They're Really the Iron Triangle and Friends

Just as I was thinking about this, the owner of the house woke up. We could only restrain him first, calm him down, and see if we could get any useful information out of him. Before we even started asking, though, his reaction was interesting. He reacted to those names, which meant he knew them, perhaps even knew them well, yet he did not recognize our faces.

So Blind Man asked directly, "Kid, you don't believe us? Why?" I said, "It's not that I don't believe you. It's just that your acting is too bad. How many young people these days haven't heard of The Grave Robbers' Chronicles?" Hearing the familiar name, Wu Xie asked, "What is this The Grave Robbers' Chronicles you're talking about?" I rolled my eyes internally but kept my expression calm. "It's a novel. Want me to look it up for you?" I waved my phone at them.

Wu Xie exchanged looks with the others, then nodded for me to search it up. Blind Man stood behind me the whole time, watching me. I unlocked my phone, found it, and handed it to Wu Xie. "Look, this is The Grave Robbers' Chronicles." Wu Xie and Xie Yuchen looked at it for a while, exchanged another glance, and suppressed their shock before saying to me, "You may think this sounds absurd, but we really are real. Since you've read this, you should have a way to verify us, right? Verify us first, then we can talk about the rest."

Hearing that left me a little stunned. They had read The Grave Robbers' Chronicles and were still insisting they were real? That got me fired up, though I had not completely lost my mind. Pointing at Zhang Qiling, I said, "If you're really who you say you are, then he should have the Fa Qiu Finger and a Pigeon Blood Tattoo, right? Can I see them?" As soon as I finished speaking, he held out his right hand. I stared at his absurdly long index and middle fingers and choked on my words. Then I said, "Could just be bone spurs." I went to the kitchen, grabbed a bottled drink in a glass bottle, and handed it to Zhang Qiling. "Break this bottle." He took it and jabbed the bottle with two fingers. Damn, two holes. The drink spilled all over the floor. He silently set the bottle on the coffee table, but I was already frozen and had no mind to care about any of that.

Holy shit, could they really be real?! Wu Xie asked, "Do you still want to see the tattoo?" Snapping back to my senses, I hurriedly said, "Yes. I have to see it. If he really has a Kirin Tattoo that appears when heated, then they really are the Iron Triangle and Friends from The Grave Robbers' Chronicles. Holy shit, does it have to be this insane?" I poured some warm water from the kettle into a small basin in the kitchen and grabbed several clean napkins. The electric kettle was set to a fixed temperature of forty-five degrees. That temperature would bring out the tattoo without scalding anyone, so there was no need to add cold water. It was perfect.

When I returned to the living room, Little Brother had already taken off his shirt. Honestly, he had a great physique. His muscles were smooth and defined; one look told you they were not pumped up in a gym with protein powder, but forged through long-term, high-intensity training, packed with explosive power. I soaked the napkins, wrung them out, and handed them to Little Brother. He laid them over his left shoulder, and before long, the tattoo appeared. Its lines were crisp and sharp, a Fire-Stepping Kirin that looked as though it might leap right off his skin.

I believed them. They really were the Iron Triangle and Friends, but my feelings were complicated. I knew their pasts and futures, though not completely. It was as if the five of them put together still did not have even one whole life. I felt for them and wanted to help within my means, but they were separated from me by dimensions, and I could do nothing. At the same time, I knew they did not need anyone's pity. Aside from Wu Xie in his early days, none of them were good people in the traditional sense. Each of them had experienced schemes, betrayals, backstabbing, and being kicked when they were down—things beyond anything I could imagine. But they would not slaughter innocents either.

That was good news for me. They were not kidnappers, so my life was not in danger. But there was also bad news: now that they had entered my life, I had no idea how to get along with them. That was the problem I was facing now. In short, things were incredibly awkward, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Fatty spoke up then. "Nannan, can we take a look at this The Grave Robbers' Chronicles you mentioned?" As expected of Mama Fatty, so attentive and considerate. He had noticed my unbearable awkwardness and come to save me. "Sure. You can look at that phone first. When you finish this page, just swipe up."

"I'll get you another phone and a tablet." I went to my bedroom and brought out a spare phone, a tablet, and a laptop. I also turned on the internet-connected TV in the living room, connected it to my phone, and pulled up The Grave Robbers' Chronicles. After showing them how to use all the electronics, I let them read.