Rustle! Rustle! Rustle!
In the small pawnshop, the sound of the man scratching his skin echoed continuously.
Nails grew densely on his body like bamboo shoots after the rain, as if they were going to conquer every inch of his skin.
Aside from his handsome face, his entire body seemed to be covered with a thick layer of scales.
Lu Fei's goosebumps dropped all over the ground.
The man kept scratching himself with his hands.
The nails rubbed against each other, producing a strange and piercing sound that made people feel itchy all over and want to scratch as well.
"You want me to help you with the nails on your body?" Lu Fei asked, frowning.
"Yes! Yes! It's itching me to death!"
The man answered in agony, as if no amount of scratching could relieve the itch. The more he scratched, the more desperate he became, and eventually, he even started pulling out the nails with force.
His skin was left with bloody little holes.
But soon, new nails grew out of those bloody holes.
He seemed to be even itchier, scratching until his ten fingers were covered in dark blood.
His handsome face was distorted as a result.
"Itchy! It's so itchy, I'm going to die from the itchiness!"
"Write down your information, and I'll do my best to help you." Lu Fei, suppressing his discomfort, finished writing the pawn ticket and then handed the pen and paper to the man.
The handsome man endured the excruciating itchiness with all his might, picked up the pen, and shakily wrote down his name and address.
"Tell me, where did these nails come from?"
Lu Fei took a look, put away the pawn ticket, and tried his best to avoid looking at the man's body, which was covered in nails.
"Revenge, revenge... Hurry, help me..."
The man screamed in agony, scratching at his body as he vanished inside the pawnshop, leaving behind a trail of bloody, broken nails.
Lu Fei quickly got up, sprinkled incense ash on the floor, then swept the nails together and burned them completely with yellow paper.
It's really too revolting to look at!
How can one person have so many nails growing on them?
Lu Fei deeply suspected that the man had truly died from an itch.
After cleaning up the shop, he put on his gloves and picked up the sachet for a closer look.
The sachet looked quite ordinary, with a name embroidered on it.
Lin Han.
It was the name of that man.
"Men generally wouldn't buy something like this; it must have been given to him by someone else. Why did he choose to pawn this item specifically?"
Lu Fei opened the sachet.
Inside were some unknown herbs, emitting a faint fragrance.
Among the bundle of herbs, there were several broken fingernail pieces.
"Fingernails again!"
The goosebumps that had just subsided on Lu Fei's skin reappeared.
He endured the discomfort and looked for a while; after finding nothing new, he closed the sachet.
"He mentioned revenge. Regardless of whose fingernails are inside, it's likely this sachet caused him to grow nails all over his body. It's too late now. Tomorrow, I'll go to the address he provided and ask around. As long as I find out who sent the sachet, the problem won't be hard to solve."
Lu Fei found a bag and put the sachet inside.
Then, he took off his gloves and closed the door to rest.
When he walked to the backyard, he saw the kitchen brightly lit with a strong smell of alcohol emanating from it.
Hu Zi was sitting in front of the stove, watching the pot.
"Hu Zi, once the wine starts brewing, it can't be stopped until it's done. Can you handle it? If not, I'll get Old Liu to help you keep an eye on it."
"No problem, boss! This is nothing. When I used to work in an internet cafe, it was common for me to stay up for days and nights without sleep."
Huzi said with full confidence, making an OK gesture.
"Alright, I'm going to sleep first."
Lu Fei yawned and went back to his room to sleep.
The next morning, when he opened the door, the entire courtyard was filled with the smell of alcohol.
Huzi was still sitting in the kitchen, supporting his cheek with his hand, with two large dark circles under his eyes, a stark contrast to his energetic appearance yesterday.
Lu Fei checked the wine in the pot; it had evaporated by half, but it was still not enough.
"Huzi, I have to go out today and can't replace you. Are you sure you can manage on your own?"
"No problem! Don't worry, boss. It's just one night, it's nothing!"
Huzi immediately stood up, widened his eyes, and assured him with all his might.
"Why are you so interested in this liquor?" Lu Fei looked at him with amusement, "I'm warning you, you can't drink it until all the toxins are removed. Unless, of course, you don't want to live."
"Boss, what kind of person do you take me for? Am I the type who would sneak a drink!" Hu Zi said with a serious face, "Besides, I'm young and strong. Why would I need this? I'm doing this for the business!"
He spoke with righteous indignation.
"Alright, then I'll leave it to you."
Lu Fei patted his shoulder and left Xiao Hei at home to keep an eye on him.
Then, he drove to the address Lin Han had left him.
It was a regular residential neighborhood.
When Lu Fei found the building, he felt something odd about the atmosphere.
Every door had yellow talismans or Eight Trigram mirrors made of peach wood, or other exorcism items hanging on them.
"Is there a ghost here?"
Lu Fei went upstairs and found the place according to the address.
"502, this is it."
There was a white cloth hanging at the door, and through the crack, flickering firelight and the scent of incense could be seen and smelled.
If you listened carefully, you could also hear the sound of chanting for the deceased.
"A funeral? Could it be Lin Han's funeral?"
It wasn't a good time to come, so Lu Fei decided it would be better not to disturb them and went downstairs to wait for a while.
Despite the hot weather, a group of elderly people had gathered in the small pavilion downstairs.
Every one of the old people looked worried and unhappy.
"What a sin!"
"Ghosts make trouble at night, and monks chant during the day."
"I'm already so old, and because of the Lin family's affairs, I can't sleep or eat well every day. If I end up sick from this, will their family pay for my medical bills?"
"You're still okay, but I live right across from them, and now I don't even dare to go home."
"Praying for so long, and there's not a bit of effect. I think that monk is just a fraud!"
"Exactly! There's no way a monk can be that fat, looking all plump and well-fed, clearly he hasn't been short of money..."
The elderly people chattered on with their complaints.
Lu Fei listened with curiosity.
Soon, a commotion could be heard in the hallway.
"Mr. Lin, let me try one more time, the last time! I'm sure it will succeed..."
"I don't believe you at all! You've been praying for days, and it's been completely useless!"
Right after that, they saw a fat monk being chased out of the hallway.
"Liar!"
"Get out of here, or I'll beat you up every time I see you!"
The fat monk wanted to plead for mercy, but those people pushed him to the ground and threatened him fiercely.
"Should have driven him away long ago!"
"Wasting so much time, making us, the neighbors, eat and sleep poorly."
The old folks in the pavilion were gloating over his misfortune.
Lu Fei stepped forward and helped the fat monk up.
"Master Kudeng, are you alright?"
"Manager Lu?"
The fat monk looked up and was momentarily stunned upon seeing Lu Fei.
He then got up from the ground, covered in dust, his monk's robe torn, looking utterly disheveled.
"Master Kuleng, is this the job of deliverance you talked about a few days ago?" Lu Fei asked, concerned, as he patted the dust off him.
"Indeed." Master Kuleng's haggard face twisted into a bitter smile. "I thought it would be a simple job, but it turned out like this!"