I Extorted a Ghost and Unlocked the Truth

Bai Ke and the hand gripping Bai Ke’s ankle both froze.

Su Lai glanced sideways at the “thing” behind Bai Ke, not pausing his repair work on the tire.

Bai Ke finally snapped out of it.
Though his heart still pounded wildly, his mental stability had stabilized.
That relentless stream of [-1] had stopped jumping.

The air fell into deathly silence.
Su Lai casually averted his gaze.

The moment Su Lai looked away, the hand clutching Bai Ke’s ankle suddenly tightened.
Thin, withered fingers squeezed, leaving red marks on his skin.

Bai Ke dared not make a sound.
Biting back an indescribable tremor, he looked at Su Lai for help.

Su Lai, however, acted as if he hadn’t noticed.
Frowning as he inspected the tire, he abruptly exerted force and pulled a similarly withered finger from the front tire.

A human finger.
The dead kind.

“…”
Bai Ke and the hand gripping him both froze again.

“Buried that deep.
No wonder the tire blew.”
Su Lai held the finger up to the light.
The fracture was covered in dried blood scabs.
The nail was long and sharp—more likely to puncture tires than the nails scattered on the road.

Even as a corpse, it wasn’t fresh anymore.

“Tsk.”
He stared at the withered finger, lamenting his ill-fated journey.

The ghost gripping Bai Ke’s ankle finally snapped out of it.
Remembering its role and purpose, it immediately began cackling in a hair-raising tone.
“You woke me up… you hit me… you shattered my old bones… you have to take responsibility… responsible until you die…”

The hand around Bai Ke’s ankle tightened further, like a drowned ghost dragging someone down to the depths.

Su Lai dangled the severed finger in front of the dirty apparition.
“Auntie, you littered your finger everywhere, and your nail punctured my tire.
With prices rising nowadays, repair costs at least a hundred kuai.”

Facing an unexpected ghostly scammer, Su Lai struck first.

“If you don’t compensate me, I’m not giving this finger back.”
Su Lai pinched the deflated tire, looking troubled.
“Auntie, which do you prefer—paying for the tire repair, or directly giving me a hundred kuai compensation?”

Bai Ke, who had been shivering uncontrollably, froze, utterly baffled.
The severed-finger “Auntie” was equally stunned.

What was happening?
It had been dead for years and never encountered a situation like this…

A hundred kuai.
The Auntie hesitated for a moment, then, terrified, released its grip.
“A hundred kuai… I’d have to scavenge trash for so many days… work so hard under the scorching sun… a hundred kuai… I don’t have it… ask them for it… money… my money’s all with them…”

Released from the grip, Bai Ke scrambled away.
Su Lai patted his shoulder, signaling him not to panic.

Still shaken, Bai Ke hid behind Su Lai.
Looking over Su Lai’s shoulder, he finally got a clear look at the dirty apparition.

It was nothing but a withered skeleton.
Incomplete limbs wrapped in tattered, bloodstained clothes.
It was, indeed, no longer human.

Su Lai: “Oh.
Who are ‘they’?”

“I don’t know… I can’t remember…”
The dirty thing clung to Su Lai’s little e-bike tire like rotting corpse mud.
“You woke me up… you shattered me… you have to take responsibility…”

The murky voice dissolved into cackling laughter, grating on fragile human hearing.
The sounds emitted by this dirty thing were contaminating.
In the past, Bai Ke would have run away by now—fleeing from ghosts was human instinct.

But today, hiding behind Su Lai, he didn’t feel like running.
He wanted to see how this scammer ghost would ultimately settle things.

Bai Ke rubbed his hands together.
The boss’s thigh gave him confidence.

Su Lai, unfazed: “Auntie, let’s be reasonable.”
“You were lying here trying to scam me.”
He corrected her.
“My e-bike’s almost out of battery.
I couldn’t have shattered you.
You fell apart on your own.”

Bai Ke: …

This was the first time he’d seen a player “calmly” haggle with a ghost.
The top players he’d encountered before were either in chase scenes or life-or-death games.
Everything happened in a rush.

Ding.
Bai Ke noticed a sudden system notification—

[Congratulations, player, for collaboratively triggering the hidden side story: “Is Granny Xu Still Scamming People Today?”]
[Current side story exploration progress: 10%]
[Exploration progress will yield generous rewards. Stay tuned.]
[Attention! Rewards coexist with crisis. Risks are unavoidable during side story exploration!]

Bai Ke was astonished.
This was his first time triggering a hidden side story.
He hadn’t expected the tire burst—which violated the rules—to also trigger a hidden plot.

Suddenly, he felt that drop in mental stability was entirely worth it.

Bai Ke whispered in Su Lai’s ear.
“Cousin, you got it too, right? The hidden side story…”

Su Lai instantly understood what had happened.
He immediately curled his lips into a smile, his attitude towards the old auntie shifting.
“Fine, Auntie.
How do you want me to take responsibility?”

The scammer ghost gnashed its teeth in a curse.
“I’ll haunt you… won’t let you off… haunt you until you die…”

Su Lai: “Haunting me isn’t really helpful.
I’m just a delivery guy, not a doctor.”
“How about this—go to the hospital for a check-up?
Get an X-ray, see where you’re injured.”

This was standard procedure when dealing with scammers.

The scammer ghost seemed stunned by this logic.
It stopped its rambling, contaminant-laden curses and clung to the little e-bike in silence.

Su Lai: “But your nail punctured my e-bike, so I can’t take you to the hospital.”
“Auntie, can you crawl there yourself?”

Ghost: “…”
‘Do you even have manners?’

Bombarded with questions, the scammer ghost shook its head violently.
The battered little e-bike wobbled precariously.

The original horror atmosphere had completely dissipated.
Bai Ke looked at the ghost tangled around the e-bike and almost felt a bit sorry for its tattered, pitiful state.

Having achieved his goal, Su Lai nodded.
“Well then, I’ll take responsibility for taking you to the hospital.”
“But wait a moment.
I need to fix the bike first.”

With that, he picked up the severed arm from the ground and carefully dusted it off.
“Auntie, lend a hand and help push the cart.
We’ll get the bike repaired, and then I’ll take responsibility for you.”
He handed the arm to the scammer ghost.

The blood on the arm, like the severed finger, had already clotted and scabbed.
Clearly not a fresh wound.

The scammer ghost hesitated for a moment, then grasped its own severed limb.
Under Su Lai’s guidance, it began limping along, pushing the bike for him.

Bai Ke had recovered from his intense shock.
He couldn’t help but give Su Lai a thumbs-up.
‘That spiel—promising the moon to a ghost—was damn brilliant.’

Su Lai patted his shoulder.
“Cousin, lend a hand too.
Looks like Auntie’s having a hard time pushing.”

Bai Ke: “…”
He immediately withdrew his thumb.
Reluctantly, he began pushing the cart alongside the scammer ghost.

The scammer ghost was still fixated.
“You shattered me… you have to take responsibility… I won’t let you off… haunt you forever…”

“Got it, no rush.
We’re on our way to take responsibility.”
Su Lai walked ahead, leading the way.
“Auntie, what should I call you?”

The scammer ghost shuddered violently, its whole body trembling.
“I don’t know… I… for compensation, ask them… they took my money… I have no money… no money…”

Su Lai glanced at the ghost.
‘This auntie is quite something.
‘Bold as brass when scamming, but starts losing memory when asked for compensation.’

Su Lai didn’t bother pressing further.
He chatted casually.
“You live around here, right?”
“Then you must know Wang Chunying.”

Having finally encountered a speaking original resident, whether human or ghost, it was essential to extract more information about Wang Chunying and Wang Xiaosi.
He still needed to be a more convincing “good son” in front of Wang Chunying.

The scammer ghost paused, sinking into distant memories.
“Wang Chunying… I know her.
Owner of Zhang San Wonton Shop.”
“Her son went missing.
Many years ago now.
All the old folks in Spring Breeze know.”
The scammer ghost walked slowly in the shadow of the handshake buildings.
“She printed stacks and stacks of missing person posters.
Knocked on every door, handing them out.
Asked everyone she met if they knew where her son Wang Xiaosi had gone.”

“I remember the reward on those posters was high.
Paid out as long as there was a lead.”
The scammer ghost spoke.
“But missing children don’t come back.
I’ve never seen one return.
All those families shattered.
The money went down the drain.”
“Later, Zhang San Wonton Shop couldn’t keep going.
Closed down.
Her husband Zhang San went to work elsewhere and never came back.
Wang Chunying seemed to end up with Old Wang, the driver next door.
I don’t recall the details.
But the neighborhood gossip wasn’t kind…”

“If anyone had a lead on that child, calling Wang Chunying…
Her family paid out rewards promptly…”
Lost in memory, the scammer ghost rambled on.

Su Lai: “Funny you mention it.
I have a lead.”

The scammer ghost’s eyes lit up.
Su Lai: “But you can’t collect the reward anymore.
Wang Xiaosi came home.”

The scammer ghost gave him a sinister look.
“You know Wang Xiaosi?”

Su Lai patted the cat plushie’s head, curling his lips.
“I am Wang Xiaosi.”

Bai Ke: “…”
‘This cousin is really committed to the role.’

Scammer Ghost: “… I don’t believe you.”
“Whoever you are… you hit me… I’ll haunt you… won’t let you off even in death… won’t let you have peace…”

Here we go again.
Su Lai thought this scammer ghost was like it was afraid of forgetting its lines, reciting them over and over.

“You definitely won’t have peace…”

Su Lai nodded.
“Fine.
I’ll let my mom talk to you.”

As he spoke, the pair—one human, one ghost—had already pushed the cart around the corner of the alley.

Wang Chunying stood at the entrance of the long-closed “Zhang San Wonton Shop.”
The shadow of the dilapidated sign fell upon her.

Wang Chunying’s apron was splattered with unidentified liquid.
Dangling from one arm was a bag of mung bean ice cream and fresh pork belly.
In her hands, she gripped two meat cleavers.
Her pale, stiff face was fixed on the ghost pushing the cart.

Wang Chunying’s murky eyes rolled.
Her head tilted to one side, like a puppet with severed strings.
“Grandma Xu, are you trying to take my Little Four away?”

The scammer ghost visibly flinched.
It retreated.

So the scammer ghost was called Grandma Xu.
Seems she and Wang Chunying really were old neighbors.

Su Lai felt reassured.
What Grandma Xu had said just now was credible.

“Mom, you misunderstand.”
Su Lai was as expressionless as Wang Chunying.
They looked very much like family.

Su Lai explained.
“This auntie isn’t trying to take me away.”
He pointed at the deflated tire, then shook Grandma Xu’s severed finger in his hand.
“She just damaged my bike and tried to scam me.”

“My cousin can vouch for that.”

Bai Ke, who had been shoulder-to-shoulder pushing the cart with Grandma Xu, felt his entire body jolt.