Chapter 043: The Mind Beneath the Black Hat Is Not Like Ours

Without any warning, Tong Ruan suddenly collapsed to the side—she had clearly fainted.

I glanced at her, then at the man in the black hat.

With a thumbs up, I said to him, “Nice move. How did you do it? Mind teaching me?”

Grandfather had always told me that in the face of any danger, no matter how anxious I might be inside, I must never betray the slightest hint of panic. One must learn to control one’s emotions and expression; only then can you remain a riddle to your enemy. A person who cannot be read will always make others wary.

Of course, it would be a miracle if the man in the black hat actually wanted to teach me anything.

He ignored me. I wasn’t bothered, and bent down to rummage through my backpack. This action, however, seemed to seal my fate in his eyes. His tone turned lethal: “Young man, I gave you a chance. You didn’t cherish it, so don’t blame me for what happens next.”

I paid no heed to his threats. After searching for a while, I pulled out a bag of creamy watermelon seeds from my pack.

Tilting my head, I looked at him as I tore open the bag. I tossed two seeds into my mouth and nibbled on them with relish.

“Peh…” I spat out the shells and waved dismissively at him. “Look, you’re not letting me go anyway. Before you do whatever you’re about to do, could you clear something up for me? What exactly did Tong Ye do to you? What does he owe you?”

This time, he didn’t reply. Instead, his sharp, triangular eyes fixed on me, cold and venomous. Under his gaze, I felt as though a poisonous snake was watching me, ready to strike at my slightest misstep.

Suddenly, he burst into laughter. “You must be the grandson of Liu Aihong, that meddling woman, aren’t you?”

My brows furrowed, and I replied with displeasure, “You sure have a way with words. What’s with the ‘meddling woman’ bit?”

Still, I admitted, “That’s right. I am.”

He snorted and slowly walked over to the unconscious Tong Ruan. After a glance at her, he removed his hat.

The moment I saw the entirety of his head, my first instinct was to retch. Aside from his face, his entire scalp was horribly burned, both ears fused into a twisted mass. Not a single hair remained. Some kind of white, translucent ointment coated his scalp, and within it, a small white worm squirmed.

“See this? This is all thanks to Tong Ye.”

He pointed at his head and spoke each word with deliberate emphasis. “If it weren’t for the shoddy bricks from Tong Ye’s factory, my house wouldn’t have collapsed, there wouldn’t have been a fire, and I wouldn’t look like this—neither man nor ghost. My wife and child wouldn’t have burned to death, either!”

His voice grew louder with every sentence, his rage evident not just in his words but his entire demeanor. He even pressed his foot down on Tong Ruan’s back. “I trusted Tong Ye, supported his business, bought bricks from him to build my house, and he killed my entire family!”

He looked up at the ceiling, eyes closed, teeth clenched. “I hate him! I hate him so much! I will make sure his entire family dies—every last one! Not a single one left!”

Tong Ye’s factory, cutting corners on bricks? I shook my head. According to his story, there was a fire, a death, and he himself was severely burned. Such a grave incident would have been investigated by the police. If Tong Ye had truly been at fault, he would have been in prison long ago, not living a peaceful life, married with children—certainly not around for this man to seek revenge.

The man in the black hat was trembling all over. After a deep breath, he pulled his hat back on and turned to me, his eyes full of venom. “After today, my wife and child will finally be avenged!”

With that, he removed his foot from Tong Ruan and began to approach me.

“At first, I thought I might spare you since you’re young, but you just had to push your luck. Don’t blame me for what happens next.”

Hearing this, I managed an awkward smile. “So am I supposed to just stand here and let you do it?”

He was almost upon me when suddenly, his phone alarm went off. He glanced at it and muttered to himself, “Time’s up.”

With those words, he raised his hand. Instantly, Tong Ruan, who had been lying motionless, sprang up and knelt at the exact spot her father once had.

I understood—this was the appointed time to send Tong Ruan to her end.

Tong Ruan knelt there, eyes shut, her hands obediently behind her back—she didn’t even need to be tied up.

The man in the black hat paid no attention to me, moving straight to stand behind her. From his waistband, he drew a broad, gleaming machete.

I didn’t need to guess what he intended.

He might be ignoring me, but I couldn't ignore him.

“Stop!” I shouted, grabbing a brick from the ground and charging at him.

He must have anticipated my move, for just as I neared his side, he spun around and swung the blade at me!

My eyes widened. In the middle of my sprint, I forced my body to swerve, narrowly dodging the blow, though I crashed to the ground in the process.

But the man wasn’t finished; he came at me, hacking furiously.

I rolled away with all the wild desperation of a donkey, ending up behind him. I kicked hard at the back of his knee.

Ordinary people would have collapsed from a sudden kick like that, but he didn’t even falter. Without turning, he swept the machete behind him.

If I hadn’t reacted quickly, that blade would have crippled me for life.

“Damn you!” I shouted, seizing the brick I’d dropped and hurling it at the back of his head. Whether or not it hit, at least it bought me a moment to get up.

What I didn’t expect was that he simply stood there, making no effort to dodge. The brick shattered against his skull, as if his head was harder than the brick itself, and he seemed entirely unfazed.

“So you want to play? Then play with my precious!” he shouted, not bothering to face me. He simply removed his hat again.

The moment he did, a huge white worm shot out from his scalp.

I dodged in time, and the worm struck the wall behind me, leaving a gaping hole. A strange liquid oozed from the crack, hissing and smoking wherever it touched—clearly highly toxic.

The white worm quickly retreated back to his head, seeming to nestle within that layer of translucent ointment. Only its head protruded, rising like a cobra, its body still buried in the strange substance.

Brushing dust from my clothes, I narrowed my eyes and spoke to him in a mocking tone. “I never thought you’d stoop to using such a lowly thing as a corpse parasite. I overestimated you.”