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Hearing that Master Xiao was also coming, I felt a surge of happiness. At least someone would be there to help with the dirty and tiring work. I chuckled and said to Brother Zhou, "I'll introduce you to a funny friend tomorrow." Brother Zhou's expression changed slightly, but he smiled brightly and replied, "That sounds great."
Master and Master Zhang walked ahead, while Xiaorou followed closely behind them. Brother Zhou turned back to walk with me. I glanced at Tsuchiya again, my mind wandering to what had happened inside. Were those two corpses still there?
On the way, Master called Master Pan, only to find out that his phone was off. While Master would turn off his phone when he slept, his disciple wouldn’t do the same. I quickly took out my phone and called Master Xiao; this guy never had the habit of turning off his phone while sleeping.
After a beep, the call connected. He probably wasn’t asleep yet and was still playing around.
"Liu the Boss, calling me in the dead of night? Feeling lonely?" Master Xiao's lazy voice came through, tinged with a hint of excitement.
"Master Xiao, your master is asleep. Can you wake him up? My Master needs to talk to him about something," I said.
"Sure, hold on a second. He’s already asleep; I’ll go wake him up." After Master Xiao said that, I heard the sound of a door opening.
I handed the phone to Master. After he answered, he just grunted in response when I told him to wait a moment because Master Pan was already asleep and Xiao X was going to wake him up.
Before long, Master said, "Old Pan? I've run into a tough situation that I can't handle. Can you come over tomorrow? Yeah, it's a bit far—over in Luzhi. Right, okay." In just a few short sentences, without even mentioning what had happened this time, Master Pan agreed to come over tomorrow. That was trust—a trust built over many years of interaction.
...
The next day at noon, we went back to Tsuchiya once more. Master and Master Zhang had gone to visit some local friends and didn’t come along. Only Brother Zhou, Xiaorou, and I were there. This time we went straight into the house; during the day, we weren’t afraid of ghosts. Besides, there wasn’t much in there; the copper lock looked a bit strange, and we didn’t know what was inside that room. Should we break it open and take a look?
Brother Zhou glanced at the copper lock and nodded. "I'll go find a rock." Just then, Xiaorou walked over and said, "Don’t break it! What if that room is used by the owner or nearby people to store some discarded items? If you break their lock, they might think you're trying to steal something."
"Um... I don't think anyone would store junk in this place, right?" A slight tingling sensation spread through my hand as I rubbed it against my clothes and asked.
Brother Zhou replied, "Not necessarily. There are rice fields nearby, and some locals like to store straw and corn stalks in places like this, planning to come back for them later. It's quite normal to find a couple of locks here. I think we should leave it alone for now and come back when it's necessary."
That made sense. I looked around again; there was nothing particularly special here, so we decided to head back. As we stepped out of the door, I noticed Xiaorou holding that small jar. I asked her what she was doing with it, and she said there were a few unformed Insects of Sorcery inside. I leaned closer to the jar, staring at it for a long time before saying, "Where? I can't see anything." The tingling sensation in my hand was slowly turning into an itch. It felt like it was coming from deep within my skin, even from my muscles or bones. This sensation made me keep rubbing my hand against my body, desperately trying to find the itchy spot to scratch, but I just couldn't locate it.
Xiaorou said, "You probably can't see them well; they're still eggs and pose no threat. I'll take them back and see if I can hatch something. Hehe. What's wrong with your hand?"
I replied that it was a bit itchy but I didn't know why. Maybe I had come into contact with something that caused an allergic reaction.
The plants on the mountain were numerous and varied; many could cause skin allergies upon contact, like poison ivy. Some leaves hid caterpillars that could cause swelling and extreme itching when touched. These were all potential threats lurking in the mountains.
Xiaorou pointed to the wall on the right and said, "There's water behind there; you should wash your hands."
I walked around to the back of the wall and found a large water tank there. The top was badly damaged, but the bottom remained intact, filled with plenty of rainwater that looked clear. I bent down to wash my hands. If I had touched something that caused an allergy, washing with water would help prevent it from lingering on my skin too long.
Just as my hand touched the water, a piercing pain shot through it as if I had plunged my hand into boiling water. I quickly pulled my hand back and looked down in shock; my entire hand was red from the wrist down. This terrified me, and I exclaimed, "What the hell is this?"
Brother Zhou and Xiaorou, who were about to leave, rushed over when they heard me shout. Upon seeing my bright red hands, they both looked a bit flustered. Brother Zhou grabbed me and started walking away while saying, "You might have been cursed by something; let's head back to town and find someone to take a look." Xiaorou asked, "How does your hand feel now?"
I said, "It feels numb; I can't feel anything at all. What is this? Why is it so severe?" Then I pinched it with my right hand but still felt nothing. At that moment, fear gripped me—was my left hand going to be useless?
Xiaorou's expression turned slightly awkward as she said, "It might be a Water Bug; that lock you touched definitely has issues, and the water in that tank isn't good either. Someone probably placed it there on purpose."
My goodness, what kind of scheme is this? What on earth have I encountered this time? I haven't even engaged yet and I've already fallen victim.
On the way back, my consciousness became increasingly hazy, and I felt drowsy all over. My eyelids felt as heavy as lead, and the bumpy road made me feel extremely uncomfortable in the van. I felt nauseous but couldn't throw up. Everything seemed to spin around me. After a few more minutes, I could barely keep my eyes open; my left hand had lost all sensation and was shaking uncontrollably. I tried hard to control it, but it was utterly futile. A buzzing noise started in my head, and it was an unbearable feeling.
Brother Zhou drove quickly through the village and onto the smooth main road. Xiaorou sat beside me, anxiously asking, "Brother Liu, what's wrong? What's happening? Don't worry, we'll be in the city soon." Master Zhou was driving while calling his master, quickly describing what had happened. As I listened to Brother Zhou's hurried voice, my consciousness finally began to fade away, and I passed out.
When I woke up, it was already evening, and I was awakened by pain. I opened my eyes and looked around; there were many people standing nearby. Besides my master and Brother Zhou, Xiaorou was there too, along with Master Xiao and Master Pan. There was also a stranger who appeared to be in his fifties or sixties. He wore a black Tang suit with knotted buttons made of fabric. The outfit was adorned with golden prints depicting various insects—scorpions, centipedes, ants, caterpillars, and so on.
Later, I learned that this man was Xiaorou's master, who had been invited to help me with the poison.
"You're awake! You're really awake!" Master Xiao exclaimed when he saw me open my eyes, nearly scaring me back into unconsciousness.
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