Chapter 16: Reckless and Unrestrained (Revised)
The shadow had a rounded figure and moved clumsily. Just as it was about to approach the car’s front door, Yang Xuan suddenly flung the door open, hitting the dark figure.
“Ouch! That hurts so much!”
From the voice, it was Little Fatty.
Covering his bleeding nose, Little Fatty looked full of resentment.
“Yang Xuan, what do you mean by this? Just because you own the car, you act recklessly?”
“Is this your way of getting back at me?”
Hearing this, Yang Xuan raised his eyebrows, spreading his hands in a gesture of complete innocence.
“Are you really using me to take revenge?”
“On the contrary, you’re sneaky—what are you trying to do?”
Earlier, Little Fatty had indeed wanted to come over and scare Yang Xuan a bit. After all, he had followed from Baxian Village all the way here, already displeased. He had thought the opera troupe would perform the ghost play directly tonight, but by two in the morning, the troupe had made no move.
It wasn’t so much the delay that bothered him, but that his goddess, Yu Mengjia, was forced to sleep in the car, which Little Fatty found unacceptable.
“Me? I haven’t even questioned you, yet you’re the first to accuse me? That’s interesting!”
“I want to ask you, why hasn’t the ghost play started yet?”
Upon hearing this, Yang Xuan decided not to respond politely.
“What’s it to you? Whether they perform or not has nothing to do with you. Are you the troupe leader? Or did you pay for it?”
“I neither paid nor am I the leader, so stop with the nonsense!”
“You, you… you’re really trying to piss me off!”
“What’s that? Don’t agree? Come bite me then!”
As they argued, Yu Mengjia and Qiao Qiao approached, holding their phones mounted on selfie sticks.
Seeing the confrontation was about to escalate, the two women hurried to intervene.
“Stop fighting!”
“Timid Cat, don’t be so rude! After all, we’re filming them, so speak politely.” Yu Mengjia’s face was full of justice; she treated matters fairly and impartially, showing no favoritism.
This earned continuous praise from the viewers in the live chat.
“It’s small but mighty: As expected from a professional streamer, handling things fairly and squarely. Support! But now looking at Little Fatty, I don’t know why, something about him just rubs me the wrong way!”
“I’m Jibo: Upstairs, what does your name mean? What’s ‘small but mighty’? Is it like my name?”
“It’s small but mighty: No, I mean don’t be so vulgar! My name refers to dreams, what does yours have to do with chicken feathers?”
...
With Yu Mengjia and Qiao Qiao’s appearance, Timid Cat felt emboldened and acted even more recklessly.
---
“I don’t care. You slammed the door on my nose. I don’t need an apology, but you have to pay for the medical bill.”
“Want a chicken bone?”
Yang Xuan glanced at the leftover chicken leg bone with a sincere look.
“…”
“I want nothing of the sort!”
“Don’t change the subject. Thirty thousand yuan, not a penny less.”
Yang Xuan ignored him, climbed into the car, rolled up the window, and began humming a tune, giving the other no chance to respond.
At that moment, the light on room 1804 flickered twice, drawing everyone's attention.
“Trouble in 1804!”
Zhen Yaofu grabbed his gear, signaled Yang Xuan, and dashed upstairs first.
Yang Xuan wanted to see what was going on and followed closely.
With the two of them heading up, Yu Mengjia and Qiao Qiao naturally seized the chance and chased after them.
Though Little Fatty was inwardly scared, he wanted to show off his strength before these two beauties and forced himself to follow.
“Jiajia, don’t worry. I’ll go first; follow behind me. If anything happens, you leave first.”
At this moment, no one was paying attention to the live chat, but the viewers inside started questioning Little Fatty’s behavior.
“Drinking Nutritional Drink: Who is this Little Fatty anyway? So annoying! If this was a woman, she’d be a total gold digger!”
“Ice Red Tea Keeps Drinking: He’s an old viewer, part of the family, but this near-suicidal urge for attention is really irritating!”
“Most Handsome Second Generation: Honestly, it’s just Mengmeng. With such good manners, if it were any other streamer, they’d have lost their temper long ago!”
“Fluffy Monster: Hey, top donor, I’d say be careful. Don’t come back losing both your wife and your soldiers. Little Fatty’s intentions aren’t what they seem!”
At these words, the top donor fell silent.
By now, Zhen Yaofu had entered the corridor.
Yu Mengjia and the others also stepped inside but chose to press the elevator button upon entering.
Strangely, though the entire building was without power, the elevator still had electricity.
As the elevator doors opened, a hand grabbed Yu Mengjia.
“Ah~ A ghost!”
“Shh, don’t make a sound. If you want to live, don’t take the elevator. Use the stairs!”
Yang Xuan spoke plainly, then began climbing the stairway.
His pace was quick, and he noticed that after the possession by Guan Yu, the God of War, his stamina had improved noticeably.
He wasn’t sure if it was real or just psychological.
---
Reaching the 18th floor, there was a loud bang, and Zhen Yaofu was thrown backward.
“Whoa?”
Yang Xuan was stunned. Was there something inside room 1804?
Zhen Yaofu lay on the floor, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, looking defiant.
“You okay?”
Zhen Yaofu shook his head, eyes fixed on room 1804.
“I’m fine. But the thing inside that room is fierce!”
Upon hearing this, Yang Xuan nodded knowingly and took out the POS machine he always carried, handing it to Zhen Yaofu.
“Need help? If so, I can give you a friendly discount.”
“…”
Zhen Yaofu wanted to curse silently. At a life-or-death moment, this guy was only thinking about money.
But seeing Yang Xuan wasn’t joking, he reluctantly took out his card.
“Swipe any amount you want!”
“Ding~ Insufficient balance.”
“Sorry, no money on the card!”
Zhen Yaofu sighed deeply and grit his teeth.
“Enough talk. As long as you deal with whatever’s inside, I’ll report back to the organization and make sure you get reimbursed!”
“Fine. Don’t go back on your word.”
Yang Xuan wasn’t afraid Zhen Yaofu would renege.
If he did, that would be even easier to handle—Yang Xuan had plenty of ways to deal with him.
At worst, he’d make all the items Zhen Yaofu bought at auctions reappear in future auctions.
As soon as he stepped into the room, Tang Xuan immediately felt a powerful aura of malevolence.
The room was bathed in red light, and in the corner crouched four people. In the center stood a child holding a kitchen knife in his left hand and a severed head in his right.
“No wonder people were missing from this room during the day — they were here.”
Yang Xuan stepped in and slammed the door shut behind him, noticing the little demon staring directly at him.