Chapter 26: Going to Shikong Temple¹

Xiao Wu sat on a long bench, silently listening to Xie Sui and Liu Wuyong’s discussion while drinking water.

To be honest, he didn’t quite understand Xie Sui’s concerns.

In Xiao Wu’s view, since his new boss’s strength was so formidable, they should just charge straight to the door. They happened to have a mission they hadn’t turned in yet, so they could just use the opportunity of handing it over to launch a sneak attack on the former boss and take him out in one go. Why bother with all these complicated maneuvers?

However, with the workplace experience Old Liu had imparted to him previously, Xiao Wu knew the principle of “don’t casually question the boss’s decisions.” Therefore, he remained obediently silent and raised no objections.

“So, Boss, are we going to Shikong Temple right now?” Liu Wuyong asked.

“It’s not that urgent. Let’s eat first, charge our phones, and get ourselves back into peak condition before we talk about it.” Xie Sui took his phone out of his pocket. He had forgotten to charge it yesterday, and after coming out of the Yin-Yang Gap, the battery had drained completely. The screen was currently black.

The three of them found a random restaurant by the roadside and walked in.

After the phone had been charging for a while, a call notification popped up as soon as Xie Sui turned it on.

The caller ID showed the name [Zhao Haotian].

Xie Sui paused for a moment and quickly pressed the answer button.

He wasn’t sure what Old Zhao wanted with him…

The second the call connected, Zhao Haotian’s booming voice blasted from the other end, the volume comparable to a loudspeaker.

“Holy crap!! Xie Sui, you finally picked up! Where the hell have you been these past three days? I called you over twenty times and couldn’t get through once. You scared the life out of me! I couldn’t reach you or Horror Old Liu. I thought you two had a private grudge match and got detained by the Law Enforcement Team for brawling. I was just thinking about whether I should go ask around at the local police stations.”

“Your dad called me to ask where you were, and I told him you’d been with me these past two days… Brother, if you hadn’t shown up, I wouldn’t have known how to explain things to your dad.”

Receiving Zhao Haotian’s call made Xie Sui realize that he hadn’t checked in with his family since leaving the Yin-Yang Gap. To his friends and family, he had been missing for three days.

Xie Sui said apologetically, “Sorry, Old Zhao. After I found Old Liu the day before yesterday, we went to a nearby mountain to film some footage and just got back down today. The signal on the mountain was probably bad, so I didn’t get your calls. Thanks for covering for me with my dad, otherwise he definitely would have been worried.”

“A mountain? Is there even a mountain in Xiangcheng that doesn’t have a signal?” Zhao Haotian’s voice sounded very confused, but he didn’t dwell on it too much. “Whatever, as long as you’re okay. Next time you go to a place without a signal, remember to tell your family in advance.”

“Yeah, will do.”

After hanging up, Xie Sui quickly called Xie Fan to let him know he was safe. Fortunately, Old Zhao had covered for him well; Xie Fan thought he was just too busy with work and had forgotten to charge his phone.

After the three of them rested and recovered at the restaurant, it was already around one in the afternoon.

They were currently near Bihu Park. It would take about twenty minutes by car from their location to Shikong Temple.

Xie Sui and Old Liu went to Shikong Temple together, while Xiao Wu, at Old Liu’s request, took their filming equipment back to the hotel.

Even when Old Liu was placing talismans in the Yin-Yang Gap, he had carried a lot of photography gear with him. It seemed he had filmed quite a bit of footage inside the gap.

The scenes within the Yin-Yang Gap could only be captured by attaching Yin-Gathering talismans² to the equipment. To prevent the Yin Qi from dissipating and the footage from being lost, Old Liu had Xiao Wu return to the hotel first to transfer the recorded material onto a computer.

After all, they still had to rely on videos for their livelihood in the future. They could lose anything, but they couldn’t lose the video footage.

While Xiao Wu returned to the hotel to organize the footage, Old Liu and Xie Sui arrived at Shikong Temple.

Shikong Temple was located within a cultural tourism site in Xiangcheng. Locals didn’t need to buy tickets when bringing friends to visit.

After showing his local Xiangcheng ID to the elderly man selling tickets at the entrance, Xie Sui successfully led Old Liu to the foot of the mountain where Shikong Temple was located.

The mountain was well-landscaped, and the temple was situated halfway up. Walking from the foot of the mountain to Shikong Temple required climbing nine hundred and ninety-nine steps. There were no cable cars near Shikong Temple; a normal walk would take about an hour. Fortunately, the stone steps were wide and the slope was gentle, making it easy to walk. Even ten people walking side-by-side wouldn’t feel crowded.

There was a rest platform for tourists midway up the stairs. A giant Buddha statue stood in the center of the platform. From the foot of the mountain, one could see the giant Buddha’s compassionate face looking down.

Because Shikong Temple was very famous in Xiangcheng, and since it was the weekend, many Shijiao believers had driven their families there to offer incense and pray. The parking lot at the foot of the mountain was almost completely full.

Just as Xie Sui was about to walk up the steps with Liu Wuyong, he was stopped. “Boss, I’ll go up first. You wait for me at the bottom. I’ll go tell the monks at Shikong Temple about my former boss creating the Shiduo Hariti myself.”

Liu Wuyong shed his usual decadent appearance, explaining with a serious expression, “You said it yourself just now, my former boss might be a double traitor to both Xuanmen and Shijiao. If someone in Shikong Temple happens to know him and reports my arrival to him, he’ll only think that I’m the one defecting, and it won’t involve you.”

“Boss, you stay hidden behind the scenes. You are the final trump card and the safety guarantee for whether our plan can be implemented smoothly.” As he spoke, Liu Wuyong took out a pair of Bluetooth earphones from his pocket and handed one to Xie Sui. “Keep the phone call active. Please pay close attention to the situation on my end.”

Xie Sui took the earphone. “Alright, be careful.”

Because of Li Duanyuan, Xie Sui subconsciously felt that everyone at Shikong Temple was a good person. Fortunately, he had Liu Wuyong to remind him.

When it came to one’s own life and safety, one could never be too cautious.

While Liu Wuyong was struggling to climb the steps and had not yet contacted him, Xie Sui crouched in a secluded patch of grass at the foot of the mountain where Shikong Temple sat, scrolling through his phone.

He was checking the backend of his livestreaming account.

The three days he spent in the Yin-Yang Gap happened to waste the final three days of his time on the Newbie Streamer Rankings. From now on, when he started a livestream, he would no longer have the platform’s ranking support to boost his visibility.

Xie Sui silently added this debt to the tally of the person who used the Life-Swapping Talisman.

Whether it was the Yin-Yang Gap or Shiduo Hariti, it was all because of that person. That bastard truly left no evil undone.

Xie Sui took a cursory glance. The private messages in his account backend were mostly fans asking when he would go live again, along with some messages from several MCN agencies³. They had noticed the popularity of Xie Sui’s first two livestreams and wanted to sign him.

In simple terms, MCN agencies were companies that incubated internet celebrities. Most of them were predatory, caring only about traffic and treating small streamers like disposable assets. If one signed with them without reading the contract clearly, leaving would not only cost a fortune in penalties, but the account itself might even be seized by them.

Xie Sui naturally ignored the signing invitations sent by these exploitative companies.

After scanning through the private messages and finding no important information, Xie Sui prepared to log out.

However, at that moment, an official platform private message with an automatic “pinned” effect suddenly appeared at the very top of the message list. Along with it came a text message notification.

Xie Sui first clicked on the official private message from the Blue Sea Livestream platform.

The message was long, but summarized simply: he had been selected by a paranormal outdoor exploration variety show to be a Guest Performer for their next episode. He could bring two assistants with him. At the bottom of the message was an electronic contract sent by the variety show’s production team.

A paranormal outdoor exploration variety show… Xie Sui remembered that when he had dinner with Zhao Haotian a few days ago, Old Zhao had mentioned this to him.

Xie Sui never expected that a small streamer like himself, who had only been streaming for two days and hadn’t even reached ten thousand followers, would be selected for such a hit variety show.

Could it be some kind of prank? But who would use an official platform message to pull a prank?

Xie Sui clicked on the electronic contract at the bottom of the message.

The contract was very formal, stamped with the official seal of the variety show’s production company. However, what caught Xie Sui’s attention the most was the appearance fee written in bold. It stated that the appearance fee was 300,000 per day, for a total of seven days of filming, with additional pay for any overtime.

300,000 a day meant 2.1 million for a week… Hiss, were variety shows really this profitable? He was just an ordinary person with no fans or influence; why would this show offer him such a high appearance fee?

Lately, the amounts of money he dealt with started at hundreds of thousands. Xie Sui felt like he was losing his sense of what these numbers meant. It felt as if tens of thousands of yuan were like hundreds to rich people, something they could give away on a whim.

The orphanage where Xie Sui grew up received about 500,000 yuan in annual funding, counting government subsidies and donations from various charities. 500,000 could allow thirty children and four adults to live healthily for a year.

And this two million for seven days was enough for the living expenses of those kids for four years.

Xie Sui read through the contract carefully again and found no predatory clauses. Then, he switched his phone screen to the text message interface.

The text message sent along with the private message was an online signing link from Yayun Entertainment. The electronic contract inside was identical to the one sent by Blue Sea Livestream. As long as Xie Sui signed his name, the contract would take effect immediately.

Although he didn’t know why this variety show had chosen him, for the sake of this appearance fee, Xie Sui would not refuse.

Variety shows were different from acting; they didn’t require professional skills. He wasn’t the type to be overly fastidious; there was no reason to turn down easy money.

Still, Xie Sui was a bit curious, so he searched for Yayun Entertainment on a search engine.

Yayun Entertainment was the production company behind that viral paranormal exploration show.

Looking at the photo of Yayun Entertainment’s largest shareholder, Xie Sui finally understood why the show had bypassed those influential top-tier streamers and chosen a small streamer like him who had only been active for a few days.

He had just met the owner of that photo this morning. It was Zhang Shengrui’s mother, Zhou Yayun.

Zhou Yayun was actually the director of Yayun Entertainment.

Both of Zhang Shengrui’s parents were big shots with names and reputations in the entertainment industry. It would be incredibly easy for them to find someone.

Moreover, Xie Sui’s photo had been captured by the residential villa’s entrance surveillance. His records of working at a television station were completely unconcealed and easy to find.

It seemed his luck hadn’t suddenly turned good. Being selected for the variety show was likely entirely thanks to Zhou Yayun, the company director. This salary of over two million and the opportunity to appear on the show were her thank-you gifts to him.

Zhou Yayun probably saw that he had left immediately after helping her find her child without asking for the one-million-yuan reward and mistakenly thought Xie Sui was the type who didn’t care about money. So, she chose a different way to thank him.

As expected of a big company boss, she really knew how to handle people.

Xie Sui’s originally somewhat gloomy mood was instantly smoothed over by this good news.

Appearing on such a hit variety show would help him expand his influence and accumulate fans, which would only benefit his future livestreams.

There was still a month before the next episode of the variety show began filming. This period was enough for him to deal with the guy using the Life-Swapping Talisman.

Just then, a crackling sound of static suddenly came from the Bluetooth earphone in Xie Sui’s ear.

Xie Sui pressed the earphone and asked with some concern, “Old Liu, is everything okay on your end?”

Old Liu’s panting voice came through the earphone, sounding a bit distorted through the static. “I’m fine? Whew… I’m still climbing the stairs… Boss, I need to take a break… I don’t think the obstacle to our plan is any potential danger, but these damn, endless stone steps… Cough, the monks at Shikong Temple who buy supplies must have amazing physical fitness to climb up and down every day without getting tired.”

In recent years, when he wasn’t on a mission, Liu Wuyong wouldn’t leave the house at all. Having sat in front of a computer editing videos year-round, finishing these nine hundred and ninety-nine steps was equivalent to a whole year’s worth of exercise for him.

Hearing Old Liu’s voice, which was so weak it sounded like he might pass out at any second, Xie Sui quickly comforted him. “Don’t worry, take it slow. Sit down on the steps and catch your breath first.”

The rustling static in his Bluetooth headset persisted, but it wasn’t too piercing.

It’s probably just the quality of the headset, Xie Sui thought. He didn’t pay it much mind and simply turned the volume down a bit.

Just as Xie Sui was about to stand up and stretch his limbs, he suddenly noticed a small figure squatting not far away.

It was a little girl wearing a pink sweater. She looked to be about seven or eight years old, with a fluffy cat hairclip pinned to her head. She held a branch in her hand and was repeatedly poking at the bushes in front of her.

What was this little girl doing here? Had she come to the scenic area to play and gotten separated from her family?

The spot Xie Sui had chosen was very secluded, far from the main paths of the scenic area. There were no trails leading up the mountain nearby. People coming to Shikong Temple to worship and burn incense generally wouldn’t pass through here, nor would they park their cars in this vicinity.

Xie Sui gave a soft sigh and walked over to the little girl.

He naturally had a high level of goodwill toward children. Since he had encountered her, he might as well help.

Old Liu was still sitting on the steps and hadn’t entered Shikong Temple yet. He could use this time to take the little girl to the tourist service area and have the staff there broadcast an announcement to help her find her family.

Xie Sui walked up to the little girl, but she didn’t react at all. Seeing that where Xie Sui stood blocked the bushes in front of her, she silently shuffled back a bit, changed her position, and continued poking the ground with her little wooden stick.

Xie Sui squatted down and lowered his voice. “Little one, are you lost? Shall I take you to find your mommy and daddy?”

The little girl kept her head down and said sullenly, “My mommy told me not to talk to strangers.”

Xie Sui felt a bit helpless.

Having a sense of caution was a good thing, but child, your mother must have also told you not to run around, right? If you had been just a little more obedient, you wouldn’t have ended up lost out here.

“Don’t worry, I’m not a bad person. I won’t hurt you,” Xie Sui soothed gently.

The little girl’s movements in the grass stopped. “Really? You’re really not a bad person, Mister?”

“Yes, I promise you, I definitely won’t hurt you.” Xie Sui reached out his hand to the little girl. “Come with me. Your parents must be very worried that you’re lost.”

The little girl seemed moved. She lightly tossed the small branch aside and looked up at Xie Sui.

It was this single movement of lifting her head that allowed Xie Sui to see the little girl’s face clearly… or rather, it brought the girl’s face into close contact with him.

Her head rolled off her neck and fell right into Xie Sui’s outstretched hands.

An unsettling, nauseating, slimy sensation spread from his palms. Xie Sui felt as if he were holding a mass of flesh that had been left out for a long time and was about to rot. He could faintly feel a sticky liquid sliding through the gaps between his fingers.

The skull facing his palms flipped itself over, revealing its features to Xie Sui.

What met his eyes was a terrifyingly abstract face.

That face, which had been hacked into a mess by a sharp tool, looked like a chaotic doodle scribbled by a child with crayons. Bright red muscle tissue and pale yellow layers of fat were exposed, with white fascia faintly visible. Because there were so many wounds, dozens of deep gashes that reached the bone intertwined, leaving the skin and flesh nearly detached. Pale yellow serous fluid mixed with blood flowed slowly down the wounds, looking like strawberry vanilla ice cream melting slowly in the sun.

Two ulcerated lips parted slightly. Sand and grit fell from the scarlet oral cavity along with blood as a twisted smile appeared on that rotting face.

The girl’s blood-red eyes stared at Xie Sui with pure malice as she said with a smile, “But the mister who cut off my head… he also promised me that he wouldn’t hurt me…”

Translator’s Notes