Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Jiang Lan never expected that his identity would be accidentally exposed at this time.
Xue Meng could have seen it, after all, he was just an ordinary person, he didn’t know much about the demon race, and he didn’t have much contact with the demon race. But Zhang Tianxing was different, he was from Longhu Mountain!!
If Zhang Tianxing knew about it, it meant that Longhu Mountain knew about it.
If Longhu Mountain knew about it, then the Special Management Bureau next door would definitely know about it.
If the Special Management Bureau knew about it then it won’t be long before the Monster Management Bureau next door would also know about it.
In this way, it won’t take long before everyone knew that Taotie had disguised himself as an ordinary little monster and worked as a clerk in the street office!
Then how could he cover his vest?!
Jiang Lan felt dizzy and his brain was about to collapse as soon as he thought a little bit of this. His boyfriend was going to be gone in a minute! He was going to be heartbroken!
He must not let Cool Guy tell anyone!
He quickly adjusted his expression, picked up Xue Meng who was out of his mind, and returned to the cruise ship.
Zhang Tianxing looked at him deeply.
“…”
Jiang Lan coughed lightly, cleared his throat and said, “No need to look for a boat. The situation on the shore is similar to that on the river. It would be safer for you to stay on the boat and watch over the people.”
Zhang Tianxing gave a brief “hmm” and continued to stare at him.
“You guys…” He hesitated as he looked at Suan Ni and Jiao Tu: “Ni Ni, he…”
“It’s just what you think!”
Jiang Lan quickly interrupted him and laughed dryly, “I didn’t want to be too high-profile, so I concealed my identity. I didn’t mean to deceive you. Sorry.”
Zhang Tianxing remained silent, looking at the Suan Ni in his arms with lost eyes.
He was torn between his conscience and his desires.
Suan Ni tilted its head, blinked its golden cat eyes, and meowed at him, with a look of confusion.
Why are you looking at me?
So Zhang Tianxing’s feeling of loss and confusion was healed by this soft and sweet meow!
He silently convinced himself that Ni Ni was clearly a kitten. Not only could he meow, but he could also turn over on his belly to act cute.
The worst that could happen was that it would grow bigger and turn from a cute kitten into a cute big cat.
Size didn’t matter.
No matter whether it was a big cat or a small cat, as long as he could give it a rub, it was a good cat!
Was there anything perfect in this world? Only when you are content can you be happy.
Zhang Tianxing quickly prepared himself mentally and accepted his new identity as Suan Ni. His fluctuating emotions gradually calmed down and he became a cool guy again.
He nodded to Jiang Lan: “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
“Thanks.”
Jiang Lan immediately breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Cool Brother’s ability to accept things was really great.
I hope my boyfriend can also remain so calm when he finds out the truth!
The two of them were talking in circles, leaving Xue Meng beside them completely confused.
He looked at this and that, felt confused and said: “What are you talking about? What do you mean by hiding your identity? Jiang Lan is not only a demon–“
He stopped talking in the middle of his speech, then realized belatedly that Zhang Tianxing should have seen Jiang Lan’s look just now.
He immediately looked at Zhang Tianxing in disbelief: “Don’t you want to express your opinion on what just happened…” He paused, unable to find the right words to describe the scene just now, so he could only gesture with his hands and feet: “Would you like to express your opinion on what just happened?”
When such a huge beast becomes your colleague, shouldn’t you scream in surprise to show respect?
Why isn’t Cool Brother surprised at all???
This is unscientific.
Is the knowledge about existence of monsters already so common?!
Zhang Tianxing looked at him coldly: “What do you think?”
Xue Meng: …
Awesome, cool guy is awesome.
Xue Meng shut his mouth honestly, thinking that Cool Brother is indeed different from ordinary people like us.
Jiang Lan understood his expression, and while trying to hold back his laughter, he finally couldn’t help but tell him the truth: “Zhang Tianxing’s hometown is in Longhu Mountain…”
“I know that.” Xue Meng was puzzled: “Didn’t he bring us some local specialties before?”
“I haven’t finished yet.” Jiang Lan continued what he had just said: “… in the Tianshi Mansion of Longhu Mountain.”
“???”
Xue Meng’s small eyes were filled with great doubts: “Is it the Tianshi Mansion that I understand? The one that catches monsters?”
Jiang Lan: “Yeah.”
Xue Meng: …
This time he was silent for a long time, and then he sighed and said with emotion: “Times have really changed. The demon-catching celestial masters can become colleagues and friends with the demons. This is indeed a harmonious society.”
Jiang Lan & Zhang Tianxing: …
The joke successfully eased the weird atmosphere on the river. Jiang Lan solved the hidden danger of falling off his horse and got back to business.
He repeatedly told them to stay on the cruise ship and told Jiao Tu, “If there is any danger on the cruise ship, you take them ashore.”
Jiao Tu poked his little head out of his jeweled shell and agreed solemnly: “I understand, Fifth Brother, don’t worry.”
Xue Meng exclaimed again: “Isn’t it said to be a sea snail? Why does it have horns?”
And this doesn’t look like a snail, does it?
He looked at Jiang Lan accusingly: “What else is real in this world?”
The colleagues are fake, and the colleagues’ pets are fake too.
Jiang Lan patted his dog’s head with a kind smile and said, “I’ll give you a copy of Shan Hai Jing[1] when we get back. Read it more often when you have time.”
Xue Meng: …
He was walking slowly and talking.
After both parties reached a consensus, Jiang Lan jumped into the water again.
Since just now, there had been no movement from Fourth Brother and the people from the Monster Management Bureau. Long Bing and others were nowhere to be seen either. Jiang Lan thus felt vaguely worried, so he changed back into his original form and searched for them one boat at a time.
After looking at dozens of boats, Jiang Lan soon saw three or four empty boats not far away but with no people on them.
So far, ordinary tourists had been staying on the boat to “watch the show”. The only boat without anyone at this time should either be the boat of the Monster Management Bureau or the boat of Long Bing and his friends.
Jiang Lan was about to dive into the water to continue searching when he felt a figure approaching him quietly from the side and back.
He pretended not to notice and gathered his strength secretly until the person approached. Just as he was about to fight back, he was firmly grasped by the person’s claws.
Bi’an sighed and whispered, “It’s me.”
Huh?
Jiang Lan retracted his claws, turned his head and looked, and it was indeed his fourth brother.
“Where are the others?” Jiang Lan asked.
“Don’t worry about them, just follow me.” Bi’an gestured for him to follow and then dived into the water.
Bi’an was in front and Jiang Lan was behind.
The two brothers went along the Ling River. Jiang Lan felt the resistance of the water flow around them and guessed that they were moving upstream at this time.
Sure enough, after a long time, Bi’an gestured to stop, hid behind a huge rock at the bottom of the river, and motioned Jiang Lan to look up.
The Ling River should have been pitch black at night, but at this moment, clusters of green flames were floating on the river surface, illuminating the dark river surface, as if even the temperature of the river water had become scorching hot.
Looking up through the swaying waves, you could vaguely see a figure swaying on the river surface – it was a woman walking barefoot on the river surface, wearing a white long dress, with long black hair hanging down to her ankles, and the ends of her hair swaying slightly with her movements.
Clusters of blue flames surrounded her, falling into the water as she hummed the ancient tune. Ripples spread across the river surface, and the water beneath the river was also shaking.
“What is she doing?” Jiang Lan mouthed.
In addition to this woman, he could also sense several other auras on the river, but there was no presence of Long Bing and others.
But the timing of this group of people’s appearance was so coincidental… Jiang Lan didn’t think they just happened to run into each other.
He looked at Bi’an in confusion, waiting for his fourth brother to explain it to him.
Bi’an shook his head and motioned for him to follow him and move away a little. After making sure that they would not be noticed by the people on the river, he explained the whole story to him.
“Tonight’s incident was a diversion. Long Bing was deliberately diverting our attention in order to cover up the actions of these people.”
The Monster Bureau had always been on guard against Long Bing and his men, and after Long Bing took the initiative to mention coming to Nancheng, they did not dare to take it lightly. Later, a strange white fog appeared on the river surface, and Bi’an’s first reaction was that there was indeed something fishy, so he naturally sent some people to keep an eye on Long Bing, while the others went to find reinforcements or to explore the source of the white fog.
Bi’an also secretly followed Long Bing at first, but after following Long Bing around on the river for a few turns, he gradually realized that something was wrong.
Long Bing’s meaningless actions could be explained as them planning some conspiracy, but they could also be understood as… they were deliberately creating confusion and dragging them down.
After Bi’an confirmed that the little demon sent out to report the news had lost contact, he was almost certain that Long Bing and others were deliberately creating confusion and intentionally dispersing their manpower to trap them on the river so that they could not spare the manpower and energy to pay attention to other things.
And there must be other movements in places they couldn’t notice!
After realizing this, Bi’an immediately arranged for other people to disguise themselves as him and continue to stare at Long Bing, while he himself escaped and went to other places to look for abnormalities.
As a result, when he found the upstream, he ran into this group of people.
“That woman…if I’m not mistaken, it should be Nüba.” Bi’an’s expression was slightly stern: “It is said that she helped Huangdi defeat Chiyou in the Battle of Zhulu. Because she was too exhausted to return to the upper world, she stayed in the lower world to recuperate. After that, she lived deep in the northern desert and rarely interacted with others. Later…there was no news from her gradually.”
Nüba carried the energy of fire and had a special physique. Wherever she passed, there would be no rain, and where she stayed for a long time, there would be severe drought.
Therefore, some people called her the “Goddess of Drought”.
From this name, you could see how great the harm caused by the appearance of Nüba was.
Nüba, who had been missing for many years, suddenly showed up in Jiangcheng and might even be involved with Long Bing and others. Even Bi’an had to think more about it.
Jiang Lan pondered for a moment, and told Bi’an what Hai An said: “Could the organization that contacted Long Bing be this group of people?”
“It’s very likely.” Bi’an’s face was solemn: “But what common interests do they have that can tie the two parties together?”
People like Long Bing would not get up early unless there was something beneficial in it for him. He would never do anything that did not benefit him.
What did Long Bing want? What could Nüba and the others have promised him?
Jiang Lan couldn’t figure it out either. He looked up at the flickering fire on the river and said, “Let’s see what they are looking for first.”
The other party joined forces with Long Bing and went to great lengths to set up a confusing formation just to divert the attention of the Monster Management Bureau. What they were looking for must be very important.
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[1] The Classic of Mountains and Seas, also known as Shanhai jing formerly romanized as the Shan-hai Ching is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts.