Taboo Mage - Chapter 170 - Predicament

What an incredibly unlucky situation!

“Dad…”

In the mirror stood Li Zhiqiang, his face covered in blood and grime, with two pale eyeballs rolling around before settling on the Village Chief. His throat bobbed as he muttered just one word.

I struggled to remain calm and asked steadily, “Li Zhiqiang?”

He didn’t respond, simply shifting his gaze towards me and staring for a long moment. Suddenly, in the previously blank mirror, an image flickered to life-a street illuminated by street lights appeared next to Li Zhiqiang.

Li Zhiqiang seemed to be standing barefoot on the road and slowly began to walk toward me.

Watching this eerie scene, I couldn’t help but step back. The red string tied to my wrist restricted my movement until it reached its end, causing the white candle to flicker slightly.

Suddenly snapping back to reality, I hurriedly steadied the white candle and looked back at the mirror. Li Zhiqiang had already reached the end of the street, his bloodshot eyes staring unblinkingly at me.

Being stared at like that gave me chills, goosebumps immediately rose on my skin. “Li… you…”

Before I could finish speaking, Li Zhiqiang suddenly raised his hands, reached through the mirror, and grabbed my neck.

Damn! I couldn’t help but curse silently. Had I known things would be so unlucky, I wouldn’t have meddled in this business!

I struggled, grasping Li Zhiqiang’s wrists, but his hands gripped my throat like a vice, leaving me feeling suffocated.

Just as I was about to be strangled, the arms suddenly pulled back, dragging me in with them.

It felt as if I had become transparent, my whole body passing through the mirror, my feet landing on the ground of the street from the mirror. Beside me stood a man around thirty years old.

He was dressed in a suit, wearing shiny new shoes, and had a smile on his face.

That was Li Zhiqiang, or rather, Li Zhiqiang before he turned into a ghost. I took a deep breath and silently moved to the side, creating some distance from the man beside me.

Li Zhiqiang said nothing, simply led the way down the street, occasionally turning his head to look at me, signaling for me to follow.

A sudden surge of inexplicable fear welled up inside me. I turned my head abruptly, and behind me was a transparent glass pane. Through the glass, I could see the room outside, the wardrobe directly opposite, and the Village Chief passed out next to it.

His hand was resting beside the white candle, which was burning while the red string lay on the floor, stretching all the way into the mirror.

Clenching my teeth, I rushed forward, fists pounding desperately on the glass. “Village Chief! Uncle Li! Wake up! Don’t sleep!”

The sound echoed in my ears but not a bit of it traveled out. Suddenly, I felt my body freeze as a hand landed on my shoulder.

I trembled all over, goosebumps quickly rising from my toes and spreading all the way to my scalp, as if pricked by needles.

Slowly turning my head, I saw Li Zhiqiang, who had reached the end of the path, somehow already returned. His hand rested on my shoulder, and he was looking at me with a smile.

But that smile-no matter how you looked at it-seemed sinister.

I cleared my throat, intending to speak, but then thought better of it. I had already been trapped here, and unless the Village Chief woke up to pull the red string and drag me out, I’d be stuck here forever.

Given the situation, I might as well explore this Illusion and perhaps find an exit.

With this in mind, I resolutely lifted my hand, slapped away Li Zhiqiang’s hand from my shoulder, and strode forward purposefully.

The street was eerily silent, not a sound to be heard. Li Zhiqiang walked beside me without saying a word, the clacking of his shoes on the pavement sounding like a death knell.

I followed behind Li Zhiqiang, slowly walking forward. This seemed to be a street in the city, surrounded by skyscrapers, all illuminated, with a large supermarket at the roadside. Yet, no shadows of people were present inside any of the buildings.

Eventually, Li Zhiqiang stopped in front of a building. I leaned over to take a look-it was a half-constructed Construction Site. The lower floors had been completed, with a crisscross of concrete structures, and rebar protruding significantly from the concrete walls.

Li Zhiqiang gestured toward the inside of the building and then kept walking ahead. I frowned. I had heard from the Village Chief before that while Li Zhiqiang was working away from home, he was employed at a factory. Later, the Boss said he had resigned long ago.

Could it be that after resigning, he went to work at the Construction Site?

Perplexed, I followed Li Zhiqiang further inside.

Li Zhiqiang climbed from the first floor to the third before he finally stopped. At last, I heard sounds in my ears-a group of men arguing.

“Manager Li, you said it yourself, once the first phase of the project was done, you’d pay us! Now the second phase is almost finished and still no money! Our wives and kids are waiting for us to bring home food!”

The speaker was a rugged man wearing camouflage pants and a red vest, his hands covered in calluses and his face smudged with dirt.

I took a step forward and immediately spotted Li Zhiqiang among the group.

Four men were standing in a corner. One was in a suit, corpulent, with two individuals behind him who looked like a bodyguard and the boss of the construction project.

Opposite them stood the man who had spoken, with Li Zhiqiang next to him.

Li Zhiqiang was huddled in the corner. If I hadn’t remembered his face so clearly, I might have missed him.

Upon hearing the conversation, the portly man in the suit spoke up, “Old Zhang, that’s not how it is. We’ve all worked together for so long, and when there’s money, I’ll naturally pay you. But right now, I just don’t have any.”

“You’re lying! You’ve sold so many houses from the first phase. How could you not have any money?” Li Zhiqiang suddenly burst out angrily.

The portly man snorted, “So what if they’re sold? The money didn’t go into my pocket. I say there’s no money, so there’s no money!”

As soon as he finished, the man in camouflage pants rushed forward, and the bodyguard behind the portly man lunged at him with a club aimed at both him and Li Zhiqiang.

I couldn’t bear to watch any longer. Li Zhiqiang and the man in camouflage pants simply lacked social experience, or perhaps they were too trusting of the portly man in front of them.

In today’s society, the last people you should trust are businessmen, especially someone like the man in front of them with such an ostentatious appearance. With that gold Rolex on his wrist, claiming to have no money was clearly just an attempt to evade debt.