Chapter 97: Are You A Ghost?

The night sky was as dark as ink.

 In the city center, at the edge of the rooftop of a hundred-meter-tall building, a figure stood as still as a statue.

 His feet teetered on the edge, one step away from a hundred-meter drop. Cars shuttled back and forth along the street below him.

 The figure’s eyes were closed, carefully discerning the countless sources of chaotic noises around him.

 The sounds came from all directions, from all corners of the city.

 The city was only a county seat, though it was of a decent size. When the voices of all the citizens gathered together, it became a mighty flood of sound.

 Tang Hao concentrated on listening for a while, then he furrowed his brows. He opened his eyes to break out of the trance.

 He was practicing a spell called Heaven Eye and Earth Ear. To put it simply, it enhanced the practitioner’s senses of sight and hearing, allowing them to see and hear things from very far away.

 He rested for a while, then returned to the trance.

 He went to the rooftop of that building every night to practice the spell.

 Suddenly, amid the countless chaotic noises, he caught a hint of someone calling for help.

 “Hm?” He immediately became alert.

 “What… What are you doing?” It was the feminine sound of a woman. It carried a hint of panic and urgency.

 “Help! Help!” She was yelling with all his might.

 “Heheh! Isn’t it obvious what we want to do? Stop yelling, beautiful lady, there’s no one around here. No one will come and save you even if you yell yourself hoarse!”

 “Yeah, stop wasting your energy.”

 He heard the voices of some hooligans.

 “Dammit, this girl is pretty amazing! She’s so pretty! If I’m arrested after this, it’ll be worth it!”

 “Those legs… they’ll satisfy me for the next ten years, no, the next twenty years!”

 Sounds of gulping were heard along with the conversation.

 “Don’t… Don’t come any closer!” The woman sounded more and more panicked.

 Tang Hao frowned when he heard that.

 He had encountered several crimes in the past few days. It was not always like that; there were some snatch theft and robbery cases too.

 The crime rate of Westridge District was considered low, though crimes still happened rather frequently. Wherever people were, there would be crime.

 Tang Hao’s principles for crime fighting were simple. He would not actively seek crimes to stop, but if he encountered a crime in progress, he could not ignore it.

 He discerned the direction of the sound, then leaped from building to building toward it.

 In half a minute, he arrived at a building rooftop nearby.

 He looked down and could see that a few hooligans were surrounding a woman in an alley. He could not see the woman’s face clearly from that angle.

 What he could see was that she had a voluptuous body. She was tall with long, fair, and alluring legs.

 She was stuck in a corner.

 The hooligans smiled pervertedly, swallowing saliva continuously as their eyes examined the woman’s body.

 “What’s your name, beautiful lady? Come play with us tonight! We’ll make sure you’ll come back for more!” One of the hooligans smiled. He walked forward and lifted the woman’s chin with a hand.

 “Pah! You’re shameless!” The woman angrily spat on his face.

 “Oh, you’re still trying to protect your chastity! But I like your type! Heheh!” The hooligan reached for her breasts as he spoke.

 The woman retreated. She clutched her handbag to protect her chest. Her eyes were filled with despair as she looked at the hooligans in front of her.

 The hooligans laughed when they saw her sorry state.

 “Stop!”

 Suddenly, a low roar was heard from behind them.

 The group of hooligans was surprised, then they were angry.

 “Dammit, which bastard is that? Mind your own business!” The leader of the hooligans turned around and cursed.

 He turned his head toward the source of the sound and was dumbstruck. Not far away from them, a silhouette stood in a dark corner where the street lights could not shine at.

 “Dammit, stop acting all mysterious!” The hooligan cursed again. “Come out here if you have balls! Let me warn you, don’t try to meddle in our business. Wannabe heroes usually have bad endings!

 “If you don’t want to lose an arm or a leg or get stabbed, you’d better get lost!”

 The hooligan said as a vicious smile spread across his face.

 Then, he took out a switchblade from behind him with his right hand and waved it in the air.

 “Quick! Call the police!” The woman shouted.

 “Shut up!” The hooligan turned around and waved the switchblade at the woman.

 The woman was frightened and immediately shut her mouth.

 “Dammit, why are you still here? Do you want to taste my blade?” The hooligan said viciously as he took a few steps toward the silhouette.

 The silhouette started moving out of the shadow.

 However, he seemed to be shrouded in mist. No one could clearly see his face.

 “F*ck! Are my eyes playing tricks on me?”

 The hooligan rubbed his eyes as he thought that his vision was becoming blurry. However, no matter how hard he rubbed his eyes, he could not clearly see the face of the person in front of him.

 “Wh… What the hell is going on?” He was confused.

 He suddenly thought of something. His face turned pale as a sheet and his legs started trembling. “Don’t… Don’t tell me that I’m seeing a ghost! Hey you guys, can… can you see his face clearly?”

 The other hooligans were also trembling. All of them shook their heads.

 The hooligan tried to calm himself down. “Dammit, I don’t believe that ghosts exist!” He walked forward, switchblade in hand.

 He heard a grunt. The blurry silhouette lifted a hand and waved at the hooligan. All around him, the wind rose.

 As though being struck by lightning, the hooligan flew two or three meters backward and landed heavily on the ground.

 The other hooligans were dumbstruck. Their mouths were agape, as though they had just seen a ghost.

 The woman, huddled in the corner, was also watching the scene with her mouth agape. It was as though time stopped at that instant.

 A cry of pain broke the silence.

 “Ouch!’ The leader hooligan cried agonizingly. Then, he frantically clambered away. “Ghost! Ghost!” He screamed as he started running away from the scene.

 “Wait… Wait for me!”

 The other hooligans came to their senses after their leader was already far away. They looked at the figure and nearly wet their pants.

 They started running, though some of them tripped on their feet after taking a few frantic steps. Eventually, they stumbled out of the alley.

 Tang Hao chuckled as he witnessed all that.

 The hooligans had all ran away before he fought them.

 “Never mind! The victim is safe anyway!” He mumbled as he turned around to leave.

He suddenly heard a weak voice coming from behind him.

 “Excuse me… Are you really a ghost?”