A Good-for-Nothing

76. What A Brainwave in Time of Danger! (2)

Translator: Dragon Rider

He Zheng was thrown into vexation. Just as he thought it was unfortunate enough for him to have encountered a half-demon security guard, he was caught in a Phantom-trick (a situation in which someone traveling at night or in a suburban area has trouble finding the right direction and keeps going around in circles)! He Zheng felt an urge to shout abuse. That goddamn security guard was not far away from him. After this unintentional course of action which was almost suicidal, He Zheng successfully offered his opponent another chance.

The security guard’s muddy eyeballs briefly rolled. He Zheng’s Fu was still on his forehead, but it seemed to be serving as nothing but a decoration. On top of that, the curtain-like yellow Fu sticking to the brow of the security guard had successfully provoked him.

An angry growl like that of a beast escaped the throat of the security guard and with that he ferociously swung his hand enveloped in black gas at He Zheng. There was even a swoosh accompanying this blow. He Zheng was positive that he would no doubt sustain a deep wound if he failed to dodge this strike.

“Fuck! Is this lightning going to strike him or not?! Are you dead, Zu Zhichong?!” He Zheng thundered while fleeing like the wind. Due to his frequent performance of enchantment, his face was getting increasingly pale, and his head was so painful that it felt as though it would crack. He Zheng had an inkling that he was about to collapse.

Right at this moment, the roll of dull thunder in the sky began to gain momentum. With a lapse of concentration, He Zheng fell over and hit his mouth against the ground. When the fingertips of the security guard were within an inch of coming into contact with He Zheng’s vulnerable body, a thundercloud, at a leisurely pace, as if vacationing, finally floated over.

With a clap of thunder, a golden lightning struck, so glaring that it made his eyes ache. He Zheng subconsciously closed his eyes but the dazzling light still brought tears to them.

When Jin Qianlai, who had successfully deactivated the magic circle, found He Zheng, He Zheng was a pitiful sight, kneeling on one knee, tears in his eyes.

“Ur… Is it really necessary to adopt such a high level of formality to invoke lightning?” Subduing his urge to laugh, Jin Qianlai affected a confusion he didn’t feel and looked at He Zheng.

Hearing the familiar voice, He Zheng finally opened his eyes. The anger glinting in his eyes seemed even more glaring than the lightning. With tears still on his cheeks, he unhesitatingly threw a punch at Jin Qianlai. “If you mention a single word about this to anybody, I’ll have you beaten to death!”

“You metropolis dwellers are indeed different. I mean, even your deaths have to be so pleasurable (He Zheng’s previous words “beaten to death”, in Chinese, could also be easily misinterpreted as “fucked to death”).” Jin Qianlai, who could barely catch his breath due to laugh, hurriedly raised He Zheng to his feet. Cutting an exceptionally sorry figure, He Zheng nearly kicked the bucket. He leaned against Jin Qianlai and hobbled forward. Such had been the intensity of the lightning that his clothes had been reduced to rags.

“Shut up! You people from the Wuwei-shizi Counter-demon Committee are unbelievably incompetent!”

“Well, I’m not the one to blame. You were dragged into an area walled by a magic barrier. Have you any idea how long it took me to break it?” Jin Qianlai was determined to save his reputation. “There are both ghosts and demons at work here. Getting you out took a lot of doing! Elder Sect-brother, I’ve been trying my level best!”

After hearing Jin Qianlai’s words, He Zheng, who was experiencing a carry-over of fear, couldn’t help but reply in a cold tone of voice, “You could have waited until I die to break the magic barrier.”

“Alas, we are friends. There’s no need for such hurtful words.”

He Zheng was sent silent. After hobbling outside, he asked, “Where’s Zu Zhichong?”

Jin Qianlai paused, a somewhat innocent look on his face. “Elder Sect-brother is still killing ghosts on the third floor… I forgot him.”

He Zheng was rendered speechless.

On the third floor.

He Zheng had felt an urge to shout four-letter words previously, and Zu Zhichong was having the same feeling, only that his was much stronger. He waved his hand and parried a ghost hand which was ferociously coming at him, the anger inside him so intense that he felt as if he was about to vomit blood.

‘I knew it. That youngster working under Director Tan is indeed unreliable. It’s confusing how he had the nerve to claim to be the most promising new recruit of the Supernaturalism Management Bureau of Sui City (SMBSC). I merely asked him to get down there to find He Zheng, yet he’s still not back after such a long time!’ Zu Zhichong thought furiously. He made another series of mudras with his hands and a Fu flew forward. The Anti-ghost Fu heavily hit the enchanted corpse which was trying to attack Zu Zhichong and successfully slowed the corpse down.

However, there were over half a dozen men besieging Zu Zhichong, which was a situation far beyond his abilities. Zu Zhichong used several Fu in a row, which depleted his energy. Not only did these enchanted corpses have ghost Qi, they were also under the control of demonic Qi, which made them so difficult to eliminate that a common exorcist might not even be able to handle one enchanted corpse of this kind. Otherwise Zu Zhichong wouldn’t have been trapped here for such a long time.

‘If only anybody were here to help me lay a Ghost-eliminating Circle,’ he thought in resignation.

“What a pitiful sight. You’ve already been reduced to this.” Jin Qianlai’s voice, heavy with schadenfreude, was heard.

Zu Zhichong rounded his eyes in fury and thundered, “Stop being an asshole, will you? Did you find He Zheng?!”

Having no weapons at his disposal, Jin Qianlai parried the blows from those enchanted corpses with his bare hands and replied, “I did.”

Zu Zhichong glanced over Jin Qianlai’s shoulder and caught sight of He Zheng who cut an exceptionally sorry figure.

Since both he and Jin Qianlai were unable to rid themselves of the attack of these enchanted corpses, Zu Zhichong yelled, “He Zheng! Go position the circle!”

Miraculously, He Zheng and Zu Zhichong displayed unprecedentedly good teamwork in these circumstances. He caught the wad of Fu that Zu Zhichong tossed to him and quickly positioned a Ghost-eliminating Circle – well, this was only his imagination; the reality, however, was brutal. When he was just about to take action, those enchanted corpses, which seemed to still have part of their human consciousness left, unhesitatingly came at him from all directions.

Zu Zhichong and Jin Qianlai deflected those blows for He Zheng.

He Zheng was sweating buckets due to the running. When the last Anti-ghost Fu was placed in the gen (one of the Eight Diagrams) position, a small-scale Ghost-eliminating Circle was completed and those bewitched corpses instantly slowed down. Taking advantage of this small window of opportunity, Zu Zhichong produced a lightning Fu and recited the incantation. With that, five flashes of lightning, each of which was the width of an adult’s arm, struck in unison and turned those corpses into coke.

As all three of them heaved a sigh of relief, an enchant corpse, for some unknown reason, rose to its feet and ferociously came at Zu Zhichong. Another flash of lightning was triggered. Though this one was much less powerful than any of the former five, Zu Zhichong still fell victim to it.

Surprised by this sudden occurrence, Jin Qianlai clicked his tongue and couldn’t help but observed, “This is so thrilling.”