I dragged my lame leg back to the lobby, where Little Six was already fighting the others.
What I never would have expected was that Little Six, who looked short, fat, and clumsy, was actually incredibly agile.
The men lunged this way and that with their machetes, but Little Six remained perfectly composed, and they could not touch him.
I stared at the scene, dumbfounded. Five minutes later, he had kicked every last one of them to the ground.
"You've got some moves, Little Six!"
Little Six was surprised to see me too. He hurried over to support me, and we fled through the door.
On the way, Little Six kept glancing back nervously.
"Little Six, with moves like that, why are you still working as a bus driver?"
His trademark goofy smile returned.
"My dad practiced martial arts. He forced me to learn a little from the time I was small. I don't like it!"
I sighed inwardly. Little Six had real skills, and he was loyal and kind. Apart from being short, ugly, and poor, he really had no faults.
After getting into a cab with Little Six, I did not go straight to the dorm. Instead, I asked the driver to take us to 2386 Huaiyuan Road.
Yesterday, after seeing that huge temple with Old Liu in the Demon Cave, I had passed out. I was very worried about how Old Liu was doing.
Old Liu lived on the eighth floor. To reach his place, we had to pass Liu Yunbo's home on the third floor.
As Little Six helped me past the third floor, my heart was in my throat. The master I had trusted most back then now seemed as terrifying as a demon.
To my relief, Old Liu was home.
But he looked much more haggard than when I had seen him yesterday. His face was bloodless, like a dead man's.
Seeing me, Old Liu nodded in relief.
"You're a hard one to kill, kid!"
I hurriedly asked:
"Old Liu, I passed out as soon as the temple doors opened yesterday. What came out?"
"Ahem." Old Liu coughed twice before saying:
"What else could've come out? A person, of course. Someone you know, too!"
"Someone I know?"
I was astonished beyond words. By someone I knew, Old Liu must have meant one of those puzzling people around me.
That still left a wide field. How was I supposed to guess?
"Stop keeping me in suspense, Old Liu. Who was it? How could someone come out of that underground temple?"
"That old fellow on the third floor!"
"Liu Yunbo?"
Old Liu nodded.
"That old bastard actually got to the Tiger Demon Temple before us. That really surprised me!"
I exclaimed in surprise, then continued:
"He was the one who sent that evil clock to our company. What does he want the book for?"
Old Liu rose, leaning on his battered stick, and spoke slowly.
"The book is called Tales of Yin and Yang Dwellings. Unlike ordinary house feng shui, it lets you read a dwelling's yin and yang!"
Perhaps thinking we would have trouble understanding that, Old Liu went on:
"Reading feng shui means looking at location, then changing a house's surroundings and furnishings to attract good fortune and ward off disaster. That's the most basic level. Reading yin and yang is much more powerful. It can tell whether you're living with ghosts."
"Living with ghosts?"
Little Six and I cried out in surprise at the same time.
Seeing our strong reaction, Old Liu said coldly:
"What's so surprising? You think you're the only one in the room you live in every day? For all you know, wandering ghosts might have filled your living room and bathroom!"
A chill ran through me at his words.
"Old Liu, this is getting more and more outlandish. Someone as powerful as you can already see ghosts, can't you?"
Old Liu shook his head.
"No, not unless they want you to!"
"Then weren't those dead people in burial clothes we ran into in the Demon Cave yesterday ghosts?"
Old Liu clicked his tongue and said quietly:
"Those weren't ghosts. Corpse driving from western Hunan-haven't you seen it on TV?"
Just then, Old Liu's front door suddenly slammed shut with a bang.
I was so immersed in the world of ghosts that the sudden noise nearly scared me into coughing up blood.
"Did the wind pick up?"
Little Six moved to open the door and take a look.
Seeing this, Liu Qingzhu said gravely:
"Don't move. It wasn't the wind!"
Little Six stood by the door, not daring to move again. I watched it with my nerves stretched tight.
A moment later, there was a knock.
Knock, knock, knock... knock, knock, knock.
"Is Grandpa Liu home?"
I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Hearing a child's voice, Little Six immediately put on his goofy smile.
"Oh, look how nervous you two are," he said, opening the door.
A little girl of five or six stood outside, holding a letter.
"Big brother, this letter is for Grandpa Liu."
Little Six smiled, patted the little girl's head, and took the letter.
Liu Qingzhu's eyes bulged when he saw Little Six accept it.
"Don't-"
Before he could finish, the letter had changed hands.
With a tremendous bang, every window and drinking glass in the room shattered.
Old Liu and I were knocked aside and landed on our backsides.
Little Six fell to one side, clutching his chest, the letter clenched in his right hand.
I hurriedly crawled over to him and asked:
"Brother, how are you?"
Little Six looked painfully at his right hand.
"It's broken!"
I cursed, "What the hell is this thing?" and reached to throw away the letter in Little Six's hand.
Liu Qingzhu hurriedly shouted:
"Don't touch it! A demon child delivers a letter: accept it and bones break; throw it away and there'll be a corpse to collect!"
I froze at his words and pulled my outstretched hand back.
After saying that, Liu Qingzhu crouched in front of Little Six, bit his finger, and drew several strange circles on the envelope.
As he drew, he muttered:
"That old bastard is actually playing dirty with me!"
His words startled me.
"Old Liu, do you mean Liu Yunbo on the third floor?"
Liu Qingzhu did not answer. He pulled the envelope from Little Six's hand, gave an eerie smile, and tore it into the shape of a little person with a few quick motions before tossing it out the window.
Before long, the sound of breaking windows came from downstairs.
Liu Qingzhu stood at the window and nodded in satisfaction.
"Try this, you old bastard. Paper Figure Knocks on the Window!"
Before he could enjoy himself for long, a rapid clank, clank, clank came from outside as something climbed upstairs.
My eyes widened. The thing coming upstairs was actually a paper figure, holding a huge rock.
Before I could recover from the fright, it happened.
With a crash, the rock, as big as a gas cylinder, flew from its hands and smashed into the room.
Old Liu's place was cramped to begin with. When the rock struck, the impact shook plaster off the walls, broke the table and stools apart, and filled the room with dust.
Old Liu spat and wiped away his sweat. He reached out and dragged over the paper figure at the doorway.
I watched him lower his head and tear out several doglike shapes, muttering something as he worked. When he finished, he casually set them on the floor.
Those scraps of paper actually barked and bounded away.
By then, I was on the verge of breaking down. I knew Old Liu was powerful, but I had never known he was this powerful!
He could tear a piece of paper a few times, and it would hit the ground running!
I sucked in a breath, hurriedly helped Little Six up, and said to Old Liu:
"Old Liu, however you two want to fight is your business, but you have to wait until we're out of here!"
By then, Old Liu was seeing red from the fight. Leaning on his battered stick, he cursed:
"That old bastard is no match for me. You two go ahead. I'll take my time dealing with him!"
Supporting Little Six, I hurried downstairs in a panic.
When we reached the third floor, Liu Yunbo's front door had already been smashed. I could not resist glancing inside.
His clothes were torn, and he was muttering with his head lowered, tearing the paper in his hands.
On the cab ride to take Little Six to the hospital, I still had not recovered from the two Lius' fierce magical duel.
The vast world truly was full of unfathomable mysteries.
After Little Six was bandaged up, the two of us walked down the street, one with a broken hand and the other with a broken leg, wrapped in thick bandages. What a striking sight we made!
Back at the company, Old Wu frowned at the sight of us.
"Did you two go off to war?"
I rolled my eyes at him.
"Don't worry, Old Wu. It won't interfere with the driving!"
Old Wu's eyes flared.
"It won't? How are you supposed to drive wrapped in bandages? Even if you dare to drive, will the villagers dare to ride?"
"It's nothing serious, just a minor fracture. I can take the bandages off anytime. Look, if you don't believe me!"
With that, I removed the bandages from my leg and, enduring the excruciating pain, lifted it a few times as though nothing were wrong.
Seeing that I could move smoothly, Old Wu gave a cold laugh and left.
My leg had not healed, but lives had to be protected. No third person besides Little Six and me could be allowed to touch the last Route 13 bus.
Bored in the dorm, I casually opened the old book I had stolen from Old Wu and looked through it.
Old Liu had said it was called Tales of Yin and Yang Dwellings, a book for distinguishing yin and yang dwellings. That alone sounded creepy.
Every page was packed with strange characters. There were no illustrations or annotations, just a book that looked like a code.
Honestly, why would Old Wu be so anxious to make me burn a book about house feng shui?
As I puzzled over those unreadable characters, the phone beside me rang.
Bai Fan!
Bai Fan had been away on business for a week. Now she had finally contacted me, asking me to pick her up at the airport at five tomorrow afternoon.
Too much had happened over that week, and I had kept it all bottled up with nowhere to let it out.
Fortunately, things had all settled down for now. This was exactly when I needed to relax.
At five the next afternoon, I was waiting at the airport on time. Bai Fan appeared in a long dress and gave me a big hug.
Strangely, although we had not known each other long, seeing each other again after a week apart did not make us feel like strangers. Instead, we felt closer.
Bai Fan was in a good mood and began asking me about everything as soon as she saw me. I had never experienced this feeling of being cared about before.
She planned to take my bus to her parents' home in Tang Hollow Village that night, so she suggested leaving her luggage in my dorm first.
If I had been living alone, I never would have dared bring my goddess into my pigsty of a dorm. But ever since Little Six moved in, he had done all the cleaning, and the room was as spotless as a hotel.
Seeing it, Bai Fan kept giving me thumbs-ups and praising me for being hardworking and capable.
Though I felt guilty, I could not help nodding along and accepting her praise.
Sitting beside my bed, Bai Fan noticed the old book on the desk and asked curiously:
"What book is this? Why is it so old?"
As she spoke, she picked it up.
I gave a vague reply: "A textbook my grandfather kept from his days at an old-style private school."
Bai Fan's expression suddenly changed.
"A textbook? Why are you lying? The title's right here. Who studies something like this?"
Her words surprised me greatly. The four large characters of the title Tales of Yin and Yang Dwellings were obscure and strange. Ordinary people could not read them at all. I had only learned the title from Old Liu.
"That's just what I heard. Bai Fan, can you read these characters?"
Bai Fan lowered her head and stroked the cover, saying quietly:
"Yes. They're so simple. Why wouldn't I?"
I asked curiously:
"Then tell me, what's the book called?"
Bai Fan spoke one word at a time:
"Wondrous Art of Dream Stealing."