Chapter 51: The Changed Room

Huh!!!

In the silent living room, Chu Tianshu suddenly appeared, stirring a current of air.

A light dusting on the nearby sofa and tabletops was blown upward.

Outside the window, sunlight shone brightly, clearly revealing thousands of dust motes drifting in the air.

“I’m back!”

Chu Tianshu returned to his most familiar home, his body relaxing—he had intended to plop down, but noticing the dust, he stepped back two paces.

He had been away two months; dust accumulating in the house was normal.

He immediately summoned his token.

The Qi Number bar had not been fully emptied—it still retained a trace.

Chu Tianshu placed the gold bars he held onto the table: ten bars, not one missing.

Two days ago, he used his final moments to memorize the two secret manuals.

Since only tangible, physical items required valuation, leaving the manuals behind after memorizing them clearly saved a considerable amount.

Thus, when he returned, he brought back not only ten gold bars, but also the iron-charm copper ropes on his hands and a gold-thread soft armor on his body.

Looking back, he could have brought back even more.

Chu Tianshu focused his mind and touched the Qi Number bar again, opening a new page.

Besides the previous annotations, this small page now held an additional symbol.

It resembled a coiled divine dragon, or a leaf with unusually prominent vein patterns, bent into a ring.

A recognition naturally surged in his mind.

This was the symbol of the Republic-era world—it was currently dimmed, unable to be re-entered, but could be re-illuminated in the future if certain conditions were met.

“So there really is a chance to go back!”

Chu Tianshu calmed his mind.

Though he had suspected it before, he had never been certain—now he had some solid ground.

But re-illuminating it didn’t seem to rely solely on Qi Number—he had no idea what conditions were needed.

As Chu Tianshu pondered, he tapped his fingernail against a gold bar, hearing a crisp sound, his gaze inevitably shifting to it.

Selling the gold bars directly would be troublesome; later, he could reshape them into bracelets.

If he ever needed cash, he could claim they were family heirlooms.

“Hmm, now I don’t need to buy medicine every month—just with that card Old Li gave me last time, I’ve got plenty of cash on hand...”

Chu Tianshu looked at the ten gold bars and remembered another matter.

Gold—better leave it at home; it’s comforting to look at, and when I have time, I’ll hammer out some nice shapes.

In high spirits, Chu Tianshu carried the gold to his bedroom cabinet, opened all the windows, then went downstairs to unlock the front and back doors for ventilation.

In front of his house was a cement yard, with vegetable plots on either side, and ahead lay a small bridge over flowing water.

The moment he opened the door, someone outside called out.

“Tianshu?”

The man wore a blue cotton Zhongshan suit and a matching peaked cap, his beard streaked white, tall in stature, approaching with surprise and delight.

Chu Tianshu greeted him: “Second Grandpa.”

He was his grandfather’s brother, living at the village’s end, one of the few who had crossed the threshold of spirit communication under his grandfather’s guidance.

Though he succeeded in spirit communication, he grew increasingly drowsy whenever herbs were discussed, unable to learn the shaman-medicine arts; after wandering out, he somehow acquired skills in feng shui and became quite renowned in certain circles.

“It really is you! Where have you been?”

Second Grandpa immediately gripped Chu Tianshu’s shoulders, inspecting him left and right, fearing he might be injured.

“It’s been a month already—where did you go? You didn’t even tell anyone, left your phone at home, I was terrified, filed a missing person report.”

“Bai Sui came over too, still found no trace.”

Chu Tianshu froze.

Wait—a month?

Do the two worlds have different time flows? Over there, two months had passed.

Wait—missing person report?!

“I...”

Chu Tianshu’s mind raced—he made a decision: “That day, I found a strange fish in the creek—it looked exactly like the spirit-world creature, Henggong fish.”

“They say boiling it with dried plums kills it, and eating it wards off yin evils—perfect for curing my root illness.”

“Second Grandpa, you know how hard my illness is to treat—I got carried away, stuck a silver needle in it, used spirit technique to locate it, called a taxi, chased it all the way from Hailing to Jiangning, into the mountains.”

Jiangning County was similar to Hailing, about two hours’ drive away, but the terrain was completely different.

One county had over four hundred mountain peaks of various sizes.

“For these past days, I’ve been tracking it in the mountains—hard work pays off—I finally caught that fish.”

Chu Tianshu smiled genuinely: “My illness? It’s no longer a major problem.”

Second Grandpa exclaimed: “So that’s how it was!”

“I heard Bai Sui say that overflow zones have been frequent lately—spirit-world creatures, besides ghosts, are now more likely to enter the real world.”

Second Grandpa chuckled: “Looks like it’s not all bad—your illness is truly cured?”

Chu Tianshu said: “Not completely, but much better. By the way, how was the missing person case handled?”

“I took daily walks by the river, didn’t see you for several days straight, asked neighbors—they hadn’t seen you either. Called your phone, no answer. Knocked on your door—you weren’t home, and the whole place was covered in dust.”

Second Grandpa sighed deeply.

He had almost thought Chu Tianshu had collapsed and died at home from his illness.

“I had no choice but to report it to the Public Security Office and tell Bai Sui.”

Chu Tianshu suddenly remembered: “I left my phone on the table before I left—could it have been taken to the office?”

Second Grandpa said: “With no other clues, they naturally checked your phone’s recent contacts—but they only took the phone itself. The chief was your Lin Grandpa—he took it personally.”

As he spoke, Second Grandpa pulled out his phone.

“I’ll call him, cancel the case, and get your phone back.”

Chief Lin had dealings with his grandfather.

It was said that, if traced carefully, Chief Lin and Brother Bai Sui were even distantly related.

In the countryside, people who had lived in the same place for generations were almost always connected by blood.

But relatives among elders were more troublesome—Chu Tianshu grew more cautious.

Fortunately, before leaving, his original phone had broken, and he’d switched to a new one—on it, he had only messages with Brother Bai Sui.

Otherwise, private content on the phone exposed to elder relatives...

Next time the Qi Number bar fills, before entering another world, I must remember to prepare and handle things properly.

As Chu Tianshu pondered these thoughts, he cleared his throat, his gaze accidentally glancing inside the house.

His grandfather’s bedroom was in the southeast corner of the first floor.

Since his grandfather passed, he often went into that room to pull back the curtains and let in sunlight.

The last time he left, the curtains hadn’t been drawn—now, standing outside, he could see the room’s interior.

One glance was enough—Chu Tianshu’s brow furrowed.

“Second Grandpa, did you go into my grandfather’s room?”

Second Grandpa was on the phone: “No, I could see from outside that no one was inside—why would I go in?”

He stepped closer, wary: “Is something wrong?”

“Old Lin, when you and your men came that day, I remember you didn’t enter Old Chu’s room, right?”

The voice on the phone replied: “Definitely not.”

Chief Lin’s voice was rough, strong and full of vigor.

“What’s going on? Did someone break in?”

(End of Chapter)