Chapter 467: Original text: Chapter 467 Dilemma Revised: Chapter 467 Dilemma
This Lin Wan, Journalist Lin, is unfamiliar with Stone Town. What power does she have to control me?
The people in the town fear the evil spirit so much that they view me as a god, as a savior. Why would I be afraid of her?
Just when Master Sande was starting to relax, he faintly heard Bai Jie asking Lin Wan, "Journalist Lin, what are you doing in Stone Town?"
Naive Lin Wan, upon hearing Bai Jie’s question, her anger reignited, and she said furiously, "I heard there’s a haunting in the town. I came to investigate, but I ended up meeting Sande, this habitual fraudster!"
"Huh? Why bring me up again? Big sister, are you trying to cause trouble?" Sande thought indignantly.
Zhang Dadan glanced at Sande, saw his body slightly trembling in panic, and then laughed, "Lin Wan, don’t accuse people falsely. Master Sande is a powerful Great Mage!"
Master Sande was stunned. What’s happening? Wasn’t Boss Zhang just picking on me? Why is he speaking up for me now?
But this works well. Lin Wan seems to trust only Zhang Dadan. As long as Zhang Dadan believes in me, whatever she says will be unnecessary; no one will support her!
Seeing Lin Wan, isolated and alone, Master Sande finally breathed a sigh of relief, raised his glass, and drank with his two companions.
Then Zhang Dadan quietly said, "Journalist Lin, don’t interfere in this matter for now. We still need Master Sande."
Lin Wan, simple-hearted and hating evil, believes good is good and evil is evil. How can an evil person be useful?
"What are you doing? Colluding with him? I didn’t expect you to be that type of person!" Lin Wan said with a frown.
Zhou Yong noticed Zhang Dadan carrying an iron pot on his back and interrupted, "We’ve long known that Master Sande is a fraud."
"It’s just that the townspeople are panicked right now, so we want to calm them down. Don’t overthink it, we are good people!"
Lin Wan and her team arrived in Stone Town yesterday and understood the townspeople’s fears. Hearing Zhang Dadan’s reasoning, they fell silent.
"Is the town really haunted? I think maybe Master Sande is just making a show and then pretending to exorcise ghosts to deceive people!" Lin Wan speculated.
Zhang Dadan knew that mere words were insufficient to convince anyone about such mysterious matters, so he said, "Whether there are ghosts or not, you’ll know tonight if you go."
Though Lin Wan didn’t believe in ghosts, seeing him so serious, she couldn’t help but feel conflicted.
Should she wait and let things unfold for now? But even if she exposes Master Sande now, no one will believe her!
After much hesitation, Lin Wan finally decided to compromise, "Alright! I won’t expose him for now!"
"But tonight, when he goes to catch ghosts, you all must come with me. I want to record his fraudulent acts!"
Upon hearing he was supposed to go to the haunted place that night, Zhou Yong panicked and declined, "I... I’m not going. You have Zhang Dadan accompany you!"
"Is it necessary? Didn’t you brag this morning, saying those ghosts are nothing to fear? Why are you chickening out now?" Zhang Dadan teased.
Zhou Yong grimaced, "Is it a crime to be scared? Face matters, but my life is more important!"
Watching the two banter convincingly, Lin Wan couldn’t help but waver. Could ghosts really exist?
Bai Jie, seeing Zhou Yong refusing to accompany, felt a little jealous inside. If Zhou Yong didn’t go, Zhang Dadan and Lin Wan would be alone together.
Moreover, they were going to a scary place. If Lin Wan got scared, wouldn’t she cling to Zhang Dadan?
Though Master Sande was a fake Taoist with no real talents in ghost exorcism, he had seen a few real ghosts through his deceit over the years.
Before coming to Stone Town, he had subtly investigated and found that the hauntings were real; people had witnessed them firsthand.
Being just an ordinary person, he feared true ghosts deeply and wouldn’t dare provoke them.
But Wang Zhanbei promised a reward of ten thousand dollars, an amount he’d never earned in a year of fraud!
Facing such a substantial financial temptation, he decided to take a risk, planning to flee if things went wrong.
Unexpectedly, Wang Zhanbei assigned two people to accompany him, more like monitoring him, until he completed the ghost exorcism.
At Jiji, while dining, he initially intended to pretend to exorcise someone’s evil spirit, and later, put on a show during the ghost capture at night.
But Zhang Dadan disrupted his plan, and the others in the restaurant, all being too selfless, didn’t bother him.
Unable to proceed, he procrastinated at Jiji, hoping to find a selfish person to ’exorcise the evil spirit.’
Yet, as the night fell and a few waves of customers came and went, nobody accepted his ’kind offer.’
The two individuals assigned by Wang Zhanbei seemed to have seen through his trickery and kept urging him to return to the slaughterhouse.
By eight o’clock in the evening, after having dinner, he had no more excuses to stay and reluctantly left.
After Master Sande left, the customers at Jiji had already departed, and the restaurant closed for the night.
Around eleven o’clock, Zhang Dadan packed up and handed Bai Jie and Lin Wan each an Evil Exorcism Talisman, then led them out.
Not far from leaving Jiji, Bai Jie took out several heads of garlic from her bag and handed them to Zhang Dadan and Lin Wan, saying, "I saw online that garlic supposedly drives away ghosts, so I grabbed some from the kitchen!"
Lin Wan immediately put two heads of garlic in her pocket and thanked Bai Jie, while Zhang Dadan advised, "Bai Jie, if you’re so afraid of ghosts, why do you insist on coming?"
"It’s none of your business! I’m here to broaden my horizons. Besides, I want to see if that Mage is a fraud!" Bai Jie said defiantly.
With that, she boldly walked ahead to show her courage, causing Zhang Dadan to shake his head helplessly.
Zhang Dadan was confident bringing Bai Jie and Lin Wan along not just due to mere bravado but because he had a reliable safeguard.
The Jade Token tied around his neck was immensely powerful, capable of dispelling all demons and ghosts. Though he had confidence in his talisman last night, he wasn’t prepared for the powerful ghost children near the slaughterhouse.
Given the previous lesson, he placed his faith in the Jade Token, ready to take it out if things went south.
After walking for over ten minutes, they arrived at the place where the incident occurred, and Master Sande had already set up the altar.
What he called an altar was just a table covered with a yellow cloth, with incense burners, fire candles, talismans, and black dog blood.
Master Sande, draped in a Daoist robe, carrying a yellow cloth bag, held a Peach Wood Sword and stood behind the altar, mumbling chants.
The accompanying deputy manager and secretary stood on either side of him, uneasy and trembling.
Zhang Dadan, worried about alerting them, led Bai Jie and Lin Wan to hide behind a big tree by the roadside.
Fortunately, the street lights on this road had been damaged by those ghost children, preventing easy detection.