Chapter 296: Chapter 257: Success or Failure in One Move
Li Qingxuan’s face lit up with joy, thinking that Teacher Yang really knew how to have fun. But the next second, his Teacher Yang was just as stunned as he was, rooted to the spot.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" The old man hastily took out a shiny red candied haw from the pocket on the back of his bicycle, covered in chili powder.
The old man handed over the candied haw to Yang Xiao with a big grin, showing a smile, "Young man, I know your tastes are picky. This one’s specially prepared for you. And I’ve got more if it’s not enough."
"What else did you prepare?" Yang Xiao had a bad feeling in his heart.
"Spicy candied haw, salt and pepper candied haw, cumin candied haw, sour plum candied haw, and even spicy crawfish flavored ones." The old man’s smile was full of confidence. "There are many others. Just tell me what flavor you want, young man, and I have it all."
Finally, with great reluctance, Yang Xiao and the others could only choose to pay. 50 yuan—it was really killing them. But Yang Xiao had a stroke of inspiration and looked at Fu Changxue, "Brother Fu, you’re flush. Why not chip in a bit more?"
Fu Changxue quickly caught on, pretending to be very unwilling as he handed over all the counterfeit money he had to Yang Xiao, who then skillfully mixed the fake bills with some real ones and stuffed them all into the candied haw seller’s hand.
The old man, clutching the money, squinted his eyes into slits, took out a dry tobacco pipe from his tattered pocket, stuffed in some tobacco leaves, lit it up, and started puffing away contentedly. "Doing business with you is such a pleasure, young man. I’ll be back tomorrow."
Yang Xiao was seething inside. As he glanced around and saw a small newsstand selling cigarettes not far from the intersection, and some people in old-fashioned police uniforms were patrolling nearby, an idea suddenly struck him. He said to the delighted old man with flattery, "Elder, with such deep pockets, why still smoke a pipe? It doesn’t fit your status."
The old man thought it made sense, turned his pipe upside down, and tapped it on the sole of his shoe. "You make sense, young man, I like the way you talk!"
Yang Xiao pointed to the newsstand at the opposite corner of the street, "Elder, that place has a good reputation. They sell genuine cigarettes, and the prices are fair too."
"Got it." The old man coolly hopped onto his broken bicycle and wobbled towards the newsstand, waving casually at Yang Xiao as he left.
Moments later, everyone saw the angry newsstand owner rushing out of his booth, grabbing the old man by the collar, ready to beat him up.
The old man was terrified and explained frantically to the burly owner, but the hot-tempered owner wouldn’t listen at all and kicked over the old man’s broken bicycle. Nearby police officers also came over.
"Who says counterfeit money is useless?" Yang Xiao finally laughed.
Worried about causing trouble, the group quickly dispersed, each looking for places to scam some free food and drink. After satisfying their hunger and thirst, they wandered back leisurely.
Before long, the sky turned gloomy, and everyone rushed back to the apartment before the first drop of rain fell. When they saw an old woman staggering along, Tong Han’s eyes brightened, and he approached her warmly, "Old lady, is this set of dentures yours?"
Seeing the dentures, the old woman’s cloudy eyes gradually brightened, and she nodded repeatedly, "Yes... they’re mine. Thank you, girl, really, thank you so much."
But to the surprise of Tong Han and everyone else, the old woman did not accept the dentures right there and then. Instead, she shook her head regretfully, "Girl, I only use these dentures when I eat. They are a burden to me otherwise. So, do a good deed to the end, and bring them to me tonight. My appetite isn’t great, and I only eat at night."
Without waiting for Tong Han to refuse, the old woman walked away briskly, leaving everyone astonished at her speed.
Before leaving, the old woman gave Tong Han two banknotes: one 10 yuan and one 5 yuan, for a total of 15 yuan. That was the old woman’s way of saying thank you.
But Tong Han couldn’t be happy about it. It wasn’t just a thank-you; it felt like payment with a deadly obligation as it meant she had to deliver the dentures to the old woman tonight.
The crumpled 10 yuan note had ’3052’ written on it, which seemed to be the old woman’s address. Tong Han tried to recall the layout of the rooms in the apartment and was sure that the old woman’s room should be in a secluded corner on the westernmost side of the building.
However, Yang Xiao spoke up to comfort her, "Miss Tong, don’t be too pessimistic; it might not be a bad thing. At least if you encounter danger, you can consider hiding there."
Tong Han also smiled, her eyes revealing a bewitching charm, "You really know how to comfort people. I imagine a lot of girls like you in real life."
"Reasonably so," Yang Xiao said truthfully.
Under Mo Daidai’s lead, everyone gathered and went over the clues they currently held, the most important of which was the nursery rhyme provided by the old man who sold candied haws.
"The sky is gray, don’t open your eyes, don’t move a bit, sleep till the day is brightly lit," Li Qingxuan repeated, finding the information content quite substantial.
Unfortunately, the old man knew very little about this rhyme, only mentioning that it was left by a surviving child, who is the only known survivor of the apartment incident so far.
"Looking at the current situation, Chu Xi has a greater chance of finding room 85 today, after all, taking Qu Yi’s precedent into account, while Tong Han’s clue has not been confirmed," Mo Daidai analyzed for the group. "So Tong Han, if you can find room 85 today that would be best. If not, you must at least find a way to delay the elevator ghost to buy time for Chu Xi."
Mo Daidai then turned to Fu Changxue with a tone as stern as if issuing a command, "Fu Changxue, you can’t idle around either. You must set off immediately after midnight, patrol the apartment. Based on past experiences, you are very likely to encounter the headstand ghost. You must delay him to buy time for the Chu and Tong Han duo."
"Don’t be afraid, we will leave you enough money; surviving shouldn’t be a big issue," Mo Daidai continued, emphasizing in an even more serious tone, "I am the one assigning you this task, not that useless Cheng Ya."
Fu Changxue was also aware of the stakes. If both Yang Xiao and Tong Han were finished, he wouldn’t survive either. Therefore, he nodded firmly, saying solemnly, "Rest assured."
"Our success or failure hinges on tonight’s efforts, so I implore everyone," Mo Daidai stepped back two paces and fist saluted the group in front of him, displaying a bit of a martial artist’s customary practice.
Yang Xiao was getting increasingly perplexed by Mo Daidai, a mysterious fellow whose background was unclear, but certainly not ordinary, perhaps an Apostles Union member, or... possibly an Evil Cultivator.
He genuinely hoped that such a person wouldn’t fall into the ranks of Evil Cultivators, for if they met again in the future, they would undoubtedly be formidable opponents.
And then there was Tong Han, enigmatic in her ways, decisive in killing, having the heart to chop off her own big toe for an unreliable lead, a true heroine among women.
Adding on Li Qingxuan, whose background was unknown, seemingly simple but actually quite wise, Yang Xiao knew that the true Evil Cultivator was hidden among these three.
If he had the chance to get out, he would have to thoroughly investigate these three individuals. Mo Daidai was even trying to recruit him, though it was unclear which group he was affiliated with.
As he pondered, Yang Xiao’s thoughts began to wander. A peculiar idea popped into his mind, wondering what kind of treatment Evil Cultivators received.
Logically, with such high risks and a bad reputation, they should offer good compensation; the base salary must be quite high, otherwise who would join?
If Evil Cultivators earned 200,000 yuan a month, and the Patrol Defense Bureau only offered 20,000, then what the hell was the point in risking one’s life? Switching to some other place that wasn’t so contrary to law and morals wouldn’t be out of the question.
Who you work for doesn’t really matter, after all. Besides, if you consider that he now possessed several items such as the Resentful Eye, Underworld Robe, Ghost Lantern, and the newly-acquired Ghost Duster—which used to be the protective Magic Artifact of a real person from the southeast branch of the Great Black Buddha Mother Sect—none of which seemed very proper. If others within the Patrol Defense Bureau discovered them, he would surely attract major trouble, potentially even a deadly threat.
But there was no rush for now. Once he could skillfully control these Resentful Eyes and had enough power to protect himself, he wouldn’t need to care about anyone else’s attitude. Wouldn’t the Evil Cultivators have to treat him with great deference?
"Chu, what are you laughing at?" Mo Daidai asked, puzzled.
