Thriller Night Talk

Chapter 99: That’s interesting.

Translator-Rhapsodite

Editor- Koneko, Proofreader-Ghostie

Wei Fuyuan originally wanted to say that he was just an ordinary college student. At most, he was a little taller, a little more handsome, and a little fitter than most other people.

But, when he thought about it, since he could use the power of merit to fight with the Hui Gui, how could he label himself “ordinary”?

Wei Fuyuan nodded his head, acknowledging Dai Bo Qian’s guess.

“Haha.”

Dai Bo Qian had a sense of propriety and did not ask Wei Fuyuan what he could do, but directed the topic into a different path, one that both parties would be interested in.

“When I was a kid, especially when I was still living in Chen Dafa’s house, I always felt like an alien, an outsider, you know?”

He gestured to himself.

“Later on, I encountered more things… gradually I found that sometimes, those ‘strange’ abilities, in fact, are not all bad. At least, my sixth sense helps me avoid certain risks.”

Wei Fuyuan nodded, thinking that at least his power of merit and virtue came in hand when Bei Quan was in danger.

Dai Bo Qian continued,

“Besides, the world is such a big place and there is nothing really that strange. People like you and me, for example; although rare, there are still some people like us out there, right?”

This sentence inadvertently stepped on Wei Fuyuan’s sore spot.

——Yes, although there aren’t many, you can always find one or two people by picking through the crowd.

Even if he was full of meritorious power, for Bei Quan, he was not unique or irreplaceable.

As soon as that douchebag Jiang Nan’an came along, Bei Quan kicked away his “temporary worker” when he was finally through with him.

Wei Fuyuan felt sour in his heart, and asked casually, “You know other ‘such people’?”

Dai Bo Qian shook his head.

“So far, I have met only Mr. Bei Quan and yourself.”

He paused for a moment, and then continued.

“But, when I used to feel confused about my intuition, I would often search the Internet for some information about my strange feelings. I found some forums where ‘superpowered’ people would gather and discuss things.”

Wei Fuyuan furrowed his brows and started criticising without mercy.

“Isn’t it true that nine out of ten of those who claim to have ‘superpowers’ are liars, while the remaining one is a psychopath?”

“Hahahaha, you’re right.”

Dai Bo Qian laughed.

“Indeed, most of these people are liars and delusional. Some purely find it fun to give themselves a ‘superpower’ persona online, hiding behind the screen.”

In any case, no one on the internet knows if it’s a dog on the other side of the screen or a genuine case.

“However, extremely occasionally, I will feel, or encounter one or two people who are truly gifted.”

Although Dai Bo Qian had never met the other party, his sixth sense was telling him that a certain user within the forum was his “kind”. This was akin to how he had instantly identified Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan as people he could rely upon, to trust even, from the moment he had met them.

“I see.”

Wei Fuyuan nodded as he listened, humming with interest.

“This seems really interesting. I want to take a look at this forum.”

Dai Bo Qian took out a pen from his briefcase and wrote down the web address onto a napkin, pushing it forward, in front of Wei Fuyuan.

Wei Fuyuan took it and realised that the domain name did not belong to a Mainland Chinese website. It was possible that it would require a VPN.

“Now I no longer have doubts and fears about my ‘ability’, but occasionally I still go to this forum to take a look and see who is posting. Regardless of whether they are true or not, many of the posts are really interesting.”

Dai Bo Qian stated casually.

“Not long ago, I also saw a girl who claimed to have the ability to predict things asking for help. She was asking what to do if she had predicted the death of her friend.”

——————————

July 31, 10:30 pm.

The long-distance bus that Bei Quan and Jiang Nan’an took had departed on time.

Their destination was Funing County, which was about eight hours away from C City.

This was a night bus, and it was supposed to drive on the highway overnight, arriving at 7:30 a.m. the next day.

This was the earliest bus to Funing County that Bei Quan and Jiang Nan’an could take.

The two could have hired a rental car since Jiang Nan’an could drive.

However, Comrade Xiao Jiang’s driving skills were not very good. In addition, the road conditions in this particular area was complicated. He really didn’t have the courage to drive at night in a place he didn’t know that well with just his mobile phone navigation alone.

For the sake of safety of the driver, passenger, and for the lives of innocent passers-by, they chose the more time-consuming long-distance bus.

After Jiang Nan’an got into the bus, he soon became drowsy from the constant rocking movements caused by the bumps in the road. He slammed his head against the window glass twice, after giving up struggling completely, he raised his head up and closed his eyes, finally falling asleep.

For the remainder of the journey, Jiang Nan’an slept soundly.

During this period, he woke up once, vaguely opening his eyes as he turned to see Bei Quan, who was just leaning back comfortably in his seat, closing his eyes and pretending to be asleep, but didn’t actually sleep at all.

At 7:25 in the morning, the bus drove into an old bus station in Funing County.

The driver greeted the passengers loudly and reminded them to take all of their luggage with them as they departed.

Bei Quan and Jiang Nan’an got out of the bus, hailed a taxi, and drove towards Luo Yanyan’s stepfather’s house.

“Really, the Luo family is already setting up the mourning hall?”

On the way, Bei Quan received a call from Zhu Ling.

“Alright, well, I’ve got it. We’ll pretend to be Luo Yanyan’s friends, and we’ll act according to the circumstances.”

Luo Yanyan’s stepfather’s family lived in the suburbs of the county, in a three-story self-built house with a mountain backdrop and a large courtyard.

At this time, a pair of white lanterns hung in front of the courtyard door, the lintel was also affixed with a white flag, a glance from afar showed that the family was holding a funeral.

Bei Quan and Jiang Nan’an got out of the taxi and when they approached the premises, they found that the courtyard door had been opened slightly, and was probing inwards. The main room had been turned into a mourning hall, with several monks wandering around. There were also several men and women dressed in white silk mourning dress.

There was a middle-aged woman in a linen garment who spotted Bei Quan and Jiang Nan’an standing in front of the courtyard door.

Seeing that there were two young men, the woman expressed a surprised look on her face, and quickly went to greet them, speaking tentatively.

“May I ask who you two are?”

Bei Quan timely showed his sad and sincere expressions facing the family members of the deceased,

“We are friends of Yan Yan, working in a neighbouring county; we heard of her unfortunate passing and came here to offer her joss sticks.”

Bei Quan’s linguistic talent was excellent when he said this, he naturally spoke in a northeastern accent, sounding exactly like the accent the woman was talking in— like a true native.

As expected, the middle-aged woman showed a dazed expression.

“You are Yan Yan’s friends.”

She smiled with difficulty, with a little tear in the corner of her eyes, “We tried to notify some of her old classmates last night… I didn’t expect you guys to come over so early this morning.”

Luo Yanyan’s mother led Bei Quan and Jiang Nan’an into the courtyard.

Luo Yanyan committed suicide by jumping into the lake. The body was salvaged afterwards. Once the doctor saw that there was no possibility of rescue, she was directly sent to the funeral home. Even the family were not allowed to take the body home without permission.

So as of now, Luo Yanyan’s family has a mourning hall, but that’s all.

Bei Quan and Jiang Nan’an carried out the ritual and burnt joss sticks for Luo Yanyan.

In the middle of this hall was a photograph of the girl, who had beautiful brows and cherry lips, as well as a brilliant smile that was beaming with youth.

Unfortunately, she had passed away and would never come back to life.

Bei Quan put his hands together, worshipped three times in front of the incense burner, and then released the fox Guan Hu Su Ying from the hidden tube, without a trace.

The little fox spread out its four paws and shot like lightning, running in front of a crowd of monks who were holding the Buddha, but no one became aware or noticed it.

After releasing Su Ying, Bei Quan again offered to stay and help out.

Mother Luo’s face suddenly showed an expression of surprise and emotion.

She just lost her daughter and was in a depressed mood.

She was married for the second time, and although her husband was a generous man, there were really no relatives on her side who could help her with this.

Furthermore, her daughter had left home for several years and had not been in close contact with her since. Then, she suddenly committed suicide out of the blue. She had to use old classmates’ records to contact several of her daughter’s acquaintances from her school days. The reply from the other end was cold and perfunctory, with no mention of whether or not they would come to offer any condolences.

“Thank you… Thank you so much!”

Luo Yanyan’s mother wiped her tears, her voice choked with emotion.

The custom in Funing County is that the more people who come to pay their respects when someone passes away, the more it means that the deceased had a good relationship with people in their life, and the greater the blessings that had been accumulated.

Luo Yanyan committed suicide, which was a violent death, and was easy for others to start gossip. If no one came to offer condolences for her death, the scene would be even worse.

Therefore, Luo Yanyan’s mother was very grateful to Bei Quan and Jiang Nan’an who came to her door early in the morning, not to mention that they even offered to stay and help her.

Luo Yanyan’s mother solemnly thanked Bei Quan and Jiang Nan’an, giving them the “job” of stacking gold and silver ingots of joss paper, and went to work preparing the monk’s vegetarian meal.

Jiang Nan’an sat on a small stool, folding the ingots while simultaneously pouting at the fake monk who couldn’t even fasten his kasaya correctly. He groaned in disdain.

“They probably can’t even recite the《K?itigarbha Bodhisattva Pūrvapra?idhāna Sūtra》, I might as well do it myself!”

Bei Quan heard Jiang Nan’an muttering to himself and gave him a sideways glance, “You can recite it now.”

“Oh.”

Jiang Nan’an, as expected, immediately opened his mouth and recited the《 Lotus Sūtra》in a low voice.

At this time, Su Ying happened to stroll by the Luo family.

It ran back from the direction it started, knocking into Bei Quan head-on and somersaulting from surprise at the sutra Jiang Nan’an was reciting. It rolled back up, standing on its tiptoes as its back arched in the shape of a capital ‘C’ before looking upwards.

Bei Quan reached out and took the little fox onto his shoulder.

Su Ying pressed against the side of his cheek and stretched its head, rubbing and nuzzling against Bei Quan a few times.

Bei Quan: “……Oh?”

Jiang Nan’an stopped chanting and turned his head to stare at Bei Quan with an expectant face.

“This is very interesting.”

Bei Quan carefully relayed the information he had received from the little fox to Jiang Nan’an.

“Su Ying said that it found traces left by the Hui Gui in Luo Yanyan’s room, indicating that the Hui Gui had at least been around the girl once at some point.”

He paused and added.

“It’s just that, the traces are very, very faint, which means the Hui Gui has been gone for a long time now…”