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Chapter 450: Human Skin Puppet (Part 13)
The speaker was indifferent, but the listener was attentive. "Thank you, Master," while trying to recall the people who had dealings with Gousi and those who had interactions with Xie Ke, Qin Jian interjected, "Who is Chen Pi?"
I coughed lightly, cursing myself for not mentioning Chen Pi to Qin Jian beforehand. Now that he asked, it seemed as if I was deliberately concealing something. To avoid raising his suspicions about Daydreaming, I feigned a casual tone and replied, "He's a friend of Gousi. I've only met him once, so I don't know much."
"Don't know much? That's not helpful." Clearly, with a series of bizarre deaths occurring, Qin Jian was under significant pressure. Coupled with his expectations of me seemingly falling flat, he was becoming increasingly agitated.
"Qin the Boss, don't be angry, and don't be Alexander. The ship will naturally straighten out when it reaches the bridgehead." We were merely sorting through our thoughts and checking each of Gousi's friends one by one. In truth, I had my own opinions about Chen Pi based on his appearance.
I felt that this person's face did not bode well; however, I couldn't quite articulate what exactly was wrong with it at that moment.
Qin Jian snapped at me in frustration, "Shut up! If you want to doze off, go ahead. Take a break and think carefully if there are any other ways to uncover clues."
"Both of you stop bickering. Let's talk calmly; the more anxious we get, the more chaotic it becomes."
"Right, Uncle Xie is absolutely right." Ling Juan chimed in at an inopportune moment. In truth, both of them were mistaken; it was through our bickering that Qin Jian and I could untangle our thoughts. In contrast, being too quiet left us without the motivation to pursue leads.
Qin Jian blamed me for dropping the ball at a critical moment—could that really be my fault?
This kind of situation truly couldn't be rushed; no matter how urgent it felt, rushing wouldn't help.
Next, I closed my eyes to rest and felt the comforting vibrations from the bumps of the vehicle. Slowly, I began to organize my chaotic thoughts. For some inexplicable reason, I found myself inexplicably focused on Thank you, Master’s silly brother's plastic model.
With my eyes closed, I sensed Qin Jian watching me. He said, "I'll keep an eye on this Chen Pi person and check his background and others when we get back."
I neither nodded nor shook my head, pretending not to hear.
I heard Ling Juan talking to Thank you, Master. She asked, "Uncle Xie, where were you when Brother Xie got into trouble?"
What a curious child! I feigned sleep, hoping Qin Jian would put a stop to the inquisitive girl's chatter.
Sure enough, Qin Jian said, "Juanzi, you should rest too. Uncle Xie needs to rest; don't talk too much."
Ling Juan responded with an "Oh," as if she really was going to rest. The car fell into silence, only the sound of the wheels crunching against the ground could be heard. After a while, I heard snoring; it didn’t necessarily have to be from Thank you, Master.
That old man had it tough.
Overall, Thank you, Master was a man of misfortune. His face was ordinary, with a furrowed brow and drooping corners of his mouth.
Sigh! Feeling sympathy for him was pointless. I refocused my thoughts on the Shroud, hypothesizing that Xie Ke had taken a corpse back to his hometown's cave. What he needed to do was destroy the body—why destroy a corpse? And what about the missing body? Could it walk away?
Thinking this way reminded me of that strange dream where I saw a black Tibetan Mastiff. Mother Xie was the Divine Mastiff; the Divine Mastiff wouldn’t attack good people. So, was I a bad person? Regardless, I had been somewhat bad by promising Qin Jian I wouldn’t make mistakes, and then—
I pushed that thought aside and wondered why the Divine Mastiff would attack me. Right, Mother Xie—I had someone behind me.
Moreover, she always insisted there were four of us together. Four people meant something truly was following us. But why hadn’t I noticed? Could this person be invisible? In my confusion, I found it hard to believe anything could evade my intuition.
Unless this invisible thing had no soul.
If it had no soul, what could be driving it to remain hidden behind someone? Perhaps I was overthinking it; after all, Mother Xie was in her nineties and her words could be jumbled.
I set aside my thoughts and continued to ponder about Xie Ke.
The last way Xie Ke contacted me was that he would arrive soon, right near Riverside Family.
Yes, I need to take a trip to Riverside Family.
I also need to prepare for the soul-calling ritual, hoping to find Xie Ke's wandering spirit.
Feeling determined, I found a bit of peace and started to feel sleepy. In my hazy state, I sensed a mouth very close to me, with petal-like lips, fragrant like lilies and alluring like roses, tempting me to lean in just a little closer.
Suddenly, a loud shout startled me awake. My cheek stung painfully as I looked at Qin Jian, who was fuming and shouted, "Lao Qi, what the hell are you doing?"
What did I just do? Confused, I covered my face and asked, "Why did you hit me?"
"Why do you ask? You almost caused me an accident!" Qin Jian's anger hadn't subsided; his tone grew heavier as he continued to scold me. "You need to behave. If I find out you've done something bad while daydreaming, I'll make sure you regret it."
What could I have possibly done wrong? This was ridiculous. I felt so unlucky; what had I done to deserve this? Getting hit and scolded, and even being called a rogue by Ling Juan. Encountering a ghost had really messed with my head. I grabbed a bottle of purified water and poured some into my palm, gently applying it to my face. The pain eased slightly as I ignored Qin Jian.
Qin Jian and I were at a standoff. It seemed Ling Juan and Thank You, Master were aware of the tension too, but as bystanders, they didn’t say much.
The most frustrated person in this situation was me, Ma Qi. If only I hadn’t partnered with Qin Jian; working as a Mortician at Ma Wu Funeral Home would have been so much better.
After that, we fell silent. Qin Jian focused on driving and let me take over when he got tired. When we reached the last rest stop, he still drove. Then I suggested going to Riverside Family. At that moment, Qin Jian didn’t oppose my suggestion or say anything; he just drove straight to Riverside Family.
"You all go back; tonight I want to rest at the motel across from Riverside Family."
Hearing my words, Qin Jian's expression brightened. "Do you have a clue?"
"I don't know, but let's give it a try!"
It was early winter, around eight o'clock, and the streets were deserted. The only lively place was the nightclub. I stood with my arms crossed in front of the hotel window across from Jiang'an Family Bridgehead Hotpot Restaurant, gazing at the Branching Stream in the night, faintly hearing the sound of water flowing.
Timing it just right, I gathered my essentials and prepared to head downstairs. Just then, a swift figure darted past and vanished into the night, heading straight for the entrance of Riverside Family. I hurried down the stairs, not bothering to grab anything else, eager to see who was rushing toward the entrance.
Due to the incident at Jiang'an Family Bridgehead Hotpot Restaurant, which had yet to yield any valuable clues, the hotpot restaurant was temporarily closed for maintenance. Logically, there shouldn't be anyone around at this hour; it wasn't just a passerby. This made me anxious and curious about who might be here.
As I reached the entrance of Bridgehead Hot Pot Restaurant, I found it empty. I was certain I hadn't misseen; this person had arrived under strange circumstances and likely didn't want to be seen—perhaps hiding away.
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