Chapter 28

Two beams of lights passed through the dark forest, and Zhang Qiu could already hear the sound of car as the lights got brighter.

The tree Li Shu had taken him on was very tall and lush, their hiding place was on top of a leaning tree, covered by layers of branches, and with no lights in the mountains, they were completely unnoticed by the darkness and tranquility.

“Those four people?” Zhang Qiu whispered.

Li Qi nodded. Zhang Qiu remembered Pixian HuiWang, and Li Shu pointed to a big tree opposite them. Zhang Qiu looked at Pixian HuiWang’s direction for a long time but couldn’t find his figure. Not exaggerated, Zhang Qiu said, “You have a good eyes.” Remembering that his night vision skill had disappeared, he asked Li Shu strangely, “Why do you say you can’t see them?”

“Not clear.”

Li Shu said as he looked down on Zhang Qiu’s belly, but Zhang Qiu didn’t see it. His whole attention was focused on the coming and nearer car.

The mountain forest was very quiet, and the other side was in the far light. When they arrived, they slammed on the brakes. The harsh sound accelerated Zhang Qiu’s heart. He slowed down his breathing for fear of being discovered by the four people under the tree.

“Found their car.” The bodyguard in the SUV jumped out first, went to their car and peered through the window, then shook his head at the three people who got off the car behind him. “No one was here.”

“Can’t be that they found out about us?” It’s the one with boss’s appearance who was speaking.

The short and small man took out a flashlight and swept it down the tree where they were hiding. Zhang Qiu was frightened to death. He held the helm of Li Shu’s clothes beside him tightly. The light swept by and the man did not see them. He went on to say, “Don’t mind them. We only need to do the tasks assigned by the boss, and you know if we do it well, in addition to money there is....” When the other side spoke, he lowered his voice.

“I don’t believe in immortality whatsoever. I only need money.” That’s what the bodyguard said.

The shorter man posed a silence gesture, and before the bodyguard could say any, the woman next to him laughed and said, "There’s no ghost in here. Hush what hush! But Xiao Gao is right, I also don’t believe in immortality. There’s still money in the world. You remember that Lao Jin, what kind of ghost he’d became after coming back from Xianxi. I’d rather not live if I were to look like that."

“Why talking so much?!” The boss spoke and waved impatiently. “Get on the car first. It’s really troublesome. Originally just have to grab the bead, but now have to divert to the pit. I don’t know what the boss thinks.”

“If you want to grab it then go grab it.” The woman laughed and made fun of the boss. She took the bodyguard, Xiao Gao’s arm, and said with charming voice, “Little brother, you’ll have to protect your sister when we go down the pit. I haven’t gone down for years. My heart feels hairy.”

Xiao Gao was obviously very happy, vigorously nodded.

“What are you coquettish about, Cui Hong? Is it the zongzi in the pit that make you coquettish? Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.” The boss thought his joke was funny and he could not stop laughing.

The woman was angry, “You big pig’s gut bastard, dare to call this lady Cui Hong, let’s see you try again!”

“All right, my red sister, let’s hurry and go!”

Four people got on the car one after another, and finally the shorter man got on the car and swept a circle at the tree with his flashlight before he left. The boss next to him said, “Gee, quickly get in the car, there’s no ghost!”

The car started and soon left.

Li Shu took Zhang Qiu’s waist to help him down, and Pixian HuiWang came down from another tree, and he looked at Li Shu. Zhang Qiu didn’t know what mystery the two were playing and said, “Did you hear the Lao Jin they mentioned, and was it the Lao Jin we knew?”

“The tomb in Xianxi, on the road, the ghost appearance, it should be the Lao Jin I killed.” Pixian HuiWang said. Who knew what he thought but he laughed, “He can still come out after he’d been killed twice. It looks like the next time he meet me, I’m going to crush his bone to ashes.”

As a matter of fact, the person named Red Sister had said so obviously, Zhang Qiu also felt it was true. Afraid, his three world views were so destroyed when he saw Lao Jin’s head shattered with red and white scattered all over the place. Selfishly, he actually did not want to believe that the man was alive again.

He did not know why suddenly his brain thought of that Lao Jin holding a shriveled Zongzi in the corridor and eating it.

Associating with Lao Jin resurrection, Zhang Qiu, whose brain thought too much of blood-curling scene, felt nauseated.

Li Shu stretched out his hand and gently stroked Zhang Qiu’s back. “Why do you feel like vomiting?”

“When I think of Lao Jin, I feel disgusted.” Zhang Qiu vomited till his eyes brimming with tears and was worried that he had delayed the trip, “Let’s hurry up. I’m afraid we won’t catch up soon.”

“No hurry.” Li Shu unscrewed the water bottle and handed it to Zhang Qiu. “I have a way.”

Zhang Qiu’s curiosity peaked, “What is it?”

“If you kiss me, I’ll tell you.” Li Shu said, hooking up his lips.

Zhang Qiu’s stomach was no longer uncomfortable, but his ears slowly reddened. Li Shu had become more and more rogue, Zhang Qiu snorted, “willing to speak but not saying it.” Choked you to death.

As a result, Li Shu lifted up his eyebrows and really didn’t plan to tell. The three of them got on the car, and Li Shu was still slowly igniting the car, not in a hurry. Thus instead of chocking Li Shu to death, Zhang Qiu was tangled in curiosity.

It was dark in the front, and the four people’s SUV had disappeared. Their car started to move, and Li Shu seemed to know the direction, not just driving around.

“Are you curious?” Li Shu lightly said.

“How did you do that?” Zhang Qiu took advantage to ask.

Li Shu smiled. “Now kiss twice and I’ll tell you.”

He’s in good mood!

Zhang Qiu rested breathlessly in his seat. He had never seen Li Shu like this before; he loved to tease him and was especially perverted. The first impression of the cool handsome brother was feeding dog food. But he was itching- the more he didn’t tell him, the more he wanted to know. He’s going to think of something else that would distract him from the question of ’How Li Shu knows the way’.

“There are four people on the other side. The bodyguard is called Xiao Gao, can be a little younger, the woman is called ’red sister’, the boss is a big pig’s gut. Now only the shorter man’s name is unknown, and the other is very vigilant. I almost thought we were discovered just now...." Zhang Qiu slowly smooth out his persona, thinking about what the people behind them meant, according to the conversation he had just heard. “You say, they wanted to snatch the bead at first. Why would they go down the hole again now?”

He thought about it and couldn’t come up with a clue. Li Shu was driving and Pixian HuiWang -who knew what he was thinking- didn’t interact with them after leaving. Zhang Qiu was a little bored, he thought about how Li Shu knew the way.

So annoying.

“The one who escaped from the hotel that day was the shorter man.”

Pixian HuiWang suddenly spoke in the backseat. Zhang Qiu thought for a moment and asked, “Did you mean with Xiao Liu?” Seeing the other person nodding his head, he said, “but you have seen the four people before.”

“The other person wore a mask.”

Zhang Qiu tried hard to think about the appearance of the shorter man. He had seen him twice, once in the elevator, once in the restaurant, and now he couldn’t imagine what the other person looked like. The only impression was that he was short and thin. He had no sense of being; his facial features were very ordinary—could not be said ugly but forgettable face.

But why did that person wear a mask?

In the distance, a red light flashed past. Zhang Qiu looked up and saw the car of the four people. They really kept up with them.

Li Shu turned off the lights when he parked on the grass. It was dark in the car. Zhang Qiu saw a shadow slowly crept toward him, and suddenly felt a cold on his lips. In the split second, the familiar temperature made him out of sorts. The other side had already stretched out the tip of the tongue and licked it on his lips, like eating a cool jelly, he involuntarily opened his mouth. Being kissed by the other party was becoming more and more intense.

He was kissed breathless until his waist gone weak. Luckily he was sitting in the car—

In the car!

Zhang Qiu instantly remembered that there was Pixian HuiWang in the backseat, and he didn’t forget that Pixian HuiWang, like Li Shu, could see things in the dark.

The shadow was slowly withdrawn and then kissed the lips of Zhang Qiu again.

“It’s the same if I kiss you.” The shadow was satisfied and pressed on his seat.

Zhang Qiu was furious, “Li Shu!!!”

“Hmm?”

It’s the kind of soft hum that’s so low and magnetic, but he didn’t open his mouth to scold Li Shu even a single word. He really wanted to blow himself up for the virtue of facial control, voice control and manual control.

“I turn off the lights.” Li Shu had an innocent voice. “I know you are shy.”

Damn you, know that I’m shy and still don’t want to separate! Zhang Qiu gnashed his teeth. “I didn’t forget that Pixian HuiWang could see in the dark like you.”

“I can pretend I didn’t see it.” Pixian HuiWang said, from the backseat.

“I-I-I’m going to kill you, Li Shu!!!”

Li Shu saw that Zhang Qiu really blew his hair, laughed, touched the soft top of Xiao Song Bao’s hair and said, “You don’t want to know how I know the way?”

“Who wants to know—”

“The short man with a mask is Lao Jin.” Li Shu fast reply cut off Zhang Qiu.

“?” Zhang Qiu was absent-minded at first and after recalling Li Shu’s words, his face was shocked and the issue of Li Shu kissing him was thrown away. He asked, “Lao Jin?! Dead Lao Jin? ”

Li Shu bent his lips, truly a good humor!

“Otherwise, how do you think the other party knows the location of the tomb?”

By Li Shu’s point, Zhang Qiu suddenly remembered that the map was in their hands, and the other party didn’t grab the map at all. Now the other party knew the place instead, and they only knew the general city.

“I got the spiritual soul[1] in Xianxi first, while looking at it Lao Jin had opened the box. He probably remembered it.” Pixian HuiWang supplemented.

Zhang Qiu thought of Lao Jin and naturally thought of Lao Jin’s dry zongzi picture, and immediately waved, “Quickly stop talking, change the topic, I feel sick.”

Li Shu restarted the car and slowly followed, saying, “Do you remember the green worms in Xianxi pool?”

How can I forget?!

That worm could kill two people, and after a few minutes they looked like dried corpses.

“This worm is in the body of Lao Jin, and the other one is on my hand.” Li Shu held the steering wheel in one hand and opened it in the other. A little green worm wriggled on Li Shu’s finger.

Zhang Qiu looked at it with a chill and said, “Don’t touch me with this hand –” He suddenly thought of Li Shu rubbing his head. His scalp was numb. Li Shu looked at him and knew what Zhang Qiu thought. With a flick of his finger, the little green worm climbed onto the front of the car and fell in a straight line, then twisted and turned again.

“Do you bring this worm here without it multiplying and harming people?”

“No, it needs a certain living condition, once it leaves –” Li Shu paused and did not go on, “here it is.”

The worm seemed to stand upright and no longer moved.

The car followed the path like the path the worm had just climbed and stopped far below the tree. Li Shu shut down the engine. Zhang Qiu could only hear the voices of the four people in the distance. He could not hear it but Li Shu and Pixian HuiWang heard clearly.

“... The bead is not urgent, don’t collect anything else, even if we have the bead it’ll be useless. ”

“Originally said to be urgent, how suddenly it is not urgent, I have not been down for several years, originally said to grab the bead...”

“The boss knows that without the soul vein, the bead will not refine into adult, but they will never get the soul vein in their lifetime, even if they found it will not live, just...”

Soul vein?

Pixian HuiWang’s face emerged as a surprise, found the soul vein and would be able to resurrect. The bead in his hand turned hot, like a response. He opened his mouth and whispered, “Wait for me.”

Zhang Qiu couldn’t hear anything. It was eleven o’clock in the evening, and his stomach was hungrily screamed ’gugugu’. His hands touched it, and his whole person was frozen.

There’s something moving in his stomach.

“What’s wrong?”

Zhang Qiu swallowed his saliva and turned pale. “Nothing, just hungry.”

After Qinling Mountain, except for drowsiness and nausea, there was basically no other reaction, and his stomach by normal standard was not that big, but there was something moving in the stomach just a second ago, like the palm of a child...

At this moment, Zhang Qiu really felt a little Jiangshi was growing up in his stomach. It clearly told him that he could not escape any more. How would this little Jiangshi come out? Could it be after it was done absorbing his nourishment, it would open and break his stomach?

Zhang Qiu was so scared by his brain hole, Li Shu put his hand on his arm and said, “Don’t think about anything else. I’m here.” After that, Zhang Qiu still looked as if muddled. Li Shu patted the person on the back. Slowly, Zhang Qiu felt sleepy and soon fell asleep.

“If he knew the truth, would he sleep so soundly in your arms?”

Li Shu looked to the back, his eyes were an undisguised scarlet, said coldly, “you talk too much.”

Pixian HuiWang was stared at by his opponent and unexpected cold rising in his heart; he swallowed the words he wanted to say. Forget it, in this the world he only cared about Da’er, just needed to find the soul vein, Da’er would be revived...

Li Shu gently flattened the seat, took out a blanket and covered Zhang Qiu. He got out of the car and set up a simple stove nearby to cook a pot of beef canned noodles.

Zhang Qiu sniffed his nose, slowly woke up and rubbed his eyes. “How can I fall asleep?” It seemed he was thinking, but he couldn’t remember anything. He smelled the aroma in the air. “What are you doing, Li Shu? Smell good!”

Li Shu used a disposable bowl to give Zhang Qiu a bowl, “be careful.”

Although it was summer vacation, the mountain night was still very cold. He could eat a bowl of hot noodle, and his whole stomach was much more comfortable. Zhang Qiu slowly drank the soup, and said with a grin, “Li Shu, you are virtuous wife!”

Li Shu just looked at Zhang Qiu, but he did not refute. “If not enough, there is more.”

“Enough, enough. You and Pixian HuiWang eat it quickly, otherwise the noodles will be burnt.” Zhang Qiu took a sip of the noodles, and the more he ate, the happier he felt. Then he said shamelessly, “I have good eyes, Li Shu muah!”

“Muah.”

Zhang Qiu:!!! What’s up with Li Shu!

[1] previously translated as spirit essence

Chapter 29