Stranger Danger

Chapter 374: Corpse Child

“Not... Not yet,” Yin Toad answered fearfully.

“Trash!” Fire Skull yelled.

Yin Toad argued, “This... this isn’t my fault. I did my best!”

“I’ve mobilized at least several hundred ghosts and kin to search for Seventh Young Master and turned nearly the entire Fengdu upside down, but there’s just no sign of him anywhere! Not even a hint!”

“I... I really did my best!”

“If your best isn’t enough, then do better! If you can’t find Seventh Young Master, then both you and I are going to die!”

Fire Skull raged. “Now go!”

“Y-Yes, manager.”

Yin Toad transformed into a gust of yin wind and flew toward the exit. It was halfway there when suddenly, it let out a bloodcurdling scream. The yin wind that was yin toad suddenly began decaying and rotting as if it was being eroded by something. The stench of death immediately filled the room.

Yin Toad was already dead, and it didn’t even have a physical body, not to mention that it was just a gust of wind right now. However, there was no denying that it was rotting somehow. As Yin Toad transformed uncontrollably back to its normal self, bluish purple spots began appearing on its body as well.

The more they spread, the weaker Yin Toad’s screams became. When its whole body had become discolored, Yin Toad stopped screaming and vanished into thin air, leaving behind only the terrible stench of rot.

“You can stop now.”

An old, calm voice rang inside the room. Fire Skull shuddered, and a bluish purple spot appeared on its flame, causing it to decay rapidly.

“First... First Young Master... why are you here?”

“How much longer are you going to keep this hidden?” The voice spoke, and a pool of disgusting corpse water seeped out of the floor. Multiple bodies were floating inside the pool.

A dead child crawled out of the pool. He was wearing a black burial shirt and a round skullcap. He had a long ponytail behind his head.

Although he looked like a child, every part of his body except his face was covered in bluish purple spots. His body reeked of the stench of corpses as well.

“First... First Young Master...” Fire Skull greeted the child shakily, “I... I don’t understand what you mean?”

“No, you know exactly what I’m talking about.” First Young Master said slowly, “Yin Toad died because it failed in its duty and tried to conceal its failure from the master. Are you going to make its mistake, Fire Skull?”

“I was wrong! I was wrong! Forgive me, First Young Master! I would never do it again!” Fire Skull dropped from the air and hit the ground repeatedly with its head, kowtowing[1].

First Young Master was a Corpse Child[2] who fed on corpses to sustain himself. His death qi was so potent it could corrode anything and everything be it animate, inanimate, tangible or intangible.

“You lost the master’s property, tried to cover up the crime, and you were stupid beyond hope. Any one of these crimes is punishable by death. Can you give me a single reason why I shouldn’t kill you?” Corpse Child asked unhurriedly.

Fire Skull shivered and answered as quickly as it could, “First... First Young Master, I already figured out who is the one who took the yin gold. Just give me time, and the yin gold will be back before you know it.”

“Are you telling me that Seventh is the one who stole the money?” asked Corpse Child as he looked down on Fire Skull scornfully, but the Stranger couldn’t see his face. Fire Skull explained its reasoning in a hurry,

“Yes, it has to be him. I already dispatched the men to look for him. They will find him very soon.”

“This is why I said you’re stupid beyond hope,” Corpse Child said slowly.

By now, Fire Skull realized that Corpse Child was ridiculing him. It looked up in confusion and asked, “Am... Am I wrong, First Young Master?”

“You are completely wrong,” Corpse Child declared. “Seventh is a bold child, but he would never, ever dare to steal from the vault without father’s permission.”

“But... who could possibly steal the yin gold without a trace then?” Fire Skull was stunned. My brilliant deduction was all... wrong? “Could it really be a senior?”

“It’s bad enough that you’re stupid, but you like to think you’re smart too. How on earth did you become the manager of Ghost Tower?”

Corpse Child sighed. “You thought that someone must have entered the vault and stole the yin gold, but why didn’t you consider the possibility that the yin gold was already lost before they entered the vault?”

“Impossible!” Fire Skull rejected the possibility immediately. “I had personally checked the yin gold several times before they entered the vault. I am certain that not a single gold piece was missing!”

“Nothing is impossible.There are plenty of things in this world that are beyond your paltry imagination,” Corpse Child said slowly. “In fact, the true responsibility of this failure lies not on Yin Toad, but you.”

“I... I don’t get what you’re saving First Young Master,” Fire Skull replied in an aggrieved tone.

“You think I’m wronging you?” Corpse Child scoffed and enveloped Fire Skull with his corpse pool. Then, Corpse Child, Fire Skull and the corpse pool all vanished into the floor.

The next moment, the duo appeared inside the vault.

“Have you inspected the vault yet?” Corpse Child asked.

“I have. Everything is fine inside the vault. The locks are intact, and the restrictions aren’t triggered,” Fire Skull answered.

Corpse Child countered, “Is that so? Didn’t you notice there is something inside the vault that isn’t there before?”

“W-What? What is it?” Fire Skull asked.

Corpse Child walked up to the carcass of several insects and said, “Look. There are insects inside the vault now.”

“Insects?” Fire Skull floated up to the carcass and exclaimed in astonishment, “You’re right! But this can’t be! The vault is protected by all sorts of restrictions. There is no way any insect can make it inside the vault!”

The vault was where they stored all kinds of precious treasures. Naturally, it was installed with restrictions that were specifically meant to keep out insects and other vermin. It would be terrible if a vermin damaged a precious treasure otherwise.

The reason Fire Skull and Yin Toad hadn’t discovered it sooner was because the carcasses were incredibly tiny, and they were scattered in different places.

“It is strange that these insects somehow appeared inside the vault,” Fire Skull voiced its puzzlement. “Perhaps they have something to do with the missing yin gold?”

Corpse Child replied, “That’s an understatement. They are the culprits behind the disappearing yin gold. Do you know what they are, Fire Skull?”

Fire Skull couldn’t say anything for a time. When it finally recovered, it stuttered, “Wha... What is it?”

“These insects are called the Gold Insect. It is an extremely rare Stranger in the yang world,” Corpse Child answered. “You might have inferred from its name, but it is a type of insect that can transform into gold.”

“The Gold Insect is pitifully weak and in possession of no offensive powers whatsoever, but it can transform into gold. Moreover, its disguise is impossible to see through.”

“Of course, all things in the world have their weaknesses, and the Gold Insect’s weaknesses are quite distinct. One, it can only turn into gold for a short time. Two, it can only turn into gold once in a lifetime. Once its transformation runs out, and it turns back into an insect, it would die.”

“In fact, it’s not the only Stranger of its kind. There is the Silver Insect and more.”

“Do you understand why I said it’s your fault now?”

“Mercy, young master! I... I was wrong. Please, mercy!” Fire Skull began shaking violently.

“Tell me, what were your mistakes?” Corpse Child asked.

Fire Skull stuttered, “I... Someone used the Gold Insects to buy our goods and services, but I never realized it. After the fake yin gold entered the vault, the Gold Insects returned to normal. When Yin Toad entered the vault to inspect the items, he thought that someone had broken into the vault and stolen our yin gold.”

“As the manager of Ghost Tower, I failed to discover the culprit’s ruse and lost our yin gold. That’s my first mistake. After the yin gold was stolen, I failed to inspect the vault thoroughly[3] and instead made my investigation based on empty conjectures. That’s my second mistake. And finally, I failed to inform master about this as soon as possible and even tried to keep this from it. That’s my third mistake.”

“Good. Perhaps there is hope yet to cure your stupidity,” Corpse Child nodded in approval. “You know you deserve death thrice over, but do you know why you’re still alive, while Yin Toad is dead?”

“I... don’t know?” Fire Skull replied fearfully. Now that it thought about it, Yin Toad wasn’t really to blame for this incident because the yin gold had already been switched when it entered the vault. It might have failed to identify the Gold Insects, but the same could be said for it. In fact, if Fire Skull couldn’t identify the Gold Insects, then there was no chance Yin Toad, a weaker Stranger, could hope to do better. However, the blameless Yin Toad was executed, while it was still alive. It really didn’t understand why.

“The answer is very simple. The reason you’re still alive is because you haven’t submitted to me or my dear brothers. You are loyal to father and the Ghost Tower alone. However, Yin Toad had submitted to another. Do you understand now?” Corpse Child answered in an indifferent tone.

“I... understand. I understand!” Fire Skull bowed its head even more. It was both afraid and thankful that it had made at least one wise decision in its life.

The master of the Ghost Tower had seven adopted sons, and of course every one of them had their own powerbases. It was perfectly normal for someone in the Ghost Tower to secretly pledge their fealty to one of the young masters to solidify their own position. However, Fire Skull was one of the few ghosts who never found a backer for itself. It wasn’t because no one had tried to recruit it, nor was it because it was absolutely loyal to the master. It would be lying if it said it was never tempted by the offer. It just thought that the Ghost Tower belonged to the master, and the master was the greatest of them all. Why on earth would it swear its fealty to someone below the master when it could be serving the master itself?

It didn’t think that its caution would save its life today.

“Remember this well, Fire Skull. The Ghost Tower is father, and you are all father’s dogs. My father can tolerate a stupid, lazy dog, but he can never tolerate one who betrays his trust.” Corpse Child’s mouth spread into an eerie grin. “That is why you’re still alive.”

“Yes, yes! Thank you for your mercy, First Young Master! Thank you for master’s mercy! I am forever loyal to master and the Ghost Tower!” Fire Skull kowtowed repeatedly.

“Enough. Get up.” Corpse Child declared, “We still have things to do.”

“Yes, Young Master.” Fire Skull floated into the air.

Corpse Child continued, “Two hundred and fifty thousand yin gold is but a drop in the bucket, but the crime of tricking the Ghost Tower is terribly grave. The culprit who dares to impugn our reputation must be brought to justice.”

“But... we have a lot of customers today, and most of them concealed their identity as a matter of course. How are we going to find them?” Fire Skull asked.

Corpse Child replied calmly, “The Gold Insect is an extremely rare Stranger. Even considering the caliber of our customers, few among them would possess it. There is a high chance the culprit was only one person.”

“Check our account books and find out who had spent at least two hundred and fifty thousand yin gold today. They are most likely the culprit.”

“A wise deduction, First Young Master. I shall check the account books immediately!” Fire Skull’s eyes lit up and flew away. A short while later, it returned with a disappointed expression, “First Young Master, I’m sorry to say that no one has spent at least two hundred and fifty thousand yin gold today.”

“There is none?” Corpse Child thought for a moment before answering, “The culprit is cautious, it seems. They must have spent some real yin gold so we wouldn’t be able to identify them immediately.”

“Even so, they couldn’t possibly spend too much real yin gold. That would be defeating the point. Check who has spent almost two hundred and fifty thousand yin gold, Fire Skull.”

1. Remember that it’s basically a floating head, so... ?

2. Name of a Stranger. ?

3. It did, but that would only make it sound worse lol. ?