Chapter 457: Chapter 393: I Am a Ghost
Realizing they had been deceived, Cheng Cha’s face turned even uglier than the shopkeeper’s. This was a task they once undertook, and now they were being played like a fool. "So this is what you call honest business, fooling neither old nor young? Aren’t you afraid we’ll smash the sign at the front of your shop?"
The Fat Steward immediately panicked, "No, no, this wasn’t my doing. It must be... it must be some damned employee acting behind my back, the scoundrel! Once I find out who it is, I’ll skin him alive!"
This was clearly an excuse, but Yang Xiao was too lazy to argue further. He tossed aside the silver ingot he had been holding and went straight to the point, "Shopkeeper, you don’t have enough gold ingots here. Go bring out the rest from the storeroom, and please hurry up."
Hearing this, the Fat Steward approached with a smile, trying to explain: "My lords, I suspect that those damnable employees have swapped out the gold ingots from the storeroom. There might not be enough there, but don’t worry, I still have many gold ingots stored elsewhere. Please wait a moment, I will have someone deliver them immediately."
The Fat Steward pulled a young employee aside and whispered in his ear. The young man then went alone towards the back hall. Moments later, he returned with a rust-covered gong in hand, stepped outside, lifted the gong with one hand, and swung the mallet with the other to strike it forcefully, sending a piercing sound throughout the town.
"Debt collection time!" he shouted with all his might.
The next second, standing at the door, Yang Xiao and the other two witnessed a shocking scene. The bustling street suddenly quieted down. No, it was more than quiet—it was silent—dead silent!
Whether it was the pedestrians on the streets, the vendors hawking their goods, the bargaining customers, or even the beggar at the alleyway, they all halted at once, turned their heads with stiff faces towards the door of the money house, their eyes collectively fixed in one direction in a grotesque and eerie manner.
A moment later, as if a switch was flipped, strange smiles appeared on their faces, and the crowd finally began to move. Some walked stiffly toward the money house, while many others turned and left, scattering in haste.
"Sister Tong Han, we should... we should go in quickly!" Standing by the street, Mi Shu was already scared by the scene, clutching Tong Han’s arm tightly, barely able to speak coherently, genuinely shocked by the sudden and stunning sight.
Just moments ago, Mi Shu had seen a mother and daughter who had been talking normally to her twist their heads 180 degrees. Their spines were broken, staring stiffly behind her, towards the money house.
"Don’t panic, they aren’t coming for us." Calming Mi Shu, Tong Han decided to wait and see how things unfolded. They had two teams, one inside and one outside, ready to coordinate should anything happen.
As these "townspeople" walked by like zombies, Mi Shu’s heart was lodged in her throat, yet these "people" merely passed by them without a glance. Meanwhile, these people began to act with their hands.
Unable to resist staring, Mi Shu watched as the townspeople began to raise their hands, some removing gold hairpins and earrings, others taking off gold bracelets and rings from their hands. Some even reached into their mouths to break off their gold teeth.
At that moment, the doors of the money house also sprang into action. Employees brought out an empty chest and placed it outside. The gathered townspeople threw all sorts of gold jewelry into it and then dispersed without lingering.
This was just a beginning. Soon, those who had left earlier began to return. These people were carrying various gold items, mostly small pieces of jewelry presumably fetched from their homes, but some carried larger items like gold plates and gold bars. Soon, Yang Xiao saw three people coming from the end of the street, carrying a small golden Buddha covered with a red cloth.
As the object was carried down the street, the people on both sides knelt down to worship. When the red cloth was lifted, Yang Xiao and the others discovered it was a pure gold statue of an adult ginseng.
It seemed the other side was gathering all the town’s gold to lay it all on the line with them. This gold came from various places; some looked fairly new, while others were muddy and foul-smelling, as if they had been hastily dug out from coffins.
These ghosts really spared no effort in collecting enough gold. They had likely excavated the nearby graves.
Yet even so, they were still not close to the 50,000 ingots, 150,000 taels of gold needed. The incense was nearly burnt out, and the Fat Steward was still trying to convince Yang Xiao to make up the remainder with copper coins, but this was flatly refused. To provoke him further, Yang Xiao insulted him and cleverly steered the issue towards Master Sun of the gambling house.
The infuriated Fat Steward immediately summoned Master Sun, who arrived quickly with a group in tow. Incited by Yang Xiao, the two groups began arguing instantly, and the disagreement escalated rapidly.
First, they threw objects at each other and exchanged insults. Then they spat at each other, followed by pulling down their trousers to urinate against each other and even threw feces they picked up with their hands.
Soon the situation escalated further into throwing objects. The scene became chaotically violent, and what alarmed Yang Xiao was that they were also caught in the crossfire—he himself sustained a scrape on his arm, Sui Chengguo was struck in the knee by a gold ingot, and Cheng Cha was in the worst state, having been hit in the back by a flying wooden box, blood streaming from his nose and mouth.
The three quickly realized the problem, continuing this brawl, not to mention whether the two groups could determine a winner, these bystanders would likely be killed first.
The scene outside the door had also changed, the once bustling street had become decrepit. The doors and windows of shops along the street rotted and fell off, and the forms of the townspeople gradually became hunched, their skin peeling off in large patches, already beginning to transform into the Resentful Infants.
Anyone could see that this world was no longer stable, teetering on the brink of collapse. Simultaneously, Tong Han’s shouting came, informing them that an exit had appeared at the end of the street, right in front of the old house left by the Ginseng Leader!
With great unspoken agreement, the three headed towards the door, intending to leave first, leaving the money house people and the gambling house people to fight to the death. But the next second, just as they were about to reach the door, the scene suddenly changed. The two groups, previously fighting fiercely, stopped their movements, turned their heads together, and stared at Yang Xiao and his companions.
They were only a few steps from the door, just a spin and a few steps away from rushing out, but no one dared to move. They saw the Fat Steward from the money house, half his face rotting away, the skin hanging, his look indescribably hideous, his eyes filled with hatred towards the three.
"Go back," Cheng Cha whispered. As they walked back inside the hall, the two groups quickly resumed their fight, this time, some even pulled out knives.
Taking advantage of their distraction, they moved back again, the familiar scene reenacting. This time, just before the people stopped fighting, someone threw a dagger at Yang Xiao. Fortunately, Yang Xiao reacted quickly, otherwise, he would have been fatally stabbed.
After the two attempts, the group was caught in a dilemma. As long as they tried to leave, they would be targeted, but if they waited, they would be left behind forever, vanishing along with this town.
The melee between the two groups had escalated to an intense state, momentarily leaving Yang Xiao and his companions alone, giving them a brief respite.
"Was it like this last time too?" Yang Xiao looked at Cheng Cha.
After a moment of hesitation, Cheng Cha finally nodded, "Pretty much. Listen to me, we need to take some risks. Sui, you have the best physical strength; you steal the folding fan from the money shopkeeper’s waist. Chu Xi, you cooperate with me. As soon as Sui gets it, we will steal Master Sun of the gambling house’s cap. Then, we offer these two items in front of the ginseng gold statue and pray sincerely to leave."
"Let’s act," Cheng Cha said seriously, his body leaning forward, as if ready to risk his life at any moment.
But Sui Chengguo, who was supposed to rush out first according to the plan, didn’t move, turned his head, and looked at Cheng Cha with an inexplicable gaze.
"Brother Sui?" Cheng Cha’s eyes filled with confusion.
A moment later, Sui Chengguo sighed, "This plan is your nonsense, isn’t it? You want me to distract these guys and give you a chance to escape."
As soon as he said this, Cheng Cha’s face changed. Although the plan was rushed, its quick exposure was unexpected, but Sui Chengguo just waved his hand, indicating Cheng Cha not to worry, "I am not blaming you. Let me guess, one person must be left behind for the others to have a chance to leave, right?"
Cheng Cha remained silent, effectively confirming it.
"I was wondering why the cloth store owner, despite having figured out a way to escape, still died in this world. It looks like she was the one who stayed behind last time," Sui Chengguo slowly raised his head, his eyes clear, "This also explains why many of you died last time, but this time we only saw the owner herself. She might not have truly died but was left by this world, assimilated."
Turning his head, Sui Chengguo looked at Yang Xiao, "Chu, with your abilities, you must have realized Cheng Cha was hiding something from us. I think it must be this, but he was not targeting you, just wary of me."
Yang Xiao naturally understood this. Not long before, Cheng Cha had persuaded him and Tong Han Mishu to wait outside, probably to prepare for the current situation. He had anticipated what would happen next and planned to sacrifice Sui Chengguo to keep the rest safe.
"Brother Sui, I have wronged you, but I have my reasons. Please don’t hold it against me," Cheng Cha said openly, regretting that he couldn’t reveal the whole truth to Sui Chengguo.
Sui Chengguo nodded, reached out his hand, looked down sadly, and suddenly showed a bleak smile, "I know, I am already dead. The current me... is just a ghost."
"Liu Haiping, Hu Yanming, Lu Youcheng, the three of them are like me. We all died in this world before finding you in the abandoned temple in the woods."
