Chapter 117: Doctor vs. Doctor, Who’s the Better Healer?
Zhou Gui’s corpse was dragged away, and the crowd gathered at the convenience store gradually dispersed. When Zhao Mingyue returned from the alley, she heard someone muttering about the store’s bad luck. They pointed at the convenience store, making wild gestures.
She wanted to say something, but noticing the store manager standing nearby, silently laughing, she decided to keep her mouth shut.
It seemed like the locals had never had a good thing to say about Tomorrow Convenience Store; customers were few and far between. Located in a pretty remote area, the gossip from residents really put a damper on the store’s foot traffic.
If it were an ordinary store, it probably would have gone under ages ago, going out of business in no time.
Standing behind the glass door, Zhao Mingyue gazed at the bloodstains on the floor that hadn’t been cleaned up yet, and for a moment, fell into silence.
Lately, everything had been a jumbled mess; coming back from Eternal Life Village, there was that incident with the rock candy, and just when she thought that was over, a mysterious organization started targeting her, lurking in the shadows ready to pounce at any moment.
She was surprisingly chill about it all, though. Once you stepped into this world, you’d inevitably be influenced by all its oddities.
Once the ambulance left and the police began to disperse the crowd, Zhao Mingyue turned back to the convenience store, picked out a cup of tomato beef noodles off the shelf, and expertly boiled some water to prepare it.
“This organization targeting us must be Lu Liangting’s enemies, right? Didn’t you say that last time?” Zhao Mingyue placed her rabbit plush toy directly in front of her, fixating on its red-eyed gaze.
“That’s highly likely.”
“Then why are they targeting us?”
“There are two reasons. One, Wang Xinxin is one of their members, and she wants to k*ll you. Two, this organization is involved in hunting ghosts.” Bai Yu provided the answer.
Ghosts have many uses; they can be fed to powerful spirits to enhance strength, extracted for longevity, or used to stabilize one’s soul and mental power. She had once seen people specializing in ghost hunting to refine medicines to boost their spirits, becoming incredibly powerful in the process.
“Hunting ghosts?!” Zhao Mingyue jolted, “So they’re not just after me; they’re after you!”
She thought of that guy she let go last night. Maybe he saw Bai Yu and brought the news back.
“That’s a possibility.”
“Those jerks are awful! If that’s the case, then the man who came today was trying to intentionally create an evil ghost?” Inspired by Bai Yu’s words, Zhao Mingyue had an epiphany.
While slurping her noodles, she fell deep into thought.
Although she desperately wanted to relax at home and maybe take a vacation with Bai Yu or visit some tourist attraction, she realized she had to deal with the current enemies first. Having her home filmed continuously was incredibly annoying.
As for her chances of success, she didn’t give it much thought. In her eyes, it was a hundred percent. The reason was simple; if Bai Yu didn’t think she could handle it, she wouldn’t let her go in the first place.
When the store manager returned, Zhao Mingyue asked for the afternoon off and left work early.
Li Tianan didn’t ask too many questions, simply reminding her to be careful, as if he could see right through her thoughts.
At three-thirty in the afternoon, she finished her shift and rode her bike home.
She needed to grab her weapon; last time she felt pretty unprofessional smashing someone with a wrench at the youth apartment.
After changing into a loose and casual outfit, Zhao Mingyue put on a mask and was about to head out when she remembered something. She called Bai Yu out and gave her a special hairstyle, the kind frequently seen on female protagonists in fantasy dramas.
She thought that hairstyle would suit Bai Yu while fighting—elegant, really.
If only she could add a long-sleeve fairy dress, wow.
But that was just a thought; such clothes weren’t really suitable for battle.
Bai Yu looked at her reflection in the mirror, silently shaking her head.
She honestly couldn’t understand why changing hairstyles was necessary for missions. And besides, with the outfit she had on, it was all mismatched—her hairstyle with leather clothing looked downright strange.
Forget it, whatever.
After tidying up, Zhao Mingyue finally went downstairs. Shortly after, a taxi arrived—it was the ride she ordered from her phone.
In the backseat sat a girl about fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing big black sunglasses and a trendy yet conservative outfit. She looked delicate like Bai Yu and was also small-framed, sporting an oversized hoodie that made her seem rather fragile.
Her skin was unnaturally pale but incredibly smooth, and from the portion of her face visible beneath the sunglasses, Zhao Mingyue could tell this girl was definitely a beauty—just a notch below Bai Yu.
Without scrutinizing her too much, Zhao Mingyue hopped into the front seat.
However, she noticed in the rearview mirror that the girl seemed to be holding what looked like a bunny mask.
She shrugged it off; after all, rideshare passengers come with all sorts of baggage.
The driver, appearing to be in his forties or fifties, with dark skin and slightly thick lips, seemed like an honest guy.
In the back, when the girl noticed Zhao Mingyue had gotten in, she raised an eyebrow.
Zhao Mingyue remained unperturbed, resting her cheek in her hand and gazing out the window, a smile unconsciously spreading across her face as her eyes squinted under the sunglasses.
The trio sat in silence, the radio playing news about the stock market.
Zhao Mingyue didn’t quite understand any of it, so she put on her headphones to listen to music instead, chatting with Bai Yu a few times in between.
This mission was in a small county about sixty to seventy kilometers away from her home. The driver avoided the highway, opting for the main roads where there were plenty of traffic lights, and oh—what a surprise!—regular traffic jams.
Time passed unceremoniously until Zhao Mingyue noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
From her position, the rearview mirror caught the girl in the back looking at her through the glass, waving her hand with what seemed like a welcoming smile.
Before Zhao Mingyue could process it, the driver fiddled with the controls and switched radio channels, skipping through several before landing on a program he was interested in.
“Hello, listeners! You are tuned in to our show, ‘Terrifying Tales.’ I’m Shinanhua, delighted to have you with us for today’s episode.”
A male voice echoed through the radio, with a metallic tone, processed to sound somewhat dramatic.
“As always, we’ll skip the chit-chat and jump right into the story.”
“As we all know, society today is one where looks matter. Having a perfect face is the greatest fortune, for even if your life is unfortunate, it can still bring you luck.”
“In school, the pretty girl in class might develop a crush on you. On weekends, the neighborhood girl is eager to come over and play, unveiling a world reserved for adults. At work, a beautiful boss might flirt with you, and afterward, there will be a female coworker pretending to be drunk.”
“Even if you’re a total failure, a scoundrel playing with hearts, or a pathetic person living off their wife, luck will still find its way to you.”
“And today’s story starts with a face.”
“This man is named Xiaoshui, and he’s not a particularly handsome fellow.”
As the story began, Zhao Mingyue set her phone down, intrigued by the ghost tale. However, her expression began to shift as she listened.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that this Xiaoshui character was the same man who got crushed by the cargo box today.
Because he was ugly, Xiaoshui faced obstacles in life and work. His colleagues gossiped behind his back, and his boss would fire him over trivial matters.
This led him to develop a habit of wearing a mask and sunglasses wherever he went to shield his face as much as possible.
Yet, despite all of this, there was a woman who loved him enough to marry him.
But that didn’t change anything; Xiaoshui remained insecure, especially when walking down bustling streets, envy bubbling as he watched the young and pretty girls enjoying their vibrant lives.
Until one day, he received a package from a stranger.
Inside was a clay statuette and a letter.
The letter stated that as long as he followed the steps to worship the statuette, his life would change.
He decided to give it a shot, using his wife’s hair, nails, and even a drop of her bl**d from a cooking mishap.
He discovered that the statuette actually worked.
He became more and more handsome overnight, even perfecting his physique—an aura he’d never dared to dream of.
His colleagues, who used to gossip about him, might scoff at cosmetic surgery, but single female coworkers suddenly started asking him out for drinks.
Girls started asking for his contact details in restaurants, and especially in bars—those girls he once thought were out of reach now approached him. Wealthy women threw cash around, offering three thousand bucks for just one night.
However, lost in this world, he failed to notice his wife’s deteriorating health.
She began losing hair in handfuls, clogging the drains, developing age spots and wrinkles, and her bodily functions rapidly declined. She lost teeth, bled excessively, and her nails began to fall off.
That wasn’t even the worst—what hurt most was that her devoted husband started ignoring her, not caring for her health, and even showing signs of domestic violence.
In the end, the man’s wife dies, transforming into a vengeful spirit seeking retribution against him.
As the story concluded, the girl in the backseat cupped her face and chimed in, “That was a good story, but the ending felt rushed. It’s cliché to have the wife d*e and turn into a ghost. If it were me, I’d write it differently—maybe the man starts experiencing side effects.”
“For instance, he’d have a ghost following him. After his wife becomes how she is, the man would start changing too—becoming increasingly uglier. Thus, the dreams he stole would shatter like bubbles.”
“Ruthlessly thrust back into reality, he’d fall into despair and attempt s*icide. After failing, he would realize that only his wife deserved his love.”
“Yet, he had already tortured her to d*ath.”
“Unable to grasp reality, he’d place his wife’s corpse on the bed, bury himself under the covers each night, whispering the late-blooming sweet nothings he’d never managed to say in life.”
“Until the body began to stink and decay. One day, after making breakfast but not being able to wake her, he’d suddenly awaken and face the truth staring back at him.”
“But the hope was long gone. He’d want to attempt to make things right and see his parents who raised him.”
“Just as he steps outside, BAM! He gets hit by a car, and that’s the end of him.”
After finishing the story, Zhao Mingyue glanced back at the girl, who merely offered her an innocent smile, as if all these dark tales were just her wild imaginings.
The car came to a steady stop at the roadside—it was their destination.
“Miss, we’ve arrived,” the driver reminded her.
“Got it.” Zhao Mingyue took out her phone to pay. As she stepped out, she glanced back at the girl in the rear seat, who was still smiling at her, whispering something so softly that Zhao Mingyue couldn’t decipher what it was just by looking at her lips.
“Bai Yu, did you catch what she said?”
“See you again.”
“See you again?” Zhao Mingyue, carrying her backpack, looked in the direction the taxi had taken and frowned, “That girl is a member of the Ghost Domain?”
In a hurry, she pulled out her phone to call the driver, but it showed he was already on a call.
Zhao Mingyue dialed several times until finally, five minutes later, she got through. There was silence on the other end, but suddenly, there was a BAM followed by the sounds of a car alarm and flashing lights.
In the chilly night, Zhao Mingyue stood still, staring down the dark road ahead, slowly lowering her phone.
The night was unnervingly dark, and she could vaguely make out the entrance of a hospital behind her.
“Bai Yu, was that intentional?”
“Hard to tell.”
“Me too. She looks so cute. How could she be part of that organization?”
Reflecting on it sent a shiver down her spine. If the girl had launched an attack back in the car, things could’ve turned dangerous.
Backpack slung over her shoulder, Zhao Mingyue turned her gaze to the abandoned hospital.
The place had been deserted for ages, overgrown with weeds. It looked like it had been around for quite some time, only three stories high, with peeling walls.
“If this is their headquarters, there must be a lot of ghosts inside. Time to chow down, buffet-style.”
Zhao Mingyue strode forward and kicked the iron door open.
“Let the feast begin; it’s a buffet, Bai Yu!”
“These d*mn guys are a menace; they must be eliminated today!”
She felt a surge of anger. A destructive organization like this shouldn’t exist in the world.
“No wonder Lu Liangting has beef with them. These people are downright evil.”
Bai Yu remained silent, finally recalling her previous connection to Lu Liangting.
She really didn’t want any more ties with him.
The issue was that plenty of Lu Liangting’s sworn enemies were lurking here, bl**d vendettas and all. If she wiped this place out, and Lu Liangting found out, well, that wouldn’t end well…
Surely he wouldn’t come chasing for her hundreds of kilometers away, right?
—
Kneeling before the plot twists!
Please throw some tickets my way! MUA!
