Chapter 34: Life
“Mm, placing it by the balcony is perfect, more photosynthesis, oh, almost forgot there’s no sun here.” Lin Ling placed a pot of bright red lycoris radiata on the balcony. He poked his head out to check the sky outside the window, then dejectedly hugged the flower back to the table. “Forget it, just put it on the display stand, it looks pretty good too.”
Lin Ling teased the flower’s tender branches and petals. The texture was delicate like a girl’s skin, with a dark floral fragrance that lingered on his fingers. And this vibrant other shore flower seemed to have its own thoughts. Facing the shopkeeper’s frivolity, it was fragile and afraid, not daring to resist.
Wei Jiang stood far away, stealing glances, not daring to approach. His gaze was fixed on the pot of flowers Lin Ling had placed on the table.
“Sigh, relax, it won’t bite anymore.” Lin Ling noticed Wei Jiang’s wary expression and immediately smiled and waved his hand.
“Yes.” Hearing Lin Ling’s words, Wei Jiang finally dared to slowly approach, but still kept a certain distance, not touching it like Lin Ling did.
Afterward, Wei Jiang’s gaze turned to the other side of the small dwelling, a blurry giant black shadow, but faintly showing a female outline. In his eyes, this black shadow was also wrapped in sins beyond estimation, but restrained and converged by it, condensed within its body.
The other party had suddenly appeared today. As soon as she appeared, she was holding a pot of harmless flower. Lin Ling, who had just gotten up, saw the pot of flowers in her hand and immediately walked up with a cheerful smile, saying to her like he had met a deliveryman who came to the door, “Thanks for the hard work, delivering goods so early in the morning.” They seemed quite familiar with each other.
After deciding the placement for the flower pot, Lin Ling turned back to continue talking to the black shadow: “You can go back now. I’ve already upgraded it for you, so it’ll be more convenient for you to move around in the future, right?”
The black shadow nodded, respectfully clasped its hands, then turned into a whirlwind and dissipated.
“Boss, this… let’s call it a person for now, who is this person?” Wei Jiang asked curiously.
“It’s a product from our small shop entering the external market. I just did some product value-added processing for it.” Lin Ling thought for a moment and said.
Wei Jiang opened his mouth, “So it’s indeed a blessing then.”
“It’s just an incarnation. It’s everywhere.” Lin Ling waved his hand, not intending to explain further, as if explaining would be too much trouble for him.
Creak—
The door of the small shop was gently pushed open by a pair of slender hands. The woman who walked in had a straight figure, short hair full of vigor, dressed smartly in a suit, straight-leg pants, and flat shoes, looking like a very professional office lady.
“Xiao Yu.” Wei Jiang saw the visitor and immediately smiled.
“Disturbing you again, Boss Lin. This time I came specifically to see Wei Jiang.” Yu Lianyun first respectfully saluted Lin Ling, then stated her purpose.
Lin Ling smiled and nodded, said “You two chat,” then walked to the ownerless shrine, pulled out an innocent little black cat from the deep darkness, hugged it to the recliner, lay down to rest, and started petting the cat.
The black cat was bewildered from beginning to end, its eyes showing neither joy nor sorrow, as if it had already grown accustomed to this life. Soon, it resignedly lay in Lin Ling’s arms and continued sleeping, letting Lin Ling’s rough technique do as it pleased on its body.
“After staying here with Boss Lin, how do you feel now?” Yu Lianyun greeted this colleague senior who had re-employed after death.
Wei Jiang laughed heartily: “Boss Lin is great, everything is fine.”
Hearing Wei Jiang’s evaluation, Yu Lianyun fell slightly silent. This didn’t quite match her impression. Could it be that he hadn’t discovered Boss Lin’s nasty personality yet?
“Besides not being able to show your face casually anymore, having to abandon your original identity and cut ties with people from your previous life, the work here is actually quite leisurely. At least it’s much better than the Mystic Investigator’s daily rushing around, going through fire and dagger work.” Wei Jiang seemed very open-minded. “And anyway, I was basically alone with no one to miss, so rather than that, being able to work leisurely here now is a kind of relief.”
Yu Lianyun looked into Wei Jiang’s eyes. The other’s sincerity was written on his face, and she slowly felt relieved.
Then, her gaze was quickly attracted by the pot of flowers on Lin Ling’s table. Suddenly, terror flashed in her eyes. She looked at Wei Jiang excitedly, pointing at the dripping red flowers and saying, “This… this isn’t…”
“I don’t know either.” Wei Jiang helplessly spread his hands about it. “But it looks like it’s already been subdued by the boss.”
Hearing this, Yu Lianyun’s heart trembled. Looking again at Lin Ling, who was now peacefully petting the cat, she felt that the owner of the forest cabin was becoming more and more unfathomable.
Who could have imagined that the culprit who razed the Mysterious Group Headquarters to the ground, killed over a hundred Mystic Investigators, and caused a level-six earthquake in Tianfu City was now turned into a harmless little flower, placed by Lin Ling on a corner of the desk inside this small shop.
Wei Jiang changed the topic: “By the way, have you received any phone calls from outsiders recently?”
“Outsiders?” Yu Lianyun slowly came back to her senses. She recalled for a moment and shook her head. “No.”
“Is that so…” Wei Jiang nodded. He didn’t know how far that guest from a few days ago had progressed, but they probably hadn’t encountered danger yet.
Yu Lianyun asked curiously: “Is there some problem?”
Wei Jiang was silent for a moment, then said: “If someone calls you asking for help later, just choose according to your own situation and will, no need to mind anything else.”
Hearing Wei Jiang’s words, Yu Lianyun immediately guessed most of it. “You gave my mobile phone number to someone else?”
“Yes, sorry, this might cause you some trouble.”
Yu Lianyun smiled lightly and shook her head. “Since I’m still willing to stay in the Mysterious Group now, it’s naturally because I want to help others who were once like me. Of course, I won’t act recklessly; I know my own weight.”
……
Xincha Ji is an old-brand tea restaurant in Shenzhou, unique with no branches, so Li Jiahong was so concise when reporting the meeting location address.
Like his wife Jiang Gu, almost all members of that mysterious club from her university days were dead. Their husbands or wives had lost important lifelong partners and children. Back then, to investigate the club matter, Li Jiahong had pulled as many of the surviving family members still in Shenzhou as possible into a group chat, sharing what they knew about that mysterious club.
However, once most people in the group learned that their other half’s death and child’s disappearance were related to supernatural events, these family members either thought Li Jiahong was crazy and simply blocked the group chat, cutting off contact, or were skeptical or simply believed, willing to accompany Li Jiahong in some investigations.
However, this group chat was never very active. If Li Jiahong didn’t speak, others wouldn’t either.
Ever since heading to Laitai City to deeply investigate the child’s disappearance, Li Jiahong hadn’t spoken in the group for a long time.
This morning, when sending the meeting message, Li Jiahong had also prepared for the possibility that no one would come.
Sure enough, at the appointed time, only one person showed up at the scene, a female family member. After waiting about half an hour, another came dragging their feet, and that person’s expression was cold and unfriendly upon arrival.
“Old Huang, you came!” Li Jiahong was especially happy to see the visitor, because in his impression, the nearly two-meter-tall big man in front of him was one of those in the group completely unwilling to believe the child’s disappearance was related to supernatural events. But now the other party was willing to come—could it be that he had a change of heart?
However, the person Li Jiahong called Old Huang directly pushed away Li Jiahong’s outstretched hand, saying coldly, “Li Jiahong, I hope you stop using the child’s disappearance to exploit our emotions. And I didn’t come here specifically today; I was just nearby discussing business, so I stopped by to take a look. I didn’t expect there’d still be an idiot willing to listen to your nonsense.”
“Old Huang, listen to me, I have… I can’t prove it all, but this is all real…” Li Jiahong was stunned for a moment, wanting to persuade the other to hear his explanation, but soon interrupted by the big man’s angry voice.
“Real my ass!” The big man glared red-eyed, gripped Li Jiahong’s shoulder hard, and said through gritted teeth, “The truth is our children are never coming back. They’re already dead!”
“Your son disappeared fifteen years ago, her child twelve years ago, my daughter nineteen years ago! If everything you say is true, after so many years, do you think they could still be alive? Trafficked children don’t even survive an average of ten years in human traffickers’ hands! Our children have been gone twelve, fifteen, nineteen years—how could they still be alive!? You want me to believe how they’re alive?” The big man grabbed Li Jiahong’s collar, suddenly unable to control his emotions, and roared furiously, “They’re already dead!”
Everyone in the entire restaurant fell silent listening to the big man’s words, all gazes focused on Li Jiahong and the big man.
“Tao Bro, Jiahong Bro, don’t do this, calm down, okay?” The first family member to arrive quickly stood up to mediate, persuading the two whose emotions were gradually intensifying not to argue.
“Huang Qitao, you have to believe in hope…” Li Jiahong’s mood wasn’t calm either. Even hearing the other say his child was already dead, he felt an unprecedented surge of strong anger for the first time, somewhat unable to control himself. But when he saw the other’s grief and indignation eyes, he understood that the other was as pained as he was.
“Believe in hope?” Huang Qitao laughed. He released Li Jiahong’s collar, staggered back a few steps, barely steadying himself by grabbing a chair to avoid falling. He rolled up the cuff of his right leg’s long pants, revealing the prosthetic leg hidden inside, and said dejectedly, “I believed in hope once too, but I broke my leg searching for her, and she still didn’t come back… Later I thought, even finding her bones would be lucky.”
With the support of the other missing child family member, Huang Qitao sat down, saying despondently with both eyes: “At first I was searching for her, later for it. You say, does this count as giving up?”
“I couldn’t even find her bones.” Huang Qitao reddened his eyes, unsure if hatred or goodwill in them, lips trembling, “I’m a damn cripple!”
“Now I don’t even expect to find her bones anymore. No point.” Huang Qitao wiped his tears and snot, stood up, walked to Li Jiahong, patted his chest, “Feel your conscience. Sometimes don’t think your love is so great. You just lost one person. You still have your parents on both sides. You’re still lucky. Your wife is still around… Instead of wasting time on established facts, use the remaining time to accompany your family.”
After saying this, Huang Qitao pushed Li Jiahong away and left like a normal person.
“Jiahong Bro, are you okay?” Seeing the dazed Li Jiahong, the only family member willing to believe him came to his side and asked with concern.
Li Jiahong’s rapid breathing reflected his inner turmoil, extremely unsettled. He silently shed two streams of hot tears, then hurriedly wiped them away in panic, forcing a strained smile through his turbulent state of mind: “Sorry, Mrs. Xue Hanlei, we, let’s change places and talk.”
After saying that, he immediately stood up, seriously bowed to the others in the restaurant to apologize, then left the restaurant with Xue Hanlei’s support, heading to a fast food hamburger shop a kilometer away, and sat down in a corner inside the shop.
“Jiahong Bro, are you okay?” Seeing Li Jiahong’s expression still somewhat stiff, Xue Hanlei asked worriedly.
Li Jiahong slowly shook his head. “I’m fine.”
Rubbing his nose, he looked at the surroundings and realized he was in a hamburger shop. He smiled at Xue Hanlei: “Order whatever you want to eat or drink, don’t hold back. Today I didn’t do well, made you uncomfortable too. It’s on me.”
Xue Hanlei smiled slightly. She glanced at the menu on the wall, looking a bit playful, and said: “Then I’ll really order, no politeness with you.”
Li Jiahong was amused by her demeanor, knowing she was doing it deliberately to ease his melancholy mood. He cleared his throat lightly, mustered his spirits, nodded, his tone more firm: “Mm, order boldly, don’t worry.”
Afterward, the two enjoyed a satisfying fast meal. Perhaps fried food really brings happiness—Li Jiahong’s mood did improve quite a bit. He was also ready to get to the main topic.
“Actually, I called everyone this time because I really have a major discovery.” Li Jiahong opened his shoulder bag, took out a laminated letter paper, handed it to Xue Hanlei to read, and said, “Huo Gu really exists. I learned some important messages from someone who once escaped from a Huo Gu lair…”
Xue Hanlei read attentively while seriously listening to Li Jiahong recount his investigation experiences these days in detail, sharing all his summaries and conjectures with her.
After reading the contents recorded on the letter paper, Xue Hanlei couldn’t help but feel her nose sour and eyes redden. Thinking of her child in the hands of an unknown creature with uncertain life or death, the pent-up pain in her heart that was hard to vent suddenly erupted painfully.
After hearing Li Jiahong’s words and learning he was going to find Huo Gu’s grave on Earth, Xue Hanlei couldn’t help asking him: “Do you have any clues about the Huo Gu grave now?”
Li Jiahong said honestly: “No.”
“No…” Xue Hanlei murmured.
Seeing this, Li Jiahong quickly said: “But don’t worry, there will be progress soon.”
“How soon is soon?” Xue Hanlei asked.
Li Jiahong was stunned.
Xue Hanlei seemed to realize her impropriety and quickly apologized.
Li Jiahong didn’t mind, even asking her not to bow to him; she hadn’t done anything wrong. Then he asked: “Mrs. Xue, didn’t you also have some messages you’ve collected to share this time?”
Hearing this, Xue Hanlei showed a stiff smile: “No… I won’t embarrass myself. What you’ve collected overlaps basically with mine, and it’s much more detailed.” She nervously hid her sachet a bit.
Li Jiahong took it as true, smiled understandingly. “It’s fine, everyone has their own views. We’re just discussing with each other…”
Two chapters in one, seeking collections and votes… Vacation’s almost over, but I don’t want to work ah!!!!!
