Chapter 29: A Predicament?

"Li Dashan, Li Dahai... let me check." The young man, looking like a street hood, swiped his finger across his phone screen. "Found it. Go wait on the bus; it departs in ten minutes."

"Understood, thank you for the trouble."

Li Qingxia replied and was the first to step through the bus doors.

Li Chenqiu cast a subtle glance at the young man before stepping onto the bus himself. The moment he ducked his head to enter, a chilling sensation that made his heart tremble surged from the soles of his feet.

Li Chenqiu paused for a split second before recovering his composure. He walked calmly behind Li Qingxia and took an empty seat in the last row.

The bus had about forty seats, and with only two or three vacant, it was nearly full.

Li Chenqiu lowered his eyes to look out the window, his brow furrowing involuntarily.

Ever since boarding, his heart rate had inexplicably increased, and his nerves had tightened as if his body were sensing a threat, signaling him from all directions to remain vigilant. Yet, there was nothing unusual in the carriage; some were sleeping, some were on their phones, and others were chatting. Everything seemed peaceful.

"Hey, the part-time job I found is pretty great, right? They even provide a shuttle!" Li Qingxia nudged Li Chenqiu with his elbow.

Li Chenqiu crossed his arms and shrank back into his seat. "My second brother is truly impressive. In City 11, there’s nothing you can't..."

Suddenly, Li Chenqiu’s voice cut off. His pupils constricted sharply as he turned to look at the seats across the aisle.

There, a young man with half-rimmed glasses and a scholarly appearance sat by the window, scrolling through short videos with an air of boredom.

Just a moment ago, Li Chenqiu had sensed someone watching him. He knew that feeling well—it was cold and carried a faint trace of murderous intent, just like the gaze he had encountered at the inn last time.

Noticing Li Chenqiu’s odd behavior, Li Qingxia asked, "What’s wrong with you?"

"I saw a familiar friend. I’m going to go say hello," Li Chenqiu replied casually. He slid out of his seat and sat down next to the young man.

The young man glanced at Li Chenqiu with surprise before returning to his phone as if nothing had happened.

Li Qingxia shook Li Chenqiu’s arm from across the aisle, gesturing with his eyes toward the scholarly-looking man, his face filled with confusion.

Li Chenqiu shook his head, signaling Li Qingxia not to meddle.

"Tch," Li Qingxia pouted, turned his head away, and stopped paying attention to him.

Time ticked by. Within ten minutes, several more men boarded, filling every seat in the carriage.

The young man who had organized the trip walked onto the bus and shouted, "We're leaving! Everyone buckle up."

He sat in the driver's seat, warmed up the engine for a moment, and then floored the gas, driving toward North Huangshan.

After buckling his seatbelt, Li Chenqiu glanced at the young man beside him. Seeing no reaction, he rested his chin on his hand and stared at him silently.

A minute later, a look of annoyance appeared on the young man's face. He said softly, "I’m not gay."

Li Chenqiu grinned. "I’m not gay either."

"Then why do you keep staring at me?" the young man asked, adjusting his glasses without turning his head.

"Hmm, because you were peeking at me, too!" Li Chenqiu’s eyes curved slightly. "Have you forgotten about the time at the inn?"

At these words, the young man’s hand, which had been scrolling through videos, paused, though his expression remained perfectly calm. He put down his phone and looked at Li Chenqiu with a puzzled expression. "What inn? Am I out of my mind, checking into a room with another man?"

Li Chenqiu’s expression did not change. He asked in a low voice, "Tell me, what did the circled date of April 16th mean at the inn, and what are you planning to do at North Huangshan?"

"Are you sick in the head? What circled April 16th? And what do you mean, what am I doing at North Huangshan? I'm just here for a part-time job, what do you think I'm doing?" the young man retorted bluntly.

"Do you really think I can't kill you, Awakened?" Li Chenqiu’s expression turned icy. He grabbed the young man's hand and sliced it open with his fingertip.

The young man’s pupils flickered as he clenched his fist to pull away, but Li Chenqiu’s grip was like a crab’s claw—unshakable. Two seconds later, the skin around the wound rippled slightly and healed in the blink of an eye, leaving only fresh blood as proof that the event had not been a hallucination.

"Judging by your strength, you're only at the Second Prohibition level. What gives you the right to lie to me? Answer what I ask, understood?" Li Chenqiu smiled brightly.

The corners of the young man’s mouth curled up. "Are you with the Special Ability Bureau or the Security Bureau?"

"Do you not understand your current situation?" Li Chenqiu countered.

"Do you?" A trace of contempt flashed in the young man’s eyes.

The moment he finished speaking, dozens of gazes converged on Li Chenqiu, and his heart rate accelerated.

Hearing the rapid thumping of Li Chenqiu’s heart, the young man laughed with satisfaction. "Your heart is beating so fast—I can hear it. It seems you don't know anything; you're just a fool who happened to stumble here. You take your money, we do our work, and we'll stay out of each other's way. Don't try to cause any trouble, or even if you have the strength of a top-tier Third Prohibition, you'll die."

The young man gave a mocking smile, pulled his hand away, and went back to his short videos as if nothing had happened.

But what the young man didn't know was that a racing heart can mean two things: fear, or excitement.

Within Li Chenqiu’s dark eyes, a subtle, barely perceptible spark of excitement flickered—a trace of something bordering on madness. Long-held repression and surging hatred had subtly altered his inner self; madness was the deepest shade of his soul.

...

...

After half an hour, the bus finally reached the mountaintop. Following the driver’s instructions, everyone filed off the bus.

It was an open-air parking lot next to a six-story hotel. Once the two hundred or so people disembarked, they were led to an open area by a middle-aged man.

Li Chenqiu stood at the back of the crowd with Li Qingxia, scanning the others as if he were looking at stacks of federal currency.

"Little Qiu, what was that about on the bus? Why were you suddenly being stared at by so many people?" Li Qingxia whispered, head bowed.

"More than half of the forty-some people on that bus are Awakened. They're all in the same group. I offended one of them, which is why the rest started watching me," Li Chenqiu said nonchalantly.

"Oh, so they're Awakened, no won—wait, what?" Li Qingxia turned his head in shock.

Li Chenqiu nodded calmly. "Don't be nervous. They aren't particularly strong; if they were, I’d have goosebumps. One of them could sense my strength, but he wasn't panicked, which is interesting."

"You..." Li Qingxia swallowed hard, pulled Li Chenqiu a few steps back, and whispered, "Doesn't that mean they’re going to come for us later?"

"Maybe, but not right now. They’re likely here to carry out a mission and don’t want to be exposed just yet," Li Chenqiu speculated.

"Then... we should contact the Special Ability Bureau immediately..."

"North Huangshan is right against the city wall bordering the uninhabited zone, and we're on a mountaintop. Do you really think your phone has a signal? We’d need a satellite phone, but I suspect even those won't work. If I can think of that, they definitely have too. So... let’s wait and see."