“There’s something shady in there, huh?”
Li Ran waved the ID card in his hand, eyeing the panicked Yang Baobao with suspicion.
“There’s nothing. Please return my ID. I’ve already shown my sincerity, and I ask that you keep your promise.”
“Promise? When did I ever make a promise?”
“You—!”
Facing such shamelessness, Yang Baobao was practically about to explode from fury.
But now that the evidence was in Li Ran’s hands, and another dark secret was on the verge of being exposed, his expression grew more and more terrible—part fear, part rage.
Li Ran pushed Yang Baobao aside without hesitation and headed straight for the basement.
There was a thick green iron door at the top of the stairs leading down. A heavy chain and a bronze lock secured it tightly. Cold air leaked through the crack at the bottom, a chill that could be felt just standing near it.
Yang Baobao rushed to block the door with his body. “If you insist on going in, I swear—I’ll kill you, then kill myself!”
Li Ran opened his mouth, a bit surprised at just how resolute Yang Baobao was.
What was in that basement?
Others might not know—but Li Ran did.
He still clearly remembered the terrified look on Deng Zhiwei’s face when he spoke.
“My master liked collecting human faces. Especially the faces of beautiful women.”
“She preserved them in the basement as if they were pieces of art.”
A cold gleam flashed in Li Ran’s eyes as he stared at the iron door behind Yang Baobao. If he wasn’t mistaken, that basement was also where Deng Zhiwei disposed of the bodies.
“My master made me handle the aftermath… I was terrified. I didn’t know what to do… You know what? The girl I had to deal with… she was still alive when I started. Hahaha… In the end, I flushed all of them down the sewer.”
Just recalling those words gave Li Ran chills. If Yang Baobao hadn’t forced him to do that, Deng Zhiwei would never have caught the virus, never awakened his killing instincts, and never turned into a monstrous butcher.
With that in mind, Li Ran had no sympathy for the twisted freak in front of him.
If he had the power, he’d personally take revenge for Deng Zhiwei.
The killing intent in Li Ran’s eyes slowly faded. He was very aware that in a real fight, he couldn’t beat Yang Baobao.
“I don’t have to go in,” Li Ran said.
Yang Baobao let out a breath of relief. The murderous look in his eyes also began to recede.
“And I can return your ID.”
Yang Baobao’s expression softened a bit—but the moment he realized there was going to be a “but,” his face darkened again.
“But…”
Li Ran paused, gauging Yang Baobao’s reaction, then said solemnly, “Lately, a lot of young women have gone missing. Every single one of them visited your shop. Mr. Yang Shuo… don’t you think you owe me an explanation?”
With that, he once again glanced at the iron basement door.
Yang Baobao’s expression instantly changed. A terrifying aura of murderous rage erupted from him!
Li Ran quickly backed up to the top of the stairs, keeping a close eye on the now completely unhinged Yang Baobao.
“Calm down, I’m giving your ID back.”
Li Ran tossed the card to Yang Baobao. That finally calmed his overwhelming rage.
Truthfully, the ID card was no longer Li Ran’s leverage. He had already made a backup. If anything happened to him before leaving this beauty salon, ten minutes later, Yang Baobao’s true identity and his horrific secrets would be exposed to the world.
That was Li Ran’s real ace in the hole.
“Now that you’ve got your ID back, how about a little reward? I came all this way to return it.”
Li Ran wore the expression of a righteous citizen who had simply returned a lost item.
“You brat, my patience has limits. Those two items were already me pushing my boundaries!” Yang Baobao was thoroughly out of patience.
Grinning shamelessly, Li Ran said, “Weren’t those two for keeping my mouth shut about the basement? I haven’t even collected the reward for the ID yet.”
“You… you’re absolutely shameless!”
Yang Baobao’s chest hurt from anger. Today, he’d witnessed the pinnacle of scumbaggery.
“Sis, all I want is a little token of appreciation.”
“If I’m not safely out of here in ten minutes, everyone’s going to know about your past and your little ‘hobby.’”
To Yang Baobao, Li Ran now looked like a vampire—draining him dry.
Yang Baobao’s chest heaved violently. If looks could kill, Li Ran would be a mutilated corpse by now.
“Sis, I swear this is the last time,” Li Ran said with a smile.
That at least gave Yang Baobao a bit of peace of mind.
If he could silence this bastard, his secrets would remain buried.
Grinding his teeth like he was making a life-or-death decision, Yang Baobao turned and slowly walked up to the second floor.
Li Ran heard drawers being rummaged through, then saw Yang Baobao coming down with a white box in his hands.
“This is a treasure I’ve hoarded for years.”
That single sentence made Li Ran’s eyes nearly pop out of his skull.
A piece of equipment glowing with purple light?
Rare grade?!
Rare gear was practically priceless. No need to explain how valuable it was.
In the Points Mall, even junk rare gear with no skills went for 3,000 points. Add a skill? 5,000. If it had excellent stats on top of that? 7–8,000. And if the skill itself was powerful? At least 10,000 points.
Li Ran had spent nearly everything on the rare skill [Shadow Fang] and only had 150 points left.
A rare item like this wasn’t even in his wildest dreams anymore.
For the first time, Li Ran couldn’t keep a straight face. His excitement overflowed.
He reached out to take it, but Yang Baobao immediately pulled the box back, eyeing him with suspicion. “You’re getting your reward… but how do I know you don’t still have the backup?”
It was a fair concern.
Li Ran understood. Without handing over the backup, he’d get nothing—not even the chance to walk out of here alive.
He’d already received two excellent pieces of gear. Now it was only fair to give something in return.
So, Li Ran whistled toward the door.
From an alley across the street, a gray cat emerged. It was holding a USB drive in its mouth.
“Put it in the middle of the road,” Li Ran instructed.
The gray cat nodded, set the drive down in the middle of the pedestrian street, and slipped back into the alley.
“A deal’s a deal,” Li Ran said.
Yang Baobao tossed the box to Li Ran and instantly blurred into a blood-red streak, vanishing like lightning.
In a flash, he had the USB in hand.
CRACK!
Yang Baobao crushed the drive to powder on the spot.
He turned around, eyes blazing—only to find the shop completely empty.
Li Ran was gone.
“AAAAARRRGHHH!!!”
Yang Baobao howled in a fit of rage.
Once he’d vented, his eyes turned venomous and twisted:
“You bastard… if I ever see you again, I’ll skin your face off and turn your body into fertilizer for my pets!”
“AAARGHH!!!”
(End of Chapter)