68: Chapter 65: The Second Resentful Spirit (Seeking Subscriptions for Launch) 68: Chapter 65: The Second Resentful Spirit (Seeking Subscriptions for Launch) “Humans are truly terrifying.”
Wayne stroked the skull head, remembering how he had once faced the threat of a concrete barrel, and couldn’t help but comment.
“Indeed, humans are too scary,” Yuliya nodded in agreement.
Ah Bin voiced his grievance, recalling his sad past as the soul flame in his eyes flickered hazily.
“Stop getting sentimental, both of you.
As for being scary, you both just scared someone to the point of wetting themselves.”
With a grand gesture, he turned the boiling river water into a large tentacle, which enveloped a gasoline barrel and hurled it onto the riverbank ten meters away.
With a loud bang, the gasoline barrel deformed and chunks of concrete fell off, releasing a putrid stench.
Those familiar with throwing people into concrete barrels to sink in the river knew that if concrete and sand weren’t mixed in a ratio of one to three or four, but instead poured directly, the hardened concrete would be very fragile, easily cracked and deformed by gases emitted from within the corpse.
Of course, even with sand, the effect was average at best; it would still crack unless the corpse…
Ahem, back to the story, Wayne propped up the Undead Warhorse and led it to the riverbank.
Under his nod of approval, Ah Bin stirred up the fog and brutally cracked open the barrel, shattering all the concrete on the corpse.
The body wore a beige trench coat, curled up in a fetal position, hands cuffed behind the back with silver bracelets, feet bound, and was severely decomposed.
Ah Bin’s rough actions tore away large chunks of flesh, making it impossible to identify the corpse.
But the uniform beneath the trench coat, the rank insignia of a senior inspector, and the police badge that fell to the ground had already proven his profession.
The fog lifted the badge, presenting it to Wayne, who took it, brushed the grime off, and confirmed it was a Lundan police badge; the deceased was from the Lundan Police Department.
“He was a cop with a story…”
Wayne’s first thought was an inside job; the senior inspector had used his authority to open doors to criminal groups, who could have sought revenge after being asked to pay more or failing to have their requests fulfilled.
“No, when did my thoughts start to get so dark?”
Wayne muttered, the Shadowmare was too sinister, eroding a person’s mind imperceptibly, to the point where even someone as sunny as him couldn’t resist.
Surely, that had to be it.
He switched perspectives, considering the policeman a good cop who had investigated a powerful person against colleagues’ advice.
During the investigation, the cop had collected plenty of evidence and refused the powerful person’s monetary contributions, angering them to the point of putting him in a concrete barrel and throwing him into the river.
“A powerful person?!”
Wayne snorted, thinking of the one who had forced him out of Lundan.
If he remembered correctly, that person’s threat was to put someone in a concrete barrel and dump them in the river.
What goes around comes around; don’t mess with the young, even if they’re poor!
That powerful person never would’ve expected that the ant he could swat away three months ago had now stood up!
“Three months… Do you know how I survived these three months?”
“The butler took good care of me!”
“I had food, drinks, and even picked up a long-legged teacher!”
Anger surged within Wayne, and black smoke billowed from the skull as two white flames danced violently in the distorted fog in the distance.
Sensing their master’s rage, the Undead Warhorse spat purple flames, and the Evil Spirit Dog howled at the sky.
There’s a saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so without pondering any further, Wayne gladly inscribed his name in The Book of Greed, sealing the pact with his second Resentful Spirit.
“[You, a humble petitioner, a wrongful dead filled with resentment, I have heard your wail…
Under the witness of this sacred covenant, all that you possess becomes mine.
You may retain your past but will forfeit your future…
You have the chance to be reborn; you will become the Resentful Spirit, to wield the sword of slaughter for your master, for your god, for me.]”
Wayne didn’t avoid Yuliya and summoned his second Resentful Spirit before her.
To be fair, there was no binding master-servant contract between Yuliya and him, unlike with Ah Bin.
Yuliya was a second-hand ‘horse,’ whose previous master might reappear anytime—strictly speaking, not one of ‘his people.’
Nevertheless, Wayne trusted her, looking beyond appearances to her essence.
Beneath Yuliya’s form, which contradicted Wayne’s justice and aesthetics, lay a pure heart, kinder than 99% of humanity, at least kinder than Wayne himself.
Yuliya pledged her loyalty, proclaiming Wayne her master, and in return, he extended his trust to her.
A trust that wasn’t absolute was not trust at all, so he didn’t hesitate to bind the Resentful Spirit before her.
Yuliya was unaware of this, but when she met Ah Bin, she learned of his powerful master—powerful enough to create Magical Beings and potentially draw out Shadowmares.
Thus, seeing the corpse in the beige trench coat ‘come to life’ wasn’t surprising to Yuliya.
The body clad in the beige trench coat slowly rose, the river water dripping from the hem, staring blankly at the Undead Warhorse, the Evil Spirit Dog, and their master who had granted him new life.
At that moment, the image of the second Resentful Spirit appeared in the pages of The Book of Greed.
The man in the beige coat, clad in a police uniform and boots, had gray-white eyes and moist, pale skin, always with a puddle underfoot.
Wayne, looking down from above, opened the skull’s jaw, his voice heavy, “Lift your head, look into my eyes.”
The man’s eyes met the white orbs instinctively, and a series of memories from his death flooded his mind, recalling his name.
Philip reminisced about the past, and images flashed before Wayne.