Second Young Master Zhang, as expected of the child king who grew up throwing bricks, fighting in gangs, and swearing with snotty noses, would have beaten Zhou Hui today if Li Hu hadn’t desperately held him back.
“How could my brother have a friend like this?!”
Zhang Shun furiously pointed at “Director Zhou of the National Security Bureau”: “This person talks nonsense, and his reaction to seeing dead people is just this? How is he at all compatible with my brother?”
Li Hu said helplessly, “Boss, your glorious and mighty image has been completely ruined in the eyes of children… Can you pay attention?”
Zhou Hui asked curiously, “When was I ever glorious and mighty?!”
Everyone was speechless for a moment, only to see him suddenly smile slowly, a smile that made one want to take off a shoe and slap him with it: “But… even if I’m an idiot, you still have to listen to me. This is how assertive I am.”
The scene was momentarily silent; no one spoke. Everyone’s face showed an indescribable expression.
“Don’t say I didn’t teach you,” Zhou Hui seemed very pleased, lit another cigarette, and pointed at the coffins: “I’ve seen this stuff before. They’re called Seven Laughter Coffins, and they’re very sinister. Making Seven Laughter Coffins requires brutally killing seven adult males born at specific times, then using special methods to make the corpses laugh, and then sealing them in coffins soaked in cinnabar, sulfur, lead, mercury, and other alchemy materials, and burying them in yin-deficient land. This way, the corpse’s resentment becomes extremely strong, and the corpses themselves are food for things underground…”
The criminal police captain chuckled, “Director Zhou, I didn’t expect you leaders from Beijing to be quite superstitious. Underground? What’s underground?”
Mayor Huang, however, listened with trepidation and immediately slapped the captain hard: “Wang, you jinx! How do you talk to a leader?!”
Zhou Hui smiled and didn’t play coy, either disdainful to do so or truly in a hurry.
“This is a yin-deficient land,” he said. “This kind of place has been unsuitable for living since ancient times, but it often produces strange things. The most common is the yin-deficient land producing Tai Sui. In ancient legends, eating Tai Sui could grant immortality, but that’s all a lie. Tai Sui, like the Seven Laughter Coffins, are food for deeper underground creatures. However, the former are naturally formed, while the latter are artificially made.”
“Sometimes, Tai Sui, fearing being eaten, will slowly move in the earth, taking decades or hundreds of years to ‘crawl’ from one place to another, possibly getting closer to the surface, and finally being dug up by people. But Seven Laughter Coffins don’t move. Although they are non-natural green foods with artificial additives, they can ensure that the underground creatures eat more stably and happily…”
Zhou Hui stood in the middle of the concave pit, looking at the mud beneath his feet, and chuckled, “There’s an earth-born fetus under here, and the corpses in the Seven Laughter Coffins are food for it.”
Everyone found it absurd, but Second Young Master Zhang was the least able to control his mouth and asked suspiciously, “Eat? But I don’t see any parts missing from these bodies?”
“My younger brother-in-law, this ‘eat’ is not that ‘eat.’ For example, if I ‘eat’ your brother…”
Li Hu said helplessly, “Boss Zhou!”
“Okay, okay,” Zhou Hui raised his hands in surrender: “This ‘eat’ is not that ‘eat.’ And as for the so-called earth-born fetus, it’s relative to the heaven-born fetus. The latter are spiritual beasts and divine fetuses conceived by the celestial path among the six realms through the convergence of qi, for example, the Four Sacred Beasts, the Four Fierce Beasts… Li Hu, don’t look at me like that, foxes really don’t count. An earth-born fetus, on the other hand, is a fetus-like thing conceived in mountains or land when the earth’s feng shui is extremely yin or extremely yang. They usually appear curled up in a womb-like shape. A minority appearing as infants are considered excellent, and an even rarer minority appearing as giant infants, that’s almost…”
Mayor Huang couldn’t help but interrupt, “The greatest treasure under heaven?”
“What are you thinking, Old Huang?” Zhou Hui chuckled, “These are great omens of evil, the most ominous things in heaven and earth, destined to be utterly destroyed by heavenly tribulation. In the 1970s, in the primeval forests of Northeast China, there was a giant earth-born infant ten zhang high and five zhang wide, curled up in a primitive mountain cave, covered in thorns, which drew a heavenly tribulation that burned down several mountains. As a result, in 1976…”
Zhou Hui stopped mid-sentence, still wanting to say more. He looked back to see Mayor Huang, Captain Wang, and everyone else instantly retreat half a step, trying to get as far away from the large pit as possible. Li Hu, however, stood nonchalantly in the pit, stroking her chin and asking, “I wonder what stage the earth-born fetus in H City has reached, and what does it mean to feed it Seven Laughter Corpses?”
“Rumor has it in the Eastern Abyss Chronicle that Seven Laughter Corpses can cause the earth-born fetus to ‘move,’ leading to the collapse of earth veins, allowing people to enter and dig out the embryo,” Zhou Hui said. “Does your child burp after eating too much? It’s the same principle for earth-born fetuses. My eldest son used to spit up milk when he was little, and he’d specifically spit it on me. When I got mad, I really wanted to hang him up and beat him. Is it easy to earn milk money for kids these days…” He squatted down, patted the mud beneath his feet, and revealed a wistful expression: “Ah, I miss that feeling of being spit up on.”
Everyone: “…”
Li Hu leaned over and whispered, “He’s seen too much blood and gore from handling cases in the early years, so his brain’s a bit off. Don’t mind him…”
“In short, the criminal is an extremely cunning, vicious, superstitious fellow, and probably a bit mentally unstable,” Zhou Hui clapped his hands and climbed out of the pit, completely oblivious to everyone staring at him: “Old Huang, please ask the local police to cordon off the scene. The victims’ bodies should be transported to the morgue for autopsy. Also, conduct a thorough investigation of all personnel within a ten-mile radius who fit the aforementioned characteristics and have a criminal record…”
Captain Wang was muttering, “No need to investigate, I just feel like Director Zhou fits the characteristics perfectly.”
He was given a harsh stomp by Mayor Huang and shut his mouth.
Zhou Hui raised his hand and checked his watch. “…Anyone who has had contact with coffins or has learned carpentry is a major suspect. If they have also recently purchased large quantities of traditional Chinese medicine, it’s very likely them. Hurry up and investigate immediately; absolutely do not let the seventh body appear, otherwise…”
“Otherwise what?” Mayor Huang was immediately terrified by the meaningful pause.
“Move the city,” Zhou Hui chuckled. The smile was indescribably playful, but for some reason, Mayor Huang felt a jolt in his heart, as if an endless chill was slowly rising from within his organs.
“I have some other business to attend to. If you have any problems, don’t look for me; look for Li Hu.”
Zhou Hui waved his hand and walked away from the crime scene without looking back. Captain Wang anxiously chased after him for a few steps, but before he could speak, he heard Li Hu sigh behind him, “Don’t chase him, he really has urgent business…”
Captain Wang had never encountered such a major case before, and his expression was very bewildered: “Then… what should we do now? Should I send a car to closely protect Director Zhou, it might speed things up?”
Li Hu gave a strange smile and gestured with her chin towards the direction Zhou Hui had left. Captain Wang looked back and instantly thought his eyes were playing tricks on him—in just a few seconds, “Director Zhou” had gone so far that not even a shadow could be seen.
Footsteps echoed in the darkness, gradually approaching from afar. Zhou Hui’s handsome face appeared like a demon at the edge of the shadows. Chu He lay on the ground, his hands bound by iron chains extending from the darkness. His wrists, showing traces of blood within the rough iron rings, appeared exceptionally slender and pale. In fact, whether there were chains or not was irrelevant; his entire consciousness had collapsed. His body was beyond soaked, and he could only futilely gasp for breath, his fingers convulsively grasping the ground. A faintly fishy, sweet fragrance, alluring and soul-capturing, permeated the air. It was the scent of desire.
Zhou Hui’s Adam’s apple bobbed violently. Although he had made ample preparations beforehand, the demon’s instincts prevented him from controlling himself very well.
“Last thirty seconds,” he said hoarsely, stroking Chu He’s particularly soft and hot neck due to emptiness, “Either you confess honestly, or I’ll inject the last dose into you too.”
At the construction site, Li Hu retreated several steps, gazing at the unfinished building, and quietly said, “…Strange.”
Zhang Shun was chasing right behind her, persistently trying to get to the bottom of last night’s events. Hearing her, he casually asked, “What’s strange?”
Li Hu ignored him, turning directly to Mayor Huang and asking, “Which unit is constructing this residential building? How could such a big incident happen, and yet no one has come to inquire about it except for a site manager?”
“An out-of-province real estate development company called Tianqi Construction Industry,” Mayor Huang just finished a call and mumbled, “But that was ten minutes ago.”
“What’s wrong?”
“People from the Xiangtian Consortium want to take this opportunity to buy this construction site as well, to connect it with the land they originally intended to invest in, and build a larger hotel and entertainment center. Tianqi Construction was probably scared by the discovery of the coffins and actually agreed to sell the entire plot of land to them at a very low price.” Mayor Huang lowered his voice and secretly asked, “Beauty, could this be related to the Japanese? I mean, why did our city suddenly attract foreign investment…”
Li Hu smiled and asked, “How many years have you been an adult, Huang Shulang?”
Mayor Huang’s pupils suddenly dilated, almost unable to speak, only staring at her with a pale face.
“Don’t worry, I was just asking,” Li Hu said kindly. “Speaking of which, we both belong to the Five Great Immortals. Five hundred… five thousand years ago, we could barely be considered one family. I won’t hold a grudge about you, Huang Shulang, often stealing our chickens and only leaving us with a nest of feathers and bones.”
With that, she bared her teeth in a smile, revealing a mouth full of gleaming, knife-sharp teeth: “However, if this matter is truly related to the Japanese, you’d best honestly cooperate with our investigation. Otherwise, I have a thousand ways to beat your face red, and even Chu He can’t protect you.”
Mayor Huang stammered, large beads of cold sweat running down his chubby face, “Gr-gr-gr-great Immortal, I, I, I, I, this humble one had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai. How would you like me to cooperate?”
Li Hu grabbed Mayor Huang’s chubby arm and intimately escorted him to the side, whispering threats, “You should be able to find Tianqi Construction’s information, right?”
“Huh?”
“I want the list of responsible persons from Tianqi Construction and the specific blueprints of this construction building. I also need all the miscellaneous approval documents and transfer receipts. Get them to me today. If you can’t do it or if any information leaks to Zhou Hui, you’re dead.”
Li Hu’s eyes flashed fiercely, saying, “I promise, even if you reincarnate eighteen times, you won’t grow teeth to eat chicken.”
“…” Mayor Huang’s face turned pale: “I, I, I, I, I’ll go do it now!”
Li Hu satisfactorily released Mayor Huang. Seeing the surrounding police officers busy with their own tasks, she leisurely strolled around the construction site for a while, slowly walking to the entrance of the building. Zhang Shun followed closely behind. Before he could even speak, he saw Li Hu suddenly turn around, proudly puffing out her chest and saying, “Second Young Master Zhang!”
Zhang Shun almost got hit by her D-cup and hurriedly retreated half a step back, asking, “What? I just want to know where my brother is, and what’s with that fierce ghost last night? This Buddha seal on my hand…”
“It means you have a profound connection to Buddhism, Second Young Master Zhang!” Li Hu pulled him, bent down, and slipped into the partially concrete-slabbed construction building, saying, “I have a question I want to clarify, and since you can ward off evil, come help me add some insurance.”
“What for? I told you I’m not a virgin! And that guy surnamed Zhou finally went to Mayor Huang!”
“Oh, I don’t need virgin’s blood. I just need…” Li Hu climbed over the scaffolding in her high heels, waved the police outside away, and then jumped onto a patch of yellow earth in the middle of the first floor of the building.
“I want to see what this earth-born fetus looks like,” she mused. “How could there be yin-deficient land in a place like H City? And why did Feng Si, with all the vastness of the world, choose to hide here? Don’t you think all of this is very strange?”
Zhang Shun immediately became furious: “You’re all strange, okay?! As soon as you came to my house, it got haunted! Even my brother, damn it, transformed into a Sailor Moon character! What more do you want?!”
Li Hu hurriedly appeased him: “Shhh—you’re a reincarnation of a Buddha bone, you need to be calm… Speaking of beautiful girls, don’t I count? I’ve been a very pretty fox since I was little.”
Zhang Shun felt a dizzy spell, not knowing if it was from anger or from her swaying D-cups.
“Come, Second Young Master Zhang, lend me the Buddha seal on your hand, to prevent the earth-born fetus from suddenly crawling out… Oh, be careful, I am essentially a demon, and the Buddha seal will harm me.”
Li Hu carefully placed her palm against Zhang Shun’s. Her red nail polish made her hand look very beautiful. This posture of palms pressed together was actually quite intimate. If it weren’t for the wrong time and place, Zhang Shun might have enjoyed it, but unfortunately, the atmosphere was completely ruined by Li Hu’s tension.
Zhang Shun felt a rush of heat being “sucked” away from their tightly pressed palms. A few seconds later, it was as if a faint light flashed, and Li Hu released his hand. A faint, indistinct golden swastika mark floated above her fair palm.
“Damn, that’s really good stuff…” Li Hu muttered, biting the tip of her tongue and spitting a mouthful of blood onto the ground, then backhandedly slammed the replicated Buddha seal onto the ground: “—Appear as if in a mirror, let no ghosts invade!”
Zhang Shun heard a “buzz!” in his ears, as if countless gongs had instantly struck in his mind, shaking him backward several steps. Li Hu ignored him, only to see the mud under her hand bubble as if boiling, then instantly transform into a mirror image, flashing and refracting in the intricate earth veins. After countless folds, a chaotic, indistinct black shadow finally appeared.
“How…” Li Hu frowned, “How could it be so small…”
Earth-born fetuses were usually huge; some, born deep within mountains, could have wombs that filled an entire mountain. But the fetus in the earth beneath her feet was human-sized and had already emerged from its womb. Its entire form was… long and slender, very similar to an adult.
Li Hu’s heart skipped a beat. She thought, Could it have already matured? No, impossible. The oldest recorded earth-born fetus was in Kunlun Mountain, and after tens of thousands of years, it had only grown to about five or six years old.
The mirror continued to refract. Li Hu squinted her eyes and finally saw the concrete shape of the earth-born fetus in the chaos. Her face instantly went blank.
Second Young Master Zhang finally managed to crawl up, grimacing, muttering curses under his breath. He walked over to Li Hu, casually took a look, and also froze.
In the mirror image, vaguely reflected was a person with both hands suspended, long hair hanging down, gender indistinguishable—but even under such blurry visible conditions, the outline of the profile alone gave off a breathtaking sense of beauty. In stark contrast, this person was covered in blood, and their robes were smeared with blood to draw dense, intricate incantations. Their density was such that even a quick glance would send a chill down one’s spine.
Li Hu successively retreated several steps, collapsing onto the ground with a clang. “Beauty, are you okay?” Second Young Master Zhang turned to help her up, but only saw her eyes wide with shock, her expression horrified, and her lips seemingly still trembling slightly.
“Holy crap,” she stammered, “It’s… it’s an acquaintance.”
“The Six Paths, that means the six realms of existence. The Celestial Path and the Human Path are collectively known as the two good paths. The Asura, Hell, Hungry Ghost, and Animal Paths are collectively known as the four evil paths. The fierce ghost strongman you saw last night is the current representative of the Four Evil Paths.”
On the way back, Second Young Master Zhang kept asking about the earth-born fetus, but Li Hu stubbornly refused to say. When pressed, she finally revealed some inside information from that night.
“Zhou Hui and I both come from a unit directly under national security. This unit has no name, only a code number, 574, and is specifically responsible for handling mysterious events within China. For example, a place suddenly collapsing for no reason, forming a hundred-meter deep sinkhole; unidentified flying objects being widely witnessed at night; large lakes drying up and large, destructive unknown prehistoric creatures appearing… Small matters like your house being haunted, even if they make newspaper headlines, we wouldn’t bother with them.”
Zhang Shun sat in the car, his mouth twitching slightly: “Are you guys secret agents? Can that lunatic Zhou also do this?”
“Don’t underestimate Zhou Hui,” Li Hu said. “There are only six of us at the team leader level in total. Each of us guards a region of China, and Zhou Hui is responsible for the Beijing area. Do you know how many crises the capital faces at all times? Why else would everyone call him Boss Zhou?”
Zhang Shun’s mind was in a jumble. After a long pause, he finally blurted out: “Then… what does this have to do with my brother? Don’t tell me he’s also one of your agents?”
Li Hu looked at him, his entire worldview seemingly being refreshed, and seemed to feel a bit of pity, but still told the truth: “Your brother used to be our Group Four leader, responsible for guarding the Northwest, but he later defected.”
Zhang Shun: “…” The blow came too quickly, and Second Young Master Zhang felt utterly bewildered.
“My brother… why did my brother defect? Colluding with foreign powers? Are you here to arrest him?”
Perhaps seeing Second Young Master Zhang, a rich second-generation heir, who was accustomed to a peaceful life of spending money and chasing girls, suddenly thrown into a cruel reality, Li Hu felt a little pity: “Colluding with foreign powers is the least significant form of defection for people like us. Although we serve this human society, our loyalty is limited. If your brother really defected to America or Japan, at most he’d bring Japanese Onmyōji to bury some curse seeds in the Northeast, or release some large-scale mutation techniques in the East China Sea. Nature would metabolize them in thirty to fifty years; that’s not a big deal.”
“Then what did he do?!”
Li Hu sighed and said solemnly, “He… defected to the Four Evil Paths.”
Second Young Master Zhang’s expression was probably like hearing Li Hu say, “Your brother is a Dark Demon King, and we Sailor Scouts must eliminate him on behalf of the moon.”
“Over ten years ago,” Li Hu said, “Zhou Hui planned an operation targeting the Demon Lord, that fierce ghost strongman who almost killed you, with the aim of temporarily sealing the Four Evil Paths. For this, he brought all the elites from our six groups. After several years of long investigations and operations, they finally encountered the true form of the Demon Lord head-on in the final fierce battle. The hardships of that battle were unimaginable. To avoid unnecessary sacrifices, our six team leaders didn’t bring any team members; they personally went into battle. Unfortunately, four of them were severely wounded and fell along the way. In the end, only Zhou Hui and your brother successfully reached the Demon Lord.”
“…” Zhang Shun blinked, thinking, Is this an RPG game commentary? Is this a hero and dungeon game commentary?!
“If Zhou Hui and the Demon Lord were both at their peak, it’s hard to say who would have the upper hand. At that time, your brother was the key to victory. But unfortunately, this crucial key turned against us at the most critical moment. According to Zhou Hui’s later account, not only did he not act, but he also took advantage of the chaos to fiercely kick Zhou Hui a few times in the back…”
Zhang Shun thought, This is really not my brother’s style. What that guy surnamed Zhou said is too unreliable.
“Zhou Hui said that afterwards, enduring the spiritual pain of being betrayed by your brother and the physical pain of being kicked, he bravely and fearlessly, shedding blood and sweat, defeated the Demon Lord with an unyielding and indomitable spirit—I believe the truth should be exactly the opposite.”
Li Hu said: “But one fact remains unchanged: your brother suddenly attacked when the Demon Lord was half-sealed, knocked out Zhou Hui, rescued the Demon Lord, and we have completely lost track of him ever since.”
Zhang Shun remembered the phantom of the Demon Lord he saw the night his house was haunted, thinking, So that’s it, this person has always been in my house… But why would my brother do this?
He asked Li Hu, who spread her hands:
“You ask me, who should I ask? What your brother thinks, only God knows. And later, when the news spread, everyone believed that the real situation was that your brother fought the monster alone, while Zhou Hui was slacking off on the side, leading to your brother’s defeat. Then Zhou Hui, in a panic, killed the Demon Lord to silence him, and came back to tell a lie to clear himself of responsibility… Don’t you think that fits Zhou Hui’s character better?”
“…” Numerous complicated black lines appeared above Zhang Shun’s head, “But… but my brother has always been in the Zhang family. He… he hasn’t left since he was ten years old. Are you saying he started being a secret agent when he was seven or eight?”
Li Hu curled her lips into a smile. Her bright red lips looked beautiful and sexy, but for some reason, Zhang Shun felt that this smile reminded him of Zhou Hui. Unlike Zhou Hui, that adult’s superiority towards a child wasn’t very well hidden; it even revealed itself in her slightly compassionate tone when she spoke, “Can you… remember the first time you met your brother?”
Zhang Shun’s first reaction was, How could I not remember? Wasn’t it when he was five or six, just returned from abroad, heard that his father’s remarried wife had died, and then saw his brother when he came home? He even remembered that day being particularly gloomy. After he came home, he lay in bed, terribly sick… Huh, why was he terribly sick? What did his brother look like when he was ten? A vague image of a gentle beauty in white robes with long hair tied up appeared in Zhang Shun’s mind, but who was that?
His brother should have only been ten years old then. No, no, his memories were all jumbled up, it must be because he had never carefully recalled and organized them all these years. But wait, why had he never thought about when he first met his brother? Even if a person is spaced out, they would unconsciously recall some childhood memories, right?
Zhang Shun sat in the spacious and comfortable leather back seat, his face alternating between green and white. Now he suddenly realized that Chu He seemed to have naturally appeared in his childhood memories. He couldn’t say when he appeared, nor what he looked like when he appeared. It seemed that he had simply invaded his memory in a slow, imperceptible, and subtle way.
“Soul Confusion Technique,” Li Hu said with that uncomfortable smile. “You have a profound innate connection to Buddhism, which can alleviate your brother’s pain from being corrupted by the Demon Lord, which is why he went to such great lengths to stay by your side. But then again, he must have had a very hard time all these years. His primordial spirit disappeared, his vital essence was depleted, even his true body was suppressed, and now he’s been caught by Zhou Hui again…”
When she got in the car, she had instructed the trusted driver she brought from Yunnan to first drop Second Young Master Zhang off at the hotel. Now, the stylish black Mulsanne had already arrived at the hotel entrance. But Zhang Shun didn’t notice at all; he was just pale and stiff in the back seat.
“Your brother’s in dire straits,” Li Hu’s expression was quite compassionate: “Given Zhou Hui’s temper, he might be hung up and beaten to death. But you don’t need to be too sad, there’s no blood relation, and he only stayed by your side to use you…”
Second Young Master Zhang was at a moment of extreme emotional confusion. Hearing this, he blurted out, “No!”
“Oh?”
“My brother isn’t like that!” Zhang Shun paused, seemingly unable to think of a rebuttal, but he stubbornly shook his head: “My brother isn’t like that. He… you don’t understand, he’s protected me many times… Where is he now? What will Zhou Hui do to him?”
Li Hu looked at Zhang Shun with interest for a moment, then turned to look out the car window and said, “I don’t know, but according to our mechanism, Zhou Hui will definitely find an absolutely safe place to hang him up and first get all the information out of him…”
Her words were very suggestive. Zhang Shun involuntarily recalled the earth-born fetus he had just seen hanging, and Li Hu’s exclamation of “acquaintance” after seeing it.
—”Your brother’s Dharma Form is one of the ten great sites of the Heavenly Dao, very rare indeed…”
—”Zhou Hui will definitely find an absolutely safe place to hang him up…”
“That… that earth-born fetus, is that my brother’s true body?” Zhang Shun was enlightened, his entire voice trembling: “So that’s why you were so shocked when you saw it just now?!”
Li Hu stopped speaking. She faced the window. Zhang Shun saw half her face reflected in the car window, looking somewhat inscrutable.
“He’s buried underground? How do I dig him out?!”
Zhang Shun was completely beside himself: “That guy surnamed Zhou will kill him, right? Damn it, that guy surnamed Zhou can definitely do it, right?! Driver! Driver, turn back! Go back to the suburban construction site, right now!”
The driver showed a helpless expression and didn’t move. Li Hu immediately turned back and cursed, “That’s completely untrue! That’s not your brother! Don’t let your imagination run wild!”
“But you…”
“How could Zhou Hui do such a thing? Do you think he wouldn’t be sanctioned by the higher-ups? You young people just love to imagine these baseless things.”
At this point, the car was completely stopped in front of the hotel entrance. Li Hu immediately waved her hand, signaling him to leave: “Get out, get out. Go back and sleep, and your brother will be back soon. I’ve talked too much with you today; I need to find some handsome guys to make up for it. Don’t delay my golden nightlife.”
The more nonchalant she acted, the more suspicious she seemed. Zhang Shun, uncertain and hesitant, gripped the car door handle, unwilling to get out. He struggled, “Then tell me what that earth-born fetus is…”
“Get lost! I’m living a perfectly good life; why would I go looking for trouble for myself?” Li Hu pushed him with her hand while also nudging him with her chest. Her ample D-cup forced Second Young Master Zhang to retreat out of the car: “Go, go, go. It’s so late. Are you still here hoping for a free meal? Dream on!”
Second Young Master Zhang was forcefully pushed out of the car. Before he could ask anything further, the car door slammed shut, and then it turned around and sped off. Second Young Master Zhang chased for several steps, but finally watched helplessly as the black Bentley drove into the surging traffic on the main street.
In the rearview mirror, Second Young Master Zhang’s disheartened figure stood on the street. The driver withdrew his gaze and sighed helplessly, “Group Six Leader…”
“Hmm?”
“Is this really okay?”
Li Hu was pulling out red nail polish from her small bag, carefully touching up a tiny chip on her pinky nail. Without looking up, she said, “Don’t worry, it’s acceptable no matter who dies.” She raised her hand, admiring her flawless nails in the light, her face devoid of any expression: “After all, it’s a Buddha bone…”
The special envoys from the National Security Bureau were staying at a government-designated four-star hotel in H City. To maintain the secrecy of their operation, they had booked an entire floor. It was already dark when Li Hu returned. She walked along the thickly carpeted corridor. Her high heels made no sound, like a cat walking.
As she passed Zhou Hui’s room door, she suddenly paused, an expression of doubt appearing on her face. Then she pulled out her spare room card and swiped the door open.
—Zhou Hui stood by the bed, leaning over, injecting a syringe into Chu He’s side neck.
“Holy crap! Stop!” Li Hu immediately rushed in, taking three steps in two: “Too much will kill him!”
Zhou Hui jabbed the syringe into Chu He’s vein, and without looking up, mocked, “What are you thinking?”
Li Hu then noticed that the liquid in the syringe was blood red, and Chu He was sitting cross-legged on the bed, his hair slightly damp, his eyes tightly closed. Zhou Hui concentrated on injecting the last drop of liquid, then pulled out the syringe and snorted, “I’m not a phoenix. This tube of heart blood is almost a quarter of the total… Where else would you find such a good husband like me?”
“…” Li Hu snorted through her nostrils: “Heh heh!”
Chu He’s downcast eyelashes fluttered. It was hard to describe his expression, a warm, lazy aura after releasing his desires and showering, as if a soft glow emanated from beneath his skin. Li Hu instantly slumped onto the bed as if her bones had been removed, resting her head delicately on his thigh. She looked at Zhou Hui and asked with a grin, “How was it? Who won your tug-of-war in the end, you two?”
Zhou Hui, while handling the used syringe, asked, “Have you heard the story of Zhang San playing chess?”
“How does it go?”
“There’s a man named Zhang San who loved playing chess. He repeatedly lost but repeatedly fought. One day, he came home after playing chess, and his wife asked: ‘How were the wins and losses today?’ Zhang San said: ‘I didn’t win the first game, he didn’t lose the second game, and I wanted a draw in the third, but he didn’t let me’—What conclusion can you draw from this story?”
“That Zhang San is a terrible chess player?”
“No,” Zhou Hui said, “I want to say that this prying wife is very annoying. If I were Zhang San, I would definitely divorce her.”
“Hahahaha, oh, that’s such a pity,” Li Hu immediately clapped her hands and burst into laughter: “Fortunately, I’m not your wife, just your rumored mistress, hahahaha!”
Zhou Hui’s face darkened, and he glared fiercely at both Li Hu and Chu He. Unfortunately, Chu He remained placid with his eyes closed, while Li Hu continued to roll around laughing, her chestnut curly hair spread all over the bed. After finally finishing her laughter, she climbed up, resting her chin on Chu He’s knee, and asked coquettishly, “Hey, you two, what if I do something that might make you two feel a bit crappy?”
Zhou Hui asked, “Don’t you often do crappy things?”
“I said if?”
Zhou Hui hadn’t spoken yet. Chu He, with his eyes closed, said unmoving, “I’ll kill you.”
Li Hu laughed loudly again, gave him a flirtatious wink, rested her chin, and said nothing more.
