Chapter 156: Money Can Make Ghosts Push a Millstone

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's mask was once worn by Yu Yu Zi Qian—a blue-faced, fanged demon, ferocious and terrifying, as if summoned from some unknown place to ward off ghosts. Many who had encountered Yu Yu Zi Qian believed the mask held great significance, likely tied to the rules of Master Yeyao.

But in truth, the mask had no special origin.

It was merely that when Yu Yu Zi Qian first became a Transcender, young and reckless, he failed to grasp the seriousness of the situation and, seized by middle-school delusions, donned a demon mask to play cosplay.

He wore this demonic mask and remained active in the Transcender circles for over five years, until he died two months ago in Taoyuan City, crushed under Feng Yu's foot. Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe took the mask from his corpse and placed it on his own face.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe thought it was occasionally useful to play the part of a spirit or demon—it made asking others, "Do you know you're dead?" feel less jarring.

"Who died?!" Xia Chong exploded in anger: "How dare you speak like that? You have no manners—"

"Alright, I see you don't know."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe stood up and said, "Lift your head."

Xia Chong froze, then frowned sharply: "What are you doing?"

"Cooperate, or I'll have to use force." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe pulled a pistol from his coat, flipped off the safety, and pointed it at her chest: "Lift your head. I need to check your neck pulse and body temperature to confirm whether you're alive or dead."

Xia Chong rolled her eyes. This wasn't some foreign country—was he trying to scare her with a fake gun?

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe ignored her mocking gaze, stepped forward, and reached out toward her neck himself.

Xia Chong was very tall—over 1.9 meters barefoot, and over 2 meters with her boots—forcing Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe to tilt his head slightly to see her expression. Her expression was far from pleasant; she looked furious.

Who wouldn't be angry? A stranger suddenly appearing out of nowhere, gun in hand, claiming he wanted to touch her neck—especially when she was a pampered girl raised in privilege.

Before Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe could close the distance, her powerful leg shot up, knee bent, slamming toward him.

The knee and elbow are among the hardest parts of the human body—hence the saying: "Elbow strike like a blade, knee thrust like a spear." Human lower limbs are far stronger than upper limbs; a trained adult woman's knee strike could easily cripple a man.

The body Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe was currently using was frail. In a physical fight, he truly couldn't match her.

So he stepped back and pulled the trigger.

Boom—

Even with a suppressor, the gunshot was deafening at this range. A deep purple bruise instantly bloomed on Xia Chong's sharply defined abdomen. The bullet's impact sent searing pain through her, forcing her to her knees, momentarily speechless.

"Cooperate. Don't make this hard for me."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe aimed the pistol at Xia Chong's forehead and, with his other hand, gripped her throat.

Normal body temperature. Clear pulse. Heart rate accelerated sharply from the agony of the abdominal strike—undeniably alive.

At least, alive in the ordinary sense.

Still alive? Xia Chong, gun pointed at her head, curled up on the ground. The pain, delayed but intense, spread outward from her abdomen. She clenched her teeth, chest heaving violently—each breath felt like her internal organs were being torn from her cavity.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe used rubber bullets, undercharged—low lethality, unable to pierce even a thick down jacket, but sufficient to incapacitate an adult.

"You'd have been better off being obedient. Wanted to kick me in the balls?"

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe released his grip on her throat and reached toward her nose and mouth to test her breath. "If you'd just held back, not aimed for my groin, I could've subdued you barehanded. You wouldn't be suffering now… Ah."

Before he finished speaking, searing pain shot through his fingertips—Xia Chong, eyes blazing with fury, had bitten down hard on his outstretched finger, baring her white teeth as if ready to sever it.

"I think it's wiser to be a little humble. Don't you agree?" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe smiled.

The next instant, a knee slammed into Xia Chong's abdomen with crushing force, hurling her to the ground. But this woman was fiercely stubborn—even now, she refused to release her grip, snapping off Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's left index finger. She lay writhing in agony, eyes still locked on him with murderous hatred.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe rose silently. His severed finger instantly regenerated—not restored, but replaced. As he stood, his body filled out, muscles swelling, stretching his thin shirt into sharp, defined contours.

This was Lin Lin Zhiyuan, the gold medal coach of Qiaogao Fitness Club in Taoyuan City.

"Someone paid me to come here and retrieve someone. The employer only asked me to bring out living people—didn't say anything about limbs."

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Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's face wore a gentle smile, but all Xia Chong could see was the blue-faced, fanged demon mask—and a 50-size foot hurtling down toward her.

"Aaaah—!"

As Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's foot crushed down onto the bruise left by the bullet, he finally heard the piercing scream he'd been waiting for.

One kick followed another. Beneath the mask, strange, chuckling laughter echoed endlessly as Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe relentlessly stomped and kicked the woman's soft abdomen, until her screams grew ragged with sobs, hoarse and fading.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe exhaled, relaxed, knelt on one knee, and grabbed Xia Chong's ponytail, lifting her head gently. "My emotions are unstable right now. Please cooperate fully. Don't cause trouble. Understood?"

Then he slapped her face again.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe slammed Xia Chong's head into the ground, rose to his feet holding the pistol, and in the motion of standing, his towering, muscular frame of Lin Lin Zhiyuan seamlessly transformed into a poised, voluptuous mature woman. He tossed the unconscious Xia Chong behind him and walked straight down the street.

"Lei Te can sense at least one, two, three, four, five… more than five figures moving in this town."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe walked the empty street in Feng Yu's identity, his beautiful face beneath the mask grim: "If four of those shadows are the streamers who vanished in Qianju Town, then who are the others?"

Lei Te can perceive the shadows of all living things within a certain range—provided those living things cast shadows, meaning they're exposed to light.

But Qianju Town was decommissioned years ago—water and electricity cut off. The interiors of its ruined buildings and old houses had no natural light. Is it really a coincidence that every person in town just happened to be outdoors, where Lei Te could spot them?

Or is the town actually teeming with people—so many that even those just barely exposed to light already outnumber the total of those who vanished here in recent days?

(End of Chapter)