Ch38 - Thousand Li for Sending Someone

Speaking of his own underground network, although Master Lai steadily talked about the dao, he apparently had a connection with the underworld’s strongest.

“Three metres tall?” Lu Xu’s face wore an odd smile and he asked noncommittally, “Then the grim reaper is taller than me?”

“Of course.” Master Lai acted as if he had heard some joke. He rolled his eyes unnaturally at Lu Xu. “You’re just a human. Where did you get the courage to compare yourself to the grim reaper?”

“Meow…” Seeing Lu Xu and Ji Xiunian approach, Ba Mei got up and came over to welcome them.

Master Lai’s eyes flashed with impatience when he saw Ba Mei. “Where did this wild cat come from? Get out.”

His attitude was so vicious even Fan Zeng felt that it was a little overwhelming. He explained, “Ba Mei isn’t a stray cat, it’s Lu Xu’s little cutie…”

“How can something so sinister and evil be cute?” Before Fan Zeng could even finish speaking, Master Lai already interrupted him, curling his lips as he said, “Things like cats attract ghosts the most. I bet the ghosts in the building were brought in by this fat cat…”

“Meow…” Having been blatantly attacked by a person over its body, Ba Mei stopped in its tracks and stared at the person in front of it with some confusion.

“You can eat more but you can’t speak nonsense.” Lu Xu lifted the aggrieved Ba Mei, the smile on his face growing fainter. “My cat needs face too.”

Master Lai sniffed in disdain, his expression haughty. “Younguns these days, tut tut…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, but the disparagement was obvious.

In the many years of his career, almost everyone had acted extremely respectfully towards him. Suddenly Lu Xu had come along and appeared to be butting heads with him; Master Lai naturally felt displeased.

Faced with this strange atmosphere, Fan Zeng hurriedly came out to mediate. “If there are cats who attract ghosts then there must be cats who attract wealth. Our Ba Mei definitely is the kind that attracts wealth.”

But Master Lai didn’t give him any face and resolutely gave out his verdict. “Mr. Fan, if you want to make sure that the building isn’t haunted by ghosts, then you better get rid of this cat. It’s not gentlemanly behaviour to risk everyone’s safety for the sake of a cat.”

When Ji Xiunian heard this, he couldn’t help but frown. The more he thought, the more he felt that Master Lai’s words were harsh. He didn’t seem like the noble character that was exalted on the internet.

At this moment, his gaze cooled down. Seeing Master Lai continuously target Lu Xu and Ba Mei, Ji Xiunian felt that inviting this person over was a mistake from the beginning.

Just as he was thinking of opening his mouth to rebut this person, the Lu Xu on the other side acted like nothing had happened and asked curiously, “Master Lai, can I ask for your age? I saw online that you’re 50, but I think you look at the most in your early forties…”

“Ahem ahem…” Master Lai didn’t think Lu Xu would suddenly bring up his age. Hearing that he looked like he was in his forties made his tone slightly better. “I’m already 72, how do I look 40?”

After saying this, even Fan Zeng was amazed. “No way, I thought Master was around my age. I didn’t think you would be 20 or 30 years older than me; I thought you were my age!”

Fan Zeng didn’t say this as mere flattery; although Master Lai was rather stout, his outer appearance was really that of a middle-aged person.

Hearing the others praise his youth, Master Lai’s face couldn’t help but reveal a hint of pride. When he turned to look at Lu Xu, he could only feel that this little fellow wasn’t so annoying anymore.

He appraised Lu Xu over a few times. He had to admit that this person had a good complexion. It was a pity that he had ill-fated features; he wouldn’t be able to live for very long.

Master Lai stared at Lu Xu for a while, before suddenly realising that this face looked somewhat familiar. He couldn’t help but ask, “What’s your name?”

“Lu Xu.” The youth curved his lips up. It was unclear what he was planning.

Master Lai shook his head as he looked at him. “The name is decent, but it’s a pity your life isn’t long.”

These words were said rather heavily. When the others heard, they received quite the shock. No matter who it was, being blatantly told that their life was short would feel like it was inauspicious. Those with violent personalities might even start quarrelling.

But this person was Master Lai. He was a master who had successfully predicted the deaths of two small artists on Weibo before!

After hearing those words, Fan Zeng and the little assistant couldn’t help but look towards Lu Xu. Their eyes were filled with shock and incredulity.

Ji Xiunian spoke at the side. “Maybe a person really does have a predetermined lifespan, but that doesn’t mean it can’t change. If we can actually accurately determine life and death, what’s the point of putting in effort?”

But Master Lai shook his head. “You can only change your destiny if you know it…”

Lu Xu seemed to have suddenly realized something. He raised his hand against his chin as if he were thinking about something. “So, has Master changed his own destiny?”

“Ridiculous! What absolute nonsense. How could I go and change my fate!” Lu Xu had only asked this casually, but Master Lai’s reaction was very intense, as if he had to clear his reputation against some great slander. “The old man in heaven hates those who change their destinies the most. No respectable person can stand it.”

“So it’s like that.” Lu Xu smiled slightly and nodded, his expression innocent. “Then Master Lai really is a person of integrity. You look so young, so I almost thought you had stolen someone else’s time. Now that I see it, it seems like I misunderstood.”

When he heard the word ‘stolen’, Master Lai’s face noticeably twitched inexplicably. But Lu Xu’s remarks afterwards were very polite. If he contested this it would seem like he was hiding something bad.

In the end, Master Lai kept his words to himself.

Now he felt that no matter how he looked at this youth, he didn’t look right. He definitely didn’t have a long life.

“Master Lai, let’s go up and take a look first. I’m afraid the ghosts will come out again.” Fan Zeng had spent a lot of money to invite this person over, and it wasn’t to give everyone a difficult time.

Master Lai seemed to also come back to his senses, flinging his sleeves and refusing to look at Lu Xu. “Let’s go. This master’s time is limited, business is important.”

At this time, the broadcast was still announcing the ‘sanitisation period’. The trainees were obediently staying within their dorm rooms.

Every once in a while, the sounds of games and talking could be heard in the corridor. The hallway was completely void of people, let alone ghosts.

“Master Lai, are those things here?” The corridor was brightly lit and there were no strange sounds, but Fan Zeng felt rather panicked.

The sound of thunder drummed outside; the window by the staircase began humming from the thunder.

The little assistant was still a girl and couldn’t help but scream before covering her mouth.

Lu Xu happened to be standing next to her and immediately smiled at her, his tone warm. “If you’re scared you should go back to the room and wait. Come out when everything’s over.”

Lu Xu was already good-looking. When he lowered his head his gaze was soft, his nose straight, and his eyes profound. Looking at him from such a close distance made him even more breathtaking. Realising that she was observing Lu Xu’s beauty, the little assistant couldn’t help but criticise herself. What kind of an occasion was this, that she was still busy thinking of this didi’s appearance?

However after Lu Xu had finished speaking, the previously tense atmosphere had eased up significantly.

The little assistant shook her head and told him softly, “It’s hard to come by this opportunity, I want to see…”

She had come across a ghostly issue after much difficulty; she naturally wanted to see it through to the end.

Young people were just curious by nature. Seeing her insistence, Lu Xu merely smiled and didn’t say anything else.

Since Master Lai had gone up the stairs he hadn’t said much, only taking a compass out from his pocket and keeping it in his hand. “If the ghosts appear, the compass will spin like crazy.”

The F4 had originally been practising in the third floor practise room. When they heard that a master was coming to exorcise ghosts, they couldn’t help but want to take a look.

The TV station had sought out many masters to exorcise ghosts before. At first, they had been rather happy, thinking that if someone could see them, then they could perhaps express their wishes. But all of the masters had been fakes. Not only did they fail to send the ghosts away, but they themselves had also been terrified out of their wits by the F4.

Just by his equipment, the one today was already much better than the others before him. Maybe he had some real abilities?

With Lu Xu there, the F4 were not worried about being exorcised by anyone.

Master Lu Xu had already told them that they were documented ghosts. They were protected by the laws of the underworld.

He Xinghua was bolder. Seeing Master Lai take out a compass, he couldn’t help but go forward and comment from the side. “Wa, this looks so powerful, ai!”

As soon as he had finished saying this, he saw the originally calm compass suddenly spin around like crazy. It was obvious that something had appeared.

“Oh my god it’s coming it’s coming, is a ghost coming?”

He Xinghua was momentarily excited and couldn’t help but cry out.

Tao Yingbao couldn’t bear to watch it and went up to push him. “Please, you’re also a ghost, okay?”

“Ai, right.” Only then did He Xinghua realise that yes, he was also a ghost, so there was nothing to be scared of in the first place.

They were giggling, but then he saw Master Lai who was holding the compass turn towards him, his gaze fixing right on him, as though he was staring straight at him.

He Xinghua couldn’t help but feel nervous and tried to raise his hand to greet him politely. “Hello, I’m not a malicious ghost…”

However, Master Lai didn’t acknowledge this at all. He suddenly pulled out some cinnabar and sprinkled some of it, then cried out loudly, “Evil spirits, don’t think to escape!”

Without waiting for He Xinghua’s reaction, Master Lai had already sat down on the ground, his two hands folded as he chanted, “Profound will of Heaven and Earth, the root of all energy…”

With the extravagance of what was happening, along with the current atmosphere, it really seemed like something was going on.

Lu Xu held Ba Mei and stood by the wall. While this Master Lai continued performing, he took the chance to use his phone and snap a photo to send to the case file department––

[SS-Lu Xu: Could I trouble you to help me check this person’s information. Birthdate, history as well as medical information, I want it all.]

Very quickly, the case file department replied––

[Lai Chengshan, Male, 1948, Alive, Currently 52 years old…]

Born in ‘48, he should have been 72 years old today. Twenty years were missing, there was obviously something fishy going on.

Without waiting for Lu Xu to ask, the case file department quickly sent over yet another message––

[It is verified that this person was supposed to have died in the millennium, but at the time, the files were stolen and destroyed, and the information was unable to be entered in time. According to the relevant standards, this person was determined to be a stowaway. We hope our colleagues from the Grim Reaper Bureau can cooperate and send them back to the underworld to be dealt with.]

So he really was a stowaway.

Lu Xu had felt that something was off with Lai Chengshan the moment he saw him. It must have been that his life was already at its end, but he was unwilling to go and had used evil means to borrow someone else’s life for his own.

This person was ballsy enough to do these kinds of malicious deeds and not even on the down-low, instead choosing to scam and proudly showing it off online with great fanfare.

Unexpectedly and coincidentally, he had blundered his way in front of Lu Xu.

He had come a great distance to collect orders. If he didn’t take this order, then he wouldn’t be repaying Lai Chengshan’s ‘kindness’.

nao: those who disparage our family’s ba mei deserve to be yeeted i don’t make the rules