Chapter 115: “click,” “click”…… What The Hell Is He Doing?
Wu Xie looked at Lin Yan’s head in horror. He could even see two light-reflecting spots on that thing—could they be eyes? His hand trembled slightly as he slowly directed the flashlight beam over, gradually enveloping the thing in light. Lin Yan had no idea at all that what he was looking for was right above his head; he was still searching the attic floor for any traces left by that thing.
“This shouldn’t be… could it really be a ghost?” Lin Yan muttered to himself as he squatted down and searched the floor covered in a thin layer of dust for any possible traces. If any god or Buddha could hear his prayer, please let him find traces, not ultimately discover that the thing was a real ghost.
What was a ghost anyway—a soul? Or an energy body? Was it true that legends said ghosts fed on human fear? If so… So while Wu Xie held his breath and tried to slowly make out what exactly that thing was, he heard Lin Yan mumbling: “Please don’t be a ghost, please don’t be a ghost! I’m really not afraid at all; this thing can’t scare me.”
Who would’ve thought Lin Yan was such a chatterbox at a time like this? The fearful atmosphere was somewhat dispelled by this. Wu Xie didn’t hesitate anymore; he couldn’t be sure if that thing would move. So he yanked Lin Yan behind him with one hand while suddenly shifting the flashlight in his other hand upward, shining the light on that seemingly motionless thing.
“Holy shit, what are you doing?”
Lin Yan was caught off guard and pulled, nearly falling flat on his face. He got up with an annoyed look on his face when he heard a shriek: “Screech!” Before he could react, he felt a weight on his back as something stepped on it and jumped out through the attic vent!
He looked up toward the direction that thing had jumped: “What thing?”
But from Lin Yan’s perspective, he could only see something bigger than a house cat, half his body length, darting out—seemingly with a tail?
Though a wild beast entering at midnight was pretty scary, he inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief: As long as it wasn’t a ghost!
He turned to ask Wu Xie, whose expression was a bit strange: “Did you see what it was?”
Wu Xie glanced at him, somewhat incredulous: “If I didn’t see wrong, it was a monkey? Maybe even a golden snub-nosed monkey?”
“A monkey?” Lin Yan thought about it; this place was practically half a primitive forest, so having monkeys was normal enough.
Wu Xie turned off the flashlight and yawned. He’d been too tense earlier, and now that he relaxed again, sleepiness took over: “Alright, it’s just a monkey. You woke me up in the middle of the night for a monkey?” He looked at Lin Yan and shook his head with a strange expression, as if saying: Little bro, you’re someone who’s been in the fights; your nerve is lacking!
Lin Yan nearly jumped up: “No, what if it wasn’t a monkey? It’s the middle of the night in this remote wilderness—better safe than sorry, okay? Don’t forget what strange things we encountered in the fights before; who can guarantee it won’t be this time?”
Wu Xie was somewhat amused: “Alright, alright, I’m not saying you’re wrong; being careful here is right. Why are you getting worked up… But speaking of which, isn’t Lao Yang still on night watch now? Where is he?”
Xiao Bai Jiang looked left and right, then jumped back into Lin Yan’s arms. Lin Yan subconsciously rubbed it a couple times and followed Wu Xie downstairs: “I don’t know; I just woke up too. I heard movement and discovered Lao Yang was gone. I was about to go out and look when I heard noise upstairs.”
Wu Xie tilted his head: “Probably went to the bathroom?” He thought about it and felt it wasn’t right: “We made so much noise just now; if he heard, he’d have rushed back. He didn’t go far, did he?”
Lin Yan thought it made sense too; he probably went far for something. This was a chance to prod Wu Xie into going take a look at what secret Lao Yang had. He knew the bond in this temporary team was Wu Xie; if he went alone and found Lao Yang, who knew if Lao Yang would silence him for his secret. But with Wu Xie, Lao Yang still needed him to go to the Qinling tomb!
Wu Xie put on his jacket, thought about it, then turned back to grab the equipment and called for Lin Yan to bring his too: “Monkeys in the mountains usually travel in groups; lone ones are rare. And this thing holds grudges strong; I just flashed it right in the eyes with the flashlight, so it might come back for trouble soon. Better bring the equipment; don’t want it ruined by monkeys later.”
Thinking of all those videos from his previous life of monkeys running rampant in scenic areas, and then their backpacks full of food, Lin Yan hurriedly nodded and grabbed everything. If the dry rations got taken, what would they eat on the tomb raid? Gnaw on coffin lids?
They pulled open the door and were hit by the cold night wind outside, making them shiver. Wu Xie was fully awake now. He shone the flashlight around but didn’t find a single soul. This was already ten meters around the wooden house; any farther and it’d be into the forest.
Wu Xie hesitated a bit; his gut said going into the forest now wasn’t safe, so he asked Lin Yan, who wasn’t using a flashlight: “Any discoveries? I looked around; Lao Yang might’ve gone into the forest. Do we go in? Or wait a bit to see if he comes back, and go if no word?”
Lin Yan pointed in a direction, squinting as he said: “I think I found him. Turn off your flashlight first and look this way.”
Wu Xie’s eyes lit up; he hadn’t found anything with the flashlight on, but Lin Yan had: “Where?” He looked in the direction Lin Yan pointed and indeed saw a white spot flickering in the forest. Back when he had Lao Yang buy flashlights, Lao Yang got ones with white light like the one in his hand.
With just the three of them around for miles now, this was almost certainly Lao Yang.
He frowned, muttering to himself: “So late—what’s he doing out here?”
Lin Yan raised an eyebrow: “Yeah, and sneaking off without us.”
Wu Xie was taken aback and turned to Lin Yan, catching the meaningful smile on his face; he got it instantly: “Get out of here; don’t stir up trouble for fun. Lao Yang wouldn’t harm us; he probably found something, saw we were sleeping soundly, and didn’t want to wake us, so he came out here alone to check.”
Lin Yan nodded absentmindedly. Though Wu Xie made sense, his gut told him Lao Yang was definitely up to something related to that divine tree tomb! Why else sneak off?
As Wu Xie spoke, he gradually lost confidence too. He and Lao Yang were close, sure, but that was years ago. Lao Yang had done three years inside; though he seemed the same as before, who knew if he really hadn’t changed? What if this was a setup like Third Uncle’s time? The chance was slim, but not zero!
Had to say, after being screwed twice, Wu Xie had some resistance now—call it caution nicely, or near PTSD harshly! (Somewhere unknown, Wu Sansheng: Achoo! Who’s talking about me?)
To avoid alerting Lao Yang, they didn’t use flashlights and groped forward step by step, deep and shallow. That light spot looked just dozens of meters away, but in reality it was like chasing a mountain; it took nearly ten minutes to get close.
The closer they got to the flashlight light, the clearer Lao Yang’s silhouette became. They gradually heard some strange sounds, that “crunch crunch” of something rubbing—like… They exchanged a glance; Lin Yan’s eyes showed a hint of fear: This couldn’t be him sharpening a knife, right?
Wu Xie shivered and shook his head frantically: Impossible, impossible; if he were sharpening a knife, wouldn’t that mean he plans to kill us all? No way!
