The place was a noisy mess. Several scantily clad women saw Luo Bin following behind Chen Jing and immediately rushed over, grabbing his trouser leg and wailing:
"Sir, please plead with the Second Young Master for us. Tell him not to kill us! We sisters never planned to switch over to the Sun Family's club. Please..."
Luo Bin's face twitched slightly as he calmly pulled his expensive suit trousers out of the women's arms.
Chen Jing had found someone at a tailor shop to make the suit for him on the spot while they were out shopping that afternoon. It fit him sharply and looked expensive, giving him the air of a dashing young gentleman from the Republic era...
The Chen Family really did treat people well.
"Sorry, miss. I came with the Second Young Master to handle something else. We'll discuss this later." Luo Bin politely extricated himself.
Following behind Chen Jing, whose expression was growing increasingly grave, Luo Bin watched as the entire first-floor lobby of the Moon Veil Nightclub descended into chaos.
Everyone's faces were stamped with fear. Who in Ping City didn't know that the Chen Family had a vast business empire and extensive influence? In terms of the size of their Lineage, only the Jiang Family and Sun Family could put up even a little resistance.
What did it mean to lock all these customers inside?
"Look! Another group just arrived in the street outside. By their uniforms, they must be from the Green Bamboo Gang's White Moon Hall... They're practically joined at the hip with the Chen Family!"
"A few days ago, the Pei Family used live people to feed demons at a Photo Studio under their control. Could the Chen Family be planning to follow their example?"
The horrifying claim sparked immediate protests. Chen Jing was on his way upstairs when he heard the commotion below and stopped holding back.
He drew the silver revolver from its holster at his waist and fired several shots into the first-floor liquor cabinet.
Bang, bang, bang—
The place fell much quieter, but rumors couldn't be stamped out. Almost at once, someone began whispering again.
"Old Master Chen Shuo, the Chen Family's bedrock, is dead. Does that little brat from the Chen Family not even care to keep up appearances anymore?
"Joined at the hip with the Green Bamboo Gang, and they have the nerve to call it 'special business.' Even the city officials were fooled.
"I say...
"The Chen Family has joined forces with demon ghosts! We have to find a way out of here. We can't just sit around waiting to die..."
A coquettish woman with heavy makeup analyzed the situation for everyone, drawing on what she had learned over the past few days.
Luo Bin naturally caught every bit of this scattered but dense information.
Why was Chen Jing making such a public spectacle of this?
If there really was a demon ghost, couldn't they deal with it in secret? Why make such a huge fuss that everyone would find out?
And stir up such public resentment that people were speaking ill of the Chen Family...
Could Chen Jing have some other plan?
Luo Bin thought of how his own strength compared to Jiang Ling's. As a former commandant in the Jingan Bureau, Jiang Ling should be far stronger than a Martial Master like Luo Bin, who had only just entered the Golden Skin Pass—even if he usually kept a low profile. So why had Chen Jing brought Luo Bin along?
In a daze, Luo Bin recalled Jiang Ling's words: "Take him to see some blood." Did driving off a demon ghost count as seeing blood?
He wasn't sure...
But there was no time to think it over. He followed the others up to the second floor and focused on observing his surroundings.
At the top of the central staircase, a space about half the size of a sports field opened up, surrounded by numerous elegantly furnished rooms in a Western style.
Indecent moans and cries came from behind many of the doors.
Luo Bin ignored them and continued following Chen Jing and the others toward the next staircase. Hu Junzhi, who had been keeping watch on the first floor, hurried up and reported:
"Second Young Master, after I called in people from the White Moon Hall, I had them wait at the entrance. But the Sun Family's people arrived soon after. There are about seventy or eighty of them, and they're facing off against the White Moon Hall downstairs..."
"It's fine. Keep things steady for now and don't start a conflict. Let's see what the Sun Family does." Chen Jing waved a hand.
Hu Junzhi hurried back downstairs. Zhang Huai stayed close behind Chen Jing, while Luo Bin trailed two steps behind. The group went straight up to the fifth floor, where the commotion from the first-floor lobby had faded away.
All that greeted them was a decayed, shadowy silence.
Covering his nose and mouth, Luo Bin glanced around and couldn't help asking, "Second Young Master, is that thing here?"
A bead of sweat appeared at Chen Jing's temple. He took out a handkerchief to cover his nose and mouth, then stood behind Zhang Huai and said:
"Normally, that disgusting thing doesn't come out. Whenever a young woman comes here to have fun—especially one who's still a virgin—and she loses her virginity here, the thing catches the scent of her blood and appears. Three girls have died so far...
"Zhang Huai has fought it before. It isn't very strong, but it's fast and good at hiding. An ordinary Martial Master's qi and blood can't burn it."
Zhang Huai was honest by nature, but not dull; he had a quick, lively air about him. Seeing the Second Young Master explaining things to Luo Bin, he chimed in:
"Brother Luo, don't worry. I brought bait..."
Zhang Huai took a paper-wrapped bundle from the pocket at his side. Inside was a little foul-smelling fresh blood, though it had already turned somewhat black...
Zhang Huai splashed it on the ground and said sheepishly, "I specially prepared this blood. It smells like the blood of a virgin, so it should draw the demon ghost out..."
Once this was done, Chen Jing took the long-barreled Western rifle from Zhang Huai's back, raised it, and warily scanned the surroundings.
"Luo Bin, I've heard Uncle Luo and my grandfather talk about these things ever since I was very young, but I've never had a chance to see one for myself.
"Today, I'll have to rely on you. When the fight starts, don't worry about me. If things go badly, I'll run.
"Just fight without holding back..."
Hearing this, Luo Bin couldn't help wondering what sort of person the Second Young Master, so beloved by the Chen Family, really was...
The scene was unnervingly strange. The three stood back to back: two bodyguards and one young master... If Chen Tianren, Chen Jing's father, found out they had let Chen Jing come somewhere this dangerous...
It wouldn't end well.
Luo Bin quietly circulated the Primordial Stance, rousing the qi and blood throughout his body. The heat rising from him gradually warmed his suit.
Chen Jing could feel it from behind him and blurted out, "Brother, you're hot."
The taut, frozen atmosphere eased a little.
Zhang Huai, easygoing as ever, began telling Luo Bin about other strange incidents of this kind:
"This world's getting more chaotic by the day. I heard some brothers from the Black Sheath Hall say that refugees from the south had come north to Ping City.
"They said the White Rock Mountain along the southern highway was haunted by a Ghost Mountain Demon that ate people's brains...
"And there's that enormous lake, Pengze Lake. They say it has a Flood Dragon in it. The southern warlords were at their wits' end, so they sent a few warplanes they'd bought from Westerners and dropped some incredibly powerful bombs..."
It was the first time Luo Bin had heard such strange tales, and for a moment he even forgot they were here to "slay demons and exorcise evil."
"Then what happened to the Flood Dragon?"
Zhang Huai's brows drew together. "What else? The local fishermen got lucky. The water was covered in fish and shrimp, but they didn't blast off even a single scale from the Flood Dragon..."
Luo Bin sucked in a sharp breath and was about to ask more when a foul, unbearable wind swept toward them.
Zhang Huai instantly tensed and shouted, "It's here! Second Young Master, stay behind me!"
Before you continue