The bald woman was incredibly strong. She had come down from a nunnery, and Markus seriously suspected she practiced martial arts because even he, a grown man, was almost powerless against her.
"How did you... how did you know I had that little girl's comb?" Markus struggled to ask, but the bald woman's grip was so tight that she dragged him around like a chicken.
"Give me the comb. Come on, I've been searching for it for a long time. Keeping it is useless to you—you're a dead man." Ignoring Markus' question, the bald woman kept urging him to hand it over.
Markus grew furious when she cursed him to death. Summoning all his strength, he shoved her away as if fighting for his life.
"Damn you! You're the one who's dead! Don't think you can talk nonsense just because you're crazy!" Markus shouted angrily.
"I'm not lying to you. You used a dead man's comb—sooner or later, you'll die too. Give me the little girl's comb!" The bald woman lunged at him again.
Markus dodged hastily, but the woman was skilled. With a swift lotus step, she spun around and seized him by the throat, choking him until he gasped for air.
"I don't have time to waste on you. Give me the comb." She tightened her grip, threatening him. If Markus refused, his life might really be in danger.
Markus was afraid of her. This woman was mentally ill—she wouldn't even be held accountable for killing someone. It wasn't worth dying over a comb.
"Here!" Markus yanked the little girl's comb from his pocket and flung it to the ground.
The bald woman's face lit up. She immediately released Markus and bent down to pick it up.
"Hey, hey! I found it! The comb! Master, we're saved! I'll go back to save you now!" Overjoyed, she grinned like a fool, her expression eerily twisted. She really didn't seem like a normal person.
"Tch, wouldn't you become a dead man too with that comb? I get it now—that little girl was also a ghost," Markus muttered, rubbing his sore neck.
The bald woman glanced back at him and explained that there were two kinds of dead man's combs: one belonged to vengeful spirits, the other to benevolent ghosts. The one in her hand was the latter.
Markus was about to ask how both combs could produce results when used to comb hair—
But in the blink of an eye, the bald woman was gone, leaving him alone on the dark rooftop.
Markus checked the time. It was already past one in the morning. The rooftop was eerie and pitch-black, and he couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching him. Remembering Brzenska's ghostly appearance, he shuddered in fear and hurried downstairs. Then he rushed home, buried himself under the blankets, and tried to sleep.
But strangely enough, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep. His scalp itched unbearably, making him want to comb his hair. Eventually, he couldn't resist and got up, using a normal comb a few times—but the itching wouldn't stop.
At this point, Markus remembered Brzenska's comb. As creepy as it was, his scalp was now so itchy he couldn't stand it. Gritting his teeth, he used Brzenska's comb again.
The moment he did, an icy coldness seeped into his scalp, immediately stopping the itch.
Markus sighed in relief and put the comb back in its place—when suddenly, he heard someone laugh.
"Who's there?" he shouted.
No one answered. Markus searched the entire room, but there was no one else. The laughter might have been a hallucination. Puzzled, he scratched his head and went back to sleep.
Originally, Markus had planned to burn the comb Brzenska gave him. But now, strangely, he found himself itching frequently and needing to use Brzenska's comb to relieve it—first three times a day, then six, then ten.
Markus, who was already balding, lost even more hair after using Brzenska's comb. Even worse, his health deteriorated, his face growing paler by the day.
Things were getting more and more bizarre—from encountering the bald woman, to seeing ghosts, to Brzenska delivering the comb, to weakening every time he combed his hair. The situation grew stranger and more terrifying by the minute.
Markus remembered the bald woman's words again—she had said that using a dead man's comb meant he wasn't far from death.
Given how things were going, he couldn't shake the feeling she might be right.
After much deliberation, Markus rushed to find a master to save his life. But after consulting several Taoist priests and monks with no results, he was on the verge of despair—until he met a blind fortune teller on the street.
The blind man asked for no money and didn't tell his fortune. Instead, he simply spoke to him.
He said the dead man's comb Markus was using was combing away his yang energy—that was why his body was weakening and his face growing paler.
If this continued, Markus would surely die. The only way to survive was to seek out the Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts.
After saying this, the blind man gave Markus an address—my tattoo parlor. Seeing that the blind man seemed somewhat supernatural, Markus didn't dare doubt him and came straight here.
Blind? Could it be Webster?
I described Webster's appearance and asked Markus if it matched.
Markus nodded sharply. "It's him!"
This Webster is truly righteous - he's actually bringing business to me. Next time I'll have to invite him and Master Raul for tea together. These two old guys have real skills. I should stay on their good side. With them watching my back, I'll have two powerful allies in Vervecity.
As for Markus's situation, I still have quite a few doubts.
First, why is he bald?
Second, why is everyone targeting him? The bald woman demanded the comb from him for no reason, Brzenska came to harm him after becoming a ghost, and he encountered the little girl too. Is this all just coincidence?
Third, why could he see the ghost? Of all the people in the supermarket, he was the only one who saw it. Why couldn't others see it?
Fourth, that bald woman doesn't seem like an ordinary psychopath. She appears to have some backstory - why is she so desperate to find that comb?
I asked Markus if he'd done anything wrong before. "You need to be honest - your life is at stake here. If you lie to me, I won't be able to save you."
Sometimes you have to scare people a little to get the truth out of them.
Markus shook his head rapidly like a rattle. "I swear I haven't done anything bad since I was a kid!"
That's strange. Could Markus have some special yin-yang constitution? Maybe a Four Pillars of Destiny that attracts ghosts? Or perhaps he's developed yin-yang eyes that let him see spirits?
Markus kept shaking his head. "I don't know! This never happened before - I've never seen ghosts until now."
That shouldn't be possible. Typically, Four Pillars of Destiny that attract ghosts are present from birth. As for yin-yang eyes, they're either innate or acquired later through some major life change.
For example, I once heard about a woman whose entire family died in an accident. She cried so hard her eyes bled, with bloody foam streaming from the corners. After her eyes healed, she started seeing her dead family members at home, and gradually other ghosts too. A master later confirmed she'd developed yin-yang eyes and helped close them, allowing her to return to normal life.
Innate yin-yang eyes can't be closed, but acquired ones can. Nothing like that happened to Markus - at worst he went bald, which has nothing to do with eyes. He couldn't have spontaneously developed yin-yang eyes.
"This is strange. You're a normal person - why is this happening to you? Brzenska had no grudge against you. Why would he want to hurt you?"
Markus shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just unlucky?"
"You can't explain everything with bad luck. There must be a reason."
I turned to Stein. "What do you think? Is this 'dead man's comb' story actually true?"
Stein nodded. "The legends about dead man's combs are real. A comb used by the dead shouldn't be used by the living - it drains yang energy. Markus's case is even worse - his comb belongs to a vengeful ghost. It carries ghostly resentment. Once you use it, you can't stop. You'll keep combing until you die."
"That's terrifying! Can't we just throw it away or burn it?"
Markus became agitated. "No! I can't go a day without that comb now. My scalp would kill me - I can't live without it anymore."
Stein sighed. "See? After one use, it's nearly impossible to save him. To be blunt, he's just waiting to die now."