In less than three minutes, another van arrived outside. When the doors opened, the two men who had taken Yu Mengxuan were dragged out. By this time, the two were already beaten black and blue, their legs broken, unable to stand steadily—a truly miserable sight. Soon, several burly men dragged them inside and threw them directly at Yu Zhen's feet. Yu Zhen pointed at me and Zhuge Wu and said, "Do you two know these men?" The moment these two came in, I noticed Zhuge Wu's expression change. The one with glasses was already terrified and didn't dare make a sound. The bald one, however, was a bit bolder. He looked at me and shook his head, then looked at Zhuge Wu and said, "Brother Wu?" Zhuge Wu knew things were bad and quickly explained, "Master Zhen, I do know this man—just a small-time thug. But I have absolutely nothing to do with this matter." "Is that so?" Yu Zhen glanced at Zhuge Wu, then asked, "Baldie, daring to kidnap my daughter Yu Zhen—you must have someone backing you. Tell me who, and I might spare your life." Hearing this, Zhuge Wu was even more alarmed and said, "Master Zhen, this isn't fair. Everyone knows your temper. He'll frame me just to save his own skin." "Just the fact that you know each other—if he frames you, that's your own bad luck." Yu Zhen said coldly. Sure enough, the bald man directly said, "Master Zhen, it was Brother Wu who told us that if we burn incense and paper money outside, we could bribe the ghosts, and our misdeeds would go unnoticed. We brothers were at our wit's end and just wanted to make some money." As soon as the bald man finished speaking, I knew he was framing Zhuge Wu. If he only wanted money, he wouldn't dare mess with Yu Zhen. Besides, they weren't after money—they were after the girl. They didn't even seem to know that Yu Mengxuan was Yu Zhen's daughter. Zhuge Wu said directly, "Master Zhen, I only told them that. I didn't instruct them to kidnap your daughter. This matter truly has nothing to do with me." Yu Mengxuan snorted coldly and stood up, saying, "You two really aren't good people." After saying this, she stormed off angrily. Yu Zhen didn't say anything. Only after Yu Mengxuan had left did he suddenly look at me and say, "I know my daughter well. She seems to have an indescribable feeling toward you—a feeling that shouldn't appear at her age. But I, Yu Zhen, am not an unreasonable man. In fact, I've already investigated this matter thoroughly. It truly has no direct connection to you two, so I won't make things difficult for you." Zhuge Wu finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you, Master Zhen. Thank you, Master Zhen." Yu Zhen nodded, then his tone turned cold as he said, "Drag these two clueless bastards out. Cut off all their limbs and clean it up properly." The bald man's face changed instantly, and he said, "Master Zhen, didn't you say you'd let us go?" "I didn't kill you. After your limbs are cut off, you can go find a doctor." After saying this, Yu Zhen walked out. Zhuge Wu and I watched as the two were dragged out, both of us shivering. If their limbs were all cut off, what difference was there from being dead? ………… After a long while, I said to Zhuge Wu, "Who exactly is this Yu Zhen?" Zhuge Wu said, "Yu Zhen is the biggest boss in this city—a man whose mere stomp makes the whole city tremble. In the past, he broke laws and did whatever made money. But after having a daughter, he cleaned up his act. On the surface, he runs legitimate businesses, but behind the scenes, he's still involved in smuggling cultural relics. Even so, no one in this city's underworld or upper world dares to disrespect Yu Zhen."
"Hehe, except for you, right? You just pulled Yu Mengxuan's hair, probably planning to swindle Yu Zhen, aren't you?" I said casually. Zhuge Wu nodded, his expression grave as he said, "That's right, I intend to squeeze Yu Zhen for some money." "Why? Yu Zhen is so influential—how dare you mess with him?" "I have no choice. Within ten days, I must get my hands on a million as soon as possible. Go close the door." As he spoke, Zhuge Wu took out that talisman paper and Yu Mengxuan's strand of hair, wrapped the hair in the talisman, and folded it into a diamond shape. I sighed and said, "Yu Zhen has climbed this far—are you sure he doesn't have any experts around him?" Zhuge Wu smiled and said, "If there really is an expert, then we'll have a showdown. This opportunity is once in a lifetime." "Bang!" I shut the door, and Zhuge Wu said, "Follow me upstairs." I nodded and followed, asking in confusion, "Zhuge Wu, why do you need to get a million so urgently? And why don't you go by the surname Zhao?" "You'll understand later." Zhuge Wu said as he opened the door to that room with both the ritual altar and the computer, adding, "When I perform the ritual, just watch and don't make a sound." I gave an "mm" and stood to the side. Zhuge Wu turned on the room's light, then powered up the computer and clicked on a software on the desktop called 'Lieguiren Lianmeng'. I looked closely—it turned out to be a live-streaming software. "Zhuge Wu, what is this?" I asked in confusion. Zhuge Wu glanced at his watch and said, "Stand right here—this is the camera's blind spot. Remember, never appear in front of the lens, or you'll be dead for sure." "Why?" I asked, puzzled. Zhuge Wu said, "Don't ask so many questions. Once I swindle the money from Yu Zhen, I'll focus on finding the Yinshazhu for you. Once we find the Yinshazhu, you leave this place. If I'm not mistaken, you should be starting high school soon, right?" "Mm." "Which school?" "City No. 1 High School." "City No. 1 High School?" Zhuge Wu suddenly counted on his fingers, then said seriously, "Class 4, Grade 10 at City No. 1 High School. If you get assigned to that class, drop out and don't attend." "Why?" I asked, even more astonished. "Don't ask—just listen to me. I would never lead you astray. I'm turning on the camera now. Stay hidden and don't make a sound." Zhuge Wu said as he activated the camera. The spot I stood in was exactly where the camera couldn't capture, yet from there, I could clearly see the screen. The screen went black for a few seconds, then images appeared—two feeds. One showed a person wearing a demon mask, and the other showed the scene inside this room, with Zhuge Wu's ritual altar right in the center of the frame. "Hehe, Zhuge Wu, you're the laziest one in my 'Lieguiren Lianmeng'. If you keep this up, you won't need to exist anymore," the masked figure said in an unusually hoarse voice. Zhuge Wu replied respectfully, "Vice Alliance Leader, I've had some personal matters lately. From now on, I guarantee I'll complete the weekly live stream." "Hmph, don't think you can slip by. Last time, when I told you to kill that woman, you pulled a switcheroo. This time, I hope you won't disappoint me again," the masked man said flatly.
Zhuge Wu was taken aback and said, "Deputy Alliance Leader, the person we're targeting this time is Yu Zhen's daughter. Killing her might not be so simple." "Yu Zhen?" The masked man paused slightly, then sneered, "You actually have the guts to go after Yu Zhen. Hahaha, fine, I'll go along with you this time. Maybe you'll soon reach your million. Begin." After the masked man finished speaking, his image on the screen went dark, and then system notifications appeared showing many people joining the livestream.
I stood still in place, watching Zhuge Wu walk to the front of the ritual platform. He picked up a peach wood sword with his right hand, grabbed a handful of rice grains with his left, and scattered them while chanting, "Rice talisman great, piercing the void. Jade Pure Supreme, golden front. Submit to my command, appear now. Urgent as the law commands." As the incantation finished, the rice grains landed less than a meter in front of me. Zhuge Wu traced several talisman patterns in the air with the peach wood sword, pushed forward with his left hand, and shouted, "Execute!" His movements were clean and decisive, without any hesitation.
At the spot where the rice had scattered, a ghost suddenly materialized out of thin air. This ghost had no feet, and the top of its head was sliced off—wasn't this exactly the Lietougui I had seen last night? But how could something like this be broadcast live for others to watch? I furrowed my brow, looking at Zhuge Wu. This guy indeed had real skill, but he was shamelessly using me.
I turned to look at the computer screen. By now, over thirty people were watching, and comments were flooding the screen. However, those people weren't scared after seeing the Lietougui—they were just egging it on, saying all sorts of things.
"Holy shit, this is intense!"
"So scary, but I love it, hahaha. Hunter Zhuge, can you make him turn his head around? There's a reward!"
"Newbie here, asking all the veterans if this is real."
"Hunter Zhuge, I love your livestreams the most. Once you start streaming, I don't want to watch anyone else's."
"Of course it's real. Why else would you be here? Damn, this ghost this time is truly badass."
"……"
I stared at the comments on the screen, completely confused about what was going on. Zhuge Wu, meanwhile, didn't respond to the comments. Instead, he picked up the talisman paper wrapped with one of Yu Mengxuan's hairs, placed two grains of rice inside, walked over to the Lietougui, and chanted, "Eat my grain, submit to my will. By my command, cling to the hair's owner. Urgent as the law commands!" After finishing the incantation, he bit his left middle finger and pressed it on the Lietougui's body. The ghost's form gradually faded, and in less than two breaths, it completely vanished into thin air.
Zhuge Wu wiped the sweat from his face and said with a smile, "Thank you all for your support. Today's livestream ends here."
"Hunter Zhuge, wait—can I become your disciple in the future?" a user with the screen name "SpongeBob" asked.
Zhuge Wu smiled and said, "That's not for me to decide. Friends, see you next week." After saying this, he shut down the streaming software and finally let out a sigh of relief.
"You fucking used me!" I shouted