Chapter 25 No Choice

Fatty went to Qiu Dekao’s camp again and came back with two rifles. I didn’t bother thinking about it as we set off immediately with Fatty leading the way.

It took much longer going over the mountain than it did going down through the ground. Fortunately, Fatty had walked through it before and knew a lot about it. He led the team all the way and hardly spoke. I didn’t even have a chance to tell him my real identity.

I had never seen Fatty like this before, so I felt even more uneasy. The way he traveled seemed to indicate that he was very anxious, but he didn’t appear to be when he and I discussed the whole process beforehand. Did he really have something to hide from me?

I didn’t dare ask, but I had to keep going. We went over the ridge that was across from the lake and arrived at a place I had never been to before. Fatty took us down while saying that there was a shortcut here. Once we climbed down and went into the valley, Fatty jumped into the grass and disappeared.

I didn’t expect the grass to be so thick and thought it was impossible. I jumped like Fatty and passed right through it, tumbling straight down. There turned out to be a tunnel underneath.

“Little Brother found it. It’s awesome. This ancient road was built on top of the valley using a huge wooden frame. But it’s so old that it ended up covered with grass. It would have been easier to walk on top of it originally, but the grass is too thick now. The grass below, however, didn’t get much sunlight and didn’t grow as much, so it’s easier to walk and relatively flat. It ends right by the entrance.”

The sun shone through some gaps above, but it wasn’t completely dark inside. We could even see that the ground was full of large and small pieces of rubble. It wasn’t the best way to go, but it was better than hanging on a cliff.

“After walking more than ten miles from here, I made a mark and went up the mountain. It wasn’t far from the big tree at the entrance,” Fatty said. “It’s very humid further on so we might as well rest here. After that, we won’t stop until we get to the entrance.”

As everyone sat down one right after another, Fatty winked at me and said, “Master Three, may I have a word?”

Fatty and I went further in and came to a place where a big stone lay. The two of us turned around and he squatted down.

I didn’t know what he was going to do, so I squatted down with him. He immediately pinched my face and tugged so much that it almost made me burst into tears

“What are you doing?” I scolded him.

“Mr. Naive, your original face is pretty. Why do you need to be the same as your Uncle Three?” Fatty whispered.

I was surprised, “How can you tell?”

“You act so stupidly. You think just because others can’t see it doesn’t mean I can?” Fatty asked me. “Do you think I was really fooled when you talked to me? My heart is like lightning after all. I already knew what was going on.”

“Then you should have said so earlier. I couldn’t find a chance to talk to you,” I said before starting to explain Xiao Hua’s plan to him.

“Shit, if you didn’t tell me, I wouldn’t know what your plan is. Of course I’ll cooperate with you. And don’t you know that your doctor is interested in your Uncle Three? When taking care of me, she treated me like a tree stump. When she had nothing to do, she would talk to me while I was half asleep. It was very annoying.” Fatty looked over there. “Do you know what she said? It’s too sickening. I’m considered the world leader of sourness, but her love for your Uncle Three has made even my teeth ache. Luckily, I was too tired and could still fall asleep while she was talking. Otherwise, I would have strangled her first. She said she thinks you’ve changed. I didn’t know what your situation was, so I decided not to say anything.”

I relaxed a little and was just about to start talking when he motioned me not to and said, “It’s useless to say more. You know I know who you are. If I ask you one thing, you have to answer me.”

“What?”

“Can you trust that Master Hua?”

I wondered why he asked that but I still nodded, “He helped me a lot. I think he can be trusted.”

“Have you checked him out? Is he really your childhood friend?”

“I’m sure of that. What’s the matter?”

“Have you seen the old photos of the Mystic Nine?”

I shook my head. I really didn’t know anything about it so I said, “Just tell me, what’s wrong?”

Fatty paused before saying, “It’s fine. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. I just don’t think he’s very reliable in giving you this idea.”

I didn’t think Fatty was lying, so I said, “But there really wasn’t anything I could do at that time. Otherwise, I couldn’t have come to save you.”

“There were some difficulties, but it may not have necessarily been as difficult as he said,” Fatty said with a wave of his hand. “But I still want to thank him. This matter… forget I asked about it. We don’t have too much time to think so let’s get things straightened out first.”

I remembered my own worries and quickly asked, “About Poker-Face, you didn’t lie to me, did you? I keep feeling like you’re not telling the truth.”

Fatty patted me and said, “I could have hurt you long ago, so why wait until today?”

That was true, but Fatty had lied to me more than once or twice. “Just because you won’t hurt me doesn’t mean you won’t lie,” I responded.

“Mr. Naive, you don’t understand.” Fatty pointed behind him. “You trust everyone and you pour your heart out when you see them. I’m not like you. I don’t trust anyone behind us.”

“What does this have to do with trust?”

“It matters a lot.” Fatty said, “I saw much more in that mirror than I told you, but I can’t tell you now. You have to find a chance to spend some alone time with me.”

I looked behind me and found that both Leather Bag and Mute Sister were looking over at us as if they were curious.

“See?” Fatty said. “The people here don’t trust anyone and watch each other.”

I was uncomfortable with Fatty’s remarks, but he continued anyway, “I didn’t want to expose you, but we’re going this way instead of climbing through the crevices. I must remind you that you shouldn’t be surprised at anything that happens from the moment you enter this mountain.”

“Will anything strange happen?”

“Anything can happen here,” Fatty said primly. “The evil spirit of the Zhang family’s ancient building affects many things, so it’s not surprising that anything can happen.”

<Chapter 24> <Table of Contents><Chapter 26>

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Updated 2/7/2021