Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I hurried out of the truck, but to my surprise, it was quiet outside.

A group of drunken workers lay sprawled every which way in the shed. It seemed their drinking session had already ended.

The twenty-three jars of wine on the truck were still tied down exactly where they had been, untouched. Everything I had just sensed felt like nothing more than a dream.

I glanced over at the spot where Liang San was sleeping. The blanket I had put over him was pulled up over his head.

I didn’t want to disturb him and was about to return to the truck, but the instant I turned around, that inexplicable unease surged up inside me again.

I strode quickly into the shed. The lightbulb hanging from the ceiling swayed faintly, making the light around me flicker between bright and dim.

I walked up beside Liang San and called softly, “Liang San?”

Liang San did not move at all. Under the blanket, his body did not even seem to rise and fall with breath.

Something was wrong. I reached out and yanked the blanket off Liang San!

Liang San snapped his head toward me, and my heart lurched with it-

It looked as if a layer of dough had been pasted over Liang San’s face, covering all his features completely!

I was still frozen in shock when Liang San suddenly sprang up, both hands clamping around my throat.

Liang San had never been a particularly strong man, but right now his strength was terrifying.

I grabbed his wrists and felt only stiffness in his joints, every muscle in his body pulled taut as a knot.

“Liang San!”

I tried to wake him, but the hands around my neck only tightened harder and harder.

That face, stripped of all features, was deathly pale, like a lump of raw dough.

I knew I couldn’t waste any more time. Gripping Liang San by the wrists, I dragged him bodily toward the outside of the shed.

Liang San might have wanted to strangle me, but he was too short. Once he was off the bed, his arms were forced upward, and he couldn’t put any real strength into it.

I dragged him out of the shed by sheer force, and Liang San began struggling wildly.

I twisted Liang San’s arm behind his back and hauled him all the way over to the truck.

I hadn’t used up that cup of tea yet.

I opened the lid and dumped all the remaining tea water straight over Liang San’s head!

Smoke began rising from Liang San’s face. The white skin covering his features burst and split apart one patch after another.

His whole body trembled as he clutched his face and collapsed to the ground.

My heart leaped into my throat. I was afraid of hurting Liang San, and even more afraid that the tea water wouldn’t work.

But before I could check on Liang San, inside the workers’ shed beside us, one faceless person after another rose from their beds!

At this point, there was no way I could brew more tea in time.

Faint moonlight spilled down, making the entire abandoned village look sinister and haunted.

Though those faceless people had no eyes to see with, every one of their faces turned toward me.

I felt no fear. I casually pulled out the Soul-Whip coiled around my waist.

Since the situation had forced my hand, they couldn’t blame me for being ruthless!

This Soul-Whip had been given to me when I was a child by a mad old Daoist priest I had once saved by chance.

At the time, he had told me, “A face like an asura, a heart like a bodhisattva. In this life, you’re destined to make your living between yin and yang.”