Chapter 525 - Chapter 525: Chapter 525: Dark Under the Lamp

Chapter 525: Chapter 525: Dark Under the Lamp

The five young people were simply enthusiastically promoting their beloved Chongyun Village, rendering it impossible to question them about the events of last night, or any other “strange happenings”.

Zhou Rui also couldn’t phrase it that they weren’t tourists, but had come to Chongyun Village on an investigative mission. Saying that would probably alert the youngsters and make them refuse to discuss anything at all.

After finishing lunch and stepping out of “Youlong Restaurant”, barely mounting their ride, Ye Chong was holding a tablet computer and said to Zhou Rui, “The information collection team didn’t find any abnormalities in Chongyun Village. Do you want to investigate in person?”

Zhou Rui thought for a while and shook his head, “Never mind. It’s normal for fog to rise in the mountains, and it’s not unusual to hear some wild animal howling. The villagers of Chongyun always like to exaggerate a bit. Just like the last time when two thieves ran to the police station because they got scared by a flock of birds. We conducted a field investigation for half a day and even brought back a pile of bird droppings for lab analysis, only to find no trace of anything unusual. In the end, the two guys admitted in the police station that they might have been mistaken…”

The whole car burst into laughter at the memory of the embarrassing situation when Zhou Rui and Li Shibao had to collect bird droppings in Chongyun Village.

Li Shibao, the driver, couldn’t help but break into a smile as he watched Zhou Rui, Ye Chong, Dr. Fang, Mijoe and the others joking and laughing in the rear-view mirror.

Before returning from the uninhabited area of Qinling and getting a new assignment to form an investigation team with Dr. Fang to Wushu Mountain, he had assumed this was another unexceptional field mission.

However, this mission lasted extraordinarily long.

Unconsciously, not only did they get familiar with each other in the team, but their mindsets had also changed significantly.

When he, along with Dr. Fang and Zhou Rui, embarked on a field mission in the uninhabited area of Qinling, he had initially thought that Zhou Rui was a timid but steady and well-behaved researcher. But after spending ample time together, he found that Zhou Rui was a real character and had a peculiar liking for ants, always conjuring up visions of science fiction movies in his mind.

Ye Chong, who at first seemed introverted and even gloomy, turned out to be quite the reserved charmer on better acquaintance.

Miss Chen initially gave him an impression of being dignified and stable. But it didn’t take long for her true nature to emerge, especially after having spent a considerable amount of time with Zhou Rui — she was an outgoing girl as well.

Even Gao Shu, whose primary duty like himself was security, had an interesting side hidden beneath his serious facade.

As for himself, there were also many changes.

During regular field duties, he would always maintain heightened focus and stay on high alert. However, this mission was painfully lengthy, and most of the time, they were based in a safe city environment. Besides, their field investigations were mainly conducted in nearby mountain and scenic areas, void of any immediate threats. It was neither necessary nor possible to stay alert continuously for such an extended duration.

As a result, he gradually relaxed. Recently, he often felt that maybe he had become too lax.

Especially in the last month, often the first thought in his mind upon waking up was:

What should I eat today?

Although he always critiqued and opposed Zhou Rui’s habit of rummaging through food reviews, scouting restaurants within an hour’s drive, and rallying them to dine together, Li Shibao found himself quite enjoying all the unique delicacies in truth.

Like this “Youlong Restaurant,” he not only enjoyed the various dishes and signature rabbit meat, but, similar to Zhou Rui, he had the idea of moving to Tongshi Town after earning enough money and leaving “Divine Technology.”

However, his plan was not to dine at “Youlong Restaurant” anytime he wanted like Zhou Rui, but to work there and somehow learn the secrets of the dishes’ preparation, and then cook and eat them himself. So, when he heard Zhou Rui say he wanted to secretly take away the restaurant’s dishes to analyze their ingredients and study their seasoning combinations, he was outwardly staring at the wooden carving on the wall, but inwardly he was enthusiastically “liking” the idea.

This morning, while eating the egg pancakes made by Ye Chong, he involuntarily mused over aspects such as poor heat control and too much water, and considered how adding some green onions might improve them. Then, he began to imagine what dishes “Youlong Restaurant” would develop if they served breakfast. Rabbit meat soup? Rabbit buns? Rabbit pancakes?

In the past, when he was on a mission, his considerations about food centered around nutrition and efficiency. As long as the food provided enough energy, he would not consider its taste. Even when he was not on a mission, his considerations about food were still centered around convenience, speed, and filling his stomach.

He had considered the possibility that it could be due to the excessive suppression of his own appetite in the past that led to his above-average “awakening” to the pursuit of food taste and texture now.

However, this seemingly deep-seated “foodie nature” that had been dug up, could sometimes make him feel conflicted, thinking about whether the overly restful mission environment had “ruined” his mentality. Once the tight string was loosened, he was afraid it would never tighten again.

…

The ones who went to the airport to pick up Xiang Kun, Tang Baona, and Yang Zhen Er, were not Xia Libing, but Xia Tianhuo.

Of course, it was not that Old Xia, Little Apple, or Little Fatty Girl did not want to pick them up, but that Little Apple was worried about leaving the injured Canary alone at home. After all, no matter how smart Custard Pie was, it was still a cat and unable to do many things.

Little Apple wanted to stay home, and Little Fatty Girl naturally did not want to leave Sister Apple alone. So, even though she really wanted to pick up Uncle Bald and the others, she decided to stay.

With the two girls staying home, Old Xia naturally had to stay to look after them, so Xia Tianhuo, who was “idling” and “doing nothing,” was sent to pick them up from the airport.

On the way back from picking Xiang Kun and the others up to Chongyun Village, Xia Tianhuo spoke non-stop about his encounter with Chu Xiuwen on the village road the previous night.

“The dense fog that blotted out the sky made everything completely unseeable, even with the headlights turned on. But the strange thing was, you know what? The strange thing was that I actually smelled the scent of barbecue. For a moment, I even wondered if someone was having a mega barbeque on Chongyun Mountain, which caused so much smoke… Of course, that’s impossible. Later, there were thunder and lightning, and some terrifying shrieking sounds. The car broke down again, there was no signal on the mobile phone, Brother Chu and I were scared shitless.”

Tang Baona noticed that while Xia Tianhuo was speaking non-stop about his experience from last night, Yang Zhen Er had her eyes half-closed, her hand lightly touching her chin, as if pondering something, unusually quiet.

“Zhen’er, what are you thinking about? Are you fantasizing about some grand mythical drama again?” Tang Baona asked, nudging her.

“Hehe, no.” Yang Zhen Er replied, looking at Xiang Kun: “Chef Xiang, what do you think?”

“There might be an Ancient Desolate Beast hidden in this mountain. It stirs up activity once every hundred years, causing heavy fog and thunderstorms…” Xiang Kun stated seriously.

But he hadn’t spoken for long before Tang Baona interrupted him: “Stop, stop, stop, how come you also start to make up stories like Zhen’er!”

“Nana, you’re being unjust to me, I didn’t say anything, how come I’m making up stories too?” Yang Zhen Er protested.

“Oh, come on, I know what kind of crap you’re about to spout the moment you pucker your lips. That look in your eyes just now, you’ve definitely conceived a grand conspiracy or legend in your mind.” Tang Baona rolled her eyes at her.

“Right, Little Apple’s bird…what was it called? Oh, right, Sparkle, it got injured last night too,” Xia Tianhuo recalled and reminded.

“Sparkle got hurt?” Both Tang Baona and Yang Zhen’er expressed their surprise aloud.

“Yep, it was injured before the fog rose last night, but Old Xia has taken care of it. He claims the injury isn’t severe and there is no reason to worry. We should trust Old Xia, he is a doctor after all. He can heal people, not to mention birds,” Xia Tianhuo spoke.

“You’re an idiot! Old Xia is a psychologist! He treats the mind! Since when do birds have mental health issues!” Yang Zhen’er chukles off.

Upon returning to Chongyun Village and getting out of the car, Liu Shiling, who had already heard the hubbub and ran down from upstairs, rushed over to greet them.

However, Little Fatty Girl, who was charging towards Xiang Kun, was “intercepted” halfway by Yang Zhen’er with a laugh, picking her up and then asking, “Have you missed me, Xiao Lingdang?”

Little Fatty Girl blinked, then vigorously nods her head: “Yes!”

“Ms. Fairy bought you lots of sweets and clothes from Pengcheng City. They’re all in the box!”

“Thank you, Old…”

“Ms. Fairy!”

“Thank you, Ms. Fairy…”

Xia Tianhuo, who was trailing behind, wanted to facepalm: “Yang Lao San, can your skin get any thicker?”

Tang Baona also came over and asked from the side: “Xiao Lingdang, I heard that Sparkle was injured? How did it get hurt?”

At the sound of this, a hint of sadness spread across Liu Shiling’s adorable face as she said, “Sparkle went to play in the mountains and was hurt by a bad bird.” Naturally, she wouldn’t mention anything about the “Magic World.” But since the beautiful sister was asking her, she would tell the story that Old Xia and Little Apple had agreed on beforehand. She didn’t provide specific details of Sparkle’s injuries, nor did she mention their battle with the “Weird Big Bird” last night.

“That bad bird is really bad!” said Tang Baona, guessing that Sparkle must have been hurt by a bird of prey in the forest. Even though Little Apple nourished Sparkle to be plump and larger than average canaries, it was still small. If it encountered a bird of prey like an owl, it would certainly be at a disadvantage.

Liu Shiling nodded again and again, instinctively replied, “Isn’t that so?”

Upon hearing this deliberately imitated Tianjin accent mixed with a childish tone, Tang Baona’s frowning and sorrowful face, which had just been deeply concerned about Sparkle, suddenly bestowed a cheerful laugh.

Yang Zhen’er, holding Little Fatty Girl in her arms, gave her a big kiss on her chubby face and laughed, “Xiao Lingdang, you’re too adorable!”

Little Fatty Girl was staring at Xiang Kun behind Yang Zhen’er with a face full of confusion, clearly not understanding why that sentence would make these two sisters so delighted?

Before the blood-drinking period arrived, Xiang Kun prepared a fairly sumptuous dinner — he had asked You Meng to help prepare the necessary ingredients in the morning and had someone bring them over.

After dinner, he went back to the previously rented yard and “secluded himself” for the same reason as before.

This time Tang Baona and Yang Zhen’er both participated in the trip to Pengcheng City to meet with Zhang Qian. Naturally, they thought that Xiang Kun had to develop some new features for the game, according to Zhang Qian’s needs, it seemed reasonable to “seclude himself” after returning.

During this blood-drinking period, Xiang Kun needed Alice’s assistance to observe the process of establishing special connections in “Super-connected Objects” and “Emotion Infused Objects”, to see what specific changes are in their Super Sensory Information, to determine whether they can thereby summarize the rules and establish a unified, reproducible model.

After dinner, Xia Tianhuo went fishing with Liu Caifu and Chu Xiuwen, whilst Tang Baona, Old Xia, and others were watching the rehearsal of “Lindang Apple”, the only crosstalk group of “Chongyun Society” in the living room.

After a night of laughter, it had been past ten o’clock when Little Apple and Little Fatty Girl were taken by Xia Libing to wash and sleep. Tang Baona cleaned up their snack wrappers, returned to her room to rest, but suddenly noticed that Yang Zhen’er was nowhere to be seen.

She searched both upstairs and downstairs, but could not find her friend, so she picked up her phone and sent a WeChat message: “Yang Lao San, where have you run off to?”

Yang Zhen’er sent back a picture of the night view of Chongyun Village. From the angle of the photo, Tang Baona immediately determined that her friend was on the roof of this building.

Tang Baona followed her onto the rooftop, seeing Yang Zhen’er has her hands behind her back, looking at the starry sky in a dignified manner.

However, when walking towards her on the side to see her long hair being blown around and across her face, the high-profile demeanor instantly faded, and Tang Baona could not help laughing: “Zhen’er, what are you doing, stargazing? Planning to ascend?”

“Ascend my ass, pfft… Yuck!” The moment she opened her mouth, Yang Zhen’er, who had gotten her own hair in her mouth, hurriedly spits it out, tossing her hair back, tidying it with her hands before turning to Tang Baona and said, “Na Na, I have realized that I was wrong.”

“About what?” Tang Baona was taken aback, then immediately reacted, “No way, did you run up to the rooftop to plot out your fantasy novel?”

“Na Na, you have to believe me, I’m utterly serious this time.” Yang Zhen’er’s expression was indeed very serious.

“Fine, just spit it out. But if you’re planning to climb the wall to spy on what Xiang Kun is doing, you can go alone, I won’t be an accomplice.” Tang Baona laughed whilst saying so.

“No, I’m not looking for Chef Xiang. Be serious, don’t laugh! Listen to what I have to say first!”

Yang Zhen’er looked at her friend seriously, “Na Na, do you know what ‘it’s always darkest under the lighthouse’ means?”

“I know what it means, but I suspect the ‘it’s always darkest under the lighthouse’ you understand may not be the same reason most people understand,”Tang Baona laughs.

Yang Zhen’er sighed and said, “Na Na, you’re too optimistic and you’re careless. Haven’t you noticed that there are some people around us who are actually not so ordinary?”

“As if you yourself are very attentive…” Tang Baona gives her a glance, “just get to the point. If you don’t hurry up, I’m going back to sleep.”

“I realized something today! The person who is truly exceptional has always been around us, we’re just too familiar with her to have noticed.” Yang Zhen ‘er spoke slowly.

“Who?” As she said this, Tang Baona also realized who Yang Zhen’er was referring to, “Old Xia?”.