Chapter 9: Black Eight Club
Dong dong dong~!
A hotel room door was knocked on.
A man wearing a black trench coat, with his hat brim pulled low, wrapped up tightly, stood at the door and knocked on the room door.
“How could he be staying here?”
The man looked around; the environment couldn’t be called too bad—it was simply unlivable.
The corridor was dim, without sunlight, and the old light bulb flickered on and off.
This place was just like the setting in ghost stories from the 1980s.
“Who.”
Finally, there was some movement from inside the room.
The man relaxed a bit in his heart; at least someone was there, which was a good thing.
Pa da~!
The room door opened, and a young man with a pale face and covered in cold sweat showed half his face as he looked at the man.
The man narrowed his eyes slightly, a hint of surprise in his eyes hidden under the hat brim.
What was with the other party’s weak and frail appearance?
And this cold feeling.
Had the other party’s fierce ghost just stirred?
“I’m Wu Xun, from the Black Eight Club, and I’m a ghost controller.”
The man raised his head and showed a friendly smile.
But this smile, when it appeared on his face, wasn’t friendly at all; instead, it felt creepy.
Ghost controller?
Lin Qian frowned; how could a ghost controller have tracked him down?
Black Eight Club?
What club was this?
Was it a ghost controller organization?
“No need to wonder how I found you; this is an era of information networks.”
“Your every move is captured by surveillance.”
“You don’t need to be nervous; I mean you no harm.”
Hearing this, Lin Qian suddenly understood.
In this era of advanced networks, surveillance is everywhere.
His act of forcing through the toll station couldn’t possibly go unnoticed.
Lin Qian was very curious about the purpose of the other party’s visit here.
Was it just to say these things?
“You’d better state your purpose.”
Lin Qian really didn’t want to beat around the bush with the other party right now.
Wu Xun’s earlier thoughts were completely correct; Lin Qian’s fierce ghost had just finished stirring and was now recovering.
After experiencing the pain of the fierce ghost going out of control, Lin Qian just wanted to rest quietly now and soothe his nerves.
Wu Xun didn’t mind Lin Qian’s rudeness at all; he had been the same back then.
“I’m here to invite you to join the Black Eight Club.”
Wu Xun said with a smile.
Lin Qian was slightly stunned and sized up Wu Xun.
“Invite me to join the Black Eight Club?”
Wu Xun nodded, “That’s right.”
“How about we go inside to talk? It feels a bit weird talking outside the door.” Wu Xun asked.
Lin Qian hesitated for a moment, then opened the room door and let him in.
As soon as the other party entered the room, he began looking around.
The shabby little room, aside from the bed sheets that looked clean, nothing else felt clean.
An extremely poor environment.
“You live in a place like this?”
Wu Xun didn’t know where to step.
He suddenly felt that chatting in the corridor was actually pretty good.
Lin Qian closed the room door.
His expression was calm.
Without an ID, being able to stay in a place like this was already pretty good.
He couldn’t go sleep under a bridge, could he?
Besides, in his current situation, he didn’t dare to be too high-profile.
Seeing Lin Qian not speaking, Wu Xun didn’t mind.
He went to the window, lifted the curtain and looked out; the view was pretty good, just the environment wasn’t.
“What are the benefits of joining your Black Eight Club?”
Lin Qian knew the other party was waiting for him to speak, so it didn’t matter.
He didn’t have to join this Black Eight Club.
“Benefits?”
Wu Xun stroked his chin, “Money to take, if there’s trouble, the club will handle it for you, and there are channels for selling goods.”
“Normally, we help each other out.”
Lin Qian listened for a while, then asked doubtfully, “That’s it?”
Wu Xun shrugged, “What did you think?”
“Upon joining the club, the president will give you ten million directly as a joining benefit, and our club’s purchase price is twenty percent higher than the market price.”
“Right, you might not know what I mean by goods.”
“Do you know? Ghosts can also be sold for money.”
Lin Qian narrowed his eyes slightly, making himself look very surprised.
Wu Xun was very satisfied with Lin Qian’s expression; he nodded, “That’s right, these terrifying things called ghosts can be sold for money, and quite a lot at that.”
“Currently, abroad, the price for one fierce ghost is one hundred million each; you didn’t hear wrong, one hundred million, and as time goes on, the price of ghosts will only get higher.”
“In the current market, ghosts are in short supply.”
“As a short-lived ghost, you definitely need to enjoy life a bit, and to enjoy life, of course you need money.”
“But how does the money come? You can’t just go rob, right?”
“Robbing will get you targeted by the officials; the officials’ attention on ghost controllers has always been extremely high.”
“So…”
Lin Qian looked at Wu Xun, “So, catch ghosts and sell them for money?”
Pa da.
Wu Xun snapped his fingers, “Exactly, people who control fierce ghosts don’t live long, and no one knows how to prevent fierce ghosts from reviving.”
“Anyway, you’re going to die in the end, so why not enjoy it?”
“People can’t go through life without ever driving a Maybach, right?”
“Brother, before controlling a fierce ghost, you’re earning money with your life, and in the end, you don’t earn much; time runs out, money is little, and you haven’t even enjoyed it.”
“Now, you’ve controlled a fierce ghost; your lifespan is shorter, but your ability to make money has improved.”
“Catch one ghost, sell it, and you can live lavishly until death; with money, you have everything, and you don’t have to worry about others being jealous, because we’re ghost controllers—they fear us.”
Lin Qian’s expression changed, looking somewhat tempted.
A glint of laughter flashed in Wu Xun’s eyes.
“Looks like you’ve understood.”
“Then let’s talk about the key issue.”
“You can catch ghosts and sell them for money, but have you thought about, once you’ve caught a ghost, how to sell it? Sell to whom?”
“Even if you find a buyer, aren’t you afraid of being ripped off?”
“To prevent this from happening, you need a channel, a backer, one that can help you sell goods without ripping you off.”
“And conveniently, our Black Eight Club can do exactly that.”
“If you join us, we don’t require you to do anything or assign you tasks, but the only requirement is that any fierce ghosts you catch must be sold to our Black Eight Club.”
“Nothing else besides that.”
After Wu Xun finished speaking, he looked at Lin Qian, waiting for his answer.
Lin Qian was indeed thinking, but not about whether to join the Black Eight Club.
“Sounds very tempting; I can join the Black Eight Club, but I have a few questions that need you to answer.”
Lin Qian raised his eyes, his gaze falling on Wu Xun.
“Oh? What questions? I’ll definitely answer what I know.”
Just questions, very normal; when he joined back then, he had many questions too, but as time passed, his questions were no longer issues.
He was very satisfied with his current life—no need to work, no need to worry about livelihood, food, drink, and expenses basically all covered by the club.
And he just needed to focus on living lavishly; he had already caught and sold one ghost.
He wasn’t short of money now.
He was a rich man too.
“Is your club’s president also a ghost controller?”
“Of course.” Wu Xun nodded, “If not a ghost controller, how could he lead everyone?”
Ordinary people wanting to manage ghost controllers is impossible.
“Got it.” Lin Qian nodded.
“How many people do you have now?”
“I mean ghost controllers, not ordinary people.”
“Are you gauging our club’s strength?” Wu Xun narrowed his eyes at Lin Qian, his expression scrutinizing.
Lin Qian’s face didn’t change as he met his gaze.
Suddenly, Wu Xun laughed.
“You’re basically the same as me back then.”
“Our club has been established for less than three months, but we already have five ghost controllers, including the president of course.”
“Adding you would make six.”
“Do you think that’s too few people?”
Wu Xun leaned against the window, arms crossed.
“Although the club has only five members, in the entire Da Jiang City, our Black Eight Club is the leader.”
“In the entire Da Jiang City, we’re the only ghost controller organization, of course, not counting the officials.”
“Our strength is beyond doubt, and our connections and resources are the same.”
“In short, in Da Jiang City, whatever others can handle, we can; whatever others can’t, we still can.”
“Now you know how much value our Black Eight Club has, right?”
Lin Qian looked at Wu Xun; the pride in his eyes couldn’t be hidden, and he had no intention of hiding it.
“Leader organization, huh?”
Lin Qian pondered in his heart.
“Last question: has your president controlled one ghost?”
Hearing this question, Wu Xun’s expression changed instantly, looking at Lin Qian like he was an idiot.
“Nonsense, if not controlling one ghost, could it be two?”
“Kid, you have zero common sense, but no wonder—you just became a ghost controller, so it’s normal not to know; you’ll learn later.”
Lin Qian heard the answer he wanted.
“I’ll join the Black Eight Club.”
Hearing this, Wu Xun immediately laughed, not minding Lin Qian’s last question anymore.
“You’ve made the right choice.”
Wu Xun smiled and walked to Lin Qian’s side, patting his shoulder, “Come on, I’ll take you to the club.”
Lin Qian nodded without speaking, picked up his mobile phone, and followed Wu Xun out of this small hotel.
