Chapter 448

Chen Xiyuan's hand rested on her flute, poised and ready.

Li Lan looked around; the rain on the outskirts was still torrential, but inside, it had dwindled to a weak, drizzling patter.

Most of the raindrops were evaporated into mist before they could fall, swirling outward into the surroundings.

In her mind, Chen Xiyuan was continuously replaying the moment of opening her domain, visualizing the scene of smashing the woman's head before her with a single strike of her flute.

Li Lan, acting as if nothing were the matter, turned and took her briefcase from the car.

"Find a place to take shelter from the rain."

After saying this, Li Lan walked toward the edge of the area.

The mud on the ground was deep, swallowing her knees with every step, and Li Lan walked with a swaying gait.

On the side near the mountain, there were two large, arched boulders; the space beneath them was relatively clean and could provide shelter from the wind and rain.

After Li Lan sat inside, she waved at Chen Xiyuan over there, signaling for her to come over.

Chen Xiyuan hesitated, glanced at the driver still unconscious in the car, and then walked over, asking:

"What do you mean by this?"

Li Lan pointed at the top: "These two large boulders are clearly loose. Once a second mudslide occurs, this place will be the most dangerous spot. You aren't here, and I'm afraid."

"You'd be afraid of this?"

Li Lan took off her shoes, turned them upside down to the side, and while rubbing her feet, said:

"It's a bit cold; could you help me start a fire?"

Chen Xiyuan didn't move, but instead asked:

"What business do you have with me?"

Li Lan: "I don't have business with you; you're the one who bumped into me."

Chen Xiyuan pointed at her own face and asked: "Do you think I'm very stupid?"

Li Lan nodded: "The stupid have stupid luck."

Chen Xiyuan gripped her flute tightly.

Li Lan: "If you hadn't chased that thing, it wouldn't be raining here, that thing wouldn't have escaped through here, this mudslide wouldn't have been triggered, and my car wouldn't have ended up in this state.

Before coming here, I was wondering why the initial reports submitted only mentioned abnormal signs, yet recently it suddenly became so turbulent and active.

After seeing you, I understood; it turns out you were playing hide-and-seek with it here."

Chen Xiyuan: "What exactly is your goal?"

"What is my goal?" Li Lan opened her briefcase and took out a folded map, "You're the one who shouldn't have appeared here, yet you suddenly showed up and intruded, and you're asking me what my goal is?"

Chen Xiyuan was stunned for a moment, her eyes showing contemplation. Combining the fact that she had received the 'ground spray' from the little brother, she gradually felt that perhaps this woman before her was right.

Li Lan: "Your eyes tell me that from the first moment you saw me, besides fear and wariness, you were also hiding a trace of curiosity and comparison.

In this world, the only person most suitable to be compared with me is my son.

How about it, do my son and I look very much alike?"

Chen Xiyuan: "Although you aren't ugly, the little brother is better-looking than you."

Li Lan seemed not to have expected this answer either; she paused for a moment, then laughed:

"Hehehe, just how deep is your partiality for my son?"

Chen Xiyuan: "I'm just stating a fact."

Li Lan: "The fact is, any unreasonable thing my son does, you can brush aside and remove; he always conforms to the imagination in your heart."

Chen Xiyuan's gaze hardened.

Li Lan: "Don't misunderstand, I didn't investigate you; I'm just stating a double standard."

Chen Xiyuan: "You..."

Li Lan: "People with double standards often don't feel they are being double-standard."

Chen Xiyuan raised her flute; forget it, she was going to smash her!

Li Lan's map was already spread out, and she said:

"You mark it: the locations where you've found it recently, and the direction it fled."

Chen Xiyuan hesitated for a moment, put the flute down, and poked and drew lines on the map.

Li Lan nodded: "Its range of activity is being gradually compressed by you. If this continues, it will inevitably be forced into a dead end by you; it will only take another three months."

Chen Xiyuan: "Three months..."

Li Lan: "If you want to catch it quickly, it's also simple; just perform three consecutive rounds of prediction."

Chen Xiyuan: "Three rounds of prediction..."

Li Lan lowered her voice: "This first round..."

Chen Xiyuan couldn't help but lean forward, wanting to hear clearly.

Li Lan: "Start a fire first."

Chen Xiyuan: "..."

Tree roots covered in mud from nearby were brought over by Chen Xiyuan. Under the influence of her domain, they were first forcibly dried, then smashed with the flute, and finally, a fire was started.

The firelight brought warmth and also cast Li Lan's face in flickering light and shadow.

Chen Xiyuan: "The second round."

Li Lan: "You've already stopped the bleeding for the driver in the car; the second round is passed. Although he was temporarily assigned to me and I'm not satisfied with his work style, if he really isn't here, I'll still have to write a report, which is troublesome.

Look, here."

Li Lan took out a fountain pen and pointed at a location on the map.

Chen Xiyuan: "How did you determine this?"

Li Lan handed the map to Chen Xiyuan and retorted: "Do you need me to start a class for you here?"

Chen Xiyuan took the map and turned to leave.

Li Lan: "Wait a moment."

Chen Xiyuan looked back at her.

Li Lan pointed at the two stones above: "I have to continue roasting by the fire here to avoid the rain and wait for rescue."

Chen Xiyuan raised her flute and tapped each of the two large stones above, securing them.

After Chen Xiyuan's figure disappeared into the heavy rain, Li Lan's gaze fell on the fire before her, and she murmured:

"So, just like them, you also possess the ability to push fate."

"At first, this was just a small village, or more accurately, just a small nomadic tribe.

It not only had to face suppression, looting, and annexation from powerful external tribes, but also had to struggle through various natural disasters.

Later, the first generation of the Goddess was born in the tribe."

"Brother Yi, a Goddess again?"

"A-Jing, I'm just interpreting the murals, not telling you a bedtime story."

"Sorry, Brother Yi, please continue."

"The first generation Goddess had a piece in her hand... why does this drawing look like a lump of dirt? Let's interpret it as the broken porcelain shard in my hand.

Through it, the Goddess could summon shadows to help the tribe drive away wild beasts, resist aggression, and provide early warnings for disasters.

When the first generation Goddess died, she held this broken porcelain shard and entered the fire, completing the handover with the second generation Goddess.

Oh, blood sacrifice.

The blood porcelain in the hands of the second generation Goddess was even larger.

A bigger lump of dirt; damn it, it probably wasn't a porcelain bottle at the beginning, but a clay pot, right? The story of this mural is quite ancient.

Just like that, generation after generation of Goddesses protected the tribe, and this tribe gradually evolved from a small nomadic tribe into a large clan. After absorbing more and more population, they began to build cities and establish a state."

"Brother Yi, which dynasty in history is this?"

"How would I know? In that era, in this place, even the current town mayor could be a sovereign.

Anyway, the implication below is that this tribe that worshipped the Goddess developed and grew strong. Here, in the rituals, there were more people and more artifacts, and a large sacrificial altar was built; the Goddess lived in a palace.

Next, it gets a bit interesting.

Look, the series of murals below basically follow one process: external threats invade, the Goddess goes to battle to protect, wins and resolves the crisis, and everyone happily holds a ritual to celebrate.

But here, three lines of change are hidden, which the designer of the murals metaphorically embedded.

One line is that the external threats faced are no longer natural disasters, wild beasts, or invasions by external tribes.

Because they had already built a city and possessed more stable and powerful military strength and economic endurance.

The external threats were drawn increasingly... exaggerated.

The enemies, from existences that could be seen everywhere in reality and easily understood, were gradually depicted as terrifying devils.

The second line is that in the sacrifices, the lump of dirt held in the hands of the Goddess sitting at the highest position of the altar became larger and larger.

Previously, it had to be that when the two generations of Goddesses handed over, the previous generation Goddess held the lump of dirt and walked into the fire field before the lump of dirt in the hands of the next generation Goddess could grow a little larger.

Now, no handover is needed, and the lump of dirt keeps growing.

The third line is that although they won the confrontation against external threats time and time again, the number of people celebrating around the altar not only didn't increase, but was actually decreasing.

Tsk.

Look,

The ending in the last few paintings depicts the local people launching a rebellion, collectively charging toward the temple, successfully overthrowing the Goddess's rule, and suppressing the last generation of Goddess into the underground blood river; this should be a type of execution ground."

"Brother Yi, what does the last painting mean? It was artificially erased; is it trying to hide some secret?"

"It was erased too evenly, which makes it look less like covering up a secret and more like a figurative expression, meaning roughly that when the local people overthrew and executed the Goddess, a sandstorm struck, burying everything here."

"Just like that... it's gone?"

"It should be that before the Goddess was executed, she took the initiative to perish with the local people, or perhaps, after the Goddess died, the power in this blood porcelain bottle went out of control, bringing about a terrible disaster."

"Why did the local people do this? Didn't the Goddess help them resist the wind and rain?"

"That's right, the Goddess did help them resist the wind and rain, but the later wind and rain were created by the Goddess herself.

The later Goddesses were no longer satisfied with slowly nourishing the blood porcelain through their own blood sacrifices, but instead, by creating devils, consumed the local population to conduct sacrifices.

Just like our Jiujiang Zhao family, the story of the dragon slayer becoming an evil dragon."

Liang Li: "Only a small part of the blood porcelain was left behind; most of it is actually still sealed here. If we take most of the blood porcelain out, will it cause a great catastrophe in the future?"

Chen Jing: "Brother Yuan will control all of this well."

Zhao Yi: "That guy surnamed Li is evil to a mess himself; his fate is hard, he can suppress it."

Liang Yan: "But Boss, you said that the blood porcelain was for that Miss Qin Li..."

Zhao Yi: "Not to mention her identity, just the fact that I don't even dare to look at her through the crack of the Life and Death Gate, you know how evil she is.

To be fair, she and that guy surnamed Li are truly a match made in heaven; they just happen to cancel each other out, and they must be locked together tightly."

Liang Li: "This is also quite enviable."

Zhao Yi reached out and touched Liang Li's forehead: "Do you have a fever?"

At this moment, in the pitch-black space ahead, bursts of ghostly wails came, and terrifying thoughts were spreading toward here; in the gaps of the ground and rock walls, thick fresh blood was also constantly overflowing.

Xu Ming: "Not good, we've been discovered!"

Zhao Yi: "We've groped and infiltrated here step by step, and have even entered their most core area; were you still expecting them to all be napping to give us a chance to secretly steal the blood porcelain?"

"Hum!"

Zhao Yi gripped his blade; even though the blade hadn't been unsheathed yet, the hand gripping the hilt already had its bright red flesh turned outward.

"Just this last bit left; alright, let's risk our lives!"

There was a final meeting in the morning.

Elder Zhai asked Li Zhuiyuan to go on stage and replace him in giving the summary report.

After the report ended, the meeting also concluded.

Li Zhuiyuan intended to say goodbye to Elder Zhai; he was going home.

In the dispersing conference hall, he didn't see Elder Zhai.

Walking out of the conference hall, he searched with his gaze and saw Elder Zhai walking side-by-side with two old men in the corridor opposite.

Two strange old men, one wearing an old-style robe and looking spirited, the other wearing a Zhongshan suit and looking kind and amiable.

Li Zhuiyuan hurried to catch up.

Clearly, the youth's speed was faster, but the distance between the two sides not only didn't narrow, but was instead pulled further away.

Li Zhuiyuan stopped his steps.

Ahead, the three old men who were about to reach the corner also stopped their steps.

The two old men beside Elder Zhai seemed to intend to turn back and look.

In this instant, Li Zhuiyuan had the illusion that he was at the bottom of a reservoir, and two huge flood discharge gates before him were about to open.

Elder Zhai raised his hand, placed it on their backs, stopped their action, led them to continue forward, turned, and walked into the corner.

Li Zhuiyuan turned around, walked back to the room, packed his hiking bag, and came to the guesthouse lobby with A Li to check out.

Liu Changping's taxi was parked at the entrance.

When the youth and the girl were preparing to get in the car, Elder Zhai's voice came from behind:

"Xiao Yuan, where are you two going?"

"Teacher, I'm going back; I'm going to the Shancheng airport now."

"Me too, let's go together."

Just like that, Elder Zhai also sat into the car.

Liu Changping focused on driving.

Along the way, Elder Zhai, sitting in the passenger seat, was chatting with Li Zhuiyuan about the next stage of the project.

Li Zhuiyuan was responding seriously while replicating the image of the three old men walking side-by-side in his mind.

He remembered that last night, Elder Zhai wanted to take him to a dinner party, saying he would meet a few old friends.

Currently, it seemed that the old friends at that dinner party probably weren't "Elder Zhai's" own.

Not being able to attend, Li Zhuiyuan didn't feel regret.

Between the two choices, he would definitely go to accompany Mengmeng, who had just been released from prison, for dinner.

As for today, deliberately not letting those two see him, it should be a chain reaction from not attending the dinner party last night.

In the Great Emperor's view, his proposing Yin Meng to Him was to engage in a tug-of-war with Him.

But what the Great Emperor didn't understand was that he would actually go to care about Yin Meng's emotions.

After Yin Meng left last night, Li Zhuiyuan rarely showed emotional fluctuations.

In the past, such phenomena rarely occurred in the youth.

What was even more surprising was that if it weren't for the Great Emperor abnormally taking those two friends away, the youth himself wouldn't have paid attention to his own behavior last night.

It was as if he just had to do it, and it was just right to do it.

After finishing work, Elder Zhai said he was sleepy and wanted to take a nap.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the scenery flying past outside the car window and unconsciously reached out to touch his own face.

The youth could probably understand the Great Emperor's feelings; Him looking at him last night was similar to his former self looking at Yu Miaomiao.

This matter, although small, the logic of following emotions made the Great Emperor feel a sense of loss of control over him, and also forced Him to readjust some arrangements for him.

The taxi arrived at the airport; Li Zhuiyuan's flight to Nantong was earlier, so he got out of the car first.

In the passenger seat, Elder Zhai was still sleeping; Liu Changping said he would find a place to park, watch Elder Zhai rest, and wait until the flight time was near before going to wake Elder Zhai to board the plane.

Li Zhuiyuan handed a thick envelope to Liu Changping.

Liu Changping took it.

When he started the car again to drive away, Liu Changping smiled and threw the envelope back to the youth.

He knew that there was no problem with him accepting this money, and it was even a matter of course; he wasn't from a very wealthy family, but he still decided to throw the money back, because the act of throwing it out could make him feel happy.

This would make him feel that he wasn't just taking a job for this long trip, but purely helping a friend.

After finding a quiet spot in the parking lot below the terminal to stop and turn off the engine, Liu Changping grabbed his chest with one hand and covered his face with the other.

The envelope was very thick, so much money, it hurt his heart!

It wasn't that he regretted it, but after throwing away a fortune, it was inevitable to feel empty inside.

After adjusting, Liu Changping opened the car drawer, intending to take a pack of cigarettes down to smoke, and saw another thick envelope placed inside.

Liu Changping smiled; he was very happy.

At least when he threw the first envelope out, he didn't know there was a second one.