Selling Faces
Danny instantly stood in front of Elise. “Who are you, and what do you want?” He pulled a long face
with studied ferocity. He knew he was weaker than Elise in terms of strength, but he was a man after
all. In moments of danger, he had to stand in front of her to protect her.
However, such a huge commotion drew no response from the street vendors and passersby around
them, who were already used to such situations. Ignoring the worrying situation the three were in, they
continued running their own businesses, haggling over prices as though their world was separate from
that of Elise and the others.
After confronting the brute for a moment, Danny narrowed his eyes, ready to strike the first blow.
However, just as he was about to make a move, the burly brute before him suddenly laughed
obsequiously. “Hehe, I was just kidding, folks. Don’t get the wrong idea, okay? I meant it literally!”
Danny was astounded; he had thought he and Elise were about to run into a grave situation at last. At
the sight of the situation, he spat with a frown, saying, “Tsk. Just my luck. So, what business do you
have with us?”
“Selling faces, of course. Look at this, folks…” the brute said while putting his hands on the back of his
head. After a brief pause, he suddenly tore at his hairy scalp and stretched it toward both sides.
Danny took a step back immediately as the sight of the creepy scene gave him goosebumps.
The next second, though, the brute tore off his entire face.
“Eek!” Danny’s face scrunched up with disgust as he thought he was going to see the man’s badly
mutilated face.
However, when the brute took away his face, what was revealed was another, more good-looking face
that looked totally unlike the one just now.
“What the hell?” Danny’s lips twitched. “Is that face-changing?”
On the other hand, Elise watched the show with great interest as a bloodthirsty smile played across her
lips.
“Yes, and no. You might as well say it’s an art of disguise.” The brute was still smiling broadly, but his
delicate features looked very amiable. “We make masks using fine-quality imitation human skin that
feels no different from real human skin. Although the masks are made to order on a one-to-one basis,
it’s very easy to wear them, allowing you to transform into someone else with little effort! Still worrying
about being caught cheating on your lover? Still afraid to show yourself for fear of making a
laughingstock of yourself? Worry not, for our masks keep you free from worries!”
The brute promoted the advertising slogans while holding up the ‘human skin’ in his hand, showing it
around in various poses. The scene looked extremely bizarre.
Seriously, would anyone buy masks from him with such advertising slogans? Danny wondered. The
next instant, however, he heard Elise say, “Interesting. May I add you on WhatsApp? I’ll do business
with you.”
“Really?! Haha! I’m making the first transaction at last!” said the brute. Then, he continued to promote
the ‘human skin’ in his hand, saying, “Sweetie, I’d suggest that you buy more of them so that you won’t
have to worry about getting caught no matter how many times you cheat on your boyfriend!”
“Who said I want to cheat on my boyfriend?” Elise finally realized why the brute had few customers
despite the nearby stalls doing booming businesses. I’d better not waste my breath talking to this guy.
He’s got such a foul mouth, she thought. “Anyway, let’s exchange our numbers first. I’ll call you later to
talk about our collaboration.” As she couldn’t stand the brute’s irritating words anymore, she quickly
exchanged contact information with him. After wiring him the deposit, she told him to go back and wait
for an update.
Seeing that the money had been transferred to his bank account, the brute left merrily with the ‘human
skin’ in his hand.
Staring at the face hanging from the brute’s hand, Danny shuddered with a chill running down his
spine. Then, he moved closer to Elise, asking, “Elise, what are you buying such useless stuff for?”
“I have uses for them.” Elise smiled before continuing to move on.
The black market was large, so Elise and Danny only finished visiting one-third of its area after walking
for two hours. Having gotten tired from all the walking, they found a milk tea stand and sat down to get
something to drink, waiting for Alexander while they were at it.
The stand owner was a Thai who couldn’t speak English but was good at making milk tea. As a result,
despite finishing more than half of her cup of milk tea in one gulp, Elise didn’t get sick of its sweetness.
Just as Elise was wondering if she should buy another cup for Alexander, a man walking past her
suddenly collapsed at her feet. As a doctor, she instinctively got up and tried to help him up, taking his
pulse upon touching his wrist.
A moment later, a grave expression took over her face. If she had to find a term to describe the state of
this man’s health, it would be withered. If one could draw an analogy between a healthy man and a
fresh, tender, and juicy sponge gourd, then the man, who appeared to be in his thirties, had become
like a dry and fibrous loofah.
There was little need to treat such people. Still, healers were supposed to treat all patients as equal, so
Elise tried to treat him using traditional medical treatment.
Luckily, the man had quite a strong will to live, and he slowly opened his eyes.
Elise asked with a serious expression, “Who are you? Why are you here?” In fact, such a dying person
seemed out of tune with the black market, for one could gain nothing from them.
The man’s face was bloodless, and his eyes were sunken. After taking a few sharp breaths, he
explained intermittently, “They… took both my kidneys away… without paying me money… I came to
ask them for money, but I couldn’t find them… They’re hiding from me…”
With that, the man lost his strength and leaned against the leg of the table at his last gasp, his eyes
opening and closing, as if he would die at any time. However, he had basically made his tragic story
clear. In short, it was the story of a desperate man, who ran into a bunch of organ smugglers and had
both his kidneys taken away without getting paid for that.
Unable to bear the sight of the scene, Elise got up and said to Danny, “Help him up and find a place for
me to give him treatment.”
“Okay.” Danny nodded.
However, just as he was about to help the man up, a few men suddenly rushed over from the roadside,
making a loud noise as one of them pointed at the dying man and said, “He’s here! Didn’t I say that he
wouldn’t last long? Hurry up and take him back. Perhaps he’s still warm!” As he spoke, the bunch of
men came to the dying man and were about to carry him away.
Grabbing one of them by the wrist, Danny snapped, “Who are you guys? What’s your relationship with
him?”
“Who are you, then?” asked the vulgar man in reply from a distance away. Then, he warned, “A new
face, eh? No one told you to stay out of other people’s business in the black market, huh?”
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