The good news was that whoever had attacked her was only in possession of an unusual technique, not any great strength in himself—at most he could lace some nasty underhanded tricks into ordinary moves. Had he been a true master like that ghost thing, with a primordial spirit so powerful it defied measure, he could have crushed her spirit outright, and she would not be standing here alive.

Even so, Leng Leng's situation was now a nasty knot to untangle. In her condition there were only two roads to recovery: either some expert in the primordial spirit would draw out the root of her injury, or she would have to rely on her own willpower and persistence to force the physical wounds down completely in a short time, leaving no loose ends, and then simply wait for her primordial spirit to heal itself over the long haul.

Leng Leng had no idea that a master of the primordial spirit was right there at her side. To her, the first road was pure fantasy, so she had no choice but to take the foolish second one.

But the odds of that succeeding were hardly good. Even with two top-grade spirit jades in her possession to keep her from worrying about a lack of spiritual energy for the moment, to suddenly force all her physical injuries down with no loose ends was no ordinary feat. If it were easy, she would not have suffered these two relapses already.

"There's no other choice. This is the only way." Leng Leng drew a deep breath and immediately set about healing herself once more. Worry and unease still gnawed at her, but this was the only option left to her.

In truth, had she been able to come into closer contact with Wei Zhao today, he would likely have been able to probe her injuries with ease—and just as easily cure them. Unfortunately, the only real physical contact between them had been holding hands, and even that had lasted only a brief moment. Even Wei Zhao could not have grasped the root of her injury all at once. Fate, it seemed, did so love to toy with people.

The next morning, Wei Zhao brought Leng Leng her breakfast as usual. But before he could knock, a whole crowd came clattering up the stairs. They were all shiftless little thugs, and one look was enough to tell they had not come in peace.

Yet the man leading this pack of thugs was none other than the landlord, Boss Huang!

Wei Zhao of course knew no Boss Huang. He had signed the contract through an agent and had never once laid eyes on the landlord. Boss Huang, for his part, did not know Wei Zhao either, so he did not give the man carrying breakfast so much as a second glance. He led his men straight to a door and pounded on it—and that door was Wei Zhao's.

"Looking for someone?" Wei Zhao eyed the crowd with some surprise.

"Mind your own business, kid. If you've got nothing to do here, get lost—we're here to collect a debt!" one of the thugs said in an unfriendly tone.

"Collect a debt?" Wei Zhao blinked.

"That's right. This family owes me several million. A debt must be repaid—that's only natural." Boss Huang spoke up. Landlord though he himself was, he could still insist with a straight face that the tenant owed him millions, wearing the whole aggrieved look of a man deeply wronged. As an actor, he was a match for those two swindlers from before.

He had no choice. Two teams of fake ghosts had been sent, and not a word had come back from either. He simply could not wait any longer. The suite where Wei Zhao lived and the one where Leng Leng lived were both his properties, and he was counting on those two suites to make him a fortune. How could he allow them to be occupied so comfortably and steadily?

Normally, scaring off one would naturally send the one across the hall running too. But twice now Wei Zhao had refused to be scared away. A full half month had passed without the slightest stir, and he could not help but grow frantic. Could it be that this newcomer truly did not fear ghosts?

Since playing ghost had failed, he would have to rely on the living. Boss Huang coming in person was a last resort—it meant taking risks and paying a high price, for he had to spend no small sum to summon this pack of thugs. But to frighten Wei Zhao and Leng Leng away and keep the money rolling in, he could only stake everything.

"Sorry. Then you've come to the wrong place. This house has already been rented to me. The landlord isn't here at all, and I've never even met him," Wei Zhao said mildly.

"What? Rented to you?" Boss Huang looked Wei Zhao up and down, thinking to himself that this young man looked utterly ordinary—so why couldn't he be scared off?

"That's right. So please don't block my door. You gentlemen may go," Wei Zhao said with a curl of his lip.

"Don't play dumb with me. I've come all this way, and the debt has to be collected. Since that thing isn't here, I'll just have to grit my teeth and collect from you instead. You're his tenant, after all—he can settle up with you later." Boss Huang gave a cold, sneering laugh.

"Oh? That's the first I've heard of collecting a debt that way. But judging by your reaction, you didn't come here for me from the very start, did you?" Wei Zhao said with a half-smile. However fine Boss Huang's acting, it was no match for Wei Zhao's sharp eye. If he couldn't see through a situation like this, he wouldn't be Wei Zhao.

"What did you say?" Boss Huang started in fright, then hastily covered it up: "Do I even know who you are? Who'd be bored enough to go after some stranger for no reason? Enough talk—you just don't want to pay up, is that it? Boys, give him a beating! A good thrashing and he'll come around!"

"No problem—when it's done, Boss Huang, you'd better reward us boys handsomely." The thugs' faces lit up at once. They had agreed on this before coming: originally they were only here to put on a show for Boss Huang and frighten the man, but the moment fists actually flew, the price would double.

"You have my word!" Boss Huang said through gritted teeth. He certainly did not want to spend the money, but no acting was flawless, and if the young man saw through his scheme, that would be trouble. His whole fake-ghost racket ran purely on bluffing people out of their wits; once exposed, it would be worth not a cent, and he would never earn a penny from it again.

And now Wei Zhao had actually grown suspicious. That left him no choice but to cut the knot quickly. As long as he could scare the man off, the money would be earned back in the blink of an eye.

The thugs immediately surrounded Wei Zhao. Beating people was routine for a pack like them, and a whole gang bullying one man—a stranger with no local connections at all—carried no risk whatsoever. This money was practically a gift.

By now Leng Leng next door had reached her doorway, and through the peephole she took in the whole scene. She was just about to step out and help Wei Zhao out of his fix—after all, Wei Zhao was only an "ordinary man," and one against so many was bound to end badly for him.

But what she had not expected was that Wei Zhao faced the whole crowd without the slightest fear. A trace of mockery even hung at the corner of his mouth as he looked at Boss Huang and said, "Looks like I hit the mark." (To be continued.)