Pursuing Immortality

During the two days they stayed in Xiping, Long Qiu was for the entire time secretly filled with joy, which she kept completely to herself.

It was a feeling hard to describe. She was close to Gu Yu and Xiaozhai both, but there was a subtle difference between the two.

She would not refuse her sister’s cuddles and other affectations, but was very appropriate towards her brother. Despite their familiarity, she treated him with courtesy—unlike that little soap. That girl would not hesitate to pounce at Gu Yu when she was going crazy. Long Qiu would never do such things.

Back then, when Long Qiu was lying on the cold stone floor of that shrine with an unruly Golden Silkworm inside and a bunch of ignorant and base clansmen outside, she wished she were dead.

Then, Gu Yu appeared like a god descending from heaven and saved her from the misery.

She had since hid her girlish gratitude and idolatry deep inside, never letting it show. During their trip this time, though, Long Qiu was finally a little more expressive in that aspect and much more lively when she spoke.

She had yet to figure out what this feeling was. All she knew was that so far, it was rather a steady one, for she had not thought about using the Undead Insect of Love.

Of the thousands types of undead insects out there, the Undead Insect of Love was the most special one.

It came naturally in pairs and was extremely rare. This undead insect could defy any kind of barrier or protection and worked by being planted directly into the other half’s mind. From then one, the couple would live and die as one. Betrayal of any kind was forbidden and there was no way to remove the undead insect by force.

In that aspect alone, one could say that the Undead Insect of Love was invincible.

***

After touring Xiping for two days, they travelled to Xihai by train. Xihai was an autonomous prefecture with a few cities and counties under its jurisdiction. The capital of the prefecture was Delhi.

It was hard to picture a county-level city that only had a population of 100,000.

Long Qiu walked out of the train station and almost thought they had entered some adult animation world. Looking into the distance, she saw neat streets and modern buildings, only that they were all very clean—deserted-by-the-humankind sort of clean.

She stood there bewildered. A moment later, she could not help but ask, “Brother, where did you go to when you were here before?”

“Once to Longxi and another time to Bayan.”

“Then why are we in Xihai this time?”

“Well, I haven’t been here before. Thought I could check it out.”

Gu Yu was secretly feeling guilty. Longxi and Bayan were densely populated areas and the transportation to Huo Zhou was convenient from both.

Xihai, on the other hand, was a wrong choice. One could not imagine how vast the place was and how far two towns could be apart in a single jurisdiction.

“Well, let’s find a car rental place first.”

Gu Yu concealed his guilty conscience and led the girl to a taxi. It was a long drive before they finally saw a place that seemed to be renting cars.

“I’ll ask inside. You go buy us some water and food.”

“Ok, I’ll be over there.”

Long Qiu pointed at a convenience store across the road and trotted away.

About ten minutes later, she walked out with two large bags and looked into the car rental agency. Her brother was still chatting with the owner, so she stood outside and waited.

Before long, there was a sudden screeching sound.

A flashy yellow SUV pulled over by the road and a head struck out. The owner was someone who wore sunglass in the winter. The guy flashed his white teeth. “Hi, gorgeous. Need a ride?”

“I’m waiting for someone.” Long Qiu shook her head.

“Forget him. Isn’t all the stuff in your hands heavy? Where are you going? I’ll drive you there.”

“No, thanks. I am really waiting for someone.”

She refused repeatedly, but the brazen-faced fellow simply would not give up. Our girl frowned. “I don’t like you. Go away, or I’ll be angry.”

“OMG, ‘go away, or I’ll angry’!”

The fellow put on a flamboyant expression and imitated Xiao Qiu in a feigned voice. Oh my, the performance was so “natural” and “real” that it looked nothing like those flashy bi*ches out there!

He simply got off the vehicle and chuckled. “That’s OK, I can wait with you. Here, let me carry those for you.”

With that, he stretched out his hand.

Long Qiu was about to dodge, but was stumped for a moment after an unexpected glance. The man’s sleeve had been stretched up, revealing his wrist. On it was a line of strange black pattern.

“…”

It looked rather familiar, reminding her of something her sister had shown her.

“Well, that’s right. Pretty girls are served by others, not to— ah!”

Seeing that she did not move, the fellow thought she was being shy and thought he could push his luck further. He reached out to hold her by the shoulder. Before his hand reached her, a pain ran through his arm.

“Hey, let me go! Let go of me!”

Facing down, he was now in a half-crouching position with an arm pinned on his back. He looked like a fried dough twist. ¹ A little push from Long Qiu and half of his joints would be dislocated in a few crunching sounds.

“Let go of me you motherf**ker. Do you know who I am? Ah, that hurts! Hurts!”

“I actually do want to know. Shut up!”

The 174-cm girl raised the 180-or-so-cm guy up like carrying a bag of takeaways. She shoved him inside the vehicle with a clank and jabbed him on the throat.

“…”

The fellow opened his mouth and could not utter a sound. He was petrified.

“Xiao Qiu, what’s going on?” Gu Yu heard the commotion and ran out to check. “Who’s this?”

“He’s got this on his hand.” Long Qiu rolled up his sleeve.

“Oh, good job. Just give me one more moment. I’m not done over there.”

Our fellow returned inside after those words, apparently not concerned with this situation at all. A quarter of an hour later, however, he came out looking dejected. “The cars here won’t do. They’d be in pieces before we each reach our destination.”

Shaking his head, Gu Yu hopped onto the SUV, shut the door, and started his private interrogation.

“Name?”

“The Thirteenth Young Master Yang.”

“Clap!”

Gu Yu gave the back of his head a smack. “Real name!”

“Yang, Yang Di.”

“Your job?”

“Don’t have one.”

“Hm?”

Gu Yu made the gesture to smack him again and the fellow said hastily, “Bro, Bro, I really don’t have a job. I’m a second generation rich kid!”

“Teehee!”

Xiao Qiu chuckled at his words. The smile sent blush up her cheeks and her fair complexion reminded one of a lovely peach. Apparently, the fellow was not the brightest man out there and had forgotten what was going on instantly. He gaped at Xiao Qiu in admiration.

“Clap!”

Gu Yu gave him another smack. “How did you get this tattoo?”

“A friend got me this. There was this really awesome club he talked about. I said I wanted in and he said I had to be reviewed first, so he got me this tattoo.”

“What club?”

“Dunno.”

“Hm?”

“Man, I really don’t. I’m not even qualified as a foot soldier!”

“What about your friend?”

“He, he’s not in Xihai, I think. Gone to Mobei, probably.”

“Mobei?”

Gu Yu pondered for a minute or two. Shamanism was also widely practised in Mobei, so it would make sense. This fellow was probably telling the truth as well. No group in the right mind would recruit someone with his physique and intelligence.

Seeing that Gu Yu had gone silent, Yang Di quivered with fear. “Bro, please let me go. I don’t do drugs and I don’t sleep around. All I ever did was flirting with girls. I’m not even bold enough to do anything if they don’t want to. I’m from an upstart family, that’s all. I’m not worth kidnapping. Please let me go!”

“Haha…”

Gu Yu also chuckled. “Not yet. It’s a nice car you’ve got here. I’ll have to borrow it for a few days.”

“What? Then how am I, how…”

“I’m afraid you’d have to come with us.”