Chapter 5021 — A Cheap House

"Well? Didn't I tell you I wasn't lying?" Wei Zhao asked, sounding very much at his ease. By now he had grown thoroughly adept at controlling this primordial-spirit body; he could make it solid here and mist there at will, and unless he wished it otherwise, Hongmao and his crew could beat their fists bloody and still never lay a finger on a single hair of his.

"Boss, are you a man or a ghost?" Hongmao swallowed hard and asked timidly.

"Guess," Wei Zhao said with an ominous grin.

"This... in broad daylight... Boss, you're not really a ghost, are you?" Hongmao was on the verge of crying from fright. What had started out as a perfectly good shakedown had somehow ended with them shaking down a ghost — was that not just asking for death?

"Brother Hongmao, I've heard people say a few folk died in this alley before. The yin energy here is supposed to be really heavy..." the Golden Python Heavenly King said in a small voice.

Hongmao and the others had already been standing with every hair on end, but it was, after all, broad daylight, and they had at least been able to hold out a while longer. At these words, though, they promptly wet themselves; with a collective shriek of "Mama!" they scrambled and stumbled and bolted.

Yet before any of them could reach the mouth of the alley, a shadow flickered in front of them, and there was Wei Zhao, arms folded, watching them with a smiling face.

Hongmao and the others were caught in a bind. This dead-end lane had been their trap for Wei Zhao, and now the tables were turned — they were the ones cornered inside. It was a reversal no one could stomach.

Hongmao took the lead and dropped to his knees with a thud, his voice cracking into a sob: "Boss, every grievance has its debtor, every debt its debtor — we were only trying to borrow a little money from you, we're not the ones who killed you! If you're after revenge, whatever you do, don't come looking for us..."

"You want me to let you go?" Wei Zhao glanced at the five of them.

"Yes, yes, yes! Boss, you go your way and we'll go ours — your bridge to the underworld, my sunny avenue. Well water and river water don't mix."

"That'll do — just do one thing for me, and I'll let you go." Wei Zhao smiled with no good intent and pointed at Hongmao. "I absolutely detest anything with red hair. You Four Heavenly Kings — pull every last hair out of his head, and I'll be merciful and spare the lot of you."

"Huh?" Hongmao was dumbstruck. But the four underlings in their Heavenly King getups were already throwing themselves at him, eager to oblige — compared with the tyranny of Hongmao, their ringleader, it was this "vengeful ghost" Wei Zhao who commanded the greater fear.

Hongmao let out a shriek like a stuck pig. The Four Heavenly Kings grabbed handful after handful, and in the end they plucked his head of red hair completely clean; Hongmao was left bald as an egg, so wracked with pain that he passed out on the spot and knew nothing more.

"Ghost... Ghost Boss, is this good enough?" one of the Heavenly Kings asked gingerly.

"Mm, that looks much easier on the eyes." Wei Zhao nodded, then asked, "Do any of you know where the nearest rental agency is?"

"Yes, yes! Straight up this street, east two intersections, and there it is," the Golden Python Heavenly King said hastily.

"Good. You know how to behave yourselves. I'll spare you this time — from now on, remember what you've learned." With that, Wei Zhao simply vanished.

The Four Heavenly Kings looked at one another, then dropped flat on their backsides. Seeing a ghost in broad daylight — any one of them had wet himself just now, and even at this moment their crotches were still damp.

"What do you figure a ghost wants with a rental agency?" they asked each other, exchanging glances.

"What else could it be? He's after a house to haunt! Haven't you heard the talk about haunted places in our county lately? I used to think it was just rumors passed around, but now it looks like it might be true!" the Golden Python Heavenly King declared with absolute certainty.

"Forget it, forget it — let's just get home. This place is creepy as hell, I'm not staying here another second." Before they had even caught their breath, the lot of them scrambled to their feet and dragged Hongmao off like a dead dog. As for this alley, they would sooner die than ever come back.

Two intersections east along the street, Wei Zhao indeed found a rental agency by the roadside. He stepped inside and soon picked a suite from among the listings on offer.

The suite was in a newly developed estate in a rather out-of-the-way spot. A small county town never had many people to begin with, so occupancy in a place like this was naturally low, and more than half the units belonged to relocated households. Many of them were put up for rent, and any that couldn't be let simply sat empty.

The reason Wei Zhao chose the place was precisely that it was remote. Had it been in a bustling city center with people coming and going, he wouldn't have wanted it. Right now he needed to restore his strength in peace, so the fewer people about, the better.

The agent rode an electric scooter to take Wei Zhao to see the place, and they rode a full half hour before arriving. It was indeed thoroughly out of the way. During the pitch the man had called it the New City Development Zone, but in person it was nothing but open countryside in the outskirts — not so much as a proper road around it, let alone a commercial street.

Noticing Wei Zhao's odd expression, the agent hurried to say, "Don't let the remoteness put you off, sir — the environment here is excellent! Look at these green hills and clear waters. Where in a bustling downtown could you find such peace and quiet? These days it's all about quality of life, wouldn't you say?"

"You could make a flowery advertisement out of the most forsaken backwater. Are all you agents advertising majors or something?" Wei Zhao was rather amused. "Never mind the sales pitch — let's see the place first."

"Of course, this way please." The agent was a little embarrassed at having been called out, and hurried to show him the suite. It was on the fifth floor, and with no elevator, the climb was on foot. If Wei Zhao hadn't needled him, the man would probably have gone on about a low-carbon, healthy lifestyle next.

"Go on in and have a look — I'll wait out here." The agent suddenly stopped at the doorway, his expression plainly a little unnatural.

Wei Zhao found it odd, but he didn't dwell on it. He went in and looked around. Two bedrooms and one living room; the lighting and layout were both good, and the decoration clearly done with care rather than thrown together on the cheap. Apart from the remote location, he was fairly satisfied with everything else.

After touring each of the rooms, Wei Zhao at last came back to the doorway and said to the agent, "The place is all right. How much per month?"

"Five hundred. One month's rent, one month's deposit." The agent named his price without the slightest hesitation, as though he wanted the contract signed and himself gone as fast as possible — he didn't care to stay a moment longer than he had to.

"Five hundred?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. A suite like this in East Sea City would cost at least three thousand even on the city outskirts. This little county town, though far from East Sea's prosperity and development, ought in his estimation to run at least a thousand, maybe eight hundred — five hundred was a bit too low. Could it be that he had overestimated this small county town?

"Five hundred is too much for you?" The agent was startled too. He glanced at Wei Zhao and said, "Then on my own authority I'll knock it down a bit more. Four hundred fifty — that's as low as it goes."