Ch. 53 - Waking Up

Fang Xiu's spiritual power was "pain."

He channeled the dark Spiritual Energy from within him, and it flowed through the scalpel and into Lin Ziyang's body.

In no time, a pain so awful it couldn't be put into words surged throughout his entire body.

Right then, Lin Ziyang felt like he'd been brutally killed over and over again, crushed to a pulp, eaten alive, and had his head chopped off—

The pain from multiple awful deaths hit him all at once.

Lin Ziyang didn't even last a second; he blacked out immediately. He fell to the ground, knocked out cold.

THUD!

Fang Xiu pulled out the scalpel and swung the door open.

He looked calmly at Lin Ziyang, whose face was a bloody mess. Then, he grabbed Lin Ziyang's ankle and dragged him into the room like a sack of rice.

The door banged shut, and peace came back to the hallway.

A moment later, the motion-activated lights went out, concealing the bloodstains in the darkness.

Inside the room, Fang Xiu began to search Lin Ziyang's body. He liked having a secret weapon, something to use when things got really bad. However, he didn't want anyone else to have one.

Right now, being a new psychic and everything it entailed, Fang Xiu didn't know a lot about the different tricks and secret weapons other psychics have. To make sure Lin Ziyang didn't turn things around later during the planned torture, it made sense to search his body.

Fang Xiu didn't actually kill Lin Ziyang. With his spiritual power, he could've ended Lin Ziyang's life the moment the scalpel pierced him.

But he didn't. He had, after all, promised Lin Ziyang a slow, painful death.

'A man has to keep his promise.'

Soon, Fang Xiu found five spiritual coins, some pocket change, a phone, a set of car keys, and a bronze candlestick shaped like a Specter, as well as some kind of good-deed award.

When he picked up the bronze candlestick, he felt a chill crawl through him.

"Specter Gadget?"

Feeling the chill he knew all too well, Fang Xiu was sure this bronze candlestick was a Specter Gadget.

Lin Ziyang had to be someone important, given that he even had a Specter Gadget.

This Specter Gadget wasn't as strong as the scalpel, but it was still a Specter Gadget.

Fang Xiu figured Lin Ziyang's power was probably like a second-tier psychic or at least close to it, perhaps even a powerful first-tier psychic.

The latter felt more likely; he couldn't see a second-tier psychic being taken down in one hit.

After a quick look, he set the bronze candlestick aside and picked up Lin Ziyang's phone.

Surprisingly, there was no password.

There were two possible explanations: either Lin Ziyang was confident in his power, or his Spiritual Energy went haywire sometimes, and he was scared he'd forget the password.

Either way, it didn't matter to Fang Xiu. No password just made his work a little easier.

He started browsing through the phone's apps and messages.

Five minutes later, he found what he was looking for.

Lin Ziyang was part of an organization called the Bright Club.

Not a lot was known about the Bright Club, but it looked like an organization made up of civilian psychics.

"People converted by Specter powers but calling themselves 'Bright'?" Fang Xiu mused.

Apart from this, Fang Xiu also found numerous videos on Lin Ziyang's phone, most of which showed gruesome images of him torturing others.

There were also notes about buying spiritual incense on the black market.

That was probably why Lin Ziyang didn't have many spiritual coins left; he likely spent them on incense.

It seemed the incense couldn't completely control the wild Spiritual Energy; it could only provide some relief.

Fang Xiu then destroyed the phone so no one could trace him.

After that, he grabbed a bedsheet and wrapped Lin Ziyang in it. Then, he threw him over his shoulder and walked out.

Using the cover of darkness and the run-down parts of the old town, Fang Xiu easily found Lin Ziyang's car. He tossed Lin Ziyang into the car and headed straight for the warehouse.

He got the address of this warehouse from Lin Ziyang's phone, too.

How did he know? Easy. Lin Ziyang had recorded a video of himself killing a delivery guy after having food sent there.

Now, Fang Xiu understood why people say psychics with wild Spiritual Energy could sometimes be scarier than Specters themselves.

…

A while later, Lin Ziyang started to wake up. He was still unsure what had happened, but then, he immediately felt a searing pain in his left eye.

"Argh!" He couldn't help but scream in agony.

With his one good eye, he quickly scanned his surroundings.

The more he looked, the more it seemed familiar, for this was his warehouse.

'Hold on! Why am I tied up?'

Lin Ziyang was shocked to see he was tied to a metal chair in the center of the warehouse.

Not far away, a young guy was messing with a meat grinder.

"You're awake, finally. Took you long enough," the young man said calmly, his back turned to Lin Ziyang.

The meat grinder started up, its blades whirling fast, producing a grating noise.

"Who are you? Who in the world are you?" Lin Ziyang yelled, his eyes glued to the meat grinder, realizing something bad was about to happen.

"Oh? You come knocking at my door in the middle of the night, and you don't know who I am?"

Lin Ziyang widened his eyes. "You're Fang Xiu!"

The memory came rushing back to him. He had been peering through the peephole, preparing to ambush Fang Xiu only for a knife to pierce his eye. Now, he found himself in this predicament.

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