LRAB Page 124
Page 124
He wandered from town to town, and just as he settled down in one place and made a few friends, Xu Xiang uprooted him without explanation and threw him into another unfamiliar place.
He had long been accustomed to this life and had honed his talent for disguise to the extreme.
He tried his best to live as an ordinary, even somewhat annoying, loser—
Sleeping in class, wandering around after class, cheating on exams, and speaking one way to one person and another way to another.
He used a thick, cynical "useless" shell to completely conceal his heart, which yearned for the ordinary yet was as easily frightened as a bird.
Finally, he was admitted to an ordinary university in the south. As he dragged his suitcase through the school gate, he breathed a long sigh of relief, thinking that he had finally grasped the tail end of that unattainable ordinary life.
During his first summer vacation in college, he returned to the small mountain village that was still vague in his memory, wanting to visit his grandfather's grave.
This time, Xu Xiang did not stop him, but repeatedly told him: "Take a look and come back, don't linger, and don't make a fuss."
When Zhang Chulan arrived at the lonely grave on the back mountain with wild chrysanthemums in his hands, he was stunned by the sight before him, and the flowers in his hands fell to the ground with a "thud".
The area around the cemetery was in complete disarray, as if it had been bombarded by a heavy artillery barrage!
Centered on the tomb, the ground within a radius of several meters was covered with scorched pits, torn ravines, and vitrified burn marks. Several old trees were snapped in half or even evaporated. The air seemed to still retain the pungent smell of ozone and sulfur, a mixture that was unsettling, produced by the violent collision of energies.
This is clearly the battlefield left behind by an extremely brutal and astonishingly large-scale battle between superhumans!
The attackers used unimaginable destructive energy.
However, the small earthen mound at the very heart of this destructive storm, along with its simple stone tablet, remained completely intact, spotless, and not even a single weed on the mound was disturbed!
It was as if an invisible yet absolutely powerful barrier had perfectly protected it from the devastating impact. The contrast between this extreme destruction and the ultimate protection was shocking!
Zhang Chulan's mind went blank for a moment, and his first thought was:
"They're after my grandfather?! Who's causing such a commotion?!"
He was so angry that he was trembling all over, thinking that his grandfather's peace had been completely disturbed. Without thinking, he took out his phone and called the police.
The police arrived and cordoned off the scene, but the team leader's brows furrowed more and more.
This scene is too eerie—
The destructive power was astonishing yet extremely concentrated; no trace of shrapnel, chemical residue, or modern explosives could be found, nor could any footprints, fingerprints, or DNA of any outsider be found, as if the attackers appeared and disappeared out of thin air. The intactness of the grave mound was also beyond scientific explanation.
The case ultimately remained unsolved.
Disturbed, Zhang Chulan returned to school, trying to numb himself with games and jokes, but the image of the bombed-out building with only the tomb intact lingered in his mind like a nightmare.
A few days later, he had just finished class and was discussing with his roommate where to go out that night when a figure suddenly blocked his way.
She was a tall girl wearing a uniform from a courier company, her hat pulled low, revealing a few strands of long, straight black hair.
She kept her head down, her hands in her pockets, exuding a kind of "keep away" languor and...emptiness.
My roommate whistled a flippant whistle.
Zhang Chulan's heart skipped a beat, and an extremely ominous premonition instantly gripped him. He instinctively tried to walk around it.
The girl suddenly looked up.
Beneath the brim of the hat was an extremely delicate and fair face, but those eyes…
Large and bright, yet like two bottomless ancient wells, devoid of any emotional fluctuations, only a pure, almost inhuman blankness and focus, staring straight at him.
Zhang Chulan felt a chill run down his spine from that gaze and stopped in his tracks.
"Who...who are you looking for?" He tried to brush it off with his usual loser tone.
The girl didn't answer, but slowly pulled a worn, yellowed black-and-white old photo from her pocket and shoved it directly in front of Zhang Chulan's eyes.
In the photo, a kind-smiling old man is holding and playing with a chubby-faced little boy wearing open-crotch pants. That old man is exactly the image of Zhang Chulan's grandfather from the depths of his memory! And that little boy…
Zhang Chulan's breath caught in his throat, and his blood seemed to turn cold.
The girl's gaze remained vacant, her tone flat as a taut line, yet the words she spoke were earth-shattering:
The girl spoke in a completely emotionless tone, yet her words sent a chill down Zhang Chulan's spine:
“A few days ago, a group of very powerful people tried to blow up your grandfather’s grave.”
She paused, as if stating an objective fact, and then dropped the bombshell that truly sent chills down Zhang Chulan's spine:
"They didn't blow it up. But it seems... they weren't trying to steal anything."
"They seem to be trying to confirm whether the things inside are still there."
"Uncle Xu asked me to tell you to be careful."
Then, following the "setup," she took out the photo and added expressionlessly:
"Oh, right. From today onwards, I'm your older sister."
Zhang Chulan: "???"
He was completely stunned. Looking at the girl in front of him, who was so beautiful that she didn't seem real, yet whose behavior was as strange as a robot with a broken program, and then thinking of the lonely grave in his hometown that had been bombed to pieces but whose mound remained intact, a chill ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
He felt that his ordinary life, which he was just one step away from, collapsed at this moment with the appearance of this strange delivery woman who claimed to be his "sister," revealing the bottomless, dark and turbulent truth beneath.
Chapter 144 All-Access Express
Zhang Chulan's worldview shattered more completely than glass that had been stepped on three hundred times the moment Feng Baobao appeared.
Only one word remained in his mind: Run!
Just as he turned around, a whooshing sound whistled past his ear, and the strong wind stung his cheek.
He didn't even see what it was; he only felt a chill as his T-shirt neatly ripped open in the middle, turning into two tattered pieces of cloth fluttering in the wind.
Zhang Chulan's eyes widened in shock, and he took off running like the wind.
With a few more "sizzling" sounds, his pants, shoes, and even his underwear were transformed into butterflies and fluttered away under the elusive glint of the blade.
A night breeze blew by, and a chill ran down my crotch.
Zhang Chulan became a completely naked man. Amidst countless startled gazes from the dormitory building, he let out a cry of pain, frantically covered his groin, and scrambled up a large tree by the roadside. Like a frightened monkey, he clung tightly to the tree trunk, trembling.
The next day, the top story on Nanjing University's campus forum—
"Shocking! Naked Man Spotted Late at Night, Suspected Performance Art, Calling for Social Attention to Men's Mental Health," accompanied by high-definition photos taken from unusual angles.
Zhang Chulan, social death.
From then on, his dictionary had one more word—slave.
"What do you want to do?"
In the dormitory, Zhang Chulan, wrapped in a bed sheet, looked at the girl in front of him who was slurping down a large bowl of instant noodles with the eyes of someone looking at a prehistoric monster.
Feng Baobao lifted her head from the instant noodle bowl, her clear eyes still vacant, half a noodle dangling from her mouth, and mumbled:
"I'm the one protecting your grandfather's grave."
Zhang Chulan was stunned.
"Those people weren't there to steal anything."
Feng Baobao continued, "They've come to confirm whether the things your grandfather left behind are still there."
She paused, seemingly organizing her thoughts, but ultimately abandoned the roundabout approach and chose the most direct statement.
"I've been entrusted to protect you. From now on, you cannot leave my sight."
She pointed to her conspicuous delivery uniform:
"My current identity is an employee of 'NaDuTong' Express Company. This company is responsible for handling all the troubles related to people like us."
Zhang Chulan was completely confused, but the name "All-Knowing" was full of flaws, so he couldn't help but complain:
"A courier company? They're involved in grave-digging?"
Feng Baobao nodded, looking completely matter-of-fact, "Delivering packages and sending people on their way, it works for both."
Zhang Chulan: "..."
The string of "luck" in his heart snapped with a "bang".
He realized that the ordinary life he had been pretending for over a decade, the one he had finally managed to grasp at, was completely gone forever.
The appearance of Zhang Chulan, and his deliberately concealed identity as the heir of the "Qi Body Source Flow," was like a boulder thrown into the peaceful world of supernatural beings, instantly stirring up a monstrous wave.
All factions reacted swiftly upon hearing the news, with the Quanxing Sect being the fastest to respond.
Inside a brightly lit bar booth, the air was thick with the smell of hormones and alcohol.
A woman with a seductive figure and natural allure was reclining on the sofa, her slender fingers holding a cigarette, her red lips slightly parted as she exhaled an ambiguous smoke ring.
Her eyes sparkled, and every smile and frown of hers possessed a captivating allure that could make a man lose his soul.
She is Xia He, one of the "Four Madmen" of Quanxing, also known as "Bone Scraper".
Opposite her, a young man wearing black-rimmed glasses, who looked refined and even somewhat thin, was fiddling with a brand-new flip phone in his hand. The dim light from the screen reflected on his lenses, flashing a cold, scalpel-like light.
Lu Liang, a "bad guy" from Quanxing.
"I said, Lü Liang."
Xia He's voice was languid yet tinged with a hint of coquettishness, "Is it really worth the two of us making this trip just for that little brat?"
Without even looking up, Lü Liang's fingers flew across the keyboard as he calmly said:
“‘Qi Body Source Flow’ is worthwhile.”
He turned his phone screen towards Xia He, which showed a picture of a girl.
The girl had a pure and sweet appearance, with innocent eyes; she was the kind of girl who could instantly arouse the protective instincts of all male creatures.
"Liu Yanyan is a successor of Xiangxi puppetry, a member of the Quanxing sect, and a sophomore in the art department of Nanjing University. She had some minor family troubles, which I helped her resolve."
Lu Liang pushed up his glasses. "She'll help us deal with that kid named Zhang Chulan."
Xia He leaned over for a look and scoffed, "Online dating? You guys who use your brains, your hearts are all dirty."
Lu Liang ignored her teasing and calmly stated his plan.
According to the information, Zhang Chulan has been an ordinary loser since childhood.
These kinds of people are the easiest to deal with.
A beautiful woman who throws herself at him is enough to make him give up everything, including the secrets in his mind.