The Joker's Threat

Gu Jianlin took a long look at the old man in the wheelchair.

He really did look very old. His graying hair was neatly combed, and deep wrinkles lined his weather-beaten face. His eyes were as clear and warm as jade. Even seated in a wheelchair, he held his back straight.

Like a snow-covered pine standing tall and resilient on the edge of a cliff.

The fortune-telling hadn't been very professional, to say the least. The man had used a very simple method to cast the hexagram, and his interpretation had been just as simple. He seemed more like an ordinary amateur enthusiast.

Still, Gu Jianlin committed the words to memory and thanked him.

"Mm."

The old man nodded in satisfaction, the wise creases on his forehead lifting slightly as he put away the six copper coins.

"Hey, could you read my fortune too, old man?"

Cheng Youyu came over, rubbing his hands together, looking eager to give it a try. He was always quick to make himself at home.

The old man didn't even look up. "I'm not reading yours. Didn't you just say I wasn't professional?"

Cheng Youyu was stunned. He'd thought old people all had bad hearing. He hadn't expected the man to hear that.

Gu Jianlin wasn't particularly interested in fortune-telling. He just stared at the dark, heavy slab of clay for a long moment.

For an instant, a terrifying vision appeared before his eyes.

He saw a pale priest chanting a hymn, white ghost flames burning in his hands as he gripped a monster's head with all his might.

With a boom, they burst into flames together.

Black mist poured from the priest's body, as if an evil spirit were struggling and roaring inside him.

Gu Jianlin seemed to sink into the vision, unable to pull himself away.

He didn't know how long passed.

With a smack, Gu Jianlin seemed to wake from a dream, his body drenched in cold sweat.

It was as though he'd been utterly absorbed in what he was seeing.

The man came over carrying three packs of hand warmers and set them on the counter. Smiling, he said, "Here you are. Thanks for stopping by. Come again anytime. We're closing for the night soon."

"The shop just opened, and you're our first customers. Let's be friends."

He handed them a business card with a gentle, refined smile.

Gu Jianlin came back to himself. The old man before him was still wearing a faint smile.

He took the card, fell silent for a moment, then slipped it into his pocket.

"All right, we're closing up."

The man smiled.

The old man closed his eyes and hummed a little tune.

Gu Jianlin nodded slightly and turned to leave.

Before he went, he hesitated, then tried using Life Perception on the two men in front of him.

In the still night, the rhythms of all things once again echoed in his ears.

After practicing the previous night, he was now able to pick out his target from the cacophony of rhythms.

The result surprised him.

The suited man's Life Rhythm burned like a blazing fire, vigorous and surging with heat.

The old man in the wheelchair, however, was like a lifeless void: utterly silent, with an oppressive stillness.

"What are you looking at?"

Su Youzhu asked curiously, carrying the three packs of hand warmers.

"Nothing."

Gu Jianlin had never encountered such an unusual Life Rhythm before. He asked calmly, "By the way, do you believe in hexagrams and that sort of thing?"

Su Youzhu shook her head. "I was just asking for fun. It's not like I'd lose anything."

Amid the roar of an engine, a black Lamborghini pulled up outside the grocery store.

Its bright headlights cut through the night.

Someone got out of the passenger seat and brushed past the siblings. A cool, delicate scent drifted through the night breeze.

Su Youzhu seemed to sense something and glanced back.

Gu Jianlin was a little surprised. He rarely saw people with white hair, especially girls.

The girl wore a sun hat and black sunglasses, her head lowered so her face couldn't be seen. Only her snow-white hair fluttered down to her waist.

She wore a loose knitted sweater over a white off-the-shoulder top. Her long, slender legs were clad in jeans, and she wore white sneakers.

She also carried a huge guitar case on her back.

It was strange.

"You're here."

The old man inside the grocery store smiled in surprise. "I thought your teacher wouldn't let you come see me."

Jing Ci polished one of the antiques in the shop as he sized up the girl.

"You know I've never been very obedient," the strange girl said softly. "Since you've come to Feng City, I had to come see you."

The shop door closed, shutting out every sound.

After leaving the grocery store, Gu Jianlin and Su Youzhu grabbed a quick bite of Wild Wonton nearby, then headed back to school.

It was worth mentioning that Cheng Youyu had shamelessly tagged along too, chatting and laughing the whole way.

Every now and then, he shared some gossip the siblings hadn't heard before.

By ten thirty that night, most of the lights in the women's dormitory had gone out.

In the little garden below, a few couples could still be seen whispering beneath the trees, reluctant to part. Some had even thrown their arms around each other and started making out. The rustling sounds were rather thrilling to watch.

"Well, this is where I'll leave you. You two carry on."

Cheng Youyu stopped with a grin and gave them a knowing look. "I won't be a third wheel."

Gu Jianlin knew he'd misunderstood, but explaining would be too much trouble.

Besides, Su Youzhu looked completely unconcerned.

She seemed to have no problem with being mistaken for someone about to sneak off with him into the woods.

Seeing that, Gu Jianlin decided there was no need to explain.

"Lin, I'm counting on you for the placement exam! If we end up in the same room, help me out!"

Before leaving, Cheng Youyu suddenly turned serious. "Oh, and Feng City's been pretty unsettled lately. You've heard about it, right? Quite a few students have suddenly gone crazy. I heard there've been people like that hanging around the school lately. For the next few days, you'd better stay on campus and not go out."

He gave them another reminder. "Especially since there's also a creep nearby who's been abusing animals."

Gu Jianlin's thoughts stirred. The fat guy seemed to know something and was deliberately warning him.

"Okay, I understand."

He nodded slightly. "Thanks."

Once he'd said his piece, Cheng Youyu went back to grinning and walked off with an exaggerated swagger.

Gu Jianlin watched him leave, then turned to the girl beside him. "Get some rest over the next few days. I'll come by with brown sugar water as usual. If there's anything you need, tell me and I'll go buy it for you."

Su Youzhu glanced at him, thinking, You can even buy women's products?

"Anyway, just don't go wandering around."

Gu Jianlin said earnestly, "Got it?"

Ever since Lu Zicheng had arrived, investigators from the Ether Association had begun slipping into the school. Then there was the animal abuse incident just now. It all seemed to point to something about to happen.

"Got it."

Su Youzhu took off the coat draped over her shoulders and handed it back to him. "Good night."

Gu Jianlin took it from her. "Mm. Good night."

The women's dormitory door closed, and Su Youzhu disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

Carrying the coat, Gu Jianlin turned and left. Alone, he crossed the sports field and garden, then returned to the men's dormitory.

His room was on the sixth floor, right beside the first room in the corridor.

His four roommates were already lying on their beds, still grumbling.

"Damn, what a pain. The cafeteria food's bad enough, and there isn't even a supermarket."

"Yeah, the cafeteria lady's hand shakes like she has Parkinson's when she serves food. I'm so done with that jerk."

"Did any of you go to the supermarket outside? Give me some snacks. I'm starving."

"Forget it. The twenty-four-hour convenience store outside is closed too!"

Gu Jianlin had barely returned when he heard them. He sat down on his bed and asked in surprise, "That convenience store closed, but didn't it become a grocery store?"

His roommates paused.

"What grocery store? Didn't the convenience store go out of business and get put up for rent?"

One roommate looked baffled. "The roller shutter's down, and there's a huge 'For Rent' sign on it."

Gu Jianlin froze. "That's impossible. There was a grocery store there."

His roommate was even more confused. "I just came back from there ten minutes ago. Lin, seriously, are you still not right in the head after the car accident? Is your memory messed up? If there really is a grocery store there, I'll eat shit standing on my head!"

Gu Jianlin fell silent. He thought again of the strange things about that grocery store and couldn't sit still.

He immediately got up and went to the rooftop on the seventh floor. In the light of the night, he gazed across the street.

His pupils contracted sharply, and the hair on his body stood on end.

The twenty-four-hour convenience store across the street had appeared again. Its red-and-white sign was still lit, but its entrance was locked behind a roller shutter, with a "For Rent" sign pasted on it.

As for the grocery store he'd seen earlier, it had vanished without a trace.

So his instincts hadn't been wrong.

It really hadn't been an ordinary grocery store.

The old man in the wheelchair and the suited man didn't seem ordinary either.

Gu Jianlin felt around in his pocket and pulled out the business card.

—Worry-Free Grocery Store, phone: 138...

He fell silent for a long time, then decided to go back and take another look after school the next day.

Just then, a message came through on WeChat.

Su Youzhu: "I just got back to the dorm and found a love letter on my windowsill."

Gu Jianlin was a little surprised. What era was this? People still used such old-fashioned ways to confess their feelings?

But her dorm room was on the first floor. If someone got past the dorm supervisor, they could indeed leave a letter on her windowsill.

With Su Youzhu's looks, it wasn't anything unusual.

Gu Jianlin replied, "Oh? Someone's pursuing you?"

Su Youzhu: "That's what I thought at first, too. But when I opened it, I found out the letter was for you."

Gu Jianlin froze.

Just as he was racking his brain over it, she sent him a picture on WeChat.

For an instant, Gu Jianlin's eyes narrowed. His hand clenched unconsciously, the bones crackling.

More striking than the letter's contents was the signature at the bottom.

It was the face of a clown, drawn in colored pencil—eerie and pallid.

On the glowing screen, the clown's smile was dark and sinister, its scarlet lips stretched almost to its ears.

Just looking at it made him deeply uncomfortable.

"Tomorrow at six in the afternoon. The warehouse behind the sports field. Don't be late."

"This is our secret. Don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Or else... you know what'll happen."

After a long while, the phone screen went dark automatically, and a cold wind swept across the rooftop.

Gu Jianlin's left hand was in his pocket while his right gripped his phone. The coat hanging over his arm snapped in the wind.

"He gave the letter to Youzhu instead of me."

He said quietly, "That's a threat."

The clouds parted, and moonlight shone through the gaps, lighting up the silent school.

Gu Jianlin thought for a moment, then typed out a message and sent it. "Youzhu, write a letter of your own and leave it on the windowsill."

Ding!

Su Youzhu: "What should I write?"

Gu Jianlin replied, "What you love is your life."

Late at night, the grocery store was still lit.

The old man sat in his wheelchair, playing with the six copper coins in his hand. Suddenly, he said, "Jing Ci."

The impeccably dressed man held a handkerchief and carefully polished the blue-and-white porcelain vase in his hands.

"Teacher, I'm listening."

Without looking up, he asked, "What is it?"

The old man said mildly, "Am I really that bad at fortune-telling?"

Jing Ci smiled ruefully. "You're not on the Diviner Path. Why are you so fixated on fortune-telling? Is this because you still can't get over losing that bet to the man from Mount Laojun?"

"If you were on the Diviner Path, I'd never have to worry about making an impression when I went out."

The old man sighed regretfully. "Speaking of which, that kid we met tonight was interesting."

Jing Ci paused in polishing the vase and asked with a smile, "Do you mean he saw Joker's aberrant evolution at a glance, or that he noticed us and the strangeness of this shop? Or did he see through what was on the clay slab?"

The old man thought for a moment. "All of the above, I suppose. Want to make a bet on whether he'll survive?"

"Then I bet he will."

Jing Ci put the blue-and-white porcelain vase on the antique cabinet. "After all... he has the potential to evolve, and you warned him."

"Warning him is one thing. Whether he figures it out is another. And even if he does, figuring out how to deal with it is yet another matter."

The old man tossed the six copper coins onto the table. "Then I'll bet he dies."