Beginning with the Ubume Bird Chapter 122

Chapter 122: Chapter 21: Ghost Gambling

“Help, help me~”

The first cry was hoarse, the next one rose in pitch, like a rooster whose tail had been stepped on.

The fat man's eyes were filled with terror as he muttered to himself.

“Don't kill me, please don't kill me…”

Yunhu wiped the blood off his hands and took steps towards the fat man, squatting down in front of him, his tone gentle, “Dazhi, do you gamble often?”

“Pei, Master Pei, I give up, I give up,”

The fat man was crying his eyes out, near his feet lay the body of a man, his eyes wide open in terror, his death throes were pitiful.

Yunhu glanced at his watch, twelve o one, not yet.

“I need to hurry, we'll chat in a bit.”

He smiled, reaching for the fat man's trembling face with his hand.

Panjia Garden, like Langfang Alley, was a bustling midnight Yin Market, but it focused more on gambling in addition to trading.

A bunch of bizarre, dark-circled, white-faced figures crowded around.

“How should we bet?”

The man across on Yunhu, wearing a tall white hat, had dug several glances into him.

Yunhu, appearing like a young chick, hesitated with innocence in his eyes for quite some time before pointing at the chunky man with earrings, trussed up on the ground.

“Let's start with a pair of eyeballs.”

Sun Dazhi's eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

“Li Dai, his heritage is 'Jufu,' specializing in throwing with 76% proficiency; his throwing knives have a piercing power comparable to high-caliber handguns, and compared to the single-angle muzzle, knives with their wrapping, spinning, reversing, swinging, and suspending trajectories are even harder to defend against, especially for those of the Feather Class with high Awakening Degrees, who find it difficult to evade. He was originally a pharmacist, with a serum that temporarily induces zombie-like resistance to blades and bullets upon injection.”

Wushan rattled off indifferently, ignoring the man opposite him whose face was growing increasingly unsightly.

But soon, the man got himself under control and chuckled coldly,

“You have a reinforced 'A Fleeting Glimpse,' right? An assistant type Yan Fu operative. It seems I'm in luck today.”

Thin clouds covered the sky, and the wind started to blow.

After a swaying sound of water, Wushan threw the liquor bottle away, his mouth reeking of alcohol.

“Bullshit.”

Qianmen Street.

On the jumbled power poles, black sparrows perched, stores tightly packed together, grocery, laundry, and photo shops. Breakfast establishments.

Tianchengzhai's pastries, Cheap House's ducks, Yueshengzhai's seasoned meats.

Even though closed for the night, one could still imagine the daytime bustle of the area,

“When pear blossoms bloomed everywhere, soft gauze drifted on the river…”

Zhao Xin leaned against the doorframe, her petite body curled up, hugging the dragon-patterned large saber, wrinkling her nose as she hummed softly.

The drizzle fell on Zhao Xin's lips, wetting the bluestone slabs.

Light rain began to pour down from the sky.

Compared to last time, apart from the little snake on her fingers, there was now a red Buddha pendant hanging around her neck.

A hand braced against the wall, a bald man walked slowly, his fingers bleeding, washed clean by the rain.

The girl stood up, locking eyes with the man.

“You're back so soon.”

The man tried to smile casually.

“You're just too slow.”

Zhao Xin rubbed her eyes, speaking to her brother.

She tilted her head back, deliberately clapping her hands, “So, was it easy?”

“Uh… not bad.”

The bald man grimaced, already with a fierce appearance; now he looked even more menacing.

Zhao Xin nodded, extending her delicate hand.

“Then let's go.”

The bald man blinked and said, “Zhao Xin.”

“What's the matter?”

“Just one more night, just one more night, and six people will be enough, then we can all go back together.”

Zhao Xin stretched lazily and nodded emphatically, “Mn.”

Panjia Garden. The gambling stall

“Two thighs and half a ribcage, I'm betting with you!”

The man wearing a white top hat was spitting emphatically, his eyes bloodshot, smacking the table so hard it made a loud clapping sound, clearly having lost quite a bit.

Yunhu sat straight in a Taishi Chair, a bloodstained duckbill cap lying beside him.

His fingertips lightly tapped as beneath his feet, a sturdy, fat, vest-wearing man with earrings was firmly trussed up.

Yunhu looked down at the vest man whose face was stricken with terror and whose trousers were wet, speaking in an even tone, “I haven't lost in over twenty hands, what's there to panic about?”

The vest man's face was smeared with snot and tears, his muscular frame unexpectedly breaking into a sob like a little girl.

Yunhu didn't pay any more attention to the man at his feet, instead raising his head to the man in the white hat, “Your bottom line is worn through, what will you bet with me?”

“I understand the minds of you outsiders well~”, said the man in the white hat as he shrugged his shoulders and nudged his chin at someone beside him, who slapped down a sheet of paper that glinted faintly.

The Yan Fu Heritage!

“Some brat dared to disturb the Peace of Taishuai, and while I kindly sold goods to him, he turned treacherous. Guess what happened?”

The white hat seemed to want to add some pressure to Yunhu and cackled strangely, “Scooped out his heart, liver, spleen, and lungs nice and clean, leaving only this thing. So, what do you say, you in for a bet or not?”

Yunhu glanced at the heritage on the table and nodded slightly, “What you're holding can make up for what you owed before, so it's fair enough.”

“Man, don't get too greedy!”

The man in the white hat widened his eyes angrily.

“I have heard that…”

Yunhu interrupted the white hat, “The three Yin Markets in Sijiu City share what they know with each other, all obeying a Five-Colored Silk Imperial Decree from the Xuantong Era, unlabeled and blank.”

After hearing this, the white hat's expression changed and he paused, sneering incessantly, “You're quite the schemer, aren't you? Old Man Guo from the Imperial College really cares about you, telling you everything.”

After pondering for a moment, he slowly shook his head, “First up, that item is now on the top of Langfang Alley, and it would cost me a fortune to get it. Second, that Imperial Decree contains the will of Heaven, even considering what you win from me and adding up the man at your feet, it just amounts to a single axle of silver, not enough to bet with me.”

Yunhu pressed his knuckles and pulled out a black bead from his pocket. The white hat took it carelessly and looked at it.

The surface of the bead was extremely smooth, and an originally serene and aged face was now contorted in a furious and sorrowful expression on the wall of the bead.

“Old Man Guo!”

The man in the white hat's complexion changed drastically, and the people beside him stood up, nearly jumping out of their seats. The noise of the chairs scraping the floor was incessant. Faces that did not look human stared at Yunhu, giving a chilling sensation.

“You little bastard, you're even more poisonous than we are.”

Yunhu frowned and gestured downward with his hand, signaling for the white hat and his crew to sit down.

“All that you just mentioned, including the incomplete soul from the Imperial College, if I lose, I'll pull ten more living people from the daylight into your debt over the next three days. Even if I win, the man at my feet and the Imperial College's incomplete soul will belong to you just the same.”

The white hat put both hands on the table.

“I don't know where you came from, but I can tell you plainly, you can't just bring living people here as you please—doing so will certainly break your human rules.”

“Those who don't follow the rules in this world don't live long.”

Yunhu seemed unaware.

Back when he dragged the fat man into the Yin Market, Yan Fu, or perhaps Earth Endurance, had warned him in his ear.

But who cares?

“Then you needn't worry about it,” he said.

The white hat pondered for a long while before speaking,

“Regardless of the outcome, we want everything you just promised.”

“No problem.”

“Empty words are worthless, the rules of the Yin Market are supreme. Let's put it in writing. If you're willing to risk your very soul as collateral, we can start.”

The white hat called out.

Yunhu looked at the black bead on the table once more, the mournful and resentful old face staring straight back at him.

Yunhu turned his face away as the rain outside picked up its fury.

“Let's start the game.”

Chapter end