Chapter 23: The Annihilation of Humans and Ghosts

  "I should say that I owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Du. More than 20 years ago, my father borrowed money from Mr. Du to start a business. At first, he made some profit, but soon he was cheated by swindlers and lost all the money, even owing a large sum of usury. In desperation, my father committed suicide. Mr. Du helped us pay off the usury at that time. When I was 17 years old, before my mother passed away, she found Mr. Du and asked him to take care of me. Not only did Mr. Du not blame my mother, but he also felt guilty for not paying attention to our situation. After my mother's death, Mr. Du sent me to college, arranged a job for me in his company, and even gave me a house. You can say that Mr. Du is my benefactor."

  "At that time your father committed suicide, why didn't he take care of you?"

  "At that time, he didn't know my mother was pregnant. Later, my mother married my stepfather. After giving birth to a son for them, I was often beaten by my stepfather. My mother and stepfather divorced, taking me with her. This is what my father left me."

  Du Qingqing took out a gold plaque, and Yu Ming looked at the small golden plaque with the two words "Qing Qing" written on it. Du Qingqing said: "My mom said that no matter how difficult my dad was, he never thought of selling this gold plaque... Sorry, I seem to have said too much."

  He indeed said a bit too much and was somewhat strange, but still handed the tissue to Du Qingqing. Du Qingqing took it, turned her head to wipe away tears and said: "Continue the fight."

  Yu Ming smiled and shuffled the cards, and the two continued to battle on.

  ……

  "...". The battle was intense when suddenly a voice came, this voice seemed weak and powerless, like the throat sound of a dying person. It was impossible to tell which direction the voice came from, even the distance or whether it was male or female could not be discerned.

  Du Qingqing grabbed Yu Ming's hand, her heart racing with cold sweat, her whole body chilled. Yu Ming's heartbeat was also very fast, definitely not because of holding a woman's hand, but because he was truly frightened. He looked around cautiously, without any discovery. Waiting for half a minute, there was no movement.

  Du Qingqing was startled and found that she had grabbed Yu Ming's hand, so she quickly let go and moved away a bit. Yu Ming looked at his phone and saw that it was already 11 o'clock. He said, "Add some fire." At first, they were just looking for a little light and a sense of security, but now he didn't know if it was the chill in his mind or the cold in his body. Yu Ming thought adding more fire was necessary.

  The two of them worked together, throwing some firewood from the pile behind them into the bonfire.

  "It's probably just the wind." said Du Qingqing.

  Yu Ming did not answer, and said: "Miss Du, it's not yet twelve o'clock. You go first, I'll send you out. You can spend the night in the car or go to Old Man Liu's house for the night. Tomorrow I will prove that you stayed here, and you can win against Liu Mao." It was not the sound of the wind. The great enemy is at hand.

  "How about you?"

  "I have to spend the night, you can win."

  "No way. Forget about Liu Mang, let's go together."

  "But what about your commission?"

  "I shouldn't let you guys take risks because of my temper. I already regret what happened to Li Fuyi." Du Qingqing stood up and said, "Let's go."

  He stood up at dawn and took a step back. He covered Du Qingqing's eyes with his hand and said, "We may not be able to leave."

  "What thing."

  "You need to be mentally prepared first." Yu Ming suppressed his trembling voice: "Blood."

  Du Qingqing took a deep breath, removed Yu Ming's hand, and saw that under the light of the fire, two meters away from them on the ground, a red color appeared, and the color became more and more intense, as if it was emerging from the ground. Du Qingqing said: "Yu Ming, what to do?"

  "I don't know." Yu Ming gritted his teeth and took two steps forward, wiping his hand on the ground. It seemed to be real blood. He looked up at the ceiling, but nothing was falling down. Where did this blood come from?

  Yu Ming's face turned pale and he took two steps back, Du Qingqing bravely grabbed Yu Ming's shoulder and said: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid." She stood upright in front of Yu Ming. She remembered her younger brother from her stepfather's family, who was chased by a dog when she was six years old. She bravely picked up a small stick to drive the dog away. She was bitten by the dog, but she didn't care about her own wound and continued to comfort her three-year-old brother who was frightened.

  Yu Ming nodded, grabbed his travel bag, took out a stack of talismans and stood side by side with Du Qingqing. Du Qingqing said: "Yu Ming."

  "Really?"

  "If tomorrow morning... don't tell anyone."

  "Miss Du, generally speaking, it's others who discover us. It's hard not to be talked about if the guess is correct, tomorrow Liu Mang will be the first to arrive at the scene." Yu Ming said: "But don't worry, he doesn't dare put your photo online."

  "I suppose he didn't dare... What is it?"

  A small courtyard with a locust tree, suddenly a red figure appeared and slowly approached, it seemed to be a red dress. Suddenly, all the lights flickered twice and went out, and the red dress disappeared into the darkness. Du Qingqing gasped: "Your talisman seems to have no effect."

  "If it works, I won't have to work either." Yu Mingdao said: "Miss Du, you didn't scream and that makes me very pleased."

  "Must you scream now? It's just a red dress!" Du Qingqing's words were laced with disdain, but she couldn't stop the tremble in her voice. She knew she was only saying this to comfort Yu Ming.

  It seemed that everything had returned to calmness, the fire was dying down. The two sat down and began adding more wood to the fire. Having lost power, now only the light of the fire made them feel a sense of security.

  "It's so hot."

  "I am too." Yu Ming looked at Du Qingqing, with sweat on his face, and couldn't help but feel affectionate. Du Qingqing leaned in closer, the two getting nearer and nearer, until Yu Ming took advantage of the situation and pressed his lips to hers. Suddenly, he was startled and bit his lip, pushing Du Qingqing away and standing up.

  Du Qingqing's eyes snapped open, clearing her mind: "What?" She still had her wits about her, but despite being in such a terrifying place, she couldn't understand why her whole body felt scorching hot.

  "There's a woman today." A faint voice came over.

  A woman's voice chuckled: "Dry firewood and fierce flames urge human emotions, what are you hesitating about, take it off."

  A red-clad figure and a white-clad figure were faintly visible in the darkness at the edge of the flames. The white-clad figure was headless, while the red-clad figure had long hair.

  At this time, Du Qingqing seemed to be completely unafraid, touching Yu Ming's body and groaning: "Hold me."

  Yu Ming had been silent, standing still with his eyes closed. Suddenly he opened his eyes, stomped one foot on the ground and shouted: "The Supreme Lord's urgent decree, all ghosts and humans will be exterminated..." After saying this, he thrust a bundle of talismans into the fire, ignited them, and threw them to the side, while trampling on them with his feet, muttering incantations.

  "Haha!" Seeing Yu Ming's exaggerated movements, the male and female ghosts sneered in a low voice.

  The female ghost said: "Taishang Laojun? Yuanshi Tianzun can't even save you. A night of spring is worth a thousand pieces of gold, enjoy it well."

  Yu Ming's eyes slowly lost their luster, and he knelt on the ground, his hands still grasping for the smoke-emitting talisman. Du Qingqing touched Yu Ming's body, her blouse already unbuttoned two buttons, her chest rubbing against Yu Ming's body. Yu Ming's arms unnaturally wrapped around Du Qingqing's hips, their lips pressed together. Yu Ming's hands instinctively reached out to touch Du Qingqing's breasts.