When Huang Ran finished speaking, the White Wolf had already turned and headed toward the hot springs above. After a moment, it disappeared at the end of the path. The faces of the few of us were somewhat bitter. According to what Huang Ran said earlier, this was the White Wolf's weakest moment. Yet even now we couldn't defeat it; once it recovered and digested the bronze box, thinking about Ruan Liulang's fate, no one dared to think any further.
Hao Wenming could no longer pay attention to Huang Ran. He said, "Let's go back the same way. It won't—" Before he could finish, a loud crash sounded from above, followed by the White Wolf's piercing howl. The sound resembled the desperate scream that Er Huang gave the year before last when my grandfather was castrating him — a sound that meant death was certain.
Before we could react, another loud crash came from above. We all looked up at the same time, only to see the White Wolf running back down from above, seemingly chased by something. The wolf ran wildly, headless and frantic, until it reached us and was stopped by the Buddha Ash. Only then did it halt.
The White Wolf circled anxiously in front of the Buddha Ash, appearing extremely restless. Suddenly, it growled low and charged toward us. As soon as it entered the Buddha Ash's range, sparks flew from the wound on its shoulder, and fresh blood, which had previously clotted, began to flow again. The fresh red flesh around the wound instantly turned black and purple. The muscles all over the White Wolf trembled uncontrollably; it could no longer bear the pain and was forced to retreat.
At that moment, a man slowly descended from above. He didn't look at the White Wolf but said to us, "Can you all be of any use? You can't even handle a dog. There should be limits even for trash."
From his harsh words alone, there was no need to see his white hair to know who it was.
For some reason, such cutting words from Wu Rendi sounded so natural. Hao Wenming snorted and tried to uphold his dignity as the office director. At least theoretically, he was on equal footing with Director Wu. I gave a dry laugh, trying to smooth things over, but Director Wu cut me off, saying, "Seven people against a dog and you almost lost three of your own. What's the difference between you and that dog-wolf just now?" Wu Rendi's words choked off what I wanted to say.
Sun Fatty took a deep breath and said, "Director Wu, I'm not saying this to be difficult, but where did you see that was a dog? Wouldn't it be more fitting to call it Yin Bai or something like that?" I added, "Director Wu, regardless of whether it's an Arcanobeast called Yin Bai or not, at least it's a wolf at its core, right?"
"A dog is a dog," Wu Rendi sneered. "Calling it Yin Bai or not, it's still a dog." He looked down at the trembling White Wolf and said, "Tell me, are you a wolf or a dog?"
The White Wolf seemed a little incredulous. It glanced up at Director Wu. Wu Rendi coldly stared back and said slowly, word by word, "Do you want me to say it again?" The moment he said that, I felt the air pressure around us suddenly drop.
The White Wolf's terrified eyes flicked between Wu Rendi and us, completely losing its previous snarling fierceness. Seeing that Wu Rendi showed no signs of relenting, the White Wolf lay down and performed a strange gesture — it pressed its head to the ground and covered its eyes with both front paws.
I was wondering what it was doing when the White Wolf weakly barked twice, "Woof woof..." From my angle, I could see tears welling in its eyes. Sun Fatty and I exchanged stunned glances: we had seen people bullied before, but never seen an Arcanobeast bullied like this.
Wu Rendi snorted, looking up at Sun Fatty and me. "Anything else to say? You want to reason with me?" I was silently scolding myself: I lost my temper, how could I reason with him...
When Meng Qiqi saw Director Wu come down, her eyes went wide. After seeing the scene, Miss Meng nudged Sun Fatty and whispered, "Is that him?" Sun Fatty rolled his eyes at her but helplessly nodded. Just then, Director Wu's gaze happened to linger on Meng Qiqi's face longer than usual. Miss Meng blushed slightly and said to Sun Fatty, "Did you see? He looked at me just now." Sun Fatty rolled his eyes again and said, "Congratulations, your ancestral grave is smoking."
Wu Rendi expressionlessly glanced at Meng Qiqi before turning his attention back to the trembling White Wolf. He lightly kicked the wolf's head with his toe. "Did you eat something you couldn't digest?" The White Wolf seemed afraid to meet Wu Rendi's eyes, allowing him to rub its head with his toe. Occasionally, it let out low whimpering sounds.
Suddenly, Wu Rendi squatted down and pressed his hand on the White Wolf's belly. "If you ate something you can't digest, then just throw it up." The White Wolf convulsed as if electrocuted. Suddenly it opened its mouth and violently vomited. Amid a puddle of yellow-brown mucus appeared a small bronze box.
This bronze box looked smaller than before, its patterns almost corroded by the wolf's stomach acid. Seeing this mucus-covered box, Wu Rendi frowned with some inner conflict.
After the bronze box appeared again, Huang Ran suddenly gasped. His lost consciousness suddenly returned. Huang Ran jumped up from the ground and rushed to the small box, and from the chain of movements, he looked far from seriously injured.
Huang Ran grabbed the bronze box, wiped off the mucus, and carefully examined it. Then, suddenly clutching the box tightly with both hands, he laughed wildly toward the sky, "Ha ha..." But he had barely laughed when a white-haired man appeared beside him. The white-haired man also laughed and gestured to the bronze box, saying, "Mine."
"Wu... Wu Rendi!" Huang Ran seemed to have just noticed Director Wu and trembled, saying, "How... how are you here?" Wu Rendi didn't answer but stretched out his hand and said, "You took my stuff." Huang Ran's expression was similar to the White Wolf's when it was asked if it was a wolf or a dog. He looked at Wu Rendi, then turned his gaze to us...
Director Wu was somewhat impatient: "How long do you plan to hold onto it?"
Like the White Wolf earlier, Huang Ran had no choice. Trembling, he handed the bronze box to Wu Rendi. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he turned and ran toward the exit. Wu Rendi didn't give chase. Playing with the bronze box in his hand, he let Huang Ran run off.
Hao Wenming still had questions for Huang Ran. Seeing him run away, he grabbed me and Sun Fatty and hurried after him.
Huang Ran ran all the way to the bend ahead but suddenly stopped. Another white-haired man had appeared to block his path. He was holding a pitch-black cat in his arms and looked at the approaching Huang Ran with indifference. "This road is closed."
Huang Ran recognized him—it was Yang Jun, who had entered the false Tomb of a Transcendent Beast alongside Gao Liang and the others.
The moment he saw Yang Jun, all the pain Huang Ran seemed to have forgotten suddenly surged back. His body tilted sideways as he clutched his chest wound and collapsed to the ground. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down his neck.
Then someone behind Yang Jun chuckled. "Huang Ran, now that you know I'm here, you're trying to leave? Don't you think it's time we settled some old debts?" As the voice faded, several more people stepped out from the bend—leading them was none other than Director Gao Liang of the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation, who I had seen enter the false tomb with my own eyes, followed by the division chiefs who had gone in with him.
Oddly enough, upon seeing Director Gao, Huang Ran seemed to relax. He didn't respond to Gao Liang at first. Instead, he just caught his breath heavily, clutching his wound and looking at me. "I finally remembered what I forgot when I went into the underground vault."
I followed up, "What did you remember?"
Huang Ran didn't answer. Still clutching his wound with his only usable hand, he slowly sat down and looked up at Gao Liang, who had already come closer. "Director Gao, well played! I spent three years of effort—heck, I threw in my next life—and you still walked away with all the spoils."
Gao Liang looked to be in great spirits. Seeing Huang Ran's defeated appearance, his smile widened. Standing over him, Gao said, "After what you did to me, you think I wouldn't be cautious?"
Huang Ran gave a self-deprecating smile. "And now I've paid you back with interest." He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "I thought I had everything under control. I didn't even notice you had someone hidden away. I kept thinking something was missing, and now I know—I forgot about a person."
Gao Liang listened, still smiling. After Huang Ran finished, he nodded and said, "Go on. Let's see just how much you've figured out."
"I remember now—when you brought your people to the outpost, you had a guide with you, right?" Huang Ran said. "I only saw him once, and then I completely forgot he existed. I may have a bad memory, but I'm not senile enough to forget a living, breathing man. I even guessed that you might take Zhang Zhiyan or Meng Qiqi into the tomb as backup. But you didn't. You just went in with your team like it was no big deal. I thought it was a little too easy. Now I get it—you had an ace up your sleeve, so of course you were fearless."
Sun Fatty nudged me and whispered, "Lazi, not to say I'm losing it, but do you remember any guide? 'Cause I sure as hell don't."
I was also trying to recall the scene when Director Gao entered the outpost, but the memory was foggy—like there had been someone there, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't recall who it was.
Then we heard Huang Ran continue, "No need to guess—that had to be Bureau Chief Wu Rendi's doing, right? A mere fake tomb wouldn't faze him. But for him to impersonate a guide? That must've been a stretch, even for him."
Gao Liang's smile faded slightly, and he snorted. "You think getting him to follow you around was easy? When I asked, he just said, 'Why don't you do it yourself?'"
"I can picture that," Huang Ran chuckled, then added, "Director Gao, I've been dying to ask—how did you manage to rope in Wu Rendi?"
Gao Liang grinned. "What makes you think I'd tell you?"
Watching these two laugh like this, I suddenly felt a strange disconnect. They didn't look like enemies who had just been trying to kill each other. They looked more like old friends catching up after years apart.
"Hold up," Sun Fatty cut in. He looked at Gao Liang and asked, "Director Gao, are you saying Wu… Wu Rendi's been tailing us this whole time? Not to complain, but we nearly died a few times—he just stood there watching?"
Gao Liang turned to him. "If you want to know, ask Wu Rendi yourself."
Sun Fatty exhaled heavily and muttered under his breath, "If I had the guts to ask him, I wouldn't be asking you."
Director Gao then motioned for me and Sun Fatty to help prop up Huang Ran. He turned to Yang Jun and the other division chiefs. "Let's go check on Yin Bai."
When he mentioned Yin Bai, his expression turned somewhat eager. He glanced at Huang Ran and said, "Thanks to you, I never expected to find an Arcanobeast like Yin Bai still around. It's been years—any reports I've gotten have been nothing more than a few weasels and foxes. A loud cough would've sent them fleeing…"
We hadn't gone far before returning to where we had chased Huang Ran. The scene had changed again. The Ashes of the Guardian Buddha that once permeated the air had vanished as if sucked away by a ventilation system. The white wolf was still lying obediently on the ground.
Aside from Wu Rendi, there was another new addition at the scene—a white-haired man had carried the unconscious Zhang Zhiyan down from the hot spring and placed him next to Po Jun. The man now stood behind Wu Rendi like a bodyguard. Yang Xiao! I recognized him immediately. But when did he change his look? All three people from Division Six had gone full white-haired—it was like watching a set of identical triplets. Was this supposed to be funny?
Nearby, Meng Qiqi was hovering anxiously around Wu Rendi. At a loss for what to do, she rummaged through Zhang Zhiyan's belongings and pulled out some compressed biscuits of dubious origin, offering them to Wu Rendi. I couldn't hear what she was saying from this distance.
Then Wu Rendi did something that stunned me—he took the biscuits with a blank face and bit into one. Meng Qiqi was so thrilled she nearly jumped for joy and began staring at him intently.
Wu Rendi, as always, remained composed. Aside from occasionally exchanging a few words with Yang Xiao, he was silently toying with the small bronze box in his hand. When he saw us approaching, he casually tossed the box toward us, which Gao Liang caught with practiced ease.
"This the tomb's anchor artifact?" Gao Liang asked, though clearly he already knew the answer.
Seeing the small box again, Huang Ran became visibly agitated. The playful expression he had worn moments ago vanished. His gaze toward the bronze box was filled with a twisted intensity. It wasn't until Gao Liang safely stowed the box away that Huang Ran visibly relaxed.
"So this is Yin Bai?" Gao Liang walked over and looked at the white wolf by Wu Rendi's feet. Now that more people had arrived, the wolf grew visibly uneasy. While it didn't bare its fangs, the fur along its neck stood up like bristles.
Gao Liang watched the wolf with a smile but didn't take a step closer. Meanwhile, Sun Fatty and I propped Huang Ran against a large stalactite so he could rest. With Wu Rendi, the two Yangs, and another division chief keeping watch, even if Huang Ran hadn't been injured, there was no way he was escaping this place.