When Hou Feihu saw the prop with such a unique description, he was taken aback. He quickly realized what the rope could be used for, and excitement flashed in his eyes.
“These piranhas will not be able to bite the rope apart. Don’t worry.”
Seeing Hou Feihu tying the rope to the stern of the boat, a trace of doubt flashed across Zhao Hongtu’s eyes. He came forward with a straight face and hooked his fingers. Sharp fingernails protruded from his fingers, knocking onto the blackish-gold rope.
“Clang!”
Similar to the sound of weapons colliding, there was almost a spark between the claw and the rope. But the rope didn’t even have a slight scratch. It was clear that the rope was extremely tenacious.
“When you row the ferry together with Feihu, just use the rope to drag the ferry back afterwards.”
“Can we really drag the ferry back?”
“All of us are adult men. Who doesn’t have the strength?”
Wang Pengpai slapped his legs carelessly, smiled, and said, “Old Yu, come, I’ll return your cowhide to you.”
“Aye, aye yes.” Yu Hean replied, but his hands were still being gripped by the person beside him.
“Elder Brother.”
“Huihui, I’ll stay here,” Yu Hean whispered. “You have to go over to the other side, okay?”
Yu Hehui shook his head and said, “Elder Brother, you go there and I’ll stay here.”
But Yu Hean, who usually wouldn’t have a strong opinion, shook his head this time, firmly clenched Yu Hehui’s hand, and loosened it. “No, you go first.”
“You go first. Ah, Elder Brother will definitely be able to find you.”
“Elder Brother will definitely be able to find you.”
Yu Hehui opened his mouth, but the words got stuck in his throat. He froze when he saw the glimmer in Yu Hean’s eyes. His elder brother looked much older, smiled less, and looked much more melancholy. But he still acted the same as he did before.
It was as if whenever Yu Hean got something good, he would immediately think about Yu Hehui. Similarly, he would want Yu Hehui to go somewhere safe first.
Yu Hehui was unable to continue speaking after this. “Okay,” he said as he bent his head and cradled the ghost baby in his arms.
“Alright, alright. Let’s get on the ferry. Time is almost up. Don’t keep dawdling.”
Wang Pengpai pushed Hou Feihu onto the ferry first. Yu Hehui then boarded the ferry in silence. The bright red boat was now narrower than it had been at the beginning. The bow and hull were filled with traces of sawdust caused by the aftermath of the sharp bites of the fish. The wood of the ferry had been soaked in water, making it appear considerably redder, as if it had been painted with blood.
Even Hou Feihu had to think of a way to steady himself in the shaking ferry. When Hou Feihu saw Yu Hehui board the ferry, he instinctively reached out his hand to steady him. But Yu Hehui’s physique was especially light, like a flexible fox, and he was unafraid of the ferry’s tremors. When Hou Feihu saw this, he frowned and removed his hand. Yu Hehui saw his movements and cast a glance back. He didn’t say much, but he did pat Hou Feihu on the back.
Hou Feihu could not see the resentment that had condensed into the shape of a fox being sucked away, but felt his shoulder suddenly grow lighter. He shifted slightly, gripping and tugging his right arm with his left hand, and skillfully reconnected the dislocated arm.
Hou Feihu didn’t experience any discomfort after repositioning his dislocated arm. He picked up a bamboo pole and began rowing. The ferry sped away from the shore as the black waters rippled. Yu Hehui had done nothing except pat Hou Feihu on the shoulder since getting on the ferry. His attention remained fixated on his brother on the shore, and it took him a long time to shift his gaze away.
Yu Hean was also looking at him, anxious and worried, but when he looked at Yu Hehui, he still gave him a simple and honest smile, implying for him to “rest assured”. Before they left, the old cowhide was stuffed into Yu Hehui’s hand. No matter what Yu Hehui became or what he looked like, they would always be brothers connected by blood. Yu Hean would always care about him and worry about his safety.
“Elder Brother, catch!”
Yu Hehui suddenly took off the camera that had been hanging on his chest and threw it to Yu Hean. He smiled briefly as he saw Yu Hean scrambling to get the camera. Then, he quickly maintained his smile and remained expressionless, like a beautiful but lifeless stone sculpture.
“You——”
When Hou Feihu witnessed this scene, he hesitated to speak, but Yu Hehui turned around with his back to Hou Feihu, silently opened the cowhide, and wrapped it around himself. He shrank into the broad and thick cowhide and closed his eyes calmly, as if he was deep asleep. Hou Feihu couldn’t even feel that he was breathing.
In other words, all this time, Yu Hehui had never been breathing.
Hou Feihu sighed in his heart, stopped talking, and focused on rowing. The ghost baby in the bamboo basket was very clever. It didn’t cry and looked at the waters curiously. No one knew if it was because they hadn’t reached the center of the stream yet, but the very dangerous fishes described by Xu Chen didn’t appear, and the ferry didn’t shake at all. It was dark, and there was no rain, but there was thick fog. The turbulent stream was shrouded in fog and no one could see clearly ahead.
On the other shore, Yu Hean looked at the direction of the departed ferry until the shadow of the ferry was swallowed by the fog. He finally reluctantly diverted his gaze and stared at the camera Yu Hehui had thrown to him.
“This polaroid camera was a birthday gift I gave to Huihui when he was in college.”
Yu Hean was talking to himself. His voice rang out and drew the attention of Wang Pengpai, Zhao Hongtu, and everyone else. Yu Hean cleaned his face vigorously in front of his teammates. The corners of his lips twitched, yet he had a sorrowful expression on his face. No one could tell if he was grieving or laughing.
“Huihui, he really wanted to be photographed. However, he was unable to be photographed. People chosen by the Great Immortal cannot have their photographs taken.”
“Moreover, this statement…” Zhao Hongtu murmured. He was at a loss for words at the moment. Wang Pengpai, holding a black and gold rope as if he was flying a kite, tugged the rope tied to the ferry. Wang Pengpai arched his brow, asking, “So you noticed it as well?”
“Yes.”
Yu Hean hid his face behind his hands, and his hollow voice escaped between his fingers. The middle-aged guy hunkered down like a large bear soaked by a rainstorm, as if he was suffering from a mental breakdown.
“When did you find out?”
Zhao Hongtu reacted a beat slower than the others. Xu Chen looked at Yu Hean, who was curled up, and at the camera he held tightly in his hand. He understood.
“Yu Hehui can’t be photographed.”
Xu Chen reminded in a low voice, “During the time in Little Dragon Farmstead——”
“Group photo!”
Zhao Hongtu suddenly realized that in Little Dragon Farmstead, they had invited III-9 to expel the resentment. Miao Fangfei used the excuse of taking a group photo. Yu Hehui took the photo at that time! He still remembered that after the dwarf set the shooting time, he ran to his brother and took a group photo with the people in the tour group.
At that time, Yu Hean had realized that something was wrong. Obviously, Yu Hehui could not be photographed, but he took the initiative to do so.
This showed that there had to be something wrong with Yu Hehui.
“Since you knew about it, why didn’t you tell us!”
Zhao Hongtu rushed to Yu Hean angrily. He thought about the times he had hesitated in revealing this matter to Yu Hean and instantly became outraged. It turned out that Yu Hean had known everything from the beginning!
Thinking of this, and thinking of Hou Feihu’s dislocated shoulder just now, Zhao Hongtu spoke furiously, “Do you want to kill everyone, huh? You want to, right!”
Even when Zhao Hongtu pushed him, Yu Hean didn’t move, and choking gasps emanated from between the rough hands covering his face. For a long period, Zhao Hongtu circled him and yelled aggressively, “You, you.” He was so filled with rage that he couldn’t speak!
“Yu Hean, what you did could have brought great danger to the tour group.”
Xu Chen’s voice also softened as he continued, “If we hadn’t discovered Yu Hehui’s anomaly, we would have had our guards down against him all the time. In such circumstances, no one would have been able to react in time if an accident occurred.”
“It’s fine if you happened to not know. But you clearly discovered the truth about Yu Hehui and you didn’t tell us! Yu Hean, you put the whole tour group in danger!”
“I didn’t mean to.”
Yu Hean defended himself in a hoarse voice, “I wanted to tell everyone the first time I discovered it. However, I couldn’t bring myself to say it.”
“Ha.”
Zhao Hongtu said, “Yes, after all, Yu Hehui is your brother. Of course, you can’t tell us.”
“No, it’s not because of that. It’s, it’s the kind of——”
Yu Hean’s mouth was clumsy. He kept saying “It’s…it’s” for a long time, extremely anxious.
“You wanted to speak, but you couldn’t say it, and when the words were about to leave your mouth, you forgot what you wanted to say?”
“Yes, yes, yes, that’s right!”
Yu Hean’s eyes lit up and hurriedly said, “It’s like what Guide III said. Not only could I not say anything but I also couldn’t write it down to tell everyone. I didn’t want to hide this information at the beginning, but I just couldn’t say it, no matter how much I wanted to.”
Of course he couldn’t say it out loud.
Wei Xun turned back to look at Pingping floating over Cordoned-off Village and found that the color of the resentment chain that trapped her had turned darker, from red to black, revealing an ominous aura.
Pingping had to “keep this a secret.”
Wei Xun thought carefully. If Yu Hehui really was a monster from another tour, Pingping may have had to keep his identity hidden from the Travel Services. If the tourists found out about this, wouldn’t this be incredulous for them? Even Wei Xun finding this out was a coincidence——In fact, if he had been more experienced, he would have seen through Yu Hehui’s unusualness with just a glance. Maybe he could have reported this improper transaction to the Travel Services and received a reward.
It was a pity——no, it was not a pity. He knew that the Travel Services had always been stingy, and the way they rewarded points was like they were shooing beggars away. Perhaps they would have only given him one or two hundred points.
Wei Xun tsked in his heart as his face drooped. Now that he thought about it, he realized that from the time he had discovered that there was one extra person in the tour group to the time Miao Fangfei had discovered that there was an extra person in the tour group, all of this had happened between the end of the first scenic spot and the start of the second scenic spot.
This should have been a secret. Why didn’t they feel compelled to keep it a secret anymore?
The only reason could be that keeping it a secret had become futile.
Wei Xun had only made some guesses before, but now he could basically determine that there was another tour in Intoxicating Xiangxi that was being carried out at the same time, and it was likely that Yu Hehui had been the boss in the first scenic spot.
And he had been killed by the other tour group.
Now, Yu Hehui might just be a remnant soul kept alive by Pingping’s power. Anyway, he should be dying. Yet, Yu Hean thought that if Yu Hehui could go to the other shore, the brothers would be able to meet again later.
This was just a naive delusion. Maybe Yu Hehui wouldn’t even be able to remain alive until he reached the other shore.
Over there, Yu Hean faced the skeptical eyes of Zhao Hongtu and the others and had started to explain his situation.
“Huihui disappeared ten years ago.” Yu Hean smiled bitterly. He looked at the stream shrouded by the thick fog, a. As if he could see Yu Hehui’s form through the dense fog.
“When he was 18, I drove him to the bus station for his first day of college. I had intended to send him to college, but there were some things at home that couldn’t wait,” Yu Hean murmured and began reminiscing.
“Then Huihui disappeared, and there was no news about him. I went to his school. The school’s teacher said he didn’t arrive at the school. But this was impossible. Huihui had finally been admitted into a college in the capital. The family had always opposed him studying outside the region. I worked odd jobs to collect the tuition fees for him. Huihui was very obedient and he always told me that he wanted to see the outside world. Yes, it would be absolutely impossible to skip school. Absolutely impossible.”
“I’ve constantly been looking for him. But no matter what, I couldn’t find him any way or anywhere.”
Yu Hean’s tone was shaky, and he nearly choked again. His anguish and despair were too deeply embedded in him. The man was not one to cry easily. The choking caused Zhao Hongtu to suppress his sarcastic and furious glare and he fell silent.
“I’ve always been looking, but I just couldn’t find him.”
Yu Hean was still talking to himself, “Later, I called the police, but the police couldn’t find Huihui. A long time passed but the police still couldn’t find him. They reported Huihui missing. Only one police captain has been in touch with me, and he hasn’t given up looking for Huihui.”
“The police captain is very powerful. With him, I never gave up hope, but then he also disappeared.”
Yu Hean hammered his head in pain and said, upset, “It’s all my fault. They should all blame me. Why did I insist on Huihui going to college? If only Huihui didn’t go to college, even if he stayed at home all the time, he would have lead a better life——”
He finally choked on his words and couldn’t speak again. Wei Xun heard what he said and murmured “Eh” in his heart.
A Public Security Criminal Police captain? From the capital? Missing?
This seemed, a little, coincidental?
He didn’t say a word and looked at Wang Pengpai. Seeing Wang Pengpai touching his chin, seemingly deep in thought, Wei Xun understood in his heart.
He didn’t expect that Yu Hean would have a relationship with An Xuefeng.
“Okay, Old Brother Yu, it’s fate for you and Huihui to meet again.”