Chapter 201: The Favor of the Evil Spirit
In An Tianhe’s eyes, the two red-clothed figures were being beaten to d*ath punch by punch by Zhao Mingyue’s seemingly frail fists. Using the term “alive” for female ghosts might not quite fit, but that’s how it felt to him. He could only say those two ghosts were truly pitiful.
He rarely heard ghosts wailing in pain, and just now, he not only heard it but experienced it from start to finish.
The black mist exploded and their bodies shattered. The once mighty red-clothed figures were finally beaten to the point where they could hardly maintain their forms. Being transparent at least meant they were red-clothed; if they were ordinary evil ghosts, they would have been pulverized many times over.
Using bl**d threads to attack? Useless. Using psychic attacks? Not scared. Using claws and hair as weapons? Not worried.
That was the most straightforward summary of the battle between the two female ghosts and Zhao Mingyue. Just watching made him feel sorry for the two red notes.
There was no way out; looking at Zhao Mingyue with all her flaws, no matter what, they couldn’t land a hit. Even if they could hit Zhao Mingyue, they would surely sustain worse injuries in return.
The bl**d threads wrapped around the ghostly forms of the two evil spirits as Bai Yu started to devour them, cleaning up the battlefield.
Dozens of ghosts, not a single one survived, except for a few sent flying by Li Tianan’s attacks; all the others were in the belly of Gluttony.
The reason Gluttony was called Gluttony was clear from this.
An Tianhe’s whole body trembled imperceptibly, feeling despair, and also the backlash from losing control of the evil spirits he had commanded.
Controlling evil spirits was like this: either you got stronger and used your spirits to devour the opponent, or your spirits were defeated, and you also suffered damage.
Losing so badly this time left him disoriented. He couldn’t help but wonder if he was dreaming, why he was trapped in such a terrifying nightmare.
He witnessed two incredible things: one was that ghosts could indeed be stronger than evil spirits, and the other was that a human could use their fists to literally beat two red-clothed spirits to d*ath in a one-versus-two situation.
He saw it with his own eyes. At the end, Zhao Mingyue, this seemingly delicate girl, even single-handedly grabbed one red-clothed spirit by the ankle, lifting and slamming it repeatedly three times in the corridor.
Now that all four red-clothed spirits had been devoured, the lurking evil spirits weren’t even daring to let out a sound. It should now be their turn down there.
Zhao Mingyue clapped her hands. “I’m so tired, but I feel like I’ve gained a lot!”
“You did well,” Bai Yu sheathed her kn*fe, rare praise slipping out for Zhao Mingyue, “Looks like your four-and-a-half star task really paid off.”
Zhao Mingyue single-handedly took down two red-clothed spirits; this was an astounding improvement, both in courage and battle intellect. It was a comprehensive upgrade, visibly growing in skill.
This had little to do with the power within Zhao Mingyue’s body. If it were someone else, even with Zhao Mingyue’s physical prowess and bl**d threads, they wouldn’t have been able to take on two red-clothed spirits simultaneously, let alone dominate the entire battle at minimal cost.
“Hehehe, of course, how could I not improve?” Zhao Mingyue bounced over to Bai Yu. “Can you share some of those evil spirits you devoured with me? I think I got a bit hurt just now.”
“Maybe.”
“Yay!” Just as Zhao Mingyue leaned in for a hug, Bai Yu deftly dodged.
Empty-handed, Zhao Mingyue then remembered something and turned to look at An Tianhe and the others, still dazed in place.
Earlier, Bai Yu had told her she needed to take action against these five people—they were the targets of her mission. Not only that, they were undoubtedly scumbags who had committed countless malevolent deeds, wrecking many families.
One could easily imagine that when someone had the ability to control evil spirits, even the red-clothed ones, what chaos they could create was beyond measure. They could do things that both underground and legitimate leaders would find hard to accomplish.
Quietly killing without leaving a trace.
Or using evil spirits to peddle white powders.
Competing for territory, for projects. They could even spot a cute girl on the street and have her in bed by nightfall.
If all else fails, just k*ll her and turn her into an evil spirit to enjoy her body indefinitely.
In short, these people were wicked through and through; they could do whatever they wanted without breaking a sweat. After all, the world is mainly made up of ordinary folks; how many people could access this underworld?
Moreover, they had been getting away with it for years.
The things they did were unquestionably beyond imagination.
“Zhao Shizhi, impressive! You’re making your master proud!” An Tianhe’s legs were shaking as he saw Zhao Mingyue approach with her magic wand, hastily speaking in a lower tone.
“No need to call me Shizhi when it’s just us here. I’m just going to be honest; Li Tianan is not my master, he’s simply my store manager. I work at a convenience store under him.”
Zhao Mingyue fixed her gaze into An Tianhe’s eyes, her smile fading.
“I’m here for you, Shishu.”
“Why did Bai Yu leave you all behind? She wants to discuss cooperation.”
“You guys know how to control evil spirits, right?”
An Tianhe and the others nodded eagerly, finally relieved. They had thought Bai Yu wanted to k*ll them all.
“Yes, yes! We can control evil spirits. Those two red-clothed spirits you fought earlier were ours. Let’s just say it was good practice for you, hahahaha.” An Tianhe forced out a stiff laugh.
“So, An Shishu, when you use this ability, are you up to anything shady? You know what I mean.”
An Tianhe’s face changed at her words. Zhao Mingyue just needed to stare right into his eyes and knew her guess was spot on.
She only wanted to confirm.
As for why she felt this way, she wasn’t sure; maybe it was hard to believe that this world could be so dirty.
“Yes, yes,” An Tianhe nodded, still clinging to a glimmer of hope. “I know many bosses— they’re willing to pay a lot— a simple job could net you this much.”
He gestured with his fingers, indicating millions.
“As long as you’re willing, I can get their contacts once I’m back…”
Zhao Mingyue’s expression cooled significantly. Before An Tianhe could finish, she raised her hand to interrupt him, passed by him and his companions without a word, and headed for the door.
The bl**d threads automatically receded as Zhao Mingyue pushed open the door, not even glancing back at them.
In the meantime, An Tianhe attempted to grab Zhao Mingyue as a hostage, but Bai Yu ensnared his arms and legs with bl**d threads, leaving him unable to move. At his nearest, his hand was barely five centimeters from Zhao Mingyue—he just needed to take half a step forward.
But that half step turned out to be a chasm.
Cold sweat trickled down An Tianhe’s face as he stiffly glanced back. At that moment, Bai Yu was already beside him, only about a meter away.
“If you k*ll me, Zhao Mingyue’s not going anywhere!” An Tianhe gritted his teeth, “I have plenty of cooperative relations, people who dabble in both sides, a major force behind me!”
Pfft!
A pointed spike formed from the bl**d threads pierced through Zhou Li’s chest—instant k*ll.
“That’s between Li Tianan and you.” Bai Yu crossed her arms. Just as the spike was about to strike An Tianhe, he pulled a cell phone from his pocket.
“Stop! I’ve already warned those people. If you k*ll me, you’re cutting off their arms and legs. They’ll definitely come after you; do you want Zhao Mingyue to d*e?!”
An Tianhe was clever. He had sensed Bai Yu’s murderous intent, so he had messaged several partners while she dealt with the red-clothed spirits, mentioning Zhao Mingyue, hoping to scare Bai Yu into stopping.
“Hmph.” Bai Yu snorted, flipping her bl**d thread to also k*ll Sun Hai on the spot.
“Going for broke!” Seeing this, knowing he couldn’t scare Bai Yu, An Tianhe tossed the phone aside and pulled out a soul-restraining nail, aiming it at Bai Yu’s chest.
The living room fell under an eerie silence; everyone stood frozen, not daring to speak or do anything else.
If they had known things would turn out like this, they would have never stepped foot into this ghostly place.
Unfortunately, no one could see the future. No one could have predicted the horrors that awaited them, nor could they have guessed that a terrifying red-clothed spirit was waiting.
Even when they arrived, if someone had told them that a spirit stronger than an evil spirit would appear, they would likely have laughed it off, thinking that the person was crazy.
As Zhao Mingyue stepped inside, all eyes turned to her.
At this point, they still found her enchanting and perfect in every way, but their previous disdain and silly thoughts vanished without a trace.
“An Shishu and the others have already left. They suddenly remembered something they left at home,” Zhao Mingyue casually fabricated a flimsy lie.
Everyone nodded but remained silent.
An Tianhe and his group had indeed left first, never to return.
There were no cameras in the corridor, and with the strength of the ghost named Gluttony, there would be no traces left behind—not even a drop of bl**d.
Dead men tell no tales; even the police would have no way to figure this one out.
If there was nothing to find, how could they even determine whether An Tianhe and the others were alive or dead? How would they proceed with the investigation?
They weren’t going to investigate a ghost, were they?
It didn’t matter how An Tianhe had died, or what happened afterward; they were careless about that.
They only cared about one thing.
Why did An Tianhe have to d*e?
They realized that while Li Tianan claimed to be Zhao Mingyue’s master, his words held no weight; thus you could infer that An Tianhe likely didn’t get killed because of a conflict with Li Tianan.
The only plausible reason lay with Zhao Mingyue and Gluttony. But the truth was, they had merely met An Tianhe for the first time; what great enmity would justify killing him?
Surely it couldn’t be because An Tianhe and his group looked too arrogantly direct, making Zhao Mingyue uncomfortable?
Thinking of this, Xia Feihang and his assistant, along with Lin Zhou, quickly averted their gazes, thoroughly too scared to look at Zhao Mingyue even once.
Li Tianan noticed this subtle detail and said helplessly, “Let them go, they’re not here for a serious matter anyway. They must have received calls from their bosses, probably got a killing task.”
“Catching evil spirits is a waste of money; working for the bosses is way quicker and far from clean. Raising spirits and killing is unforgivable. Let them go.”
“But the people behind them still hold power. We’re all on the same side here, let’s just keep it casual, but let’s not spread it around; avoid people like An Tianhe for your own good.”
Li Tianan was clearly speaking hints, and Xia Feihang and the others nodded in agreement.
After this, they could feel the temperature drop significantly in the room. Looking up, the ghost named Gluttony had somehow appeared behind Zhao Mingyue, stepping into her shadow.
They watched in shock as Zhao Mingyue’s shadow shifted, transforming into the image of another girl. Realizing that the battle was over, a mix of emotions surged through them.
Four red-clothed spirits and five experienced gatekeepers… how had it ended so quickly?
What kind of monstrous being was this?
“Um, can I ask everyone a question?” Zhao Mingyue stood at the door, suddenly speaking up. “Have you heard of someone named An Que?”
Participating in this mission was essentially to gain intel on An Que; encountering An Tianhe had merely been an unexpected bonus.
While communicating with the people in the living room, Zhao Mingyue inwardly questioned, “Did those guys outside d*e?”
“Cleaned up nicely, nothing left. That guy was planning to reach out to his backing to deal with you, but his phone messages got blocked.”
“Ah, why?”
“Because of the magnetic field.”
“Was it you?”
“I could do it, but the one responsible was the evil spirit.”
An Tianhe’s message never went through; he was merely trying to rattle her, standing in the corridor, and the evil spirit had disrupted all signals in the area.
It was the evil spirit showing her favor.
After some discussion, Zhao Mingyue didn’t gather any useful information; she only learned An Que was one of the creators of the Gatekeepers, at a vice-presidential level. They rarely saw him, only during significant missions.
These missions typically involved large numbers of people, differing vastly from their current small skirmishes— these involved groups of at least thirty people or so.
And the targets of these missions were often terrifying— either top-tier evil spirits or evil gods.
The last big outing was three years ago, when they surrounded an evil god in a large psychiatric hospital.
The outcome was that the evil god had escaped with its followers, taking an embryo with them. To this day, they had not tracked down that evil god.
Other information, like An Que’s territory, remained a mystery to them.
An Que was enigmatic but incredibly powerful.
He gave off vibes of being approachable with an easy-going personality.
Zhao Mingyue exchanged glances with Chen Yunshi, who remained silent.
She just wanted to find An Que and get rid of him. As for Zhao Mingyue, the female protagonist she had long obsessed over, she chose to let that go.
Zhao Mingyue was someone they dared not provoke.
This was the very reason the Thousand Eyes Godmother kept mouthing off to her.
“Oh ho ho, our little angel has gotten so timid! Weren’t you always urging me to take down Zhao Mingyue? I didn’t act and you called me useless, and now here’s Zhao Mingyue waiting for you! Action speaks louder than words; go on, get bold!”
“What about Bai Yu? What about the number one? Losing dozens of evil spirits and four red-clothed ones is just a minor issue— all small stuff.”
“How could you be scared? Didn’t you say that once you control Zhao Mingyue’s body, you could do whatever you want to Lu Liangting?”
“Really, Chen Yunshi, I’ve always wondered what so charms you about Lu Liangting. You haven’t really even interacted much with him, yet you crave him.”
“Aren’t I enough?”
“It can’t be for the money, you don’t seem like the type to care much for that.”
Thousand Eyes kept chattering endlessly in her ear, and Chen Yunshi clenched her fists. “Shut up!”
The furious response came so fast, she completely forgot that Thousand Eyes was communicating with her mind.
The atmosphere, already a bit awkward, froze instantly. Li Tianan and Zhao Mingyue exchanged glances, and he nodded, addressing the group: “An Tianhe made such a quick exit. We’re short on numbers now; we aren’t completing this mission. It was a hassle for you all to come.”
“It’s getting late. Let’s reconsider this later— let’s head out.”
Everyone nodded and followed Li Tianan out the door.
As they opened the door, they instinctively glanced into the corridor, wondering if there would be any bloodstained corpses. The reality was that the hallway was remarkably clean, truly matching their expectations— not even a drop of bl**d, just five living people disappearing as if into thin air.
Carrying heavy hearts, only Zhao Mingyue and the house owner, Chen Hao, remained in the room.
Chen Hao stood there, completely bewildered, still unsure of what had happened.
Zhao Mingyue headed towards the room of the ice sugar and looked back at him. “I’m here to help you with your daughter. Stay out for now.”
An Tianhe was dead, and the Gatekeepers had left.
But the evil spirit was still waiting for her and Bai Yu.
