After that incident, the brotherhood between me and Li Mazi 

became

 even stronger

. It was the 

sort of self-evident relationship that had been proven through moments of life a

nd

 death. 

Although we had both promised Yin Xinyue and Ru Xue that we would wash our hands and give up 

our

 careers 

as 

otherworldly merchants, we both knew that we would never be able to keep our promise to the girls.  

Let alone the huge sums of money, we were addicted! 

Moreover, being an otherworldly merchant

was a life-time career. What was the good

 in giving

 it up so early? After two months of enjoying our leisure time, a client came to our door. 

He

 was a man with a shaved head and a vigorous body. Two dragon tattoos 

covered

 his arms

. He wore a

 thick 

gold

 chain 

around

 his neck

 and 

appeared 

to be

 a true gangster, which made me interested in him. 

In this society, 

gangsters mainly robbed people or 

were loan sharks. As such, they would come in contact with 

otherworldly items that 

merchants like us

rarely saw

. 

“Kids, 

call

 your boss out here!” As soon as 

the bald man

 entered the shop, he shot

 us

 a cold glance

 and ordered us 

arrogantly. 

I 

wanted to tease him

. “Mr. Zhang’s not in the shop. 

Please return later

.” 

Li Mazi knew

 what I was thinking

. He covered his mouth

 and sniggered

. 

The man

 was surprised

 and grunted.

 “Why 

isn’t

 he home?” Suddenly, he saw Li Mazi sniggering. He understood that he was tricked. 

He pointed 

at me and shouted

, “Damn, kid, you should invite Mr. Zhang out here to meet me. O

therwise

, I

 will

 burn down your shop tonight!”  

Looking at his angry face, I wasn’t offended. However, I recognized that this 

man

 was in great trouble. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be that worried. 

I cleared my throat

. Then, I smiled and said, “I’m 

Zhang Jiulin.

”

“Do I seem like I 

care about

 who you are? Hurry, get Mr. Zhan

g—” Baldy stopped in the middle of his sentence. His disbelieving eyes assessed me. “

What did you say? You are Zhang Jiulin?”

“I

 sure

 am.” I stopped smiling

 and made 

a gesture

 to

 leave if he didn’t believe me. 

“Yes, yes

. G

ood morning, Mr. Zhang. 

Forgive 

my blind eyes!” 

The man reacted

 fast. He gently smacked his face

 and said,

 “You don’t need to 

hit me

. I

’ll

slap

 my face 

myself

. You’re a big person, so please don’t 

mind my words

.” 

He was 

now completely different fr

om 

a moment ago. I 

liked

 this kind of

 person

. I smiled at him. “It’s okay. Is there something important that 

made

 you come to my shop so early in the morning?” 

“Master, please save me

!

”

 The man

 excitedly grabbed my hands. “If you don’t help me, I don’t 

know what I'll

 do

...

” 

“Don’t be flustered. We should drink some tea first.” I motioned my head 

at

 Li Mazi

 and asked 

him to make 

him 

a cup of Longjing tea. Then, I asked

 the man 

to take a seat. 

“I don’t know what

’

s happen

ing

over at

 my company,

 but I bet it’s 

something

 very evil

. A few men 

have

died

 already!” 

The man

 looked panicked. 

I frowned

 as I listened 

to him. I 

had a feeling that this case would be

 extremely tough. 

In our business, there were three kinds of otherworldly items that we wouldn’t accept

. T

hose that could wound and murder people directly, those that messed 

with

 people’s fate, and those that sucked human blood.

Once we accepted these otherworldly items, the consequences 

would be unimaginable. 

If the otherworldly 

item killed other people because of this man, 

I would never put my hand in this! 

The man

 lived to his reputation 

as

 a gangster. He seemed to have read my mind. He patted his ches

t and said

, “Mr. Zhang, don’t worry! Although I’

m part of

 the under

world

, I would 

never dare to cross the line

!”  

“All right, tell me your story.” I nodded

 and asked 

him to 

tell

 me more details. 

“Yes, here’s the story. I opened a hotel in Baotou

, and e

verything was nice 

in

 the beginning. After all the decorating work was done, I decided to hold the grand opening ceremony. I invited my friends from both worlds. 

However

, something unexpected happened 

that

 night!” 

When 

he c

ame to this part, his face slightly changed. “Since it was the grand opening, we had huge discounts. The liquor 

on

 the first floor 

was

 free. I 

had

 many visitors. In the end, some people 

drank 

too much

 and

 got 

into

 a fight. One person died and two 

were

 seriously wounded.”

“Wait, are you sure that the fight has something to do with an otherworldly item?” I didn’t know if I should cry or

 laugh

. 

The man 

said, “Mr. Zhang, please listen to my story first.

As the two 

sides

fought

, they soon 

realized

 that one 

person was dead.

 They all rushed out of the hotel 

in a hurry. As they ran 

away, they created a stampede. Two more people died

. O

ne of them was the son of an important local official.” 

Blady 

was so angry 

that

 bad things had happened during his grand opening cerem

ony

. However, he had to 

deal with

 the consequences in the best way he could. 

Usually, he 

w

ould compensate the victims’ families with a few million renminbi. But since the official had lost his son 

in old age

, he didn’t accept the compensation. He insisted 

Baldy was j

ailed. 

Since 

Baldy

 had a 

turbulent past

, if he 

was

 investigated, his deeds would surely 

come to light

. 

He

 was scared

. He begged for

 help

 while making preparations

 to flee. 

However, 

things

didn’t end

 there. Something happened at his hotel again… 

The kitchen 

on

 the first floor had a fire. In principle, even if 

it

caught on

 fire, they 

would be able

 to extinguish it easily since the hotel 

was

 well equipped

.

But n

o matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t put out the fire. Before the 

fire truck

 came, the fire had a

lready 

reached the third floor. 

In the end, the fire was 

extinguished,

 but the hotel was burned 

to

 a mess. 

Baldy

 thought that someone had schemed 

against

 him

 and

 swore to take revenge. 

H

e checked the 

CCTV countless

 times, but he couldn’t spot any 

suspicious

 person. Instead, 

he discovered that

 the fire seemed to have escaped and burst from the ground! 

Baldy

wasn’t convinced

. He 

called

 some of his henchmen to dig the kitchen 

floor

. He wanted to see what was underneath. His henchmen 

hadn’t

 d

u

g the floor deep enough 

when

 they 

started to foam at

 their mouths

, collapsing. 

They all died 

within

 the next three days. Although 

Baldy

 was a

n 

atheist

 and a member of the 

mafia that 

wasn’t new to the sight of blood

,

 he was really scared this 

time. 

He knew his hotel was haunted. He decided to tell

 the full 

story to the official that wanted to 

imprison

 him. 

The official was an experienced old man. After he listened to the story, he kept silent for a long time. In the end, he said, “No 

matter if it

 was a ghost or a human, you have to investigate and make it clear. 

Otherwise,

 I’ll see you in court!” 

Baldy

 didn’t dare to linger. He tried to find a master everywhere. In the end, he found me through the Circle. 

“Oh 

shoot

. What kind of vicious item is that?” Li Mazi

’s

 face changed. However, 

a gleam

 of greed flashed in his eyes. 

If that evil 

thing

was

 a real otherworldly item, its price would be over the top. My heart somewhat itched. However, I was afraid it wasn’t an otherworldly item

 but

 a fiend instead.  

The symptoms of

 the men who dug the ground w

ere

very

 similar to those of people possessed by fiends. Grandpa used to tell me a lot of storie

s about them

.

I 

told

Baldy

, “I can go there and take a look. But if I can’t solve it, I will leave immediately.” 

Baldy

 nodded repeatedly. I understood that he was 

scared

 and that any opportunity 

was like

 the straw that could save his life. 

I asked Li Mazi to get some stuff

. Then, 

we drove with 

Baldy

 to 

B

aotou in Inner Mongolia. We 

spent

 the night there. Early the next morning, 

Baldy

 came to take us to his hotel. 

Indeed, his hotel had just opened. They hadn’t 

cleaned up

 the confetti and firecrackers at the entrance yet. 

G

old-sparkling words 

were written on

 the highest floor

: 

Moon Overshadowing Beauty.

The hotel was sealed with cordons. We had to get in from the backdoor. At first glance, the entire lobby was pit-black with charred furniture and burn marks everywhere. 

A

 leather sofa had been burned to the steel frame. 

A

 lavish chandelier was shattered. Pieces of crystals were everywhere on the ground. 

I pitied 

Baldy

. Although he was in the mafia, his money came from his 

hard work

. Now, 

he had lost everything

. 

“It seems I don’t have good fortune 

in 

this business. After everything is solved, I will find a peaceful place to retire. I will not do business anymore!” 

Baldy

 sounded open-minded. I 

gave a half-

smile

 and asked 

him to bring me to the kitchen where the fire had started. 

Baldy

 nodded. When he pushed the kitchen door, I saw the mess inside. Bowls, pots, and pans were everywhere. The porcelain tiles 

had been

 lifted. A few shovels were scattered by a small hole. 

I knew it was the place where the fire 

occurred

. I studied it carefully. 

Soon, I found something strange. Since it was a big fire, the place where the fire started should 

have been

 damaged the most

.

 But 

d

espite the disarray in the kitchen, there was no burning mark or charred spot there. It looked like nothing had ever happened

!

Li Mazi also recognized 

this

. He shot a doubtful glance toward 

Baldy

. “Are you sure the fire started here?” 

“

Absolutely

!” 

Baldy

 confirmed. 

I frowned. If so, the situation was 

odd. 

To check the danger level of the thing underneath, I took out my compass and squatted by the small hole. 

At first, the compass

 needle

 stayed still. I thought my compass was broken

 and

 thought

 of giving

 it a good pat. But 

b

efore I could do 

anything

, the 

needle

started spinning very fast

!