Chapter 134: Chapter 134: Yun Zhenyue Issues a Quest: Crusade Against Fushou Bank

Busy!

Mengmeng had never felt so busy!

Back when her shop had few customers, she could still slack off and doze off with nothing to do.

But now?

Forget dozing off, she didn’t even have time to take a sip of water or rest.

She was practically running off her feet.

It felt like she was about to take flight!

She had just brought clothes out from the stockroom and hadn’t even hung them on the wall when wave after wave of customers swarmed in. With the enthusiastic recommendations from the various Evil Star shop assistants, some customers couldn’t even be bothered to try the clothes on and just bought them on the spot.

Mengmeng was running back and forth, her little face flushed red and a hint of exhaustion showing at the corners of her eyes.

But not only did she not stop, she became even more excited!

Her pupils even seemed to have transformed into money signs.

She was the very picture of a money-grubber!

It was as if she could hear the DING DING DONG of ghost coins being deposited into her account!

Especially since the newly appointed general manager had just told her that they would no longer take a commission from her shop. Her rent was also cut by more than half, which was basically like getting it for free!

The thought of so many ghost coins filled her with energy!

’Once I save up enough ghost coins, I can go find Mom and Dad!’

"Oof!"

Just as Mengmeng was carrying a load of clothes back,

she accidentally bumped into the back of a ghost.

She let out a muffled cry of pain and, thinking she had bumped into a customer, looked up to apologize.

But suddenly!

She saw a face that filled her with dread.

It was a ghost wearing a black tank top that revealed his gnarled, bulging muscles.

He held a terrifying cleaver in his hand, its blade dripping with dark red blood.

Purplish-blue veins writhed like worms under his exaggerated musculature. An old, centipede-like scar ran across his left eyebrow as he greedily scanned the customers coming and going.

Behind this ghost stood two similarly dressed lackeys.

"Y-You... why are you here again?" Mengmeng bit her lip, her face turning pale as she spoke.

Hearing this, the Cleaver Ghost rolled his neck and said with a mocking look, "Business is booming, isn’t it, Mr. Meng? I saw it from outside. Your one shop has snatched all the customers in the entire mall."

"Since you’re making so much money, it’s about time you paid back the debt you owe our bank."

"How much do I owe you now? I’ll pay it, just... don’t stand here. There are customers trying to get in..."

Mengmeng said, biting her lower lip.

Previously, after she had given a month’s revenue to the former general manager only to be scorned, she had been left with no options.

At the beginning of the month, she had gone to the nearby Fushou Bank to borrow money. She had borrowed five hundred ghost coins from them, with a repayment period of half a month.

Mengmeng had taken those five hundred ghost coins to hire some ghost bodyguards, but before they even reached the underground garage, the group of ghosts vanished, and the money was not returned.

Mengmeng had calculated her revenue. If she was lucky, she might be able to pay it off by the end of the month.

Within this month, this group of debt-collecting ghosts from the bank had come to harass her several times.

Each time, they sat in her shop, intimidating and threatening her.

Their presence had scared away the already few customers she had.

They even took a lot of clothes, worth far more than five hundred ghost coins!

"From the sound of it, you’re loaded now?"

The Cleaver Ghost licked his dry lips.

As a mid-tier Crimson-robed Ghost and the bank’s strongest enforcer, he didn’t give Mengmeng a second thought.

"You owe our bank 500 ghost coins. The daily interest is 10%, with a daily late penalty of 30%. You’re half a month overdue, so now you owe our bank a total of 3,500 ghost coins!"

"Hand over the money."

’How much?’

’3,500 ghost coins?’

Hearing this, Mengmeng froze.

’I was just about to get the money from the counter to pay off the debt!’

But it had only been half a month, and the debt had ballooned by seven times?

She had never seen such a black-hearted bank!

This was even more terrifying than a loan shark!

But she had sold out her entire stock of clothes today.

In total, she had earned just enough ghost coins to pay off the debt.

If she gave all this money to them,

wouldn’t she have to wait a very, very long time again before she could find her parents?

"That’s not right! The IOU clearly stated a 10% monthly interest, and the penalty was also calculated monthly! I remember it clearly!"

Mengmeng suddenly remembered this and asked hurriedly.

"Did you all make a mistake?"

"Hmph~"

The Cleaver Ghost snorted coldly at her words, a threatening glint in his eyes.

"You signed the IOU yourself. I don’t care about the details; I’m just here to collect the debt."

"It only multiplied sevenfold. That’s our Shopkeeper being nice. He didn’t even calculate compound interest for you. Otherwise, with interest rolling over, you’d never be able to pay it off in your lifetime."

’No!’

’That’s definitely not right!’

Mengmeng gritted her teeth, recalling the scene from that day.

When she signed the IOU, she had used the bank’s pen. At the time, she’d found it odd that the ink from the pen was a bit blurry. Now it was obvious they had done it on purpose!

They changed the word "month" to "day"!

At this moment, seemingly sensing that Mengmeng didn’t want to pay, the Cleaver Ghost’s eyes glinted with chilling killing intent!

He tightened his grip on the blood-red cleaver!

And prepared to strike Mengmeng!

"Looks like you’re planning to welsh on your debt?"

"Then I’ll chop off an arm first. You’ll be more cooperative after that!"

Seeing this, Mengmeng’s mind went blank!

But before she could even resist,

Yun Zhenyue, who had just seen a customer out of the mall, walked in.

Yu Honghui was following behind her. When he saw a ghost daring to harm the Lord’s friend,

his pupils constricted, and he was filled with uncontrollable rage!

"Stop!!!"

BOOM!

With a savage roar, the terrifying aura unique to an Evil Star erupted like the sky itself was collapsing!

The three debt-collecting ghosts felt as if they had been plunged into the depths of a pitch-black abyss.

Their breathing stopped, and it felt as if they were being crushed at the very bottom of an iceberg!

CLANG!

The Cleaver Ghost’s cleaver fell limply to the ground.

"Who... who are you—" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

His eyes widened as he saw the enraged Yu Honghui. Sensing an aura that was completely irresistible, cold sweat instantly trickled down his pale cheeks, and his lips trembled uncontrollably.

’An E... Evil Star?’

’This aura is thousands, no, tens of thousands of times more malevolent than our bank’s Shopkeeper!’

’There’s no mistaking it!’

’How could an Evil Star appear in this little shop?’

’The intel from the bank didn’t say anything about this!’

’And it looks like a ghost the shop owner knows?’

’I’ve been here so many times and never saw this Evil Star. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten so bold.’

The Cleaver Ghost looked at Mengmeng with vexation.

’Dammit, if you had an Evil Star backing you, you should have said so earlier!’

’I would’ve just gifted you the few thousand ghost coins you owed!’

’Putting an Evil Star in your debt is a favor that tens of thousands of ghost coins couldn’t buy!’

CRACKLE~

Yu Honghui raised his hand, and solid ice appeared!

It froze all three of the debt-collecting ghosts.

Then, his face ashen with fury, he found several Nightmare Hunter members who were outside soliciting customers and roared, "What kind of a job are you doing watching the store?!"

"These three animals almost hurt the Madam’s friend! Didn’t you see they were carrying weapons?"

After hearing this, the Nightmare Hunter members were all dumbfounded.

The faceless shopping guide’s mind went blank with a BUZZ, and he was instantly drenched in sweat.

’Ghost customers are a motley crew; carrying a cleaver is really nothing special.’

’Especially since we’re Evil Stars. To us, these three ghosts were like three children holding toys; they posed no threat at all.’

’So I hadn’t stopped them.’

’The other members thought I had let them in, so they weren’t worried either.’

They were busy attracting customers!

Many weren’t even in the shop; their busy figures could be seen from the first to the fifth floor.

Those who remained in the store were all attending to other customers.

Then, an Evil Star slowly closed the shop door.

The crowd of Evil Stars immediately turned to look at the three trembling debt collectors.

"Damned things!"

"I just stepped away to help a customer try on some clothes, and they took advantage of the opening."

"I’m going to flay them alive!"

It was as if their eyes could shoot fire!

Every one of them was grinding their teeth with a GRATING sound!

The terrifying, furious auras of the Evil Stars poured out all at once!

When they saw the shop door being closed,

the three frozen debt collectors felt like their world was ending!

’Isn’t blocking the door usually our job?’

The Cleaver Ghost, who had been the first to make a move, felt dizzy.

In his despair, he let out a bitter laugh.

’So many ghosts, and all of them are Evil Stars?’

’What kind of joke is this?!’

’A shop with over ten Evil Stars—how can you call that a ’little shop’?’

’Sending a mere Crimson-robed Ghost like me to collect a debt here? You might as well just ask for my head!’

"Mengmeng, don’t be afraid."

Yun Zhenyue gently stroked Mengmeng’s head and said softly.

Her Purifying Hand dispelled Mengmeng’s negative emotions.

"Why were they giving you trouble?"

Hearing this, Mengmeng clutched the hem of her dress.

She told Yun Zhenyue everything exactly as it had happened.

When they heard that 500 ghost coins had turned into 3,500 in just a month,

the crowd of Evil Stars all gasped in shock!

Liou, who was possessing a plastic mannequin, couldn’t help but exclaim, "An annual interest rate of 17,000%?"

"That’s more profitable than when I ran a company! Why don’t you guys just rob people instead?"

Yun Zhenyue asked in surprise, "You’re saying they also took a lot of your clothes?"

"Mhm," Mengmeng nodded lightly.

"I understand."

Yun Zhenyue took a deep breath.

She turned her head to look at the assembled Nightmare Hunter ghosts.

She had just spoken a few words with Yu Honghui.

She had learned that as the Lord’s Madam, she also had the authority to issue tasks.

"Can you all do me a favor and go get those clothes back?"

"Mr. Yu just told me that I can also issue tasks to you."

"If you can..."

"Consider this a task I’m officially issuing to you."

Silence!

Hearing that getting the clothes back would count as a task,

all the Nightmare Hunter members fell silent!

Then, their eyes filled with excitement and disbelief!

’This is the very first task issued by the Lord’s Madam!’

’Not only can we curry favor!’

’We can also earn a huge amount of contribution points!’

’And all we have to do is cause trouble for some puny little bank!’

’This is basically a freebie for contribution points!’