Chapter 64

Assistant Liu received instructions and immediately called the agent through a video call.

The agent had probably heard about what happened on Lan Xing's side. At first, he didn’t even dare to answer the phone. After several attempts and learning that Assistant Liu was not sent by Lan Xing but really intended to buy a big house abroad, his attitude suddenly changed.

The agent proactively called back: "Mr. Liu, I’m really sorry. I was showing another client a house just now and didn’t see the call, so I hung up. You said you intend to buy the downtown apartment I just listed, right?"

"My client wants to buy it," Assistant Liu said calmly. "That apartment is good. My client is satisfied with everything and wants to find a reliable agent to buy it directly."

"Oh my, then you really found the right person. I’ve been in real estate agency for over ten years. Every client I’ve worked with has been satisfied! Leave this to me!"

Lan Xing: "..."

Assistant Liu smiled slightly, then mentioned that his client was busy and couldn't be freed up, and didn’t trust what was seen on video. He needed the agent to bring detailed information back to the client’s home country for an introduction and then conduct a site inspection.

When mentioning returning to the country, the agent became cautious: "I can send you the information online. It’s almost the same as introducing it in person when I go back, right?"

Assistant Liu paused: "I understand."

After a moment, he skipped that topic and said his client also wanted to buy a large apartment in the capital city and asked if the agent had any recommendations.

"Oh, about the commission. My client is picky. Besides the usual commission, they will pay the agent an extra 0.5% of the transaction price. Don’t worry, your colleague won’t be treated unfairly."

The agent was about to recommend a colleague, but when he heard about the 0.5% extra commission, he was immediately tempted.

Housing prices in the capital city were insanely high. Even commercial apartments easily cost millions.

If the recommended apartment was more expensive, he could earn over a hundred or two hundred thousand yuan from this deal!

His voice became flattering: "No, no need to trouble anyone else. Didn’t you just say you wanted me to go back? I’ll bring the information with me and take care of the capital city matters for you, then fly back together. It’s on the way!"

Assistant Liu nodded at the video, but spoke as if reluctant: "But from what you just said, it seems it’s not convenient for you to return."

"How could it not be!" The agent laughed heartily as if he saw a big pile of cash waving at him, "It’s very convenient, really! Add me on WeChat later, and I’ll send you the info on the Beijing apartments."

Assistant Liu also smiled: "Alright."

After mentioning a few properties his client was interested in, Assistant Liu hung up.

Soon after, his phone dinged with many apartment listings, along with the agent’s earnest voice: "The neighborhoods you mentioned are all good, but one of them has some feng shui problems. Someone jumped to their death there before. I don’t really recommend you look at it, so as not to offend any benefactors."

Lan Xing clenched his fists in anger when the agent boasted about being reliable earlier. Now, hearing the agent casually tell others things he was hiding from him, he couldn’t help but grit his teeth.

All he wanted now was to grab the agent by the collar and fiercely ask him: what exactly does he think he is? A big fool to be taken advantage of?He has paid plenty of commission!

Lan Xing gritted his teeth tightly, his eyes red with anger.

Zhu Chu felt very sorry for him but couldn’t help thinking his expression was quite suggestive. He glanced at his cold-looking junior disciple and cautiously leaned toward the master’s ear, whispering in a voice only they could hear, “Master, I really think he’s been scammed by the agent!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Nie Chen cast a cold glare over again, a look as if he wanted to tear Zhu Chu to pieces.

Zhu Chu’s scalp tightened immediately, and he nervously stepped back.

He wondered inwardly, does the junior disciple have super hearing? How could he hear even though Zhu Chu spoke so quietly?

Fortunately, Assistant Liu quickly got all the agent’s background information out in a few words.

The agent spoke with disdain: “That family is really bold, even dared to casually ruin the exterior. The developer hired a master to calculate the feng shui well, and the housing price never dropped from the launch price. But after this incident, it directly fell below the original price. The homeowner’s whole family knew something was wrong but still tried to sell. The furniture remained untouched, and they even hired a few little people (folk talismans) with their family names, placing them inside the ceilings of various rooms to create the illusion that the family was still there, so as not to be haunted by restless spirits.”

At this point, maybe recalling his old customer who got scammed, the agent sighed, “I don’t know if the next tenant can handle it!”

Everyone: “...”

All eyes turned toward Lan Xing.

Lan Xing was full of grief and anger, feeling utterly miserable.

Assistant Liu timely spoke: “Mr. Lan, I can only help you get him to voluntarily return to the country. As for suing or other matters afterward, you’ll need to prepare for those yourself.”

Lan Xing stared blankly at him. It had been a long time since his assistant spoke to him so gently. For a moment, he couldn’t react—it was Assistant Liu talking to him.

After a while, he had an epiphany.

Right!

Earlier, there was no way to handle the agent—one reason was that lawsuits take a long time and are exhausting, the other was that cross-border arrests are difficult. Now Assistant Liu tricked the agent into coming back, solving the second problem!

The key was that Lan Xing, like the agent, was too focused on the later apartment matters and didn’t notice that the smokescreen Assistant Liu released earlier was also effective!

Lan Xing couldn’t help but look at Assistant Liu with admiration.

Seeing him submissively reporting the work progress to Nie Chen and thoughtfully asking if any other help was needed, he realized for the first time that an assistant could be so readily available without ever mentioning overtime pay.

—What kind of hard days had he lived before!

--

The property manager contacted security to get a ladder.

During the wait, Lan Xing quietly sidled up to Nie Chen. Despite the other’s intimidating gaze, he mustered courage to ask, “Bro, where did you find that assistant? He seems very capable. How do you usually train him?”

Nie Chen frowned slightly, reluctant to answer.

But Ke Xingzhou soon looked over. Under Ke Xingzhou’s “be polite to customers” intimidating glance, Nie Chen hesitated a moment and slowly said, “Annual salary two million.”

Lan Xing: “………………”

Sorry! That was too forward of me!The assistant had just arrived home when she received a message from her own foolish president. She thought it would be some strange friendship-related nonsense, but when she opened it, it wasn’t.

[Lan Buxing: Still you, huh! Good quality and cheap!]

Assistant: "..."

After a moment of silence, she put down her handbag and quickly typed a line back:

[Workplace harassment, screenshots saved as evidence.]

Lan Xing: ".............."

--

The security guard brought a ladder and climbed up to inspect the ceiling. Sure enough, paper talisman dolls were found in all three bedrooms. Because they were taped behind the spotlights, no one would notice without climbing up to check carefully.

The three dolls were taken down and placed side by side on the coffee table.

These dolls were made of faded white paper, wrapped with multiple layers of tape. Their features were messy and eerie, the chaotic lines looking like a child’s doodles but strangely vivid.

Lan Xing stared at the three paper dolls for a moment and suddenly felt as if they were all smiling at him. He was startled: "Ah!"

The others, who had been closely observing the dolls and were not scared by them, were frightened by his sudden outburst and almost had their souls fly away.

Ke Chanyi frowned: "What’s wrong?"

Lan Xing, still shaken, hid behind him and calmed down a little, pointing fearfully at the three paper dolls: "They... they’re smiling at me!"

Everyone’s expression changed and they all looked toward the dolls.

But they didn’t see what Lan Xing was talking about.

Strangely, when Lan Xing looked again, the dolls had returned to normal. Their mouths were just straight lines curved slightly to the sides—definitely not smiling.

Everyone was creeped out by him: "Are you seeing things?"

Lan Xing was uncertain and didn’t dare to say yes or no. He swallowed nervously and looked to the priests from Jiulong Temple and Ke Xingzhou for help.

The two from Jiulong Temple looked more professional. The property manager also looked at them expectantly.

The fat and thin priests: "..."

No choice. The Jiulong Temple head had to grit his teeth and stepped forward, flipping the paper dolls over with a peach wood sword.

On the back, sure enough, were the names of the previous homeowner and, presumably, his wife and child.

Not only were their names on the paper dolls, but also their birthdates and times. The handwriting was so red it was almost black, and no one knew what was used to write it. Just looking at it sent chills down one’s spine and caused cold sweat on the back.

Lan Xing was so scared he almost wet himself, stammering behind Ke Chanyi: "Wh-what exactly is this?"

Is this the kind of paper doll cursing they show in TV dramas?

But he had always seen this kind of thing used to harm others—writing someone’s name to harm them. How could this harm him?Ke Xingzhou and the others scrutinized the paper dolls.

It seemed certain that these were the cause of the trouble. As for Lan Xing’s question, the others were also puzzled.

The Jiulong Temple head felt the object looked increasingly familiar, but before he could figure out where the familiarity came from, his sleeve was suddenly tugged by Fat Daoist.

The fat Daoist lowered his voice: “Isn’t this something from the southwest?”

The Jiulong Temple head immediately recalled.

No wonder it seemed familiar. He had indeed seen this before, but not here in the capital—it was at Jiulong Temple’s main base in the southwest headquarters.

Since it was from the headquarters, wouldn’t this mean a flood damaging the Dragon King’s temple—a case of their own people fighting each other?

His expression changed involuntarily. Noticing their looks, the others immediately turned to them.

Zhu Chu curiously asked, “Two Daoists, do you know what this thing is?”

The Jiulong Temple head was embarrassed and hesitated before answering, “We know, but…”

But this is something from the headquarters, and of a high rank—only a few people can obtain it. He had only seen it once or twice by chance.

The previous homeowner must have become a follower of the headquarters, spending a lot of money to get such a high-level magical tool.

Such a client would be considered VIP even at headquarters. If they now disrupt the curse the headquarters set up, would they be considered betrayers?

While he hesitated, Ke Xingzhou apparently overheard their conversation, frowned, and repeated, “Southwest? You mean that weird cult that uses nine caterpillars as badges?”

The fat and thin Daoists: “...”

What caterpillars! That’s clearly a nine-headed dragon!

The charge of insulting the totem was worse than betraying headquarters. The Jiulong Temple head and Fat Daoist broke out in cold sweat and instinctively wanted to wipe it off, but had to endure it under everyone’s gaze.

Lan Xing was confused—how did this conversation suddenly involve a dragon?

“What’s a nine-headed dragon?”

Ke Xingzhou glanced at Zhu Chu.

Without needing a reminder, Zhu Chu started explaining, “It’s a cult founded in a small country in the southwest. Our Xiaoyao Sect held a ritual before that also had traces of the nine-headed dragon. Looks like they think the southwest market isn’t big enough and have reached out to the capital…”

Upon hearing it was a cult, Lan Xing’s face turned pale: “Th-this is terrifying!”

Zhu Chu recalled the previous Mo Lili incident and nodded seriously: “Very terrifying indeed!”

Nie Chen frowned, exchanged a glance with Ke Xingzhou, and asked the two Jiulong Temple Daoists, “Are you very familiar with the nine-headed dragon?”

By now, denying would only make them seem suspicious. The Jiulong Temple head cleared his throat and reluctantly nodded slightly: “Yes.”

Their Jiulong Temple was formerly the nine-headed dragon.

The government’s crackdown on cults was severe. He“The nine-headed dragon did indeed originate from a small country in the southwest and only spread into the country about a decade ago. Before that, it had only developed in the southwest region. We’ve seen this paper doll before—it’s a magical tool made by the nine-headed dragon for its followers to transfer their misfortune.”

Zhu Chu had just learned about this recently and couldn’t help but ask, “You mean ‘proxy request’?”

“Proxy request…” The Jiulong Temple head didn’t know such professional terms and wondered why the cults didn’t even unify their jargon, which caught him off guard.

Sweat appeared slightly at his temple. “Sort of. But this method isn’t without side effects.”

“What side effects?”

“Well…” The Jiulong Temple head hesitated, wary of the headquarters, and didn’t dare say more.

The fat Daoist, however, slowly lost himself amid Lan Xing and the property manager’s repeated pleas of “Daoist, please help us,” almost forgetting he was a subordinate of the nine-headed dragon. Under everyone’s eager gaze, he continued: “Of course it has deadly side effects! The more vivid the facial expressions on this paper doll, the more lifespan it’s absorbing from the user. Once the doll completes its task and transfers all the bad luck away, the user will soon die along with it!”

The Jiulong Temple head was speechless.

He hadn’t expected him to be so bold—he practically wanted to rush forward and cover his mouth.

But it was too late. The chubby guy had already spilled everything, even revealing the nine-headed dragon’s most secret, core business secrets to these people!

Thinking of the headquarters’ methods for dealing with traitors, his face turned pale.

If the headquarters found out about this…

Ke Xingzhou gave him a strange look, sensing something odd about his reaction.

Fortunately, everyone present was terrified by what the fat Daoist said, and the property manager and Lan Xing looked far worse than him, so the Jiulong Temple head’s sudden loss of composure wasn’t that noticeable.

Lan Xing almost cried blind.

He had only bought a house—how did he get mixed up in all this?!

Wasn’t he supposed to be born lucky? Clearly, he was a chosen unlucky guy!

Lan Xing started crying “Wuwuwu.”

Everyone was speechless.

The property manager trembled all over upon hearing this. There was such a terrifying thing inside a house they managed—who would dare buy here after word got out?

After a moment of silence, he helplessly turned pleading eyes to the two Jiulong Temple Daoists: “Daoists, we really didn’t know about this! The house belongs to the owner, and we only manage the common areas. Who would’ve thought they’d do this kind of thing at home! What… what should we do now?”

The Jiulong Temple head didn’t know what to say in this situation.

He was just a fake Daoist, after all. Besides some feng shui knowledge he had guessed at by chance, everything else had been uncovered by Ke Xingzhou.

If he encountered a real ordinary ghost, he’d be helpless, let alone these paper dolls that clearly came from the headquarters.

Don’t say he was a half-baked fake Daoist—even if he were a true Daoist, he wouldn’t dare touch this!

Everyone fell silent listening to Lan Xing’s crying. Just then, a strange noise came again from the sliding glass door, which had been quiet until now.

With a creak, the sliding glass door was slowly pushed open by the wind.Lan Xing shuddered all over, suddenly turned to look that way, his voice trembling: “Who… who just went to open the door?”

A few days ago when he left, because he was too scared, he had clearly locked all the doors and windows!

Nie Chen calmly said, “No one went over there.”

“!!!”

Lan Xing became even more scared, trembling all over, his face already showing signs of turning pale: “It must be that old man again! I remember, last time I didn’t touch the sliding door either. That sliding door must have opened by itself, and I didn’t notice and moved the chair out!”

This really was a harmful ghost!

Nie Chen interrupted his rambling: “That old man died with deep resentment, staying behind to cause trouble. We have to lure him out first, then deal with him.”

Lan Xing met his gaze, suddenly having a bad feeling: “Who, who will lure him out?”

Nie Chen calmly stared back. His attitude clearly meant Lan Xing was to be the bait.

This house belonged to him, and only he had lived in it. If not him, then who?

Lan Xing: “…”

He silently stepped back. Just as he was about to shake his head to refuse, he saw Nie Chen slightly turn his head aside: “Zhu Chu, throw him out.”

Lan Xing: “…………”

--

At first, Lan Xing planned to use the same trick, grabbed a chair and threw it out to attract the old ghost down.

But this time the old ghost was smarter. After a long time with no movement outside the sliding door when the chair was thrown,

He cautiously poked his head out to check, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his butt—someone kicked him out of the room.

He lunged forward, losing balance and fell to the ground, suddenly feeling a chill all over. The cold wind howled violently on the terrace, like a fierce ghost laughing, chilling him inside and out.

From above came a faint sound of something breaking the air. Lan Xing shivered in his heart, ignoring the pain in his butt, quickly rolling over and looking up in terror.

He saw a dark shadow crashing straight down toward him.

That withered face, and the cloudy eyes that couldn’t rest in peace—if not the old man who died by jumping off the building, then who else?

Lan Xing’s scalp tingled. He couldn’t help but scream: “Aaaah! Ghost lord! It’s not me! I’m just a lousy home buyer! It was the previous owner who caused your death. They and the agents connived to cheat me—I’m a victim too!”

His screams released all the grievances and discrimination he had suffered for days, moving everyone who heard him to tears. Lan Xing himself cried out in distress.

The howling wind above briefly paused.

Everyone saw a bloodied and mangled old man suddenly appear, his twisted body floating midair, bent into unnatural shapes, yet still moving.

A pale gray old face came close to Lan Xing’s, squinting and staring left and right at him with a very puzzled look.

Lan Xing was struck hard, cold sweat breaking out instantly.

Everyone inside the room was also shocked.“Damn!” The fat Taoist seemed to only just remember his fake Taoist identity, suddenly shouting, “This old man died so horribly!”

Everyone: “…”

--

A few minutes later, the group returned to the living room, standing face to face with the old ghost.

Lan Xing pathetically rubbed the footprints on his arm.

One second before the old ghost fell, someone kicked his shoulder again, sending him skidding half a meter across the floor.

He wasn’t seriously hurt, but his shoulder was killing him, and his buttocks rubbed against the cement floor for half a meter, now burning painfully. He didn’t even know if his pants were torn.

He looked faintly at Ke Xingzhou.

When he looked up earlier, Ke Xingzhou was standing beside him.

Although he didn’t know how Ke Xingzhou had done it, it was definitely Ke Xingzhou who suddenly appeared and kicked him.

Lan Xing sobbed deeply.

What kind of sin had he committed to get kicked so many times in one night?

The property manager also felt very sorry for him, kindly taking off his coat and wrapping it around Lan Xing’s waist. Lan Xing’s butt hurt too much to sit, so he stood by the sofa with a miserable face.

The old man had been an honest person in life. After learning about the paper figure, much of his resentment faded. Realizing he had mistaken the person, he hurriedly apologized.

But he died from a fall, in an extremely brutal way, his face covered in blood and his skull deformed.

Every time he lowered his head, the skull dented inward with gravity, and when he spoke it bulged and contracted, making Lan Xing feel sick.

Lan Xing struggled to look away, but he didn’t want to forgive so easily.

They were both victims, but this old man nearly killed him!

If he hadn’t been clever enough to screenshot and send it to his assistant to complain, he’d be dead now!

Thinking about how his assistant’s attitude changed after work, he grew angrier and rare in his firmness said, “You made me lose sleep for two days and nights before! Do you expect me to just let it go? What am I supposed to be? A fool?”

He vented his anger toward the agent and the neighbors he blamed. His raging fury even scared the old ghost turned fierce spirit.

Lan Xing was startled himself and secretly pleased—turns out he was pretty intimidating when angry!

Then the old ghost started bleeding from seven orifices, tears and snot streaming, lunging to cling to his leg and wailing, “Please forgive me! My life is so bitter. My wife died early. I worked hard to raise a successful son, who gave me a granddaughter. But the granddaughter wasn’t even a month old when I was killed!”

The old ghost grew more and more tragic, crying out loud on the spot.

Lan Xing’s expression instantly changed.

“Ahhhh! My butt! My wound! Ahhh Ke Xingzhou save me! This old man is ruthless! He’s touching my butt!!!”