Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 554: The Terrifying Haunted House

The young man was called Shen Haoran. One month ago, he had gathered with hisfriends for drinks. As they were all young and inebriated, they began to play the dare game. He couldn’t remember who had suggestedtheidea, but in the end, they all went to the famous haunted house in the area.That night, all of them were drunk. No one remembered what had happened.

When theywokeup, they found their entire bodies covered with scratches. It seemedlike some dog or cat had attacked them withitsclaws. They thought it was from astray cat, so they didn’t pay attention.

As they hadleftthe haunted house intact, they took in the fresh air and felt it was really exciting.

Then, when he came to this part of the story, Shen Haoran seemed to recall something. His hands holding the cup trembled. “We thought we would go to that haunted house one more time the next week. And,we agreed not to drink this time to see who would be scared themost! But then,something happened to Orange…

“Orange is a girl whohadjust turned eighteen. She dropped out of school after junior high. Every night, she would hang out with us at the bar. Butonenight, she didn’t come. We thought it was strange. Then, Orange’s mother, asingle mom, came to us and told us that Orangehad turnedcrazy! We were worriedandwentto her house. We saw Orange with ruffled hair. She washolding a painting. She stroked the painting and looked so obsessed with it. It seemed the paintinghadsome magic,” said Shen Haoran.

I suddenly had a strange feeling. However, it soon disappeared. I noddedand askedShen Haoran to continue.

“Master Zhang, you don’t knowit, butOrange’s face looked so horrible at that time. She didn’t have a bit of color on her face, and her eyes had rolled to the back of her head.Do you know Sadako from The Ring? Yeah, she looked like that ghost.” Shen Haoran took in a deep breath.

“What painting is that?” I asked.

“The situationscared thecrapout of us. We didn’thave a clear lookat the picture, but I knowthere was someancient calligraphy,” answered Shen Haoran.

It wasapicture Orangetookfrom the haunted house. They didn’t think it was a big matter. Unexpectedly, bad things had happened afterward.

Li Mazi’s eyes sparkled. Hehadthe same ideaasme. That picture was an otherworldly item.

“What happened after that?” Li Mazi couldn’t waitand urgedShen Haoran to continue.

“Orange’s mother saw that her daughter has been admiring the painting all day long withouteating or drinking. She soonturned as thin as a skeleton. She made up her mind and hit her daughter until she fell unconscious. She took the painting and burned it…” said Shen Haoran.

“Burned it?” I frowned. All the otherworldly items had a spirit and that spirit would never let someone burn it easily. Was that painting not an otherworldly item?

I knew it wasn’t that simple. Otherwise, Shen Haoran wouldn’t have come here to ask for my help.

Indeed, after pausing for a moment, Shen Haoran continued,“It wasn’t justOrange’s mom, but we also thought that everything would be all right if we burned that painting. However, when Orange woke up the next day, she became crazyand rushedout of the house to find the painting! She kept mumbling something indistinctive. But she didn’tavoidthe vehicles on the street. Shewasalmost run over many times. Her mother was so worried. She kept watching her daughter. However, bad things still happened…One night, at around midnight, Orange’s mom thought that her daughter was sleeping, so she alsowentto take a short nap. However, when she opened her eyes, Orange was gone. Orange’s momwentto the streets to find her. Eventually, she foundOrangeat that haunted house. She was bleeding, so she tookher to the hospital. Untilnow, Orange hasn’twokenup yet.”

Except for Orange, Shen Haoran also said that theyhadanother friend called Along.Hewasalso actingstrangely these days. He didn’t come out to meet them. Every day, he locked himself in his room anddidn’t even want to pick uphisphone.

Shen Haoran was worried that they were being pesteredby something, so hehad come toask for my help.

My heart froze. These young people didn’tpay attention tothedangerous games they were playing. If they didn’t seek death, they wouldn’t die!They had probablyprovokedapowerful otherworldly item. Thatwas why all of them got pestered this time.

Usually, if I could ignore this sort of otherworldly item, I would ignore it, especiallybecauseI had justgottenmarried.

Shen Haoran got on his knees again. He poundedhis head on the ground tobegme. My heart softened. I agreed togoand take a look.

Li Mazi and I sorted our bags then left. We would drive our car.

When I walked out of the shop, I didn’t know why but my intuition told me to grab the painting I hadplacedon the counter. I putitinmy bag.

When the car drove off ofWuhan’s highway, the road became worse. Shen Haoran felt much betterasLi Mazi hadtoldhim dirtyadult jokesalongthe way. Hewas even inthe mood to tease Li Mazi.

While driving, I carefully assessed Shen Haoran through the rearview mirror. Shen Haoran was a handsome young man with awell-builtbody. His hair was dyed blonde, and he had anear-piercing. At first glance, he looked like a Korean movie star from a magazine.

I suddenly got an idea and blurted, “Hey little Shen? Are you in love?”

Shen Haoran was dumbstruck at my sudden question whilehe was jokingwith Li Mazi.He shook his head.

“Do you like some girl?”

Shen Haoran nodded, but then shook his head.

I didn’t get it.Shen Haoran then explained that he liked a girl from an upright, classy family but that her family didn’t agree to let them be together.

I smiled and stopped askingand focusedon driving. The road soon became quite rough. It felt so bumpy. I had to put all of my concentrationintodriving. Thatwas why I didn’t know what Li Mazi and Shen Haoran were excitedly discussingintheback.

Later,Li Mazi tried his best to push mefrom behindand take the wheel. That was when Isuddenlywokeup.

“LittleBrother Zhang, are you crazy? I asked you to stop!” Li Mazi shouted at me hysterically as if his life was being threatened.

I was bewildered, but as he had shouted at me, I instinctively stepped on the brake.When the carstopped, I recognized that I had almost hit someone’s house on the side of the road. I was scared.

Then, I realized something. There was a flat andwhite face stuck on the windshield. It seemed this white face had made me drowsy and almost crashed my car!

The face looked flat like a piece of paper. There was no nose or mouth, butapair of open eyesthat gazedat me.

I felt my legsturnintojellyas I was facingthe white face. Sweatbeaded over myforehead. Li Mazi didn’t look good, either. His eyes opened wide in fearas he lookedat the windshield.Histemperfrom earlierwas gone…

Shen Haoran was completely frightened. He shoved his body into Li Mazi. His face at the other’s crotch.

I didn’t have the strength to care about him.The instantI wanted to draw my whip, I found that the bag I had put on the passenger seat was gone.

I didn’t haveenoughtime to think. I pulled theprayerbeads I hung in my car and heldthemin my hand.

That white face wasn’t simple to deal with. I had been bewitched inadvertently. If it weren’t for Li Mazi’s quick wit, the three of us would have died in a car crash!

I felt strange. These days, it was rare to encounteraghost or evil spirit in the city area, let alone a very powerful one.

Wasthis the spirit Shen Haoran and his friends had provoked?Could it be that itwanted todeal withus before we couldreachthe place to meet up with it?

“Little Shen, is your house far from here?” I asked but didn’t turnaroundto look at Shen Haoran.

Shen Haoran shivered. “There’s at least half an hour more.”

My heart sank. It seemed this white face wasn’t the spirit Shen Haoran had encountered.

“LittleBrother Zhang…”Li Mazi and Shen Haoran huddled together. Li Mazi’s voice choked with sobs. “What should we do now?”

I didn’t answerand heldonto the Buddhistprayerbeads. If my memorywascorrect, this chain ofprayerbeads had been blessed. It was the only sacred item we had now.

That flat, white face was still on my windshield. Itdidn’t even wiggleand continued to gazeat me.

I started the car’s engine and slowly drove a few meters. The face disappeared. I slumpedin the seat.Right asI exhaled in relief, a murderous aura wafted toward me from behind. I pulled myself togetherandinstinctivelyloweredmy head. That murderous wispblew overmy headand flewaway.

I focused and saw it was a button. I turned my head around to see. It was from Li Mazi! His shirtwas missinga button, and his right hand was still inathrowing position.

Shen Haoran was petrifiedand lookedat Li Mazi.At thismoment, he didn’t even dare to gasp for breath. Let alone him, I was also stunned.

Seeing me turning around, Li Mazi released a series of low laughs. It wasas if he had sputum stuck in his throat.

I didn’t think muchand bitthe tip of my tongue. I spatblood on theprayerbeads. Then, I raisedthem and hitLi Mazi’sforehead.

Li Mazi reactedquickly. He seemed to have read mymind. His body flexibly moved aside.

At the moment our lives were at stake, Shen Haoran, who had been petrified, suddenly grabbed Li Mazi.

After the mala beads hit Li Mazi, his body turned soft. Then, heslumped onto Shen Haoran’s back.

I gave Shen Haoran athumbs-up. I hadn’t expected that this young man would be of help at the critical moment.

At thismoment, I heardanear-splitting horn from behind us. I checked the rearview mirror and found that our car wasparkedacross the street. It wasblocking thenarrow street.

The cars behind us were blocked, too. I immediately turned the wheel to adjust the car. Then, we continued with our trip.

Through the corner of my eye, I saw my bag on the passenger seat. Itsatthere quietly as if it had never gone missing.

If Li Mazi’s shirtwasn’tmissing a button, I wouldhave thought thateverything that had just happened was a hallucination.

Forthe rest of the trip,no other strange thingshappened. We finally reached the town where Shen Haoran lived.

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