Halfway through the meal, Chen Fu went to the bathroom and instructed Han Guan, “Add vegetables; if you have to eat, enjoy yourself. But you won’t have this blessing when you enter the mountain.”
It seemed that these two went to Nanba Monkey Head to suppress the formation and reasoned in reverse: “Does Nanba Monkey Head currently have no land owl? Does that mean that if she does these two, the trap set by the Nanba monkey won’t be afraid?”
Thinking about it again, Nie Jiuluo sighed secretly. She didn’t even know where the Nanba Monkey Head was, and there was no one to adjust it at hand. In the past, she would send a message to “that head,” and someone would do everything for her, but now she…
No wonder it is said that it is difficult to make a forest alone; it is easy to do things with more people.
Besides, after Chen Fu entered the bathroom, he originally intended to just relieve himself. However, when the urine was halfway through, his stomach growled. He secretly scolded the restaurant for not cleaning the stir-fry properly and hurriedly got into the stall. After finishing his business, he wiped with paper.
At this moment, there was a knock at the door outside. Two people entered to relieve themselves, chattering loudly. One said, “What time is it, and I’m still ordering food? I had just taken a nap when I was called again.” Another replied, “Whew, same here. I just came back from a delivery, and they said there was takeout.”
It sounded like a waiter, one was in the back kitchen, and the other was a takeaway person in the store.
The first person said, “The current cheating marriage gay is also too arrogant. I have to drag a girl to get married; is it interesting?” The other was not angry and responded, “Don’t you think he’s blind? Such a good-looking woman—don’t give her to me; she’s so big, so ugly, and her nose is hooker-like compared to an eagle’s.”
Chen Fu chuckled to himself and pricked up his ears.
To be honest, this pile of gossip was completely irrelevant to him, and he felt it had nothing to do with him.
However, there was one point: he had a hooked nose.
The previous one asked, “Has the beauty come out yet?” The other replied, “No, I was told she should record this as evidence, in case there’s a dispute when they break up. They could play the recording to expose him, and let Ya’s…”
Chen Fu quickly lifted his pants and grabbed the door.
***
Two minutes later, Chen Fu stuffed the two unconscious people into the innermost stall of the bathroom, bolted the door, stepped on the toilet, and turned it over before returning to the private room as if nothing had happened.
Han Guan waited impatiently, saying, “I was really afraid you’d fall inside.”
Chen Fu gave him a look. “Wow, diarrhea! This dish is not good. It looks delicious but is unhygienic.”
Han Guan was stunned for a moment, and before he could react, Chen Fu gestured to him with his mouth to continue.
Then he took off his shoes.
Han Guan reacted slightly; his heart raced. He knocked the dish with his chopsticks and picked up the teacup, putting it down. “Brother, your stomach isn’t good; why am I fine?”
Chen Fu stepped on the seat board and slowly straightened up. The seat board was attached to the partition, and since it was made of wood, it would make a crackling sound if the bearing force was too strong. Therefore, he had to take off his shoes, try to be as light as possible, and move slowly.
Han Guan slapped the chopsticks on the table with a snap. “Brother Chen, Sister Lin arranged for me; that’s looking up to me. Nanba Monkey Head—so long as someone is on it, I’ll call him to have no return…”
He saw Chen Fu’s head poke up to the top of the partition before quietly shrinking back.
The two looked at each other, and Chen Fu pointed to the next door.
Han Guan’s head buzzed, and he mouthed, “Someone?”
Chen Fu suddenly scolded, “It’s taking too long to order bird dishes, and it hurts Lao Tzu to have diarrhea! I won’t eat it! Let’s go.”
***
Nie Jiuluo opened the door a small crack and waited outside to finish the bill. When she saw the two of them leave the restaurant, she hurried out and called the driver while walking, asking him to bring the car over immediately.
The little girl at the cash register called after her, “Hey, hey!”
Nie Jiuluo didn’t have time to pay attention to her; she feared losing track of the two people. The little girl was in a hurry, and a short figure came out from under the counter. She ran a few steps to grab Nie Jiuluo’s arm, saying, “Hey!”
“What kind of mess is this?” Nie Jiuluo was annoyed, and the little girl lowered her voice, “You let people see!”
What does that mean?
Nie Jiuluo’s heart sank, and she stopped suddenly.
The little girl pointed in the direction of the private room. “I just settled the account, and when I looked up, I saw a head over the partition. It looked down with a hook and retracted it in a blink of an eye. My mom scared me to death and almost screamed. I shouted to you, but you still didn’t stop.”
Nie Jiuluo was stunned, not knowing what expression to reply with for a moment. She said stiffly, “Really?”
The little girl responded normally, “These men are really dead; you must not get married this time.”
Nie Jiuluo didn’t know how she had replied; only one sentence lingered in her mind: “You let people see.”
It’s still from above; it’s really creepy. In retrospect, she realized she hadn’t looked up the whole time.
Nie Jiuluo subconsciously took out a mask from her bag and put it on.
When she left the restaurant, the car had already arrived. The sky was not as bright as before, and the sunlight was weak, revealing a bit of a bleak chill. Nie Jiuluo looked around but didn’t see the two people.
However, there was no doubt that the two must have been watching from the shadows. In just a few moments, she had gone from hunter to prey.
Nie Jiuluo got into the car.
As the vehicle started, the driver asked her, “Miss, are you heading to the station?” Nie Jiuluo let out a hum but quickly changed her answer, “No.”
After collecting her thoughts, she asked, “Do you know which direction the countryside is, where there’s a reed field with swings?”
The driver, a local accustomed to both urban and rural routes, immediately recognized the location. “Yes, Da Li Keng Township. Hardly anyone lives there anymore. A couple of days ago, there was a car accident, a vehicle drove into a pond, and it’s still stuck there.”
“Take me there,” Nie Jiuluo instructed. She needed to settle this quickly, somewhere isolated where the other party would find it convenient to act—convenient for her as well.
She placed her suitcase in the back compartment, but fortunately, her most important backpack was kept close. Removing her coat, she draped it on the front seat, bent down, and began changing clothes. Her cold hands brushed against her warm skin, sending a slight shiver through her body.
The driver, noticing the odd situation, glanced at her through the rearview mirror but quickly averted his gaze out of politeness.
Two ground owls appeared, signaling that the other party was well-prepared. Nie Jiuluo took a deep breath. This was the first time she found herself in such a situation. In the past, no matter what occurred, Jiang Baichuan always informed her, arranged things, and took care of everything.
With Xing Shen gone, no one was left to help her now.
After changing her clothes, Nie Jiuluo sat up straight. The car had already left the city, and through the rear windshield, she could see numerous cars trailing behind. It was difficult to tell which one carried the intended threat, but that didn’t bother her. She just needed to keep moving.
Nie Jiuluo calmed herself and, without thinking too much, sent a message to Yan Tuo on her phone:
Have you left?
Yan Tuo was on the road when he received her message. He was on his way to the farm, although he hadn’t yet come up with a valid excuse for going. Either way, it would take a full day’s drive to return, giving him plenty of time to think things over during the journey.
After lunch, he packed his belongings and borrowed a car from Lu Xian. For safety reasons, he had been using other people’s vehicles lately. Lu Xian was hesitant, but Yan Tuo’s casual remark, “If I wreck this old car, I’ll buy you a newer, more expensive one,” was enough to settle the matter.
Deep down, Lu Xian secretly hoped for that outcome—new cars are always a treat.
…
As Yan Tuo tapped the steering wheel with one hand, he replied:
I’m gone.
A moment later, Nie Jiuluo sent another message: How far have you gone?
Yan Tuo glanced at the navigation system and the road sign ahead. He hadn’t gone very far since leaving the city, but the question felt unusual. Nonetheless, he simply replied:
Why? Something wrong?
The word “something” made Nie Jiuluo hesitate. She felt conflicted—Yan Tuo was, after all, part of the same underworld dealings she was facing. Besides, he was the one who had sent her the photos of the two people she was now trying to track. Did it make sense to even contact him?
Pulling her coat on, she tucked a small knife into her sleeve and glanced back at the cars trailing behind. There were fewer now, but one gray-white Tiguan had been following persistently.
She transferred money to the driver and gave him instructions: “Once we get there, let me off right away. You keep driving, don’t stop, and don’t head back the same way. Hold on to my luggage for now—I have your number, and I’ll contact you to retrieve it later.”
The driver sensed something unusual—this wasn’t like one of those simple cases of following a cheating spouse. With the car speeding up, he noticed the pursuing vehicle too. His legs trembled in fear. Could this be a mafia conflict? Was he about to witness a violent showdown?
A regular civilian like him couldn’t afford to be involved in this sort of trouble. He ignored any thoughts of traffic safety or speed limits and floored the gas, wishing the car could turn into a rocket. When the reed field finally appeared in the distance, he slammed on the brakes. Nie Jiuluo jumped out before the car even came to a full stop. Without bothering to close the door, the driver sped away, desperate to escape.
Nie Jiuluo deliberately stood on the side of the road for a couple of seconds, hoping to mislead her pursuers into thinking she was still in the car. Once the gray Tiguan began slowing down, she sprinted into the tall grass.
The scene mirrored what she had experienced two days ago—cold, eerily silent. The warm yellow afternoon sunlight had vanished, replaced by a cold, sterile white.
The grass stood taller than a person, with fluffy white tips that swayed as her movement disturbed them. The delicate wisps fluttered around her, rising and falling with every step she took.
The Tiguan continued its slow pursuit, maintaining a considerable distance between itself and the field.
Nie Jiuluo had no intention of reenacting the same chase scene that had taken place with Xing Shen. She needed cover, fast.
Spotting an abandoned house in the distance, she made a beeline for it.
Chen Fu was the one driving the Tiguan, his face set in a grim expression. His lips were tightly pressed together, the corners of his mouth curved downward, as sharp as the tip of his nose.
Beside him, Han Guan appeared uneasy. “Brother Chen, shouldn’t we at least find out who she is?”
Chen Fu responded coldly, “What’s there to ask? Who else would be eavesdropping on us?”
Han Guan: “Maybe it’s a mistake?” Maybe she thinks her fiancé is with us?
Chen Fu: “If it’s a mistake, you will know that you have made a mistake after listening to one or two sentences, and you will hear it from the beginning to the end?” I pulled a little bit in the middle, and she’s still there.
Han Guan swallowed: “That…… Do you want to talk to Sister Lin?
Chen Fu sneered: “Let Sister Lin know that the two of us are so careless, talking nonsense outside, and being listened to?” Things can be big or small, what will happen to the dog’s teeth, don’t you know?
Han Guan stopped talking.
In front of him were the half-collapsed and abandoned earthen houses. Chen Fu stopped the car, pouted, and gestured to one of them: “Is it behind there?”
Han Guan nodded: “I can see it clearly, and it will be gone in that flash.”
Chen Fu grinned disdainfully; these were adobe houses, and the collapsed roofs were still covered with dense straw.
He leaned down and took a handful of Dezao’s micro rush from under his feet to Han Guan: “Thirty rounds of ammunition, reload it after fighting.”
Han Guan: “After the fight?”
Chen Fu: “Of course, after the fight, who do you save it for?” Oh yes……”
He picked up the muffler and threw it over: “Put it on.”
Han Guan put on the muffler, checked the weight, pointed the muzzle of the gun, bit his teeth, and pulled the trigger. The bullet was fan-shaped and swept out.
In an instant, the adobe house was full of smoke and dust, as if there was a thick fog. Although the earthen wall was more than 40 centimeters thick, the micro-punch bullet had no problem penetrating steel plates, let alone mud. For a while, I heard the sound of swishing through the air.
In the dust and mist, Chen Fu noticed a figure rushing out and shouted, “Go over there!”
Han Guan turned the muzzle of the gun and aimed at the room where the figure rushed to, pulling the trigger to the end. The earthen house trembled as if a person shot was shaken madly by the penetrating power of the bullet, and after the box was fired, half of the wall collapsed.
In the smoke and dust of the collapse, a figure swooped out with difficulty, staggered a few steps, and dashed into the well room not far away.
Han Guan said, “There are no bullets.”
Chen Fu threw a new box for him to replace and scolded at the same time: “Damn, it’s not dead yet, it’s really okay.”
The well house is generally found in the countryside, used for farmland irrigation. Most of them are built into brick houses because there is a water pump inside, so it is also called a pump room.
Pumps pumped water out of deep wells and piped it to the nearest neighborhood. In the early years, machines were precious, and farmers would live in their houses at night to watch over the equipment.
Later, with the popularization of intelligent well rooms, the separate machine well room was gradually abandoned. In this area of Da Li Keng Township, the machine well room was naturally abandoned for a long time. The machines inside were covered with thick dust, water pipes were piled up indiscriminately, and the deep well in the corner of the wall was also covered with miscellaneous wooden boards.
Nie Jiuluo gasped, leaned against the door, and tightened her coat tighter. Her hands, clutching the corners of her clothes, were covered with blood.
She knew that she must have been shot, and she could feel that warm liquid bubbling out somewhere on her body, but she didn’t dare to look down. People’s spirits are very fragile; they don’t know anything, but they can last a little longer. Once they know, see, and see clearly, supplemented by various brain supplements, they will immediately collapse.
She took out her mobile phone with trembling hands and sent Yan Tuo a “reed swing.”
Originally, she wanted to type a few more words, but her hand trembled so much that she inadvertently touched the send button. She wanted to add another message, but there was too much blood on the screen, and the touch screen was not sensitive.
Then, the sound of gunfire on the brick wall behind her repeated, accompanied by the sound of brick debris flying.
The brick wall might not hold up for long, so Nie Jiuluo rushed towards the corner of the house.
Han Guan had already seen blood on the way to the machine well room, so he was relatively relaxed. The brick wall was not much thicker than the mud.
After the second box was played, there were more than a dozen holes in the brick wall up and down. Han Guan didn’t ask Chen Fu in the car for a magazine; he carried a slight rush, probed in to see, and then didn’t look back. He gave Chen Fu a “okay” gesture: “Oh!”
Chen Fu breathed a sigh of relief, took out a cigarette from the glove box, and lit it: “A mother, it’s so hard!”
Han Guan walked into the house.
Nie Jiuluo leaned over and lay on the ground. A large pool of blood was dripping under her, motionless. Her long hair was shrouded in the shimmer of the sunset, thick and soft, and smooth like satin.
Han Guan squatted down and couldn’t help but touch her hair, which was still warm near the back of her head.
He took the muzzle of his gun to Nie Jiuluo’s face, wanting to see what she looked like.
At this moment, Nie Jiuluo’s eyes widened sharply, and she turned over with all her strength, plunging a knife into Han Guan’s throat.
Han Guan’s eyes widened, and he subconsciously reached out to cover his throat, but the matter was not over. Nie Jiuluo moved the hidden buckle on the handle of the dagger. The dagger was obviously still inserted in his throat, and a smaller one came out of the dagger. Nie Jiuluo raised the knife in her hand, and the second one was inserted straight from the top of his skull until there was no handle.
The whole process took less than five seconds. Han Guan looked at Nie Jiuluo in a daze, his eyes blinking and gradually congesting. First blood, then dark and black, like black eyeballs covering his sockets.
Nie Jiuluo spat a mouthful of blood on Han Guan’s face and said, “Die, you.”
She drew her knife and returned her hand, not bothering to look at the crooked Han Guan, gritting her teeth and covering her lower abdomen.
Just the big movement made her whole abdomen tear and ache, and there was more than one place of bleeding. She didn’t know if it was her delusion, but it felt like the coat was soaked.
She still didn’t look down.
Can’t look at it.
Chen Fu took a few puffs of his cigarette and suddenly realized that Han Guan had been silent for a while.
He looked at the machine well room in confusion: “Han Guan?”
No one answered, and the smell of death was oozing from the brick-walled house with bullet holes.
Chen Fu extinguished the cigarette butt in his palm, opened the door, and got out of the car.
