Holding the Fort

Xu Yi followed up on the thread of the conversation:

"If they dared to kill outright, then the mastermind behind that honey-trap scheme surely would not let things rest."

Big Brother pointed at the nailed-shut coffin:

"Well, this is the result.

Boss Zhang had been hiding from trouble in his home cellar, perfectly fine at first. Then, for some reason, he suddenly went mad and bit anyone he saw.

Anyone bitten by him would swell all over within a day, sores breaking out on their heads, pus running from their feet, their skin covered in densely packed pustules. They would go mad just like him and bite anyone they saw!

I reckon Candied Zhang had a curse put on him.

His family subdued everyone who had gone mad and nailed them all shut inside coffins. Well—

There are three people locked in that coffin!"

The moment Big Brother finished speaking, the coffin suddenly began to shake. The nails that had been driven in sprang outward with bang, bang, bang, and the coffin lid was on the verge of bursting free. The Zhang Family members, dressed in sackcloth and mourning garb, hurriedly piled on top of it. Only by joining forces did they barely manage to hold it down.

Rotten blood gushed from the cracks in the coffin. The Zhang Family members struggled desperately and, after great effort, hammered the nails back in. Only then did the three inside the coffin reluctantly settle down.

Xu Yi noticed that after Big Brother finished talking, his gaze had kept shifting between the coffin and the pack of cigarettes in Xu Yi's hand.

Xu Yi did not make Big Brother waste his breath. He handed him the whole pack.

"Big Brother, you've worked hard."

Big Brother fidgeted without reaching out to take it. After hesitating for quite a while, he pointed at an old locust tree nearby.

"I can tell you're a straightforward fellow, little brother, so I'll be straightforward too—

If you want me to have a smoke, go behind that old locust tree. Dig around in the grass and find a Red Clay Pot. Light three cigarettes, then stick their filters upside down into the incense ash inside the little pot."

Xu Yi's scalp instantly prickled at those words.

Big Brother was a ghost?!

In this black-and-white vision I got after absorbing Ye Miao, I can see ghosts!

Then Xu Yi thought again. There were no ghosts on television as kind and amiable as Big Brother.

Big Brother seemed to be a good ghost.

Xu Yi clasped his fists toward Big Brother, then forced himself to go behind the old locust tree. He brushed aside the grass and, sure enough, found a small dark-red clay pot.

The little pot was the size of a palm. Its surface was unglazed, yet it still looked exquisitely crafted.

In his black-and-white vision, the little pot had color as well: dark red.

Xu Yi took out three cigarettes and lit them. He took a puff from each, frowned as he exhaled the bitter smoke, then stuck them upside down into the little pot.

When he returned to Big Brother's side, Big Brother already had a cigarette between his lips, his face full of bliss.

"Good brother!"

Happiness nearly overflowed from Big Brother's face.

"This is my favorite thing!"

Big Brother was smoking when he suddenly froze, as though he had heard something.

His expression tightened. Like a thief caught red-handed, he hurriedly threw the cigarette to the ground and stamped it out. After glancing to either side, he spoke to the air.

"Got it! I'm going right now!"

He had clearly received some order. He called to Xu Yi.

"Good brother, I've got work to do. If fate allows, we'll meet again!"

Big Brother walked into the Zhang Family crowd, yet none of them could see him.

He punched a young Zhang Family member, who cried, "Ow!" and fell to the ground.

He kicked another young Zhang Family member in the groin, and the man doubled over like a shrimp in pain.

"It's haunted! It's haunted!"

The Zhang Family members shouted, but Big Brother did not stop. He walked to the coffin, hooked a finger around one of the nails, and gave it a light flick. The nail popped out like a fishbone being picked free.

The young Zhang Family members were numerous and strong. They immediately rushed forward, trying to hold down the coffin lid, but Big Brother kicked them away one by one.

With Big Brother's actions, the coffin lid gradually became impossible to hold down.

Foul pus and blood gushed from the coffin. Whenever it touched the living Zhang Family members, the space between their brows turned black.

Suddenly, Big Brother stopped.

The instant he stopped, the Zhang Family youths managed to pin down the coffin lid. They hurriedly began hammering in nails again.

Big Brother turned his head and saw Xu Yi holding the small red clay pot. One hand was inside it, clutching a handful of white ash.

That was Big Brother's ashes.

Big Brother was bound to the clay pot. With his ashes in Xu Yi's grasp, even his soul could not move.

They had just been calling each other brothers so warmly, yet now they stood on opposite sides of life and death. Xu Yi felt a little embarrassed.

"Big Brother, I forgot to tell you. I came here to hold the fort."

The Zhang Family had noticed Xu Yi long ago. Now that he stepped forward holding an urn of ashes and said such words amid this scene, they immediately realized that their family had probably been haunted by a ghost.

And this young man had subdued the ghost!

With that outfit, anyone who had lived in the 38th Shop District for three to five days would know that this youth was a gang enforcer.

A gang enforcer who came to help at this hour had to be one of Mr. Ye Hai's men. There was no need to think twice!

Old Lady Zhang stepped out from the crowd. She wore a silk outfit, a jade phoenix-tail hairpin, and eleven thumb rings on her ten fingers. Her gaudy wealth practically spilled from her body.

Old Lady Zhang stepped forward, overcome with gratitude.

"Oh, heavens! The young master has come to help us!"

"Master" was a special form of address for respected gang figures. Xu Yi certainly did not qualify, and Old Lady Zhang's "young master" was clearly only out of respect for Mr. Ye Hai.

Xu Yi nodded to the old lady, then said to the frozen Big Brother:

"Let tonight's matter pass peacefully, and that will be enough.

Big Brother, go rest to the side for now.

I absolutely will not smash this pot."

Xu Yi could see ghosts, but the Zhang Family members in mourning clothes could not.

Thus, Xu Yi's mystical-looking act of talking "to the air" made the Zhang Family fear and respect him even more.

With his ash urn controlled by Xu Yi, Big Brother could not move. Knowing he was outmatched, he shouted at the sky:

"Boss! There's a tough one here! I can't beat him!"

Xu Yi swept his gaze around, his eyes sharp as an eagle's.

At that very moment, Big Brother suddenly convulsed and rolled his eyes back.

His eyes rolled upward again and again, at least seven times. When they finally stopped, they had become an entirely different pair of eyes.

Those eyes were pale red.

Big Brother's expression and complexion were completely different from before.

Big Brother had become someone else.

He looked at Xu Yi with those faintly red eyes, his voice colder than the night wind.

"I can see that you are not a thoroughly evil man. Why are you helping this Zhang Family?

Do you know how vicious the Zhang Family is? You would stand up for them?"

Xu Yi looked at Old Lady Zhang, whose face was full of kindly warmth as she clung to his arm, then said gravely to Red-Eyed Brother:

"Please enlighten me."

When the Zhang Family heard Xu Yi say this, they thought a fight was about to begin. Panic immediately erupted, and they nearly scattered in all directions.

Red-Eyed Brother's words were shocking.

"Candied Zhang did not lose his son and daughter because someone set him up in that gambling game.

Before the game even began, he had already put his own children on the table as stakes, hoping to win even more!"