Huang Linzhi’s expression darkened, yet he managed to maintain his composure and probe, “I will not waste time arguing with you. Zheng Ze was taken away by you, right?”
“Enough, let us drop the act.” Su Youqi, still having zero desire to waste breath on scum, directly summoned Zheng Ze’s ghost out of the prayer beads, opened Huang Linzhi’s spiritual vision, and crossed his arms. “Any other questions?”
Upon seeing Zheng Ze’s ghost, Huang Linzhi had nothing left to doubt. “It really was you!”
True to being the kind of person who could hire someone to torture a ghost, Huang Linzhi relied on his protective amulets, knowing Zheng Ze couldn’t get close to him, and felt not an ounce of fear. He even provoked Zheng Ze directly. “I thought you were completely useless when you were alive, but I never expected you to be even more useless as a ghost. If he hadn’t saved you, your soul would have been shattered into dust by now, dead beyond all help!”
There was even a faint trace of regret in his tone.
Most people felt a twinge of a guilty conscience when facing the ghost of someone they had driven to death, making Huang Linzhi’s bitter regret over failing to finish the job a second time truly rare.
He was a remarkably pure specimen of evil.
Even someone as naturally good-natured as Zheng Ze lost his temper entirely and lunged forward at him again.
Fortunately, Su Youqi’s reflexes were lightning-fast, and he quickly pulled the ghost back behind him, whispering, “Stay calm. You cannot touch him, leave him to me.”
With Su Youqi’s keen eyesight, he could tell at a glance that Huang Linzhi wore at least three protective amulets and four offensive talismans capable of harming spirits.
He was thoroughly outfitted.
For a ghost of Zheng Ze’s level to charge in single-handedly would mean getting blown into absolute smithereens.
Regaining his composure, Zheng Ze nodded sheepishly. He had already witnessed the terrifying power of Huang Linzhi’s talismans the first time he tried to seek revenge, and if Su Youqi hadn’t caught him off guard and let him escape back then, he probably wouldn’t have survived the encounter.
Yet Su Youqi didn’t blame Zheng Ze at all. Having someone who indirectly drove you to suicide act so brazenly in front of your face was enough to make any spirit snap.
Huang Linzhi, however, displayed a fresh wave of disappointment. “Why are you pulling him back? Let him come and throw his life away.”
Su Youqi asked, “Huang Linzhi, you drove Zheng Ze to his death. Do not you feel even a shred of guilt?”
“Hey, do not talk nonsense. He jumped to his death because he couldn’t handle his own issues, what does that have to do with me?” Huang Linzhi wagged his index finger, glanced at Zheng Ze cowering behind Su Youqi, and sneered dismissively, “If your mental fortitude is that weak, you should just lock yourself at home and never step outside. To throw your life away over such trivial matters is a complete waste of existence, and you just end up inconveniencing everyone else!”
Causing such a massive scandal had forced his family to pack him off abroad. Living in a foreign country where he knew nobody, nowhere near as free and easy as back home, had nearly driven him crazy with frustration.
Su Youqi was speechless. “You are truly disgusting, Huang Linzhi.” This man kept finding new ways to lower the bar.
“Still, I underestimated you, Su Youqi. I thought you had just dug up some crooked black magic from somewhere to torment Xiao Jie, but it turns out you actually know how to do it yourself. No wonder you had the guts to follow me here.” The couple of tricks Su Youqi had pulled revealed a new angle to Huang Linzhi. “It is a pity you ran into me. An ordinary person might have been scared off by you, but you didn’t expect this, I know an expert, and that expert is far beyond petty trifles like whatever parlor tricks you know.”
“Is that so?” Su Youqi found it somewhat amusing. Huang Linzhi must have forgotten that he was the very person who had snatched Zheng Ze right out of the hands of his expert.
Well, it had also cost him twenty thousand yuan to buy soul-summoning incense, which was terribly expensive.
“Young man, confidence is a good thing, but when your confidence goes too far, you are bound to learn a lesson.” Huang Linzhi pointed at the bodyguards standing beside him, lifting his chin proudly. “I know you can fight, which is why these men were specifically prepared for you.”
The bodyguards had clearly received strict orders prior to arrival, lacking the careless lapse in judgment that allowed Jin Yan to score a hit earlier, they kept their eyes locked entirely on Su Youqi, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.
“Then I really must thank you for thinking so highly of me, but you do not seriously believe these guys can stop me, do you?” Su Youqi’s voice grew steadily colder. “They couldn’t even stop Jin Yan. What makes you think they can stop me?”
Before the words fully left his lips, Su Youqi took the initiative and launched straight into the group of bodyguards.
Although the bodyguards maintained a state of high alert, the gap in raw combat power was simply too vast. Within moments, Su Youqi had completely dismantled the entire squad.
Brushing non-existent dust off his hands after finishing the job, Su Youqi counted the bodies sprawled across the floor with mocking amusement. “One, two, three, four, five. Tsk tsk, only five guys? You really underestimated me. Didn’t your darling nephew tell you that I soloed more than a dozen of his guys last time? Though these bodyguards of yours are slightly tougher than the street punks your nephew brought, they are genuinely just a tiny, microscopic bit tougher.” Su Youqi held up his fingers to demonstrate a gap the size of a fingernail.
The sudden reversal of the situation shattered Huang Linzhi’s previous calm and composure, leaving him staring dumbfounded. “How, how is this possible? They are professional bodyguards who can take on three men each. Could it be that I was scammed?”
Logically speaking, Huang Linzhi didn’t believe the long-term security firm the Huang family contracted would dare deceive him, but the stark reality laid out before his eyes forced him to question his entire worldview.
Of course Huang Linzhi had heard Huang Jie’s exaggerated accounts of Su Youqi taking on a dozen people single-handedly, which was precisely why he brought five bodyguards. Despite numbering only five, they were all elite operatives from a top-tier security agency, entirely incomparable to the ragtag group of delinquents Huang Jie had hired previously.
Yet these very same elites had been beaten flat onto the floor by Su Youqi without a shred of counter-attack capability.
Jin Yan’s fighting skills looked decent too, and hadn’t a single bodyguard pinned him down earlier?
If the security agency hadn’t scammed him, then Su Youqi simply possessed an absurd, terrifying level of strength.
Yet Su Youqi was merely a college student, and a slender-looking one at that, how could he possibly be this strong? Not even television dramas dared script things this way!
Su Youqi’s image swelled to towering heights in Huang Linzhi’s mind, instilling a profound sense of threat.
Su Youqi snapped his fingers, gesturing sideways to reveal Zheng Ze standing behind him, and tilted his head to ask Huang Linzhi, “Are you interested in having a private chat now?”
“I really underestimated you!” No matter how unwilling, Huang Linzhi had no choice but to compromise, barking frantically at the bodyguards to get lost outside.
They were powerless against Su Youqi anyway, so chasing them out was better than keeping them around to embarrass him further.
Su Youqi teased playfully, “They got injured protecting you, Huang Linzhi.”
Huang Linzhi snorted with utter disdain. “A bunch of trash! I hired them to protect me, not to get beaten up!” Calling themselves elites, he was going to make his mother switch security agencies the moment he got back; what a pile of garbage!
During the scuffle, the bodyguards’ noise-canceling earpieces had all shaken loose, allowing them to hear every single word Huang Linzhi uttered. Their footsteps faltered for a fraction of a second before they scrambled to speed up their exit.
“An eldest young master is truly an eldest young master. Even in a situation like this, he is still busy looking down on others.” Su Youqi stepped closer to Huang Linzhi with a malicious glint in his eye. “Without that group of bodyguards around, things become so much more convenient. I know you are not afraid of Zheng Ze because you carry a mountain of talismans, but those talismans can only harm spirits, not living people. Tell me, what do you think would happen if I stripped every single talisman off your body?”
Beside him, Zheng Ze’s eyes lit up, and he immediately drifted closer, staring at Su Youqi with burning anticipation.
Huang Linzhi’s pupils constricted as real fear surfaced in his eyes for the very first time.
“What is the matter? Is the school bully scared?” Su Youqi feigned surprise. “How bizarre, a school bully knows how to be afraid? Or are you afraid of the person you once bullied?”
Accustomed to always being the perpetrator of bullying, Huang Linzhi instinctively tried to object, but under the influence of Zheng Ze drifting circles around him like a vulture, his courage completely evaporated. “Su Youqi, you cannot do this! We are both living humans, while Zheng Ze is just a dead ghost. You cannot let a dead man harm a living one!”
Su Youqi spread his hands helplessly. “So what? Living or dead, aren’t they both people? In the eyes of our profession, they are all the same, completely equal.”
Desperate to find even a microscopic hint of a joke in Su Youqi’s eyes, Huang Linzhi found only chilling indifference. At that exact moment, he realized he was in genuine danger.
“Look, Su Youqi, isn’t your family very poor? I will give you money, lots and lots of money! And resources too! Didn’t you fail all those film auditions before because you lacked backing? My family has deep connections in the entertainment industry. As long as you do not cross me today, I will hook you up with roles, roles with actual lines!” Huang Linzhi tried to bribe Su Youqi while frantically fumbling for his phone to call for help.
Su Youqi gave a light chuckle. “My apologies, I just climbed out of poverty recently, you are a bit late.” He didn’t stop Huang Linzhi either, simply shooting a knowing glance at Zheng Ze.
He dialed once, no signal. He dialed twice, still no signal.
Huang Linzhi watched in sheer horror as the signal bars on his phone plummeted from full to completely dead.
He instantly pieced it together. “It is Zheng Ze! It was Zheng Ze, wasn’t it?!”
Whether in television dramas or novels, spirits causing communications to fail was a classic trope.
“Congratulations, School Bully Huang, you guessed correctly.” Su Youqi watched him as if observing a stage play. “As a reward, I present to you the Zheng Ze brand signal jammer, portable, space-efficient, and great for home use.”
To hell with his reward! That was clearly a death warrant!
With a sudden burst of speed, Huang Linzhi bolted toward the exit, but Su Youqi neatly extended a foot at the exact right moment, sending the mighty school bully crashing face-first onto the ground in an epic wipeout.
Su Youqi dropped his voice by two deliberate notches. “Do not rush to leave, School Bully Huang, we haven’t even started talking yet. Besides, do not bother trying to call for help. Since your phone cannot get a single outgoing call through, do you honestly think that group of bodyguards outside can hear your cries?”
Forcing his open mouth shut in bitter defeat, Huang Linzhi realized with absolute clarity that Su Youqi was fully committed to making an enemy of him today.
Since soft tactics failed, Huang Linzhi resorted to invoking the legal system for self-protection. “Su Youqi, murder is illegal! I have all those bodyguards outside, and if anything happens to me, you will not get away with it!”
“Your words just gave me a wonderful reminder.” Su Youqi pointed a thumb at Zheng Ze. “However, it will not matter if he does the work. Humans killing humans is a crime, but ghosts aren’t human.”