Chapter 9

Lin Zhi originally had a plan and didn’t intend to let him leave, nor was it the right time to reveal himself. But when he saw him casually preparing to walk into the brothel, it felt like a burning stone was stuck in his throat, making him so angry he couldn’t hold back and called out to him, his tone unconsciously accusatory.

Jiang Chu Ting didn’t respond immediately. Lin Zhi had already walked up to him, feeling even more stifled. “Chu Ran, are you lying to me? You just don’t want to see me, so you’re finding excuses to leave, right?”

His eyes were red, looking very aggrieved. Jiang Chu Ting explained, “I’m not lying to you, I really have something to do.” It wasn’t convenient to talk here, so he looked around and walked down the stairs to a less crowded corner, with Lin Zhi following closely behind.

Jiang Chu Ting told Lin Zhi about the incident he encountered before coming, where a young man jumped off a building. He said, “I have some suspicions, so I plan to go in and investigate. It’s not what you think.”

“So that’s how it is.” Lin Zhi felt a sudden relief after hearing this. It indeed sounded like something Chu Ran would do. He grabbed his sleeve and said, “Then I’ll go in with you. Two heads are better than one.”

Jiang Chu Ting hesitated. He had already decided not to continue interacting with Lin Zhi, but he couldn’t be too direct, so he made an excuse, “You… can’t. You’re still too young.”

Lin Zhi didn’t like hearing that, huffing, “I’m not young. My friends are about my age and they’re already married with kids. Besides, we’re just going in to investigate. With you there, I won’t learn anything bad.” He then wrapped his arms around Jiang Chu Ting’s neck, acting spoiled, “I’m hanging onto you, you can’t shake me off.”

Jiang Chu Ting was both troubled and amused, unable to push him away. He took a step forward, dragging Lin Zhi along with him.

In the end, he couldn’t refuse him and had to agree.

The two of them went in together, got a room, and called for two young men to accompany them with drinks.

As soon as the two entered, Jiang Chu Ting noticed that one of them still had red eyes, and the other was forcing a smile. Although they were trying to hold it together, it was clear they were not in a good state.

Jiang Chu Ting’s mind stirred, and he gently asked them why they were like this. The two exchanged glances, a bit hesitant, afraid that speaking out would make the guests feel unlucky. Lin Zhi crossed his arms, raised an eyebrow, and said, “Just say it honestly, don’t hesitate.”

Lin Zhi’s appearance was handsome and youthful, but he looked like someone not to be trifled with. The two quickly started speaking one after the other.

People who come to such places often have hard lives and tend to look out for each other. These two happened to have a good relationship with the young man who jumped, named Bao Qi, and were currently grieving his death.

Jiang Chu Ting gave them some silver pieces and asked about Bao Qi’s illness. Seeing his kind eyes and caring demeanor, they didn’t hide anything and told Jiang Chu Ting that Bao Qi started getting sick four months ago. Initially, they thought it was just a common stomachache, but the medicine didn’t help, and the pain worsened over time. The doctor couldn’t find the cause. In this line of work, they didn’t have much money, and being sick meant they couldn’t work and earn money, essentially becoming useless. Bao Qi probably knew that even with their help, he couldn’t hold on for long, so he chose to end it all when the pain struck again.

The young man with red eyes was named Nong Yu. Jiang Chu Ting asked if Bao Qi had encountered anything unusual before falling ill, but Nong Yu said he didn’t know. After all, they were just helping each other out, not always together, and Bao Qi himself didn’t know how he got sick, so how could he know?

Nong Yu wiped his tears and told Jiang Chu Ting, “We originally wanted to pool some money to bury him, but the manager heard that similar things happened elsewhere. That young man poisoned himself, and some say… they say it’s a ghost fetus reborn, an evil spirit possessed, and the resentment is heavy when they die. They need to be burned completely, or else they’ll come back to haunt. That young man’s body was burned, and now they want to burn Bao Qi too, not even leaving ashes.”

Jiang Chu Ting’s eyes widened slightly and asked, “Someone said? Who said?”

“This… I don’t know either.” Nong Yu sighed, “Our lives are cheap, it doesn’t matter who said it, the result is the same.” Whether the manager believes it or not, they would choose to burn it to prevent future troubles.

In this world, there’s no such thing as a ghost fetus reborn. The purpose of such rumors is probably to hide something, to destroy the evidence completely.

Bao Qi’s strange illness might not be an illness, but a man-made disaster.

The fear is that Bao Qi wasn’t the first, nor will he be the last. As Nong Yu said, in the eyes of the world, their lives are cheap. Even if a hundred or so die in succession, it wouldn’t matter much, and few would care about their lives and deaths. Instead, it would become a topic of conversation. It’s truly a chilling thought.

Lin Zhi seemed to know what Jiang Chu Ting wanted to know and asked before him, “What about Bao Qi’s body?”

Nong Yu said, “At night, it was taken to the woods outside the city. They’re going to burn it there…”

Before he finished speaking, the two sitting at the table stood up simultaneously. Jiang Chu Ting hurriedly said, “Goodbye,” and then left Changhuan Garden with Lin Zhi, heading straight for the outskirts.

Jiang Chu Ting originally didn’t want to take Lin Zhi with him, but even if he disagreed, Lin Zhi knew the destination and had his own legs, so he would definitely follow. It was better to keep him by his side, so he could watch over him and prevent any danger.

They were still late. A large pile of firewood was set up on the edge of the woods, the flames soaring high, clearly burning for a while. Even if they tried to retrieve the body now, it was too late.

The trail was cut off just like that.

Perhaps because the person responsible for burning the body had left early out of laziness, there was no one guarding the area.

Jiang Chu Ting was staring at the fire in a daze when he suddenly heard a slight noise from the woods. A shadow flashed by, and his eyes sharpened. Without a word, he drew his sword and chased after it.

His lightness skill was already considered top-notch, but after chasing through the maze-like woods for a while, he lost track of the person.

Jiang Chu Ting searched for a while longer, listening intently for any sounds around him, when he suddenly heard Lin Zhi calling his name not far away, “Chu Ran, Chu Ran! Chu Ran!”

Jiang Chu Ting sheathed his sword and followed the voice. In the moonlight, he couldn’t clearly see Lin Zhi’s face, but he saw him clutching his arm, the smell of blood in the air, and his heart tightened. He quickly asked, “Lin Zhi, are you hurt?”

“Yeah, after you left, there was another suspicious person nearby. I chased after them and fought, but they got away, and I got hurt.” Lin Zhi winced and asked, “What about you? Are you okay? Did you catch that person?”

“No, they got away too.” This matter was getting stranger, but Jiang Chu Ting didn’t have the mind to discuss it now. He frowned and said, “Let’s leave first. Your wound needs to be treated quickly.”

Lin Zhi’s eyes shone brightly in the dark. He nodded, “Okay, you said ‘we,’ so you’re staying with me, not leaving me behind?”

Jiang Chu Ting was momentarily speechless.

He had repeatedly warned himself to keep “Chu Ran” away from Lin Zhi to avoid accidentally revealing his identity. But seeing him injured, he couldn’t help but worry, and all those thoughts were thrown aside.

Jiang Chu Ting was frustrated for a moment, but in the end, he couldn’t go against his heart and softly said, “Let’s go back and take care of your wound first.”

Lin Zhi’s injury wasn’t light. Although Jiang Chu Ting had used acupoint techniques to stop the bleeding, by the time they returned, his sleeve was still soaked with blood. After cleaning and applying medicine at the clinic, Jiang Chu Ting took Lin Zhi to find an inn nearby.

Lin Zhi leaned weakly against Jiang Chu Ting and told the innkeeper, “One room.”

Jiang Chu Ting said, “Two rooms.”

Lin Zhi: “One room is enough.”

Jiang Chu Ting insisted, “Two rooms.”

In the end, they got two rooms.

Lin Zhi’s left arm was injured, so he couldn’t move freely or touch water, making it inconvenient to bathe.

Jiang Chu Ting wrung out a hot towel for him to wipe his face with his right hand, but Lin Zhi leaned forward, closing his eyes, the meaning clear.

Jiang Chu Ting had an unusual patience with Lin Zhi, especially since he was injured, so he didn’t say much and helped him wipe his face. The steam added a touch of red to his slightly pale face from blood loss, and his long lashes were damp, making his eyes look even darker and more beautiful.

They talked a bit about what happened that night.

Lin Zhi said to Jiang Chu Ting, “It’s really strange, but I have a feeling that the two people we chased weren’t from the same group.” He suddenly thought of something and added, “Oh, and the one I fought with was probably a woman.”

Jiang Chu Ting had chased a man with excellent lightness skills, but knowing this didn’t help. Without any clues, it was all a tangled mess.

Jiang Chu Ting shook his head lightly, “I don’t know what these people are trying to do.” From tonight’s situation, there was definitely someone behind the scenes, and there would likely be more victims in the future.

Lin Zhi wasn’t particularly concerned about others’ lives, but because the righteous and kind person in front of him cared, he had to get involved and take it seriously, so he could stay with him.

Lin Zhi tilted his head, pondering for a moment, and speculated, “Could it be some kind of sacrifice? I read in a book that for their beliefs, people are sacrificed in a specific way, and the number of deaths must reach a certain amount.”

“Not impossible.” Jiang Chu Ting had thought of this too, but the two known victims had both ended their lives due to unbearable pain, and their methods of suicide were different, which didn’t quite fit. So the most crucial thing now was to find out the real cause of their so-called “strange illness.”

Lin Zhi said, “It’s a pity that Bao Qi’s body is gone, and we can’t find out what caused his illness. To get any clues, we’ll have to wait for the next…”

Wait for the next victim to appear.

Jiang Chu Ting sighed softly, then fell silent for a moment, looking at Lin Zhi and saying, “It’s late. You should rest. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

Lin Zhi reached out with his right hand, grabbing his sleeve, staring at him intently, “Chu Ran, you won’t sneak away in the middle of the night, will you?”

Jiang Chu Ting’s voice was low and gentle, “Don’t worry, I won’t. I’m next door. See you in the morning.”

“But I want to sleep with you.”

Jiang Chu Ting refused without thinking, “No.”

Lin Zhi still wouldn’t let go. Jiang Chu Ting tried to pull his sleeve back but couldn’t. Looking at his face, he solemnly called his name, “Lin, Zhi.” When Nong Yu and the others came in at Changhuan Garden, Lin Zhi’s expression was clearly unhappy. He really detested the idea of relationships between men.

Lin Zhi probably trusted him too much, which is why he was always so unguarded and close to him, even wanting to sleep together now.

Jiang Chu Ting saw Lin Zhi as a child, with no other thoughts. But Lin Zhi said such things without knowing the truth, and as the “shameless dead cut-sleeve” in Lin Zhi’s mind, he had to be careful and avoid suspicion.

He looked serious, and Lin Zhi pouted, reluctantly letting go.

Jiang Chu Ting returned to his room, bathed, changed clothes, and had just lain down when there was a knock on the door. Lin Zhi called from outside, “Chu Ran, open the door, my arm suddenly hurts.”

His tone was a bit urgent, and Jiang Chu Ting really thought there was something wrong with the wound that he had overlooked. He quickly got up to open the door, only to find Lin Zhi standing there perfectly fine, blinking at him. Just as Jiang Chu Ting was about to speak, Lin Zhi had already squeezed into the room.

Jiang Chu Ting asked, “You said your arm suddenly hurts…”

“Yeah!” Lin Zhi said, “It hurts. How can it not hurt when it’s injured?”

Jiang Chu Ting was momentarily speechless, feeling helpless. He had been so easily deceived.

Lin Zhi walked straight to his bed, lay down on the inside, and stubbornly announced to Jiang Chu Ting, who stood silently in place, “I don’t care, I want to sleep with you.”

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

The growth is so dismal, I’m starting my journey at the bottom again, feeling down =.=