CH11: Haunted

Chapter 11: Haunted

[The Bamboo Forest, Táng Village]

As the bodies of the two men crashed on the hard dirty ground, the Gang members almost immediately surrounded them before holding the two firmly. One of them was completely unconscious with his legs broken, while the other was barely awake, he winced repeatedly every minute from all the wounds and injuries that he received from after I attacked them. He pleaded to Mu Kong, the sound of him begging as he stuttered with his words sounded pathetic to me.

"P-Please! I b-beg of you! Let u-us go a-and I will do uh- a-anything! Yes! Anything!" Mu Kong only laughed loudly like a drunkard as he harshly yanked the head of the man by his hair, he pulled the man's hair, so he would be looking directly at Mu Kong's eye, the man continued to stutter as he repeatedly begged. 

I've got to admit, this is entertaining. Maybe I'll watch from up here for a little more. 

I stood on a bent bamboo tree, Mu Kong looked up at me and nodded before looking back at the man in front of him, according to their character data, the man who is awake is called, Jiang Xue Liang, while the latter is Lao Gong. The latter has a funny name, the wife would be pitiful if they would end up with such a weak guy. 

Mu Kong had a scornful expression on his face as he yanked the man's head again before talking. 

"Impolite!" Mu Kong shouted and slammed the man's face on the ground, the man remained facing the ground as he immediately introduced himself and the man beside him to Mu Kong, his face is almost fully covered in dirt and blood, he coughed a bit of blood after desperately begging on Mu Kong. 

"T-this s-servant is c-called, J-Jiang Xue Liang a-and he is L-Lao G-Gong. W-we are sent by uh-- the ghost! The ghost of the Inn! Y-yes! P-Please! We w-were only told t-to watch you, please! P-Please, spare us!" Xue Liang cried. I grimaced as I listened to his continuous stumbling over his words. 

What a weakling. Begging so easily like that? Isn't he a Golden Core Realm Master? He's a shame to all the other Golden Core Realm Masters, but then, he is terribly wounded and injured by me. I didn't really expect that I could conjure such a strong wind with my palm like that... 

The Gang members laughed at him mockingly, they seem to be thinking the same thing as I did about him. Mu Kong lightly slapped Xue Liang's face before laughing with his men.

How typical for a Gang of a fiction story. 

"Jiang Xue Liang! Jiang Xue Liang! Tell me, where is the ghost." Mu Kong coldly spoke, his voice hinted that he wasn't asking him, but was commanding him to tell him the answer, despite this, he still looks like a big bear in my eyes. 

Is something wrong with me? What's wrong with me? Did I ever like bears that much? Maybe I did as a child. 

Xue Liang coughed more blood, he looks like he's forcing himself to cough. He's really desperate, he certainly is good at acting weak, but he's planning something. 

I should come down now, just in case. 

Mu Kong ordered for his men to help Xue Liang to stand on his feet. As Xue Liang stood with two of Mu Kong's men holding him by his arms, Mu Kong gave him a hard kick at his stomach, Xue Liang groaned in pain as he kneeled on the ground.

Do they plan to torture him? But, I think the ghost of the Inn would be useful. He's from the higher realm after all. 

Xue Liang only continued to cough as he held the part of his stomach where he was kicked by Mu Kong, Mu Kong spoke as he yanked Xue Liang's hair harshly once again. I landed behind Xue Liang, it would've been great if I could fly, but for now I can only make use of the momentum from the Swift Moving Steps. I stood behind him quietly as I pondered what to do with him.

If only Qi Fei was with me, his skills are useful on this kind of things, but it's not as if I can't do anything at all. I guess, I was wrong about this guy being useful though.

As it turned out, Omnicient Insight alerts me of possible dangers around this body, detailed description of items and characters, and lastly, glimpse of the thoughts that my target is having at the present time, but it surely comes with a price.

As he knelt on the dirty ground, I could hear his inner thoughts desperately trying to think of something. He ended up deciding if he should just kill himself because if he answered Mu Kong, that ghost would certainly come after him, this guy has no chance of escaping. 

I walked beside Mu Kong and stared at Xue Liang's face, he coughed a few times before weakly lifting his head to look up at me.

His thoughts echoed inside my head as I spoke. "This ghost of the Inn, why are you so scared of him? Because of his strength? Why don't you run away?" As I said this, Xue Liang trembled even more, shaking his head as he desperately denies being scared of the ghost of the Inn.

This guy is acting like this because that ghost has a leash on him, he has absolute control over this man's life.

A thousand-year-old centipede is wrapping around Xue Liang's heart and if he does something that the ghost did not like, he could die any minute or be tormented for the rest of his life, its venom isn't the most dangerous as it can only paralyze its target, but what's really dangerous are its legs. The thousand-year-old centipede is famous for its strange and sharp red needle-like legs that target the heart of its prey by slowly digging the heart until the heart becomes filled with holes where it would later on use as a place to lay its eggs, but this insect doesn't stop there, sometimes it goes after the brain too, and when it's finally done, it would come out by making a hole through the body of the prey. 

I stood silently for a while before talking to My Kong while I kept my eyes on Xue Liang. Xue Liang stared at me with eyes filled of fear after I spoke to Mu Kong. 

"Mu Kong, do you want to do anything to him? He's useless." 

Xue Liang desperately tried to come closer to me and beg on my foot, Mu Kong laughed and turned to my direction. 

"Do you have any suggestions?" He snickered cockily at Xue Liang. 

I glanced at Mu Kong and sighed, "You're boring. Do what you want, as I said, He's useless."

Mu Kong whistled and grinned at Xue Liang. 

I left the area and went back to the Inn to survey the area, before deciding to enter and pay for a room for the night. 

I guess that's what the system update warned me about. It turned out that I would be one of the cause of that fight, but that would be barely a fight. Xue Liang is as good as dead. 

The system mail hovered in front of me showing the newly granted rewards. Just like before, the mail has quite the generous amount of rewards. 

⟨⟨Congratulations for completing a special quest! As the conditions had been fulfilled, the rewards for this quest had been doubled!⟩⟩

⟨⟨Additional Item, Heart of Anubis(L) acquired!⟩⟩

'What does the L meant?' I wonder if it's referring to the size?

⟨⟨Negative. As of the recent update and maintenance, several changes had been made in the system, items now has been categorized with a ranking system!⟩⟩

Ranking system? Why are games so obsessed with that? Money grabbing games.

⟨⟨Item Data:

Name: Heart of Anubis(L)

Type: Developer's Item

Rank: Legendary

Description:

An item added to the system by one of the developer's of the game who is obsessed with the Ancient Egyptian God, Anubis.

Granted Ability:

1) This item allows the user to travel through realms, disregarding all restrictions or requirements to be granted entrance to the selected realm. Allows the user to travel with companions. 

2) This item allows the user to add characters to the Party Member screen, allowing the members to receive a boost in cultivation. Grants a permanent buff; God Force⟩⟩

⟨⟨Map upgrades are now available! ⟩⟩

⟨⟨Party screen is now available!⟩⟩

⟨⟨Party Benefits are now be available!⟩⟩

⟨⟨Affection System is now available! ⟩⟩

Another cheat item... 

Well, who am I to judge? 

Although this just easily solved my problem with Li Qian and Yīhán, my plan of fusing Yīhán to the Egg is still stands. I don't plan to abandon that idea now, it would be good for him to have his own ability to protect himself, and I'm very curious how it would turn out.

I would be jailed if this was in the real world, isn't it?

I walked to the hallway of the front of our room. When I had spread my consciousness earlier, I felt something strange on the top of this inn. I would be correct to say that it's the ghost of the Inn.

Māo Tóu Yīng himself.

That old guy is really strange.

I leaned on the railing of the hallway, I looked below and saw Qi Fei chattering away with the other guests of the Inn, Yīhán watched him quietly as he eats his third serving of dumplings.

"Looking for me, Mr. Zhang? You look a little different than the last time." A familiar voice resounded, it came from beside me. It sounded cheerful that I couldn't believe myself that it was the same person. 

I spared him a short glance before resuming on watching the two, "I knew it was you, so is this one of your sidelines? You know, I was actually thinking of getting rid of you, but I'd rather take a toast with you and refuse the other, or I could have you pretend to have been tamed by me?" When I'm with this guy, I somehow can't prevent myself from acting how this body really wants. He remained silent for a while, he sat by the railings and stared straight into my eyes with a slight grin on his lips. 

His recent actions had been weirdly strange and unlike his usual self. He mostly acted prim and proper before, so why act this way now?

"You're acting bold this time, weren't you always so cautious? Why play with me?" I asked, trying to sound casual. He shrugged and smiled again. 

I have to say that his answer did make a lot of sense, aside from the small data that I got from the system, I know nothing much about him at all, well there is another one, he seems to despise the thought of consuming any drinks or food that I made...

He's certainly missing a lot, I know it looks horrible, but it's better than Qi-- actually, maybe mine cannot compare to Qi Fei's cooking. 

"It just means that you are getting to know me, which is good. Aren't I correct, Mr. Zhang?"