Peerless Bodyguard of a Stunning Beauty

Miss Lili sighed. ”It seems we’ve really fallen into the assistant’s trap today... Oh, well. I might as well keep my promise, take off my clothes, and dance the rumba for him.”

Furious, Yu Lan shoved Zhao Rong. ”Zhao Rong, how could you let us down at such a crucial moment? Did you really just grab some pathetic old man to pass off as the ghost you caught?”

Xuelian, also taking off her clothes, said to the assistant, ”You’re ruthless and lucky, Assistant. You won this time. The three of us admit defeat.”

Before they could finish, Zhao Rong interrupted in surprise, ”Ladies, you haven’t lost! This old man I caught is the one who was pretending to be a ghost. If you don’t believe me, ask him!”

With that, Zhao Rong had the old man recount every one of his sordid deeds to the assistant and the three women. When they heard the full story of how he faked the haunting, they were all stunned.

Lili said in disbelief, ”So, this haunted lodge isn’t actually haunted. The ’haunting’ was just someone pretending to be a ghost the whole time...”

Yu Lan shot a triumphant look at the assistant. ”Don’t celebrate too soon, Assistant. He who laughs last, laughs best. You lost. What are you going to do about it?” Then, she threw her dirty underwear at his feet. ”A bet’s a bet. Eat it.”

Xuelian also tossed her bra, which she hadn’t washed in a year, onto the ground. Pointing at the assistant’s nose, she said, ”Since you lost the bet, you have to honor your promise.”

At the same time, Lili stuffed her stinky socks into the assistant’s mouth. ”What are you waiting for? Fulfill your end of the bargain!”

The assistant knew he had lost. Seeing no way out, he steeled himself and began to eat the filthy items the three women had thrown at his feet.

Just then, a police siren wailed outside. The police entered the hotel and took away the old man who had been faking the haunting.

Once the hotel owner understood the truth, he rushed forward and thanked Zhao Rong excitedly. ”Young hero, this lodge has been ’haunted’ for nearly seven or eight years, but no one could ever figure out why. You finally solved the mystery today! I really don’t know how to thank you...”

Hearing that the owner didn’t know how to thank Zhao Rong, the assistant stepped forward, struck by a flash of inspiration. ”Well, if you want to thank Brother Zhao Rong, then why not give us some vouchers for your hotel’s massage and bathing center?”

The owner replied awkwardly, ”Our lodge is just a small place. We don’t have a bathing center... or any other ’services,’ if you catch my drift.” After a moment, the owner pulled several tickets from his pocket and handed them to Zhao Rong and the assistant. ”I know the kind of place you’re looking for. Take these. I guarantee you’ll enjoy some excellent service there.”

Zhao Rong and the assistant were taken aback. Looking at the tickets, which were decorated with pictures of many beautiful women, they asked in surprise, ”What are these for?”

The owner smiled mysteriously. ”They’re tickets to the Phoenix Dance Hall, the most famous dance hall on Deadly Island. You can go inside and have some fun.”

Hearing ”Deadly Island” and ”Phoenix Dance Hall” piqued Zhao Rong’s interest. ”Does that mean we’re close to Deadly Island?”

The owner stood at the doorway and pointed north. ”Deadly Island sounds like an island, but it’s actually a very mysterious village nearby. And in that village, there’s an extremely popular place called the Phoenix Dance Hall.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Rong pulled the Little Dwarf over and asked him, ”Little Dwarf, are the people we’re looking for—your bosses, Hong Ju and Zhou Xiaoer—hiding in this Deadly Island Village?”

The dwarf nodded. ”Brother Zhao Rong, you’re right. Our bosses, Hong Ju and Zhou Xiaoer, are hiding in a place called the Phoenix Dance Hall right near Deadly Island.”

Zhao Rong glanced at the Phoenix Dance Hall tickets in his and the assistant’s hands. They couldn’t help but feel their luck had turned. ”What a stroke of luck! It looks like our next step is to get to Deadly Island, enter the Phoenix Dance Hall, and find Hong Ju and Zhou Xiaoer.”

And so, Zhao Rong and his group, led by the Little Dwarf, set off toward the nearby Deadly Island Village.

After walking about ten kilometers, they arrived at the legendary village. To their surprise, however, it was just a very ordinary-looking urban village.

Zhao Rong looked at the village, recalling the dwarf’s claim that his bosses were hiding in a dance hall here. He asked doubtfully, ”Little Dwarf, you’re not trying to pull a fast one on us, are you? I’m warning you, if this is a trick, I’ll kill you right now.”

The dwarf raised his hands over his head and swore, ”Big Bro, I swear on my life! Our bosses, Hong Ju and Zhou Xiaoer, are hiding in the Phoenix Dance Hall right here in this village. If I’ve told a single lie, you can kill me.”

Since the dwarf didn’t seem to be lying, Zhao Rong had him lead the way into the urban village.

However, once inside, Zhao Rong felt that something was very eerie. Although there were many vendors lining the streets and laborers walking about, they were all expressionless and disturbingly pale. What shocked Zhao Rong the most was that their lips were all a vibrant red, as if they had just devoured a corpse—a deeply unsettling sight.

Just then, Lili got a craving for sugar-roasted chestnuts from a street cart. She walked up to the vendor and said politely, ”Sir, I’d like a pound of sugar-roasted chestnuts, please.”

But as soon as she finished speaking, she was horrified to discover that the ”vendor” was not a real person but a puppet made of flesh.

Nearby, Yu Lan noticed that a laborer who passed her had no body heat and showed no signs of life whatsoever.

At the same time, Xuelian saw an old man up ahead pushing a bicycle and selling candied haws. His face was ashen, and his body was covered in festering sores, making him look like a corpse that had been dead for many years.