly pale. Drawing in her neck, she slowly backed away and bit her lip.

“Don’t come any closer! If you really dare to do anything, Mister Ghost won’t let you get away with it!”

“What the hell is this Mister Ghost?” A burly man in a blue padded jacket circled behind her and snorted. “He’s a lecher himself. Birds of a feather, and all that. Maybe he’ll be delighted to join us.”

“That’s all nonsense Liu Hongmei made up! Mister Ghost isn’t that kind of person!” The woman’s back suddenly touched the man in the blue jacket. She flinched and spun around, trying to flee, but he blocked her path.

“I’m warning you, Mister Ghost has already killed several scum like you…”

The man in the blue jacket gave a cold laugh and suddenly reached out to seize her wrist.

“Is that so? Then call him out if you can… Be sure to shout loudly, though. It’ll make me even more excited!”

The woman desperately yanked at her arm, but she could not free her wrist from his grasp. Her voice trembled with tears.

“Please don’t do this. Just let me go, all right? I’m sick. I have AIDS. It’s contagious…”

The man in the blue jacket not only failed to release her but threw back his head and laughed. With a violent jerk, he flung her to the ground. The other men advanced as well, slowly tightening the circle around her.

Riiip!

The pale-yellow dress was torn apart by several of the men. The long-haired woman covered her chest with both hands and cried out through her tears.

“Don’t…”

The men ignored her completely. Strange flushes spread across their faces as they lunged at her one after another.

At that moment, a cold voice rang out among them.

“She’s said ‘no’ over and over again. Are all of you deaf? Want me to fix your ears for you?”

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Several sounds split the air. All seven men screamed at once, clutching their ears and stumbling to a halt.

The man in the blue jacket gritted his teeth, pulled a black silver needle from his ear, and flung it to the ground. He stared warily toward the source of the voice.

“Who are you?”

The cold voice suddenly came from a dark corner to his left.

“Didn’t you just say that we were birds of a feather? Why are you asking who I am? Has your little tadpole gone to your head and eaten up the rest of your brain?”

The man in the blue jacket froze, swallowed, and ventured, “Brother, since we’re all the same sort, there’s no need for us to turn on one another. At worst, I’ll take a small loss and let you go first. How about it?”

“You really are foolishly innocent…”

The cold voice returned to its original location.

“The thing I hate most in this life is a beast that defiles the innocent. Do you know what I usually do to wild boars that sneak into someone else’s cabbage patch and root around? Snip! One stroke, clean and thorough. Then there’s no troublesome little root left to worry about.”

The man in the blue jacket’s expression darkened.

“You refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. Ever heard the saying that two fists can’t beat four hands? There are seven of us, and only one of you. While Grandpa here is still in a good mood, get lost. Otherwise, we’ll take care of you too. One of my brothers never turns down a willing victim…”

“Ah, it seems I really have changed lately.” Mister Ghost slowly emerged from the shadows in the corner, his gaze icy cold. “I’ve been talking more and more nonsense, and my heart has grown far too soft. I must stop spending so much time around people who stand in the sunlight. They’re far too influential.”

The long-haired woman lying on the ground looked at him in delight, her eyes sparkling with admiration. She stopped crying and called out excitedly:

“Mister Ghost…”

Mister Ghost lifted his head and gazed at the snowflakes suddenly drifting down from the sky. He raised the index finger of his right hand to his lips and whispered:

“Shh. Quiet. Listen—the snow is falling.”

The instant he finished speaking, a streak of cold light flew from his palm. It sliced through the falling snow and pierced the man in the blue jacket between the legs, scattering bright blossoms of blood.

“Argh!”

The man collapsed at once, clutching his groin and howling in agony.

Mister Ghost strolled toward the long-haired woman as though the other men surrounding her were nothing but air. He did not even spare them a glance. His eyes remained fixed on the woman’s snow-white skin beneath the tatters of her pale-yellow dress. With a soft sigh, he removed his black coat and draped it over her shoulders, speaking gently.

“Don’t be afraid. They won’t dare do anything to you now. I’ll count to three. If they haven’t left by then, I’ll give you the pleasure of watching a few more snowflakes fall…”

“Three… two…”

When he reached “two,” the men surrounding them exchanged glances and fled in panic. The man in the blue jacket, still on the ground, turned deathly pale as he struggled to his feet. Muttering, “No loyalty,” he clamped his legs together and hopped after the others.

A mocking smile touched Mister Ghost’s lips as he helped the woman rise.

“There, you see? The world is peaceful again. Snow is deepest at night, and it’s getting late. A young woman shouldn’t wander around outside so late. It’s dangerous.”

“I just finished working overtime…” Two rosy clouds appeared on the woman’s cheeks. She lowered her head and spoke softly.

“Thank you, Mister Ghost!”

“It was nothing. Don’t think too much of it…”

Mister Ghost suddenly remembered what the woman had said earlier. He took out his phone, opened a news application, and pointed to the reporter in the white miniskirt.

“From what you said just now, you know this reporter?”

The long-haired woman tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and nodded tenderly.

“I do. She’s my colleague. Her name is Liu Hongmei.”

“That makes things easier.” Mister Ghost smacked his lips. “Could you do me a favor?”

The woman blinked and gazed at him dreamily.

“What favor?”

“Call that woman out of the building for me. I want to talk to her.”

“What? Liu Hongmei may be awful, but she doesn’t deserve to die…”

“I’m not going to kill her. I only want to talk.”

“Oh. Actually, it might be better if it wasn’t just a talk. She needs to learn a lesson, so she’ll stop spouting nonsense in the future. It isn’t only this matter. All those stories about poisonous fruit and rotten vegetables were fabricated by her too, leaving countless farmers unable to make a living… But people love this sort of thing. The more outrageous, the better. No one cares what really happened…”

Feeling the softness against his arm, Mister Ghost coughed heavily several times.

“Well, could you let go of my arm first…”

He swiftly pulled his arm from the woman’s embrace and let out a long breath.

“I’ll decide what to do after I see how our conversation goes. Things heard from other people aren’t reliable. I only trust my own eyes and ears. Go on, then. I’ll be grateful.”

The woman cast a reluctant glance at his arm. But when she turned around, she saw Liu Hongmei, dressed in a white miniskirt, walking out of the building. She immediately tugged at Mister Ghost’s clothes and pointed toward the entrance.

“There. You don’t need to call her. She’s already coming out.”

Mister Ghost clasped his hands and thanked her. Then he pushed off with his right foot and swiftly merged into the shadows cast by the wall.

“There’s one more thing I forgot to ask you…”

“What?”

“What’s your name?”

“Alian! Lotus rising unstained from the mud!”

“Good name!”

Mister Ghost paused within the shadows. The name seemed vaguely familiar, yet he could not remember where he had heard it. He burst into laughter and followed Liu Hongmei, dressed in her white miniskirt, like a shadow.

“Alian, take good care of yourself. I’m sure we’ll meet again!”

Alian stared blankly at the place where Mister Ghost had vanished. She lowered her head and sniffed the black coat around her shoulders. A sweet smile spread across her lips. Touching her flushed cheeks, she hummed a little tune as she walked toward the taxi stand.

Just as she was about to leave the back alley, she suddenly discovered Mister Ghost standing in front of her again.

“He really does appear and disappear like a ghost…”

She ran toward him in delighted surprise and laughed.

“Mister Ghost, why have you come back?”

Mister Ghost tilted up the tip of his nose and looked at Alian. A strange smile curled across his lips.

“I suddenly remembered that I saved you just now, and you still haven’t thanked me.”

Alian smiled with innocent delight.

“Oh, that’s right… How would you like me to thank you? Anything you want!”

“Really?”

Mister Ghost slowly walked toward Alian, his voice dark and sinister.

“Anything you want?”