A Good-for-Nothing

75. What A Brainwave in Time of Danger! (1)

 

Translator: Dragon Rider

 

It was after quite a while that He Zheng came around. Just now he had been within an inch of landing head first onto the ground, and now his head felt terribly painful.

“Fuck!” He Zheng rubbed his fingers in an effort to get his mind clear.

It was pitch-dark. His searchlight had slipped out of his hand during the fall and he had no idea where it was right now. He Zheng subconsciously reached into pocket to get his cellphone only to find that it was no longer there.

He Zheng clenched his teeth. After quite a while, his eyes adjusted to the dark. He squinted, looked around and found that right ahead was a wall which had not yet been daubed with cement paste.

In the realization that he had just fallen from up there, he raised his hands from the cement floor, wiped the sands off and with that memories flooded back into his mind.

He remembered that he had been knocked off the third floor by a man dressed like a security guard.

Just as He Zheng was wondering whether that security guard had plunged to his death, a faint sound of something moving suddenly came from behind him. It was quite blood-curdling, like the noise of something grinding its teeth, which was unpleasant to the ear and grating.

The hair on the back of He Zheng’s neck rose. He slowly twisted his head around and saw that a man in a security guard’s uniform had risen to his feet, his bulging eyes stared unblinkingly at He Zheng sitting on the ground.

Half of his face was covered with dense black lines like rippling blood vessels, which seemed extremely horrifying in a pitch-dark place like this.

Unlike He Zheng cutting a sorry figure, this man was totally unharmed. He was wearing a security guard’s uniform as well. He Zheng recognized him. He was Xiao Lin, who had led the way for him and Zu Zhichong in the afternoon, but right now, Xiao Lin appeared wooden and hideous. He was no longer a normal human being.

He Zheng recalled that those passengers on that plane, when under control of the Dream Eater, had also looked like this, but Xiao Lin was definitely in a far more dangerous situation than that of those passengers, for there was already black gas covering Xiao Lin’s face.

‘Shit!’ He Zheng secretly cursed in his mind but maintained a calm face. His eyes had adjusted to the dark, which enabled him to see things clearly in this place. He quickly looked left and right and found that he was actually standing right in the spot where those builders had fallen to their deaths, that the road was just a little further away.

As long as he rid himself of this security guard, he would be able to escape from this place. Another option was to figure out a way to have Zu Zhichong and Jin Qianlai find him as soon as possible.

The security guard curved its lips and cast a bland smile at He Zheng. He Zheng took a deep breath and, fingers trembling, gave himself a hard pinch on the thigh. The great pain almost reduced him to groaning but also calmed him down.

Apart from everything else, he had already had two experiences of life and death, and he was no longer that wimp who would scream in fear that he used to be. The pants he was wearing had a lot of pockets and he had put some cinnabar and yellow Fu paper (Fu is a piece of rectangular paper on which magical figures are drawn by Chinese taoist priests to invoke or expel spirits and bring good or ill fortune) in them before he came here.

Xiao Lin, like a zombie, was hobbling, and his movements were quite slow, too, but He Zheng didn’t dare to take any rash actions but just cautiously moved a few steps backward. Seeing the security guard was still a certain distance away from him, He Zheng quickly fished a brush-pen dipped in cinnabar ink and a piece of Fu paper. Though drawing an Advanced Lightning Fu was still beyond his ability, he had developed a decent level of proficiency in drawing an Elementary Lightning Fu.

The sound of footsteps was getting closer and closer. He Zheng’s palms were soaking wet with sweat, and a pink flush spread over his fair-skinned cheeks as he went short of breath. He managed to collect himself and started drawing on the Fu paper. As long as he finished this Elementary Lightning Fu and recited the incantation, Zu Zhichong and Jin Qianlai would definitely notice even if a thundercloud was the only thing to be summoned here.

He Zheng’s hand was very steady and nimble, but drawing a Fu was much more difficult than he had imagined. After three Fu paper were wasted, He Zheng finally managed to finish an Elementary Lightning Fu. Compared with his performance of the same task the night before, this was a great progress.

However, for people like He Zheng whose cultivation foundation was not very solid, drawing a Fu was a task extremely energy-consuming, which was why after finishing this Fu He Zheng’s face was ghastly white, but the current circumstances left him no choice.

He Zheng quickly held that Fu between his fingers and was just about to launch at attack on the security guard when he found that the target was gone!

He Zheng gasped in fear. Horror tends to be amplified exponentially when people are in the dark. He Zheng’s legs trembled involuntarily. Right at this moment, an icy cold hand landed on He Zheng’s shoulder. As he glimpsed the black gas on the back of that hand, a layer of cold sweat oozed out of his back.

But also at this moment, He Zheng’s mind became unprecedentedly clear. He skillfully threw the Fu backward and recited the incantation in a firm and loud voice. “The four enlightened realms, the infinite heaven and earth, all gods bow before you, thunder is your servant. Ghosts and demons recoil, monsters and bogeys cower. Lend me your power. Bring evil to its end!”

At the instant when the Fu ignited, He Zheng unhesitatingly raised his foot and aimed a hard kick at the security guard. Caught off guard, the security guard was sent backing off several paces. It would take some time for lightning to be summoned after an Elementary Lightning Fu was cast, but there was no signs of anything happening in the pitch-black night sky. He Zheng’s heart missed a beat. For fear that the enchantment was a dud, to be on the safe side, he produced an Anti-ghost Fu left by Xuanqing out of his pocket.

However, the tricky part was that Xuanqing had not taught him the incantation for the Anti-ghost Fu. Teeth gritted, He Zheng stared at this half-demon guy and somehow recalled what he had seen in those old Hongkong films about zombies. Casting all caution to the winds, when the security guard approached, he decisively smacked the Anti-ghost Fu onto the forehead of the security guard and, in the moment when the security guard was immobilized, He Zheng rapidly scurried away like a rat to its hole.

He Zheng had just had a fall from the third floor. Though not injured, while running, he still felt that something was not quite right with his body, but he just kept rushing towards the outside as fast as he could. When He Zheng believed he was far enough away the scene, a couple of crashes of muffled thunder came from a nearby spot, which brought an overjoyed smile to He Zheng’s face. However, his delight was instantly dissolved when he turned the next corner and found himself faced with a wall.

The wall, which had not yet been daubed with cement paste, looked uncannily familiar.

‘Isn’t this place where I landed after the fall a few moments ago?!’