The Nail-Head Seven Arrows Book

When he got home, he saw that Huang Kaiwen was still awake.

Barbara rushed over at once, pouring out all the longing she'd felt for him.

"Darling, you have no idea how terrifying Africa was."

"Thanks for all your hard work."

Huang Kaiwen said it through gritted teeth.

With Barbara back, he'd have to meet those witch doctors. He wasn't sure what to expect.

"It's so poor there. So many children don't have anything to eat."

Hearing the heiress say that, Huang Kaiwen immediately grew wary and asked, "Did you donate money?"

"No, but I'm planning to get other people to donate."

"Good. It's wonderful to care about others."

Huang Kaiwen patted the heiress on the back and said with a smile.

What kind of skill was it to do charity with your own money? The trick was to use other people's money.

We wouldn't donate money ourselves; we'd just provide the platform.

We'd still get the credit, and might even make a profit.

The family didn't have that much money to begin with—not even 200 million euros. If they started doing charity, they'd eventually go broke.

Seeing how sensible the heiress was, Huang Kaiwen swept her up in his arms and carried her inside.

Thunder met fire, and they enjoyed themselves until dawn.

The next day was a holiday, and Huang Kaiwen had no plans to get up early.

But before he'd even finished sleeping, the heiress woke him.

"Hm?"

Bleary-eyed, Huang Kaiwen glared at her. If she didn't have a good explanation, neither of them was getting out of bed today.

"Get ready. I'm bringing the witch doctors over to break your curse."

Huang Kaiwen: "..."

"Come on, get up. The witch doctors I hired are all very famous."

What could Huang Kaiwen say? He could only get up, wash, and wait for the charlatans to arrive.

Barbara really was efficient.

About 40 minutes later, four "powerful" witch doctors were standing in Huang Kaiwen's living room.

Before Huang Kaiwen could say a word, Barbara pushed him onto the sofa.

The four witch doctors then circled him like they were at the zoo, sizing him up from head to toe.

For some reason, they kept leaning in until they were almost right in his face.

Seeing their fingernails, which were about ten centimeters long, Huang Kaiwen was afraid that the slightest movement would leave him disfigured.

One witch doctor's face was covered in paint, and his teeth were shockingly yellow. Huang Kaiwen couldn't even describe the smell coming from his mouth. It made him want to throw up.

"Evil spirits are at work! Evil spirits!"

"Ukurukuru told me this is a vicious blood curse. Only a divine medicine can remove it."

"Bloodletting! You have to let the blood!"

Hearing the witch doctors speak in French or English, Huang Kaiwen felt they were all unreliable.

Especially the one who'd recommended bloodletting. Had he learned medicine from eighteenth-century Europe?

More than a few prominent people had been bled to death.

They were descendants of the colonized, and probably all believed in God. Could they really summon an African god?

Huang Kaiwen pinned his last hope on the silent witch doctor dressed in animal skins.

Noticing that his rich client was looking at him, the witch doctor immediately spoke in a flawless London accent. "I've seen this kind of curse before. It's a vicious curse cast with the caster's own blood essence. It's very difficult to break, but fortunately, I brought the bones of my predecessor."

Shit!

Huang Kaiwen felt he wasn't going to survive the day.

Under the heiress's threatening gaze, he accepted his fate.

Half an hour later, in his own courtyard,

the witch doctor Abeba set up a large pot. He kept pulling black things from a urea sack and tossing them in. Huang Kaiwen recognized dried lizard, but couldn't identify the rest.

Wielding a huge stick, he twisted and swayed as he stirred, muttering incantations. He looked just like a villain from The Smurfs.

Huang Kaiwen sat nearby as the masked, tattooed witch doctor Gugulitu danced around him, waving a spear in his hand.

The witch doctor Kurulu, whose staff had a coconut tied to it, saw a fellow practitioner taking his job and started performing his own ritual dance. As he danced, he threw powder into the bonfire. The flames kept flaring up, and Huang Kaiwen seriously suspected he was throwing in white phosphorus.

The last one, Oliseba, had very long fingernails. After Huang Kaiwen fought him with everything he had, Oliseba finally gave up on bloodletting, but his sorcery was still grisly.

He slaughtered ten chickens and drained their blood, then took out a primate skull and soaked it in the blood. He, too, began muttering incantations.

These witch doctors from Africa each had their own tricks, and Huang Kaiwen was terrified.

Seeing the unease on his face, Barbara softly reassured him. "Darling, just hang in there and it'll be over soon. These witch doctors are all among the most famous in Africa. Witch doctor Abeba is from Nigeria, and he's helped a lot of important people. Oliseba is especially good at countering sorcery. He's a famous witch doctor hunter, and he'll definitely help you get revenge. Witch doctor Kurulu once cursed a tribe with sorcery, and then the tribe disappeared..."

After a while, Oliseba, who had arrived first, fished the skull out.

With a look of utter despair, Huang Kaiwen asked, "There's no meat on this. How am I supposed to eat it?"

"Smash it. Smash it, and the curse will be broken."

Huang Kaiwen went from hell to heaven in an instant and immediately did as he was told, smashing the primate skull to pieces.

The two witch doctors who'd been dancing finished quickly, too. After all, it was physical work.

Unfortunately, Huang Kaiwen still couldn't escape Abeba's divine medicine. He gritted his teeth and drank it. An indescribable taste shot from the crown of his head down to his lower body.

Huang Kaiwen bolted for the bathroom.

By the afternoon, after more than twenty trips to the bathroom, Huang Kaiwen was still throwing up and suffering from diarrhea.

He finally felt a little better sometime after four.

"Sir."

Albert knocked on the study door, came in, and said, "There's a witch doctor outside asking to see you."

"I'm not seeing him. Didn't I say I'd pay a reward if anyone found a cure?"

Huang Kaiwen, sprawled over his desk, waved him off irritably.

"But he says he came all the way from China."

"Really?"

Huang Kaiwen didn't believe a fellow countryman could cure his system-related illness, but there was no harm in meeting him.

"Bring him in."

A few minutes later, a bald man appeared in the study.

"Benefactor Huang, I came today to solve your problem."

"Oh?"

Huang Kaiwen looked at him without smiling and asked, "How do you plan to solve it, Master?"

"Treating the symptoms without addressing the cause is no better than doing nothing. I plan to kill the person who cast the curse at its source and let every witch doctor in the world know you're not to be messed with. Then no one will dare come after you again."

Holy crap, this guy was ruthless.

Huang Kaiwen hadn't expected him to say that. Was this some Shaolin warrior monk taking jobs?

Was this some kind of hitman delivery service?

Seeing Huang Kaiwen's expression change, the bald man took a tattered old book from his cloth bag and presented it to him like a precious treasure. "The ancient magical treasure, the Nail-Head Seven Arrows Book. You must have heard of it, Benefactor Huang. No one can escape it. Once we use it, that witch doctor is as good as dead."

"Hold on, Master."

Huang Kaiwen sat up and crossed his legs. "I heard this treasure belonged to Lu Ya. How did it end up in your hands?"

"You know one thing but not the other. Back when our sect was still called the Western Church, this treasure was destined to be connected to us. Lu Ya graciously gave it to the Second Leader of our sect, so it came into our hands."

Holy crap, that actually sounded pretty convincing.

That really did seem like something the Western Church would do.

But didn't you know Investiture of the Gods was fake?

I graduated from college, and you're still trying to fool me like I'm an idiot?

Huang Kaiwen applauded repeatedly, then rang the bell and called Albert in.

"Since you have such a precious treasure, Master, please stay in Milan and perform the ritual. I know the Nail-Head Seven Arrows Book takes twenty-one days to work. If it's effective, I'll pay you immediately."

"Albert, find two bodyguards to keep the Master safe. Don't let him out of their sight, not even when he goes to the bathroom."

As the old butler led the con man away, Huang Kaiwen ground his teeth.

If it hadn't worked after 21 days, just wait.

After drinking a bellyful of divine medicine today, Huang Kaiwen had no idea how to vent his anger. Now someone had walked right into it.