Chapter 258 - Veils of Enigma (2/2)
Just as how Lu Shengnan had described, Huang Li did indeed like slightly skinnier compared to the woman in black. Lu Shengnan asked Huang Li at once, “Why did you switch off your phone this morning, Huang Li?” She smiled at Lu Shengnan. “You might have called too early. I stayed up with Xuedong till it was very late last night.”
The lie made Lin Feng and I traded quick looks. I stepped forward immediately, offering a hand to her. “We meet again, former classmate.” With the ever-so insipid expression she reserved for me, she ignored my hand and immediately sank into a sofa. With another look at Lin Feng, who eyed her cautiously, I beckoned to my friends to sit as well. “You said just now that you were with Cao Xuedong last night?” I asked, wearing a grin bordering on being smug. Huang Li gave me a frosty look and nodded.
I chuckled. “I’m afraid Cao Xuedong was nowhere near you last night, former classmate. He was with us for an entire night.” “Oh?” Huang Li muttered with feigned curiosity, and her brows began twitching. I pulled out a glass bottle from my pocket and tossed it over to Huang Li, who displayed her good reflexes by snatching it from the air with a loud slap. “Bamen Dunjia. I must say that was a neat display of magic. But that would cost you dearly! We present to you the conjurer and catalyst of the trap last night. But whether he’s able to come back to life, I leave that to you. But be quick. Time is of the essence for his chances.”
Huang Li’s eyes betrayed a hint of astonishment. She hastily looked down at the glass bottle in her hand and saw Cao Xuedong’s ghost still trying to scream inside, although no one outside could hear him. Huang Li shot me a scathing glare that wiped away all her former placidity and aloofness but I merely chuckled again. “He’s not a smart one, that boyfriend or husband of yours. Let’s be frank, Cao Xuedong is the conjurer of the Bamen Dunjia and everything else last night. He himself has made that clear enough.” Huang Li’s glare only grew more vicious as the sounds of her teeth gnashing with intense fury came from the opposite of us. She must be very, very angry now despite her best efforts to keep herself composed.
“That was really an impeccable demonstration of the Bamen Dunjia, honestly,” I went on saying as a-matter-of-factly, “But you guys just seemed to have underestimated me. What do you take me for? I’m the heir to Yan Di of the South. A simple Bamen Dunjia is nothing to me. Not even the descendant of Tribe Nine Li, armed or not armed, can do anything to me. Heh heh heh heh…” I ended my story with pride and hubris permeating my smile but the look I received from Huang Li was one of confusion and bewilderment as if she did not understand anything I said. What the hell? Does she not know that I am the Spirit of the Shiyan Blade? Is she not a descendant of Tribe Nine Li? Or she is unaware of her lineage?
There was a brief, awkward moment of silence until she finally spoke. “So, that means you have solved the problem in my house?” I nodded. “Wow, the Bamen Dunjia enchantment! What amount we should charge, I wonder…” Chongxi sniggered and remarked, “A hundred thousand yuan, no less!” Still looking aloof and disinterested, Huang Li remained quiet. “A hundred thousand it is then, for the problem we solved for your home. But there is something else that I was wondering if you might be interested in.”
Lin Feng was already on his feet, moving over to her. He handed her a black plastic bag which she accepted quietly with a frown. But when she looked inside, her eyes went as wide as eggs! In the black plastic bag was the severed arm I cut off from the woman in black last night! But it was only the gory arm; we had removed the short blade attached to it.
“How much do you think this is worth?” I cackled. Despite her coolness, I could see that Huang Li was already burning inside. The veins on her forehead that were threatening to pop were proof enough. Lin Feng and I looked at each other. Perhaps this was finally the time we draw up the veils of enigma surrounding the identity of our mysterious hitwoman.
But to our amazement, Huang Li threw the broken arm to the ground like a sack of rubbish. She glowered hostilely at me, her voice steely as the hitwoman’s knife last night, “What is this?! A threat?!”
Lin Feng and I looked at each other again. In his eyes, I could read the unmistakable note of disappointment.