"There are such disgusting people in this world; they should mind their own business. There won't be a good ending for those busybodies."
Wei Xiaoyu's face had become hideously diabolic and I couldn't recognize it any more.
There seemed to be a trace of blood flowing on her face, and her appearance was distorted.
"I have been very discontented ever since I became a wild ghost because of him. Now I have to take fresh blood from five hundred healthy men so that I can become more stable and go to the six realms' wheel of life after my death."
Wei Xiaoyu told us she had become an escort girl, a KTV girl, and a ghost house real estate girl to allow her to absorb so much men's blood.
Of course, the best way to get the men was one-night stands.
She sneered, saying that she was very happy and she would succeed in reincarnating after swallowing the blood of Xing Xing and the other men. Xing Xing's blood would have been much more effective, since he had killed so many people.
But Feng Chunsheng and I just butted in and killed him, which made her rather annoyed.
Thus, she wanted us to die right now.
"I'm going to kill you. Why don't mind your own business?"
She roared again.
I could feel my blood leaving me and struggling to fly to Wei Xiaoyu.
I felt a little dizzy.
Then I heard a loud roaring.
"Chen Yuhao's coming. You ghosts just get out of my way."
Chen Yuhao came just as we were going to become food for Wei Xiaoyu.
I turned to the window.
Chen Yuhao flew in through the window and kneeled on one foot. A piece of yellow paper came out from the back of his collar.
That piece of paper flew straight to Wei Xiaoyu.
She roared loudly again.
I saw a white shadow escape from her body and fall to all fours on the floor. It quickly scrambled towards the door.
"Freeze!"
Chen Yuhao didn't hit it with that paper. He took out one his spikes and threw it at that white ghost. The thorn pinned it to the floor.
Chen Yuhao then went to Wei Xiaoyu, removed that piece of paper from her body, and stuck it on that white ghost.
The ghost screamed.
Then, the white ghost just melted.
Chen Yuhao picked up that yellow piece of paper and threw it back down his collar.
"Brother Yu!" we called him at the same time.
Chen Yuhao carried that black wooden box, and after getting back his spike, he went out with Xing Xing's body on his left hand and Wei Xiaoyu's body on his right hand.
"What are you up to?" I asked him.
He said: "I am going to feed that tree for the last time."
Feng Chunsheng and I rushed after Chen Yuhao.
Outside, he raised his hands and threw their bodies to the death tree.
The tree swallowed them in a moment.
Later, Chen Yuhao went down on one knee. He pointed his right finger at his eyebrows and said: "You are a psychic locust tree and have practiced for five hundred years…You are pure, but… it's a pity that you have been polluted by the bodies fed to you by Xing Xing in recent years."
When he talked, the tree's branched shook.
Woo woo woo woo.
The tree seemed to be crying.
"A step off the right path." Chen Yuhao continued: "You have gotten used to human bodies these years… I have to kill you now, or else you will eat humans again and again. It is such a pity that you've changed from a tree spirit into a man-eating demon."
After that, Chen Yuhao took out a spike and plunged it into the locust tree.
In a moment, that lush locust tree withered, and its green leaves became yellow.
Jumping agilely like an ape, he climbed up on the tree and retrieved the spike. Then he left as dawn arrived.
He only said two things as he left, which shook our ears.
He spoke first to the death tree.
"Although you are an evil spirit, you have become quite remarkable after 500 years of cultivation. But now that you have started eating flesh, I have to take away your power. If you keep on cultivating for another 500 years, you will return to your former glory."
Then he spoke to Feng Chunsheng and me.
"Shui and Brother Feng, please burn this tree and its evil, so that this tree spirit will be back in its original state and will not hurt people any more. Thank you."
Feng Chunsheng said: "Brother Yu came in with such great timing. Do you think he might be following us these days?"
"You would be dead if it weren't for him," I poked his chest.
Feng Chunsheng giggled. "Brother Yu is really strong to be able to tell that this was a psychic tree."
"What do you mean?" I asked him.
Feng Chunsheng replied: "That's to say, this locust tree has cultivated and became a spirit. It is a ghost tree because it has a high affinity to evil, and according to Brother Yu, it only began to eat people by itself after Xing Xing fed it ten dead bodies over the past few years. Though this tree didn't hurt people before, it will be harmful if it stays like that."
He shook his head and continued: "However, Brother Yu followed the rule and didn't kill this tree. He used that spike to remove its skills and let it practice for another five hundred years. He did what was humanly possible to help."
He pointed in the direction Chen Yuhao had left and said: "Though he is a cold person, he is really kind-hearted."
"That's good." I gave a thumbs up in the direction Chen Yuhao had gone.
Then l told Feng Chunsheng: "Maybe he has been protecting us secretly."
"Of course. He has to, because it's only you who can change the pattern on his back." He continued: "Well, let's go and burn the tree."
I thought there but found some problem, then I said to him: "Chun…We have to get legal permission. It is not a good idea to burn this locust tree so hastily, since it belongs to someone else."
"Well, let's go to the landlord and talk about this matter… It's no good for him to rent out apartments near an evil death tree," Feng Chunsheng agreed with me.
I went downstairs and turned to Liu Qinghua for her landlord's telephone number.
Liu Qinghua had just woken up. She talked to me with joy, saying that Brother Feng appeared in her dream after she got the tattoo. She felt very happy.
I smiled and said: "Well, you are Brother Feng, and Brother Feng is you from now."
"Thank you." Then Liu Qinghua gave me her landlord's telephone number.
I called the landlord, saying that there was a death tree on his property and that we would help him deal with it, so he needed to come right away.
"Alright."
One hour later, the landlord came, driving a Honda.
The landlord went up to the gate, checked out the tree, and looked at us. Then he gave us cigarettes.
"Are you masters?" He smiled and wanted to talk with us.
I nodded: "Well, you can say that."
"Good. A word, please." He pointed to a corner of the yard.
I didn't know what the landlord wanted, but we followed him and went to the corner.
The landlord asked us with an insidious smile: "So, my brothers… Did this tree really harm people?"
"Yes," I replied.
We didn't mention Xing Xing. We didn't want to make trouble, or the police would come and interrogate us about this matter.
Then he asked again: "So, did you kill this tree?"
I told him we didn't kill this tree but only removed its powers. But we needed to burn it down just to make sure it wouldn't hurt people any more.
The landlord snapped the fingers and said: "Well, please don't burn this tree. Can you help it recover its powers?"
"What?"
Feng Chunsheng and I were very surprised and didn't know why he would say something like that.
He said that he earned money through this tree, and he would be out of business if this tree died.
"Your business?" I looked at him and found it a little strange.
The landlord told us with a smile: "The rent is very cheap, but the deposit is very high."
I understood.
I have to say, he was such a wicked man.
Feng Chunsheng spat on the ground.
What did this landlord do?
It was like this.
I guessed that he must have already known there was something wrong in his house, since so many people disappeared without a trace.
Usually, people would turn to a master to check the house and find out what the problem was, or call the police.
But this landlord was a schemer. He pretended not to notice, but reduced the rent and raised the deposit.
After ten or twenty days living in the house, the tenants would disappear - and then nobody would ask the landlord about the deposits.
And the landlord would keep the deposit.
"They have to pay rent at three hundred per month, but the deposit is twenty five thousand." The landlord said: There were more than one hundred people who didn't ask me for the deposit in the past four or five years. This tree was a life tree; it supported me and gave me a good life."
I looked at this landlord, thinking that he didn't earn money only from the deposits. Well, let me guess — maybe he followed Xing Xing and found out that this tree would destroy the corpses without a trace? So that he would kill his competitors and earn even more money…
It was a rather vicious guess… In any case, I didn't think we could confront him without any evidence, since this was a ruthless man.
Then he looked at us and said: "Well, how about I pay you fifty thousand and you help the tree recover, OK?"
"If fifty thousand is not enough for you, what about seventy, or eighty, or one hundred thousand? That's the most I can offer…" he stretched out his two palms.