Once Wang Ziming left, the room fell silent.
Mu Yingying was the first to speak. “That guy’s definitely got something wrong. The way he talked just now didn’t sit right.”
“He’s got some other scheme in mind. What he’s saying isn’t what he’s really after.” Peace said flatly.
“What does he actually want?”
“He wants to use us as his pawns.” Peace’s tone didn’t waver. “It’s not the title of mayor he’s after. It’s something the mayor has. Once he gets it, we’ll be next on his list.”
Mu Yingying let out a snort. “So it’s a Hongmen Banquet after all. He’s waiting for us to walk right into the trap.”
“Mm.”
Little Frost sat on the edge of the bed, frowning. “Then… are we still teaming up with him? This way too dangerous.”
“Of course we are.” Peace glanced at her. “He knows where the mayor is hiding. Saves us the trouble of looking. Let him scheme all he wants—when the time comes, we just kill him and be done with it.”
Mu Yingying shot her a look but said nothing.
Little Frost thought it over, then nodded.
White Night heard this, and the tension in her chest finally loosened.
As long as Peace was here, that was enough.
No scheme or plot could stand up to Peace.
White Night: “Then let’s work with him. I trust Peace.”
Mu Yingying: “Same here.”
That afternoon, Wang Ziming came back.
He walked in carrying a bag—clean clothes and some food inside. He set it on the table with a very gentle smile.
“So? Have you ladies made up your minds?”
Little Frost nodded. “We agree to team up with you.”
The smile on Wang Ziming’s face deepened. “Great, great. Then I’ll tell you everything from start to finish.”
He sat down and laid out the whole situation with the mayor—when he went into seclusion, where he was hiding, how well he was guarded. He went into painstaking detail.
“I think tonight is the best time to strike,” he concluded.
Mu Yingying frowned. “Why does it have to be at night?! Can’t we do it during the day? It’s easier to see, less chance of things going wrong.”
“Because nighttime is when he’s most absorbed in his training,” Wang Ziming answered smoothly. “During the day, he stays on guard all the time. Hard to get a surprise attack in. But at night, at that hour, he enters his deepest meditative state. He won’t notice anything happening around him. That’s the perfect time to make a move.”
Mu Yingying clicked her tongue. “Fine, we’ll do it your way. We move at night.”
She stared straight at Wang Ziming. “But I’m warning you now—if you try anything behind our backs, any tricks, I will not let you off easy!”
Wang Ziming gave a light laugh, showing no sign of annoyance. “Miss Yingying, what are you saying? How could I ever do something like stabbing allies in the back?”
“I’m not joking. I’m serious.” Mu Yingying tapped her finger on the table. “I don’t have many talents, but I’ve got a long memory. Anyone who screws me over, I’ll remember them for a lifetime.”
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. That will absolutely never happen.”
The straightforwardness of her words almost made it sound less like a warning.
Instead, it put Wang Ziming’s mind at ease. ‘A person who wears their suspicion on their sleeve… is easy to fool.’
He chuckled inwardly.
These people were truly skilled.
But when it came to scheming, he, Wang Ziming, had been playing the game for years. He had never lost to anyone.
That thing the mayor had… he’d been coveting it for a long time. Tonight, with them doing the dirty work, after the kill, he’d take the item, then turn around and deal with them…
Once he had that item, he’d be one step closer to resurrecting his beloved.
Wang Ziming’s smile was perfectly natural, like that of a common, cooperative partner.
He didn’t notice.
Sitting by the window, Peace’s gaze flicked toward him. A faint glance—no different from looking at a dead man.
She knew everything.
After dinner, the sky gradually darkened.
Wang Ziming waited at the door. When he saw them come out, he made a “follow me” gesture.
The four of them followed.
The street was even quieter than before.
The Fake Human Anomalies hadn’t all disappeared. They still lingered here and there by the roadside… one was still shelling beans, another had set down his carrying pole and sat on it, and the old man on the doorstep was still whittling that piece of wood.
But none of them moved.
It wasn’t an act. They actually saw these people and even shrank back a little. None of them came forward to speak.
White Night huddled in the bike basket, absorbing all those “looks.”
There was no hostility in those eyes. More like… watching a good show.
She couldn’t quite describe the feeling, but it was there.
Like a crowd of onlookers standing far away, staring at them as they walked forward, just waiting for the show to start.
A few faces even wore smiles.
Those smiles weren’t fake politeness. They came from beneath the skin—something like anticipation, and a bit of hunger.
They were waiting.
Waiting for the mayor to take care of this group, leaving scraps behind for them.
They wanted a piece.
White Night felt extremely uncomfortable. Instinctively, she shrank her spirit deeper into the small scooter.
“Auntie Frost.”
“Hm? What is it?” Little Frost looked down at her.
“Auntie Frost, look—they’re all staring at us.”
“Let them stare.” Little Frost’s voice was very soft. “Let them look all they want. In the end, we’ll see who gets the last laugh.”
Her words steadied White Night a little.
At the front, Mu Yingying kept looking around as she walked. Suddenly she turned back and asked Wang Ziming, “Hey, let me ask you something. Do you have a way to gather all the Weirdness in this town into one spot?”
Wang Ziming paused. “Why do you suddenly ask that?”
“I want to wipe them all out in one go,” Mu Yingying said bluntly. “Hunting them one by one wastes too much time and energy. Too annoying.”
“Oh… I see.” Wang Ziming smiled. “Of course there’s a way. Once I become mayor, all the Fake Humans and Weirdness in town will be under my control. Then, wherever you want them to go, I can summon them all there.”
“That’s great!” Mu Yingying clapped her hands. “Then the first thing after you become mayor is to call all the Weirdness together. I’ll farm them all at once and collect as many Ghost Crystals as I can.”
“No problem, no problem.” Wang Ziming laughed heartily. “Leave it to me. I’ll make sure it’s handled properly.”
He made another mental note.
‘Gather them together, sure… Then I can take care of these guys all at once.’
As for the Ghost Crystals…
‘When the time comes, I’ll decide where those Ghost Crystals end up.’
His smile grew even warmer.
The group followed him as he turned left and right, out of Main Street, out of the residential area, past a stretch of abandoned vegetable fields.
The wind grew colder.
The smell changed too.
It wasn’t the mix of cooking oil and smoke from the town anymore. It was something else…
The rotting stench of dead rats.
White Night didn’t need to breathe, but the smell could still seep straight into her spirit, making her want to throw up.
After another stretch, the grass on both sides of the path gradually disappeared. The soil was black, soft underfoot.
Wang Ziming stopped ahead and gestured around.
“We’re here.”
White Night looked up.
In front of her was a vast mass grave.
Mounds of earth pressed against each other, some high, some low. A few had collapsed, revealing yellow bones inside.
Bones were scattered everywhere. Some were complete, others just half a skeleton—arms and legs broken off in the dirt.
The wind whistled through the gaps in the bones, making an eerie sound.
The Yin energy was incredibly heavy.
White Night’s spirit was already sensitive. In a place like this, it felt like being plunged into ice water—chilling through instantly.
She shivered.
Little Frost immediately sensed it. She reached down, gently lifted White Night out of the basket, and held her closer.
“Stay close to me.”
White Night didn’t say anything. She obediently leaned into her.
Peace stood outside the mass grave, looking in.
Her gaze stopped at the very center.
“The mayor is in the very back,” she said.
Wang Ziming turned back with a smile. “Well then… shall we go in now?”
His voice was warm. He looked harmless, like a docile creature.
But in reality, he was a beast.