129: Your inn is haunted

Hearing Jiang Lan’s question, hatred flickered in the woman’s eyes.

Her originally amiable face also became somewhat distorted.

In the end, she could no longer maintain her original appearance; her face instantly swelled up, turning dark and bruised, one eyeball burst, and maggots could be seen crawling in and out of her eye socket from time to time.

Her other eyeball bulged out, more than twice the size of a normal person’s.

Her long dress also became terribly wrinkled, leaving no doubt that a light tug would reduce it to a pile of shreds.

Seeing this, Jiang Lan already guessed what she was going to say next.

He had read too many such stories in novels.

It was nothing more than someone suffering an injustice, being thrown into a well, and after death, refusing to rest in peace, seeking revenge.

“Reel in your resentment; you look quite terrifying. I still want to get a good night’s sleep later.”

The woman seemed to realize this, and quickly reverted to her appearance as the white-robed woman, as if everything that had just happened was merely an illusion.

“Forgive me, Esteemed Guest… This humble one just lost control of her emotions for a moment.”

Jiang Lan waved his hand.

“No offense. Tell me, what’s the situation?”

As soon as Jiang Lan asked, the woman was about to transform again.

Seeing this, Jiang Lan merely glanced at the woman indifferently.

The transformation immediately stopped.

The woman was silent for a moment, seemingly calming herself, then slowly recounted her experience to Jiang Lan:

“This humble one is from Wuqu County. My family was poor since childhood, and we often went hungry…”

Jiang Lan was somewhat helpless.

“Why don’t you start from Pangu creating heaven and earth?”

Although the woman didn’t understand the meaning of Pangu creating heaven and earth, she knew that Jiang Lan was telling her to get to the point.

She quickly said:

“After I grew up, my family truly couldn’t make ends meet, so this humble one came to Anping County to seek refuge with my uncle… My uncle’s name is Huang Changsheng, and he is the manager of this Inn.

“When this humble one first arrived, Huang Changsheng was still very caring and looked after me in every way, but who knew that after some time, he showed his true colors and… assaulted this humble one.

“Originally, this humble one had accepted it, but who knew that Huang Changsheng became increasingly excessive. Not only did he not treat this humble one as a human, but he also invited…”

At this point, the woman couldn’t continue speaking, and black Qi rose from her body, as if she was about to transform at any moment.

Jiang Lan sighed upon hearing this.

Things had indeed turned out as he expected.

It was all the same sordid business.

Logically, he had seen many such things and shouldn’t have felt much.

But reading a novel was one thing; hearing someone recount their personal experience was quite another.

After a pause, Jiang Lan asked:

“If that’s the case, why don’t you just kill them? Why are you running out in the middle of the night to drain others’ vital Qi?”

“I will definitely kill them!” The woman’s eyes became savage and cold, “Not only will I kill them, but I will also make them die terribly, otherwise I cannot quell the hatred in my heart!”

Immediately after, the woman continued: “I need time. If I don’t absorb people’s vital Qi, my soul body won’t last long. I can only resort to this, but Esteemed Guest, besides seeking revenge, this humble one has never harmed anyone!”

Jiang Lan waved his hand.

“Whether you’ve harmed anyone or not, let’s set that aside for now. First, tell me, if those who harmed you are dead, are you willing to re-enter Reincarnation and be reborn?”

The woman was momentarily taken aback but still subconsciously nodded and said:

“This humble one is willing.”

“Alright.” Jiang Lan stood up, “Wait here.”

With that, he no longer paid attention to the woman and turned to walk out of the room.

Jiang Lan wasn’t so foolish as to believe a malicious spirit’s one-sided story.

Lies, nothing but lies, that’s what a ghost says.

But verifying the truth of the woman’s words was simple enough.

Just call people over and confront them face to face.

Jiang Lan walked downstairs.

By now, the night was already deep.

Although it wasn’t yet midnight, it was close.

On the first floor of the Inn, the same attendant was leaning on the counter, his shoulders rising and falling, his breathing even. He appeared to be asleep.

Suddenly, he jolted awake, then looked up and opened his eyes, his expression terrified:

“No! Don’t come over! I didn’t! It wasn’t me!”

Jiang Lan looked at the attendant.

He no longer looked like he had been possessed by an evil spirit; instead, he was no different from when Jiang Lan had first arrived at the Inn.

However, the attendant’s eyes were somewhat sunken, and his vitality was much weaker than an average person’s.

The attendant now fully awoke and saw Jiang Lan.

He was still a bit shaken but quickly composed himself and, with some apology, said to Jiang Lan:

“Esteemed Guest, I apologize, I just had a nightmare. Why have you come down?”

Jiang Lan got straight to the point.

“Where is Huang Changsheng?”

“You’re looking for the manager…” At this, the attendant reacted, looking at Jiang Lan in confusion, “Esteemed Guest, how do you know our manager’s name?”

Jiang Lan glanced at him.

“That’s none of your concern. Just call him out; I have a business matter to discuss with him.”

“This…” The attendant looked outside, somewhat hesitantly, “Esteemed Guest, it’s almost the third watch of the night. The manager has long since gone to bed. If you truly have something urgent, how about I ask the manager to find you early tomorrow morning?”

“Tomorrow morning might be too late.” Jiang Lan said, “Just go and call him. This business concerns his life and fortune. If he can’t get up, then he can only die.”

The attendant’s face changed.

“Esteemed Guest, what do you mean by that?”

Jiang Lan was a bit impatient.

“Clang!”

He drew the long saber from his waist and lightly tossed it onto the wooden counter in front of him.

“Sizzle!”

The long saber, like a hot knife through butter, instantly pierced through the wooden counter. The entire blade plunged beneath the counter, leaving only the hilt.

“Go.”

The attendant’s face greatly changed; he had not expected Jiang Lan to draw his saber without a word.

He repeatedly said:

“Esteemed Guest, please don’t rush, I’ll go call him right now! Right now!”

With that, the attendant scurried off towards the back courtyard of the Inn.

From the street, the Inn looked like just a three-story building, but it actually had a back door. Inside the back door was a small courtyard, and within the courtyard were three small rooms, which appeared to be the Inn’s dormitory.

Jiang Lan was no longer in a hurry. He pulled the long saber from the counter, sat down grandly on a chair, and waited for the Inn’s manager to arrive.

After waiting for a while, there was still no movement from the back courtyard.

It wasn’t until about ten minutes later that torches lit up in the back courtyard, a room door opened, and seven or eight burly men emerged one after another.

Jiang Lan saw clearly that the leader among them was a somewhat portly middle-aged man. Although he looked kind-faced, he couldn’t hide the occasional flash of ruthlessness in his eyes.

If Jiang Lan’s guess was correct, this Fat Man (fat man) should be the owner of this Inn, Huang Changsheng.

The crowd, holding torches, quickly rushed into the Inn’s main hall.

The leading Fat Man (fat man) looked at Jiang Lan, “Esteemed Guest, I am more than happy for you to stay at my Inn, but if you are here to cause trouble, that would be inappropriate.”

“I’m not here to cause trouble.” Jiang Lan smiled, “It’s just, manager, your Inn… it’s haunted.”