Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 468: The Mysterious Big Fire

After that incident, the brotherhood between me and Li Mazibecameeven stronger. It was thesort of self-evident relationship that had been proven through moments of life anddeath.

Although we had both promised Yin Xinyue and Ru Xue that we would wash our hands and give upourcareersasotherworldly merchants, we both knew that we would never be able to keep our promise to the girls.

Let alone the huge sums of money, we were addicted!

Moreover, being an otherworldly merchantwas a life-time career. What was the goodin givingit up so early? After two months of enjoying our leisure time, a client came to our door.

Hewas a man with a shaved head and a vigorous body. Two dragon tattooscoveredhis arms. He wore athickgoldchainaroundhis neckandappearedto bea true gangster, which made me interested in him.

In this society,gangsters mainly robbed people orwere loan sharks. As such, they would come in contact withotherworldly items thatmerchants like usrarely saw.

“Kids,callyour boss out here!” As soon asthe bald manentered the shop, he shotusa cold glanceand ordered usarrogantly.

Iwanted to tease him. “Mr. Zhang’s not in the shop.Please return later.”

Li Mazi knewwhat I was thinking. He covered his mouthand sniggered.

The manwas surprisedand grunted.“Whyisn’the home?” Suddenly, he saw Li Mazi sniggering. He understood that he was tricked.

He pointedat me and shouted, “Damn, kid, you should invite Mr. Zhang out here to meet me. Otherwise, Iwillburn down your shop tonight!”

Looking at his angry face, I wasn’t offended. However, I recognized that thismanwas in great trouble. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be that worried.

I cleared my throat. Then, I smiled and said, “I’mZhang Jiulin.”

“Do I seem like Icare aboutwho you are? Hurry, get Mr. Zhang—” Baldy stopped in the middle of his sentence. His disbelieving eyes assessed me. “What did you say? You are Zhang Jiulin?”

“Isuream.” I stopped smilingand madea gesturetoleave if he didn’t believe me.

“Yes, yes. Good morning, Mr. Zhang.Forgivemy blind eyes!”

The man reactedfast. He gently smacked his faceand said,“You don’t need tohit me. I’llslapmy facemyself. You’re a big person, so please don’tmind my words.”

He wasnow completely different froma moment ago. Ilikedthis kind ofperson. I smiled at him. “It’s okay. Is there something important thatmadeyou come to my shop so early in the morning?”

“Master, please save me!”The manexcitedly grabbed my hands. “If you don’t help me, I don’tknow what I'lldo...”

“Don’t be flustered. We should drink some tea first.” I motioned my headatLi Maziand askedhim to makehima cup of Longjing tea. Then, I askedthe manto take a seat.

“I don’t know what’s happeningover atmy company,but I bet it’ssomethingvery evil. A few menhavediedalready!”The manlooked panicked.

I frownedas I listenedto him. Ihad a feeling that this case would beextremely tough.

In our business, there were three kinds of otherworldly items that we wouldn’t accept. Those that could wound and murder people directly, those that messedwithpeople’s fate, and those that sucked human blood.Once we accepted these otherworldly items, the consequenceswould be unimaginable.

If the otherworldlyitem killed other people because of this man,I would never put my hand in this!

The manlived to his reputationasa gangster. He seemed to have read my mind. He patted his chest and said, “Mr. Zhang, don’t worry! Although I’m part ofthe underworld, I wouldnever dare to cross the line!”

“All right, tell me your story.” I noddedand askedhim totellme more details.

“Yes, here’s the story. I opened a hotel in Baotou, and everything was niceinthe beginning. After all the decorating work was done, I decided to hold the grand opening ceremony. I invited my friends from both worlds.However, something unexpected happenedthatnight!”

Whenhe came to this part, his face slightly changed. “Since it was the grand opening, we had huge discounts. The liquoronthe first floorwasfree. Ihadmany visitors. In the end, some peopledranktoo muchandgotintoa fight. One person died and twowereseriously wounded.”

“Wait, are you sure that the fight has something to do with an otherworldly item?” I didn’t know if I should cry orlaugh.

The mansaid, “Mr. Zhang, please listen to my story first.As the twosidesfought, they soonrealizedthat oneperson was dead.They all rushed out of the hotelin a hurry. As they ranaway, they created a stampede. Two more people died. One of them was the son of an important local official.”

Bladywas so angrythatbad things had happened during his grand opening ceremony. However, he had todeal withthe consequences in the best way he could.

Usually, hewould compensate the victims’ families with a few million renminbi. But since the official had lost his sonin old age, he didn’t accept the compensation. He insistedBaldy was jailed.

SinceBaldyhad aturbulent past, if hewasinvestigated, his deeds would surelycome to light.Hewas scared. He begged forhelpwhile making preparationsto flee.

However,thingsdidn’t endthere. Something happened at his hotel again…

The kitchenonthe first floor had a fire. In principle, even ifitcaught onfire, theywould be ableto extinguish it easily since the hotelwaswell equipped.

But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t put out the fire. Before thefire truckcame, the fire had alreadyreached the third floor.

In the end, the fire wasextinguished,but the hotel was burnedtoa mess.Baldythought that someone had schemedagainsthimandswore to take revenge.

He checked theCCTV countlesstimes, but he couldn’t spot anysuspiciousperson. Instead,he discovered thatthe fire seemed to have escaped and burst from the ground!

Baldywasn’t convinced. Hecalledsome of his henchmen to dig the kitchenfloor. He wanted to see what was underneath. His henchmenhadn’tdug the floor deep enoughwhentheystarted to foam attheir mouths, collapsing.They all diedwithinthe next three days. AlthoughBaldywas anatheistand a member of themafia thatwasn’t new to the sight of blood,he was really scared thistime.

He knew his hotel was haunted. He decided to tellthe fullstory to the official that wanted toimprisonhim.

The official was an experienced old man. After he listened to the story, he kept silent for a long time. In the end, he said, “Nomatter if itwas a ghost or a human, you have to investigate and make it clear.Otherwise,I’ll see you in court!”

Baldydidn’t dare to linger. He tried to find a master everywhere. In the end, he found me through the Circle.

“Ohshoot. What kind of vicious item is that?” Li Mazi’sface changed. However,a gleamof greed flashed in his eyes.

If that evilthingwasa real otherworldly item, its price would be over the top. My heart somewhat itched. However, I was afraid it wasn’t an otherworldly itembuta fiend instead.

The symptoms ofthe men who dug the ground wereverysimilar to those of people possessed by fiends. Grandpa used to tell me a lot of stories about them.

ItoldBaldy, “I can go there and take a look. But if I can’t solve it, I will leave immediately.”

Baldynodded repeatedly. I understood that he wasscaredand that any opportunitywas likethe straw that could save his life.

I asked Li Mazi to get some stuff. Then,we drove withBaldytoBaotou in Inner Mongolia. Wespentthe night there. Early the next morning,Baldycame to take us to his hotel.

Indeed, his hotel had just opened. They hadn’tcleaned upthe confetti and firecrackers at the entrance yet.

Gold-sparkling wordswere written onthe highest floor:Moon Overshadowing Beauty.

The hotel was sealed with cordons. We had to get in from the backdoor. At first glance, the entire lobby was pit-black with charred furniture and burn marks everywhere.Aleather sofa had been burned to the steel frame.Alavish chandelier was shattered. Pieces of crystals were everywhere on the ground.

I pitiedBaldy. Although he was in the mafia, his money came from hishard work. Now,he had lost everything.

“It seems I don’t have good fortuneinthis business. After everything is solved, I will find a peaceful place to retire. I will not do business anymore!”

Baldysounded open-minded. Igave a half-smileand askedhim to bring me to the kitchen where the fire had started.

Baldynodded. When he pushed the kitchen door, I saw the mess inside. Bowls, pots, and pans were everywhere. The porcelain tileshad beenlifted. A few shovels were scattered by a small hole.

I knew it was the place where the fireoccurred. I studied it carefully.

Soon, I found something strange. Since it was a big fire, the place where the fire started shouldhave beendamaged the most.Butdespite the disarray in the kitchen, there was no burning mark or charred spot there. It looked like nothing had ever happened!

Li Mazi also recognizedthis. He shot a doubtful glance towardBaldy. “Are you sure the fire started here?”

“Absolutely!”Baldyconfirmed.

I frowned. If so, the situation wasodd.To check the danger level of the thing underneath, I took out my compass and squatted by the small hole.

At first, the compassneedlestayed still. I thought my compass was brokenandthoughtof givingit a good pat. Butbefore I could doanything, theneedlestarted spinning very fast!