Chapter 142: Foresight
He had just gotten off the car and moved the luggage back to the hotel room when Li Duojin was pulled back into the car by Chen Xiaolin again.
Li Duojin looked at Chen Xiaolin somewhat helplessly and said wistfully, “It’s a good thing I’m a young man now, otherwise I really couldn’t keep up with your pace. Can’t I rest first?”
“The situation is urgent, lives are at stake.” Chen Xiaolin’s pretty face was serious, making it unclear whether it was for revenge over those twenty thousand yuan or sincere, she said, “I must take you to confirm right away.”
Li Duojin quietly looked at her, then leaned back on the chair back and closed his eyes. “Is it far? If not, I’ll rest a bit first.”
“It’s not too far, but you can rest. I’ll call you when we arrive.” Chen Xiaolin nodded. She glanced at Li Duojin who was resting with closed eyes, suddenly unsure if he really had any real skills.
Whatever, the twenty thousand yuan was already spent. He better have something to show for it!
Thinking this in her heart, Chen Xiaolin suddenly wanted to probe his background. “I already introduced myself to you at the hotel. What about you?”
Hearing this, Li Duojin slowly opened his eyes, full of confusion in them, his face with a deathly silence-like expression, then he still spoke: “My name is Li Duojin. I live on Qiaojue Mountain in Qingyang. I’m the temple keeper of Anjing Temple.”
“Eh, Qiaojue Mountain… I remember it’s a place with nice scenery.” Chen Xiaolin was somewhat surprised, feeling doubly puzzled in her heart. How could a temple keeper from an unheard-of temple be worth such respect from a big shot with means and capital.
“After all, it’s a 5A-level natural scenic area.” Li Duojin smiled slightly. “Any other questions?”
“One more.” Chen Xiaolin felt that the handsome temple keeper in front of her seemed to answer every question and didn’t bother hiding his interest, so she simply asked directly the thing she most wanted to know: “Do you really know any magic or special abilities like that? Otherwise, why would that Fatty go to such great lengths to invite you here and treat you with utmost respect, putting you up in the most expensive hotel in all of Magic City, receiving you with the hotel’s highest specifications.”
On one hand out of curiosity, on the other to confirm Li Duojin’s exact temporary residence, she had gone along to Li Duojin’s hotel room and found it indeed extraordinary.
Li Duojin smiled and said, “Boss Zhang was just exaggerating. I just happened to meet him at the temple, interpreted a divination for him, and unintentionally saved his life.”
“What divination, about what?” Chen Xiaolin was even more curious.
“He was traveling at Qiaojue Mountain with his family, had the affinity to come to Anjing Temple to light a few incense sticks, and casually drew a lot asking if he and his next business partner could make a fortune. He got a greatly ominous lot. He asked me, so I interpreted it for him, telling him it was best to find another partner, and in the future best not to take subway, train or such vehicles. That was the best method for him to avoid the omen.
Then he really believed my words. He didn’t meet that business partner and avoided his calamity, surviving the Night of Collapse in Cuizhu City.” Li Duojin explained lightly.
“Night of Collapse?” Chen Xiaolin was stunned, gripping the steering wheel tightly. She looked at him in shock and suspicion. “You really foresaw his danger?”
“It wasn’t me who foresaw it. I just interpreted.” Li Duojin shook his head.
“You wouldn’t happen to be a blind cat stumbling on a dead rat, talking nonsense that just happened to be right.” Chen Xiaolin spoke bluntly, just like her profession—her pen was a sword, and that tender little mouth was a ship cannon.
Li Duojin chuckled. “Perhaps, but Boss Zhang surviving was mainly because he believed it.”
Chen Xiaolin pursed her lips and nodded, her expression somewhat playful, but in her heart she was depressed. Although she understood the reason why that Fatty respected Li Duojin so much, she was even less certain of Li Duojin’s abilities.
If Li Duojin really helped Fatty with some ability, letting him avoid that one of the currently globally known most malignant anomaly disasters, then Li Duojin was indeed a profoundly unfathomable strange person.
But if not, the twenty thousand yuan down the drain, and time wasted.
“You haven’t answered my previous question. Do you really have any special ability?” Chen Xiaolin asked.
“Yes.” Li Duojin nodded. His eyes scanned Chen Xiaolin. In his view, Chen Xiaolin’s body was entwined with several black fleshy tentacles from unknown sources that she couldn’t perceive, scanning over her body and leaving sticky traces. “I can see some things others can’t see.”
“Yin-Yang Eyes?” Chen Xiaolin quipped. “Though I haven’t kept statistics, most people I’ve met claiming special abilities say the same.”
“Not that kind of ability. I can just see traces left by some unclean things where they’ve been active.” Li Duojin didn’t argue much, just asked her: “Have you personally experienced any anomaly event recently?”
Hearing Li Duojin’s words, before Chen Xiaolin could answer, she slammed on the brakes, stopping the car abruptly by the roadside. She widened her eyes and stared straight at Li Duojin: “Did you see something on me?”
“Don’t be nervous.” From that sudden brake, Li Duojin was pained by the seatbelt. He wasn’t angry, just comforted her, “You’re fine, just probably accidentally came into contact with it.”
But Chen Xiaolin wasn’t reassured and persisted in asking: “If you saw something, please tell me.”
“Mm, unknown creature’s tentacles entwining you. From the anomaly in my view, the anomaly event you encountered is related to the sea.” Li Duojin had no choice but to continue explaining, “But it’s fine now. The anomalies I saw are receding, and they didn’t affect you anyway.”
Chen Xiaolin couldn’t help grabbing her hair. She remembered half a month ago drinking at Good Luck Bar, and finally hearing a eerie story from the mixed-race bartender that felt so immersive it scared her and Zheng Yu away.
That story happened to be related to the sea. Hearing Li Duojin say this now, she suddenly started to gradually believe that she really had a direct encounter with an anomaly that night, feeling a heart-pounding sensation of having walked through the gates of hell.
Li Duojin’s words became somewhat credible, and his self-claimed eyes that could see anomaly factors also gained some of her affirmation.
Chen Xiaolin took a deep breath, adjusted her mindset for a bit, and started the car again. She decided to first handle the current matter, then deal with her own issue later.
Half an hour later, Chen Xiaolin and Li Duojin arrived at a garden community. Chen Xiaolin brought Li Duojin to the 10th floor of a certain unit.
Upon arriving at the 10th floor, the elevator doors opened, and what met their eyes was black cloth and white flowers, extinguished candles and residual incense—a scene of mourning.
