Gacha games can't save this bizarre world.

Zhao Hao learned from his inquiry that Xu Dong was the young master of Xu's Silk Shop in town. He was also seventeen years old this year. He was irresponsible and did not do anything serious. He often bullied his peers and even flirted with young women and wives.

However, his father was very wealthy in the town. The town's fabrics and grains were basically all bought from his family, which was practically a monopoly on food and clothing! His status was second only to the town mayor, and his wealth and influence were probably even greater.

So everyone had no choice but to swallow their anger.

Li Tie was a stubborn guy and didn't get along with this guy, so he was often chased and ambushed by Xu Dong and his men.

According to Li Tie, Xu Dong had said several times that offending him would have dire consequences, and that his father could kill whoever he wanted!

What's even stranger is that Li Tie took this to heart and asked some of the older folks. He learned that several merchants who had a grudge against Xu's family had indeed been killed by the water demon. This is how the Xu family came to dominate the entire town's food and clothing industry.

"If that's the case, it does seem a bit suspicious. There are people in the town colluding with the water demon, and it's not just one or two. In this situation, these wealthy families are indeed suspects! Let's go take a look!"

……

Xu Dong was short, with a small nose and eyes like a potato, but clothes make the man. When he wore fine silk clothes and waved a fan, he looked quite presentable.

Zhao Hao observed from the shadows and then realized that this grandson was the same person who had cursed him that day, saying that he would attract water demons to retaliate and harm the people.

As agreed, Li Tie took the initiative to appear and made sarcastic remarks about Xu Dong.

Xu Dong was being unreasonable and still looking for trouble, so he couldn't let it go today. He immediately called a few of his henchmen to beat up Li Tie.

Li Tie is quite experienced in street fighting, but even the strongest can't fight off multiple opponents! He would have turned and run away the day before, but today he refused to run away.

Just as the group was about to beat Li Tie up, Zhao Hao "coincidentally" walked over and shouted, "What are you doing? Are you bullying me? What kind of hero gangs outnumber the few?"

Zhao Hao immediately knocked down the four lackeys and then kicked Xu Dong, who was watching the show and trying to run away, to the ground.

"You little brat, you were having a good time watching from the sidelines, huh? What kind of person are you, bullying others like this? If you're not happy, come and fight me. Your father didn't raise you well, so I'll teach you a lesson!"

Zhao Hao didn't use much force, but he still gave the five of them a good beating.

Naturally, they would end up with bruised and swollen faces, begging for mercy and shouting things like, "Good sir, spare my life! I'll never do it again!"

In the end, Zhao Hao walked away arrogantly, without saying a word to Li Tie the entire time, while Li Tie also took advantage of the chaos to escape. It was as if the two didn't know each other, and that Zhao Hao was simply a demon-slaying hero who couldn't stand seeing a group bullying the weak and had acted out of righteous indignation.

A large crowd of onlookers secretly cheered and pointed at Xu Dong.

Xu Dong, clutching his swollen, bruised eyes, got up and roared at the onlookers, "What are you looking at? Anyone who dares to laugh again? I'll have my dad kill that bastard... Waaah~~~" He cried so hard, he had never suffered such humiliation in his life.

Once out of sight of everyone, Zhao Hao's expression turned serious.

It seems there might be something wrong with Xu's shop.

Of those four lackeys, three have started to mutate. One of them is mutated quite severely; its fins are almost growing up to its forehead, and it's secreting mucus on its face.

That's an incredibly high percentage!

"We have to go and check out the Xu family!"

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Chapter 72 The Judge's Deadly Move

Xu Jinjiang is forty years old this year and is a well-known wealthy man in Linshui Town.

At this moment, he sat imposingly on the grand chair in his main hall, his face full of anger.

"You good-for-nothing, how did you end up like this?" He was bald, tall and strong, with a fierce and menacing appearance.

His son, Xu Dong, covered his eyes and wailed, "Dad, you have to stand up for me!"

Xu Jinjiang felt inexplicably irritable, and the pupil of one eye kept changing, making uncontrollable gurgling noises.

"I told you not to mess with that guy, why didn't you listen?"

Xu Dong cried miserably, "It wasn't me who provoked him! He saw me dealing with Li Tie, and without saying a word, he gave my son a good beating. Look at my eyes! They hurt so much!"

Xu Jinjiang's agitation grew increasingly intense, to the point where he was almost losing control. "Alright! Stop wailing here! Get out of here, I'll handle it myself!"

Xu Dong had no choice but to retreat.

After a long while, Xu Jinjiang finally calmed down. He covered his forehead and muttered to himself, "Why is this Immortal Transformation Technique so unbearable? I've already found so many scapegoats, isn't that enough? No! Tonight I'll throw even more dragon scales into the well!"

As night deepened, he got up and returned to his bedroom. He didn't notice a paper mouse lurking under the table in the corner, secretly watching him.

Zhao Hao, who was hiding on the roof, opened his eyes and separated his consciousness from the paper mouse.

He had already heard Xu Jinjiang's impatient mutterings.

He seems to know what's going on!

If I'm not mistaken, the reason some villagers in Linshui Town have started to mutate and become demonic is because this bald man has been secretly throwing so-called "dragon scales" into the well water!

In this way, he would make those mutated villagers his scapegoats so that he could complete some kind of immortal transformation technique!

"I've finally found you! Forget about becoming an immortal, I'll send you to the Western Paradise tonight!"

Zhao Hao was filled with murderous intent and wanted to kill Xu Jinjiang.

However, many questions remain unanswered, such as the origins of those water demons, how he obtained the Immortal Transformation Technique, and what about that dragon scale... Also, how to wipe out the remaining water demons in one fell swoop!

Zhao Hao now roughly understood that if he wanted to leave this eerie realm, he would likely have to completely unravel the mystery of the water demon and eliminate it entirely. Otherwise, if Linshui Town were destroyed, he would probably perish along with it!

Damn it, this is truly getting on a pirate ship!

In the end, Zhao Hao did not choose to kill Xu Jinjiang outright, but instead thought about how to extract some information from him.

Zhao Hao studied all his cards and finally saw the skin card [Deadly Judge]!

……

In the dead of night, dark clouds obscured the moon.

The window to Xu Jinjiang's bedroom had opened silently at some point, and a night breeze blew in. Xu Jinjiang, who was in the middle of a dream, suddenly felt a little cold.

He woke up with a start, clutching his arms and trembling a few times.

Wait a minute, why is there wind?

He suddenly sat up and saw a strange man standing in the middle of the room. He was dressed in a purple robe with a blood-dripping demon head embroidered on the chest, wearing a black gauze hat with wings, and black, upturned cloud-stepping shoes. In his left hand was a bronze mirror, in his right hand a writing brush, his eyes were like bronze bells, his beard was spiky, his face was dark and fierce, and a cold wind blew behind him!

"Ah! Judge?!"

Foreigners wouldn't recognize this, but most Song people would, especially since the background of this eerie realm is similar to the turbulent years of the Republic of China, a time of superstition.

Xu Jinjiang recognized him at a glance as a judge from the underworld!

Upon seeing who it was, Xu Jinjiang scrambled off the bed, knelt on the ground trembling, and broke out in a cold sweat!

Zhao Hao thought to himself with pride: Luckily you recognized me, otherwise I really wouldn't know how to explain it to you.

Zhao Hao said, "Xu Jinjiang, a native of Linshui Town, has exhausted his lifespan of 40 years. Now come with me to the underworld!"

This skin card not only drastically changed Zhao Hao's appearance, but also made his voice gloomy and terrifying.

Upon hearing this, Xu Jinjiang trembled like a leaf.

"Judge, Your Honor, I... I don't want to die!"

"You scoundrel! Who wants to die? Your lifespan has come to an end, so you should head to the underworld to be judged for your good and evil deeds in this life. I ask you, have you done anything evil?"

"I'm a villain, I didn't do anything wrong..." Xu Jinjiang said, his voice lacking confidence.

Zhao Hao pretended to look at the booklet in his hand and asked, "Then why does the Book of Life and Death record that you colluded with demons to transform humans into demons?"

"Ah?! No, no, no, it wasn't me! It was Huanglong! That's right, Huanglong made me do it! Please, Your Honor, have mercy!" Xu Jinjiang kowtowed repeatedly.

"Oh, Huanglong? So someone instigated you, and you weren't the mastermind. That certainly shouldn't be such a harsh sentence. Tell me, where is Huanglong?"

"Huanglong is in Wolonggou, east of the town..."

At this point, Xu Jinjiang suddenly realized that he had spoken without thinking and revealed a secret that should not be told!

He suddenly calmed down and began to ponder: Wait a minute! I've already begun my ascension to immortality, how could my lifespan still not be over? Shouldn't I live as long as heaven and earth? Besides, even if someone is coming to collect souls, shouldn't it be the Black and White Impermanence?

Zhao Hao quickly pressed for details: "Be more specific, where exactly in Wolonggou?"

Xu Jinjiang suddenly looked up at the judge Zhao Hao had transformed into and shouted, "What exactly are you?"

Xu Jinjiang was a tall, imposing man with a powerful voice; his roar could be heard in the two courtyards in front of him. Immediately, a commotion arose—the Xu family's servants and guards had been alerted!

"grass!"

Just when they were about to succeed, their plan was exposed by the other party. Even Zhao Hao was furious.

Xu Jinjiang was even more furious, shouting, "What kind of ghost dares to deceive your Grandpa Xu? You'd better die!"

As he spoke, he jumped up, and scales began to appear on his face. His pupils began to change into golden vertical pupils, and his face began to transform into a beast-like face, somewhat resembling a bull's face.

But then Zhao Hao shouted, "Xu Jinjiang, look what this is!"

Xu Jinjiang involuntarily looked at the bronze mirror in Zhao Hao's hand, and immediately recalled all the evil deeds he had committed, from harassing women to forcibly taking concubines, from setting up traps to plundering, to murder and robbery, and later joining forces with Huanglong to create water demons to use in his immortal transformation technique...

In that brief moment of hesitation, Zhao Hao had already drawn his Dragon-Slaying Crescent Blade. With a "whoosh," a cold light flashed, and Xu Jinjiang felt a chill on his neck before realizing that his head was already in Zhao Hao's hand.

Zhao Hao cursed, "Damn it, do you think I'm some kind of idiot from a movie who only fights after you transform!"

Without touching the ground, she turned and floated towards the door, only to bump into someone as soon as she stepped outside.

The man saw a fierce and sinister judge approaching from afar, carrying a human head, and cried out "Oh my god!" and fell to the ground.

It turned out to be Xu Dong.

"Ah~~~" He let out a sharp scream like a pig being slaughtered.

Zhao Hao found it grating and casually drew a line across his face with the judge's pen in his hand.

Xu Dong was so shocked that he fainted.

When the guards and servants arrived at the back of the house, all that remained on the ground was Xu Dong, with a straight black mark on his face, and a headless corpse in Xu Jinjiang's bedroom.

The next morning, news spread throughout Linshui Town that Xu Jinjiang had committed countless evil deeds and had been killed by the judge of the underworld! Even Xu Dong had offended the judge and had a mark of ink drawn on his face by the judge's pen, which he could not wash off no matter how hard he tried.

Zhao Hao, the instigator, ignored all that and directly asked Li Tie to give directions, heading towards Wolonggou.

Zhao Hao discovered that although Xu Jinjiang was clearly dead, the number of mutated and demonized people had actually increased after that night!

It seems that killing Xu Jinjiang alone is insignificant; we still need to find that so-called Huanglong.

The race against time is not yet won!

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Chapter 73 Strange Snake

"I heard from the old folks in town that Wolonggou wasn't originally called Wolonggou; it was renamed more than twenty years ago. It used to be called something like Loach Gully..."