【Texture】(100, 101, 102)

Author: Wandering Traveler,
February 4, 2016, First published in
Chapter 100.
Looking at the empty hall, my hand unconsciously touched my chin.
"Wu? The characters on the flag should be the name of the state, right? Wu? Xia Ji was from the Spring and Autumn Period, so this
Wu must be the Wu of the Spring and Autumn Period. Because before the Warring States Period, Wu had already been
defeated by the Yue King Goujian, who endured hardship and humiliation, and no longer existed… However, Xia Ji actually visited Wu in history? That's quite an unexpected discovery
…"
I unconsciously frowned. I realized that the scene I was seeing in my dream had overturned my past
memories of history. Because historically, I had never heard of Xia Ji or Xia Nan having
any connection with the state of Wu.
But then I thought of the imprisonment cage beneath Phoenix Mountain. Tang Hui, through identifying the inscriptions on the cage, confirmed
that it was built by the two historical giants, Wu Zixu and Sun Wu, and that Xia Nan's coffin was inside
...
Thinking about this, I suddenly slapped my thigh.
"Right, how could I forget that guy? Xia Ji and Xia Nan seem to have
no connection with the Wu Kingdom in history, but there is one person who is clearly linked to both Xia Ji and the Wu Kingdom. Through him,
Xia Ji and the Wu Kingdom seem to have an indirect connection. That person is Qu Wu! That's right, that guy
! According to historical records, he betrayed the Chu Kingdom to get Xia Ji. After that, he always opposed the Chu Kingdom,
first stirring up trouble between the Chu Kingdom and the northern states in the north, and then using the Jin Kingdom to give the Chu Kingdom a good beating. After that,
he wasn't satisfied, so he went to the Wu Kingdom to offer advice and strategies to the Wu Kingdom..." Training the army. The reason why King Helü of Wu
was able to defeat Chu and capture Yingdu was not solely due to Wu Zixu and Sun Wu; Qu Wu
also played a significant role… Wait, if that's the case, was that handsome middle-aged man Qu Wu? Did he
bring Xia Ji and Xia Nan to Wu? Then… was that weathered-looking, white-haired uncle
Wu Zixu? Yes, that must be him… Historical records state that when Wu Zixu fled Chu in his youth
, his hair turned white overnight when he passed Shaoguan…”
I unconsciously opened my mouth wide, my face filled with disbelief. I never imagined I would
see such a famous historical figure in my dream…
“If the white-haired man is Wu Zixu, then could the king sitting above be Helü? Hmm, it can only be
Helü. When King Liao of Wu was in power, Wu Zixu was also an official of Wu, but his status seemed low. It was n't until
Zhuan Zhu assassinated King Liao and Prince Guang ascended the throne as King Helü that he became
a high-ranking official in Wu, because it was he who recommended Zhuan Zhu to Helü… Right…
The person sitting in the first seat opposite Xia Ji looks quite similar to Helü, and their ages are close. They seem to be brothers.
Could that person be Fu Gai?”
Recalling the actions and gestures of those people, and through some analysis, I quickly
matched the important political figures of Wu during this period with the people who had sat opposite Xia Ji and the other two. I couldn't help but get excited
.
"That generic-looking guy next to the white-haired guy must be Sun Tzu, the military strategist. My God... I can't believe I'm
seeing so many historical figures in this dream..." Overwhelmed with excitement, my body
began to shake violently from side to side. But as I shook, I suddenly realized that the shaking wasn't
my own conscious effort, but rather a passive, controlled rocking motion. I quickly
snapped out of the dream.
When I opened my eyes, Zhou Jingyi's beautiful face came into view. She was holding
my right hand, shaking it vigorously. Seeing that I had opened my eyes, she rushed into my arms with a look of pure joy, bursting
into tears...
"Thank God you're alive! If anything had happened to you... what would I have done?"
Seeing that I was awake, Lu Zhaohui, who had been sitting on the edge of the stone house, smiled at me, then got up and led
He Qiang, Leopard, Chunri, and a few others away from the stone house.
I was finally able to comfort Zhou Jingyi while asking her about
the details of how she got to Xia Yucheng.
It took Zhou Jingyi a while to recover from her agitation. She then told me about her
experiences after separating from Zhao Zhongyuan and the others…
Apparently, based on her memory, she found the big tree where Lu Zhaohui and I had been, and even found
bullets that had fallen nearby during our struggle. Since she didn't find any bodies or
bones corroded by blood, she was certain that Lu Zhaohui and I had survived. She then began searching for us in the woods
. However, she didn't find us, but instead spotted seven or eight unfamiliar armed men passing by.
She suspected that Lu Zhaohui and I might have been captured by the armed men. So, she mustered her courage and secretly followed them
, eventually ending up back in Xia Yucheng. After entering the city, she originally planned to use the
dilapidated houses as cover to try and rescue me and Lu Zhaohui, but she was ambushed and knocked unconscious, only just
waking up.
"...Listen to me, I don't care what excuse you have! Even if it's to save Aunt Lu, you can't
act without telling me! You know what? After Senior Zhao told me you were going back to save Aunt Lu, I thought,
you're going to die. I don't want to live either... If we're going to die, we'll die together..."
Zhou Jingyi became agitated again as she spoke, crying and angrily grabbing my
neck with both hands, strangling me hard. Although she wasn't very strong, she almost choked me until she
realized I was starting to roll my eyes back, and then she hurriedly let go. Faced with the woman's genuine emotions, I didn't
say anything, but simply reached out and pulled her tightly into my arms. Then, without waiting for her consent, I forcefully lowered my head and kissed
her lips…
Just as our lips touched, before we could make any further intimate moves, a deliberately coughed sound
jarred my ears, ruining the moment. I looked up and saw Zhou Chang awkwardly standing against the broken wall of the stone house. Seeing me…
Upon seeing him, I quickly explained my purpose.
"Senior Zhao is performing a ritual to open a passage out of here. If all goes well,
we'll have to leave immediately once the passage is open. Senior Zhao said the passage won't be open for long,
so we need to get there quickly and can't stop along the way. That's why I came to let you know. It's best to go and meet up with everyone and take a
quick rest. Then we'll set off."
After I nodded to him in confirmation, Zhou Chang quickly left, and Zhou Jingyi and I helped each other to our feet
.
"...Huh, whose clothes are you wearing? I remember you weren't wearing these when you set off."
After getting up, Zhou Jingyi took the initiative to tidy my appearance, and immediately frowned.
My original clothes were already tattered, and on the lawn of the "Sacrifice Ground,"
they were burned to ashes by the sect leader's Yang Flame. The outfit I was wearing was
found in the backpacks left behind by the dead militants ; it was just a pair of trousers and an outer jacket. I was completely naked down there,
not even underwear…
I casually replied, “You don’t know, a lot happened after you fainted. My original clothes
were all burned in the fire. This outfit was found by Aunt Lu and the others in the backpacks of those militants.
Luckily, they found this outfit, otherwise, I probably would have been walking around naked…”
Zhou Jingyi paused after hearing my answer, then asked again to confirm, “You mean,
Aunt Lu saw you naked?”
I blinked and finally honestly hummed in agreement…
Zhou Jingyi grabbed my ear with one hand, and I cried out in pain.
"You...you actually dare to admit it? It's one thing to be a pervert with me, but you even went and did it to Aunt Lu!
Are you asking for it?"
"No, no, don't be shy...you don't know the situation, it wasn't my choice..." I quickly
tried to defend myself.
Zhou Jingyi looked quite angry, but from her eyes I realized she might not actually care that
much. Pulling my ear was ostensibly a way of getting angry, but more than that, it was an excuse for her
to get physical with me, a way to feign jealousy and try to be intimate. Of course, all of this
was based on the premise that I had only unintentionally undressed in front of Lu Zhaohui. If she knew I had
actually had a physical relationship with Lu Zhaohui, how she would treat me was anyone's guess.
During the playful fight, I hugged Zhou Jingyi tightly again. She struggled symbolically for a moment, then shyly
buried her head in my chest. She drew circles on my chest with her finger, muttering, "Seeing
Aunt Lu and Boss He like that, I know you must have run into a lot of trouble.
I can let it go this time, but I'm warning you... you're my man now. Without my
permission, you're forbidden from having too much contact with other women, not even Aunt Lu, and you're absolutely forbidden from taking your clothes off in front of her
... You're mine! Do you hear me?"
Just as I was about to answer "Yes," a coquettish female voice
rang out untimely from the broken wall at the corner of the stone house...
"How affectionate... it's so enviable!"
I looked up, and my heart sank. I thought to myself, "This is bad..."
I saw Guan Xue resting her elbows on the low wall, her hands supporting her chin, watching Zhou Jingyi and me with a cunning look
. She had obviously been spying on us for a while. And I, whose attention had been entirely focused on Zhou Jingyi,
hadn't even noticed this woman's appearance.
"Who are you?" Zhou Jingyi turned around immediately upon hearing the voice, but
her shy expression quickly turned to confusion upon seeing Guan Xue's unfamiliar face.
Facing Zhou Jingyi's question, Guan Xue smiled and replied, "Me? Oh, right, this is our first meeting
... My name is Guan Xue. And you? Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" After saying that, the woman even gave me
a flirtatious wink and blinked twice.
Zhou Jingyi noticed Guan Xue's affected expression and immediately turned to look at me.
I quickly explained to Zhou Jingyi, "She originally came with those people. But now she's with
us, and she'll be leaving with us later..."
Hearing this, Zhou Jingyi blinked, clearly not understanding what I was trying to say.
Just then, Chunri ran to Guan Xue's side, trying to pull her away. Before being dragged away by Chunri, Guan Xue deliberately
called out to me. "Ping-ge'er, we sisters are all counting on you... You can't
abandon us after you've taken advantage of us!"
After the two women disappeared, pulling and tugging at each other, I looked down and saw Zhou Jingyi's
face, contorted with rage...
"Why aren't you saying anything? Aren't you going to explain or defend yourself?"
I swallowed hard. I didn't know how to start.
"Abandon her after taking advantage of her? From what she's saying, did you sleep with her?" In her extreme anger,
Zhou Jingyi's expression softened. But her voice was icy cold.
I moved my lips a couple of times, and finally answered dejectedly, "Slept with...slept with her..." It wasn't that I
hadn't considered lying, but it was clear that the lie would be exposed sooner or later, because
there were other witnesses to my having sex with those four women. Faced with reality, I couldn't deny it. Rather than going against my conscience by lying
, I might as well admit it honestly.
"Slap..."
Zhou Jingyi was decisive, slapping me hard across the face. Then she turned and strode out of the stone house.
I was left alone, standing there like an idiot, completely stunned.
After a long while, I gritted my teeth and raised my head. I muttered curses under my breath. "Hit me?
What right do you have to hit me? So what if you slept with a few women! Didn't you used to flirt with men everywhere,
even giving them handjobs...? I didn't even care about those who said bad things about you... and now you're turning around and blaming me first
..."
Although the words were harsh, they were really just me trying to encourage and comfort myself.
At that moment, I truly felt an urge to cry. Just to keep myself from crying, I desperately
tried to convince myself: "She's just pretty,
good in bed... God knows how many men she's slept with before? Why should I care what she thinks of me... Saying
I'm her man is just a fling! How could a woman like her really want to
spend her life with me..."
A few minutes later, I walked out of the stone house, my gaze vacant. Reaching the altar plaza, I saw Xie
Zhengnan's mercenaries had piled up three large bonfires using branches cut from outside the city, seemingly burning
something. Upon closer inspection, I noticed human remains inside the bonfires.
Lu Zhaohui, surrounded by He Qiang, Leopard, and numerous mercenaries, stood to the side, silently
watching the raging flames with a sorrowful expression. I then realized they were cremating the dead.
I desperately needed something else to fill the void in my mind. Therefore, I unconsciously walked
over to Lu Zhaohui and asked, "Who are you burning?"
Lu Zhaohui turned her head and glanced at me before answering faintly, "Xiao Chao's body has been found, and carrying it would only be
a burden. Xie Zhengnan and the others wanted to cremate their two deceased comrades. I thought about it and decided to let them cremate Xiao Chao as well
..."
Lu Zhaohui's voice choked with emotion at the end. Chen Ying and Qi Ying, standing beside her, quickly supported
her and comforted her. These two women had been hiding with Lu Zhaohui in the cave at the top of the sacrificial site for quite
some time, and were clearly familiar with her by now.
Zhou Jingyi, who should have been with Lu Zhaohui, was not there. She
sat alone on the lowest step of the pyramid altar, her expression ashen, silent, lost in
thought. Meanwhile, on the altar, the old man Zhao Zhongyuan was performing his sacrificial ritual with great enthusiasm.
With Chen Ying and Qi Ying's comforting words, Lu Zhaohui calmed down a bit, then turned to me and asked,
"Did you and Jingyi have a fight?"
I scratched my head and answered yes, pursing my lips.
Lu Zhaohui sighed, and after confirming that Qi Ying and Chen Ying had moved aside, she whispered, "Did you
tell her about us?"
I shook my head. "No...it was about something else."
Lu Zhaohui seemed somewhat surprised. Clearly, in her view, Zhou Jingyi's anger, her conflict with me, and
her failure to speak to her could only be because Zhou Jingyi knew about our physical relationship
. But she hadn't expected me to give her that answer.
She was silent for a moment, then whispered in my ear, "I see. It's best to keep our affair
a secret from her."
I nodded. "I know my limits."
Lu Zhaohui observed Zhou Jingyi's situation from a distance for a while before speaking again. "If it's not
about the two of us, then why is she sulking alone like this?"
Faced with Lu Zhaohui's question, the muscles in my face twitched involuntarily. After sighing,
for some reason, I confessed to Lu Zhaohui about the ceremony Xue Zong had organized, and
how I had slept with five women during the ceremony. I figured Zhou Jingyi would eventually find Lu Zhaohui and
tell her about my possible encounters with other women. Rather than let Zhou Jingyi badmouth me to Lu Zhaohui, I
'd rather be honest with her now.
As I expected, Lu Zhaohui seemed unusually calm about it.
"I see... Although you couldn't control yourself, you're still somewhat at fault. But in that situation
, if you didn't cooperate, they might have just killed you. Hmm, I understand... I
'll find time to talk to her after we get out."
At this moment, Zhou Chang took the initiative to walk to my and Lu Zhaohui's side and said, "Aunt Lu, if you cremate them like this,
the remains will be difficult to burn. It's possible that you won't be able to collect the ashes even after Senior Zhao's ceremony is completed. Do you need my help
?"
Lu Zhaohui looked at the progress of the cremation, realized that Zhou Chang's words made sense, and nodded to Zhou Chang.
Zhou Chang then took out three talismans from his body, made a hand seal, chanted several incantations, and
threw the three talismans into the three bonfires. The bonfires instantly rose into billowing flames. In a very short time,
the remains of the three deceased were reduced to ashes.
After the campfire died down, He Qiang, along with Leopard and several mercenaries, went forward and collected
the ashes of the three deceased, including Li Chao, in cloth bags. At this moment, Zhao Zhongyuan's ritual on the altar seemed to have entered its final stage
. He picked up an aluminum kettle and poured the demonic blood into the stone cauldron.
Smoke immediately rose from the cauldron, and at the same time, a thunderous sound echoed from somewhere in the northeast of the valley.
An image quickly appeared within the swirling smoke, showing a cave
entrance below a cliff…
Without hesitation, Zhao Zhongyuan immediately turned and shouted to the crowd in the square, “The passage out of the valley
has been opened! The passage should be on the cliff in the northeast of the valley. Everyone prepare to depart immediately! The passage
will remain open for no more than two hours. You must enter the passage within four hours.
Otherwise, stay in this valley and wait to die…”
With that, Zhao Zhongyuan, carrying the kettle, descended the steps from the altar. As she passed Zhou Jingyi, the woman
suddenly stood up and snatched the water bottle from Zhao Zhongyuan's hand.
Zhao Zhongyuan looked at her, somewhat bewildered, and asked, "Girl, why are you taking this water bottle?
Yan Ping gave it to me."
Zhou Jingyi glared and shouted. "What Yan Ping? This water bottle was given to me by Shama. I
kept it in my bag the whole time. I don't care how it ended up in your hands, but you have to give it back after you're done using it..."
She then turned to me, giving me a hateful glare.
Seeing Zhou's actions, I couldn't help but feel a pang of unease. I suddenly realized that this woman might not be
as angry as I had imagined. Her initial demand for and possession of the water bottle from Shama was actually to curry favor with me.
I was happy because she knew I wanted the water bottle. At that moment, she snatched the water bottle directly from Old Zhao's hand, which, in a
sense, seemed to be conveying some kind of message to me…
Realizing this, my previously dejected mood suddenly brightened. However, after seeing
the water bottle in Zhou Jingyi's hand, engraved with my father's name, I suddenly remembered.
"Right, I almost forgot. My mother's remains might still be in this valley. Wasn't I
planning to take some time to go in this valley…"
Thinking of this, I grabbed a lantern placed at the edge of the square and prepared to enter the forest
. My actions were seen by Zhao Zhongyuan and Wang Lie.
"Yan Ping, where are you going?" Wang Lie quickly called out to stop me.
"I remembered something, I need to go into the forest to find something!" I replied.
"What time is it now? Are you still trying to run around? The exit is on the cliff on the east side of the valley. Even if we set
off now, it will take at least two or three hours to walk there. What time do you have to search for anything in the forest?!"
Zhao Zhongyuan, who had completely forgotten about arguing with Zhou Jingyi about the water bottle, stood on the altar steps and started yelling at me
.
Hearing Zhao Zhongyuan's words, I paused, startled. Only then did I remember
what Zhao Zhongyuan had just said. "The passage will remain open for no more than two hours. You must
enter the passage within four hours. Otherwise, stay in this valley and wait to die..."
Instantly, I was caught in a dilemma. Should I search for my mother's remains?
It takes three hours to walk from here to the exit. Even if I forced myself to leave the group to search, I would
only have one hour. In one hour, how much area could I search? But by chance, I had entered
the valley where Xia Yucheng was located, and there was a high probability that my mother's remains were still there. Should I
give up so easily?
For a moment, I stood there, unsure whether to leave or stay. Wang Lie caught up with me and
asked, "What exactly are you looking for in the forest?"
Faced with Wang Lie's question, I blinked, thought for a moment, and ultimately didn't tell him my
deduction that my mother's remains might be in this valley. I simply replied perfunctorily, "Nothing much, just
some belongings of previous entrants I saw in this valley, and I wanted to collect them."
Wang Lie shook his head. "Then you really don't need to come all this way! Old Zhao
is quite familiar with this valley and Xia Yucheng. He might bring people back here to solicit business in the future.
If you really want to collect the belongings of the dead in this valley, you can just come back with him again in the
future."
Hearing Wang Lie say this, I immediately turned to Zhao Zhongyuan and called out, "Senior Zhao, will you
come back to this place in the future?"
Zhao Zhongyuan was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled. "Kid, you've got your eye on Xia
Yucheng's Bagua Formation too? Want to make some extra money with this powerful array? I know. Next time I get a job
, count you in and I'll take you on a trip. But let me make it clear beforehand, I have to
take the lion's share! I'll only give you a small running fee."
Receiving Zhao Zhongyuan's reply, I breathed a sigh of relief. In that case, I really didn't need to search
for my mother's remains now. Next time Zhao Zhongyuan got a similar job, I could just go with him again
. Next time, I'd probably have plenty of time to search carefully in this valley.
Seeing my left arm was weak, before setting off, Wang Lie carried the still-sleeping Xia Jiang on his
back. Leopard and several mercenaries set off first, scouting and clearing the way for the main group. We
followed in twos and threes.
After seeing everyone begin to move, Zhao Zhongyuan stood in the square of Xia Yu City, gazing at the pyramid-
shaped altar, and suddenly began to sing at the top of his lungs…
“The clouds are radiant… swirling and flowing… the sun and moon shine brightly… day after day…”
Hearing the old man Zhao suddenly start singing, Wang Lie, Tang Hui, and the others immediately stopped, turned around
, faced the altar, and joined in the shouting.
“…The bright heavens… the stars are brilliantly arrayed… the sun and moon shine brightly… all bestowed upon one man… the sun and moon are constant…
the stars move in their course… the four seasons follow their course… all people are sincere…”
Their singing, in the vast night, sounded like the wailing of wolves and howling of ghosts! Yet, it evoked
a sense of mystery and vastness.
Perhaps influenced to some extent, I also stopped and joined in the shouting.
"As I discuss music... in harmony with the spirit of Heaven... in accordance with the wisdom of sages... all listen... let the drums beat loudly... let
the dances resound... the essence is exhausted... lift your skirts and depart."
After finishing the song, I turned around and realized that Zhou Jingyi, Guanxue, and Chunri had also
stopped and sung the "Qingyun Song," just like us. However, after Zhou Jingyi realized I was looking at her,
she immediately turned her face away and quickly chased after Lu Zhaohui and the others, without even glancing at me.
Lin Moxiang asked Zhao Zhongyuan. "Senior Zhao, why did you decide to sing this song at this time?"
Zhao Zhongyuan pointed at Xia Yu City and said, "This city was built by the great Yu the Great. Now that we're leaving, we
should at least inform him, flatter him, and say some nice things. That way, next time we
come, he'll be more polite to us! I reckon that guy surnamed Zhu was here before. Judging from
his appearance, he certainly didn't sing this 'Qingyun Song' like we did when he left, so he was unlucky and
died here." After saying this, the old man laughed heartily. As soon as he finished laughing, a strange 　　rumbling sound
came from the pyramid altar in the center of Xia Yu City behind him . 　　Then, before our eyes, the entire pyramid altar slowly began to sink... 　　"What... what's going on?" Zhao Zhongyuan's eyes widened, staring blankly at everything before him. Then, 　　he suddenly turned around and shouted at Wang Lie, "Wang Lie, when we were singing just now, did you sing along?"

Wang Lie was stunned for a moment, then spoke up. "I sang it, so what?"
Old Zhao rushed to Wang Lie's side and slapped him hard across the face.
"We can all sing this song! Can you sing it? You're the Yin and Yang... just like the Yellow Emperor.
If you sing it like that, won't you scare Yu the Great? He'll definitely think, 'Why is the Yellow Emperor
singing this song in front of me? What does he mean? Does he want me to immediately abdicate and return the throne to him along with Shun?'"
"Old Master Zhao, stop talking nonsense! Something's not right here! Look... the altar is cracking
!" Lin Moxiang shouted, pointing at the slowly sinking altar.
A massive crack appeared beneath the pyramid, and
one by one, the stone and earthen houses within the inner circle of Xia Yu City's Bagua formation slid into it…
Zhao Zhongyuan turned and, witnessing the scene before him, shouted, "Run! This isn't abdication,
it's a return to power!" He then charged ahead, and we all followed closely behind, beginning a
frantic sprint.
As we ran, I looked back and saw the crack in the ground widening, eventually forming a massive
crater. The entire city of Xia Yu gradually sank into it, and the edges of the crater widened,
spreading towards the forests in the valleys on either side. Behind us, rows of trees also sank
below the ground level.
"I understand... Someone must have activated that small Bagua formation inside the altar, and in reverse
! Both the large and small Bagua formations are working together. This is going to suck the entire valley underground
... Who did this? How could they be so despicable! Without Xia Yucheng, they're cutting off my livelihood..."
"Senior brother, stop talking! Save your energy to run! If we can't get to the exit and escape the valley in time, we
'll all be sucked in!"
The pit was getting bigger and bigger, expanding faster and faster...
Behind us, countless human-faced eagles cried out in terror, circling in the night sky. Hordes
of ghostly soldiers also appeared out of nowhere, scattering and fleeing on the ground, making all sorts of miserable and terrifying
sounds, but then, one after another, they fell into the sinking ground...
The scene reminded me of the so-called "end of the world"!
The continuous running had almost exhausted all our strength. The men could still keep going, but
the women lagging behind were getting slower and slower, especially Guan Xue, who was now at the very back of the group...
The edge of the pit had expanded to several meters behind her, and was chasing her at an alarming speed
.
Because she had deliberately exposed my affair with those women in front of Zhou Jingyi,
I was extremely dissatisfied with her. For this reason, I had been keeping an eye on her
situation from time to time during the escape. But when I saw a look of despair on her face, my heart suddenly softened. I turned around and
ran to her side, grabbed her arm, and pulled her along with all my might.
With my efforts, the woman managed to catch up with the fleeing group once again.
"Where's the exit!"
After bursting through the last few rows of trees at the edge of the forest, the entrance to the cave leading to the valley below the cliff was clearly
visible. Leopard and He Qiang, who had arrived earlier, stood on both sides of the entrance, waving desperately at us.
Zhou Jingyi, Lu Zhaohui, and the others rushed safely into the cave first, followed by Zhao Zhongyuan and Wang
Lie, who was carrying Xia Jiang, and others...
"It seems they're all safe..."
I felt relieved seeing this. But to my utter surprise, as soon as my heart calmed down, my legs suddenly
went weak. And because I was holding onto Guan Xue, I ran slower and slower. Leopard and He Qiang changed positions and
stood in the middle of the passage, frantically waving at me to speed up...
Twenty meters... Fifteen meters... Ten meters... "Almost there!"
Just as this thought crossed my mind, I suddenly felt my feet slip, and I
plummeted downwards along with Guan Xue.
I opened my eyes wide, staring at the dark night sky above, somewhat unable to believe what had happened. Only a few
meters left... and I hadn't even made it?
"Fine... if this is my fate, I accept it! Zhaohui, Jingyi, and Xia Jiang should all be safe
... as for myself..."
I closed my eyes and unconsciously smiled...
just as I was about to calmly face my final moment. Suddenly, I felt someone put their arm around my waist
. I opened my eyes abruptly and looked around. Haruhi was actually standing next to me...
while putting her arm around me, her other hand was also hooked around Kanyuki.
Then, everything went black, and when the light reappeared in my vision, Haruhi,
Kanyuki, and I were sitting on the cave floor at the edge of the cave entrance!
"...Instant teleportation? Looks like I'm saved..."
I let out a long sigh, then lazily leaned against the hard cave wall...
Chapter 101
Listening to the dial tone from the phone, I sighed and finally put the phone back in my pocket. Ye
Tong handed me a cigarette and asked, "What? Still not answering?"
I nodded, turned my head, lit the cigarette on Ye Tong's lighter, and took a puff. I grinned and said
, "No texts, no calls. This time she's probably planning a long game."
Ye Tong chuckled, exhaling a smoke ring with an experienced look. "Women aren't just about
coaxing; sometimes you need to show your masculine strength. If it were me, I'd just block her
door, push her against the wall as soon as she comes out, give her a passionate kiss, and while she's dizzy, drag her to a hotel, undress her, and have my way
with her! After that, she'll be all grumpy..."
"Pfft, that's you! You're handsome; young girls are head over heels for you. Of
course, they'll follow you blindly. Her dating experience is probably far richer than yours or mine; she's
not so easily dragged away. If she pushes me too far, she might call the police. I have no interest in going to the police station again."
"Places like the Public Security Bureau... By the way, you penniless wretch, when are you going to have enough money to book a hotel room?"
"Hehe, I may be poor, but I've really decided to pick up a girl. I'll always have a hundred or two on me.
Alright, he's here... let's get down to business."
After stubbing out my cigarette, Ye Tong and I got up and exchanged a few pleasantries with the person who appeared before us before
sitting down face-to-face in the teahouse.
The person who invited Ye Tong and me to the teahouse was named Qin Pei. He originally wanted to see Wang Lie. But Wang Lie was in
Xichang at the moment and couldn't come back, so he recommended Ye Tong and me, who had already returned home, to him, asking us
to help him solve the trouble this person was facing.
Originally, I didn't plan to get involved in their business, but unfortunately, the person who entrusted me with this task was
Qin Pei. He covered for me at the Public Security Bureau during the previous Liziping incident. In a sense,
I owed him a favor. So, after learning that the client was him, I finally agreed to
meet with Wang Lie and Ye Tong to see if I could help him resolve his current problems.
After sitting down, Qin Pei stared at my face for a long time, then asked uncertainly, "We
seem to have met somewhere before?"
I smiled and nodded. "I used to be a reporter for the XX Daily, and I
interviewed you about the reform of state-owned enterprises. Do you remember?"
Upon hearing this, Qin Pei slapped his forehead, remembering. "Yes, yes, yes…
you were the one who interviewed me a few years ago! Wang Lie asked me to explain to the police why someone went to Liziping at night, and it seems it
was also for you. Hmm, I remember now, your name is Yan Ping, right?"
Seeing my nod, Qin Pei laughed. "It seems we really do have some kind of connection
…"
Qin Pei was a businessman, skilled in social interaction. A few words quickly dispelled the initial awkwardness, and
after exchanging pleasantries, they swiftly got to the point.
"Actually, the real client who asked for your help this time isn't me, but a very close
business partner of mine. He had no idea your line of work existed before, so he was completely
helpless with the situation at home. I only thought of asking you guys for help after hearing his complaints to me a couple of days ago."
"I see… What exactly happened to your partner's family that made you feel the need to ask us for
help?" Ye Tong asked earnestly, explaining, "If it's
a matter of feng shui or fortune, going to a temple to have a monk chant some scriptures and having a feng shui master or Taoist priest perform a ritual
would be much cheaper than asking Wang Lie and us."
Qin Pei gave a wry smile. "You think my partner didn't consult any doctors?
He's consulted feng shui masters, monks, and Taoist priests—all of them—but nothing worked. So, I had no choice but to ask Wang Lie for
help. Unfortunately, Wang Lie isn't here, so I've had to ask you two to step in and help my partner get rid of this
mess." After saying this, Qin Pei began to describe to Ye Tong and me the specific
trouble his partner was facing…
"My partner's surname is Su, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he's incredibly wealthy. Although I'm also a businessman and a rich man,
compared to him, I'm far behind. He's actually not the problem; the real issue lies with his daughter."
"His daughter had just been admitted to university in the middle of the year. But before she even went to register, she suddenly started acting strangely
. At first, the couple thought it was because they had put too much pressure on her academically, causing her
some mental distress, so they quickly called a psychologist to help. Guess what happened! The doctor was a man
, and when the girl saw him, she openly flirted with him in front of her parents. The things she said were things
a high school graduate would never say; she even physically touched the doctor and took off her clothes to seduce him
! The doctor had never encountered anything like this before, and he fled in panic. He then diagnosed her with a split personality and schizophrenia
, and recommended that she be sent to a mental hospital for treatment."
"My partner only has one daughter. He was hoping she'd find him a son-in-law who would
live with him in the family. How could he bear to send her to a mental hospital! When their elders found out, they suspected she was
possessed by a ghost or some kind of evil spirit. So they hired monks and Taoist priests to perform rituals, and also a feng shui master to check the feng shui.
Over the past few months, she hasn't been able to enroll in university. Several rituals have been performed, but to no avail.
The feng shui master suggested some changes to the feng shui of their house, but it was all useless... The girl
is still acting crazy, clinging to men whenever she sees them, making my partner afraid to even approach his own
daughter."
"Maybe she really is mentally ill, just having a crush?" Ye Tong frowned.
"How could that be?" Qin Pei shook his head vigorously. "I've watched that girl grow up since she was little. She's always
been a gentle and well-behaved child. Her family is extremely strict. From elementary school to middle school, they arranged for someone to pick her up and drop her off.
They basically didn't let her have much contact with male classmates..."
"Then it's more likely a mental illness! Girls mature earlier than boys, and it's natural for a young girl to have romantic feelings!
Her parents cut off her opportunities for normal communication and contact with the opposite sex, which caused her to develop a serious rebellious mentality
. She simply gave up and started flirting with any man she saw..." Ye Tong touched her nose with her finger and
analyzed in an expert-like tone.
Ye Tong's words became more and more outrageous. After noticing the embarrassed expression on Qin Pei's face, I quickly stopped Ye
Tong's almost unrestrained malicious reasoning.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Qin. Although you've said so much, we're both
still a bit unclear about the specifics. Could we perhaps meet the girl ourselves? Once we see her, we
might be able to figure out if she's possessed or if it's just a mental illness."
Hearing this, Qin Pei nodded repeatedly. "That's right, that's right! I was just relaying
what Old Su told me. Before meeting you, I didn't know anything about the girl's condition either.
Your suggestion to see the girl's symptoms in person is correct. By the way, when do you two have time?"
"Can we go now?"
"Now? Sorry, it was my oversight! I didn't explain things clearly to you. Old Su's family lives in Nanjing
, not here. To see that girl, we'd have to go to Nanjing, which could take a whole day round trip. That's
why I asked when you could free up some time." Qin Pei quickly explained.
"Oh, so we have to go to Nanjing. Hmm... I don't have any specific plans for the next few days, anytime
is fine. Ye Tong, what about you?"
"Me..." Ye Tong scratched his head and frowned. His troubled expression was understandable;
he kept a bunch of zombie children at home, and these zombies needed his orders to eat and sleep.
So he rarely left our place to handle any business. This
was the main reason he didn't go to Xia Yu City with Wang Lie this time. However, after considering it for a while, he finally
nodded. "If you can make a round trip in a day, it shouldn't be a problem. But
since you're so familiar with Wang Lie, you should know some of the rules in our line of work. As long as we show up, regardless of
whether we actually need to help, the fee will be calculated..."
Qin Pei laughed. "I understand your rules. As long as you two are willing to go see the girl!
If she really has a mental illness or something, I'll take care of the round-trip expenses and the service fee
.
If it's something unclean, I'd appreciate it if you two could use your skills to solve this problem for Old Su
!
Don't worry about the price; she's his only daughter, he won't be stingy with money!
How about this? I'll book round-trip tickets for tomorrow morning and evening. Flying is faster, and it won't waste time." After
finalizing the itinerary for the next day with Qin Pei and seeing him off, Ye Tong and I parted ways at the teahouse entrance and then
casually walked along the road towards our residence.
For three whole days, Zhou Jingyi ignored me completely. No matter how many times I texted or called
, she wouldn't respond. At this point, I was seriously considering following Ye Tong's suggestion and
waiting for her at her company entrance.
After escaping the valley, led by Zhao Zhongyuan, we successfully navigated
the "Seven-Bend Maze" surrounding the valley and reached Muli County.
However, on the very day we arrived, Zhou Jingyi bought a long-distance bus ticket back to Xichang and
stormed off alone. Several hours later, I learned of her departure from Lu Zhaohui. She
seemed to have developed resentment towards Lu Zhaohui as well, and only after arriving in Xichang did she text her to let her know her
whereabouts.
Lu Zhaohui, having had a physical relationship with me, felt somewhat indebted to her. Knowing she
had left alone, she immediately urged me to chase after her. Encouraged by Lu Zhaohui, I quickly bought a long-distance bus ticket and went to Xichang
. As soon as I arrived in Xichang, I received another text message from Lu Zhaohui about Zhou Jingyi's whereabouts. This woman went
to Xichang and immediately bought a plane ticket to Chengdu. By the time I received the message, I didn't have time to buy a ticket,
so I had to take a long-distance bus for several more hours to reach Chengdu.
When I arrived in Chengdu, before I could even catch my breath, Lu Zhaohui sent another message about Zhou Jingyi's whereabouts.
After flying to Chengdu, she didn't even leave the airport; she immediately bought a ticket home. By the time I arrived in Chengdu, she was already on her
return flight.
Having chased her all the way to Chengdu, how could I give up halfway? After entrusting Lu Zhaohui and the others to help handle
a series of follow-up issues in Sichuan, I immediately bought a return ticket and rushed back to my hometown.
Now, she's back! But it feels like all my efforts were in vain…
No matter how I explained and apologized to her in the text messages, she just ignored me! When I called, she answered
and immediately hung up! In short, she wouldn't contact me, let alone see me.
This made me start to doubt whether it was even worth it for me to chase after her back.
After learning from Wang Lie that Xia Jiang was still unconscious, Han Zhe hurriedly
set off for Xichang. Upon hearing this news, I originally planned to go with Han Zhe, but Lu Zhaohui
firmly dissuaded me over the phone. She had checked Xia Jiang's body and believed that Xia Jiang was just sleeping and
had no health problems. She also warned me that my purpose in rushing back was to gain Zhou Jingyi's forgiveness, and since I
was already back, what was the point of going back before achieving my goal?
For this reason, I finally decided to stay here obediently, continuing to send Zhou Jingyi text
messages and make phone calls.
Now, three days have passed. All my efforts seem to have had no effect whatsoever. Zhou Jingyi
doesn't seem to have any intention of reconciling with me in the near future. Of course, it doesn't seem like she really wants to break up with me
, because she hasn't blocked my number. Every time I
called, she would answer, but then immediately hang up. Judging from this, she seemed unwilling to
completely sever our relationship or connection. That's why I've persisted until now.
After sending a long text message to Zhou Jingyi to explain myself, I sighed deeply
. Realizing I'd unknowingly reached the entrance of my residential complex, I went straight into the
Hunan restaurant near the entrance, sat down, ordered, and started thinking.
"Going to Nanjing with Ye Tong would be fine; it's only a day round trip. If I don't go, I'll stay here and continue
explaining to that woman. She'll probably ignore me like she did a few days ago. Going to Nanjing will be a good way to change
my mood. Lu Zhaohui is really something, why does she insist I do this?"
I muttered to myself, a cigarette dangling from my lips, while waiting for the food.
I could understand Lu Zhaohui's sudden unusual emphasis on my relationship with Zhou Jingyi. Or
perhaps, in her view, Zhou Jingyi's sudden estrangement from me was a huge responsibility she bore. At the same time, she also felt she
couldn't bear the responsibility of breaking up my relationship with Zhou Jingyi. Therefore, she took on all the cleanup work we
were left behind, then kicked me back and begged Zhou
Jingyi for forgiveness.
But I knew in my heart that Zhou Jingyi still had no idea that I had raped Lu Zhaohui. The reason she
turned against me was actually because of the sexual relations I had with Guan Xue and the other women at that ceremony
.
Thinking of this, I exhaled a smoke ring and looked up at the television set in the restaurant.
A news program was playing on the television, a news report about a group of outdoor adventurers who encountered a geological disaster, with many missing and injured.
Looking at the images of Dong Jie, Qi Ying, Chen Ying, and others on the television,
I smiled bitterly. I secretly admired Lu Zhaohui's power. However, from the expressions of Dong Jie and the others
, I could also tell that these survivors were fully cooperating with the aftermath work arranged by Lu Zhaohui and others. After all,
this so-called self-driving trip was a complete nightmare for them, and being able to end it in this way
was a kind of relief.
After casually finishing my dinner, I went back to my residence. As soon as I entered, I was stunned for a moment,
but then I could only shake my head helplessly.
That "Snail Fairy" had somehow sneaked into my apartment again and
cleaned the entire room spotless.
"Who is it? She's so quick to find a way in!"
I was actually quite used to the Snail Fairy cleaning my room, but seeing the tidy
house, I couldn't help but mutter to myself.
For the past three days, I'd been waiting, or rather, hoping, for Zhou Jingyi to reply to me with some
message. It wasn't until this afternoon that I finally arranged to meet Qin Pei with Ye Tong. And this Snail Fairy
managed to sneak into my apartment and clean it while I was away. I was starting to wonder
if she had some kind of precognitive ability.
"Oh well, is it a bad thing if someone does housework for free? It's not stealing anything… let it be!"
Thinking this, I didn't bother thinking about it anymore. I went straight to the bathroom, took a hot shower, and lay down on
the bed. Not long after I lay down, I suddenly heard my phone ring with a crisp text message tone.
I immediately turned around and grabbed my phone, which was charging on the bedside table. My heart pounded with excitement,
eagerly awaiting Zhou Jingyi's reply…
However, when I saw the caller ID, my excitement instantly cooled.
The number was just a string of digits. I had saved Zhou Jingyi's number as my name. If it
was just numbers, it clearly wasn't a reply from her. But after seeing the digits
, my excitement returned.
It was that woman!
For some reason, I no longer felt any hatred or resentment towards her. In fact,
deep down, I even vaguely hoped for another chance to interact with her.
However, since leaving for Chengdu for this "field trip," she hadn't sent me any
messages. Although I had met her once in Xia Yu City, she hadn't contacted me since
. Receiving her message now, I felt a small surge of excitement. At the same time
, a strange sense of vengeful pleasure welled up inside me, a feeling of satisfaction at being retaliated against Zhou Jingyi.
"Ignoring me, huh? I don't care. If you ignore me, someone else will..."
Driven by this mentality, I quickly opened the text message the succubus had sent me.
"Are you home yet? What are you doing?"
I replied quickly.
"I'm back! Judging from your tone... you're back too?"
After a while, the succubus replied.
"Yeah, I've been back for a few days. I messaged you because I want to ask you for a favor."
I was taken aback. Ask me for a favor? This succubus is incredibly powerful. What kind of favor could she possibly need my help with?
I replied cautiously. "What favor?"
"I want you to help me become human..."
Seeing the succubus's message, I was puzzled. I didn't understand her true meaning, so I
replied anyway.
"Didn't you already know how to transform into human form?"
The succubus replied after a long pause.
"You didn't understand what I meant. I mean, I don't want to be a demon anymore... I want to be an ordinary
person..."
I stared blankly at the text message the female demon had sent me, and replied after thinking for a while.
"You mean, you want to become an ordinary person without any special abilities? I haven't misunderstood, have I?"
"Yes...that's what I mean!"
"Can you tell me why? You can now appear and disappear without a trace, and I remember you can even fly
! These are abilities countless people dream of! With these abilities, you can basically do whatever you
want. Why would you want to become a mortal without any special abilities? Are you afraid that Wang Lie and his
people will relentlessly pursue you?"
"I'm not actually that afraid of Liang Yi or your pursuit. Don't forget, I live
in the same city as you all. If I were afraid of you...I could just move, couldn't I? I want to become human for other
reasons."
"What specific reasons? Can you tell me? Also, I don't understand why you have such thoughts and ideas
. Since you're not afraid of Wang Lie and his people or me at all, is it necessary for you to become an ordinary person
?"
The banshee fell silent.
I lay in bed, drifting off to sleep. My phone beeped again with a text message
…
I blinked and started reading the message the succubus had sent.
“…Because I’m tired of my old life…I can’t bear
the pain and sorrow of seeing the people I love leave me one by one! That’s the real reason I want to become human. Now I just want
to be an ordinary woman, find someone who loves me, spend my life with him, and
die with him…”
Staring at this message from the succubus, I found myself speechless…
I didn't know how to reply to the banshee's text message. So, I lay on my side in bed,
looking at the message, and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up. I checked my phone and saw the message; clearly, the banshee
hadn't sent any more messages.
"...Maybe she was drunk and deliberately trying to flirt with me? Sending such sentimental texts!" I tried
to pull myself out of my melancholy.
After leaving the house, I found a taxi and met up with Ye Tong and Qin Pei at the airport. We then boarded
a plane to Nanjing.
Nanjing wasn't actually that far from our city; by highway, it would only take less than four
hours. The actual flight time was only a few tens of minutes. However, considering Ye Tong's requirement to return the same day
, Qin Pei ultimately chose to take us in an empty taxi.
At the airport parking lot, Mr. Su, Qin Pei's partner, had already arranged a car to wait for us. The car
took the three of us directly to a villa complex near Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing.
There, we met Mr. Su, the real client.
Mr. Su looked to be in his forties, well-maintained, but with a weary expression. Clearly,
he was exhausted by his daughter's current situation.
After a brief introduction, Ye Tong, preoccupied with his "girls" at home,
didn't engage in much small talk and directly asked Mr. Su to lead us to his daughter.
We descended the stairs to the basement door.
"Old Su, why did you lock her up here? She's your daughter, after all!" Qin Pei, seeing the dark
environment of the basement, was somewhat displeased.
This was expected; Qin Pei leaned towards Western "universal values" and valued human rights, so he naturally 　　felt anger
at Mr. Su for confining his daughter in such an environment . 　　"Old Qin, I had no other choice. After locking her up, she screamed incessantly, and 　　the whole neighborhood knew. I had no choice but to resort to this drastic measure and lock her in the basement. It's 　　soundproof here; no matter how much she screams, no one outside can hear her." Mr. Su looked helpless, and his 　　wife, who had come with him, also offered a few words of defense for her husband. 　　"If she's human, locking her up like this is definitely wrong! If she were possessed by a ghost, not locking her up like this might cause even 　　bigger trouble. Mr. Su, what you did isn't wrong," Ye Tong said coldly, glancing at me after speaking. A 　　faint golden halo appeared around my pupils as I looked along the walls around the basement iron door 　　. On the seemingly whitewashed walls, black patches seeping from within the walls appeared 　　in my vision. 　　While chasing Zhou Jingyi back, I unintentionally comprehended a new kind of Crimson Lotus Power. That 　　was a certain degree of truth-seeking ability in my eyes. 　　This ability allows one to see through the disguises on the surface of things and discover various traces left behind by demons. 　　"Did you see anything?" Ye Tong, already aware that I possessed this ability, asked me 　　. 　　"There are corpse aura stains on the wall! But that doesn't mean anything. If there were ancient 　　tombs or similar things in this area in the past, some would appear at the bottom or foundation of buildings. It won't 　　affect the normal living conditions of ordinary people," I replied calmly. 　　Hearing my words, Mr. Su nodded repeatedly. "You're right. During the construction of this villa community, 　　quite a few ancient tombs were indeed unearthed, many of them from the Ming Dynasty." After saying that, he cast a grateful glance at Qin Pei 　　. Qin Pei also showed a somewhat gratified expression. He probably thought that inviting Ye Tong and me here 　　was the right thing to do. 　　"Could you open the door?" 　　I pointed to the padlock on the iron door to the basement. Mr. Su immediately stepped forward, unlocked the padlock, and then stepped 　　aside to explain. "After we locked her up here, she became extremely violent. Yesterday, when her mother brought her 　　food, she bit her mother and almost ran out." 　　"But isn't she very quiet now? There's not a sound from inside." Ye Tong said, 　　standing very consciously behind me, indicating that I should be the first to pull the latch on the iron gate. When I turned to 　　look at him, he defended himself vehemently. 　　"I didn't bring any girls with me today, just some talismans and such. In this situation, of course 　　it's your turn, Red Lotus, to go first!" 　　I sighed, somewhat helpless at his lazy attitude. I reached out and pulled the latch on the iron gate, 　　pushing the door in. As the door opened, a figure rushed out of the room... 　　The figure was about to pounce on me, but then, as if seeing a demon, it abruptly stopped 　　and quickly turned and fled back into the room. 　　"Oh...it seems I'm right! It must be a ghost possession...otherwise, she should have pounced on you directly, 　　instead of turning and running away in fright..." 　　Ye Tong glanced sideways at Qin Pei and Mr. Su 　　, who were stunned by what had happened, and said calmly. 　　"How do we deal with this?" I leaned against the door, looking at the terrified 　　girl trembling in the corner of the room, and asked Ye Tong. At this moment, with the power of my eyes, I could see 　　the circle of dark gray ghostly energy surrounding the girl's body, but I didn't know how to deal with it. 　　"Hmm, it knows to fear you, Red Lotus, which means this thing has developed some intelligence and knows fear 　　. Here's what we'll do, you guard the door, I'll go in and deal with it. Let me see if any of the talismans I brought 　　can be used." 　　Ye Tong pulled out a handful of crumpled yellow talismans from his pocket, muttering to himself. 　　"Hmm, hmm... Got it, Heavenly Yang Flame Talisman! This one should work..." Ye Tong picked out a talisman from the pile of talismans with satisfaction 　　and held it in his hand. Then he stepped aside and went into the room.

"I told you to be careful, don't choose the wrong talisman... Will this talisman harm the child?" Hearing
the words "Yang Yan," I immediately pictured the arrogant and domineering Xue Zong, and
the terrifying power of his Yang Yan flames. If this talisman were used, it could truly create the same power as Xue Zong's Yang Yan. I
was worried that Ye Tong would burn the invisible ghostly energy wrapped around the girl to ashes along with her.
"Don't worry about that. This talisman was personally crafted by Han Zhe; it won't harm anything living or tangible
. Of course, there will still be some minor side effects."
"What did you say? That won't do..." Seeing Ye Tong's nonchalant attitude, I glared at him and yelled
.
Ye Tong frowned and turned to look at me. "What are you yelling about! This is all your fault! You
went all out! Do you think I need to do this? You could burn that brat to ashes with a flick of your finger..."
Ye Tong was saying when I saw the black ghost energy wrapped around the girl suddenly detach from her body
and fly towards Ye Tong...
Chapter 102
"Be careful..." I quickly warned him.
Ye Tong suddenly turned around and
forcefully slapped the Heavenly Yang Flame Talisman in his hand into the straight line between him and the girl. In my vision, Ye Tong's talisman hit the black ghost energy perfectly!
The moment the talisman touched the ghost energy, it burst forth with a dazzling red light. Under the light, the black
ghost energy actually showed a semi-transparent entity in space.
Ye Tong took a step back, facing the ghostly aura that had already manifested and was floating in the air. He held his right index
and middle fingers together in front of his chest, pointing upwards, and slapped his right wrist with his left hand, shouting, "Explode!"
The talisman immediately exploded. The translucent black ghostly aura, amidst the pure white flames, transformed into a few drops of black
liquid, which then splashed onto the ground, leaving marks like spilled black ink!
"See… this guy, although he's gained sentience, is incredibly stupid! As soon as he heard we were going to attack his host
, he immediately thought of finding a new host! With something like that, you have to scare him. A few scares, and he won't
know what to do!"
Ye Tong winked at me triumphantly, explaining flippantly.
I let out a long sigh, then glared at him resentfully…
Qin Pei took Ye Tong and me to the airport, then returned to Mr. Su's residence by Xuanwu Lake. On one hand,
Mr. Su was very happy, and Qin Pei decided to celebrate with him here. On the other hand, the two still had business matters to
discuss privately.
In the waiting hall, Ye Tong was somewhat dejected. He muttered, "If I had known he was so rich, I should have
raised the price a bit more."
I patted his shoulder and advised him. "Stop whining. Just one trip, one talisman sold, and
you've already made a full 500,000. You're still not satisfied? Greed knows no bounds, you'll choke to death!"
Although I was advising him, I myself was shocked by Mr. Su's wealth.
After eliminating the ghost, Mr. Su treated Ye Tong and me to lunch as a thank you.
During the meal, he inquired about the fee. Ye Tong and I discussed it privately for a long time and felt that this operation
was too easy, so we decided on a fee of 5,000 yuan. After confirming, Ye Tong held up five fingers to Mr. Su at the dinner table.
Without a word, Mr. Su immediately pulled out his checkbook and wrote a
cash check for 500,000 yuan for Ye Tong and me. Seeing the amount on the check, Ye Tong and I were dumbfounded…
Originally, Ye Tong and I wanted to explain to Mr. Su that our payment was 5,000 yuan, not 500,000
. However, we noticed Qin Pei giving us a wink. Realizing this, we
could only keep quiet and accept our mistake.
"Besides, this is also your own fault! I certainly don't understand the going rates in this industry. You
didn't even know, and now you think the price you offered was too low—whose fault is that?"
"Sigh, don't say anymore… It's also my own fault. In the past, when accepting commissions and negotiating fees, Wang
Lie and Han Zhe always handled it. I found it troublesome and never directly contacted the clients.
Wang Lie and the others would just transfer my share directly to my account. How was I supposed to know the going
rates were like this…" Ye Tong leaned back lazily in her chair, staring at the ceiling.
"Judging from what you're saying, could it be that Wang Lie and Han Zhe took advantage of you behind your back?" I couldn't help but gossip.
"I don't think I'll get any freebies anymore! I just think I was too lazy in the past... I always sat at home waiting for Lao Han and
Wang Lie to come to me with business. The things they asked me to help with were either extremely
dangerous or incredibly difficult. The income wasn't bad each time, but I almost always
came back looking disheveled, and a large portion of the money I earned went to treating and caring for the girls I worked with. But
now that I think about it, it's normal. If it were simple work, they wouldn't have asked me for help!" " If I'd known earlier
that these simple commissions could earn so much money, I would have started taking on business myself long ago." At this point,
Ye Tong suddenly seemed to remember something, turning to me and saying, "Hey, Yan Ping. You'll probably end up like us,
making a living in this line of work sooner or later. Have you thought about going solo or finding someone to partner with?"
I frowned and replied, "Are you so sure I'll definitely make money in this line of work? I have a legitimate
job; the income is a bit low, but it's more than enough to support myself."
Ye Tong chuckled. "Come on, you're a Red Lotus! You just haven't fully mastered and
comprehended the power of the Red Lotus yet. Once you do, the little money you earn in the editorial department won't be enough to live on. All those
Red Lotuses of the past had harems of wives and concubines. You'll be the same sooner or later! In a sense, we're in
the same boat. I'm going to support a bunch of girls, and you'll be supporting a bunch of wives in the future. Why don't we
just partner up and take on business regularly?"
I laughed and shook my head.
I have a good impression of Ye Tong and have no complaints about partnering with him. However, up until now,
I still disagree with Wang Lie's claim that the Red Lotus necessarily needs to support a group of women. You see,
I've become quite proficient in the Red Lotus's abilities, particularly the Flame, Tracking, and Truth-Detecting skills.
However, I still haven't felt any significant changes in my physical needs. Therefore
, I still don't have a clear plan regarding joining Wang Lie and Ye Tong's group and starting a real demon-slaying life
.
Ye Tong, of course, didn't know my true thoughts. Seeing me shake my head, she sighed and said,
"That's true. You're the Red Lotus. You can handle even the most troublesome demons by yourself. Finding a partner is
completely unnecessary. More people mean more money to share. Economically speaking, it's not worth it."
"You misunderstood! Partnering with you is no problem. It's just that I haven't decided whether I want to enter your
line of work yet. It's true that I'm Crimson Lotus, but who says that someone with Crimson Lotus abilities has to do
something like slaying demons and monsters? Compared to dealing with those supernatural things, I'd much rather
be a journalist. Last time I applied to the group company to work at the Middle East bureau, but it was rejected.
I plan to apply again in a while. Libya and Syria are already at war. The Egyptian president
seems to have been forced to announce a democratic election. The manpower there is becoming increasingly strained, and I refuse to believe that they'll just
watch so many news stories slip away because of a lack of staff at the bureau."
These words truly reflected my feelings at that moment.
There was a time when my desire to go to the Middle East for reporting had faded somewhat. But now, that
thought has returned to my mind. As for the reason, I know it myself. Although I'm reluctant to admit
it, Zhou Jingyi's attitude towards me clearly played a key role in this.
I've completely fallen in love with that woman, although I still maintain my pride and refuse to shamelessly
pester her. But if I'm sure she'll stop paying attention to me, I feel there's no point in me staying here any longer
. Rather than wasting my time here, I might as well go abroad and continue pursuing my dream of becoming a journalist. To
this end, I've even planned to ask Lu Zhaohui to put in a good word for me
with the leadership of the group company after she finishes dealing with things in Sichuan.
"Is that so... That's such a pity! If you want to become a journalist, it's a real waste of your
talent. But I still support you... At least you still have ideals and ambitions, thinking about making
something of yourself! I guess my life will just be like this, just hanging out with these zombie girls
." Saying this, Ye Tong sighed, looking somewhat disheartened. But then, as if he'd
discovered a new continent, he tugged at my arm.
"Look, look... there's a girl over there! She's got a great figure..."
I looked in the direction Ye Tong pointed, and as soon as I saw her, I jumped up.
The girl Ye Tong was pointing to was none other than the girl with the mole on her eyebrow that I still couldn't forget! The girl with the mole on her eyebrow
certainly had a fantastic figure, curvaceous and shapely. No wonder she attracted Ye Tong's attention from afar.
At this moment, the girl with the mole on her eyebrow seemed to be looking for someone in the waiting hall. She looked left and right,
glancing around, clearly unaware that I was there.
"What's wrong? Why did you suddenly stand up? This girl has a great figure and a pretty face, but
why are you so excited? Besides, I saw her first, if anyone should be striking up a conversation, it should be me..." Ye Tong
was a little confused by my reaction.
I leaned to the side and whispered to Ye Tong. "Did Wang Lie tell you about our
trip to Fengling Mountain last time?"
Ye Tong was taken aback. "You mean the time he and you tried to steal the silk painting?"
"That's right, that time! It was that woman who ambushed Wang Lie and me on the mountain path!"
"What did you say? The one over there with the mole on her eyebrow?" Ye Tong was stunned.
"What a small world! I actually ran into her here... You to the left, I to the right! This time we have to catch
her and find out where she came from." After saying that, I jogged along, using the flow of people in the hall as cover, and
crept towards the location of the woman with the mole on her eyebrow along the right side.
Seeing that I was moving, Ye Tong had no choice but to follow my instructions and go around to the left.
The woman with the mole looked around for a while, seemingly finding her target, and then
moved her feet towards the direction she had set her sights on. But she didn't expect that I had already silently slipped to her side and quickly walked
behind her, reaching out to pat her on the shoulder.
The woman with the mole on her eyebrow turned around, saw me, smiled, and blurted out,
"Brother, it's you! What are you doing in Nanjing?" After saying this, her expression changed,
as if she had suddenly realized something. She abruptly turned and rushed towards the densest crowd.
I had originally intended to subdue her while she was startled by my appearance, but her use
of "brother" made me pause. By the time I came to my senses, she was already several meters away
…
Having finally spotted her again, I wasn't about to let her go, and immediately gave chase.
Ye Tong leaped out from the crowd on the left, spreading his arms to block the woman with the mole. The woman reacted
swiftly; seeing Ye Tong spread his legs in a defensive stance like a basketball player
, she raised her right foot and kicked Ye Tong hard in the groin. Ye Tong's face instantly contorted in pain
. Her outstretched hands instinctively covered her groin, and her body naturally went limp.
After "severely injuring" Ye Tong, the woman with the mole screamed at the top of her lungs, "Indecent assault... Pervert
!" While screaming, she bypassed the fallen Ye Tong and ran wildly towards the airport exit.
Her screams immediately alerted the airport security personnel. Two nearby airport security guards rushed over.
I watched the woman's retreating figure, then looked at Ye Tong slumped on the ground, and had no choice but to give up
the pursuit. After helping Ye Tong up, I innocently spread my hands in front of the two arriving airport security guards...
"Please, what evidence do you have to prove we were being indecent? Shouldn't there be a victim if we were?
Where is the victim? Please find them! If you can find a victim to accuse us and provide sufficient
evidence, I'll admit to the crime!"
Faced with the security guards' questioning, I had no choice but to shamelessly resort to pleading my innocence! I hadn't managed to stop the woman with the mole, and
now I was filled with regret. However, I was fully confident in my pleading, because from beginning
to end, I had only patted the woman's shoulder, an action that obviously couldn't be considered harassment
. Besides that, the woman ran away while simultaneously using self-defense techniques to attack Ye Tong. Even if they checked
the airport's security footage, I could prove my "innocence"!
The two security guards were somewhat helpless with my current excuses. Because the woman with the mole had already vanished
, how could they find a victim to "accuse" Ye Tong and me? Although there was no evidence, our
actions had indeed caused a minor commotion in the waiting hall, so they naturally wouldn't let
Ye Tong and me go easily. Just as I was arguing with the two security guards, someone quickly approached us.
"
Excuse me, our people saw what happened. We can testify that these two gentlemen
didn't do anything indecent; they just wanted to greet the lady..."
"Savior..."
The word immediately flashed through my mind, and I turned to look at the person
who had spoken up for Ye Tong and me. The person standing to the side who spoke up for us was a well-dressed young man in a suit. However,
he wore sunglasses, and his sharp suit, well-proportioned figure, and short, neat haircut all
suggested that he was most likely a bodyguard or similar profession.
"Besides you, is there anyone else who can testify?" one of the security guards asked, looking at the bodyguard with some doubt.
"Yes, besides me, my colleague, Daye Rinpoche, also witnessed the whole thing
."
"Rinpoche? Isn't that what a Living Buddha is?"
I paused, then looked further afield. There I saw three
young men dressed identically to the bodyguards surrounding a young woman in Tibetan clothing, standing about seven or
eight meters away.
The Tibetan woman noticed my gaze, bowed slightly, and clasped her hands together in greeting
.
Once someone could vouch for Ye Tong and me, the two security guards stopped questioning us
, gave us a perfunctory lecture about not making loud noises in the airport, and
returned to their patrol posts.
The Tibetan woman, surrounded by four bodyguards, changed her boarding pass and passed through security.
Even after the Tibetan woman disappeared, I remained in a state of astonishment for a while. There were two reasons for my astonishment
. First, the Tibetan woman was actually a Living Buddha; second, her appearance, though
far inferior to Zhou Jingyi's, was still exceptionally beautiful.
"Still watching? Still watching?"
I finally regained my basic senses after Ye Tong's nagging.
"What's so interesting? Just a Dakini! Let me remind you… Tantric Buddhism is a separate
sect, they rarely interact with us. While we're not exactly enemies, we certainly
don't like each other…"
"What Dakini? Didn't you hear the bodyguard say she's a Rinpoche…"
"Rinpoche my foot! These days, there are Rinpoches everywhere. In Beijing, there are even actors and singers
who claim to be Rinpoches. Would you believe them? Are they some ancient opera singers or courtesans
reincarnated? Around the Yonghe Temple in Beijing, even shoe shiners dare to call themselves Rinpoches…"
I turned to look at Ye Tong, somewhat surprised. From Ye Tong's words, I realized that this guy had
a rather serious prejudice and dissatisfaction with Tantric Buddhism .
"What are you looking at me for? Come on, we need to change our boarding passes. If we don't, we'll miss our flight!"
Without waiting for me to ask him anything, he hurriedly pulled me to the counter to complete the procedures, then
quickly passed through the security checkpoint, leaving me behind.
In the waiting area, Ye Tong suddenly became unusually silent. I was a little confused about the situation, so I didn't presume
to ask him anything. Instead, I pondered the woman with the mole's reaction after turning around and seeing me, and her inexplicable
words.
"Brother, it's you! What are you doing in Nanjing?"
Why would the woman with the mole say such a thing when she saw me? And she said it with a smile, completely
spontaneously. Especially the term "brother," which, when she said it, even carried a
hint of surprise and intimacy. This suddenly stirred a strange tremor within me, and it was this
tremor that distracted me, allowing her to escape my control before I could.
At that moment, Ye Tong spoke, and his words sent a chill down my spine…
“That girl with the mole on her eyebrow is really something! And her reaction was quick, she came straight at me
. No wonder you and Wang Lie couldn’t catch her at Fengling Mountain last time. Hey, you know what
, I suddenly realized that although you and that girl look completely different—she’s so beautiful, and you’re so ugly—
there’s a certain resemblance between your eyebrows…”
“Resemblance…”
I couldn’t help but exhale .
From the first time I saw the girl with the mole, I had a strange feeling about her. Afterwards, at Fengling Mountain and the cemetery
, we met again, and that strange feeling lingered in my mind. As for what was strange about it, I
couldn’t quite put my finger on it. But Ye Tong’s words made me suddenly realize!
That is, the girl with the mole on her eyebrow had a striking resemblance to my own eyes and eyebrows. Then
, a thought that even I found hard to believe popped into my head…
“This girl must be connected to me in some way. Could she be my sister?”
"...Isn't this a bit too absurd? But what if my mother hadn't died back then, and was still alive today, and had given birth
to other children..."
Is that possible?
I boarded the plane with Ye Tong. Sitting in my seat, I was lost in various analyses and speculations about my mother
...
The urn in the grave was empty, containing only a bracelet. This proved that my mother's remains hadn't been cremated.
There are several possibilities for why it wasn't cremated. First, of course, the remains are missing or haven't been found; and another possibility
is that there were no remains at all!
In the images of the valleys surrounding Xia Yu City, a blurry image of my father and a woman holding a baby appeared. Judging from
the baby swaddling cloth left in the jungle with my name engraved on it, the baby the woman was holding was very likely me. I
don't know what my mother looked like, so I can't identify whether the woman in the image is my mother. However, theoretically speaking
, if that woman wasn't related to me, my father probably wouldn't have felt comfortable letting her carry me, still an infant,
into that kind of place; he would have carried me himself. Only when my mother was holding me could my father feel at ease. Therefore,
the female figure in the image is most likely my mother.
I don't know the specifics of my father and mother's experiences in Xia Yu City. One thing is certain:
their purpose in going to Xia Yu City must have been related to me. Otherwise, why would they take me, still an infant,
to such a dangerous place?
Zhao Zhongyuan entered Xia Yu City multiple times, always aiming to use the Bagua formation within to rescue people and
earn commissions. In the dream, Xia Ji and Qu Wu carried Xia Nan's corpse to Xia Yu City for the
same purpose. Analyzing this, my father and mother's purpose in entering Xia Yu City was probably the same, just as
Lu Zhaohui had speculated: they were there to save the infant in the woman's arms—that is, me.
I am alive and well now. This proves that my father and mother successfully rescued me. But my mother's death in
Xia Yu City was merely a baseless speculation on my part. Moreover, this speculation cannot be verified,
because Xia Yu City, along with the surrounding valleys, has completely sunk underground. I will never have the chance to go
there to search for my mother's possible remains. But what if I look at it another way? What if my mother didn't die that time?
Then there are endless possibilities.
Perhaps my mother was simply separated from my father and, for various reasons, didn't return to find him and me. So my father
assumed she was dead and built a cenotaph for her.
Or perhaps my father and mother had a conflict, and my mother left us. In a fit of anger, my father assumed
she was dead, so he simply built a cenotaph to mislead us…
The more I thought about it, the more confused I became, all sorts of ideas and thoughts flooding in, making my head
feel like mush.
My mother was not only a mystery to me, but also to the neighbors in my hometown and my uncles and aunts
. Because apart from my father and grandmother, no one around me had ever
seen my mother.
I learned from my father's colleagues that they only knew my father had been married and had me
as a son. But they had never seen my mother, my father's wife. Although
they had joked with my father many times, urging him to introduce his wife to his colleagues, he
always just laughed and agreed, but never actually did anything about it…
The neighbors in our hometown were the same; they only knew that my father had married a woman in the city. They had never seen what his wife looked
like either. Lin Youcai once told me a detailed story about this
…
According to him, my father simply came back to tell the neighbors that he had gotten married in the city, and then
held a small banquet in our hometown for them, which he considered the wedding ceremony. As for why the bride didn't
show up, my father explained that she was unwell and shouldn't travel long distances, so he didn't bring her back to
meet the villagers. Also, because of the bride's poor health, my grandmother went to the city with my father after the wedding
. The reason, of course, was to take care of her ailing daughter-in-law. They stayed in the city for almost a year
, and then my grandmother took me, an infant, back to our hometown, Qingyuan Town. They said I was her grandson, and my
mother died of postpartum illness not long after giving birth to me. This, in another way, confirmed
the "fact" that my mother was in poor health!
Therefore, the neighbors in my hometown only knew of my mother by name, but had never seen her.
As for my uncle, from the time my father married, through the birth of me, to the time of my mother's death, he
was serving in the southwestern border region. Naturally, he had never met my mother either. My aunt
only met and married my uncle after he was discharged from the army. Her understanding of my mother was even less than that of the
neighbors in my hometown.
"Not well? If she wasn't well, how could she and Father have carried me all the way to a place like Xia Yu City? That's impossible
..."
"Or perhaps, Father and Mother went to Xia Yu City not to save me, but to save Mother? That's
impossible too, because if they were saving Mother, why would they bring me along? Wouldn't I be
a burden? They could have simply entrusted me to Grandma's care and gone on their own..."
"What exactly happened here?" "
...However, analyzing the images seen in Xia Yu City! At least one thing I'm certain of!
That is, Father and Grandma's claim that my mother was unwell is definitely wrong! They both
lied... My mother is definitely not the frail, sickly Lin Daiyu-like woman they described. At the very least, she
's healthy. From the images, Mother was carrying me, following Father quickly through the forest in the valley.
Could a frail, sickly woman suffering from postpartum complications have accomplished that?"
"But then again, why did Father and Grandma tell this lie? And not just to me, but to
my uncles, aunts, and all the neighbors in our hometown! Was it necessary for them to do that
?"
I frowned and let out a long sigh.
"There's probably only one reason they're doing this… to cover up the truth about my mother
! To conceal her origins, background, appearance, figure, and any clues that might allow others to
guess her true situation!"
"That woman with the mole on her eyebrow unintentionally called me 'brother,' and her eyebrows even
bear a resemblance to mine… Could this be a coincidence?"
"No, that's not right… This girl attacked me first on the Fengling Mountain hiking trail. If Wang
Lie hadn't reacted quickly, I might have fallen for her trick. Saying she's my sister doesn't make sense either…"
Thinking this, I immediately dismissed my previous, almost fantastical, deduction that my mother might have remarried after leaving my father and
had a daughter!
"And I should look like my father...wait...no way! Could it be that my dad had a
mistress besides my mother...that girl was born from that wife?"
Just as this new thought popped into my head, the plane landed...Ye Tong and I
returned to our city at dusk. Update Note: Due to the Spring Festival, updates for "Face Tattoo" will be suspended. Updates will 　　resume on the first Thursday after
the Lantern Festival, barring any unforeseen circumstances . 　　Please understand... 　　thank you.

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