stonecrandall Chapter 8 Old He
Chapter 8 Old He
Li Jiu was just a few steps away from the old man, and immediately began to observe him discreetly.
The old man looked travel-worn and appeared to be in his sixties or seventies. He was thin but vigorous, yet there was an inexplicable awkwardness about him. He seemed to be on the verge of death, yet he exuded a vibrant energy.
It feels like the sun is rising in the west.
The old man, carrying a pile of watermelons, found an empty seat and sat down, seemingly oblivious to everyone else, and immediately began to devour them.
Li Jiu had doubts, but noticed that almost all the waiters in the restaurant were used to the old man's behavior. In fact, not only the waiter at the restaurant entrance, but all the other waiters looked at the old man with great respect.
He acted as if he were some kind of important figure.
Li Jiu wondered aloud, "Who exactly is this old man?"
There were almost no travel guides for Fulong Mountain online that were tailored to individuals, and Li Jiu couldn't recall any clues related to the old man.
Tang Mubai was just as curious as him, but much more direct.
While the waiter was reslicing the watermelon, Tang Mubai secretly tugged at him and whispered, "Hey, who is he?"
Following Tang Mubai's gaze, the waiter recognized the old man and immediately adopted the same respectful expression as his colleagues, replying softly, "Oh, you mean Old He? He's a long-time manager of our scenic area and the most famous patrol and rescue team member in Fulong Mountain."
The young man paused, then added with a mixture of admiration and helplessness, "Judging from his appearance, he's probably just crawled out of some remote mountain valley again. Sigh, these days, there are internet celebrities risking their lives to get views and heading into the mountains every day... So many of them get lost and encounter danger."
"Old He has saved at least fifty, if not a hundred, people over the years... It's really not easy."
After saying that, he shook his head, picked up the empty plate, and walked away quickly.
Scenic area administrator... mountain patrol and rescue team members... Upon hearing this, Li Jiu's mind was filled with thoughts.
Perhaps this explains why he felt a sense of antagonism towards Old He.
What he disliked wasn't Old He himself, but rather the "inhuman" aura that Old He carried, somewhat similar to that of the girl...
This kind of thing is perhaps only felt by those with keen instincts. Just like some people who do mortuary work, even if they don't say it, the aura they carry can make some people instinctively feel resistant.
Li Jiu is probably a perceptive person.
However, Tang Mubai leaned closer, his usual playful demeanor unusually extinguished, his voice low and tinged with confusion and nervousness: "Brother Li... I don't know why, but this old man He gives me a much stranger feeling than that girl from before..."
Li Jiu subconsciously pursed his lips.
Well, even Tang Mubai, who's usually so oblivious, felt uncomfortable. It seems his keen intuition has nothing to do with it.
"Perhaps that's his professional aura..." Li Jiu didn't know what to say at this point.
Tang Mubai nodded in deep agreement: "Possibly. These mountain rescue teams give me a similar feeling to the Yellow River corpse retrievers and the Xiangxi corpse transporters... they're all mysterious."
"You should read fewer horror novels. How can you connect this to something like that?" Li Jiu was speechless.
After finishing their buffet, the two left the restaurant. Adhering to the principle that not eating would be a waste, Tang Mubai left with two slices of watermelon in his hand.
Just as they stepped out of the restaurant, they bumped into Professor He, who was slowly walking towards them with a cane.
"Professor He!" The two quickly stopped and greeted him.
Professor He looked at Tang Mubai, who was eating and taking things, with some surprise, and then nodded gently in greeting.
Then, under the surprised gazes of Li Jiu and Tang Mubai, Professor He walked straight to the opposite side of Old He and sat down.
"Shouchao, it's been a long time..."
……
Outside the buffet restaurant, Li Jiu and Tang Mubai withdrew their gaze.
Tang Mubai took a bite of watermelon and whispered, "They know each other..."
"Professor He has organized so many summer camps, it's not surprising that he knows the administrators here, is it? Let's go."
As Li Jiu was about to leave, his gaze was drawn to the commotion in the lobby of the Mushroom House.
He looked down and saw an elderly couple pleading with the receptionist in the lobby. The receptionist looked apologetic and kept waving her hands to explain something.
After listening for a few minutes, Li Jiu roughly understood that the elderly couple seemed to have something very urgent and needed to rush to Jiding Temple on the mountain overnight. However, both the shuttle bus and the cable car were currently out of service, so they wanted to contact the scenic area management through the front desk of the Mushroom House, hoping that they could make an exception and arrange for a vehicle.
The receptionist kept emphasizing the rules and personal safety issues when going up the mountain at night.
The two sides were completely on different wavelengths, going in opposite directions, and their communication was like talking to a brick wall, resulting in a stalemate.
Tang Mubai grinned, "Wow! Someone actually dares to rush up the mountain in the middle of the night like that?"
Li Jiu shook his head slightly: "Going up the mountain in the dark is extremely dangerous no matter where it is..."
But he didn't say much; it's best not to comment on things you don't know the whole story of.
"Should we go back to our room?"
"Okay..." Tang Mubai replied, but at that moment, he suddenly froze, standing there like a wooden statue, completely still.
He stared intently at a certain spot in the lobby. After a few seconds, he pointed there and said in a trembling voice, "Li...Li Jiu...you...look over there!!"
An ominous premonition instantly enveloped Li Jiu, and he abruptly turned his head to look.
The next moment, his scalp suddenly exploded, and a chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head, as if a chill was repeatedly massaging him.
On a lounge chair in the lobby of the Mushroom House, a figure was sitting upright.
The strange girl who was tricked by Li Jiu and knocked away by Tang Mubai's Iron Mountain Lean has arrived at the Mushroom House unharmed!
"Holy crap!" Tang Mubai exclaimed in shock, watermelon juice dripping down his face. "Wait... how did she get in?"
Li Jiu's eyes narrowed, and Tang Mubai understood immediately. Their gazes met, and they said almost simultaneously, "...Old He (it's them)?!"
"Uh..." Tang Mubai's expression froze.
He thought about it a bit more and concluded that Old He from the mountain patrol and rescue team had happened to rescue the girl and then brought her in.
After a moment's thought, Li Jiu decided that the elderly couple should still swipe her card for her.
Tang Mubai couldn't help but say, "Damn, do you think it's that simple? Or am I overcomplicating things?"
Just then, as if sensing that they were watching her, the girl strangely turned her neck, which in turn moved her body, and she slowly and stiffly turned around, turning her gaze toward Li Jiu and Tang Mubai.
The girl's lower body was still sitting obediently and upright on the chair, but her upper body was subtly twisted unnaturally, like a piece of clothing covered in human skin...
snake.