Stranger Danger

Chapter 130: A Ghost Story

“Come. Let us continue on our way!” Ye Qing beckoned the others after the Infant Rabbit was gone.

From the start, he had never planned to kill the Infant Rabbit. The reason he bothered catching it at all was to obtain a small clump of fur; a key ingredient to make the Incense of Fortune.

After Ye Qing was gone, Tian Hang and his group emerged back out of the forest and glared at the departing Ye Qing. The vicious man asked resentfully, “Why didn’t you order us to take out that boy, Brother Tian? Without his interference, we would’ve caught the Infant Rabbit a second time and killed two birds with one stone!”

“He’s right, Brother Tian! We missed a golden opportunity there!” The rest of the group echoed in agreement.

“Shut up, you fools. Do you only think about women and wine? How could you be so dim that you can't even see what is obvious?”

Tian Hang rebuked them harshly, his honest-looking face warped into a visage of viciousness and cruelty. “The boy had captured the Infant Rabbit without even breaking a sweat, so he must be a late-stage Vessel Augmentor at least, if not higher. Forget you, he could’ve killed all of us if he wanted to!”

“Besides, his servant and his Stranger are obviously extraordinary as well. Why on earth would I commit suicide?”

“Oh… er…” The group turned red with embarrassment.

“Is that it? Are we going to pretend like nothing happened?” The vicious man clenched his fists indignantly.

Tian Hang gave his shoulder a slap and let out a cold chuckle. “I never said that!”

“I’m pretty sure that the boy is heading toward Maple Leaf Point, and to get to Maple Leaf Point one must pass through the gravesite. That will be our chance!”

“You mean that place!?” Fear flashed across the vicious man’s face before it was replaced by excitement. “I knew you had everything planned from the start, Brother Tian!”

Tian Hang said seriously, “Mu, there are two qualities all Stranger Hunters must learn in this trade, and they are called caution and patience. Caution is what keeps us alive and prevents us from making mistakes that we cannot recover from, and patience is how you come by opportunities to thrive!”

……

“I spot candlelights ahead of us, young master. I think it belongs to a small village!”

The world felt a lot quieter and lonelier after the sun set, and the shade of black in the sky deepened. It was why the glimmers of light looked especially welcoming. Ye Qing and Faceless had spotted them long before they had gotten close.

“A village? I don’t remember there being a village between Anyang and Maple Point,” Ye Qing scratched his forehead in confusion. Was it a new village?

“Well, let’s check it out. I would prefer not to sleep out in the wilderness.”

Despite his doubts, the allure of the candlelight ultimately won over his caution. Of course, his decision was founded on the fact that he could kill any Stranger below Hatred-class in one punch. And if one punch wasn’t enough, then two would do it!

“Young master, something doesn’t feel right about this village.”

As it turned out, something was wrong with this village. Everything had looked normal from afar, but as soon as they entered the village, the air had suddenly become unbearably cold.

“Croak croak…” Kung Fu Frog echoed in agreement while observing its surroundings warily.

Even Wawa had crawled out of Ye Qing’s hair and cautioned, “Friend, this place is very dangerous. We should leave!”

“I would agree, but it’s already too late!” Ye Qing shook his head and motioned at the exit. The entrance they passed through earlier had disappeared without them noticing. Instead, there was only a thick, impenetrable fog. Not only that, everything beyond the village was pitch black, and something seemed to be wriggling behind the curtain of darkness. He would not be surprised if there actually was a horde of Strangers waiting behind it.

The village was very small. Ye Qing counted only a dozen houses or so, and the architecture was your classic red bricks and black tiles. He would almost feel at home if it wasn’t for the obvious strangeness around him.

At the center of the village was a gigantic locust tree. It was so big that it would take multiple people to hug its trunk completely. Its massive canopy also stretched over half of the village. When the wind blew past the leaves, they made this ominous rustling noise that sounded like wailing.

Faceless asked with a deep frown, “What should we do, young master?”

Ye Qing smiled. “Don’t know. We’ll see when we cross that bridge.”

Faceless immediately seized the opportunity to lick his boots, “Well, young master is as lucky as he is powerful. I’m sure that everything will turn out fine!”

“I think so too.” Because I’m totally going to use you to sweep the mines later.

“Hey look, there are three people over there. Let’s see if they can illuminate us on the situation, shall we?”

Ye Qing took the lead and walked toward the strangers. They were three men sitting around a campfire and seemingly chatting about something.

The campfire was pretty big, but Ye Qing could not feel the slightest bit of warmth from it even after he had gotten close. The three men seemed to be engrossed in some sort of argument to notice or care about his arrival either. What were they talking about?

Ye Qing listened patiently until he finally understood what was going on. Long story short, the trio were arguing whose ghost story was scarier. However, their argument was heading nowhere because no one could convince the other person to concede defeat.

“Good evening, brothers!” Ye Qing clasped his hand and greeted the trio. Immediately, all three men turned their heads to stare at Ye Qing with blank, lifeless eyes. It was incredibly eerie to say the least. Not only that, red blood started trickling down their cheeks just a few seconds later. It was terrifying to put it mildly.

Ye Qing continued as if he didn’t notice the ghastly sight, however. “Why are you tearing up, brothers? I’ll listen to your stories if you want to. The night’s pretty dreary, and I could use a laugh!”

Faceless: “...”

Kung Fu Frog: “...”

“Well? What are you waiting for? Seriously, there’s nothing to be ashamed of!” Ye Qing encouraged when he saw that they weren’t saying anything.

The three men: “...”

A few breaths later, one of them finally said in a shrill, ghastly voice, “Tell us! Whose ghost story do you think is the scariest?”

“Excuse me?” Ye Qing blinked once before asking sincerely, “Can you please repeat your stories? I haven’t heard them yet.”

But another man repeated, “Tell us! Whose ghost story do you think is the scariest?”

Ye Qing: “...” I would tell you, if you would actually tell me your heavens damned story! How the hell am I supposed to decide if I haven’t even heard them? And what if it’s actually a love story? Why else would all three of you cry literal tears of blood?

“Tell us…”

“Tell us…”

“Tell us…”

The trio’s eyes started bleeding much faster when they saw that Ye Qing was silent. Their complexion turned deathly white, and black smoke started rising from their bodies.

“Holy shit! I’ve seen cartoon characters smoking out of their ears because they’re angry, but frustration?” Ye Qing rolled his eyes and raised his hands in a placating manner. “Calm down, my bros! Violence is not the answer! If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been arguing about this?”

One man thought for a moment before answering, “A thousand years!”

“A thousand years?” Ye Qing exclaimed in realization, “No wonder you’re frustrated. I would be frustrated too if I were you.”

He knew they might burst into flames if he dilly-dallied any longer, so he let out a cough and said seriously, “Alright, I’ll tell you my answer. My answer is…”

“Tell us!”

“Tell us!”

“Tell us!”

“... My answer is, none of your ghost stories are as scary as mine!”

Boom!

The black smoke rising from the men’s bodies weren’t really smoke, but yin energy. And right now, the trio were leaking so much yin energy it was like a forest fire. Besides that, their eyeballs had fallen off their eye sockets, and their faces were beginning to rot as well.

Ye Qing looked behind him and shot Faceless a wink. “You see this? I haven’t even begun to tell them my ghost story yet, and they’re already so scared that their eyeballs literally popped out of their eye sockets!”

Faceless could only smile helplessly at his young master. The three men, or rather, the three Strangers were clearly dangerous judging from the concentration of their yin energy, and yet Ye Qing was teasing them like the children back at Anyang. Just how confident was he?

“If you don’t believe me, brothers, then listen to my ghost story!” Ye Qing looked back at the men and turned serious. “Once upon a time, there were three Strangers who wanted to listen to a ghost story. Then, they died!”

Faceless: “...”

The trio: “...”

The three Strangers finally couldn’t stand the insult any longer and unleashed their full power. Their yin energy was like a tidal wave as they rose to their feet and got ready to jump Ye Qing. But when a scorching wind suddenly blew through the area, they discovered in horror that dark red flames had suddenly ignited inside their bodies. They howled in rage as they tried to fight against it, but it was futile. It wasn’t long before they dissolved into a pile of ashes.

“What did I tell you? There is no greater fear in this world than death!”

Ye Qing patted away the dust on his pants and climbed to his feet. Smiling, he said, “This village is more interesting than I thought. Let’s walk around some more and see what else this village has in store for us. We’re stuck until whatever abnormality is keeping us here is gone anyway.”

Faceless could only shoot Ye Qing an awkward and obsequious smile. I have a feeling that someone is showing off, but I dare not say anything about it!

The good news was that the trio’s deaths did not make any waves in the village. It seemed as empty as ever. The group would continue deeper into the village until they entered a clearing and saw six people gathered under a locust tree for some reason.

Ye Qing beelined over to the group. He immediately saw a huge cooking pot at the center of the crowd and a huge fire underneath. The boiling oil looked hot enough to burn the flesh off a person’s bones in a matter of seconds.

A middle-aged man with withered hair, unusually thin body, and beady eyes poured out a bunch of coins from his pouch and tossed them into the pot. Then, he stuck his bare hand into the cooking pot, fished out a single coin, and showed it off proudly to the crowd while asking, “Is there anyone here who would dare to copy me? You’ll get a reward if you succeed!”

“I’ll do it!” A young man declared and stepped forward. He rolled up his sleeves, stuck his arm into the cooking pot, and tried to search for a coin as quickly as possible. However, he cried out in pain in just a matter of seconds and tried to withdraw his arm. The boiling oil seemed to possess some sort of mysterious power, however. No matter how hard he struggled, he was unable to pull away from the pot.

Eventually, the young man ran out of strength and tried to catch a breather. It was at this moment the oil suddenly pulled him into the pot in one fell swoop! He screamed in pain and tried to escape, but what chance did he have when he couldn’t even pull his arm free at the beginning? Inevitably, he burned to death and turned as black as charcoal.

“Man, that is surely one of the worst ways to die!” Ye Qing shook his head sympathetically. Not even Xiao Yang had it this bad when he boiled to death on the Mountain of Riddles.

The gambler swept his gaze across the crowd and let out a daring chuckle. Then, he dug out an eyeball and tossed it into the pot. Blood streamed down his face profusely, but it was like he couldn’t feel the pain at all. Ten breaths later, he stuck his hand back into the cooking pot and fished out his eyeball. After showing it to the crowd to prove that it was real, he plugged it right back into his eye socket. Ye Qing could tell that he was perfectly fine.