A Free Old Man

"Come on, come on..."

Outside the dormitory, the beggar waved the white banner in his hand and opened his mouth wide. His Adam's apple twitched irregularly as a low sound came from his throat. Before long, two souls slipped out through the crack in the door.

The beggar nodded with satisfaction and went to the door of the next dormitory. When he saw two yellow talismans pasted to it, he spat out a glob of phlegm in disgust and turned toward the next room.

He examined the dormitory door, making sure it was the right one, then raised his white banner and prepared to call out to the souls again.

"Tap!"

Suddenly, the beggar's ear twitched, and he looked back in confusion.

The rapid footsteps in the hallway grew faster and faster. Before long, a flickering shadow came rushing toward him.

Watching the shadow charge his way, the beggar only let out a low, displeased howl. His anger spread around him. Even night ghosts hated having their kind intrude on their hunting grounds.

But the shadow not only failed to slow down—it suddenly sped up.

His awakened ability, [Spirit Walk], activated. Xiao Ran's figure left a blur in the darkness, and the next instant he was right in front of the beggar.

The tiny, bean-sized pupils in the beggar's eye sockets quickly fixed on Xiao Ran. He swung his white banner at him. As it cut through the air, it let out a piercing wail. Even Xiao Ran's mind reeled. Fortunately, the Corpse Stitcher had some resistance to hypnosis, illusions, charms, curses, and other negative effects. And after upgrading his Ghost Sense, Xiao Ran's mind was strong enough that he recovered from the brief daze at once. He pushed off the wall with his toes and flipped over the beggar's head.

The moment Xiao Ran landed, he lunged with both hands and clawed at the beggar. But the beggar didn't even try to dodge, letting Xiao Ran's blue-black nails rake across him.

Xiao Ran could clearly see the mockery on the beggar's face.

That made sense. His claws had only been strengthened to level 4. They couldn't even tear through the dormitory doors, which had been reinforced a few times, let alone threaten the beggar in front of him.

His claws made a ripping sound against the beggar's clothes, but all they did was tear them a little more.

Through the rips, Xiao Ran could see the beggar's flesh beneath his clothes. It looked like century-old tree bark, stained with patches of black grime.

His nails hadn't left so much as a mark.

The beggar flicked his sleeve. Faces on the white banner twisted, opened their mouths wide, and blew hard at Xiao Ran.

In an instant, the temperature plunged. Xiao Ran shuddered as a bone-chilling wind swept over him, making him feel as if he'd fallen into an ice pit.

Night ghosts weren't human, but they still had souls. If that evil wind hit an ordinary night ghost, it would probably scatter their soul on the spot.

Fortunately, Xiao Ran wasn't a true night ghost. Protected by his flesh and blood, he shivered and quickly raised his cloak to block most of the evil wind. But the beggar followed up with a kick, sending him tumbling to the ground. He slid more than ten meters before coming to a stop.

"Later! I'm out of here!"

Xiao Ran scrambled to his feet and ran straight for the stairs.

The beggar didn't plan to chase him, but after a few steps, Xiao Ran turned around and smugly shook the gourd in his hand.

The beggar's face changed at once. He instinctively reached for his waist and realized the gourd tucked inside his clothes was gone.

So Xiao Ran hadn't been charging at the beggar earlier. He'd been waiting for his chance to use Empty Handed Master, searching through the beggar's clothes and snatching the gourd in passing.

The gourd looked rather exquisite. It clearly wasn't an ordinary item.

If he hadn't been unable to speak after turning into a night ghost, Xiao Ran would definitely have said, "Thanks!"

But he didn't have time to check what was inside. When the beggar realized Xiao Ran had stolen his gourd, the Death Qi around him thickened, and his seething hatred surged severalfold. Barefoot, he charged after Xiao Ran.

"I can't beat you head-on, but you'll regret this soon enough!"

The beggar wasn't slow, but Xiao Ran was faster. With Spirit Walk, he could leave the beggar behind in an instant if he wanted. Instead, he deliberately slowed down and ran up the stairs.

Seeing Xiao Ran get away, the beggar refused to let him escape. He chased right behind him, his features twisting as he let out a series of cackling cries.

Xiao Ran couldn't understand the words, but he could tell the beggar was swearing up a storm.

Suddenly, the beggar's left foot tightened. It felt as if he'd stepped on something. Then his foot twisted to the side without his control, making him lose his balance and crash hard onto the stairs. One of his front teeth even went flying.

He looked down in confusion and saw an embroidered shoe wrapped around his left foot.

His face filled with question marks. He kicked at it a few times, but instead of coming loose, the shoe tightened around him.

After failing to pull it off, the beggar looked up and saw Xiao Ran getting farther away. He had no time to deal with the ill-fitting shoe, so he got up and limped after him.

"Hey!"

Xiao Ran glanced back, grinning as he took out the other embroidered shoe and held it in his hand. The Malevolent Object was a pair, but the two shoes were actually one entity. As long as Xiao Ran held one, the other would obey. Otherwise, he could destroy it at any moment.

Xiao Ran gave the shoe in his hand a casual shake. It immediately responded, and the beggar behind him felt his foot twist to the side again. His left foot began turning right against his will, and his body nearly tumbled down the stairs.

The sight left the beggar so furious he nearly went mad. He pounded his thigh twice with his fists.

Then he glared at Xiao Ran and let out an angry, croaking roar.

Xiao Ran could sense the intense hatred radiating from him. He calmly shook the gourd in his hand, taunted the beggar with his middle finger, then turned and headed for the sixth floor.

"Take your time climbing. I'll go on ahead and have a look."

Xiao Ran wasn't in a hurry to fight the beggar to the death.

He remembered there was a safe house on the sixth floor, too, and there should be quite a few people there. If he led the beggar over, someone would surely deal with him.

Of course, there'd probably be people who'd try to deal with Xiao Ran as well. But that was exactly what he wanted.

The forces inside the dormitory building were tangled together. This was the perfect chance to get a good look at what they were capable of.

As he climbed the stairs to the sixth floor, the smell of blood gave way to mildew. All kinds of writing appeared on the walls, which were piled high with clutter. Most of it had been written in red paint, and the words brimmed with resentment and other negative emotions.

The clutter in the hallway grew thicker. Xiao Ran noticed that many of the dormitory doors on either side had been smashed in. Their rooms were filled with all kinds of junk and had clearly been abandoned for a long time.

Dormitory rooms were supposed to be valuable, yet no one lived in the many abandoned rooms here.

Something was clearly wrong. Xiao Ran tightened his Ghost Cloak and hurried down the east side of the hall.

Before long, Xiao Ran heard a familiar voice cursing.

"Keep throwing! Hurry up!"

It was Yang Kai's voice.

"Wasn't he on the third floor? How'd he get all the way to the sixth?"

Xiao Ran peered around the corner. At the far end, Yang Kai and several others had surrounded an old man, pelting him with black plastic bags. The bags were full of urine and feces. They burst against the old man, splattering him, and his body immediately sizzled. He howled in pain as his flesh dripped to the ground like melting wax.

The old man's eyes were bloodshot. He tried several times to rush at them, but a Bronze Mirror hung on each of the dormitory doors to his left and right.

The light from the mirrors pinned him in place, leaving him unable to move.

Two crooked couplets hung beside the door, too. Every so often, a flash of blinding light shot out and struck the old man.

"No wonder!"

Watching from the corner, Xiao Ran understood at once.

The so-called safe house was really a trap set for these night ghosts. Yang Kai and the others were being used as bait to lure them inside.

Xiao Ran scanned the area again and noticed another dormitory at the very back. Its door stood open, and a burly, bearded man gripped a cleaver as he watched the scene.

"A newcomer!"

Aside from Huang Le and the youth who called himself Leek, this was the third newcomer Xiao Ran had met in the Mysterious City.

Judging by his build and bulging muscles, he looked like a tough opponent.

"Keep throwing! Keep throwing! This old bastard's about to give out!"

Seeing the old man's body on the verge of splitting apart, Yang Kai urged everyone to unleash everything they had. Then he shouted to two of his men behind him, "Quick, go get another crate! I'm almost out of piss bombs!"

At his words, the two men hurried toward a nearby room. Inside were more than ten boxes of various sizes.

Xiao Ran's brows shifted. Hiding in the shadows, he quietly made his way over.

"Faster! Faster!"

Yang Kai threw the piss bomb in his hand, then habitually reached behind himself with an open palm.

Xiao Ran grinned at the hand held out toward him and placed his own hand in it.

Yang Kai realized it felt wrong and slapped Xiao Ran's hand away. "Get lost! I want a piss bomb! Hurry up, don't hold me up—I need to make progress!"

Xiao Ran looked around. Just then, two of Yang Kai's men came out of the nearby dormitory carrying a box. When they saw Xiao Ran standing behind Yang Kai, their eyes widened and they shuddered all over, nearly dropping the box.

Blue flames flickered in the eye sockets of Xiao Ran's skull. He gestured for them to stay quiet, then took the box from them under their horrified gazes. He pinched a piss bomb wrapped in a black plastic bag and handed it to Yang Kai.

"That's more like it!"

Yang Kai took the piss bomb and went right back to hurling them at the old man. But as he threw, the noise around him grew quieter and quieter, until all that remained was Yang Kai's hearty laughter.

"Die! Die! Hahahaha..."

At first, Yang Kai didn't realize anything was wrong. Then he glanced up without thinking and saw that his men had somehow all ended up on the opposite side.

It wasn't just his men. The others had all kinds of expressions on their faces: fear, confusion, and even a hint of amusement.

Even someone as slow on the uptake as Yang Kai realized something was wrong. A chill crept up his back. He slowly turned around, and when he saw a skull emerging from the shadows, its face almost pressed against his, the blood in his veins turned to ice. His eyes rolled back, and after his body swayed a few times, he fell straight to the ground.

"Did he faint?"

Xiao Ran looked at Yang Kai lying on the ground and felt speechless. With courage like that, he was supposed to be a squad leader? The title of Independent Regiment leader was clearly an exaggeration.

The others were caught off guard by Xiao Ran's sudden appearance, but the newcomer standing at the dormitory entrance was intrigued. He studied Xiao Ran, one hand already on the hilt of his cleaver.

Their eyes met. A cold gleam flickered in the flames in Xiao Ran's eye sockets.

The whole hallway fell silent. Everyone held their breath, their eyes shifting between the leader and the night ghost in front of them.

But then...

Xiao Ran suddenly hoisted the old man over his shoulder, turned, and ran toward the stairs...

"Free old man! I'm thrilled!!"((((┏(;￣▽￣)┛