Chapter 152

The sky was just faintly bright when Tan Wenbin woke up. He planned to go to the bathroom, splash some water on his face, and then come back for another nap.

Opening his eyes, he saw Xiao Yuan-ge sitting at the desk. On the wall hung a freshly painted picture. In the painting, a person held a candle, looking strange and sinister.

Tan Wenbin immediately sat up and quietly walked behind Xiao Yuan-ge.

He was very surprised. Had Jiang Shui come again?

Li Zhuiyuan spoke: “Notify the others, enter guard.”

“Okay.”

Tan Wenbin put on his clothes and walked out of his dorm towards A You’s dorm door.

At this hour, everyone else inside the dorm was in deep sleep. Knocking directly would disturb their rest.

Tan Wenbin reached out and patted his left shoulder.

The Resentful Infant raised its head, and ghost energy dispersed.

He knew that no matter how soundly A You slept before, he would definitely open his eyes wide instantly: There are evil spirits!

Sure enough, very soon the dorm door was opened. Lin Shuyou rubbed his eyes while looking at Tan Wenbin: “Bin-ge?”

“Notify Runsheng and Mengmeng, enter guard.”

Lin Shuyou’s expression immediately turned serious: “Understood!”

Tan Wenbin immediately went to the bathroom to splash water.

He let A You go deliver the message, not really to be lazy, but he knew that the newly joined A You really liked and enjoyed this sense of participation.

Even if it was just a simple errand, he was happy to do it, as this continuously deepened the cognitive imprint of ‘I am a member of the team’.

When Tan Wenbin first joined, he also went through this phase, feeling restless when there was nothing to do.

Inside the dorm, Li Zhuiyuan continued to look at the painting he had painted.

He now needed to sort out two problems.

The first problem was: Had the fifth wave arrived?

No, it shouldn’t have. It was impossible so quickly.

With the fourth wave solved well in advance, there should be a longer period of stability, or rest period.

Even if Jiang Shui wanted to continue changing strategies, it was impossible to resort to winning by quantity and fast rhythm, leaving you no room to breathe. This didn’t conform to the question setter’s aesthetic.

To put it another way, if it were really that low-level, Li Zhuiyuan would be happy to see it.

Therefore, this should not be the fifth wave, not pushed by Jiang Shui.

The second problem, the purpose.

During dinner in the afternoon, the Golden Lion opened its eyes to him.

During sleep at night, the Lion Spirit entered his dream and didn’t hesitate to burn its own body as the price to convey a message to him.

Was it warning him, or asking for help?

Similar things had happened before. The Big Fish in the second wave and the Corpse Driving Daoist in the fourth wave were both essentially asking for help.

But that was in Jiang Hu, something he had to face, and the other party asking for help also meant he could get certain advantages and help from them.

So, Li Zhuiyuan thought the Lion Spirit was warning him.

It wasn’t asking for help because their relationship hadn’t reached that point, and the other party hadn’t given him enough benefits, so he wouldn’t meddle in idle matters.

Of course, a warning would also have benefit demands, but the demands would come later.

Once he confirmed the warning was real, solved the problem, and recognized the lion’s emotions, he would naturally consider repaying the favor.

After sorting these things out, Li Zhuiyuan looked at the person in the painting again and became clearer.

What,

You want to come find me?

Drink soup,

You think you are Meng Po?

Tan Wenbin came back.

Li Zhuiyuan stood up: “Binbin-ge, take the painting down, we’ll have a meeting.”

“Okay.”

The store basement was very private, suitable for holding meetings.

The disadvantage was that it was a bit dim, even with a bulb. But when lit, it emitted a yellow halo, making it even gloomier, which actually suited the atmosphere of the meeting.

Entering guard was a term from the “Jiang Hu Behavior Norms”.

After being notified, all team members immediately cut off all unnecessary social interaction, maintained a close-range echo, and no longer acted alone.

These were all lessons learned from everyone’s experience.

However, this method was always used to cope with Jiang Hu. They would only enter this state when they felt the spray of waves wetting their noses.

“This time, I feel it’s not the spray of waves.”

Li Zhuiyuan’s voice echoed in Runsheng’s room.

Yin Meng’s room was not suitable as a meeting room because someone wanted to smoke.

Tan Wenbin sat there and lit a cigarette.

Lin Shuyou reached out wanting to learn to light one, but Tan Wenbin slapped his hand back and glared at him: Don’t learn bad things.

Actually, Li Zhuiyuan knew that Tan Wenbin hadn’t quit smoking for a reason. As they went through wave after wave, the two Resentful Infants on his shoulders gained some merit and recovered further. The original seal was already somewhat difficult to isolate the two from influencing the host.

Tan Wenbin would always endure the restlessness in his heart, especially when thinking. His emotions would fluctuate noticeably, but he always restrained himself and didn’t say anything to the outside.

Runsheng then lit his “cigar”.

He wasn’t good at thinking about the big picture, and it was good that the team didn’t need his brain.

But during the meeting, he still hoped to understand more.

Inside the room, besides the dimness, there was also a layer of lingering smoke.

If someone were to pass by outside and crawl down to look through the half-window, they would probably think they saw a group of ghosts holding a meeting inside.

Xiao Hei continued to sleep soundly, his dog nose sniffing repeatedly. He sucked in the fragrant fog that Runsheng exhaled and seemed very comfortable.

Previously, when Runsheng smoked fragrance in the room, Xiao Hei would just eat along, purely used as an exhaust fan.

Xiao Hei occasionally sneezed a little; the fragrance tasted impure today.

Yin Meng used a rope to hang the painting. There was a handle in the middle of the rope, allowing the painting to slowly rotate in front of everyone.

Li Zhuiyuan: “Not Jiang Hu. The Lion Spirit’s warning. I suspect someone wants to calculate us.”

Tan Wenbin: “Who could it be? We’ve always been kind to people, we really don’t have any enemies.”

This was taking revenge and aiming at their household registration to gain benefits.

When you thought about enemies, it was very easy to use the exclusion method because basically everyone was excluded.

Li Zhuiyuan: “It’s possible not aimed at me personally and the group, but aimed at, possibly the Qin Liu families. Uncle Qin failed Jiang Hu, and it was probably calculated by outsiders.”

Runsheng took a fierce puff of fragrance. His master’s revenge, he must report.

Tan Wenbin pursed his lips and asked: “Need to report to the old lady?”

Anyone who dared to target the Qin Liu two families’ Jiang Hu participants and exert force was definitely extraordinary. Ordinary sect families fundamentally wouldn’t dare to have such courage.

Moreover, this time it didn’t involve Jiang Hu, and didn’t touch the cause and effect of Jiang Hu. The old lady could act.

Li Zhuiyuan: “Although the Qin Liu two families are small in number, if the old lady really sends out a strong force, bringing Uncle Qin and Aunt Liu, it can still make the outside world afraid.

Uncle Qin’s failure in Jiang Hu was because he was calculated, that’s true. But the old lady should only be able to guess which families would do this, and still be unable to pinpoint the exact one who did it.

This should be the tacit understanding and hidden rules of competition among the Dragon King families.

I believe, since the other side dared to act, they will definitely handle the details cleanly and leave no trace.

Telling the old lady about this now is unnecessary.”

When Li Zhuiyuan said this, an expression of pain appeared on his face.

Fortunately, the light was dim and the smoke lingered, plus he timely lowered his head, covering it up.

Analyzing from a purely rational perspective, it was right to quickly tell the old lady.

The old lady endured Uncle Qin’s matter at first, suffering a hidden loss; now, being older, and valuing him more than the initial Uncle Qin, she would impossible choose to endure again.

So, telling the old lady about this would leave her with only one choice, which was to bring Uncle Qin and Aunt Liu and go find those who might have acted, visit them, and provoke a fight.

Not knowing which family specifically did it didn’t matter. Randomly pick an unlucky one. The old lady, Uncle Qin, and Aunt Liu, at least one must be sacrificed to fiercely bite off a piece of meat from that one.

In this way, other families would be intimidated, thereby scaring back the hand that tried to reach out.

For the collapsed Qin Liu Dragon King court, this was the only solution.

The old lady revealing killing intent while listening to him and A Li play the zither during the daytime was actually the embodiment of this thought. She was already preparing to sacrifice herself.

Pressing down this “correct” approach and starting with emotional matters made Li Zhuiyuan feel pain.

In his mind, he instantly recalled Li Lan’s expression when she washed her hands, that was a kind of disgust towards “foolish thinking”.

To alleviate his inner torment, Li Zhuiyuan started seeking new logic to make himself consistent.

That was, if the old lady did that, it would still inspire another possibility, making those forces re-realize the extraordinary nature of this generation’s Jiang Hu participants from the Qin Liu two families, making it even more impossible to let them grow up and revitalize the court.

Therefore, that hand might not only not be scared back but would also extend many more hands, reaching out towards him together.

Moreover, it was also not ruled out that forces below the Dragon King families might want to fish in troubled waters in this way, stir up contradictions, and let the Dragon King families first engage in internal friction, so as to make room and opportunities for themselves.

If it were the former Qin family or Liu family, facing such a matter, they would have more methods. They wouldn’t even need to act; mutual communication within the same circle and a simple notification could solve it.

But now, the old lady had too few cards in her hand, making it easy to judge her playing sequence.

Huff…

Li Zhuiyuan exhaled, feeling comfortable.

Lin Shuyou curiously asked: “Can they just kill directly like this?”

Tan Wenbin explained: “Generally no. Jiang Hu represents acting for heaven. To kill a Jiang Hu participant is possible, either there must be direct cause and effect that can be justified, or a corresponding price must be paid for it.

Just like that day Zhao Yi, as long as he kept shouting about defending the righteous path, we couldn’t cut off this competitor in advance.”

Lin Shuyou: “Then are they willing to pay a huge price to solve us?”

Tan Wenbin pointed at the painting: “If they were willing, why not directly send several real experts? Instead, they did this thing.”

Hearing this, Li Zhuiyuan fiercely raised his head, his eyes narrowing.

“Everyone, I suspect my calculation was wrong from the beginning.”

Everyone present was stunned for a moment when they heard this. Runsheng’s “cigar ash” in his hand even dropped a section.

Everyone was already used to being led by Xiao Yuan’s extraordinary brain. No matter what happened, they could remain composed and foresee things. This was the first time Xiao Yuan had self-denied at the beginning of a matter.

“That hand is far too smart compared to what we imagined.

I don’t know if the hand behind is another Dragon King family, but since it dared to extend its hand, it means it is confident, at least thinking it is not inferior to the Qin Liu families at this time.

This is the first time I feel the foundation of the Dragon King families.”

A smile appeared at the corner of Li Zhuiyuan’s mouth.

The other side’s scheme was very high-level. This kind of opponent didn’t make the teenager feel scared, but instead made him feel excited inside.

Its effect was no less than manipulating a dead end.

Li Zhuiyuan: “Paper and pen.”

Runsheng immediately took out paper and pen from his backpack by the bed and placed them in front of the teenager.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up the pen and casually drew out four waves on the paper.

“Just as A You asked, the other side of course is not willing to pay the price for this.

That hand is not only unwilling to pay the price for killing a Jiang Hu participant without cause, but also unwilling to directly face the extreme revenge of the Qin Liu two families.

It is setting a trap,

Setting a trap that will make all other Jiang Hu participants feel terrible fear after seeing it.

That Lion Spirit is fundamentally not just a simple warning; it’s just one link in the trap.

The reason I thought wrong from the beginning is… we have exceeded the cognitive depth of normal Jiang Hu participants.

This point can be clearly seen from the comparison between our team and Xiong Shan’s team in the previous wave.”

Tan Wenbin added a sentence: “Jiang Hu participant…”

He understood.

But to take care of the three with clear gazes,

He circled one key point.

Mainly also to save Xiao Yuan-ge from having to explain further.

Xiao Yuan-ge referred to them as “Jiang Hu participants”, while Xiong Shan was not a Jiang Hu participant. But his qualifications and experience were rich. So, Xiao Yuan-ge’s meaning here was that their team, because of the “Jiang Hu Behavior Norms”, was far ahead of colleagues at the same level.

This also paved the way for what he would say next.

Li Zhuiyuan: “If we adjust our cognition back to the level of normal Jiang Hu participants, you will immediately discover that this matter takes on a different appearance.

First is the Lion Spirit’s warning. It presented this picture to me.

What should be our first reaction?”

Lin Shuyou rushed to answer: “A new wave, this is a clue.”

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Lin Shuyou and nodded at him: “Right, no mistake. Reward you by copying ‘Jiang Hu Behavior Norms’ and ‘Secret Volume’ ten times.”

Lin Shuyou: “Ah…”

Lin Shuyou really wanted to ask why he was still punished with copying when he answered correctly.

Li Zhuiyuan added: “Because you are least influenced by these two books.”

Lin Shuyou lowered his head.

Telling you to lower your cognition and try to substitute, and you immediately succeeded, indicates that your cognition was originally at this level.

Tan Wenbin, Runsheng, and Yin Meng then nodded slightly after a moment. They were indeed switching their thinking, but it was a bit difficult, and at the same time, there was something they couldn’t get around, and that was how quickly this wave was connecting.

Li Zhuiyuan continued: “A You’s program was temporarily merged. We are following the normal process here. Logically, programs of the same category shouldn’t collide. So, the problem should be on the other side.

The compromise solution is to merge the original two programs into one program. Two heads who don’t know each other on the same stage will definitely compete.

What unfolded after our meeting yesterday afternoon was actually a deduction under normal circumstances.

The Lion Spirit’s warning brings up the hint of a new Jiang Hu wave. This is just a line of cause and effect that can be reversed. We will trace the source, then go find the Zhou family brothers, find the program organizer, find the relevant personnel on the opposite school’s side, and trace this line all the way upstream.

Besides, I suspect that in the next few days, there will be a second and third line, touching our side and forming a force.

And this is where that hand is smart.”

Tan Wenbin immediately spoke: “Damn, it’s simulating Jiang Hu for us!”

Yin Meng followed: “If we collapse in Jiang Hu, then even the old lady’s side can only acknowledge it. The true black hand can avoid all suspicion and gain safety.”

“Moreover, if that hand guides us to find this…” Tan Wenbin reached out and patted the painting, “Then we’re proactively going to provoke, or rather, proactively removing demons and guarding the way. Then the cause and effect price that hand needs to bear is very small.”

Runsheng puffed out a mouthful of thick smoke rings: “It’s getting benefits without risk.”

Tan Wenbin took a deep breath: “This is playing ‘borrowing a knife to kill’ into an art.”

Seeing everyone had spoken, Lin Shuyou echoed: “It’s quite scary.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “There’s one loophole.”

Tan Wenbin, Yin Meng, and Runsheng said together: “Too fast.”

Their team just finished the fourth wave, and the fifth wave shouldn’t come so early. This was the biggest unreasonableness.

Li Zhuiyuan: “But this is precisely where the other side is truly brilliant and truly scary. That hand can even calculate our Jiang Hu frequency clearly.”

Saying that, Li Zhuiyuan held the pen and drew a line downwards on the wave he had previously drawn:

“Isn’t it precisely the time of our normal development of the fourth wave now?”

Everyone stood up and looked at this line. At first, they were all a bit doubtful, then one by one, they showed expressions of sudden realization. Following that, they either gritted their teeth or sucked in air or pursed their lips.

They understood.

The reason why this loophole appeared was that under the leadership of Xiao Yuan-ge, everyone completed the fourth wave ahead of time.

This point, that hand… didn’t know.

So, it chose to launch at this time. The current time, under normal circumstances, would be when everyone’s third wave ended, the stable period was also about to end, and they were starting to collect their thoughts and focus on capturing any moment of a Jiang Shui wave splash.

Stripping away the influence of this loophole, that hand really calculated the overall situation well!

Tan Wenbin: “No wonder, Xiao Yuan-ge, you just said you saw the true foundation.”

Yin Meng: “So, we just need to ignore the clues that appear in the next few days to avoid colliding with the thing in the painting?”

Tan Wenbin: “If that hand can guide us to find that thing here, can’t it guide that thing to collide with us? Even if we ignore it, that hand will only pay a slightly larger price for it.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Now let’s allocate tasks.”

Tan Wenbin and Runsheng put down the smoke and fragrance in their hands, and Yin Meng and A You also straightened their backs.

“Lin Shuyou.”

“Here!”

“You go contact the Zhou family brothers, contact the organizer, contact the relevant person in charge of the school that sent the program. You are responsible for tracing the line that has already appeared upwards for me.”

“Understood!” Lin Shuyou was the first to straighten his chest and respond, “I will absolutely not disappoint Xiao Yuan-ge’s trust!”

Lin Shuyou was very excited. He could finally stand on his own!

Li Zhuiyuan: “You just investigate step by step upwards. Even if you encounter obstacles, that hand will give you clues to help you overcome difficulties and guide you to continue.

If you can’t investigate, it’s more anxious than you.”

Lin Shuyou: “…”

Li Zhuiyuan: “The others, after the sky is light, act as usual, putting on an appearance that you are actively receiving Jiang Shui, which is convenient for the other side to hand over the next clues to you, so they can go out more.”

“Understood!”

“Understood!”

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and poked his temple:

“One point needs attention. This time is different from the past. After receiving the clue, speed is not required, slowness is required. Every step must be slowed down as much as possible.

Any new progress at any stage must be reported in the most timely manner. If you are outside, just report the progress to Lu Yi at the store.

Tan Wenbin, give Lu Yi a raise.”

Tan Wenbin: “Understood.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “We have already experimented. Everyone recall and review how we went to Zhangjiajie in the previous wave.

I require all of you to start pondering your respective script routes from now on.”

The teenager held the pen and drew another wave on the vertical line he had previously drawn:

“Doesn’t that hand want to set up a false Jiang Hu wave and guide us into it, so it can borrow a knife to kill?

Then this time,

We will just lead the real Jiang Shui over and drown it!”

…

“Crack!” Deng Chen, who was sleeping soundly, heard the sound of the photo studio door opening.

He immediately sat up and reached out from the medicine pool used for developing photos in front of him to take out two eyeballs.

He shook them, breathed on them, lifted his sleep clothes to wipe them, and then pressed them back into his eye sockets.

In the medicine pool, three small figures were still swimming. They were his three good brothers.

He slowly pushed open the room door and came to the front desk, seeing Tan Wenbin sitting on the small sofa with his legs crossed.

Tan Wenbin might have more than just the dorm door key.

Deng Chen: “Please instruct.”

Tan Wenbin: “Did I disturb your rest? Sorry, come, borrow your eyeballs to help take a look.”

A painting was handed over to Deng Chen.

“Please wait a moment.”

No one said anything wrong, one first, one sends, one inside, one content, one in, one look!

Deng Chen took the painting back and started working.

Soon, he took out a long, large photo.

Tan Wenbin took the photo and rotated it. At the same time, the person in the photo holding the candle fire and looking down was also turning.

Deng Chen: “I added some details. There might be deviations from the real thing.”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s already very good. You are very good.”

“He is…”

Tan Wenbin said somewhat surprised: “What, you recognize him.”

“No, I don’t recognize him. Ever since we gained consciousness, the four of us have been living incognito. Our understanding of this world is far from yours.

But I felt what Xiao Yuan-ge wanted to express from Xiao Yuan-ge’s painting.

He, is very terrifying.”

“What else do you feel?”

“When developing this photo, I was very afraid he would suddenly lift his head.”

“Continue, anything else?”

“Xiao Yuan-ge’s painting skills are really good.”

“Far Zi-ge isn’t here, no need to flatter. Provide me with more valuable clues, and I’ll flatter him for you when I get back.”

“It’s the quality sense of this painting.”

“Quality sense?”

“He might not exist in reality.”

This was originally a sentence of nonsense, after all, it was something seen in a dream.

But Tan Wenbin narrowed his eyes, leaned closer to Deng Chen, and said in a low voice: “Say a bit more detailed, come on, organize your language.”

He could feel that Deng Chen had made a discovery. After all, the other party was Black Python Eye.

It was just that the other party had shortcomings in language description and couldn’t pinpoint it.

Deng Chen’s eyes moved down several times, and finally, he simply lifted his hand and patted the back of his head, patting down the two eyeballs and handing them to Tan Wenbin.

“I’ll copy a copy into my eyes again. This is my feeling. You experience it.”

“How to use?”

“Just like that.”

Tan Wenbin held an eyeball in each hand and placed them in front of his eyes.

This action was very much like playing marbles in childhood, placing two marbles in front of your eyes to observe this strange world.

He saw.

In front of his eyes was still the person holding the candle fire.

Although this time, this person’s figure appeared to change from real to virtual and then from virtual to real, indeed a very strange quality sense.

Tan Wenbin furrowed his brow. He felt that when Xiao Yuan-ge painted this painting, he just tried his best to depict the charm of the picture he saw in his dream. Xiao Yuan-ge himself might not have perceived it deeply.

This was very normal in the situation. Finding the physical evidence was the first step. Next, hand it over to the professional department for physical evidence analysis, allowing the physical evidence to speak and obtain more information. Deng Chen was the analysis section.

Finally,

Tan Wenbin spoke his feeling, a sentence more like nonsense than Deng Chen’s:

“This guy, seems to exist in dreams.”

…

Cheap store.

Lu Yi was a little excited and a little uneasy.

His salary here was originally quite high, exceeding his income from tutoring, and it was very convenient at school.

Therefore, he skipped some water classes he could skip, just to guard the store more, to deserve this salary.

Previously, he had just entered the store when Tan Wenbin walked over, patted his shoulder, and told him he was getting a raise, and it was a fifty percent raise.

The extra work content was that they, this small group, would call the store, and he had to keep a good record and convey it in a timely manner.

In fact, he had been doing this before and didn’t feel any hardship or tiredness. It was just answering the phone and relaying messages. Although there were times when he answered the phone and felt inexplicable heart palpitations, scaring him into returning to the dorm to set up an altar again.

But upon later analysis, it might have been caused by poor sleep recently.

Tan Wenbin’s requirement for a raise couldn’t be refused, and Lu Yi finally accepted it.

He had a feeling, as if since he had worshipped that fellow villager, his luck had always been good.

Lu Yi clasped his hands together and shook them in front, silently chanting:

“Red sausage ghost bless, red sausage ghost bless!”

Having just worshipped in vain, Lu Yi saw Yin Meng and Runsheng walking out side by side.

Yin Meng asked him: “Do you have many classes today?”

Lu Yi shook his head: “It’s almost the end of the term, not many classes. I can guard for a whole day today, and review for the final exam when there are no customers.”

“Then you work hard. I’m taking Runsheng out to buy clothes.”

“Haha, good.”

Lu Yi smiled and nodded, feeling a bit strange at the same time. He knew Yin Meng liked to go shopping, but Runsheng didn’t really like to go out. Runsheng only liked to move goods in the store.

However, what was the point of managing other people’s affairs?

Lu Yi picked up the phone, dialed a number, and planned to call home to ask his parents to mail him some more red sausages.

Runsheng and Yin Meng walked out of the store. As soon as they went down the steps, Runsheng unconsciously sighed.

He would rather deliver ten trips of goods to Grandpa Li or run to the brick kiln factory to move bricks in his hometown for a day than accompany Yin Meng shopping.

“Didn’t you just buy some clothes?”

“Just bought a few pieces. Only one top and one pair of pants were suitable yesterday. I’ll have to return the rest later.”

“That’s enough. If clothes aren’t worn until they can’t be mended, there’s no need to buy new ones.”

“How can we create opportunities for that hand to deliver clues if we don’t go out?”

“You can ask Zheng Jiayi to go shopping.”

“If I ask her out this time, I’m afraid she’ll be implicated.”

Runsheng nodded. He recognized this reason and continued to walk forward with Yin Meng.

Yin Meng was quite happy. She raised her hand and said: “Hey, why are you so unhappy? When I was a child, if someone could take me to buy new clothes, I would be happy to die.”

Runsheng: “That was a human trafficker.”

Yin Meng rolled her eyes at Runsheng: “Didn’t you want to wear new clothes and show off in front of your little friends when you were a child?”

Runsheng: “Grandpa and I salvaged corpses. We smelled, and no children wanted to play with me.”

Yin Meng’s tone suddenly sank, and she said: “Me too. Children of the same age on the street were all told by their parents not to play with me, saying my family opened a coffin shop and it was unlucky.

When I was a child, even if Grandpa bought me toys and dolls, I had no one to show them off to, hehe.”

As Yin Meng spoke, she lowered her head and sniffed hard twice.

Runsheng was stunned when he heard this. Finally, he could only speed up his steps and walk ahead, then turned back and urged: “Let’s go, buy new clothes.”

Yin Meng reached out and wiped away some non-existent tears, forcing out a “breaking into laughter through tears” smile and said: “Okay, let’s go!”

The small pickup truck was driven away by Tan Wenbin, so the two could only walk to the school gate.

Yin Meng: “I’ll call a taxi.”

Runsheng: “Take the bus.”

Yin Meng: “Alas, when I was a child, I was so envious when I saw other families taking taxis, unfortunately… Hahaha!”

Saying this, Yin Meng couldn’t help herself and started laughing.

Then, she poked Runsheng with her elbow and asked: “Didn’t you see I was pretending to be pitiful just now?”

Runsheng: “I saw you were pretending.”

Yin Meng: “Then you still obediently listened and went out with me to buy clothes?”

Runsheng: “Childhood regrets, not pretending.”

Yin Meng paused, then put her hand on her waist and said angrily: “I hate that I didn’t bring a whip to beat you and ruin my good mood going out today!”

…

Lin Shuyou came to Jinling University. During dinner yesterday, the Zhou family brothers told him their department. Plus, they both could perform lion dance and were quite famous at school.

Through inquiries, Lin Shuyou found their dorm, but their roommate said the two of them had gone out early in the morning.

Lin Shuyou noticed that in a corner of their dorm wall, a large pink star wallpaper had been newly pasted.

If Li Zhuiyuan or Tan Wenbin were here, they would definitely go forward and pull it to see if it was trying to cover up some trace, and then they would discover the wall was scorched black.

But Lin Shuyou only felt that pasting this wallpaper in a boys’ dorm was quite effeminate.

Then, he just walked.

Next, by asking students on the road, he painstakingly found clues and came from the school’s residential area to a relatively remote riverside adjacent to the school.

He really did find the two brothers from the Zhou family.

Zhou Cheng and Zhou Feng were talking to a newly buried mound of earth, then the two of them, with red eyes, turned and left.

Lin Shuyou waited for them to leave, walked to the mound, took out a trident from his bag, and planned to dig and see what was inside. After all, this should be an extremely important clue.

Just as he had dug two shovels of soil, he heard footsteps behind him.

He turned his body and looked back, seeing the two Zhou family brothers who had left and returned, one holding paper money and the other holding a candle.

The Zhou family brothers’ faces were very ugly. Their eyes, which were originally red from crying, turned red with anger.

Lin Shuyou: “Sorry, please listen to my explanation.”

Zhou Cheng: “Okay, I’ll listen to you…”

Zhou Feng threw down the candle in his hand, rushed forward in a quick step, and then gave Lin Shuyou a flying kick.

Lin Shuyou dodged to the side, then habitually lifted his leg and topped Zhou Feng in the waist.

This was the instinctive reaction of someone who practiced martial arts. When performing on stage yesterday, carrying a lion restricted him greatly.

Just because of this top, Zhou Feng’s flying kick changed direction, and his two legs plunged directly into the loose soil pit where the lion’s head had just been buried.

Zhou Cheng saw the situation, raised his fist, and also rushed up.

The three immediately got into a heated fight.

…

Inside the dorm, Li Zhuiyuan arranged a calculation array for himself.

He sat in the center of the array pattern, lit three candles, and began to recite incantations and deduce. He was trying to calculate himself.

Halfway through the calculation, he immediately stopped.

Calculating oneself was a taboo. He couldn’t make this mistake again. He just wanted to probe in this way to see if someone was calculating him.

He didn’t perceive it.

This meant the other side might have a more brilliant method, or at least a more perfect arrangement considering the background of that hand, which wasn’t strange either.

After erasing this array arrangement, Li Zhuiyuan turned the bronze mirror and opened the isolation array inside the dorm.

Then he squatted down by the bed, pulled out the large package placed under the bed, and then walked back to the desk and peeled it open.

This “Evil Book”, which he had burned last time, showed no signs of recovery after being opened this time.

Li Zhuiyuan stirred it open, skipped the burned black paper, and found a page that was merely smoke-yellowed.

He adjusted the color palette, picked up the brush, and started painting on this paper. He wasn’t in a hurry to paint the person holding the candle fire and looking down, but first painted the burning lion from last night’s dream.

Halfway through painting this lion’s head, the “Evil Book” took the initiative to supplement the remaining half.

Then, the entire painting gradually faded, and a row of words appeared:

“Lion Spirit entrusts dream, burns body to warn.”

The Lion Spirit warning him was no problem, but the problem was the form in which it unfolded.

Li Zhuiyuan painted it first, not to pursue an answer, but to test whether this “Evil Book” was still effective.

Facts proved that this book was quite stubborn.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up the brush again. This time he painted the person looking down and holding the candle fire.

The teenager suspected that this “Evil Book” recognized this guy.

Because since that hand wanted to set a trap for him, it definitely couldn’t summon existences related to its power. Moreover, it had to find a relatively objective “third-party evil thing”.

This way, it could better justify itself to the heavenly way.

Furthermore, this guy must guarantee sufficient strength advantage to defeat him. Even if it didn’t directly kill him, it must at least severely injure him, forcing him to have no choice but to light the lamp and admit defeat a second time.

Therefore, this guy was probably not an obscure unknown person.

The “Evil Book” was like a dynamic encyclopedia in his eyes. It might really recognize who this guy was.

At the same time, looking at the situation he was facing now, the person who set the trap for Uncle Qin was not necessarily the person who was setting the trap for him now, but the benchmark of their scheme level should not be significantly different.

After all, anyone who dared to play tricks on the Dragon King families was not an ordinary being.

Moreover, in terms of absolute strength, the hand that set the trap for Uncle Qin would only be stronger than the one he faced this time because Uncle Qin opened Jiang Hu after becoming an adult and was well prepared.

He remembered Uncle Qin previously using “they” to describe the people who calculated him. Did this mean more than one hand calculated Uncle Qin?

In this difficult situation, although Uncle Qin was forced to fail Jiang Hu due to lack of strength, he was able to come back alive by lighting the lamp and admitting defeat. At the same time, he could still stand up and continue walking now, which fully demonstrated Uncle Qin’s strength.

This also gave him a warning, that is, the other side might simply see him as an ordinary Jiang Hu participant from the Qin Liu two families. They would use their full strength even when fighting a rabbit with a lion, but they probably wouldn’t bring out their bottom-of-the-box items.

And this was where his opportunity lay.

Without the old lady’s help, his strength was definitely very asymmetric against that hand.

But fortunately, he was in Jiang Hu.

Professor Zhu had just pointed out a new perspective on observing Jiang Shui yesterday, and he didn’t expect to use it up now.

Between him and Jiang Shui, there was identity and struggle. Now was the time for identity to play a role.

“I don’t know your real purpose for me, but at least for now, no matter what I think in my heart, I am indeed willing to remove demons and guard the way, doing things in the manner of a righteous person.

How we fight intelligence and courage between us, that’s all our matter, it’s an internal contradiction between the two of us. What does it have to do with a third party?

Look, that hand is imitating you, it’s blaspheming you. What does it consider itself to be?

You can endure it, but I can’t.

I guess you had no choice before, only dropping a bit of cause and effect punishment.

It doesn’t matter,

This time I’ll help you pull the strings and build bridges. Together, we’ll play a big game.”

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t know if saying these words was useful or not. Anyway, his hand was painting now, and his mouth was idle anyway.

When he painted to the foot, he couldn’t paint anymore.

The tip of the pen touched, but nothing appeared on the book page.

It seemed to have learned its lesson from being burned last time. This time, this book actually didn’t let him paint.

Moreover, beside this almost completed painting, several rows of words began to appear faintly.

Appearing and disappearing, even someone with good vision couldn’t clearly see what the words were.

Because the original meaning of the “Evil Book” was to tell him that it already knew who this guy was, but it just wouldn’t tell him.

It, was holding him.

Li Zhuiyuan lifted his brush and wrote beside it: “Tell me the answer. After the matter is successful, I will promise you one request that does not violate the standard of the righteous path.”

Li Zhuiyuan’s words converged, and a short row of words appeared:

[You are trying to trick the book]

It was very obvious that the book and the person understood each other after several rounds of contact.

The “Evil Book” knew that Li Zhuiyuan wouldn’t reach any transaction with it.

Li Zhuiyuan showed no embarrassment at being exposed, but picked up the pen again, dipped it in ink, and successively wrote on this page. Every time he wrote a row, the “Evil Book” would immediately give feedback:

“《Yin Yang Leaving Fire Execution Evil Array》”

[You at least give me some things to supplement the ink and book pages]

“《Break Evil Cut Yin Chop Dragon Array》”

[Just pity me, casually grant some miscellaneous items]

“《Eight Wastelands Thunder Pool Subdue Demon Array》”

[You really are an iron-hearted person, without a shred of pity]

“《Azure Dragon Red Blood Heavenly Punishment Array》”

[My life is so bitter, really so bitter yo]

Li Zhuiyuan dipped his brush in red pigment and poked the book page.

A red dot immediately appeared on the book page.

The teenager’s eyes were ice cold. After the tip of the pen left the book page and the matter ended, he would proceed to destroy this book.

He believed that the “Evil Book” could sense his most real emotions through the tip of the pen.

The best threat was the most real statement.

He didn’t wait long. Li Zhuiyuan lifted the brush.

The red dot began to rotate and quickly turned into words:

[It is the Dream Ghost!]

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