Chapter 34: Strange Occurrences in the Mountains

Ye Qin slowly opened his eyes; Xie Yixuan's presence had long vanished from the surroundings, and everything returned to normal.

Ye Qin had just been aware of outside events; he was not completely unaware.

At that moment he had already entered deep contemplation; choosing to wake up would disturb his cultivation mindset.

Whether cultivating or doing anything else, one must make a vigorous effort.

As the saying goes, "One vigorous effort, then waning, then exhaustion."

Ye Qin felt no danger, and that person hadn't lingered nearby long before leaving, so Ye Qin just went along with him.

"Judging from what just happened, that man seems to have fallen into some kind of illusion."

Ye Qin speculated that perhaps his cultivation had affected the surrounding magnetic field, causing the object of his contemplation—white bone—to materialize as a hallucination and reflect into reality.

Coincidentally, Xie Yixuan arrived and unintentionally entered the illusion; the woman he saw was exactly what White Bone looked like in life.

That led to the subsequent series of events.

In fact, Ye Qin had never left; Xie Yixuan, under the illusion's influence, mistakenly thought he had disappeared, akin to "a single leaf blocking the eye."

Meanwhile, the police had been busy all afternoon; as the sky grew dark, they still hadn't found the woman Xie Yixuan mentioned, so Sun Zhenbang's group had to return empty-handed down the mountain.

"You're just hallucinating! A woman in ancient clothing? That makes no sense—on this freezing mountain, anyone dressed like that would have frozen to death long ago; how could you still see her?"

They were originally there to catch a criminal, but Xie Yixuan's antics let the suspect escape, wasting their time.

Xie Yixuan also felt wronged; he clearly saw her and even followed behind her for a stretch, saying, "But I really did see her."

Sun Zhenbang gave a cold smile: "You saw her—where is she now? With so many of us big shots, we can't even find a woman? It's not like we're blind."

"Besides, there's only your set of footprints here—no woman's footprints at all."

Sun Zhenbang grew more agitated, his anger flaring, and he brought up old grievances: "Come clean—why did you arbitrarily shift the search location for no reason?"

"I saw lightning striking there repeatedly, worried it might spark a mountain fire, so I went over; I saw a snake, then a woman, and then both the snake and the woman inexplicably vanished."

After hearing his account, Sun Zhenbang's face darkened enough to draw water, but considering he meant well, worried about a fire, he held back further comment.

Winter is indeed the season when mountain fires are frequent, and with the earlier thunder, the risk is real.

"Team Leader Sun, calm down—getting angry is bad for your health; I won't dare do it again next time."

Sun Zhengbang snapped, "I think you're just trying to piss me off on purpose."

He glared at Xie Yixuan: "You young people just can't sit still; because of you we've wasted all this time—do you admit it?"

Earlier, looking for Xie Yixuan had already taken up a lot of time, and then they spent more time searching for the woman he described.

After hearing Xie Yixuan's full account, Sun Zhenbang could be certain that Xie Yixuan had definitely experienced a hallucination.

Xie Yixuan lowered his head, looking somewhat guilty, knowing he had caused everyone much inconvenience; he became more honest, saying, "I admit it."

"Good—go write a thousand-word self-criticism and hand it to me tomorrow; also, all those novels of yours are confiscated!"

Upon hearing that, Xie Yixuan felt like struck by lightning: "What! Team Leader, those are my spiritual nourishment—without them, what am I to do?"

Sun Zhenbang felt both angry and amused upon hearing that.

"It's because you've read too many miscellaneous books that you've done such nonsense; when you have time, read more relevant books to bolster your professional knowledge."

Seeing Xie Yixuan about to speak, he added, "If you keep haggling, I'll make you write a ten-thousand-word self-criticism instead."

Xie Yixuan immediately dared not say anything else.

In the subsequent mountain search, Sun Zhenbang didn't let Xie Yixuan participate anymore, merely telling him to go home and reflect properly.

Unfortunately, after several days of searching the mountain, they found no culprit; it seemed as if the killer had vanished into thin air, giving the impression that he didn't exist at all.

The police tried every possible means but found no leads.

Meanwhile, Xie Yixuan was also transferred back to Wu Du, and taking the opportunity, he went to the Wu Du Library to replenish his spiritual nourishment.

After all, his novels from last time had all been confiscated by Sun Zhenbang.

In this information age, most people choose e-books for convenience, but Xie Yixuan differs; he feels that reading paper novels gives more flavor.

As he turns the pages, he always feels as if he's uncovering another kind of life; people like him are few nowadays.

Accompanying Xie Yixuan were other colleagues who also planned to go to the library to borrow books; however, what he wanted to borrow were specialized texts, since online information was incomplete, so he wished to check the library.

Inside the library there weren't many people, just a couple of stray cats; after searching for a while, Xie Yixuan finally found the type of novels he liked.

A colleague also walked over holding a book, eyeing his with curiosity: "Strange Tales from Liao's Studio? When did you start liking these books? Weren't you not into cultivation stories before?"

Xie Yixuan shook his head, his expression full of mystery: "Lately I've changed my tastes, and I always feel that the snake I encountered last time, together with that strange woman, are somehow mysteriously connected."

Over the past few days, Xie Yixuan has been thinking back: first, the snake he saw vanished; then, a woman dressed as an ancient scholar appeared.

Afterwards, that woman also disappeared like the snake, leaving him with the feeling that the two must be connected in some way.

His companion hearing this couldn't help but shake his head: "You dare say that? If Team Leader Sun hears it, he'll beat you up again—everyone said it was a hallucination, so why don't you believe it?"

"Besides, in broad daylight, how could a snake and a woman just vanish without a trace? You must be seeing things."

Could it really be a hallucination?

Xie Yixuan found himself doubting: "If it really were a hallucination, everything would be too vivid, and I even followed that strange woman behind her for a stretch."

"But then again, why are there only my footprints at the scene, with none of hers?"

His companion dismissed it, saying firmly: "So it's all just a hallucination—stop talking about it, or next time you'll get a ten-thousand-word self-criticism."

"I don't think so—how do you explain that the lightning struck only that spot?"

The two discussed it heatedly.

"Bang——"

All they heard was a book falling from the opposite shelf onto the floor.

Xie Yixuan thought he had knocked it over by accident, hurried to pick it up and put it back, but in the gap he saw a pair of eyes!

(End of chapter)