Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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A light rain fell in the evening, the air was a little humid; the main road outside the airport was covered with anti-slip mats, red and very eye-catching.
Bai Ju found a secluded corner, transformed back into human form, put on a pair of sunglasses, and stood with Xiao Yao by the roadside at the exit to observe.
“Sun Daiyang isn’t very popular, and he came out on his own this time, so he won’t use the VIP exit.” Xiao Yao pointed to the bustling airport exit, a road leading down the mountain, and about a kilometer away was the shopping mall.
“He came in a hurry, so he probably didn’t make an appointment for accommodation, there’s a fast check-in point at the shopping mall, he should go there.”
Bai Ju looked in the direction Xiao Yao pointed.
They had come earlier because of a raffle ticket, and Xiao Yao had arranged many things in advance, so Bai Ju hadn’t bothered with such details.
Bai Ju remembered Sun Daiyang’s scent quite well; he should still be inside the airport.
Bai Ju pulled Xiao Yao behind him, and after waiting quietly for a while, they spotted a man wearing a baseball cap and dragging a yellow suitcase in the emerging crowd— it was Sun Daiyang.
Bai Ju frowned, created a soundproof barrier around them, and then said, “He’s lost a lot of weight.”
Xiao Yao nodded, adding, “He has an aura of death about him; he won’t live much longer.”
Sun Daiyang’s life was ordinary and full of hardships; theoretically, he was the type who could be saved with a little effort, not someone destined to die young. He shouldn’t have an aura of death about him.
“The person who asked Sun Daiyang to cause the accident wanted to kill him to cover it up,” Bai Ju calculated. “At this rate, he should be dead in a week.”
“By then, it’ll be roughly on the return flight. If the other side doesn’t want to leave any evidence, the easiest thing to do is ‘plane crash,’ using a group accident to cover up one person’s abnormality.”
Xiao Yao’s expression wasn’t good.
He originally thought that the person behind him had some self-awareness in targeting the Turtle Valley Island inheritance, not trying to make a scene by causing an accident; now he realized something was wrong, and things had gotten serious.
If the other side really targeted Sun Daiyang on the plane, the entire plane’s passengers would be killed.
If they hadn’t arrived at Turtle Valley Island earlier—
Xiao Yao took a deep breath, feeling a bit nauseous. In some people’s eyes… other people’s lives really were the cheapest thing.
“Let’s go.” Bai Ju pulled Xiao Yao’s arm, and the two quietly followed behind Sun Daiyang.
“There’s no sign of this death aura. When we last contacted him, he hadn’t yet been implanted with the source of death aura.” Bai Ju analyzed, “He must have had contact with the person behind him during this time, perhaps in the Chinese town, or even on this flight.”
“The one who cast the death aura might not be the person himself. I tend to guess it was a puppet, or an object arranged in advance in some way, the kind that can cast a curse as long as the person uses or touches it in sequence.” Bai Ju sniffed the air. “Sun Daiyang isn’t someone they’d spend a lot of money on, but he could definitely be used as a trigger for a large-scale bloodshed.”
“He still has some hallucinogenic drug smells on him, it’s a pill, not some common poison, so it shouldn’t be detectable by ordinary means… but his mental state is definitely not right.” Bai Ju’s gaze swept over the back of Sun Daiyang’s hand, which was pulling the suitcase. He noticed the abnormally bulging veins and bones and could almost hear the cracking of the joints under the strain.
Xiao Yao pursed his lips, his gaze following the direction Old Dog Bai pointed in. Sure enough, he found Sun Daiyang’s hands clenched tightly. It wasn’t so much that he was using too much force, but rather that his body had almost no strength left.
Although this person was disgusting and had done terrible things, he should be punished by law for his wrongdoings, and it wasn’t up to those parasites behind him to interfere.
The path covered with protective mats at the airport wasn’t long. After walking a short distance, they reached the main road. Then with a wave of his hand, a taxi was flagged down.
Sun Daiyang bent over, his voice a little hoarse, and told the driver the destination. He then went around to the back of the car, put the suitcase in the trunk, opened the door, and bent down to get in.
Bai Ju was certain that he could see the shape of the bones through his clothes.
“It’s been at least three days.” Xiao Yao suddenly came to a conclusion, “It would take at least three days for the death energy to be planted; it’s impossible for it to have such a big impact in just one day.”
From the inside out, from psychological defenses to physical defenses, it shouldn’t collapse so quickly…
“So it was not on this flight.” Xiao Yao jumped up and clung to Bai Ju, “If the thing that planted the death energy isn’t on the plane, we can preliminarily rule out its influence on others… Come on, let’s catch up.”
Bai Ju nudged Xiao Yao’s bottom, then vanished into thin air.
Just as Xiao Yao had predicted, Sun Daiyang had indeed gone to the check-in counter at the mall first. Since most tourists on Turtle Island had made reservations, very few people checked in after arriving on the island, so he didn’t waste much time there. The taxi stopped briefly on the side of the road, and Sun Daiyang, having completed the formalities, returned to the car and headed to his accommodation.
Bai Ju squatted on the trunk lid, with Xiao Yao standing beside him. The two hitched a ride against the wind, methodically taking the opportunity to handle some minor matters.
“How’s Little Fox doing?” Bai Ju, seeing Sun Daiyang, finally remembered that Little Fox hadn’t traveled with them for some time. “Sun Daiyang’s here. Has Qiu Ziran returned to the mainland?”
“No, he hasn’t. Qu Lang originally wanted to arrange for him to go with Shao Simiao.” Xiao Yao rubbed his nose, realizing he’d forgotten about Qiu Ziran too. “But we still don’t know if the people behind this are targeting Sun Daiyang on his own initiative, or if it’s related to him personally. So, after thinking about it, we decided to keep him with us.”
He paused, then glanced at the gaunt Sun Daiyang through the rear window. “…Yesterday, the stand-in Little Fox left outside got a gig. Xiong He told him to prepare a new song, so he stayed home all day composing and writing lyrics. It must have been quite hard work.”
Sun Daiyang, on the other hand, had caught the first wave of talent shows. While not outstanding, he wasn’t without potential for improvement. But all this fussing and struggling had led to his current state.
Bai Ju scratched his chin. “He forged his own path…you can’t expect anyone else to take the blame for his life.”
Xiao Yao sighed, then kicked Bai Ju’s foot. “Sun Daiyang is too lifeless right now, though he appears normal on the surface. What are you planning to do?”
“Should we further control his actions?”
Sun Daiyang, though wicked, was inherently cowardly. He dared to pin the blame on Qiu Ziran to create bloodshed, but he didn’t dare to kill anyone himself, so his actual threat wasn’t that great. Besides, this guy probably realized something was wrong with himself; both his clothing and behavior were trying to hide his abnormally thin physique. Such that his pale face didn’t frighten the driver driving late at night.
Bai Ju glanced at the car window: “Go with him to his residence, confirm where he’s settled, then first remove the death energy, induce sleep, and see if we can remove the remaining hallucinogenic drugs from his body.”
Xiao Yao smiled, “It’s kind to him, but unfortunately he won’t appreciate it.”
Bai Ju nodded silently.
Actually, they both knew it wasn’t a matter of kindness or lack thereof; after all, allowing someone in an abnormal state to roam freely on Turtle Ridge Island would inevitably increase the risk. And besides, a human life was precious, and even if someone deserved to die, it shouldn’t be this way.
Sun Daiyang’s chosen accommodation wasn’t far from the mall, only a ten-minute drive away. It was a budget hotel, among the cheapest on Turtle Ridge Island, its only advantage being its unobstructed view, overlooking more than 20% of the west coast beaches.
His body, implanted with death energy, wasn’t like a normal person’s. Sun Daiyang maintained a facade of normalcy as he entered the room, only to collapse onto the floor, his chest heaving as he gasped for breath, his face pale.
“Damn it… if it weren’t for that fake talisman seller…” Sun Daiyang tossed his sunglasses aside, shielding his eyes from the light with his hand, forcing out a few words through clenched teeth, his mind filled with resentment towards Jing Xia, the “fake talisman seller.”
Bai Ju remained silent.
When he and Xiao Yao first learned that Sun Daiyang had bought talismans to harm people, they assumed Jing Xia was in cahoots with the person behind it all, so they easily shifted the blame. However, after arriving on Turtle Ridge Island and encountering Jing Xia, they discovered that Jing Xia was merely an unsuspecting middleman.
Sun Daiyang, clearly unaware of the situation, only knew he had been tricked by Jing Xia. He learned from other sources that the talisman seller was on Turtle Ridge Island, which was why he rushed over to demand an explanation.
Bai Ju whispered to Xiao Yao beside him, “I suspect the person behind it treated Jing Xia in a similar way to Sun Daiyang… When Sun Daiyang was no longer of use, they planted death energy in him; and it’s the same with Jing Xia’s talismans. They first sold Jing Xia’s information to Sun Daiyang. If the talismans worked as they expected, they would continue cooperating; but if things went wrong like this, they would lure the half-dead Sun Daiyang here to cause trouble.”
“Jing Xia is a novice sorcerer, but he’s not registered with the Sorcerer’s Association. If something happens on Turtle Ridge Island and causes a negative impact, the Chinese Sorcerer’s Association will suppress and control Jing Xia without the backers even needing to intervene… They’ve got a good plan. If they follow it, they can even play the good cop to Jing Xia and force him to continue cooperating with them.”
Xiao Yao hadn’t expected Old Dog Bai to understand this so well. He looked at him with surprise, then nodded in agreement: “That’s pretty much the plan. They just didn’t expect that we would disrupt Sun Daiyang’s plans from the start, arrive on Turtle Ridge Island before him, and find Jing Xia directly using your sense of smell.”
It was all basically by chance, yet we managed to get involved in every single obstacle.
Bai Ju, lacking any sense of being a lucky dog, simply sighed and said, “So much scheming, so annoying.”
While the two were talking, Sun Daiyang had already gotten up from the floor; he had bought some food on the way to check-in and was now sitting directly on the room floor, tearing open the packaging and wolfing down the food.
He knew his condition was wrong; the speed at which his body was depleting terrified him. Although he was cowardly, his will to survive was strong. Even though his mentally unstable emotions caused him physical anorexia, he had to desperately force himself to eat to replenish his energy.
Xiao Yao glanced at him a few more times and could easily see the source of this fierce determination.
Although he had seen all sorts of shady people, seeing Sun Daiyang like this, Xiao Yao couldn’t help but think that if this ruthlessness were channeled into the right path, Sun Daiyang could definitely carve out a good future for himself.
Many people in the world weren’t truly incapable of improvement, but rather they wasted too much energy on hatred, jealousy, delusions, and so on.
His brother Bai wasn’t like that.
Xiao Yao thought, “Old Dog Bai sometimes acts foolish, but he’s more insightful than anyone else.”
Just then, Xiao Yao saw Bai Ju beside him reach out without hesitation and grab at Sun Daiyang from a distance. The deathly aura swirling around Sun Daiyang surged up like a group of struggling snakes, twisting and converging from his limbs to his spine, and then being forced out from the top of his head.
The attack was quite fierce.
So fierce that Sun Daiyang suddenly convulsed, clutching the bread, mouth agape and eyes rolling back, as he fainted. His chest tightened and then relaxed, unable to even let out a howl.
Xiao Yao: “…” Wasn’t this a bit too brutal for an ordinary person? After all, when Old Dog Bai stripped away his spiritual power before, although the scene was a bit gruesome, the movements were quite elegant and delicate.
Old Dog Bai, oblivious to his surroundings, held a grayish-black ball of death energy in his hand, his expression one of disgust: “This thing…”
Xiao Yao glanced at it: “Hmm… what’s wrong with death energy?”
Bai Ju looked pale, and then, as if remembering something, blurted out a curse (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or complaining): “…It’s awful, just looking at it makes me nauseous.”
Xiao Yao: “…”
Wait, so you’ve actually eaten death energy? How could you be so foolish?
The author has something to say:
Old Dog Bai: It really is awful, I can’t understand why ghosts like to eat this stuff.
Yao Yao: Wake up, how could a perfectly healthy living being like to eat death energy!
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