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My Tenant is a Female Ghost
Bang! Bai Zhuo kicked open Su Meiniang's door rudely and swaggered out.
In the yard stood two strangers whom Bai Zhuo did not recognize. One of them curiously asked, "Hey, friend, are you here to collect something too?"
This person mistakenly thought Bai Zhuo was one of his accomplices!
In just a short while, who knows how many groups of thieves had come and gone? Bai Zhuo was furious and laughed mockingly, cursing, "Damn it, this is my home!"
The two thieves were startled. "Oh no, he’s the owner here! Let’s get out of here!"
However, one of the thieves suddenly grabbed his partner and sneered at Bai Zhuo, "Haha, so you're Bai Zhuo? I heard from my employer that if this were the past, we might have been wary of you. But now that your master is dead and you have no backing, I'm not afraid of you! It seems the previous visitors didn’t find The Painting. Brother, let’s take him down together and make him hand over The Painting!"
"Uh... isn’t that a bit too much? We’re thieves, not robbers..."
"Damn! The Painting is worth two million dollars! That’s over ten million in local currency! You’re not in? Then I’m going!" This man said as he drew a dagger from his waist and approached Bai Zhuo with a fierce expression. Hearing the high reward, his partner also got fired up and cracked his knuckles as they charged forward.
These two thieves seemed to be ordinary people with no real skills; they were relying solely on their aggression. As the saying goes, people die for wealth while birds die for food. These two thieves had no idea what Bai Zhuo was holding!
Bai Zhuo didn’t waste time talking to them. He directly pulled out a .54 caliber pistol, aiming it at their feet with both hands. "You’d better not move! Otherwise, I’ll shoot!"
The expressions of the two thieves froze as they immediately halted in their tracks. After a moment of tense standoff, the one behind stammered, "Hey, big guy, that can’t be a toy gun, right?"
Bai Zhuo sneered coldly, "You can certainly try!"
The taller thief wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and slowly raised his hand. "Bro, bro, don't get excited. We just want The Painting. We mean you no harm. Look, this dagger hasn't even been unsealed yet... We'll leave right now... we can even turn ourselves in!" As he spoke, the thief wiped the dagger with his hand, confirming it was indeed unopened.
He tossed aside the unopened dagger, swallowed hard to moisten his dry throat. Having seen a lot in his life, he recognized that the gun in front of him was definitely real!
Damn it, why didn't the client tell me he had a gun?
"Oh? What? You think the gun in my hand is a toy?"
Bai Zhuo unexpectedly interjected. Suddenly, a shout came from the doorway: "Bai Zhuo! Behind you!" Over the past six months, Bai Zhuo had been in numerous fights. Hearing Kagura Aoi's warning sent chills down his spine; adrenaline surged as he quickly dodged to the side!
An arrow whistled through the air, slicing through Bai Zhuo's sleeve and drawing blood. With a thud, the black arrow embedded itself into the door behind him. A wave of murderous intent surged within Bai Zhuo, who turned and pulled the trigger of his Type 54 pistol toward where the arrow had come from.
"Bang!" The gunshot echoed like thunder throughout the courtyard, causing both thieves to drop to the ground in fear. One of them, the shorter one, was so scared he wet himself!
True to its name, the Black Star's powerful recoil made Bai Zhuo's right hand tremble uncontrollably. His aim was off by miles, especially for someone like Bai Zhuo, who was an amateur; it was already a stroke of luck that his arm didn't dislocate. The figure lurking in the corridor was also startled by the loud gunshot and fell from the wall, scrambling to get back up and fleeing over the wall.
Bai Zhuo wanted to chase after him when suddenly he felt a tingling sensation in his left hand where he had been shot. Looking down, his face changed dramatically as he cursed, "Damn it! Corpse Poison!"
His face turned pale as he bit into his index finger and quickly drew a Curse Seal on his arm while murmuring, "Qian, Dui, Li, Zhen! Xun, Kan, Gen, Kun! Evil cannot suppress righteousness; the Bagua reigns supreme! Supreme True Lord, I command you urgently!" Bai Zhuo cast his spell and pressed his fingers against the wound in an attempt to stop the spread of Corpse Poison. However, this Corpse Poison was only suppressed by the Bagua Formation for a moment; after a few breaths, green light flickered from the wound, and the blood-red formation of Curse Seal immediately collapsed. The wound on his arm began to rot and stiffen at a visible rate!
"This is bad; it's Zombie's Corpse Poison! Aoi! Quickly go to the kitchen and get some Glutinous Rice and wine!"
Kagura Aoi responded quickly and rushed to find Glutinous Rice in the kitchen. Bai Zhuo sat down on the ground, took a deep breath to lower his heart rate while remaining vigilant against the two thieves in the courtyard.
Soon, Kagura Aoi brought out a bag of Glutinous Rice, and Bai Zhuo hurriedly took it, grabbing a handful and pressing it against the wound. As the Glutinous Rice made contact with the injury, it emitted a sizzling sound! The Glutinous Rice combined with the green liquid, turning into a thick slurry. Only then did Bai Zhuo let out a sigh of relief and took the alcohol that Kagura Aoi handed him, pouring it over the wound.
With the Corpse Poison gone from the wound, Bai Zhuo felt pain and couldn't help but scream. The two thieves lying on the ground jumped up in unison, trying to flee towards the door. However, Bai Zhuo had been watching them closely; he raised his gun and shouted loudly, "Stop right there! Or I will shoot!"
Upon hearing this, the two thieves panicked and stood frozen in place. They had witnessed that Bai Zhuo's gun was a real firearm! Compared to burglary and murder, their crime was lesser and shouldn't warrant death, but they didn't dare take the risk; if Bai Zhuo really shot them, wouldn't that be an unjust death?
"Stand there and behave yourselves! Just for that arrogant remark you made earlier, I won't let you off easily!" Bai Zhuo said fiercely. Little did he know that the slightly shorter thief trembled again and wet himself, soaking his pants.
"Bai... Master, are you alright?"
Bai Zhuo looked down at his arm and used a blood curse to reinforce a Bagua Formation before nodding in reassurance. He walked behind the two thieves and poked the one who had wet himself on the back of his head with the gun barrel, coldly saying, "Who was it? My master has gone to the Underworld; do you think I have no backup?"
The thief who had wet himself had never seen a real gun before. Feeling the warm barrel that had just fired now poking at his head made his legs shake even more. Stammering, he pleaded for mercy, "Hero, spare me! Spare my life... no, not mine."
"Damn it, what a stench of urine! Tell me honestly, who sent you here?"
The thief hesitated for a moment. "This..."
"What? No? Do you want to live or not!" Bai Zhuo pressed harder with his right hand, causing the hard gun barrel to hurt the thief's head. The thief yelped in pain and explained, "N-no..."
He stammered for a long time without managing to say anything coherent. The taller accomplice beside him spoke up to clarify: "Brother, you've misunderstood. We actually don't know who our employer is; we've never met them face-to-face. We don't even know if they're male or female. All we know is that if we obtain some Map of Mountains and Rivers, they would pay us two million dollars."
Both thieves were just ordinary people; Bai Zhuo couldn't help but admire this man's courage—at least he hadn't wet himself. Bai Zhuo asked, "Two million dollars? You didn't even meet the person and just trusted them like that?"
He shook his head slightly. "We have our channels, and we've already received a deposit—two hundred thousand RMB. We have no choice but to believe it." Bai Zhuo muttered to himself, "What a pity... Innocent men suffer for possessing something valuable!" He then asked, "So, how should I deal with you two?"
The timid thief didn't dare to speak, while the taller one lowered his head and said, "Big brother, this time we admit defeat. We only ask that you spare our lives."
Bai Zhuo pondered for a moment, stroking his chin.
The two thieves turned their backs to Bai Zhuo, feeling anxious about what he might do. Suddenly, Bai Zhuo asked, "What are your names?"
"We're both orphans raised by our master. I'm called Big Bull, and this is my younger brother Ergou. He's a bit timid, but his skills are top-notch... Big brother, according to the rules of the underworld, we each need to lose a finger. Ergou is afraid of pain; I'll take two."
"Ha! Still a tough guy, huh?" Bai Zhuo scoffed and slammed his gun down on Big Bull. "Just answer my questions without any nonsense! Don't worry; since you two didn't intend to kill anyone earlier, I'll spare your lives!"
"Yes, yes... Big brother, we won't say a word," Big Bull hurriedly replied. "Ask away."
"I'm curious. You two don't seem particularly skilled; how did you dare to come here to steal?"
Big Bull explained, "Big brother, you may not know this, but we were trained by Divine Hand and excel at stealing. The people in the underworld call us Twin Sacred Hands. It's just that my brother and I got careless seeing this place in disarray..."
Bai Zhuo couldn't see anything impressive about Big Bull and Ergou. Sensing Bai Zhuo's disbelief, Big Bull added, "Big brother, if I don't touch your gun, can I pat your shoulder?"
Bai Zhuo turned to Kagura Aoi and said, "Aoi, take the gun and keep an eye on these two. Don't let them escape."
Kagura Aoi took the handgun and nodded. "Yes, master."
“Big Bull, is it? Come on, let me see what you've got.”
Big Bull slowly turned around and simply reached out his right hand to lightly pat Bai Zhuo on the shoulder, then made no further moves.
“Is that it?” Bai Zhuo asked, puzzled.
Big Bull shook his head. “No, big brother, how much money do you have in your wallet?” Recently, Bai Zhuo had been short on cash and didn’t answer him. “Why do you ask that?”
Big Bull smiled and, as if performing a magic trick, produced several bills and coins from his hand. “A total of three hundred twenty-eight yuan! All right here!”
Bai Zhuo was taken aback, reaching into his pocket to find his wallet still safely tucked away. He pulled it out and opened it, only to discover that all the money inside had vanished!
“How is this possible!” Bai Zhuo exclaimed in shock; it felt like magic! Was there even a second when this happened?
“Big brother, this is one of our special skills. What do you think? Can we go now?” Big Bull innocently thought Bai Zhuo just wanted to see him perform.
“Let you go?” Seeing Big Bull’s skills, Bai Zhuo had an idea. “No, no, no, you misunderstood. Your performance just saved your fingers; I’m not planning to let you go yet!”
Big Bull frowned and asked, “Big brother, what do we need to do? Just give us a straight answer!”
Bai Zhuo smiled as he patted Big Bull on the shoulder and took back the more than three hundred yuan to put it back in his pocket. “You’re coming with me!”
Upon hearing this, Big Bull quickly shook his head. “That won’t do, big brother. Although we take jobs, we won’t be tied down by anyone… Besides, Ergouzi is about to have a baby, and his wife doesn’t know he’s a thief. With technology being so advanced nowadays, we could easily get caught. We’ve been discussing that continuing this life of crime isn’t sustainable, so we plan to make this one last score and retire. Please don’t make things difficult for us!”
The timid Ergouzi spoke up, "Big Bull! Why do you always have to involve others in everything..."
"Ergouzi, shut your mouth!" Big Bull snapped, and immediately Ergouzi fell silent, clearly a person who was extremely afraid of trouble.
"Oh? Is that so?" Bai Zhuo thought to himself that if he forced these two to work for him, given their abilities, he might end up being bitten back. After pondering for a moment, he said, "How about this: you two take on jobs, and it's all for money. I can find you both decent work. If I need your help, you must assist me, and I'll pay you according to market rates!"
"This..." Big Bull hesitated. To be honest, he wasn't particularly interested in either of those options, but what Bai Zhuo said next made his eyes light up. Bai Zhuo continued, "Do you know where this gun came from? It was issued to me by the state! I can see you're knowledgeable about firearms; this Type 54 pistol has long been discontinued and isn't something just anyone can get their hands on. So if you work for me, you're essentially working for the country! Although we are both on the dark side, if anything goes wrong, the state will protect you! Of course, the premise is that you're performing official duties."
Bai Zhuo's words stirred something in Big Bull. He had never imagined that as a thief, he could one day serve the country!
Big Bull was wavering, and Bai Zhuo could see it. He remained calm and said, "I'm not going to force this on you; you can decide for yourselves. If you're interested, come find me at Wentai after six o'clock tonight... You can go now."
As soon as Bai Zhuo finished speaking, the timid Ergouzi took off running and quickly disappeared from sight. Big Bull cursed under his breath and said to Bai Zhuo, "Thank you for sparing my life. I saw your skills just now; we'll seriously consider your proposal."
With that, Big Bull nodded at Bai Zhuo and left.
After Big Bull departed, Kagura Aoi looked puzzled and asked, "Master, did you see potential in their ability to steal? It seems like it wouldn't be much use to us as Onmyoji."
Bai Zhuo glanced at Kagura Aoi and succinctly replied with four words: "Big chest, no brains." (To be continued.)
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