Guts Torn Apart

Yun Zimo received a call from Fan Yuli, and a terrified scream came through the phone. It was so piercing that it felt as though it might rupture her eardrums.

Meng Huai dared not waste a moment. Following her directions, he sped all the way to the Model Dormitory, which was in a fairly upscale residential complex.

Yun Zimo treated the models working for her extremely well. She made meticulous arrangements for every aspect of their lives, taking especially good care of their living conditions.

The two pushed open the dormitory door and went inside. The overpowering stench of blood immediately hit them. Alarmed, they hurried into the bedroom.

Several models were huddled on the bed, their faces deathly pale. They were wearing revealing underwear, but none of them had the presence of mind to worry about that.

A model lay on the floor beside the bed. Her once-pretty face was now twisted into a grotesque expression, and she had nothing on below the waist.

No one would have found her lower body beautiful now. Her abdomen had been slit open, and black threadworms were crawling in and out of the wound.

Nausea surged through Yun Zimo. Covering her mouth, she rushed into the bathroom and began retching.

Meng Huai's eyes gleamed like stars, anger flashing within them. These people had dared to do something like this right under his nose. It was an outright provocation.

He formed a hand seal, and a small bamboo basket appeared in his hands. Strange patterns were woven into it, giving it a distinctly unusual appearance.

He swept a hand across the mouth of the basket, then aimed it at the model's abdomen. As though sucked up by a vacuum cleaner, every last black threadworm was drawn into the basket.

Suddenly, black flames erupted from the worms and swiftly set the entire basket alight. The flames gave off no heat at all; instead, they were bitterly cold.

Meng Huai acted without hesitation and flung it out the window. As the basket fell, it suddenly burst like a firework and vanished.

He quietly drew a breath. He had been far too careless. Apparently, the expert they had sent this time could actually use gu flame. If those flames had caught his hands just now, he would have been in serious trouble.

Meng Huai turned his attention back to the model. Without hesitation, he crouched beside her, gripped the edges of the wound with both hands, and pulled them apart.

Her internal organs were clearly visible, but they now resembled honeycombs, riddled with holes. The threadworms had evidently nested inside them.

He formed a seal with one hand and swept it over the model's wound. Her entire abdomen returned to its original state, as though she had never been injured. Bringing her back to life, however, was impossible.

He wiped the blood from his hands and looked at the models. "Everything's all right now. Shouldn't you put some clothes on first? Your figures are certainly easy on the eyes, but this isn't the time to show them off."

Only then did the models scream and snatch up the thick quilt from the bed to cover themselves. Somehow, though, it only made them look more seductive.

Yun Zimo finally finished throwing up. She came back in, saw what was happening, and angrily grabbed Meng Huai by the ear. Putting on a fierce expression, she said, "I knew you men were all no good! What are those lecherous eyes of yours looking around for?

"Turn around already! Do you expect them to change right in front of you? You actually dare to nod? Just wait until we get home tonight. I'll wring you dry!"

Grinning cheekily, Meng Huai turned around. The sounds of them getting dressed reached his ears, and picturing the scene only made it more enticing.

A little later, when they called out to him, he turned back around. The girls had all put on long clothes that concealed their shapely figures. It really was a bit of a shame.

The girls looked terrified, continually stealing glances at the model on the floor, afraid that they might end up like her.

Yun Zimo knew how to handle the matter. She called the hospital and told them that the model had been gravely ill and had died suddenly.

After all, what had happened was too bizarre to explain. Fortunately, she had some connections; otherwise, she would have been overwhelmed with trouble.

Once everything had been taken care of, none of the models dared to stay in that apartment anymore. Fortunately, Yun Zimo's villa was large enough, so she took them all there.

The girls sat on the sofa with coffee cups in their hands, their faces still filled with fear. What had happened that day was simply too horrifying for them to recover so quickly.

Meng Huai looked them over and said, "With me here, you don't need to be afraid. Now, can any of you tell me exactly what happened today?"

Fan Yuli immediately said, "Since the company told us we had time off, everyone got up late this morning. Qi Xiaoyun—the model who died—kept complaining that she was hungry.

"So she ordered some takeout. Since her tastes were different from ours, we didn't ask her to order for us. We decided to go out to eat and then do some shopping.

"While Qi Xiaoyun was eating her takeout, she told us we'd already been off for several days. Even though we were still getting our base salaries, without the money from extra gigs, we didn't have enough to spend.

"She had a contact outside the company. A clothing group from Japan wanted to break into our southwestern market, so they were planning to hold several big runway shows.

"They'd given those shows to our rival company. Since that company didn't have enough models, they wanted us to help out. We wouldn't have to switch companies, but they'd pay us a large commission!"

Yun Zimo thought little of it. The companies might be rivals, but the models didn't care about that. Besides, these models were all young women who naturally spent freely.

Their base salaries alone certainly weren't enough. As long as they weren't leaving the company, it was just temporary work, and there was no need to take it to heart.

Fan Yuli continued, "We were pretty interested too, and we planned to go along and take a look when the time came. We were sitting around doing nothing anyway, so we might as well earn whatever we could.

"After she finished her takeout, she went back to change. Then we heard a scream and immediately ran over to see what had happened. We found her lying on the floor.

"At first, we thought she was ill. We were just about to go over and check on her when her stomach split open, and those black worms crawled out."

Meng Huai frowned. It seemed the takeout was to blame. But why had these people killed a model? Had they done it to intimidate him?

Had a donkey kicked these idiots in the head? This model had nothing to do with me. No matter how gruesome her death was, what difference would it make?

It seemed there had to be something he had overlooked that had led to this outcome. He needed to think it all through again.