After traveling through the night beneath the stars, the two returned to the inn.
As they rode the grimy, old elevator, Xiao Qi's heart began to flutter.
Every so often, she sneaked a glance at Xue Ming's profile. The little man remained as aloof and cold as ever, as if his thoughts never stopped turning, his eyes fixed straight ahead.
Come to think of it, she really was going to share a room with Xue Ming tonight, wasn't she?
At the thought, Xiao Qi grew flustered again. Her cheeks felt warm, then scorching hot.
Jiang Xueming didn't notice that anything was amiss with the attendant beside him. Before reaching their room, he paused for around ten seconds outside every guest room on the floor.
His superhuman senses let him hear what was happening through the walls. He screened the other guests on the floor, confirming that he heard no strange conversations or metallic clatter, and detected no signs of the Armadillo Hunters. Finally reassured, he boldly opened his room door.
Once they were inside, Xue Ming switched on every light, searched every corner of the room, then locked the door.
When the chain slid into place, Xiao Qi suddenly felt that the enclosed space was filled with an ambiguous, intimate atmosphere.
Clutching her clothes, she ran into the bathroom like a startled little rabbit and stammered, "I'm going to change."
Xue Ming nodded. "Thanks for the effort. I need to change into something casual too."
In front of the brightly lit sink, Xiao Qi saw how red her face was in the mirror. She suddenly felt embarrassed, though she wasn't sure what she was even nervous about.
Maybe this was the difference Yangchun had told her about between being innocently lecherous and seriously in love?
She pulled several sets of pajamas out of her handbag. She'd even bought some cheap, pretty pieces online before, including lingerie that was practically disposable. It wasn't that she wanted anyone to see her in them; she just thought the clothes were really pretty.
She let out a long breath, patted her burning cheeks, and stared blankly at herself in the mirror. Through the thin curtain over the privacy window beside her, she could just make out Mr. Xue Ming changing by the bed.
It was only a hazy, dreamlike shadow, half hidden and half visible, but it made her heart beat even faster.
She needed to cool herself down. "Wait a second! I'm taking a shower!"
"Okay," Jiang Xueming replied succinctly.
Xiao Qi dashed into the bathroom.
That privacy window seemed to have some kind of magic; she couldn't tear her eyes away from it.
Her mind was like a Volga barreling onto a circular highway, and the hot water from the showerhead couldn't extinguish all the fantasies in her head.
She awkwardly stretched and swayed in the bathroom, wondering if Xue Ming could see her shadow through the flimsy curtain.
She was both nervous and excited. The two conflicting feelings tangled together as she tried to tame her limbs, mimicking the graceful poses in posters of Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe. She wanted to leave a willowy, elegant shadow on that curtain.
Just a few breaths later,
she heard the sound of tape being torn.
She saw Xue Ming's figure right beside the window.
When she came to her senses and turned her foolish, despairing gaze toward the little window full of affection,
she saw strips of bright yellow tape sealing it completely.
Xiao Qi's feelings were a tangled mess. This was so weird!
It wasn't that she was all that disappointed, but somehow, she felt a lot more at ease.
From outside the bathroom, she heard Xue Ming call out.
"Xiao Qi, are you taking a shower?"
"Yeah."
"Did you forget a step?"
"What step?"
"I didn't hear you unzip your pants, undo your hat buckle, take off your bra, or remove your shoes. Did you forget to undress?"
Xiao Qi looked down—
—she really had run into the bathroom without taking anything off.
"Oh, right! No wonder the shower didn't feel refreshing."
Xue Ming covered his face. He couldn't help wondering if something was wrong with his attendant. Showering without taking off your clothes wasn't something ordinary people did.
He'd just seen Xiao Qi's shadow dancing around behind the bathroom curtain without making a sound. He'd thought she might be possessed or having a seizure.
Then he remembered that men and women should keep their distance. Having a window there was awkward, so he'd sealed it with tape.
Jiang Xueming turned on the air conditioner and television, then raised the volume as if to let the other guests passing by know that the people in this room were still awake.
The bathroom door creaked open.
Wearing a loose, long-sleeved pajama top, Xiao Qi hugged her handbag and hurried back into the room. She looked guilty, as if she were afraid someone might see the lingerie inside her bag.
She sprang onto the bed and pulled the covers over her head.
"I'm going to sleep!"
"Okay." Jiang Xueming sat on the bed next to hers, with no intention of going to sleep. "I'll wake you at four in the morning so you can take over the night watch. I won't be sleeping for long. We'll head back before eight. First, we'll pick Bailu up from the milk tea shop, then stop by the paper funeral goods shop to say hello to Mr. Chen and ask what's up with that bag of paper money."
Xiao Qi felt terribly conflicted. She hoped something might happen, yet was afraid something would go too far.
Her hair was still wet, and she hadn't had time to fix it. She felt uncomfortable all over.
She rolled her eyes. After a while, she heard a cooking show start playing on the television, along with the faint rustle of Xue Ming taking notes.
So Xue Ming was still learning how to cook?
At last, she sat up, like a walking corpse crawling out of a coffin.
Jiang Xueming asked, "What's wrong?"
"You should go to sleep first. I slept in the car during the day, so I'm not sleepy at all right now. I need to dry my hair," Xiao Qi said earnestly.
"I'll help." Xue Ming put away his notes, went to the bathroom for the hair dryer, and explained, "I don't feel safe when I'm asleep. If an enemy shows up while you're drying your hair, that could be dangerous."
Xiao Qi looked puzzled. "Huh?"
"Did I say something wrong?" Jiang Xueming switched on the hair dryer and tested the temperature with the back of his hand. "Bathrooms are common scenes for murders. People only shower or use the toilet when they're most relaxed—and most defenseless."
Xiao Qi thought it over. "I guess that makes sense."
Jiang Xueming gently gathered Xiao Qi's hair and smoothed it down. "In Japan, there used to be ninjas who hid in latrines for days on end, then assassinated people by stabbing up through the bottom of the toilet."
"Ew!" Xiao Qi made the same face as the old man staring at his phone on the subway. "That's so gross!"
"So I'll dry your hair for you. Keep a close eye out while I sleep later." With that, Xue Ming began carefully tending to Xiao Qi's hair.
Xiao Qi could feel Xue Ming's fingers combing back her hair from the hairline over her forehead. The pressure was just right; his hand felt like a warm comb.
Warm air swept from her neck to her earlobes. Her imagination began to run wild again, and a mischievous smile crept onto her lips. She asked playfully, "Mr. Xue Ming, have you dried other girls' hair before?"
"Bailu used to love rolling around in the mud when she was little. She was like a stray dog," Jiang Xueming said offhandedly. "After I cleaned her up, I'd comb her hair for her, or she'd catch a chill and get sick. Your hair's much nicer than hers."
"Oh." Xiao Qi could feel the big hand massaging and combing the back of her head, full of affection. It made her feel inexplicably safe—and very sleepy.
Ten minutes later,
Jiang Xueming put away the hair dryer and remarked, "Great. I didn't see a single gray hair."
Xiao Qi remained perfectly still, her head drooping as she fell asleep against the headboard. She looked awful, mouth hanging open and drool running onto the pillow.
She even mumbled in her sleep.
"Yeah, yeah, hold me tighter. Ah, yeah, yeah..."
Jiang Xueming's face darkened. He covered Xiao Qi with the blanket. They'd agreed to take turns keeping watch, and he'd planned to spend the latter half of the night checking out Lessons in Truck-Charging Techniques. Now he'd have to learn a few more dishes instead.
Five in the morning—
Jiang Xueming had deliberately given Xiao Qi an extra hour of sleep. But the attendant showed no sign of getting up.
With a dark expression, he took out a megaphone and shouted at the sleeping Xiao Qi.
"Wake up!"
Xiao Qi shot upright like a corpse and jolted awake. She came to when she saw Jiang Xueming.
"Oh, right! Time to switch shifts!"
Jiang Xueming said nothing. He looked out at the darkest moment before sunrise and silently closed his eyes.
Bored, Xiao Qi sat on the bed scratching her head. Remembering how Xue Ming had combed her hair made her grin again.
"Can't be helped. It was just too comfortable."
Like Jerry in Tom and Jerry sneaking off to do something naughty, she tiptoed out of bed and waited quietly for a few minutes. Once she was sure Mr. Xue Ming wasn't moving and heard nothing but his steady breathing,
she crept over to Xue Ming's bed.
She crouched quietly beside it, curiously studying Jiang Xueming's sleeping posture. She wanted to move closer so she could see him more clearly in the warm hotel lighting.
It was the first time she'd seen Xue Ming's face while he was fast asleep.
He was completely off guard, his brow entirely relaxed, as if he had nothing to worry about and had put everything out of his mind.
She suppressed her giddy delight, afraid she might let out a laugh that would ruin everything, and tried to sneak in a kiss.
Just then,
Jiang Xueming opened his eyes.
Just like in a cartoon,
Xue Ming said nothing, and neither did Xiao Qi.
She retraced her steps exactly as she'd come, even placing her footprints on the carpet just right.
Xiao Qi sat back down beside her bed and muttered, "Damn it, how is this guy so alert?"
Six in the morning.
A stranger from a faraway land stepped off a flight at Nanyuan Airport.
He wore the long coat of a subway passenger, and the heat of summer did nothing to make him care about the sweat on his body. Expressionless, he looked like a killer without emotions.
He was tall and broad, with shoulders about three and a half chi wide, standing around 1.9 meters tall. He was built like a bear and had a thick, bushy beard.
He came from Romania, a native-born Dacian, and had come to Hengyin Pingyang for just one reason.
To find Jiang Xueming, get the Universal Elixir, and, if possible, force him to reveal the contents of the passenger log.
His name was Jason Megan, a subway passenger who wanted to become an Armadillo Hunter.
Though he didn't speak the language, he'd managed to book a ticket by cross-checking a dictionary and using a translation app, only half understanding what he was doing. But these difficulties couldn't stop his desire to join the dark forces.
In the thirty-five-degree heat, he tried to communicate with airport staff in broken, romanized Chinese. Pointing at the Chinese characters on his phone, he anxiously held out his passport.
The young woman at the airport service center looked troubled too. She spoke to Mr. Megan fluently in English, trying to calm him down, and called over two security guards.
The moment Megan saw the security guards approaching, he began to panic.
"Jiang Xueming! I—find—Jiang Xueming!"
He pointed at the Chinese characters in his notebook and read aloud the Chinese he'd practiced many times. Clutching euros in his other hand, he added,
"Money! I—have money! Jiang Xueming!"
"Stop shouting Jiang Xueming. Where the hell did he come from?" one of the security guards grumbled.
The young woman from the service center said, "He came from Romania, transferred in Bucharest, then flew southwest to Nanyuan. He just got off the plane and started looking for someone in a panic. That bearded guy's impossible to reason with."
Another security guard brandished his baton.
"Take him into isolation!"
Mr. Megan tried to resist, but one man couldn't fight four. The security guards caught up with him and put a mask on him.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
And so the future star of the dark forces ended up in an isolation hotel.
Before you continue