Chapter 24 – Found A Little Cat

This was such an important message. How could Su Gou just write it on a piece of paper? Su Ru Hui was at a loss for words. Looking around, the night had soaked into the snow-capped mountains, and except for the dim light of the wind lamps in the mountain gullies, darkness was everywhere. The light also swayed, like a shaky star, and would soon be swallowed by the darkness. Su Ru Hui looked up at the slope and, since he had seen the note, he could not help but be suspicious that there was something hidden in the dark, peeping at them.

This was not a place to stay for long. It would be better to leave early. Su Ru Hui planned to come up with an excuse to get Han Ye to leave quickly. As he stood up, he heard the henchmen’s low exclamation. Su Ru Hui went over to take a look, and saw that they had already cut the chest and abdomen of the body lengthwise. The red chest cavity and internal organs were exposed under the light of the wind lamp, and the organs inside were jumbled together. The heart was on the left side of the abdomen, the intestines were squeezed into the chest cavity, and the stomach was next to the gallbladder. It was a truly gruesome sight.

Su Ru Hui furrowed his brows and asked, “You are supposed to examine the body. Why are you stirring up his internal organs?”

“We didn’t stir them up,” the henchman grumbled. “He was already like this.”

Su Ru Hui was taken aback. He approached the body and found a walnut-sized core in the chest cavity.

The henchman behind him asked, “Hey, do you see that? Is that a relic?”

Su Ru Hui took out the core and examined it closely. This thing was interesting. It looked exactly like his heart core from his past life.

“This guy took a shot in the back from a spirit fire gun, and the pellet got stuck in his spinal column,” the examining henchman said. “One pellet was enough to kill him, but not enough to mess up his internal organs like this. And,” the henchman reached into the body and pulled out two hearts from the bloody abdominal cavity, “he actually has two hearts.”

Han Ye poked the body with his knife. “Interesting. If I cut open the other bodies buried here, are their organs also messed up? Are all the ones buried here freaks?”

“Boss, this is not a freak,” someone exclaimed, “it’s a monster! Who can have two hearts and a messed up stomach?”

He was right. Su Ru Hui remembered the secret medical examination he and Su Yu underwent during the day. Checking for sexually transmitted diseases was just an excuse. The medical officer was actually checking their twelve meridians and the major acupoints of their body, which corresponded to the organs and blood vessels in a human. In other words, he was checking if they were human or not.

“Boss,” Su Ru Hui whispered, “there are so many corpses in this mountain valley. It seems that the Secret Sect has a plan to eliminate these strange creatures. They may still be lurking in the shadows and watching us. We should leave as soon as possible.”

“A Qi, you weren’t so cowardly when you planted the explosives on me.” Han Ye glanced at him with a teasing tone.

Although Han Ye didn’t take it seriously, he still chose to act cautiously. After all, they were under Kun Lun Mountains, in the Secret Sect’s territory, and it was not wise to disturb the peace. He waved his hand. “Clean up the scene and retreat.”

As everyone was about to climb the hill to leave, A Pan suddenly panicked. “I can hear footsteps above us!”

The system’s voice sounded: [Advanced danger warning: Life-threatening beings detected. Please take evasive measures immediately, host.]

This was the first warning after the system activated its warning function. Su Ru Hui was startled by the high-level warning.

“How many are there?” Han Ye reacted quickly.

A Pan listened carefully. “I can’t count, there are too many. Boss, our whereabouts must have been exposed. The Secret Sect’s people are here!”

This was Han Ye’s impromptu secret operation, and few people within the Paradise Pavillion knew about it. Everyone subconsciously looked at Su Ru Hui, who had a previous history of betraying Han Ye. If there was a spy within the group, it was most likely Su Ru Hui.

Without waiting for Han Ye to suspect him, Su Ru Hui took the initiative to grab Han Ye’s hand and put it around his neck. “Boss, my life is in your hands. This should be enough to prove my innocence, right? Everyone, turn off the lights and lie down in the corpse pile. It’s too cold and dark for them to see us clearly.”

Su Ru Hui’s action pleased Han Ye, who clenched his hand around his cold neck and smiled. “You are smart.” He then ordered decisively, “Everyone turn off the lights and hide!”

The lights suddenly went out, and everything sank into darkness. Everyone hid themselves, and Han Ye lay down among the corpses with Su Ru Hui. Han Ye was quite cautious and still didn’t fully trust Su Ru Hui. His hand was on Su Ru Hui’s neck, and if Su Ru Hui showed any signs of wanting to escape, he would immediately twist his neck. Su Ru Hui rolled his eyes secretly and lay on his side, in a bed of cold snowflakes, slowing his breath and trying his best to lower his presence.

Even without Keen Hearing, Su Ru Hui could hear the gradually approaching footsteps. It seemed like many people were walking on the snow and slowly entering the ditch. But it was strange that this group of people didn’t light any torches, and Su Ru Hui still couldn’t see anything.

There were many people, and their footsteps hurried past. Someone even stepped on Su Ru Hui’s back, and he clenched his teeth and endured the pain without making a sound. They gradually walked away, and the sound of their footsteps slowly disappeared. Su Ru Hui felt like he was turning into an ice block and finally dared to stand up.

Being able to walk in the dark without any light, those things were probably not human at all.

“They’ve gone far, boss, let’s leave,” someone said.

Han Ye ordered, “Let’s go.”

Su Ru Hui took two steps forward and bumped into a white birch tree. The twisted branches of the white birch tree stretched towards the sky, and Su Ru Hui could vaguely see some strange shadows. It was difficult to move around in the dark, but since those monsters had gone far away, there was no need to worry. Some of the hooligans behind him lit lanterns one after another, and Su Ru Hui also lit his lantern. The dim yellow light flickered, flowing like ripples of water.

As soon as he lit the lantern, Han Ye and a group of hooligans stared at him in shock. Many people’s faces showed fear, as if they had seen a ghost.

Su Ru Hui understood what was going on and turned his head slowly. The thing he had just bumped into was not a white birch tree, but a person – an incredibly tall and thin person. He had mistaken it for the branches of a white birch tree, but this guy actually had eight arms – pale and withered like the old branches of a tree.

What kind of thing could grow eight arms?

[The Eight-Armed Spider, in a state of hunger, urgently needs to feed. The host has good muscles and high protein content, making you the best choice for the large spider’s prey.]

Su Ru Hui slowly lifted his eyes and saw He Sheng’s pale face.

Su Ru Hui forced a smile and greeted, “Good evening, Big Brother.”

He Sheng’s eyes rolled and he seemed to recognize him. He said, “Second Brother, what a coincidence.”

Su Ru Hui chuckled. “Well, you seem busy, so I’ll head back home to sleep.”

“Since you’re here, don’t leave,” He Sheng said, staring straight at him before suddenly opening his mouth wide.

“Hunker down, A Qi!” Han Ye shouted.

Su Ru Hui quickly reacted, crouching like a raccoon and darting out from between He Sheng’s legs. At the same time, Han Ye’s black flames instantly ignited, burning the monster’s body. He Sheng emitted a piercing scream. On the hillside, in the direction where the other monsters were leaving, there were continuous screams.

Su Ru Hui shouted sternly, “Run!”

The thugs were terrified and scrambled up the snowy slope. He Sheng was burned to ashes, and other monsters rushed at Su Ru Hui, who raised his gun from his sleeve and shot their faces. The head of the closest monster was blown apart. Su Ru Hui saw dark shadows moving on the other side of the slope. Countless monsters were charging towards them.

Han Ye was covered in flames and punched a monster that was chasing Su Ru Hui. Surprisingly, Han Ye’s punch didn’t damage the monster at all, but the flames burned its cheek, and its whole body caught fire. Su Ru Hui quickly turned around and climbed up the slope, followed closely by Han Ye. The black shadows pounced from behind, almost biting their buttocks.

The thugs who climbed up the slope raised their guns and covered them as they climbed up. Su Ru Hui took out a talisman and threw it behind him, and a monster turned into a pool of blood. After finally climbing up the slope, everyone ran for their lives towards the road. Su Ru Hui ran towards the woods.

The system suddenly spoke up: [Advanced warning, it is strongly recommended that the host change route.]

“Don’t go into the woods!” Su Ru Hui stopped in his tracks and shouted loudly.

Unfortunately, the thug who was running ahead couldn’t hear his shouts and ran straight into the woods. Soon everyone heard the thug’s screams. In the darkness, he ran back with blood all over his head, with a long forked tongue covered in spikes chasing after him. It looked like a lizard’s tongue, but it was too long and sharp with spikes like steel needles.

[This is a snow lizard that is too low in intelligence to transform into a human. Its meat is delicious, and one barbecue grill is not enough. Its favorite food is human meat mixed with coriander.]

“Help me!” the thug screamed in agony.

They were too far away to save him. Everyone watched in horror as the forked tongue swept up the swirling snow and wrapped around his head, the sharp spikes piercing his face. Blood gushed out all over his body. The young man didn’t even have time to cry out; he was dragged back into the white birch forest.

Everyone was stunned.

Someone collapsed. “What kind of monster is this?”

They couldn’t afford to be stunned for too long because the group of weird creatures behind them was about to catch up. Su Ru Hui saw many strange and bizarre things swaying towards him, some with three heads, some with eight arms, all wildly waving.

“They’re chasing too closely. If we open the Gate of Nothingness now, those monsters might also enter the city.” The Secret Sect must have set up some sort of prohibition outside the border checkpoints to keep these things in the snow mountains. Su Ru Hui absolutely could not bring them into the city.

The thugs set up their guns in confusion and suppressed these things with firepower.

Someone shouted, “What should we do? Which way should we go?”

“Into the woods!” Su Ru Hui made a quick decision.

“You’re crazy,” the thug shouted. “Didn’t you see what happened to Xiao Hu just now!?”

“Wolves in front and tigers behind.” Han Ye’s face turned pale. “We’ll talk about going into the woods later. That tongue monster needs time to eat Xiao Hu, and we’d better pray that there’s no second tongue monster.”

As soon as he finished speaking, another tongue swept over, heading straight for his back.

Han Ye didn’t have time to react, but Su Ru Hui kicked him hard, flipping him over and just dodging the tongue. Unexpectedly, the tip of the tongue turned, wrapping around Su Ru Hui’s ankle. Su Ru Hui felt a sharp pain in his ankle, as if his flesh and bone had been crushed together. Then the tongue shrunk, dragging him like a torn sack into the white birch forest.

—

Sang Chi Yu stepped through the Gate of Nothingness and onto the bluestone steps of Su Ru Hui’s courtyard. He turned his head and looked at Su Ru Hui’s room. The redwood windows and doors were tightly closed, and the plain window screens were dark. Sang Chi Yu stood silently for a while before walking lightly towards his own room. He passed through the courtyard where his laundry was hanging on the clothesline, along with Su Ru Hui’s socks of various colors. That guy was really messy, always piling up socks and washing them all at once when he was running out. He had never changed this habit from childhood to adulthood.

He took a step forward, and his heart suddenly contracted. He narrowed his eyes and stopped suddenly.

What’s going on? He held his chest.

There was something warm in his chest – a small, round point. Suddenly, he understood that it wasn’t his heart hurting, but his heart core. He opened his shirt and saw that his chest was covered with faint blue veins, emitting a faint glow, as if countless stars were hidden in his heart. The blood flow in his meridians was accelerating, and the spiritual power within was also surging restlessly. He felt an indescribable sense of restlessness and madness.

The glowing veins and rushing blood… he seemed to have seen this scene somewhere before.

The pain became more and more intense. Within a short moment, he was unable to walk and bent over in pain.

Why did it happen so quickly? He knelt on the ground.

He couldn’t wake up Su Ru Hui. He tried to endure the pain deep in his meridians and crawled inch by inch towards his own room.

If there was someone else here at this moment, they would be surprised to find that Sang Chi Yu’s meridians were emitting a blue glow all over his body. His eyes gradually turned blue, the color of the deep sea. Then his hair began to turn silver from the tips. His transformation technique could no longer be maintained, and his true form was revealed.

—

Suddenly, all the monsters stopped moving, all tilting their heads and staring straight ahead towards the direction of the border. Su Ru Hui stood still in the snow, and the long tongue entwined around his ankle loosened and retreated into the white birch forest.

Everyone didn’t know what had happened, holding their guns and feeling at a loss.

The monsters’ veins suddenly emitted a blue glow. In the dark snow mountain, it looked as if a vast blue sea of stars had appeared, extremely spectacular. Su Ru Hui stared blankly at everything, feeling that the scene before him was somewhat familiar. Where had he seen it before?

One of the thugs asked, “Boss, why aren’t they moving?”

Han Ye looked at them warily. “How would I know?”

“Never mind them. Let’s run now.” Su Ru Hui stood up with a limp and took out a talisman from his waist pouch.

The monsters were only still for a moment, and several slowly resumed their movements.

The thug was nervously screaming, “Do you have a solution? Hurry up, they’re moving again!”

“Stop yelling. The more you yell, the slower I go!” Su Ru Hui said, sweating profusely.

The more panicked he felt, the harder it was to find what he was looking for. He felt several sheets of paper, but they were all Lie Detectors. How could there be so many Lie Detectors!

Han Ye watched as he searched through each sheet of paper, laughing sinisterly. “You’ve hidden them well, so many talismans. Last time, you only brought out five. You were trying to fool me.”

Found it! Su Ru Hui pulled out a talisman and opened a Gate of Nothingness that led directly to his courtyard. Everyone hurriedly went inside, and Su Ru Hui jumped in with one foot. As the door closed, the monsters’ roars rang out again.

Everyone was exhausted and lying on the ground, panting. Su Ru Hui sat on the ground and took off his shoes to check his ankles. His furry boots were torn to pieces by the steel studs of the tongue, but his ankles were okay, just a little bit of skin was broken. Fortunately, he wore the thickest and heaviest boots for fear of the cold; otherwise, he would have disabled one foot today.

Han Ye walked over and examined his feet in the moonlight. “Are you okay?”

Su Ru Hui shook his head and said he was fine. He pulled up his socks and put on his torn boots again.

“Why did you save me?” Han Ye asked while crossing his arms. “If I died, no one would threaten you anymore. Weren’t you trying to blow me up before?”

To be honest, Su Ru Hui regretted it now. This little thug Han Ye should have been eaten by the monsters.

“What are you talking about, boss?” Su Ru Hui forced a smile. “My loyalty to you is like the sun and the moon. As long as you don’t have any designs on my chastity, I will throw my head and spill my blood for you, and do anything for you.”

“You think too highly of yourself,” Han Ye sneered. “I’m only interested in Su Ru Hui, not you.”

Su Ru Hui: “…”

Han Ye kicked a gangster lying next to him. “Get lost. Don’t say a word about tonight’s events.”

Han Ye kicked each gangster one by one, and they left together. The courtyard was small, with several dead potted plants placed against the wall. Under the moonlight, Han Ye saw an Eagle Guard uniform on the ground, and its sleeve was bulging slightly, seeming to be wrapped around something. Han Ye lifted up the sleeve and revealed a sleeping kitten under the moonlight. The cat was all white, with fluffy long hair like soft clouds, and its two ears drooped, looking somewhat sickly.

“A Qi, your little cat slave took down your clothes to dry,” Han Ye said, lifting the cat by the nape of its neck.

Huh? Su Ru Hui turned around and looked over. He didn’t have a cat?

As soon as Han Ye finished speaking, the little cat trembled and slowly opened its eyes. Its round blue pupils shrank as it met Han Ye’s eyes.