Chapter 31 Goodbye

I rushed to check on Jin Wantang’s condition.

Poker-Face and Fatty had blood all over their hands, and as I looked at the amount of blood, I knew right away that it was over.

Even if we were in the ICU, they may not be able to save him.

Jin Wantang looked at me with his eyes wide open, completely speechless.

My mind was spinning fast as I wondered if there was any way to boost morale, any glimmer of hope. But no, there wasn’t.

At this time, Jin Wantang smiled, grabbed Fatty, and pointed to his crotch.

“Tang Tang!” Fatty cried. “This isn’t the time for any of your shenanigans!”

Jin Wantang reached into his crotch himself, pulled out a string of Buddhist prayer beads, and then handed them to me.

As I took the prayer beads, I noticed that they were very expensive, probably valued at more than three hundred thousand yuan. Jin Wantang must’ve usually worn them, but after being tied up, he secretly tucked them into his crotch to hide them.

I knew he wasn’t giving me an inheritance.

“Little Master Three, send me off.” The light in Jin Wantang’s eyes was fading. He knew that I had studied this kind of thing in Tibet, and we even used to joke that when any of us were about to depart this world, I could use this to collect the last fee.

I took his hand and began to chant a Buddhist scripture.

I had learned a lot of scriptures when I was in Tibet, including some that were used when someone was on their deathbed. I was completely focused as I chanted, watching as the light in his eyes slowly dimmed and then completely disappeared.

He kept whispering these words, “I am not content.”

After three minutes, he completely lost consciousness, and I knew that in another three or four minutes, he would be brain dead. But in those few seconds, he suddenly came to his senses, sat up, and then gave the shrine a fierce look.

Jin Wantang’s revival only lasted a few seconds, but his expression was extremely confused during that time. Based on the way he was looking at the shrine, he seemed to notice something appear in the direction of the shrine.

Eventually, he lay back down and soon stopped breathing altogether.

I ignored his strange behavior and just kept chanting the scripture before letting go. Fatty’s face was ashen as he wiped the blood off of his hands and lit himself a cigarette.

I glanced at Poker-Face. He neatly arranged Jin Wantang’s hands and feet and then closed his eyes.

At this time, I began to smell the pungent scent of blood hanging in the air. Poker-Face looked back at the gap in the stone below and said, “Retreat to the edge of the shrine.”

The three of us dragged Jin Wantang’s body to the edge of the shrine and then Poker-Face squatted down to look at the gap with his flashlight. Fatty finally spoke up at this time, “Little Brother couldn’t even hear this person coming, which means that this person is very powerful.”

“It’s not a person.” When I said this, Poker-Face nodded and then continued looking into the gap.

At this time, he suddenly made a series of strange noises that were similar to the sounds bugs made. The sound penetrated deep into the gap and resonated within.

After doing this a few more times, we heard a response come from deep within the gap.

Gegegegegege.

Fatty rolled over and sat up but Poker-Face raised his hand in a silent gesture for him not to move.

He was testing to see whether there was a corpse-eater king inside the bodies.

The response came a few more times and then slowly faded away.

“Stay within three feet of me,” he said. “This thing is very powerful.”

As Fatty and I exchanged a glance, I couldn’t help wondering if this was what Qi Yu was. Poker-Face looked at me and said, “It’s very similar to me.”

I looked at him and suddenly realized what he meant.

Qi Yu had the characteristics of someone who had undergone too many experiments back then. Did he withstand all those experiments only to fail right before achieving success? So, although he had become a monster, he was very similar to Poker-Face.

“But this thing’s still not as good as you, right?” I asked.

Poker-Face looked at the gap and stopped answering me, but I noticed that his expression had a kind of gravity to it that I hadn’t seen for a long time. “Don’t worry,” Fatty said from the side. “At most, this little monster can be regarded as an original knock-off while Little Brother is the platinum name brand.”

I went over to keep watch with Poker-Face, but he immediately shook his head and told me to rest.

I leaned back against a stone and looked at him. I didn’t know what he was looking at, but he seemed very concerned about the gap.

I still couldn’t seem to come to terms with the fact that Jin Wantang was really gone. There were many people in our lives whom we couldn’t really determine just how important they were to us, but they were like landmarks in our life, ones that had huge significance. When they left, it felt like you had lost a huge piece of your life.

I glanced at Old Jin’s corpse and said to him, “You go find the way first. You know I’ll always come in the end.”

Fatty also looked over at him, the corners of his lips curling up a bit. He communicated with Jin Wantang more than I did, so I figured he was feeling a little uncomfortable right now.

At this time, Poker-Face suddenly raised his hand.

We all straightened up and held our breath.

We couldn’t hear anything, but Poker-Face obviously heard something that required him to focus all of his attention. He looked at the gap and pointed to the gun beside him.

Fatty and I both grabbed our guns in unison, Fatty settling himself into a standard wide stance while holding the gun level with both hands. This was a posture used when you were preparing to shoot for more than a minute.

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