When I entered the freezer, the captain had Bạch Tịnh in a chokehold. He looked at me coldly and shouted, “Boss Hứa of Tâm Trai! I didn’t expect you to know your way around a gun.”
“You know me? Who are you? Dạ Xoa?”
I asked coldly.
Captain Giang laughed hoarsely. “I didn’t expect Boss Hứa to have such sharp ears. You even know about us, Dạ Xoa. No wonder the Inspector said it was all fate. Sooner or later, Dạ Xoa would clash with the Hứa family. We were supposed to stay out of each other’s way…”
Bang.
Before Captain Giang could finish speaking, I raised my gun and fired.
Thwack.
The bullet pierced Captain Giang’s head.
Captain Giang’s eyes widened, and he crashed to the ground.
Bạch Tịnh sank to the floor too, gasping for breath. “I…I thought I was a goner.”
Bạch Tịnh looked at me and slowly pushed herself to her feet. “Good thing you acted decisively.”
I nodded. “That was the best moment to shoot that I could calculate.”
“That hammer.”
Bạch Tịnh pointed to a rusty iron hammer in the middle of the freezer. “That’s a haunted object. Every minute, it adds ten thousand jin to the entire ship’s weight.”
Ten thousand jin—that’s five tons.
Bang.
The ship sank lower again.
“No wonder. The ship was sinking because of this haunted object.”
Chu An Hạ looked at me and asked urgently, “Miss Hứa, what do we do now? Should we get out of here?”
“I can handle it.”
I looked at the people hanging there. They seemed to be passengers. Their hair had turned completely white, and they were so weak they could barely move. Judging by their appearance, their yang lifespans had been drained, and they were close to death.
I looked toward the freezer door and said to Dương Kỳ and the security guards, “There are six in all. Take down the people whose yang lifespans have been drained, carry them on your backs, and follow me in a little while.”
With that, I opened my backpack, let out my black cat, Than, and took out a red cord.
Dương Kỳ and the security guards took down the people whose yang lifespans had been drained and carried them on their backs.
I tied the red cord around their wrists, then went to the freezer door and drew a talisman seal with my blood.
“Open.”
I shoved the freezer door with all my strength. At once, a wave of white mist poured into the freezer.
I turned back, picked up the hammer from the floor, and said to Dương Kỳ and the others, “Everyone, follow me.”
Then I took the hammer and stepped into the white mist.
The hammer itself wasn’t heavy, but when placed on an object and its haunted-object power activated, it made that object gain ten thousand jin every minute.
With the cat in tow and the hammer in hand, I led Dương Kỳ and the others through the white mist.
Before long, we reached an old street.
We had arrived at the ghost market.
The whole street flickered in and out of view. Only the three-story building in the middle was solid.
I walked to the entrance of the Heaven and Earth Trading House in the middle of the ghost market.
At the trading house entrance, a man in white sat cross-legged on a bench, still cracking sunflower seeds.
“You’re here?”
The man in white set down the shells and stood up with a smile. “You made quite a haul this time, didn’t you? I never expected it to be a Song-dynasty Heavenly Weight Hammer.”
“The Song dynasty?”
I hadn’t expected that rusty-looking hammer to have such an illustrious history.
I nodded. “President Bạch, name your price. There’s still something I need to take care of outside.”
“All right. Business first.”
Bạch Tiểu Bạch looked at the people Dương Kỳ and the others were carrying, then raised a hand. A ledger dropped into Bạch Tiểu Bạch’s hand.
Bạch Tiểu Bạch flipped through a few pages and said, “Eight jin of yin energy, equivalent to two hundred and forty years of yang lifespan. Eighty percent goes back to the original owners; twenty percent belongs to the merchant.”
A blue-black hand reached out from inside the shop and grabbed the hammer. A stream of pitch-black yin energy poured out of it, eventually turning into a pure black, fist-sized orb. The hand drew it into the Heaven and Earth Trading House.
Bạch Tiểu Bạch held the ledger and made a few marks. “You have 1,016 Heaven and Earth coins now. They won’t earn interest sitting around, so why not spend some?”
“This hammer’s pretty good. Take it home, though it only has a tenth of its power. How about I restore half its power for you? One strike would add five thousand jin.”
“Restore half its power?”
I froze, then asked in confusion, “How many Heaven and Earth coins would that take?”
“Two hundred will do.” Bạch Tiểu Bạch smiled.
“Two hundred?”
I looked at the hammer and muttered, “It’s kind of ugly.”
“It’s beautiful.” Bạch Tiểu Bạch waved a hand. The rust fell from the hammer, revealing a simple black pattern.
I smiled and picked up the hammer. “Thanks. No need to restore half its power. One strike adding a thousand jin is already pretty impressive.”
“You… Forget it.” Bạch Tiểu Bạch sat down helplessly.
I hesitated, then asked Bạch Tiểu Bạch, “I want some other information.”
Bạch Tiểu Bạch took some sunflower seeds and cracked a few before speaking. “Of the six major shops, the Return Inn won’t be available until the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The heir to Vô Vọng Y Quán is outside. Go check out Pear Garden Spring.”
“Pear Garden Spring? The heir to Đỗ Tiểu Nguyệt?”
I asked in confusion, “You want me to find Đỗ Tiểu Nguyệt? Isn’t she…”
“Isn’t she what?”
Bạch Tiểu Bạch said, “Pear Garden Spring’s shop-guarding haunted object is a mask. It’s very special: whoever owns it loses only one face. I can’t say more about it; the rest depends on your own abilities. This information is cheap—just twenty Heaven and Earth coins.”
“Twenty again?”
The last time I got information about Bạch Tịnh, it cost twenty too. And he called this cheap?
I couldn’t be bothered to say more. I led the others and started back.
“Give my regards to the Bạch family’s heir,” Bạch Tiểu Bạch added.
I stopped and turned around. “Twenty Heaven and Earth coins.”
“I didn’t say anything.” Bạch Tiểu Bạch didn’t even look at me and went on cracking sunflower seeds.
I scoffed and called to my black cat, Than. “Than, lead the way.”
When we returned to the freezer, the security guards saw that the people on their backs looked much younger and stared at me in astonishment.
The head of the security team asked curiously, “Miss Hứa, was that place we just went to… the underworld?”
“The ghost market.”
I explained, “I’m the only one who can get there. Don’t ask about it. It’s best not to get involved with that place, or you’ll lose years off your life.”
The head of the security team nodded quickly.
I said to Dương Kỳ, “I’ll leave the cleanup to you.”
Dương Kỳ gave me an OK sign.
I put my black cat, Than, back in my backpack, then left the freezer with the others.
Back in the luxury suite, Mumu’s mother saw me and smiled brightly. “Mumu just said the ship wasn’t going to sink anymore. I knew you and the others would be back soon, Miss Hứa.”
“You really believe a child’s words?”
Mumu’s father looked at me with disdain, then asked, “Miss Hứa, Mumu really likes it here. You’re not going to kick us out, are you?”
I ignored Mumu’s father and looked at Mumu with a smile. “You can stay here, Mumu.”
“Thank you.” Mumu smiled and nodded.
Mumu’s mother asked anxiously, “Miss Hứa, can you… cure Mumu?”
“An illness? It’s not exactly an illness.”
I looked at Mumu’s forehead. Her Heavenly Eye flickered in and out of sight. It seemed to have been caused by a blood clot.
Just as I was trying to figure out how to help Mumu, Bạch Tịnh smiled beside me. “I can cure Mumu.”
As she spoke, Bạch Tịnh placed a hand on Mumu’s head and said coolly, “Thirteen Ghost Gate Needles—Ghost Palace, return to your place.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a silver needle flew out of Mumu’s head and landed in Bạch Tịnh’s hand.
I stared in surprise. “The Thirteen Ghost Gate Needles? How… did a needle end up inside Mumu’s head?”
Mumu’s mother sprang to her feet in fright.
Bạch Tịnh explained, “Mumu did have a blood clot in her head. She must have come into contact with this Ghost Palace needle by accident. The Thirteen Ghost Gate Needles are meant to save people, so the needle entered Mumu’s head. Her blood clot has healed, but the needle opened her Heavenly Eye, which is why she can see visions of future disasters.”
I asked, puzzled, “Then why can I see visions of future disasters too?”
“The Ghost Palace needle must have sensed you and is warning you,” Bạch Tịnh said with a smile.
“So that’s what it is.”
—THE END—