Believe in Science, and in WeChat Transfers Too

Darkness receded like the tide, and light filled the carriage once more.

As the train burst out of the tunnel, Jian Ning sucked in a huge breath as if he had nearly suffocated in the darkness. Yet his ears, red enough to bleed, and his slightly swollen, moist lips betrayed the truth behind those two minutes of "suffocation."

Just moments ago, in that pitch-black darkness, before the system's alarm could explode in his mind, a pair of warm, powerful hands had accurately gripped the back of his head.

Then came a kiss carrying the scent of mint candy, forceful yet restrained, pressing down and swallowing his cry in his throat.

There were no words, only their racing heartbeats intertwining beneath the thunderous clatter of the tracks.

Huo Si was telling him in the most primal, direct way possible: Don't be afraid. I'm here.

[Huff... huff...]

Jian Ning now sat ramrod straight, his gaze wandering as the packet of spicy strips in his hand was squeezed out of shape.

[System? System, are you still alive?]

[You crashed after that old Daoist finished speaking. Are you okay?]

A burst of electric static crackled in his mind, followed by the system's somewhat lagging electronic voice:

[Bzz... System reboot successful... Detected host's heart rate rising to 180 just now, with massive dopamine secretion... Bzz... Host is advised to exercise restraint. This is a public place...]

Jian Ning's face heated up. Shut up! I'm asking about that old Daoist!

He instinctively looked toward the aisle.

That seat was already empty.

The old Daoist was gone. All that remained was a pile of duck-neck bones and a greasy wrapper.

"Where did he go?!" Jian Xiu noticed something was wrong too and sprang to his feet. "The train hasn't even stopped at the next station. Did he fly out or something?"

Huo Si unhurriedly straightened his slightly rumpled collar and pointed at a small slip of paper on the seatback. "He got off, or rather, he simply changed carriages. But he left this behind."

Jian Ning leaned over for a look.

It was a piece of stiff cardboard torn from a cigarette pack. A string of numbers was scrawled crookedly across it in ballpoint pen, with something resembling a QR code drawn beside them in messy scribbles.

There was also a line of tiny writing below:

"Specializing in difficult and complicated ailments, dispelling evil and warding off misfortune, honest prices for young and old alike. Add on WeChat. Please note: Person of Fate. V: DaoZhang666666"

Jian Ning: ...

Jian Xiu: ...

Huo Si: ...

"...Are Daoists these days really this business-savvy?" Jian Ning's mouth twitched. "I thought he'd leave behind some kind of secret tip, but he left a WeChat account?"

Huo Si picked up the note, glanced at it, then took out his phone and calmly scanned the hand-drawn QR code beside it. It actually worked. He then tapped Add Friend.

Jian Ning was stunned. Huo Si, you're really adding him? Isn't this textbook scam bait?

Huo Si's long fingers tapped across the screen as he sent the friend request. Then he turned to Jian Ning, his eyes carrying a hint of barely perceptible indulgence and meaning.

"Scammer or not, since he could see your... unusual qualities, he needs to remain within our sight."

"Besides, if a problem can be solved with money, it usually isn't much of a problem."

As soon as he finished speaking, Huo Si's phone vibrated.

The request had been accepted.

Then a voice message arrived from the other side. When they played it, it was still that old Daoist's flippant voice:

"Hehe, young friend, you really know what you're doing. Since you're sincere, this humble Daoist will give you one sentence for free: Once you reach Qianzhou, don't take unlicensed cars, don't eat red mushrooms, and especially... don't let that heartless little one stray too far from you."

The "heartless little one" naturally referred to Jian Ning.

Jian Ning felt as though an arrow had struck him in the knee.

Who's heartless? I'm just carefree and unburdened—life's easier that way!

But... what does he mean by not taking unlicensed cars?

An hour later, Qianzhou Station.

As a transportation hub in the southwest, Qianzhou Station had an astonishing volume of foot traffic. All kinds of dialects mixed together, while the air was filled with the scents of sour fish soup and houttuynia.

The moment the three of them left the station, they were swallowed by the wave of heat and noise.

Jian Xiu carried the half-man-tall hiking pack on his back, looking like a special forces soldier who had just come down from the mountains. Along the way, he scared off three aunties trying to sell them cheap lodging with nothing but his glare.

"Huo Si, where's the car?" Jian Xiu frowned. "Didn't you arrange a private car to pick us up?"

Huo Si checked his phone, his brows drawing together slightly. "The driver says there was a landslide on the road. He's stuck halfway there and probably won't arrive for another two hours."

"Two hours?" Jian Ning wailed and draped himself over Huo Si. "I can't do this anymore. My legs don't even belong to me now. I want to find somewhere to lie down. I want an ice-cold cola..."

Just then, a somewhat battered seven-seater van screeched to a stop in front of them.

The window rolled down, revealing a dark, sun-reddened face. The driver was a middle-aged man whose smiling face was wrinkled all over.

"Where are you handsome guys headed? Going to the Miao village, or downtown? My car's roomy, the AC's strong, and the price is fair. We can leave right away!"

Jian Xiu stepped forward warily. "No need. We're waiting for someone."

The driver did not give up. His shifty eyes circled Jian Ning and Huo Si. These two were obviously fat sheep from a big city, especially the one in gold-rimmed glasses. The watch on his wrist alone probably cost more than this beat-up van.

"Aiya, the landslide has this side completely jammed up! The car you're waiting for definitely won't be able to get in!" the driver enthusiastically pitched. "Take my car. I know a shortcut! Just three hundred, and I'll take you straight to your hotel entrance. What do you say?"

The moment Jian Ning heard "three hundred" and "shortcut," his ears twitched.

Three hundred? That cheap?

And we can take a shortcut too?

At that moment, a system panel abruptly appeared before his eyes and automatically activated "Gossip Target Scan Mode."

[Ding! Target detected: unlicensed car driver Wang Dafa.]

[Today's fortune: Extremely inauspicious.]

[Secret tags: habitual tourist fleecer; hides his private stash in the spare tire; actually has no idea where any shortcut is.]

[Current intention: Take these three fat sheep to an illegal hotel in the suburbs, force them into buying things, then take a detour and charge an extra five hundred.]

Jian Ning looked at the words on the panel. His drooping eyelids instantly lifted, and his eyes became bright and alert.

It was the distinctive gleam of excitement belonging to a gossip lover.

He patted the back of Huo Si's hand to signal him not to speak, then walked forward with a smile. Bracing himself against the car window, he looked at the driver with an innocent expression.

"Sir, isn't three hundred a little expensive? We're poor students."

The driver froze. He thought, That masked kid doesn't look poor at all. Why is he pretending to be broke?

"Aiya, handsome, gas is so expensive these days! Three hundred is already a conscience price! I'd charge anyone else five hundred!"

Jian Ning sighed. "But sir, I can see you're not having it easy either. You must be saving up to support your family, especially... saving for your little nest egg?"

The driver's expression changed slightly. "Y-you, what little nest egg are you talking about?"

Jian Ning leaned closer and lowered his voice, speaking in a tone only the two of them could hear.

"Sir, hasn't your spare tire gone unchanged for a long time? Just now, I heard the sound from it. It seems to be stuffed with quite a few red bills. If the car jolts and that spare tire falls off, and your wife finds out about all that private money..."

The driver's pupils instantly shook!

Not even his own mother knew where he hid his private money. How did this kid know?!

And he even knew it was in the spare tire?!

Jian Ning continued twisting the knife, smiling like a little devil.

"And that shortcut you mentioned... wouldn't happen to be the route that goes around to Yunlai Hotel in the north of the city, would it? I heard the hotel owner is your cousin. Once people go there, they get forced into buying a thousand-yuan feast?"

The driver now looked as if he had seen a ghost. Cold sweat immediately broke out across his forehead.

Had he run into an expert? Or a fortune-teller?

Even that old Daoist from earlier wasn't as accurate as this kid!

"Cough, cough, cough!" The driver suddenly began coughing violently, guiltily avoiding Jian Ning's eyes. "Well... I'm not taking you! I won't take you, okay?! I just remembered I need to pick up my kid from school!"

With that, he stomped on the gas. The van shot off with a roar as if its ass were on fire, and the door nearly failed to close properly.

The wheels kicked up dust all over the ground, spraying Jian Xiu in the face.

Jian Xiu wiped the dust from his face and stared dumbfoundedly at the fleeing van, then at his own innocent-looking younger brother.

"Ning Ning, what did you say to him just now? How did you scare him that badly?"

Jian Ning shrugged and turned to wink at Huo Si.

"Nothing much. We just exchanged some tips on car maintenance."

Huo Si looked at his crafty little expression and could not help laughing softly.

He stepped forward, took out a wet wipe, and carefully wiped the dust from Jian Ning's hand. The gesture was so gentle that even passersby could not help glancing over.

"Master Jian truly is impressive," Huo Si said in a deep, amused voice. "One sentence, and you saved us from getting fleeced."

Jian Ning proudly raised his chin.

"Of course! I may not understand mysticism, but I understand human nature. Actually, I understand the system."

"But Huo Si, I'm hungry. I want sour fish soup! The kind that's still bubbling away in the pot!"

"Okay." Huo Si put away the wet wipe and naturally took his hand. "The car picking us up will take a while. I'll take you somewhere nearby to eat first."

Jian Xiu stood where he was, watching the two figures ahead holding hands, seemingly generating pink bubbles around themselves. Then he looked at the heavy hiking staff in his own hand.

He felt like he was not here to be a bodyguard.

He was here to be the pickled cabbage in a bowl of pickled cabbage fish—sour, useless, and completely unnecessary.

"Hey! You two, wait for me!" Jian Xiu chased after them in exasperation. "Huo Si! Take that hand that wants to wrap around my brother's waist off him! We're on the street! Watch your behavior!"

The three of them ultimately found a restaurant near the station that looked fairly clean.

Just as Jian Ning was enthusiastically digging into a pot of bright red sour fish soup, Huo Si's phone rang again.

It was a WeChat message from that old Daoist.

Huo Si opened it and found an image.

The photo was very blurry, as though it had been taken in some dim cave. Still, they could vaguely make out an ancient stone stele engraved with strange totems.

At the center of the totems was a bizarre-looking plant.

Its leaves actually looked rather like... the UI icon on the system panel in Jian Ning's mind?

The old Daoist sent a voice message.

"Young friend, does the Sacred Tree worshipped in the Miao village you're going to look like this?"

With a piece of fish in his mouth, Jian Ning leaned over and took a look.

"Plop."

The fish fell back into the soup, splashing several drops of red oil.

Holy shit...

System, hurry up and come recognize your relatives! Why does the thing drawn on this stone stele look exactly like the logo from your startup screen?!

Could it be that you're not some high-tech product at all, but a thousand-year-old antique dug out of Miao territory?

System: [...Comparing database... Comparison failed... But this totem... makes me feel an instinctive fear.]

Huo Si put away his phone and looked toward the distant rolling mountains outside the window, wreathed in clouds and mist.

At some point, Qianzhou's sky had darkened. Black clouds pressed overhead like a massive net waiting for them to step inside.

This journey would likely be even more thrilling than they had imagined.

Huo Si picked up a boneless piece of fish and placed it in Jian Ning's bowl, his tone calm yet unquestionable.

"Are you full? If you are, it's time for us to head into the mountains..."