LWDC Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Bloodied Man

Chapter 7: The Bloodied Man

Chapter 7: The Bloodied Man

A reddish-black liquid slid down Ning Fei’s head, face, and body, dripping onto the ground and forming a small pool of blood at his feet.

He had subconsciously tried to dodge, but the tea table, chairs, and middle-aged man blocked his path, leaving him no room to retreat. He only managed to turn slightly before the foul-smelling substance was poured over his right side, almost from head to toe.

The liquid covered his right eye. He raised his hand to wipe it away, finding his hand covered in a sticky mess.

Ning Fei chuckled with disdain.

He lifted his leather shoe, leaving a clear, empty footprint in the small pool. He then kicked the chair, sending it crashing to the ground with a “BANG!!!” that drowned out the chanting filling the room. The crash startled the other two, making them freeze.

Ning Fei took two steps towards the old man, his distinct, bloody footprints marking the floor. His tone was chillingly calm as he asked, “What do you mean by this?”

The old man, frightened, retreated repeatedly, staring at him without answering, only muttering incantations. Ning Fei continued to press closer, his voice like icy wind, “Or should I ask, what does Gu Hechen mean by this?”

His blood-soaked state was terrifying, like a demon. The old man’s face showed horror as he was forced back against the wall, unable to help but shout, “Control him!”

The middle-aged man pounced from behind, locking Ning Fei’s arms forcefully. Almost instantly, Ning Fei raised his foot and stomped his heel hard onto the middle-aged man’s instep!

“Ugh…!”

The middle-aged man couldn’t even cry out in pain. He gasped, and the hands holding Ning Fei loosened involuntarily. Ning Fei took the opportunity to struggle violently, hammering his elbow back with swift, accurate force. The middle-aged man clutched his abdomen and collapsed.

Seeing this, the old man grabbed a long sword hanging on the wall, pointed it at Ning Fei, and shouted, “…With this curse, all evil spirits shall be destroyed! Righteousness shall prevail, peace and good fortune shall endure!”

Ning Fei grabbed the tip of the sword.

It was actually a sharpened blade. The cold edge immediately cut through Ning Fei’s fingers. His blood mixed with the previous liquid, flowing down the blade and dripping onto the ground again.

But Ning Fei didn’t let go. He gripped the blade and bent it backwards, the tip almost pointing directly at the old man. “Controlled weapon?”

The old man, perhaps frightened by Ning Fei’s manic actions, immediately released his grip.

Ning Fei casually tossed the sword aside with a clang and stepped on it with one foot, scoffing, “Superstitious nonsense?”

“…Demon, get out of this body!” The old man said in a trembling voice, “Thunderous golden wheel, all things shall cease to exist!”

Ning Fei had already pulled out his mobile phone and pointed it at him.

His right hand was covered in blood, making fingerprint verification impossible, but fortunately, pressing the quick keys twice would directly open the photo and video recording function. Ning Fei filmed the old man’s face, and when the old man remained silent, he sneered, “Speak, keep talking. What other shamanistic words do you have?”

The old man closed his mouth and just glared at him.

Seeing this, Ning Fei began to pan the camera around the room. He focused on the sword on the floor, the pool of blood, and the strange decorations around them. Of course, he also filmed the middle-aged man who was still lying on the ground, unable to get up. The middle-aged man was conveniently rolling around next to the pool of blood, his face smeared with it. Ning Fei sneered, “What kind of blood is this? Dog blood, chicken blood? How’s the taste of those two mouthfuls?”

The middle-aged man was in so much pain that he couldn’t even glare back, but the old man behind him continued to threaten, “That’s black dog blood! It has already seeped into that body, and you will be driven out soon!”

Ning Fei turned the camera towards him, but he stopped talking, only staring at Ning Fei with wide eyes, afraid that Ning Fei would kick him too.

Ning Fei ignored him and instead held the phone up to the shrine.

Offerings, incense candles, and an incense burner were all present. Inside, sitting upright, wasn’t a statue, but a spirit tablet. However, the characters on the tablet were ancient and difficult to decipher at a glance.

Ning Fei put down his phone, picked up the incense burner, and weighed it in his hand.

It looked too much like he was about to smash someone with it. The old man was outwardly fierce but inwardly timid, his voice trembling, “What do you want to do?!”

“What do I want to do?” Ning Fei scoffed, turning the incense burner towards him. “I heard that if your curses fail, you’ll suffer a backlash?”

As he spoke, Ning Fei used his bloody right thumb to draw a vertical line on the front of the incense burner, then a horizontal line, as if making some strange mark. The bloodstains were deep and obvious, seeping into the cracks, making them difficult to clean even with careful scrubbing.

The old man watched with his eyes nearly bursting, but he didn’t dare to come forward and snatch it away. His fingers trembled as he pointed at Ning Fei. “You dare to insult our founding master! You will surely be punished…!”

“How will I be punished?” Ning Fei asked calmly, while extending his still-bleeding right thumb and index finger, and then directly pinched the burning incense sticks.

As if not feeling any pain, he extinguished the three incense sticks one by one.

The old man was stunned by this even more terrifying act. He stared at the blood-stained incense tips, his lips trembling for a long time, unable to even say the word “madman.”

“Whether my retribution comes or not remains to be seen, but tell Gu Hechen that if he treats me like this, his retribution will come soon.” Ning Fei chuckled lightly, turned around, and slammed the incense burner violently against the shrine!

BANG!!!

The shrine collapsed suddenly. The old man stared at this scene, trembling, unsure whether he was angry or afraid. Ning Fei didn’t care and only casually dropped a sentence as he turned towards the door, “Don’t worry, after he’s had his bad luck, it’ll be your turn.”

After saying that, Ning Fei strode to the door, opened it, went out, and slammed it shut.

Another earth-shattering “BANG” made the two people inside miss a beat. Then, to their surprise, they felt a sense of relief. After a long while, the old man seemed to find his voice, hoarsely saying, “Quick, quick, call Gu Hechen…”

The middle-aged man, however, couldn’t immediately get up to carry out his instructions. Instead, he remained curled up on the ground, large beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

“Teacher… I think, I need to go to the hospital first…”

*

Ning Fei left the room and didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he went to the public restroom to clean himself up.

His face and head were easy to wash; he just held them under the faucet. But there was nothing he could do about the shirt and casual suit on his body. Ning Fei didn’t have any spare clothes, so he couldn’t exactly run around naked, could he?

After washing, Ning Fei randomly grabbed a few pieces of paper and wiped his hair and face haphazardly. As he threw the paper away, he glanced at himself in the mirror and couldn’t help but chuckle mockingly.

“The ordinary world has so many troubles. I really underestimated it,” Ning Fei tugged at the shirt sticking to his body. Because of the large amount of water he had used to rinse, the bloodstains on his body had spread even further. Combined with the water running down from his hair after washing, large patches of stains covered his chest and back. It was uncomfortable and ugly, to say the least. Furthermore, the sword wound on his right hand wasn’t shallow. He had only just washed and wiped it a few seconds ago, and it immediately began to bleed again. The burnt marks from putting out the incense weren’t scalded, but there were a few deep red marks, perhaps due to the large amount of water he had used earlier.

Ning Fei wasn’t in a hurry to treat his injuries, or even to wash off the bloodstains immediately. Instead, he slowly rubbed his bloody fingers together. He stared at his fingertips, thinking about how the people at the studio had tricked him into giving them his birthdate, thinking about how Gu Hechen had tricked him into coming here, and couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

“Gu Hechen, if you think I’m a demon, how can I disappoint you?” Ning Fei washed his hands again, looked at himself in the mirror, and moved his lips silently, “And Su Cenxi, pretending not to know anything? Looks like the lesson wasn’t enough.”

He snapped his fingers.

“The luck you owe me, plus ‘interest’, it’s time to pay it back.”

*

When Ning Fei entered the parking garage from the elevator lobby, he startled the security guard at the entrance.

Ning Fei explained to him that it wasn’t his blood, that he had been splashed with ingredients. The security guard looked suspicious and even asked if he should call the police. Ning Fei brushed him off with a few perfunctory words and quickly left. As for whether the security guard would check the surveillance footage or report to the police upstairs, Ning Fei didn’t bother to care.

He walked towards where he parked his car, and coincidentally, a luxury car entered from the opposite direction. Ning Fei didn’t want to cause panic, so he walked a few steps between the parked vehicles, hiding the blood-stained side of himself. Unexpectedly, the car stopped just a little bit after passing him.

The rear door opened automatically, and a man stepped out. When he turned his head, it was the “good thing” Ning Fei had missed twice!

The moment Ning Fei recognized that face, he was a little dazed: It’s him again. Is it really that coincidental?

If they had met under different circumstances, Ning Fei would have thought that “third time’s the charm” and would have done anything to “score” with him. But in the current situation, Ning Fei himself couldn’t stand it, let alone think about anything else.

However, before he could react, the other man was already walking straight towards him.

“What happened?” The man stopped in front of Ning Fei, frowning, his gaze scanning Ning Fei’s right side intently. “Are you hurt?”

“Just a little accident, it’s not my blood,” Ning Fei repeated the excuse he had used for the security guard. “I’m just going back to change clothes.”

“Not your blood?” The man’s gaze landed on Ning Fei’s right hand, his eyes narrowing slightly. Ning Fei looked down and immediately clicked his tongue.

It had only been a moment, and it had already started to bleed again. He should have put his hand in his pocket to look cool.

The “good thing” grabbed Ning Fei’s wrist without saying a word and turned it over to look at it. His tone immediately became even more serious. “A knife wound?! Someone attacked you? Did you call the police?”

“Accident.” Ning Fei wanted to pull his hand away, but couldn’t. He didn’t want to get rough with the “good thing,” so he had to hold back his temper and said, “This stuff on me really isn’t mine. I’m going home to take care of it now, please let me pass.”

The “good thing” raised his eyes to look at him. “To the point of knives and blood, and you didn’t even call the police. Is it related to Su Cenxi?”

Ning Fei was really annoyed now. “Hey, I gave you my business card, not to pry into my work.”

“If it’s really related to Su Cenxi, Gu Hechen wouldn’t let you off so easily.” The “good thing” grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards his car. “Driving home like this, how many people do you want to scare to death? My place is nearby, let’s go get your wound treated first.”

Ning Fei was confused, thinking, you didn’t even bother to make a phone call earlier, now you’re acting like a good person.

Could it be… since he was left hanging twice before, he’s going to kidnap someone home now?

Ning Fei found this guess absurd and funny, and couldn’t help but speed up a few steps and whisper, “What’s the matter, you don’t want to take me back and get straight to the point, do you? You don’t have any serious business to do in the daytime?”

The “good thing” stopped in front of the car door, glanced at him when he heard this, and said, “Get the lust out of your head.”

Ning Fei: “Huh?”

The “good thing” opened the car door, signaling him to get in. Ning Fei looked at the luxurious interior of the car and hesitated. “Like this, I better not…”

“Get in.” The man supported his shoulder, pushed him lightly but firmly inside, and brought him in.

Then he closed the car door, walked around to the other side, and got in. The car started and drove away with half a bloodied man.