Chapter 99

The large performance shed was still under construction, but the living quarters for the people in the acrobatic troupe—a row of small sheds and tents—were already set up.

Xu Dong, holding his ‘son’ Liang Liang’s hand, followed and walked to the front of a white-topped shed in the middle.

Thick plastic sheets were wrapped around the shed, and a blanket hung in the doorway.

It was still summer, and the sun was high. This kind of dwelling just made people feel hot and stuffy.

Xu Dong lifted his collar and urged, “Can’t you be quicker? Don’t waste my time!”

The young woman glanced at him and said, “When you buy a horse or an ox, you have to touch and examine it first, let alone buying a person.”

Xu Dong glared at her and questioned, “What do you mean by that?”

“It means we need to check if this child is healthy and has no disabilities. Otherwise, even if we take him in, it will be hard to find a next home.”

“My son has rarely been sick since he was small. He’s very healthy.”

“Hehe.” The young woman covered her mouth and laughed. “What you say might not count. Come in and sit down. It’s hot outside, but it’s cool inside.”

Saying that, the woman lifted the blanket curtain. Immediately, a cool breeze permeated out, not only dispelling the summer heat but also making people involuntarily shiver.

Xu Dong suspected there might be ice blocks inside.

“Are you coming in or not?” the woman urged again.

Xu Dong took a deep breath and, holding Liang Liang’s hand, walked in.

The space inside the shed was not large. There was a chair and a bed on each side.

In the middle was a water jar. On the water jar was a statue wearing a white robe and a high hat, holding lanterns in both hands.

At first glance, it looked like a living person. Xu Dong was startled when he came in.

Liang Liang shrunk back and hid behind his dad, grabbing Xu Dong’s pants legs with both hands.

“What is this thing?” Xu Dong asked.

The woman said matter-of-factly, “What’s so strange? Which line doesn’t have something they worship?”

The old woman sat on the chair, holding an old-fashioned porcelain bowl in her hand. The porcelain bowl had several broken edges and contained clear water.

The woman bent down and grabbed Liang Liang.

“No, I won’t, I won’t,” Liang Liang pleaded, looking at his dad.

Struggle showed in Xu Dong’s eyes, but he still didn’t lower his head to look. He stood there without moving.

The woman pulled the boy away from the man and brought him to the old woman.

The old woman reached out and touched Liang Liang’s cheek.

With this touch, the little boy immediately stopped making noise and his eyelids drooped. However, beneath the quiet surface, his body was trembling non-stop.

The old woman first used her index finger to point at the small boy’s brow, then dipped her index finger into the clear water in the bowl. Subsequently, the water in the bowl turned faintly black.

The woman looked at the color and frowned slightly, obviously dissatisfied with the quality.

However, she still took out money from her pocket, counted it, and handed it to Xu Dong. “That’s all. Take it or leave it.”

Xu Dong took the money, stuffed it into his pocket without counting, turned around, and quickly left.

Liang Liang’s body trembled more intensely.

The old woman continued to hold the bowl in place, without moving.

At this moment, a corner of the blanket curtain was lifted open, and a man poked his head in and asked, “Rou Jie, the meal is already bought back. Everyone is waiting for you to start eating.”

The woman called ‘Rou Jie’ suddenly turned her head and scolded the man, “Eat, eat, eat! The offerings are not even prepared well! All you know is eating!”

“Didn’t we just receive one…”

Rou Jie pushed Liang Liang and coldly snorted, “The quality is too poor. A child no one wants.”

Xu Dong walked all the way out, to a small shop by the roadside. He went in and asked for a pack of cigarettes, stood at the shop door, lit one, and choked on the first puff. Then he squatted down and started dry heaving.

The expected pleasure of revenge didn’t appear. Instead, his heart suddenly felt empty, and his eye sockets also became wet.

“Pa! Pa!”

He slapped his own face hard twice, turning his face red.

“Xu Dong, oh Xu Dong, how can you be so worthless? It’s not even your child, what are you reluctant about?”

He originally had an enviable good life.

After graduation, he was assigned to a unit with very good benefits and welfare treatment. He married an intellectual and beautiful wife, and later they had a cute son.

At that time, he truly felt that heaven was not treating him unfairly.

But later, he only discovered that he was living a joke.

First, his wife divorced him citing emotional incompatibility. Although he didn’t understand, he pleaded bitterly, but in the end, he could only helplessly accept.

Fortunately, he fought for custody of his son.

For this, he still held some gratitude towards his ex-wife.

Until one day, rumors about his ex-wife reached his ears. At first, he didn’t believe it, but later inquiries revealed that his wife had been with that person since she was in school. Strictly speaking, he had become the third party.

He went to that school and saw the retired old professor, Chen De Liang. Just one glance, and he confirmed that Liang Liang was the other man’s son.

Before, he didn’t feel that his son didn’t resemble him. Perhaps his son looked more like his mother. But when the suspected person appeared, the comparison made it impossible for him not to believe.

It turned out that for all these years, he had not only been helping someone else raise a wife but also helping someone else raise a son.

His originally beloved son, every time he looked at him, felt like a mockery of himself, a trampling of his self-esteem.

Especially the character ‘Liang’ in his son’s name and his nickname ‘Liang Liang’ were given by his wife, and it was a character from that old man’s name.

His world collapsed.

However, after selling the child, his heart felt very uncomfortable again. He could vaguely hear his son shouting ‘dad’ in his ears.

Squatting on the ground, he turned his face and saw a red toy car among a pile of toys on a table outside the small shop.

At this moment, countless voices in his heart were despising and scolding him, scolding him for being worthless, scolding him for being cowardly, scolding him for deserving it, scolding him for being a failure.

But he still stood up, picked up the toy car, walked to the counter, asked the boss how much it cost, took out his wallet, and paid.

Then, holding the toy, he started walking back.

He kept taking deep breaths, his expression very painful. He could only keep repeating, “Even raising a dog, if you raise it for so long, you’ll have feelings.”

He could have sent the child to his mom, to that old man, or even to a welfare home, but he still shouldn’t have sold him.

As soon as he thought of this, he started running, and he ran faster and faster.

At the same time, inside the white shed.

The water in the bowl held by the old woman, which was originally only faintly black, gradually became denser.

Rou Jie noticed this and sighed deeply.

“Looking at it this way, although the quality is only average, it’s still acceptable.”

The old woman stood up holding the bowl and walked to the water jar, pouring the black water from the bowl into it.

The statue’s appearance seemed to become a bit more vivid.

A smile appeared on the old woman’s face. The drooping skin at the corners of her mouth barely lifted a little.

Rou Jie then put her hands together and bowed three times to the statue.

Then, she walked out of the shed. She saw the man running over with a toy in his hand.

“I’ll give you all the money back. Give me the child. Count the money. I won’t move!”

Xu Dong took out all the money he had stuffed into his pocket earlier.

Rou Jie shook her head.

“Give me the child, and I’ll add more money. I’m not selling. Give me the child!”

Rou Jie continued to shake her head.

“I fucking won’t sell!”

Xu Dong wanted to rush inside.

The next moment, Rou Jie grabbed his neck with one hand and then smoothly lifted her knee.

“Bang!”

Xu Dong covered his lower abdomen and knelt on the ground, his mouth wide open. He didn’t expect this young girl to be so strong.

“Give me the child… I’ll add money… You all take children… Isn’t it for… for making money…”

“Making money? Heh.”

Rou Jie laughed, then gave a hand chop to the back of Xu Dong’s neck.

Xu Dong’s eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

Two acrobatic troupe members walked over and pointed at Xu Dong on the ground. “Rou Jie, there’s a reservoir nearby. Should we deal with him tonight?”

“Deal with him my ass. Find a cage and lock him up. When we leave Jinling and go north, sell him to a black coal mine. He must be alive, otherwise, the child we just took is useless.

Later, we still have to take this child ourselves. Otherwise, it will always come inexplicably.

Tomorrow during the performance, keep a close eye out. Find that kind of child who comes to see the performance with both dad and mom.

Right, has the propaganda car been driven out?”

“Not yet, they are eating.”

“Let them eat in the car. Now go and do propaganda for me! Go around kindergartens and nearby residential areas, and turn up the speaker!”

……

“The Yu Family Acrobatic Troupe is about to present wonderful performances for you! There are cute dwarfs, beautiful mermaids… Little friends, quickly ask your dads and moms to bring you to the west suburb square tomorrow to see it!”

Tan Wenbin rolled down the taxi window and looked at the approaching van. There was a large speaker on top of the van, and posters of various performances were pasted on both sides.

“Xiao Yuan Ge, is it this troupe? It’s even called the Yu Family Acrobatic Troupe.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. “It should be.”

Tan Wenbin asked the taxi driver in front, “Master, do you know the west suburb square?”

“I know, I live nearby. Are you coming to see the acrobatics? It starts tomorrow. I saw them building the shed when I was out this morning.”

“Are there many people in that acrobatic troupe?”

“Looks like quite a few. There are several trucks. Hehe, tomorrow is the weekend and the kindergarten is on holiday. I plan to bring my child to see the performance.”

“Master, don’t go. There will be many people, and it’s easy to have accidents.” After a pause, Tan Wenbin added, “It’s not safe for children.”

“My child is smart and clever. It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t talk to strangers. You can’t even trick him.”

Li Zhuiyuan said faintly, “There is no child who cannot be tricked.”

The driver immediately retorted, “My child is really different. We’ve taught him since he was small not to talk to strangers and not to take things from strangers. Unlike other children, who are silly.”

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t say anything more. He felt that this driver was just silly.

Li Zhuiyuan had specifically researched many children and concluded: In this world, there are basically no children who cannot be tricked.

And those parents who are complacent and praise their children as smart and won’t be tricked away by strangers are often truly ridiculously stupid.

Most importantly, many times human traffickers don’t even need to trick.

It’s too simple for an adult to control a small child. Clip the child’s body with one arm and cover the child’s mouth with the other hand. Just pick them up and walk. The child fundamentally cannot resist or make a sound, and the posture looks like a normal parent holding a child.

Even if an individual child struggles fiercely and makes a cry, human traffickers can say a few words like, “Good, don’t make noise, listen, I’ll buy you toys next time,” and passers-by won’t even think it’s kidnapping.

They arrived at their destination. The so-called west suburb square was actually just a small piece of hardened ground. Outside was a large area of wasteland nearby. This area was originally planned to be developed, but it was stopped for unknown reasons.

Therefore, generally, any major activities, temple fairs, performance troupes, etc., would be held here.

“Xiao Yuan Ge, it’s right there.”

There was a place where a shed was being built, and a large poster board with the troupe’s name was already standing up.

“Binbin Ge, let’s go eat.”

“Okay, let’s eat first, and conveniently…” Tan Wenbin’s words were not finished when he heard a quarrel from the taxi behind him. “Yi, why isn’t Ah You still getting out?”

Li Zhuiyuan’s hearing was good, and he replied, “He didn’t bring enough money when he left.”

Tong’an Town was located in the suburbs of Jinling. Taking a taxi from school to here was quite a distance, so the fare was naturally not low.

Lin Shuyou was only careful to bring his face paint and costume when he left, forgetting to put more money in his pocket. He also didn’t expect to sit in the car for so long.

“Xiao Yuan Ge?”

“You go.”

Tan Wenbin walked to the taxi and interrupted the master’s angry voice. “How much is it short? Is this enough?”

“Enough, I’ll give you change.”

“Don’t bother, calm down.”

“Then thank you. Little guy, is he your friend?”

“Um, we came out together.”

The master heard this and turned to look at Lin Shuyou. His tone softened a little. “Why didn’t you just call your friend over earlier?”

Tan Wenbin said, “This friend of mine is shy.”

Lin Shuyou got out of the car, his face showing both relief and embarrassment towards Tan Wenbin.

“Big Brother, thank you…”

“Okay, it’s not a big deal.”

Tan Wenbin was very satisfied with Lin Shuyou’s expression. He didn’t ask the driver for change earlier not because he deliberately showed generosity, but because he actually planned to give this tip to Lin Shuyou.

“Big Brother, you guys are now…”

“We are going to eat now. Let’s go, together.”

“Together?”

“What are you hiding? My Xiao Yuan Ge already saw you.”

“Then he won’t let me go, right?”

“Do you have money to take a taxi back?”

“No, no…”

“Taxi fare is quite expensive. It’s not cost-effective to take separate cars. Then you just wait and go back with us.”

“Really, Big Brother?”

“Let me correct you. You can call me Big Brother in private, but in front of my Xiao Yuan Ge, you call me Binbin. As for Xiao Yuan Ge, you just follow me and call him.”

“Okay, Binbin Ge.”

Tan Wenbin put his arm around Lin Shuyou’s shoulder and led him towards Li Zhuiyuan.

“Xiao Yuan Ge…” When they were still some distance away, Lin Shuyou raised his hand to greet first.

Li Zhuiyuan glanced at him, didn’t respond, and turned towards a noodle shop by the roadside.

They sat down and ordered three bowls of noodles.

Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou also walked into the shop and sat in front of Li Zhuiyuan.

Lin Shuyou awkwardly opened his mouth, “Xiao Yuan Ge, eliminating evil and guarding the Dao is also my responsibility.”

Li Zhuiyuan took out three pairs of chopsticks from the chopsticks holder. He found them a bit dirty, so he handed them to Lin Shuyou. “Go and wash them.”

“Okay!” Lin Shuyou breathed a sigh of relief, took the chopsticks, and walked towards the washbasin. When he came back, a smile also appeared on his face.

Three bowls of noodles were served.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “This time the evil entity is a bit strong. The three of us need to unite and cooperate to get back to school alive.”

“Understood.” Lin Shuyou nodded vigorously, his eyes showing excitement. “With our official generals, we won’t be afraid of a strong evil entity.”

The ‘White Crane Child’ that Lin Shuyou invited was said in myths to be a disciple of the South Pole Immortal Weng. As for the two generals who increase damage, they were two ghost kings subdued by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

Theoretically speaking, no matter how fierce something like Yu Po Po is, in front of Them, it’s not enough to look at, not even qualified to be on the table.

But the problem is, a god is a god, and a person is a person. How fierce the god you invite is still depends on you, the person.

Li Zhuiyuan: “You must learn to cherish your life so you can eliminate evil and guard the Dao sustainably.”

Lin Shuyou: “Xiao Yuan Ge is right.”

Tan Wenbin poked Lin Shuyou’s arm and said to Li Zhuiyuan, “Rest assured, Xiao Yuan Ge, Ah You understands. The two of us will follow your instructions.”

“Right, right, I will obey orders.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Eat the noodles.”

After finishing the noodles, the three people returned to the west suburb square.

The performance shed was already more than half-built and should be completed in the evening. This time, a row of small tents surrounded the outside of the performance shed. Some small performances that could be displayed separately had already started.

For example, ‘smashing jars,’ ‘ring toss,’ ‘balloon popping,’ ‘flower vase girl,’ ‘beauty and the python snake talking about love’…

These projects were all brought by the acrobatic troupe itself. Each shed required a separate ticket, which was not expensive, and ordinary children could afford it with their pocket money.

Some local small vendors also gathered at this time. Along with the tents set up by the acrobatic troupe, it already felt like a small temple fair.

“Let’s play and blend in. Pay attention and observe.”

After saying that, Li Zhuiyuan’s face showed the naive and lively expression that a child his age should have.

The three people first came to the smashing jars stall. A row of beverage cans was stacked there. You used a basketball to smash them. There was a poster beside it with the rules, showing how many prizes corresponded to how many cans you smashed.

Generally speaking, the cans on the bottom layer should be filled with sand, or maybe cement.

Tan Wenbin spent money and bought three chances.

The first time it was Li Zhuiyuan’s turn. Li Zhuiyuan threw the basketball very casually and only knocked down two cans. When it was Tan Wenbin’s turn, he exerted a lot of force, but several cans on the bottom layer were still not down.

The last was Lin Shuyou. His basketball was thrown with a spin. It landed in front of the pile of cans and knocked all of them over.

He won a very large rabbit doll. He handed the rabbit doll to Li Zhuiyuan as if offering a treasure.

Li Zhuiyuan took the rabbit doll with a face full of joy and hugged it.

At the same time, he quietly said, “If you’re eye-catching again, you’ll roll back to school for me.”

Lin Shuyou was startled, then realized and nodded like a chicken pecking rice.

Next was ring toss. Li Zhuiyuan still threw casually, not hitting any.

Tan Wenbin played well, using the money for five bottles of beverages to hit one bottle of beverage.

As for Lin Shuyou, this time he also learned from Li Zhuiyuan and deliberately missed.

The stalls here were set up by the acrobatic troupe people. Meeting a true expert would easily attract attention, and at this time, they needed most was not to be an eye-catching target.

Li Zhuiyuan still noticed that these stall owners had a characteristic: when they saw parents bringing children to play, they would be particularly enthusiastic… Of course, children were the main force of consumption, so enthusiasm was very normal, but their attention was not on the children themselves, but rather on the adults beside the children, seeming to be judging something.

Especially for those parents who brought children together, they were even more diligent.

This was absolutely not Li Zhuiyuan overthinking, but their staged performance was too obvious.

This made Li Zhuiyuan a bit curious. Even if the entire acrobatic troupe from top to bottom is a human trafficking organization, shouldn’t you also focus on the ‘quality’ of the children?

Moreover, children who come with only one parent, or only with a grandpa, grandma, or mom, should be your best targets.

There was an obvious illogical point here.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that he seemed to need to re-examine their purpose for abducting children.

After playing around outside, the three people bought tickets and walked into the ‘flower vase girl’ tent.

On a platform, a square wooden board was placed. In the middle of the wooden board, a flower vase was erected. Above the flower vase was a woman, and a microphone was placed in front of the woman.

It looked like this woman only had a head, placed on the white flower vase.

There were quite a few people who bought tickets to watch. The flower vase girl would sing nursery rhymes and chat.

As long as you bought a ticket, there was no time limit. You could leave when you were tired of watching.

Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou eagerly poked their heads to look. Although they knew they had a task to do and this was the ‘enemy’s’ territory, it didn’t stop their curiosity.

After coming out, Tan Wenbin coughed lightly a couple of times, and Lin Shuyou rubbed his face. Both pretended that their investment in enjoyment was just for better performance integration.

However, after a brief eye contact, under the drive of curiosity, Tan Wenbin finally lowered his head and asked Li Zhuiyuan:

“Xiao Yuan Ge, how is this done?”

“Really good, you asking me is real.”

“Ah, I’m not stupid.” Tan Wenbin smiled shyly. The most impossible thing is to die without a head, let alone a person?

“Two angled mirrors are placed under the wooden frame. The person is actually standing below, only showing the part above the neck. In order not to expose it, they set up a fence rope to prevent people from getting too close to look, and they also have to raise the height of the table as much as possible to make her high up.”

“Oh~”

“Oh~”

Both of them showed a sudden realization expression.

This made Li Zhuiyuan can’t help but doubt. These two people were properly tested into university after all. How could they not even see through this?

However, just at this moment, Li Zhuiyuan stopped. He felt something strange. In his line of sight, a bit of faint black seemed to appear.

He turned back and looked at Lin Shuyou. Sure enough, Lin Shuyou also stopped at this time, his eyes narrowed.

If he opened them again, they would probably become vertical pupils.

Li Zhuiyuan was not sure if this was a characteristic of the official generals, or if it was because Lin Shuyou himself was not good at controlling the timing of possessing.

“Binbin Ge.”

“Understood.”

Tan Wenbin hid a clear heart talisman in his hand, reached into Lin Shuyou’s clothes, and stuck the talisman on Lin Shuyou’s back.

The clear heart talisman can remove evil effects. Although the official generals reformed from evil, their former bodies were still ghost kings, so it could naturally still have an effect.

Lin Shuyou’s body trembled slightly. When he opened his eyes again, they were clear.

“So… so sorry.” Lin Shuyou knew that he had almost caused big trouble again.

“Is your master or your grandpa like this too?”

If this was a characteristic of their tradition, then encountering an evil entity on the road would mean starting a fight without a word.

But thinking about it, it’s not too likely. A radical sect is very difficult to continue, especially during a period of weak inheritance.

“My master and my grandpa are not like this, only I am.”

“Then did they say what the reason is?”

“They said it’s because I have too good talent and it’s too easy to be possessed.”

“Good talent? Then you can still only invite White Crane Child?”

“It’s very rare that at my age I can invite White Crane Child alone without borrowing a temple or support. Of course, Xiao Yuan Ge, I can’t compare with you. You can even invite Damage General.”

“Didn’t I tell you last time that I was tricking you?”

“That’s you being humble.”

“Who told you that?”

Tan Wenbin heard the words, shifted his gaze, and carefully appreciated the poster of ‘beauty and the python snake talking about love’ in front.

Lin Shuyou: “No one told me. I heard it myself.”

“Binbin Ge.”

“I didn’t say it.”

“Go buy tickets.”

“Ah, oh, okay, hehe.”

Tan Wenbin went to buy tickets.

The three people walked into this tent.

On the poster outside, the beauty had a hot figure and was wearing a swimsuit, with a python snake wrapped around her body.

This advertisement was completely true, even humble.

Because inside the mosquito net bed, there really lay a very young and scantily clad beautiful woman.

Beside her, there was a sturdy python snake, and under her body, there were many small snakes.

The audience in this tent was twice as many as in the flower vase girl’s tent earlier.

The children’s gaze was all on the snakes, while the adults’ gaze was all on the woman.

Li Zhuiyuan hugged the big rabbit doll and looked at the woman.

Wisps of black gas that ordinary people could not see surrounded her body. It didn’t look like she was possessed by an evil entity, but rather a kind of stain soaking into her.

“Look carefully.”

Rou Jie, who was lying on the mosquito net bed, reminded everyone, then reached out and grabbed a small snake beside her, letting it enter her nostril. After a while, the small snake crawled out of her mouth again.

The surrounding crowd immediately burst into exclamations, feeling shocked and scared.

Immediately after, the originally lazy python snake that was hardly moving on the woman’s body began to writhe. After the snake’s head swam to the top of the woman’s head, it slowly stood up and flicked its tongue.

The woman’s eyes and the snake’s pupils turned almost at the same time, sweeping over everyone present.

Li Zhuiyuan noticed that they would pause subtly when sweeping over a child.

But what Li Zhuiyuan didn’t expect was that in the end, the woman and the python snake actually turned to face him.

Li Zhuiyuan pretended to be afraid and lifted the rabbit doll in his arms to block his line of sight.

Actually, the woman didn’t notice Li Zhuiyuan’s abnormality. She just purely felt that this child looked quite good.

This child should be a bit over ten years old, not a very good target for abduction.

For human traffickers, male children under five years old are good targets. They have a high price, a tight market, and are easy to sell.

They don’t have memories yet, and after raising them for a while, they will forget their previous lives and regard the buyers as their birth parents.

“Little brother, don’t be afraid, hehe.” Rou Jie spoke.

Others also turned their gaze towards him.

Li Zhuiyuan quietly poked his eyes out from behind the rabbit doll, confirmed that the other party hadn’t noticed his specialness, then lifted the rabbit doll again, shook his head back while doing so, and finally simply exited this performance tent.

Before touching Yu Po Po, he didn’t want to have direct contact with her outer circle.

Because his target was Yu Po Po. Even if he killed her subordinates, under the effect of the river water, she would still continue to be relentless with him.

Tan Wenbin: “Hahaha, Xiao Yuan, why are you so afraid?”

Tan Wenbin laughed and chased him out.

Lin Shuyou was not that kind of performer, so he could only pretend to shake his head helplessly and followed out.

Inside the tent, a burst of laughter came out. Everyone felt it was very normal. Not to mention children, many adults would also be afraid of this scene full of snakes.

Rou Jie didn’t mind either. She pinched up a small snake again and continued her performance.

After Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou came out and met up, the three people started walking towards the main performance shed that was being built.

Li Zhuiyuan: “This woman has a problem. It’s obvious for now that it’s just her. The other employees in the acrobatic troupe seem to be ordinary people. When we make a move, we must pay attention to her actions.”

Lin Shuyou said seriously, “I remember.”

“No, you don’t need to remember her. Binbin Ge, you focus on that woman. If she appears when we make a move, you’re responsible for holding her back.”

Because Run Sheng and Yin Meng were not here this time, Tan Wenbin was very excited to receive such an independent task for the first time. He lifted his hand to his forehead and flicked it forward, then stamped his foot again:

“Loyalty!”

At this time, many people stopped here to watch the performance shed being built.

Li Zhuiyuan discovered the problem as soon as he arrived. The temporary foundation of this performance shed was a bit too solid.

Those stakes wrapped in oiled paper obviously had their special features, and from the specific positions they were placed, it was clearly a preliminary layout of an illusion array.

But the people who were building this acrobatic troupe obviously didn’t understand arrays. It was more like following a blueprint. In the very middle, one person was holding a drawing and constantly directing others to correct the position of the wooden stakes.

While they were setting up, Li Zhuiyuan was thinking about how to modify the setup.

It was a good thing that no one understood arrays. That way, he wouldn’t need to worry about covering up his actions and could directly set up a micro-array in the center of this large array for control.

If he met someone who understood, this action would be as obvious as holding a bright light bulb in the dark. But in the eyes of those who didn’t understand, it was just an ordinary light bulb in a pile of trash during the daytime.

While observing the row of small sheds and tents behind the performance shed, the white-topped shed in the center area with insulation measures attracted Li Zhuiyuan’s attention.

It almost had a horizontal banner on the shed saying: There is a problem with this room!

Daytime was not suitable for making a move, and even less suitable for arranging arrays. So, they still had to wait until it was quiet at night.

During the next period, the three people had to choose a place where they could rest and discuss.

It was a pity that there were no hotels nearby where they could open a room. On the contrary, there was a building across the road with a sign for massage and push therapy on the second-floor balcony. From there, they could have a high view of the entire acrobatic troupe.

Crossing the road, they came to the shop door. Inside, there was only a lonely massage bed, and on the sofa next to it sat five women with thick makeup and gaudy clothes.

Tan Wenbin slapped his forehead: “Oh, it’s meat.”

The implication was that he was suggesting to Xiao Yuan Ge that they shouldn’t change places.

But all the buildings nearby were single-story shops, with a very poor viewing angle.

Seeing Li Zhuiyuan not speak, Tan Wenbin had to walk in. After a discussion, he signaled Li Zhuiyuan and Lin Shuyou to come in.

The three people walked up the building, followed by two technicians.

The second floor was a series of small compartments.

Tan Wenbin: “Old Brother, sit here and wait for your brother to finish.”

Li Zhuiyuan sat down on a chair outside.

After whispering a few words to Lin Shuyou, Tan Wenbin and he each walked into a room. The two technicians also carried plastic baskets in.

At first, it was a relatively regular massage, although a bit careless and sloppy.

When the technician prepared to gradually tease the key parts, Tan Wenbin said somewhat helplessly:

“Forget it, too tired, no interest. Here’s the money, I’ll sleep for a while.”

Next door, Lin Shuyou, who encountered the same situation, shook his head and said:

“I’m not okay.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I’m really not okay.”

“Believe me.”

“No, really no.”

“Give yourself some confidence. A boy your age, it’s generally just a psychological problem, it doesn’t matter.”

“No, really no need.”

“It doesn’t matter, I’ll help you.”

“No, really don’t want to.”

“Don’t be afraid, sister understands you.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Are you still a chick?”

“I…”

“Sister will give you a discount, just consider it giving you a red envelope.”

The technician in Tan Wenbin’s room came out early, and Li Zhuiyuan entered this compartment.

There was a window inside, directly facing the acrobatic troupe.

Li Zhuiyuan took out the array drawing he had drawn beforehand from Tan Wenbin’s backpack. He looked down at the actual ground from a high vantage point and guided Tan Wenbin on the specific placement and precautions after it got dark.

Tan Wenbin kept nodding. These arrays were arranged on the outer circle to attract opponents to deal with. If the situation got out of control, they could also use them to delay and retreat.

There were quite a few arrays, and Tan Wenbin started planning how much time he would need. Li Zhuiyuan then started drawing a micro-array diagram targeting the performance shed on the spot.

After everything was planned, Lin Shuyou pushed the door and walked in.

Tan Wenbin laughed, “Yo, it took you a while.”

Lin Shuyou blushed with shame and said, “I didn’t do anything, but the aunt was too enthusiastic. It took a lot of effort to persuade her to leave.”

Tan Wenbin: “Aunt has professional ethics.”

Just next door, separated by a board, the conversation was clearly audible.

He was also busy with proper business. If it were peacetime, Tan Wenbin would really have stirred things up: “Ah You, you were with sister, right?”

Li Zhuiyuan handed the other set of array drawings to Lin Shuyou and asked, “Can you understand it?”

Lin Shuyou nodded, then shook his head. “I recognize it, but I can’t use it.”

He had a foundation, but only a foundation.

“Recognizing it is enough. According to the requirements above, wait until after dark to insert the flags.”

“Okay, understood.”

Li Zhuiyuan arranged for Tan Wenbin to set up the outer circle arrays, while Lin Shuyou needed to set up the inner circle arrays. After all, Lin Shuyou was good at disguise and less likely to alarm others.

Night gradually deepened, the performance shed was already built, and the people on the road gradually became sparse.

Tan Wenbin couldn’t help but sigh, “Look, this shop’s business isn’t good either. It’s been so long and no one has asked us to vacate the room.”

By midnight, it was basically quiet outside. The acrobatic troupe members also returned to their respective tents or cars to rest.

The time was right to start acting.

The three people left the compartment and went downstairs, only to find that the building downstairs was pitch black, the glass door was locked, and the rolling shutter door was also down.

It turned out that the people had gone off work early.

They completely forgot, or rather, fundamentally didn’t expect, that guests would stay so late in the compartment on the second floor and didn’t check.

Breaking the door would make noise. The three people could only go back to the second floor and climb out through the window.

Tan Wenbin needed to be careful with his hands and feet. Lin Shuyou leaped first, put down his backpack and Tan Wenbin’s backpack, then jumped back to the second floor, and Li Zhuiyuan took them down.

By the time he came down, the three people had already gone up and down twice. Tan Wenbin was still testing whether the frame on the electric pole was solid with his foot.

After he came down, the three people split up.

Li Zhuiyuan hid below a slope relatively close to the acrobatic troupe, responsible for observing the movements inside. However, he didn’t need to lift his head to look, he only needed to listen with his ears.

Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou each carried a bag of array flags of different sizes and styles and started to set them up.

Lin Shuyou, who was arranging the inner circle with greater difficulty, completed the task at almost the same time as Tan Wenbin and returned to the slope.

Both of them were panting slightly. Li Zhuiyuan gave them some time to rest.

Just when he thought it was almost time to make a move, Li Zhuiyuan heard a ‘rustling’ sound in his ears.

The young man slowly lifted his head and looked forward.

In the distance, an old woman, holding two white lanterns in both hands, was walking towards them step by step.

Her shoes were a bit like clogs. Her steps were very heavy, and she made a lot of noise when she walked.

Moreover, as the distance gradually closed, her legs seemed to gradually lengthen. She clearly wasn’t stepping on stilts, but she presented a strange lengthening effect.

The light of the white lanterns reflected pale on the old woman’s face.

“Hehehehehe…”

A sinister laugh came from her body. Immediately after, she started calling:

“Really not obedient. Not sleeping peacefully late at night, still making granny come to find you all.”

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