Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The letter was quite long. I scanned it quickly, getting the gist of its contents.

It was written by a girl named Fu Wan to her fiancé.

Her fiancé’s surname was Zhao. He had been away at war for three years and was recently due to return to Wufu Town with his unit. Their families had already picked an auspicious date, intending for Fu Wan to marry into his family as soon as Zhao Sheng returned.

This was the last letter Fu Wan had sent to Zhao Sheng. It was filled with her love and longing for him, as well as her dreams for their future life together.

For the rest of their lives, the two of them would be able to stay together forever.

But clearly, this letter was never successfully delivered. Something had happened to Fu Wan.

This letter, destined never to be sent, had become Fu Wan’s obsession.

The paper was covered in mottled, blackened bloodstains. What puzzled me, however, was a Pawn Ticket stuck to the bottom right corner of the letter.

The Pawn Ticket showed that a hundred years ago, a man named Dou An had given this to the Pawnshop as a Dead Pawn.

Why would Fu Wan’s letter be given to the Pawnshop as a Dead Pawn by Dou An?

What was a mere letter worth to him?

And what role did Dou An play in all of this?

Thud! Thud!

While I was reading the letter, the girl outside had begun slamming against the door.

A piercing, Yin wind continuously squeezed through the cracks. Fu Wan’s pent-up resentment seemed to be venting entirely upon this precarious little door.

I gripped the letter tightly, my mind racing. Should I return this letter to Fu Wan or not?

The letter had been given to the Pawnshop as a Dead Pawn. According to the rules, the ownership of the letter belonged to the Pawnshop. Since I had taken over the Pawnshop, I had the right to decide how to handle it.

I could choose to return the letter to Fu Wan.

But would she really leave after getting it?

Or would the letter trigger her, making her even more terrifying?

No. If returning this letter could have calmed Fu Wan’s resentment, none of this would be happening today.

At that thought, I immediately tucked the letter away and rushed into the room. I dug out several pieces of Talisman Paper left behind by Granny and slapped them onto the door.

Granny understood some Yin-Yang and Feng Shui Arts; her Talisman Paper was quite effective against ordinary Dirty Things.

I had also learned how to draw talismans from Granny since I was a child, but my foundation was too weak. I could mimic the forms, but they lacked any real power.

As soon as those pieces of Talisman Paper were stuck to the door, they spontaneously combusted, turning into ash.

They couldn’t stop Fu Wan at all!

With a loud crash, the small door was smashed open. Fu Wan lunged straight at me.

Her ten fingernails were sharp and long, stabbing directly toward my throat.

The change happened too fast, leaving me no time to react. Just as those long, sharp nails were about to pierce my neck, a white light suddenly flared up, forming a barrier in front of me.

The barrier was semi-arched, its surface appearing to be covered in silver-white scales. It instantly sent Fu Wan flying backward.

It was the Scale Liu Junyan gave me that protected me!

I reached out and touched the Scale Pendant. The Scale was currently emitting a cold, white light.

Liu Junyan… he had saved my life again.

“It’s done!”

Accompanied by a shrill scream, a man’s excited voice suddenly rang out. I looked outside.

Amidst the curtain of rain, Fu Wan had been knocked back and hadn’t yet regained her footing. From the side, a Giant Rat suddenly lunged out. Its back legs kicked off powerfully as it leaped up, slamming a piece of Talisman Paper hard onto Fu Wan’s head.

That Talisman Paper was purple. Its power was countless times greater than Granny’s.

Fu Wan had already been struck by the power of the Scale, leaving her Souls unstable. The Giant Rat took the opportunity to strike, pinning Fu Wan’s soul-body against the opposite wall.

She roared incessantly, her blood-red eyes staring hatefully at the Giant Rat as if she wanted to swallow it alive.

She struggled desperately with all her might. Her Souls began to fade at a visible rate, yet a faint blood-red light shimmered between her brows.
I looked closer and realized that a Coffin Nail had been driven into the center of Fu Wan’s forehead!

It clearly hadn’t been put there just now. After being severely wounded by the Talisman Paper, Fu Wan’s soul form had become unstable, causing the Coffin Nail to manifest.

Just as the Giant Rat was about to continue its attack, Fu Wan let out another roar, breaking through the seal of the Talisman Paper and meeting the Giant Rat’s strike with her palm.

After a few exchanges, Fu Wan retreated rapidly to the west, quickly vanishing into the river waters.

The man who had been hiding in the corner huddled up to the Giant Rat and said worriedly, “Elder Grey, the storm hasn’t stopped and the river hasn’t receded. Could there be more trouble?”

I recognized this man; he was Dou Feng, the owner of the coffin shop at the east end of town.

He followed the Giant Rat with a fawning, hunched posture. The Giant Rat didn’t answer him, but instead turned its head to look at me.

The moment I met the Giant Rat’s shrewd, calculating little eyes, I instinctively took two steps back, clutching the Scale Pendant even tighter.

This Giant Rat was definitely the same one that had been standing on the grey sedan chair last night!

It gave me a single look before leaving with Dou Feng.

The heavy rain quickly washed everything away, making it feel as though everything that had just happened was nothing more than a dream.

But the fallen door reminded me that it was all real.

I slumped into a chair, my heart unable to settle for a long time.

I reached into my pocket and pressed my hand against the folded letter.

Dou Feng… Dou An… was there some kind of connection between the two?

And that Giant Rat… I suddenly remembered what Granny had said: ‘I was schemed against by that Grey Rat and almost had my soul scattered.’

It was this Giant Rat that killed my Granny!

In that case, Fu Wan and I have a common enemy, don’t we?!

With the door down, I didn’t dare sleep at all.

Outside, the sky had long since turned pitch black. The storm continued to rage, and the water on the streets shimmered under the lights.

I sat behind the counter, reading the letter over and over again.

I also took out the pawnshop’s operating manual to study it carefully.

It wasn’t until midnight that I finally understood what a Yin Pawn was.

Pawnshop transactions were divided into Yang Pawns and Yin Pawns.

A Yang Pawn referred to a pawning relationship between a living person and the pawnshop.

Most ordinary pawnshop businesses were Yang Pawns.

Aside from transactions with the living, anything else-such as Souls, zombies, and so on-any act of pawning by a non-living entity was collectively known as a Yin Pawn.

The clients of a Yin Pawn did not belong to the world of the living. Most of them lingered here because of unresolved obsessions, and their pawning behavior was usually related to the cause of their death.

The pawnshop industry had long been replaced by various emerging industries in the torrent of time. The reason this Pawnshop in Wufu Town had been able to survive was likely due to these Yin Pawns.

‘If a Yin Pawn is requested, it must not be refused.’

This meant that as long as a Yin Pawn client came to the door, the pawnshop had to help them find the cause of their death and eliminate their resentment.

Though it was called a Yin Pawn, it was actually another form of Salvation.

There were two methods for a Yin Pawn.

One was an exchange of goods: the pawnshop would help them right their wrongs, and they would provide Yin Objects of equal value as payment.

The other was a Soul Sacrifice.

A Soul Sacrifice meant the client would use their own life as payment to exchange for justice!

Seeing this, my heart was filled with a complex mix of emotions.

I hadn’t expected this Pawnshop to hide so many secrets. Did I really have the ability to shoulder the heavy responsibility of reopening it?

Splash… splash…

The sound of footsteps treading through water suddenly echoed from outside. The gait seemed somewhat unsteady.

I sat up straight instantly, staring at the entrance in tension.

Before long, I saw who it was.

Fu Wan had returned. She stood silently at the door, her blood-red eyes staring straight at me…