Chapter 73: First Encounter with Hu

"Look, he’s made Shi Chengjin angry," Chang Yu nudged Feng Sanpao beside him, gloating.

"Big brother, which gang are you with?" Hu asked tremulously, already developing a psychological shadow toward this towering man.

"You don’t need to know what gang I’m with," Shi Chengjin said, holding Hu in one hand and yanking off his own slipper with the other.

"I just want to ask you one question: Do my feet smell or not?" He glowered, holding Hu in one hand and brandishing his slipper in the other, exuding the air of a villain interrogating a resistance member.

"I’m a straightforward person, always honest, so if I say your feet stink, then they really stink!" Hu blurted out, stiff-necked and blunt.

Is this guy really so oblivious to the situation?

Chang Yu was stunned. Could Hu not tell that Shi Chengjin's rage was on the brink of eruption?

"Fine, still stubborn!" Shi Chengjin, furious, pressed the slipper against Hu’s face without another word.

An indescribable suffocating feeling enveloped Hu’s body and mind; the overwhelming stench invaded his nostrils. Dizzy, his vision darkened, eyes rolled back, and his whole world spun before the slipper.

For a moment, he even saw his long-deceased grandfather waving to him from across the river.

"I hate most when people say my feet smell," Shi Chengjin said slowly. "So what if they do? Smelly feet aren’t a crime."

"You people, always looking down on others. What, you despise those of us with smelly feet?"

Hu struggled desperately, like a fish out of water, but Shi Chengjin’s grip was like iron pincers—impossible to break free.

Eventually, Hu's resistance weakened, his limbs went limp.

Shi Chengjin, feeling it was enough, removed the slipper and tossed Hu to the ground.

By then, Hu was foaming at the mouth, his face ashen, looking severely poisoned.

"Making me go barefoot for so long—what if I catch a chill?" Shi Chengjin rubbed his cold sole, grumbling.

"Let him go for now. The disaster is no longer attached to him," Katerina stepped forward, gazing seriously above Hu’s head.

Where once a black cloud of calamity should have been, now there was nothing.

She’d thought perhaps the disaster had used some trick to hide itself, allowing Shi Chengjin’s rough interrogation to flush it out.

But even after Hu had been tormented nearly to death, the disaster remained hidden.

Suddenly, Katerina realized: Who said the disaster must attach to Hu? It could leave him and possess someone else.

H City was vast, full of people—the disaster had plenty of choices.

That thought made Katerina grave. If the disaster kept moving hosts, how could she catch it?

Her only hope now was that Hu might reveal something useful.

"Um... who are you people?" Dr. Li spoke up timidly, like a bullied bride.

He had no choice—the other side was too ruthless, even using their ‘nuclear weapon.’

He was scared that the towering man might vent his wrath on him.

Hu’s fate was right in front of him; he didn’t want to have a slipper pressed to his own face.

But the problem was, Chang Yu and his group were causing trouble in his clinic. As the owner, wasn’t it his duty to ask?

At least he should know why these people were targeting his client!

"Dr. Li, this has nothing to do with you," Chang Yu, ever sympathetic to the weak, replied. "We’re arresting a fraudster—him, right in front of you."

"He’s a fraudster?" Dr. Li looked half-convinced.

"You can see for yourself!" Chang Yu swiftly pulled off Hu’s sunglasses and mask.

A face with dark circles and sallow cheeks appeared, the look of someone suffering long-term debilitation—perhaps from overindulgence.

Though he was now gaunt, Katerina immediately recognized his features as Hu.

"That’s him. Wake him up," Katerina motioned to Chang Yu.

Chang Yu grabbed Dr. Li’s large teacup from the table and splashed its contents onto Hu’s face.

Awakened by the tea, Hu slowly came to, quickly realizing his situation.

"Are you police? I never thought I’d fall into your hands," Hu turned his face, his eye twitching.

Katerina ignored Hu’s words and turned to Dr. Li, who was still stunned.

"Dr. Li, we need to ask Hu some questions. Could you please step outside?"

"Alright, alright, you handle your case, I’ll go for a walk. I promise not to eavesdrop."

Dr. Li hurried out, anxious to avoid further trouble.

Watching Dr. Li leave, Katerina fixed her cold gaze on Hu.

"We just want to know where the disaster that once possessed you went."

Hu paused, "What disaster? I don’t know."

His eyes were clear and sincere, not at all like someone lying.

Chang Yu’s first instinct was disbelief. He put on a fierce look and pressed, "Don’t play dumb!"

"You used its power to fool him, claiming to be the First Emperor of Qin!"

He slapped Feng Sanpao’s back so hard that Feng nearly stumbled.

"Let me tell you, my colleague isn’t ordinary. You managed to trick him, and now you say you don’t know what disaster means?"

"Yes, yes, that’s right." Feng Sanpao looked tearful, nodding vigorously.

"If you hadn’t borrowed the disaster’s power to hypnotize me, I wouldn’t have embarrassed myself so badly that day."

That day he’d knelt and kowtowed to Hu, his legs numb from the ordeal.

It was strange—he’d felt possessed, his body out of control.

Thinking about it made Feng Sanpao feel aggrieved.

He’d played the part of a servile eunuch in front of so many, and upon learning from Chang Yu and Katerina that the real First Emperor had long vanished into history, he was awakened to the truth.

The man before him not only swindled all his money, but also... stole his dignity.

"Enough talk. I think this guy is sly—unless we teach him a lesson, he’ll never tell the truth," Shi Chengjin lacked Chang Yu and Katerina’s patience.

He spat twice into his palm and reached for his other slipper, looking ready for battle.

When Hu saw this, he panicked.

Facing Shi Chengjin’s intimidating presence, Hu’s fragile psyche trembled.

He kicked his legs in retreat, grabbed the sheet from the bed and wrapped it around himself, as if seeking a shred of safety.

"Hero..." Hu clutched the sheet tightly, his legs trembling, "Spare me, please!"

In this materialistic society, with hearts cold and indifferent, only the sheet around him offered a bit of warmth.

"I really don’t know what this disaster you’re talking about is," he insisted.

"But as soon as you mention mind control, I know you must mean the armor I wore that night."

"That armor is magical—it has hypnotic powers. Whenever I put it on, it’s so much easier to deceive others."

"Since I got it, my business soared, like I’d hacked the system."

"Where’s the armor?" Katerina’s bright eyes showed a hint of thought.

"I left it at my temporary residence," Hu’s eyelids twitched, hesitating before finally admitting the truth.

He didn’t want to give up the miraculous armor, but circumstances were against him.

"Lead the way. I want to see if it really is magical," Chang Yu pulled Hu up, a smile curling his lips.

...

In the old apartment complex, the fraudster Hu walked forward, surrounded on all sides by Chang Yu, Katerina, Shi Chengjin, and Feng Sanpao.

With such tight security, no matter which way Hu tried to escape, they’d catch him.

He seemed resigned now, speaking slowly about his past.

"I got the armor a month ago. When I put it on, I felt an overwhelming sense of supremacy."

"It’s not boasting—under its power, I felt there was no one I couldn’t deceive."

"Whenever I wore it, people couldn’t help but believe me, and willingly handed over their savings."

"Since the armor is modeled after Qin, I told people I was the First Emperor. Strangely, they believed me."

"I admit I got cocky lately. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have dared to mess with my brother Sanpao."

"If I had another chance, I’d never trick him again—I promise."

"So, all this First Emperor stuff was just your invention?" Chang Yu asked lazily, hands behind his back.

"Of course. Even a three-year-old knows the dead can’t come back to life," Hu replied carefully.

"The First Emperor vanished long ago—how could he really return? At best, I’m just a fake."

Looking Hu over, the man was bow-legged and frail, so weak a gust could topple him.

He had none of the Emperor’s imposing presence.

"We’re here. My temporary residence," Hu stopped before a dilapidated garage.

He took out a remote, pointed it at the garage, and the door slowly opened.

Inside was a cramped space barely ten square meters, containing only a spring bed, a sofa, and two battered chairs.

The air was thick with dampness, green moss growing in the corners.

The living conditions were worse than the bare room Chang Yu had first rented.

Before seeing this, Chang Yu never imagined anyone could dwell in such a gloomy, claustrophobic place.

Now he knew.

"The armor’s in the corner. I’ll fetch it," Hu said, flicking on the garage light and walking inside.

Through Hu’s silhouette, Katerina saw the armor piled in the corner—and the dense, almost tangible black mist clinging to it.

That was the disaster they’d been searching for.

A pea-sized blue flame flickered on the blackness, like a tiny candle in the night, faint and quiet.

It was the ‘gift’ Katerina had left on it, her token for the disaster.

Suddenly, as if possessed, Hu dashed toward the armor.

"Stop! It’s dangerous!" Katerina shouted after him.