CHAPTER 3: GHOST

FengHua inn was the cheapest inn in the entire Wu City. It was located on the busiest street and the noises of the street could be heard even inside its private rooms. The decorations and the woods were of poor quality and the building was not even that big.

Outside the FengHua inn, a red-clad youth stood proud with his chin held up high. His face was extraordinarily handsome and his eyes were bright and shining giving him an air of youthfulness. His red robe fluttered in the wind as he stood motionless at the doorway. After a minute of staying still, he suddenly grinned and walked inside the inn.

The attendant of the inn, upon seeing the youth, hurried to greet him. He could tell in a single glance that this youth wasn't simple at all. All his clothes and accessories from head to toe looked very expensive. He has an air of a rich young master from a noble family. And indeed, he was truly not a simple one. This young man is named Quan Ying, the only son of one of the richest and prominent family in the entire Qin State.

Quan Ying let his eyes roam around for a moment, his handsome face showing a hint of dissatisfaction towards the place before turning to the attendant.

"Does my friend happened to visit this place of yours?" His voice was casual, not sounding polite, and yet not rude. As he spoke, he casually stuffed few pieces of silver into the attendant's hand.

After receiving the money, of course the attendant was very eager to entertain him.

"Esteemed sir, may this servant know what this 'friend' of yours look like?"

"He is very plain-looking, about this tall and wore faded clothes." Quan Ying answered.

The attendants paused to think, trying to remember the one who fits the description. "Sir, does this friend had some distinguishable features?"

Quan Ying pondered for a moment before he began laughing. "He has a stupid smile that cannot be wiped from that face. And oh... he has a red scar on his neck."

Upon hearing that, the attendant's face lit up. "I seemed to recall someone like that. Does this good sir want me to call him? He is currently staying at the room upstairs."

Quan Ying grinned. "No need. Just tell me where the room is. I'm surprising him after all."

The attendant led him to the one room upstairs and left afterwards to entertain other guests. Quan Ying stood still in front of the door. He did not knock or call, instead, he raised his leg and in one swift movement, kicked the door open.

"Old Shen! This mighty young master Quan Ying has paid you a visit!" He yelled as he dashed inside the room.

But his dashing and glamorous entrance immediately halted when what he saw inside was not the 'plain-faced, poor-clothed' friend of his. Instead, inside the room was a young woman dressed in the most strange manner, exposing all her four limbs that are sprawled on the bed like a starfish. Her hair were not tied and were also sprawled in a messy manner just like her limbs. Her face was ghastly pale as if devoid of any blood.

Because of his grandiose entrance, the woman suddenly sat up.

"You... you!!! Who are you?" Quan Ying drew out his long sword.

Even though he looked indignant on the outside, but truth be told, he was truly frightened by the woman's appearance. That frivolous clothing, that deathly paleness, and those piercing gaze, they could only belong to a ghost!

The ghastly woman did not say anything but bent down to pick up a piece of long robe that had been tossed aside. Then, without a word, she carefully put the robe on.

Quan Ying immediately noticed that the robe belonged to Shen Lian. Then a horrible image suddenly formed in his mind. This ferocious ghost must have devoured his friend!

He pointed the tip of his sword near the lady's neck. "You vicious ghost! What did you do to Shen Lian?"

The woman did not dare to move and looked at the sword on her neck. Her short, unkempt hair was covering the corner of her eyes and part of her face.

"I... I d-did not do a-anything. Mister Shen j-just went out to b-buy something." When she spoke, her voice was low and a bit trembling. Quan Ying hadn't notice the small beads of sweat forming in the woman's temple.

"Huh! Don't even think of fooling me!" Then with his left hand, Quan Ying pulled out something from his chest. It was a bright yellow paper with characters draw in cinnabar. "Even if you have eaten old Shen, I'll make you spit him out!"

He chanted few words and stuck the talisman on the woman's forehead. "Evil ghost, reveal your true form!"

He waited for a moment but nothing happened.

"Eh? Is my talisman not working?"

His handsome face showed a confused expression. Then he pulled out another talisman, chanted a spell, and stuck it on the woman's forehead. Again, nothing happened. The furrows on his brows deepened.

He withdrew his sword and stab in on the floor. Then he began rummaging inside his chest. Once again, he pulled out a talisman, chanted a spell, and stuck it to the unmoving woman. Then again, nothing happened.

Suddenly, realization struck Quan Ying.

It was not because his talismans were not working. It was because this ghost is too powerful to be subdued by mere talisman.

Quan Ying took two steps back.

"You! You're actually this powerful that talismans don't work on you anymore! If I don't subdue a vicious ghost like you, then my surname's not Quan!"

He once again wield his sword, but because the ghost did not make any move, he did not make any move either.

From under those three talismans, a soft voice arose. "I... I'm not a ghost."

Quan Ying was surprised by the docile voice of the ghost, but who was he? He was the mighty young master of the Quan Family. If he become softhearted because of  something like this, then he is not worthy of his name.

"You can fool old Shen with that  but it won't work on me." He said indignantly.

The ghost replied, "I really am not a ghost."

When Quan Ying heard this, he felt conflicted. He really wanted to subdue this evil ghost. He was so sure that this one is a powerful ghost who devoured Shen Lian. However, with her sitting obediently like that and with such docile and innocent voice, how could he have the heart to harm her?

"Alright. As long as you don't do anything bad, I won't harm you. Tell me honestly, what did you do to old Shen?"

"I told you Mister Shen went out to buy something."

"You- - -"

Just then, a voice rang from the door.

"Lady Lei, I'm back– – –what are you doing?"

Of course, it was Shen Lian who went out earlier to buy clothes for Lei MengXi. Upon his return, what he witnessed was a 'ghost' sitting meekly with her face covered with talisman and Quan Ying, wielding his sword but was pointed to the paper window.

Upon seeing his stupefied expression at the door, Quan Ying immediately jumped towards him, and forgetting his early assumption that Shen Lian was eaten by this ghost, he began blabbering.

"Old Shen you're back! Quick, help me! I've encountered this powerful evil ghost that is very troublesome to subdue. Not only that the talisman did not work on her, she was even pretending to be meek and innocent that I couldn't do anything with her! Quick! Help me subdue this ghost!"

Shen Lian: "......"

The 'ghost': "......"

* * *

"Little MengXi, I'm really sorry! I really thought you're a ghost!"

Quan Ying could only wail his apologies and if only he is not a dignified young master, he would have long kneeled and kowtowed in front of Lei MengXi who was plucking the talisman from her forehead.

Of course, that so-called 'ghost' that he struck with three talismans and threatened to subdue was Lei MengXi who, after being left alone, casually tossed away that uncomfortable robe and lie down on the bed, only wearing her t-shirt and denim shorts.

"I already told you that I'm not a ghost. You did not listen to me." Her voice, though still indifferent like her face, also carried a tinge of resentment.

Hearing this, Quan Ying felt guiltier. "I'm sorry okay. But you... you were really pale and that hair of yours... you looked like a ghost."

"....."

To be fair, Lei MengXi's paleness really did seem extraordinary. She had inherited her mother's natural white skin. On top of that, she had been cooed up inside her apartment, drawing comics all day, barely going out in the sun. And everytime she went out, she would be covered head to toe, rarely exposing her skin. Thus the result was this, her skin became ghastly pale, dull and lifeless.

"It's fine." After a moment of contemplation, Lei MengXi managed to squeeze out these two words. Then she added, "Forget it."

"Aye! It was this Old Shen's fault! He didn't informed me in his letter that he would be travelling with a girl. I'm really sorry Little MengXi."

"Forget it." Lei MengXi repeated.

Although, at the back of her mind, a sentiment is forming. Who the heck could forget it? She was pointed at with a sword! A real sword!

From the side of the wooden bed, Shen Lian was gently folding the dirty robe that Lei MengXi had taken off. He was leisurely folding it like it was the most natural thing to do. Hearing that the two was no longer bickering about what happened, he faced Quan Ying and asked, "So what does this 'mighty' young master Quan's intention on his sudden visit?"

Quan Ying's expression turned solemn. "It is about the case of the missing girls in Wu City."

Shen Lian sat on the floor next to Quan Ying.

"You suspect that this case involves a ghost?"

Quan Ying nodded solemnly.

"This incidents of missing girls happens once a month, with exact number of person falling victim. Remember, the number of missing girls were always exactly seven and all of them are of the age twelve to fifteen. This pattern is simply suspicious."

Upon hearing Quan Ying's words, Lei MengXi froze. She remembered that when she was kidnapped, there were exactly seven silhouettes on the cage. And all those seemed to belong to girls around thirteen or fourteen years of age. Chill began to creep on her neck.

Quan Ying continued, "Moreover, there were no traces of disappearance at all, as if they'd vanish into thin air. If ghosts were not involved in this matter, then it could only be demon."

Lei MengXi thought for a second and in a soft voice, she spoke. "But it was clearly humans who took me that night. I did not see any ghost or demon at all."

Quan Ying's eyes widened when he heard it. He pointed his index finger towards her and exclaimed, "You... you... you were abducted too?"

"Mn." Lei MengXi nodded. "I was locked inside a giant cage along with seven or eight young girls."

Quan Ying's eyes were still full of disbelief as he looked at Lei MengXi. "H-how come you're here then?"

Lei MengXi scratched her face. She was uncomfortable being questioned like this. Still, she answered the question earnestly. "I escaped. The guards were drunk so I managed to escape. After that. Mister Shen rescued me."

Then she looked at Shen Lian. "Mister Shen, I haven't asked you yet. How did you find me that time?"

Shen Lian looked at Lei MengXi's eyeglasses and sighed.

"Actually, earlier this morning, I went to a shrine to fix its roof. Then I saw that object of yours on the ground. I figured out that it was very important to you and you would not left it there if nothing happened. I tried tracking you thru the faint trail of a carriage I saw on the ground and it led me to that place where you were locked up. That's when I saw you while you're escaping."

Even though he hadn't heard of the details of the escape, Quan Ying's mouth gaped open. Even though most of the abducted's first thought would be escaping, very few has an actual courage to do it. He turned to Shen Lian who was very focused on thinking.

"Old Shen, since you rescued Little MengXi haven't you caught any perpetrator?"

Shen Lian shook his head. "When I arrived, they were all gone."

They were enveloped in silence until suddenly, Shen Lian spoke.

"It's not right..."

Both Quan Ying and Lei MengXi turned to look at him.

"What are you talking about?"

Shen Lian's eyes swept across the quiet Lei MengXi and the surprised Quan Ying. Then his brows creased.

"The number is not right. The age is also not right."

Quan Ying's expression turned bewildered as he listened to Shen Lian's words. "What nonsense are you talking about Old Shen?"

"Lady Lei was taken too, but why? She was not at the age of fourteen or fifteen. She's more like eighteen. Moreover, if there were already seven girls there, then with Lady Lei, the number would not be right. Just why on earth must Lady Lei be taken too?"

Both Quan Ying and Lei MengXi's eyes widened when sudden realization dawn upon them. Indeed, Lei MengXi did not belong to the category of those potential victim, so what's the use of taking her too?

Lei MengXi cleared her throat. "Uhm, I'm not eighteen. Actually, I'm already twenty-one."

"Eh?" Quan Ying was so surprised with this sudden confession. "Y-you're twenty-one?"

Lei MengXi nodded.

Shen Lian smiled and stood up. "Let's go."

Lei MengXi also stood up, ready to follow him when Quan Ying called. "Wait... wait! Where are we going?"

By that time, Shen Lian and Lei MengXi were already at the door. Shen Lian stopped and looked back at him.

"We have to pay the deceased abbot of the Shrine a visit."

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