Purple Clad was taken away by Xu Qiuyan. I told Xu Qiuyan to keep an eye on her. The last thing I wanted was to open my eyes in the middle of the night and find her standing at my bedside. It would scare me to death.
I lay alone on the bed and lit a cigarette.
Purple Clad's words still echoed in my ears. She had said that I had the ability to deal with those ninjas; I just did not know how to use it.
Of course I knew what ability she meant. It should have been Chu Ge's fighting prowess.
But I was not Chu Ge.
That left me feeling helpless and troubled.
It felt as though I did not even have the ability to protect myself, much less protect Xu Qiuyan.
I could not help thinking of Abe Ichinan again. What exactly was she trying to do? If she simply wanted to snatch that jade pendant from me, she had had every opportunity in that alternate dimension. She had created that space herself. If she had taken the pendant and fled at once, Fatty would not have had time to react, because there had been a time lag when he entered that space.
Beep beep! My phone alerted me to a text message.
The message came from an unfamiliar number.
Not many people used text messages these days, but their convenience was that, unlike WeChat, they did not require the recipient's approval before a message could be sent.
"9:30 tonight. Sophia Church Square. Come alone."
The message was only one short sentence, but I had no idea who had sent it.
Could it be Abe Ichinan? Was she still unwilling to give up?
But my instincts told me it probably was not her.
I checked the time. It was almost dinner, and I had arranged to meet Fatty, Xu Qiuyan, and the others in the hotel lobby at six thirty.
I did not much care for the food at the hotel restaurant; it simply did not suit my taste. There happened to be a Guizhou restaurant not far from the hotel, and we had agreed to have Guizhou cuisine there that night.
Those of us from the south lived quite differently from northerners. In the north, they rarely ate rice and mainly ate wheat-based foods, while we were the opposite and treated rice as our staple.
People in several southwestern provinces especially loved spicy food. They could not live without it.
So we were all excited to find an authentic Guizhou restaurant.
"Is something on your mind?" Xu Qiuyan sat close beside me and asked softly as she ate.
I shook my head and smiled at her. "No."
Fatty also glanced at me. "Any plans for tonight?"
"Nothing. We've had a busy day and we're tired. Let's all get some proper rest in our rooms."
Yin Wuyu was the same as ever. Even while eating, he did not forget to play games. No one could talk any sense into him.
Purple Clad, on the other hand, had remained silent. Only when Xu Qiuyan asked me that question did a faint smile appear on her face, and her gaze seemed capable of seeing through a person's thoughts.
I did not tell them about the text message. I was still hesitating over whether I should.
I would definitely go, because I was very curious about who had sent me that message.
Of course, I knew it might be unsafe to go alone, but I had an idea—perhaps a crazy one. I wondered whether only by facing danger alone could I awaken my potential, whether only then could I truly use the abilities Old Shu and Purple Clad said I possessed, the kind that could let me fight ninjas.
It might sound ridiculous, but I wanted to try.
So I decided to act alone that night.
Xu Qiuyan finished eating and wiped her mouth with a napkin. "He Li has already booked our flight back to Lin City early tomorrow morning. She said she'd bring the tickets over tonight, so I told her to deliver them straight to my room."
I nodded.
Fatty rubbed his round belly. "I've got plans to meet a friend later. Since there's nothing going on tonight, I'll have some tea and chat with him. Call me if anything comes up."
I nodded again.
Yin Wuyu only said, "I'm not going anywhere. I'll be in my room playing games."
Purple Clad said, "I'm going out tonight too."
Xu Qiuyan and I asked at the same time, "Where are you going?"
She had no family or friends at all in this world. Where could she go?
Purple Clad smiled. "Just taking a walk around nearby."
Xu Qiuyan shot her a glare. "Don't cause trouble."
Purple Clad pouted. "How could I possibly cause trouble?"
She was truly nothing like the nightmare I had met in Wu Lun's dream. They were as different as heaven and earth.
"Fine. Just come back early after you're done wandering around."
As I spoke, I took several hundred yuan from my pocket and handed it to her. She needed some money on her when she went shopping. Besides, I did not want her turning napkins into banknotes again and causing a sensation.
She took the money and smiled at me. "Thank you, Jiang Xiaobai."
It was not quite eight when we returned to the hotel.
Fatty and Purple Clad did not come back with us. I had originally thought Xu Qiuyan would come to my room to chat for a while, but she went straight back to her own room.
There was no need to mention Yin Wuyu. He had already lost himself in the world of his games.
I stayed in my room for a while, then quietly left the hotel at around eight twenty.
As I walked from my door to the elevator, I felt nervous. I worried Xu Qiuyan would suddenly open her door and ask where I was going.
Fortunately, that did not happen.
I hailed a taxi outside the hotel. It would take about twenty-five minutes to drive from there to Sophia Church, provided there was no traffic.
I arrived at Sophia Church Square at nine o'clock, a full half hour before the appointed time.
I sat down on a bench, feeling a little bored.
There were still some tourists in the church square. Not far from me, a young couple was feeding pigeons with a little girl who looked about three years old.
I did not know whether the pigeons in the square were fortunate or unfortunate. Fortunate because they did not need to forage for food and had more than they could eat; unfortunate because if they ate like this from morning till night, would they eventually lose their animal instincts?
"Sir, would you like to buy a flower?" A little girl looked at me timidly. A flower basket hung from her left arm, neatly filled with roses—some single stems, some bouquets. She held out a single rose to me.
The girl was plainly dressed and very young, probably not even ten years old.
Her complexion was somewhat sallow, as though she had been malnourished for a long time.
"How much?" I took the flower and asked with a smile.
"Five yuan," she said softly, then secretly glanced at me, as though afraid the price would make me hand the flower back.
I took out five yuan and gave it to her. She thanked me, then happily left.
I did not like flowers. I had bought that rose only because I felt sorry for her. I figured she had been forced by life to sell flowers at such a young age.
"What a beautiful rose." A voice sounded behind me, and my heart skipped a beat. I knew who it was without even turning around.
"Why are you here? Were you following me?" I frowned and asked Purple Clad angrily.
She raised both hands in surrender. "I wasn't following you. I was just wandering around, happened to see you, and came over to say hello."
She was clearly talking nonsense. This place was not close to the hotel, and I had been here for less than ten minutes. There was no way she had simply wandered here.
"Are you waiting for someone?" She looked around, asking with blatant curiosity.
Bitterness rose in my heart. The other party had told me to come alone, yet I had brought a tail with me. Purple Clad had come on her own, but from the other party's perspective, I had broken my word.
Would they still show up now?
There were twenty minutes left until the appointed time.
"Just leave already!"
"You actually snuck out to meet another woman behind my back and Sister Xu's!" She snorted, planting her hands on her hips.
I was speechless. How had I not guarded against her following me here?
"I really am waiting for someone, someone important. Can you leave first? We can talk about whatever it is after we get back."
Her eyes darted about rapidly.
Seeing that look, I grew nervous again. She definitely was not thinking of anything good.
"I'm not leaving. I want to see who you're meeting." She was being utterly unreasonable, but I could neither hit nor scold her. More importantly, I could not beat her anyway.
"My lady, I have serious business to attend to. Can you please behave?" I was getting anxious.
Only then did she smile again. "All right, I'll stop teasing you. How about this? I'll stay far away from you and just watch, okay? Don't worry, I'll keep your secret. I definitely won't let Sister Xu find out."
What else could I say at that point? I could only agree helplessly.
The moment I agreed to her request, she vanished from before my eyes. I had no idea where she had hidden herself.
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