Chapter 61: Midnight Killing Intent

As Li Si finished practicing a set in the courtyard, a familiar sound reached his ears.

“Dong! — Dong!”

“Dong! — Dong!”

“Dong! — Dong!”

“The air is dry, be careful with fire!” A voice called from afar, sounding particularly jarring in the already quiet dusk.

Hearing the night watchman’s call, Li Si pondered for a moment, then grabbed a cloth to wipe the sweat from his body.

After wiping himself, he entered the study and used a fire striker to light a candle.

In the flickering candlelight, he sat down in a chair and began reading. He planned to stay up late these days to see if he could catch the ghost that killed Liu Qin.

It was obvious that Liu Qin’s strange death was very likely related to monsters or ghosts.

Li Si had learned from Xiao Duan that monsters and ghosts didn’t dare to linger in the county town because of a terrifying pressure that made them tremble with fear. Xiao Duan and Xiao Yu only stayed because Li Si controlled them, otherwise they would have fled long ago.

So he found it strange why there were still monsters and ghosts daring to kill people in the county town.

At the same time, Li Si also felt that Liu Qin’s death must be related to the book he sold to him. Moreover, Liu Qin must have known the whole story. But unfortunately, it was unclear what Liu Qin was worried about, as he didn’t mention a word to Li Si.

He had some ideas in mind, but always felt something was missing, unable to connect the thoughts.

He didn’t even know if Liu Qin’s case was truly the work of strange entities, making it even harder to figure out the whole situation.

After all, Li Si had too little information to make any deductions.

Shaking his head slightly, he cleared away the jumbled thoughts and quietly began reading.

However, above Li Si’s head, a tile on the roof was quietly moved aside, and a pair of crimson eyes peeked out.

On the roof, a man wearing a red leather jacket was hunched over, staring at Li Si below. His lips were curved in an eerie arc, revealing sharp teeth in his mouth, with saliva constantly dripping onto the nearby tiles.

The man in the red leather jacket seemed to think of something and turned his head towards the courtyard, where he saw a boy looking around.

The red-jacketed man’s eyes showed a cautious expression, followed by a struggling look. His eyes became even redder, as if about to drip blood, making his already fierce face even more terrifying.

At this moment, he covered his face with his right hand, dragging his five fingers down from his forehead, leaving five deep scratches until his palm reached his chin. He then used his palm to cover his now deformed mouth, hiding it to make him look much more normal, not much different from ordinary people.

However, saliva still flowed from between his fingers and chin, and his eyes occasionally revealed a vengeful look.

Then the man in the red jacket continued to watch Li Si in the study.

Several hours later, Li Si felt tired, blew out the candle, and went to the bedroom.

The man in the red jacket watched Li Si’s departing figure, slowly releasing his right hand from his mouth. By now, his lips were gone, revealing a jawbone densely packed with fine teeth, with viscous saliva occasionally dripping from the corners of his mouth.

The red-jacketed man cast a vengeful glance at the boy in the courtyard with his crimson eyes, then turned his head and flew lightly to the roofs of other houses, repeating this process until his figure disappeared from sight.

What Li Si didn’t know was that a ghost had been peeping at him from the roof for the past few days. But this wasn’t his fault; he had never seen a flying ghost since coming to this world. Even Xiao Duan and Xiao Yu couldn’t fly. So this created a blind spot for him, believing that ghosts couldn’t fly.

Therefore, he never paid attention to the roof, nor did he ask Xiao Duan to watch it.

However, having Xiao Duan guard him these past few days was still beneficial, at least making this ghost wary and preventing it from harming him.

…

In a dark prison cell, on a pile of straw, sat a woman with a withered appearance, her expression wooden.

“Squeak… Squeak…”

From time to time, the sounds of rats scurrying, gnawing, and squeaking could be heard in the cell.

The neighboring cells were all empty; only she was there, clearly being held in solitary confinement.

Suddenly, at some point, the rat sounds gradually subsided. At first, there were still a few squeaks, but they quickly disappeared. The cell suddenly became deathly quiet.

And just as the cell fell silent, a figure wearing a red leather jacket somehow appeared standing in the corridor of the cell.

“I’m going to kill you…” A voice reached the ears of the withered woman.

The woman’s wooden expression changed, becoming somewhat terrified as she shouted, “Don’t come near me… Don’t come near me…”

“I’m going to kill you…”

“Liu Qin, it was you who wanted to kill me… That’s why I had to kill you… Don’t haunt me anymore…” The woman’s face was terrified, her body huddled in the corner of the wall, shivering.

She stared intently at the corridor with frightened eyes but saw nothing.

“Drip…”

A drop of viscous liquid fell on the woman’s cheek, startling her so much that her body stiffened, not even daring to tremble.

She slowly raised her head, stiff with fear, and saw a man in a red leather jacket looking at her upside down. She clearly saw the man’s crimson eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth.

“Hee hee hee…”

Seeing the woman notice him, the red-jacketed man seemed extremely excited, and saliva flowed uncontrollably from his mouth full of sharp teeth.

This viscous saliva dripped onto the woman’s face. The woman looked at him in terror, not daring to move a muscle.

“I’m going to kill you…” The red-jacketed man opened his mouth to speak, emitting Liu Qin’s voice.

“Ahh!!!” A scream echoed from the prison, traveling far and wide.

…

Li Si learned of Liu Qin’s wife’s death a few days later. According to Luo Ye, Liu Qin’s wife died horribly, seemingly going mad and tearing open her own throat.

Hearing this news, he was certain that a ghost was at work. If Liu Qin’s suspicious death could be considered a coincidence, then adding his wife’s strange death, it couldn’t be explained by mere coincidence.

Li Si was now sitting in a restaurant, staring blankly at a large, grand temple in the distance.

That temple was the City God Temple.

He felt uneasy. This ghost was killing people in the city, yet the City God seemed to ignore it. He feared that this ghost might have some connection with the City God.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t explain why this ghost dared to kill people freely in the county town.

Having been in this world for so long, Li Si roughly knew that without the protection of the City God, this county town would have long since fallen into chaos. But in this matter, he saw another side of the City God.

Perhaps, this City God wasn’t as reliable as imagined.