Wei Xun did not believe it and asked, âDidnât you say that the snow leopard was a pure beast?â
âItâs true that itâs not a leopard spirit, otherwise, I wouldnât recommend it to Master.â
The young fox spoke as if it was only logical, âUs immortals and spirits donât attract each other.â
âThen how would you know that it has sufficient Yang Energy?â
Seeing that it was getting late, Wei Xun turned back towards Wenbunan Village.
âI felt it. The senses of us heavenly foxes are very strong. At the very least, its Yang Energy is much stronger than that of other men,â the young fox prattled with a picky tone as if it was choosing cabbages in the market. Then, it ranked the ten other men in the tour group based on their Yang Energy and concluded, âThe beast has the strongest Yang Energy.â
In the past, hunters who hunted deer and other wild animals drank the blood of wild animals without cooking it, such as deer blood and tiger blood. In the legends, all kinds of animal blood were tonics for the human body. However, the snow leopard was the nationâs first-class protected animal. Few people dared to drink its blood.
Wei Xun asked, âAre you going to steal its blood?â
âI canât drink it now. Its blood is too strong, I wouldnât be able to stand it,â the young fox aggrievedly answered.
If the young fox could âmake a livingâ on its own, it would never have troubled its master. At most, it could absorb pure Yang Energy by drinking blood, or use another way to extract Yang Energy. At present, it had expended too much energy. It could only encourage its master to supplement some Yang Energy from another person, and through this, it could suck a little more from its master.
Wei Xun had already thought of using the demonic mosquito mouthpiece to suck blood from the snow leopard to sense its thoughts in order to judge whether it was a real leopard, a person disguised as an animal, or someone with a special identity. It turned out that his thoughts had coincided with the thoughts of the young fox.
But Wei Xun didnât need to let the young fox know this.
Therefore, on the way back, the young fox pleaded and begged him, but Wei Xun didnât give a definite answer. In the end, he said perfunctorily, âItâs unhygienic to drink blood. Think of other ways to get its Yang Energy.â
âThere are other ways⌠There are⌠But they are even more unhygienicâŚâ The young foxâs voice grew smaller as it spoke. When Wei Xun walked to the entrance where someone else was waiting, the young fox stopped talking completely.
âBrother Wei, youâre back!â
It was Fei Lezhi, who had been waiting for Wei Xun at the entrance of Wenbunan Village. He had put on his blue jacket and changed into pants and shoes suitable for the tour this time. They should have been provided in the travel bag given by the Travel Services.
When Wei Xun came back, Fei Lezhi was so happy that he hurried forward. Suddenly, he stopped and looked at Wei Xunâs hat in horror. His fingers were trembling and shaking.
âWei, Brother Wei, you, you, you, in your hatâââ
âItâs my little pet,â Wei Xun said with a smile.
He caught the chocolate ferret and held it in his hand. âItâs very obedient. Itâs always been by my side, and I donât know why it was also selected to go on the tour with me.â
âI see. Itâs so cute.â
Fei Lezhi tried to touch the ferret, but it bared its teeth at him. Even so, Fei Lezhi was not angry. He said happily, âDidnât Xu Yangâs guide dog also get selected for the tour? Maybe animals can adapt to the wilderness better than people.â
Then, his heart was filled with worry. He lowered his voice and said, âBrother, many of the tourists have constantly been hanging out around IV-1. When you went to circle around the lake just now, everyone went to Wenbunan Village to look for clues. After they searched the northern side of the village, they wanted to cross over the gully to head to the southern side. However, IV-1 didnât want to head over to the other side. Th-the rest of the tourists also didnât go because of this.â
âAre they so afraid of IV-1? I wanted to go and explore, but Brother Ji advised me to be careful and not to leave the tour group by myself.â
âYou did the right thing.â
Seeing that Fei Lezhi bowed his head in shame because he had retreated and hadnât acted as he had promised, Wei Xun comforted him and patted him on the shoulder. âWeâre new tourists. We should look and listen more when we first arrive. We canât be rash. The most important thing is to protect ourselves.
âAfter all, IV-1 is a tour guide. He must have his own reasons not to go to the southern side.â
âMm, Iâll listen to Brother Weiâs instructions. Tomorrow afternoon, weâââ
Fei Lezhi began to talk. His family was well-off, but they had been strict with his education. He didnât have the stereotypical temper of a rich second generation. He looked warm and lively, and he got along with strangers easily. Today, he had tried to integrate into the group, but was unable to dig out information from the others. The veteran tourists were very cold and had excluded him. Although they were not violent towards him because of Wei Xun, they completely ignored Fei Lezhi.
Fei Lezhi was disappointed. Only Ji Hongcai, Fang Yuhang, and one other tourist were willing to say more to him, but they also remained silent as soon as Fei Lezhi spoke about the tour guide. However, they vaguely said that it was best not to offend the tour guide.
Why were tourists so afraid of tour guides?
Fei Lezhi didnât understand. He told Wei Xun what he had seen and heard this afternoon. After hearing this, Wei Xun knew that the veteran tourists were afraid of IV-1âs prowess, and they wouldnât stand on his side so quickly. The veteran tourists were very smart. Unless Wei Xun showed overwhelming strength, they were definitely more inclined to protect themselves by siding with the tour guide.
As for IV-1âs refusal to go to the southern side of the village and the reason why the other tourists did not go either, it wasnât necessarily because the tourists were afraid of the tour guide. It was more likely because the tourists couldnât stray too far from the tour guide.
Just like when Wei Xun had been in Intoxicating Xiangxi, the additional function of the Tour Guideâs Brooch was to âbelieve in science.â It could protect the tour group to a certain extent, and keep supernatural beings away from tourists who were within the broochâs range of protection.
âLezhi, you hadnât experienced altitude sickness so far, right?â Wei Xun pointed out.
Fei Lezhi suddenly realized and scratched his head in doubt. âYes, hey, yes, why donât I have altitude sickness and feel suffocated?â
Then he took a few deep breaths, and he found that he really didnât sense that the oxygen was thinning. Fei Lezhi thought about it and didnât understand what happened. âNeither Sister Bai Tao or Xu Yang seem to have altitude sickness, nor do the other veteran tourists.â
Wenbunan Village was about 4600 meters above sea level. If the tourists suddenly arrived at the highlands from the plains, even if everyone had different physiques, they would still be able to feel the air thinning.
The additional function of IV-1âs Tour Guideâs Brooch may be related to âpreventing altitude sickness,â and the brooch naturally had a scope of influence. If Fei Lezhi had not been persuaded by Ji Hongcai and had rushed to the southern part of the village, he would have been caught off guard, unprepared for the altitude sickness.
IV-1 had always used such little tricks on newcomers. It was reasonable to say that when Wei Xun went to circle around the lake, he would not only experience the problem of circling clockwise or counterclockwise, but would also be suddenly affected by altitude sickness. However, snow covered highlands were one of the places where arctic foxes lived. Arctic foxes and Tibetan foxes were both children and grandchildren of the heavenly foxes. With the heavenly fox possessing Wei Xun, Wei Xun could adapt to any environment where the heavenly fox could survive in.
Other than consuming too much Yang Energy, there werenât too many side-effects when the heavenly fox possessed Wei Xun.
âThis is a supernatural effect, right? We have to complete tasks on our tour. Perhaps we wonât feel altitude sickness during our tours.â
This was a matter newcomers easily took for granted. At the beginning of his first tour, even Wei Xun felt that they were essentially completing tasks in a different dimensional space. After all, the International Thriller Travel Services was too mysterious and powerful. Any unexplained supernatural gods and monsters seemed normal during the tour.
After returning to reality and discovering the earthquake in Xiangxi Prefecture, Hunan Province that occurred at the same time, Wei Xun realized that the tours also happened in reality. They were just beyond the limits of an ordinary personâs comprehension. Tours occurred in places ordinary people couldnât explore, such as this tour to northern Tibet. There was bad weather, a high altitude, fierce wild animals, and so on. These were definitely the difficulties they would encounter in their tour.
âAre you hungry now?â
âHungry.â
Fei Lezhi patted his belly, and a growl sounded. He was quite embarrassed. âIs Brother Wei hungry too? We should be able to eat when we return back.â
The base of the tour group was a campsite next to Wenbunan Village. It had a good view, and one could see Tangra Yumco. Tents were set up, but tonightâs meal was eaten in Wenbunan Village. To the villagers, they were the scientific research team sent by the state. Hence, the villagers received them warmly.
âYes, you will feel hungry, cold, and dry,â Wei Xun touched on the topic instead of discussing it thoroughly, âFrom this, we can tell that to us, this tour is reality.â
I feel cold, dry, and hungry. Why is it just altitude sickness which I donât feel?
Why were the veteran tourists so afraid, but they couldnât leave the vicinity of the tour guide?
Fei Lezhi was not stupid. Wei Xun could feel that his breathing rate had changed, and understood that Fei Lezhi probably understood something.
Wei Xun liked smart people who could understand information after he pointed it out. He also liked honest people that believed everything he said.
As the two of them talked while they walked, they approached the front of a traditional Tibetan building, which was the house used to entertain guests in Wenbunan Village.
âOh, Leader Wei is back?â
The long wooden table was full of people. IV-1 waved at Wei Xun and Fei Lezhi when he saw them come in. He chortled and pushed Lin Qiming away from his arms, stood up, and swept a malicious look over Wei Xun.
âDid Leader Wei discover anything?â
IV-1 didnât seem satisfied because he couldnât see any injuries on Wei Xun. After the whole afternoon had passed, his heart itched again when he saw Wei Xun. Wei Xun was a rare beauty. If Wei Xunâs claws were not so sharp, he might have brought him back to his tent tonight.
âThere were certain points that I felt were strange. There were no other tourists by the lake. I was the only one there.â
âHey, this is our tour. Of course there will be no other tourists here,â IV-1 said with a smile.
He raised his glass to Wei Xun and praised, âLeader Wei has blessed our tour group. The tour this time will be much smoother. Come, Iâll give Leader Wei a toast!â
âGuide IV, youâre too courteous.â
In this harmonious atmosphere, Wei Xun picked up his glass in front of him, toasted IV-1, and then drank it all at once.
The liquor burned like a flame in his throat, and Wei Xunâs pale face was suddenly stained with a thin layer of red. His eyes looked blurred and moist, and the look in his eyes grew increasingly fuzzy under the dim light. IV-1 looked at his lower abdomen and hid his malicious smile under the guise of drinking the alcohol.
What he had in his cup was highland barley wine, which was sweet and not too strong, while what Wei Xun had in his cup was high quality baijiu. Even a person with a good alcohol tolerance would not feel good after drinking a cup of baijiu. IV-1 smiled and admired the drunk beauty, and slowly ate some peanuts.
He didnât put any drugs in Wei Xunâs glass, it was just pure baijiu. IV-1 boasted inwardly that he was a tour guide who knew how to enjoy pleasure. He was not in a hurry. There was plenty of time during the twelve day tour for him to make Wei Xun submit. Once the meat was on the tip of his tongue, it wouldnât be interesting. IV-1 felt extremely excited when he thought that he could taint Wei Xun bit by bit.
Several more veteran tourists stood up to propose a toast to Wei Xun under IV-1âs instigation. Wei Xun seemed to take the leadership position of the tour group seriously, so he didnât refuse their toasts. In the blink of an eye, he drank five or six cups of wine. His drunkenness became more and more obvious. Seeing this, Fei Lezhi was so worried that he took the initiative to stand up and stop Wei Xun from drinking.
Wei Xun stopped him and shook his head, before he smiled at IV-1 and said, âI wonât drink more. Letâs eat.â
It seemed that after drinking too much, his voice softened. Just hearing it would make one heat up. IV-1 forgot his plan to intoxicate Wei Xun. He just stared at Wei Xun and said, âOkay, okay, okay.â He could see the beauty, but he couldnât eat them. He rubbed Lin Qiming in his arms with increasing force. Lin Qiming felt pained and ashamed, but he still smiled stiffly and snuggled up to IV-1.
Lin Qiming was also looking at Wei Xun. Lin Qiming knew from the beginning that IV-1 had a crush on the newcomer. Although it seemed that Wei Xun had given IV-1 a beating, Lin Qiming knew that with Wei Xunâs modest personality, he wouldnât be able to fight IV-1.
He should have been jealous, frightened, and hostile towards Wei Xun. Lin Qiming knew that IV-1 tried to imitate III-9 in all aspects. IV-1 was similar to III-9 in the sense that they both only loved the best-looking person in the tour group. If IV-1 really obtained Wei Xun, even if he, Lin Qiming, who had previously relied on his good looks to pass through the tour like Lin Xi, was not tossed to the back of IV-1âs mind, IV-1 wouldnât care for him.