The old ghost's swollen lips moved, mumbling indistinctly.
Mr. Li's anger had yet to subside.
Still gripping his neck tightly, he snarled, "Wrong? What were you wrong about?"
The old ghost, on the verge of tears, had no idea how he'd angered Mr. Li. He could only follow his lead and answer.
"I was... I was wrong to make the store owner drink with me..."
"And?" Mr. Li said, his eyes cold.
"I... shouldn't... shouldn't have bullied the Blood Moon Restaurant's staff..."
Hearing this, Mr. Li became even more furious and landed another vicious slap!
—SLAP!!
The last front tooth in the old ghost's mouth...
With that slap...
...flew out like a nail yanked out by pliers!
Two streams of tears instantly flowed from his eyes.
They trickled down his face like little pearls.
The old ghost was filled with true regret.
'If I'd known Mr. Li was this much trouble, I'd have died before ever setting foot in the Blood Moon Restaurant again.'
"Waaaaah..."
"Is that the main point?" Mr. Li grabbed his earlobe and yanked hard. The old ghost cried even louder.
"Waaah~ Mr. Li... I really don't know who the store owner is... Please, spare me..."
He wanted nothing more than to kneel and kowtow loudly to Mr. Li!
'This is no way to treat a ghost!!!'
'Let me go!'
But just as the old ghost braced himself for an even more violent beating from Mr. Li...
...Mr. Li revealed a slight smile and gently set him down.
Then, he gently patted the old ghost's face, which was already swollen up like a dumpling.
Instantly,
the old ghost broke out in goosebumps.
His eyes filled with terror and despair.
"Correct. Your mistake was not knowing who our esteemed Store Owner is, and you a regular customer, too."
"Our Store Owner is a peerless beauty, a lotus blossom emerging unstained from the mud. Among us ghosts, you should have recognized her at a glance... But instead, you called her a rat and demanded she drink with you."
"These dog eyes of yours are useless. Why don't I just help you gouge them out?"
...
「Meanwhile.」
The viewers from other countries were all dumbfounded!
They were beating him, sure, but what was with all the praise?
How could such cheesy, sycophantic words about "peerless beauty" and "blushing flowers" come out of his mouth?
This was especially true for the viewers from the Great Cold Country and the Sun Country!
They never would have imagined Mr. Li would go this far to get justice for Yun Zhenyue!
It was downright brutal!
'Doesn't he want customers anymore?'
'Isn't he afraid of ruining the Blood Moon Restaurant's reputation?'
[Ugh, I'm gonna puke. This Mr. Li just looks like a bootlicking sycophant.]
[Aren't all the ghosts in the Blood Moon Restaurant like this?]
[What? He doesn't want this customer anymore? Beating him up in public like this?]
[If other ghosts find out about this, the Blood Moon Restaurant probably won't be able to stay in business.]
[Might as well go bankrupt. The Blood Moon Restaurant doesn't deserve its reputation as an S-rank dungeon!]
[Hmph~ Just you wait. That old ghost will definitely be back for revenge.]
[You can protect her for a day, but can you protect her for a lifetime?]
...
BOOM!
In that instant,
even a fool like the old ghost would have sobered up!
If it weren't for his preconceived notion that a human could never be the store owner,
he wouldn't have been beaten for so long, only figuring it out after Mr. Li's blatant hints.
"The store... she's the Store Owner?!!"
The old ghost's gaze shifted to Yun Zhenyue, who was standing to the side.
Like an old dog stung by bees, his eyes were so swollen he could barely see.
But a violent tremor could still be faintly seen in them.
The color drained from his sunken cheeks, leaving them ashen white.
Even the wrinkled wings of his nose trembled involuntarily.
Yun Zhenyue's disgusted expression fell upon him.
It was like a sharp sword, on the verge of carving his heart out!
'He knew.'
'If he had only angered Mr. Li, there was still a chance he could survive.'
'After all, no matter how furious Mr. Li was, he wouldn't go so far as to kill him, a mere Fierce Ghost,'
'and tarnish the Blood Moon Restaurant's reputation.'
'But angering the Store Owner...'
'...that was a completely different story.'
'He was the one who had first spoken rudely and insulted the esteemed Store Owner!'
'For an S-rank dungeon like the Blood Moon Restaurant, the connections and resources its actual master possessed were beyond the imagination of a minor Fierce Ghost like him.'
'All it would take was a single glance, or even just showing a hint of displeasure towards him,'
'and countless ghosts would flock to flay him alive!'
'They would cut off his head and present it to the Blood Moon Restaurant as a sign of allegiance!'
'Even if he died here in public at the Blood Moon Restaurant today,'
'the other ghosts would just say he got what he deserved!'
'This was the law of the jungle in the Ghost World!'
'It didn't matter if the Store Owner was the "rat" he'd called her or not.'
At this thought,
the old ghost trembled violently, feeling the hand of death already clutching his throat.
He couldn't care about anything else.
He scrambled and crawled in a panic.
Under Mr. Li's cold gaze,
he crawled in front of Lin Jiu and Yun Zhenyue.
He didn't even dare get too close!
He was afraid the blood and filth covering him would offend their eyes!
The old ghost was a pathetic sight.
He raised his right hand high.
Just as Yun Zhenyue was wondering what he was about to do,
the old ghost viciously slapped his own, already swollen cheek!
SLAP!
A violent slap landed on his own face!
This slap was far harder than any of Mr. Li's!
The old ghost's nose was nearly knocked crooked!
But he continued slapping himself without hesitation!
SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!
The sound of slapping washed over them like a tide.
"I'm not human, I'm an animal!"
"You're a magnanimous person... Please forgive me, just treat me like a fart in the wind!"
"I'll kowtow to you, esteemed Store Owner..."
"I have Ghost Coins, Ghost Artifacts, I'll give them all to you as compensation..."
Tears and snot streamed down the old ghost's face, a messy pulp.
He pulled out everything he had on him.
The ground was covered in Ghost Coins, probably adding up to several thousand!
He even took off the Ghost Grave Clothes he was wearing,
revealing his shriveled body.
Timid as a mouse, he kept kowtowing loudly to the two of them,
making for an utterly pathetic scene.
Coupled with his already old and frail appearance,
if this were in the real world,
one might think Yun Zhenyue and Lin Jiu were bullying an old man.
...
This shocking scene
plunged the global audience into a dead silence.
Originally, many viewers didn't understand what being the Store Owner of the Blood Moon Restaurant signified.
But now, seeing the old ghost's terrified performance,
they could all feel the shiver of fear.
Power in the real world is already so alluring,
let alone power in the Ghost World.
Power represented strength.
Even though Yun Zhenyue hadn't said a single word,
even though she had only cast a single glance,
amplified by her status as the Store Owner,
it was enough to make a Fierce Ghost, one who normally stopped at nothing, tremble in terror!
It even drove him to beg for her mercy through self-mutilation.
Aside from the Dragon Country, viewers from every other nation
had never seen a ghost so terrified of a human.
In that moment, they forgot their disputes.
They were simply immersed in their own desire for such power.
Their hearts filled with envy for Yun Zhenyue.
...
As for Lin Jiu, who had been saved by Yun Zhenyue,
she dazedly watched the old ghost kowtowing relentlessly, her head still spinning.
This senior, this supposed heroine, had a complex look in her eyes.
She muttered unnaturally,
"Junior... who in the world are you?"