Chapter 198: Chapter 198 : The Ghost Island (2)

"Do ghosts even smell?" the ship attendant asked dumbly.

Zhang Fengxi pushed Xie Jianyu aside and answered, "He died in a flower field. That’s why he smells."

"... Is that so? Does the smell carry?"

"Of course!" Zhang Fengxi insisted. "Why don’t you smell me too? I died in a smelly place as well."

The ship attendant leaned forward to take a whiff. He immediately leaned backward in disgust.

"And where did you die at? A garbage dump?"

"..."

Zhang Fengxi gave the ship attendant a scary grin. Before he said or did something suspicious, Xie Jianyu grabbed his ticket and handed it over to the ship attendant.

"I am sorry," he said with a placating smile. "May we please board the ship?"

The ship attendant snorted. He put a tentacle against his nose and waved at the two young men in front of him.

"Go, go, go. Take your smelly friend as far away as possible from me!"

Zhang Fengxi gave Xie Jianyu a look that pretty much said "Do I smell so bad?"

Xie Jianyu applauded himself for not laughing out loud in response. He then slipped a pill into Zhang Fengxi’s hand.

"Eat. It will mask smells."

Zhang Fengxi chewed on his pill begrudgingly. Everyone knew that the omegas smelled pleasant, but no one had ever complained about the alphas’ smell. What was with that stupid ship attendant?

Zhang Fengxi took Xie Jianyu’s wrist and led him toward the upper deck.

Many other ghosts who boarded the ship were already standing there. The space was rather cramped because it was a small ship. Both men tried their best not to breathe too loudly.

From above the ship, they watched more and more ghosts enter the ship. Some were rejected because they did not have any tickets with them.

"But... why can’t I board the ship? I am a ghost, too," a female ghost with a bloodied face complained.

The ship attendant shook his head.

"No can do. Either you have a ticket or you don’t. You need to ask your family members to burn paper money for you."

"But I ran away from home!" the female ghost argued. "My family doesn’t even know that I am dead!"

"That is why you are allowed to haunt them before you get reincarnated," the octopus ghost explained with a tired voice. "Go, go. Just appear in their dreams until they burn you enough paper money. And then you can buy the tickets at the ticketing booth over there."

After getting rid of ticketless ghosts, the ship attendant hopped into the ship and retracted the wooden slate that acted as a small bridge between the ship and the pier.

"Ready to leave!" he cried out as he slammed the ship gate shut with one of his tentacles.

The Ghost Ship rumbled for a second, and then it started moving away from the pier.

Before long, the passengers were able to make out the tiny lights that made up the Ghost Island. The island was only awake during the night. All its inhabitants slept during the day.

The tiny lights grew brighter and brighter. There was a huge tower at the center of the island, surrounded by small one to two-tiered buildings that were decorated with colorful lanterns in unique shapes.

In the Ghost Island, the business was booming.

As soon as the ghost passengers stepped onto the island, they were greeted by many ghosts in monstrous forms.

In the Ghost Island, all the ghosts took on a solid appearance.

"Welcome, welcome to the Ghost Island!" a frog ghost in human size rubbed his hands together in excitement as he scanned the arriving ghosts one by one, looking for the wealthy ones to approach.

"Have a taste of our famed fish blood soup and donkey eyeball skewers! If you have not tasted them, then you haven’t been in the Ghost Island!"

"Fill your kitchen in the Underworld with these black iron pots for cooking! Only accepting ghost money, thank you...!"

"Sir! A cursed pearl hairpin for your archenemy! It can transfer your bad karma to a person of your choice!"

Zhang Fengxi squeezed Xie Jianyu’s hand as they passed through stalls selling all kinds of ghost foods, appliances, and accessories. He needed to find a remote corner to breathe. The concentrated yin energy in the air was too suffocating for them, Heavenly Realm residents.

"Over here."

Xie Jianyu pulled at their joined hands and dragged Zhang Fengxi into a remote alley. Once they were far from the bustling area of the island, both of them took a deep breath and leaned against the brick wall behind them.

"Okay, where now?" Zhang Fengxi looked around in search of a signboard, which of course did not exist.

Xie Jianyu too was on the lookout for the same thing.

And then, they heard the sound of something heavy hitting one of the stalls.

It was a man who crashed against a table full of medicinal items.

"HEY!!! WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING! HEY!!!"

A man pushed himself up with a groan.

"I am sorry, I just... I will pay for everything..."

"You better do!!!" The snake-headed ghost hissed at him. "Two hundred golden paper money, no less!!!"

The man unexpectedly laughed.

"No worries, no worries. But let me pay you in a moment, alright? I am going to win big at the gambling house first!"

He stood on shaky legs and moved away.

"Oh, those stupid gamblers," the snake-headed ghost cursed. "I hope he really pays up."

Next to him, a fox lady selling lizard candies giggled to herself.

"I am sure he will. If he doesn’t, you can collect his payment from that newcomer fortuneteller lady."

"Pfui!"

The snake-headed ghost spat to the ground.

"And collect what? One of the two eyes that he paid to her???"

Zhang Fengxi’s eyes darkened.

That was the clue they had been waiting for.

"Excuse me, Sir," Zhang Fengxi beamed at the snake-headed ghost. "Can you show me the fortuneteller’s stand?"

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay