Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 480: Thirty Minutes of Horror

Those coins had just saved Li Mazi’slife!

From inside the room, Ru Xue and Yin Xinyuecould see thatwe were in danger. As such,they threw the coinstowards the ghostto help us. Since the coins had passed through the hands of thousands of people,strongYang energy emanated from them.Whenthe coinssensed the ghost’s Yin energy, they turned intoagolden light, attacking thespirit.

However, they were also destroyedin the process. The bronze color of the coins had turned black, with some coinsevencracking. That female ghosthad formidable strength!

Those coinswereour last resort, andthey only served to cause some pain to the ghost. If we chased after her, it wouldn’t be different from seeking death. Fortunately, the ghost was scared of thecoins. If she knew that we had used all the coins, wewouldn’tsurvive long enough to imagine the consequences!

“Damn, we almost died!” Li Mazi sat down, cursing.

Yet, shortly after, I heard himbegin to snore. Hehad fallen asleep on the floor.

“Brother Zhang, help mecarry himto the bed! He’s too tired.” Ru Xue felt sorry for him.

I nodded and helped her bring Li Mazi to the bed. Afterhe was settled down, I looked at the bruise on his neck. Hewasscratchingit the whole day, andIfelt something was off,so I wanted to check it.

However, he was exhausted, so I left him be. I sighed,planningto do it tomorrow.

I later regretteddoing this as italmost caused Li Mazi’s death in a foreign land!

Since Li Mazi was sleeping in my room, I took Yin Xinyue to the other room to sleep.No matter what, the female ghost was wounded, soshe wouldn’t be able to come toour room tonight. I washed my face and fell asleep shortly after. However, not long afterward, I felt someone walking in front of me.

Ihad yet to fall into a deep sleepasI had just laid down on the bed. I was still conscious, soI instantly knew that some ghosthad visited my room.

Yin Xinyue wasasleep, hugging me. She was snoring softly like a purring kitten.

I didn’t lift the blanket immediatelysinceI was afraid of awakening her. My eyes slowly opened, andI saw a big face right in front of me. The face couldn’t have been morethan five centimeters away from mine. The two blank eyes bulged as if they would burst out in the next second and hit my face.

I felt my heart leap, andIalmost screamed.

However, this pair of eyes looked familiar! I opened my eyesentirely to see thatit was Li Mazi’s face.

I exhaledandsat up, barking, “Dude, whyaren’t you asleep? It’s midnight. Whydid you come into my room?Do you want to scare mewithyour ghostly face?”

I took out a cigarette and was about to light it. Unexpectedly, Li Mazi grabbed my arm, his voice low. “You’d better not smoke at night.”

When Li Mazi spoke, his voice didn’t sound like his own. Moreover, the moment he touched me, his skin felt strangely cold.

I had a bad premonition.Is Li Mazibeing controlledby that thing?

Mymindalmostwent blankwhena quick glance brought the door to the room into my eyesight.

The doorwas still closed! When we got into the room, we had locked the door carefully, soLi Mazicouldn’t have entered the room!

The man in front of me isn’t Li Mazi!

It was possible that he wasa ghost. Ghosts were afraid of fire. Thatmight bewhy he didn’t want me to light up my cigarette.

I didn’t know why it wanted to impersonate Li Mazi andentermy room, but I wassureitwas bad news for us!

Instinctively, I checked my clothes. Luckily, I still had some wheat in my pocket.However,Li Mazi sneered coldly. “No need to waste your strength. Do you think I’m afraid of wheat grains?”

Then, he bent down and picked up a handful of durum wheat grains, throwing them in theair.

Iremembered thatbefore nightarrived,I poured durum wheat grains on the important spotsinthis room.

Looking at Li Mazismiling evilly, Ifeltfear rising from the bottom of my heart. However, Ikept my voice calm,“Who are you?”

If he were a human, how could heenter my room without making any noise?

Moreover, his body wasas cold as ice,and hismovements werestiff. He didn’t look like a living person, but he wasn’t afraid of wheat, either.

Isheso strong thathe can ignore the Yang power of the wheat?

Although I wasterrified, I wore a calm faceas I gazedat him, trying tosee if I could gather anything from his face. Li Mazi stopped smiling,andhis eyes met mine.Right as I was about to look away, he got on his knees, crying,“LittleBrother Zhang, h-help me! Please, save me!”

It was Li Mazi’s voice when he said that.

My fear had abandoned me at this moment, and I remembered the ring-shaped bruise on Li Mazi’s neck. “Is there somethingwrong withyour neck?”

He didn’t answer. Or, he couldn’t make a sound.

His mouth opened and closed as he was trying to say something. I read his lipsand guessed that he wasrepeatedlysaying, “Help me!”

Igrew moreworried when he did that. I grabbed his arm, screaming, “Brother, what happened to you? You shouldn’t scare me like this!”

Yet,he couldn’t make a single sound,and his body began to melt. In the end, he turned into a puddle of blood.

I’d seenplenty ofhorrible scenes throughout my life. However, this was the first time I saw a man dielike this. I couldn’tstop myself as I beganscreaming.

Afterward, I jolted up from my bed, my back damp and cold. My sweat had soaked the bed sheet underneath me. Yin Xinyue rubbed my face, her voice worried. “Brother Zhang, did you have a nightmare?”

“When did you wake up?” I wassuspicious.

She smiled. “I haven’t slept yet! Ru Xue and I slept for the whole day. How could I sleep anylonger? I’ve been playing with my phone.”

“What?” Instinctively, I turned to see the place where Li Mazi had turned into a puddle of blood. There was onlytheline of durum wheat I had poured on the floor.There was no blood.

The pack of cigarettes was where I had put it before going to sleep. I checked the time. It had been only half an hour since weentered the room.

I now realized that I just had a nightmareandsigheddeeply. Yin Xinyue wiped my sweaty forehead. “What did you see in your dream?”

I couldn’tstop myself from thinking about it, and Ididn’t bother totell her about the dream.I hurried to put onmyclothes, going to Ru Xue’s room.

I knocked on the door.Soon, the door opened, andRu Xue showed upinher nightgown, fuming,“Whyaren’tyou sleeping? It’s midnight. Are you trying to scare me?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Where’s Li Mazi?”

I sawthat their bed was empty. My intuition told me that somethingterriblewas happening. My voice slowly turned hoarse.

“Squattingonthe toilet. What happened?” Ru Xue stopped joking when she saw my tense face.

She reached her hand to knock on thebathroomdoor. “Mazi, are you done yet?”

Before she finished talking, the door slid openon its own. I craned my neck to seeinside but was left with ahorriblefeeling.

Therewasno oneonthe toilet!

“It’s midnight. Where would he go? Why did you come to see him all of a sudden? Did you find something?” Ru Xuetook a few seconds to pull herself together. She looked panickedas she also felt thatsomething was wrong.

I balled myhandsinto fists, asking Ru Xue,“What timewasit when you last saw him?”

“A few minutes before yougot here!”

Ru Xue almost cried when she said that. After listening to her, I rushed downstairs tosearch for Li Mazi. I saw Yin Xinyueinthe corridor. “Xinyue,goand stay with Ru Xue.Youmuststayawakeuntil the morning. No matter what, don’t open the door. Just wait until the morning!”

I didn’t have time to answer their questions, hurrying down to the lobby. I then went to thesecurity office, asking the staff to show me the surveillance cameras. The enthusiastic Italian staff memberhelped mewatch the scene froma few minutes ago. I saw Li Mazileaveand walk on the meandering, narrow path behind the hotel.

Before I left, the staff member grabbed my arm, using his broken Chinese to advise me, “Friend, you shouldn’t go there at night. People say that the Devil lives there!”

“Thank you!”

I was surprised, thanking himbeforedashing toward the path Li Mazi hadtaken.

Every ethnicity hadsomethingthey worshipped orwerescared of.People from the Eastworshippedthe Jade Emperor and feared ghosts.People from theWestworshipped God and were afraid of Satan.It sounded superstitious, but who couldsay for certainthat those supernatural beings didn’t exist?

That Italian staff member was a local. If he said that place washaunted, ithad tobe true. I was even more anxious now.