The driver's muttering could be heard from behind.
At this moment, Zhang Shutong couldn't care about that anymore. He quickly turned his head and could still see the figure of the long-haired woman on the shore.
He then jumped off the bus, but the door and the forbidden area were not on the same side. Now his vision was obstructed, which meant he had to go around the entire half of the bus to see the situation in the forbidden area again.
Lu Qinglian was faster than him. The girl pushed off with her toes, like a light and graceful swift, and almost flew out of the bus. But when she landed, she slightly lost her balance and her body fell toward her injured foot.
That was the old injury flaring up, but Zhang Shutong knew why she was in such a hurry—
If his previous guess was correct;
If that figure really couldn't hear sounds;
This was a golden opportunity to subdue the other party.
But neither of them dared to gamble. The sudden brake of the bus had made a loud noise. They could only approach quickly.
The next moment, Lu Qinglian had already straightened up and quickly ran toward the back of the bus.
Zhang Shutong followed close behind. By the time he ran out of the door, Lu Qinglian's figure had already disappeared around the corner;
And by the time he reached the corner of the bus, Lu Qinglian had already reached the reed bed in front;
—The reed bed.
Damn it!
Zhang Shutong cursed inwardly. Just now, their view on the bus was high enough to easily see over the reeds, but now that they were on the ground, their vision was once again blocked by the reeds.
They had to race against time now. He put both of his arms in front of his body and plunged into the reed bed. Lu Qinglian's footsteps began to slow down uncontrollably. In just a few steps, Zhang Shutong was at her side. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that she stumbled again. Zhang Shutong was about to rush ahead to lead the way, but the girl had already grabbed his shoulder with one hand and said coldly:
"It's dangerous. Don't go over."
Zhang Shutong saw her frown slightly. Her voice was usually clear and cold, but at this moment, these few short words carried an indisputable meaning. Zhang Shutong's footsteps paused, and then Lu Qinglian untied her long robe and threw it back:
"Catch it—"
She rushed forward again, and her figure was instantly swallowed by the reeds. The rustling sound under her feet soon disappeared and changed to the sticky, dull sound of her feet stepping into the mud. Lu Qinglian had already rushed out of the reed bed, but the sound suddenly stopped;
Zhang Shutong could almost imagine the girl starting to gather her strength, raising her leg, and kicking the figure on the shore—
Sure enough, a dull thud of flesh hitting flesh came the next moment.
Lu Qinglian and the figure had already engaged in a fight!
He calmed down now. Rushing up recklessly would not help. If it was an opponent Lu Qinglian could handle, he didn't need to go. If it was an opponent she couldn't handle, going up would only be a burden, and it was not impossible to be taken hostage.
Zhang Shutong quickly looked around, subconsciously wanting to find a handy weapon, but there was nothing around. Countless reeds squeezed in on him. He also remembered the fishing line tied to the grass stems below, but the fishing line was of no use at this moment. He had witnessed how fast that figure was—
The reeds were dense and impenetrable. Several more sounds came from the unseen end;
Dull thuds, footsteps, and the sound of clothes swaying in the wind;
In a short moment, the two had exchanged blows several times!
Zhang Shutong reaffirmed his idea. He quickly turned back and ran—
The last time he completely lost the person was because the person rushed into the reed bed. So this time, Zhang Shutong went back to the road and kept his eyes on the movement of the reeds. It was not windy today, so even the slightest movement could be caught.
Then he saw a clump of reeds begin to move:
"North!"
Zhang Shutong shouted. At the same time, his feet started to move. As his voice fell, the reeds on the north side swayed more violently. It was Lu Qinglian following close behind.
This was a chase. Zhang Shutong saw the position where the reeds swayed change:
"East!"
He quickly reminded her again, and the figure below also changed direction.
At this time, the setting sun was like blood, and the tufts of the reeds were dyed orange. The two of them moved quickly through them. Before one clump of tufts could stop swaying, the next one began to shake. They expanded and spread, like a huge orange-red python swinging its body.
Zhang Shutong ran along the head of the giant python.
His breathing became chaotic, and he had to constantly pay attention to the icy road under his feet. His chest began to ache faintly. He knew this was a sign of ruptured pulmonary capillaries. In an instant, they had run more than ten meters. The reeds became shallow, and he could gradually see the tops of their heads. But before Zhang Shutong could be happy, in his sight, the figure behind him paused for a moment, as if it had stepped into nothingness, and then fell backward—
Something was wrong with Lu Qinglian!
Zhang Shutong quickly ran down, frantically pushing aside the reeds, and saw the girl half-kneeling in the mud, breathing heavily. There was a shocking bloodstain on her flawless, porcelain-like face. He turned his head again. The figure they had been chasing had already run out of sight.
"Are you okay?"
Zhang Shutong came to her and gasped for breath.
Lu Qinglian didn't answer. It seemed that just breathing took all her strength. Zhang Shutong then noticed a muddy stain on her chest, the size of a footprint. Zhang Shutong's heart sank, but Lu Qinglian shook her head before he could speak.
After a while, the girl finally came out of her breathless state. She closed her eyes and made her voice as calm as possible:
"You shouldn't have come to find me."
"But I can't catch her by myself."
Zhang Shutong sighed and looked at the motionless reeds again:
"What happened to your chest?"
"I was kicked."
Zhang Shutong waited for her to calm her breathing and asked again:
"Did you find anything?"
"A woman."
"Who?"
"I didn't see her too clearly. I don't know her... but she should be the person I'm looking for," Lu Qinglian frowned. "Just a little bit more."
"What happened?"
"There was a stone on the ground, and I happened to step on it with my injured foot. I couldn't stand firm, and she took the opportunity..." She sounded a little frustrated as she said this. She suddenly coughed a few times, closed her eyes, and then opened them again. Her amber eyes returned to being calm. "What about you? Did you find anything?"
"Nothing. Did she suddenly stop running and then kick?"
Lu Qinglian nodded.
But Zhang Shutong really couldn't figure out how that was done, or how a person could perform a "kick" in this situation.
He didn't even have to try. He just had to think about it. It was difficult to stop abruptly while running at high speed and maintain balance, let alone attack in an instant, and hit a vital spot at that.
"You can't beat her either?"
"At least not when I'm injured." Lu Qinglian added, "As for that kick, it's difficult, but not impossible to do."
"But why did she choose to run and not continue to attack you?"
"Because of you," Lu Qinglian thought for a moment. "It's just a guess. She doesn't know what other tricks we have up our sleeves, or she doesn't want to expose herself too early."
"Did you see anything else?"
"No, but I can basically confirm that she is the person I'm looking for."
"Let's get up first."
Zhang Shutong extended his hand, but Lu Qinglian didn't take it. Instead, she grabbed the reeds next to her and stood up. It looked painful. She just sighed softly:
"In the end, I still lost her."
"Don't blame yourself too much. We'll find another opportunity," Zhang Shutong comforted her.
"You'd better think about how I got the injury on my foot."
But as soon as she said this with a blank expression, she frowned slightly again.
"Don't push yourself."
Zhang Shutong let her lean on his shoulder, and they slowly walked back to the road.
Lu Qinglian put on her cyan robe and found a stone to sit on. Her long hair was a little messy, and there was a wound on her face. Despite this, she sat upright.
Zhang Shutong went back and tore off a few reeds, letting her use the tufts on them to wipe her clothes. He also asked:
"At the very beginning on the shore, did she find you?"
"No. The judgment that she has no hearing should be correct."
"And then?"
"Then I pulled back some strength and kicked her in the back."
"Did she avoid it?"
"I hit her."
"But it felt very strange, like a..." She seemed to be thinking of a suitable metaphor. "Do you remember the dish from noon?"
"King oyster mushrooms?"
"Yes," the girl nodded lightly. "That's how it felt to me."
"So I kicked her, but I lost my balance. We exchanged blows a few more times, but it was hard to find a leverage point because of the injury on my foot, so I was at a disadvantage all along." Speaking of this, Lu Qinglian glanced at him. "If you ever run into her again, you'd better not think about fighting her."
"Is she that strong?"
"One blow could decide the winner."
"What about the bodyguards at the villa?"
"I can take on two or three of them if they are uninjured and we're both unarmed. She is only stronger, not weaker."
"But that means that this time, with so many people around Gu Qiumian, she actually can't win in a fight?"
"Pretty much."
"Then does she have any special abilities? You should understand what I mean, like... for example, 'bone shrinking' to squeeze through fences, flying, or superpowers?"
"If that were the case, we wouldn't have the chance to be sitting here talking. She's just better at martial arts than ordinary people, but she hasn't gone beyond that scope," Lu Qinglian said helplessly, raising her eyelids. "Do you have anything else in your mind besides longevity, snake demons, and superheroes?"
Zhang Shutong spread his hands.
It was surprising that she even knew about superheroes.
Maybe Teacher Song used to show them foreign blockbusters.
"But in the end, it's not the figure I saw that day," Zhang Shutong said, deflated.
"You might not have been lying, but I now suspect that you saw it wrong. You just saw a long-haired woman and mistook her for me."
"Now that you mention it, I didn't see her face too clearly at that time. It was too dark at night, and half of her face was covered by her hair... but she was really wearing a cyan robe."
"Is she being mysterious? Mimicking or disguising?" Lu Qinglian frowned again. "But from this point of view, at least your deskmate's personal safety can be guaranteed."
Zhang Shutong nodded and looked north again.
That figure eventually went in that direction.
And the villa was in the south.
He then looked at Lu Qinglian:
"How's your face?"
Tiny drops of blood seeped from the wound. Her skin was as flawless as ice in the snow, so it was very eye-catching.
"It's fine. I was scratched by a reed leaf," she said, gently wiping the blood from her face.
Zhang Shutong wanted to ask if it would leave a scar. Generally, girls her age would care about this, but Lu Qinglian didn't seem to care, or maybe she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't go to a beauty salon, and she didn't have scar-reducing skincare products. She could only wait for it to heal on its own and leave it to fate.
Lu Qinglian rested for a while. Zhang Shutong asked if he should carry her, but she shook her head and walked very slowly. Otherwise, she would have a limp.
Zhang Shutong also slowed down a little to wait for her.
The two of them walked to the nearest bus stop. It was already five o'clock. Fortunately, they caught the last bus.
All in all, it cost four yuan.
On the bus, Zhang Shutong asked again:
"Do you want to come with me to ride the motorcycle? I'll treat you to dinner."
"No, I have to go back to the mountain to cook. Grandma is waiting for me."
Zhang Shutong was a little stunned:
"Cook?"
"Yeah."
Zhang Shutong looked her up and down:
She had a wound on her face.
Her foot was sprained.
She was kicked in the chest, and the severity was unknown.
And then she had to go back to the mountain to cook.
Are you the superhero...
She was now looking up again, staring at the handrail of the bus, as if she were looking at something very new and strange.
Zhang Shutong felt a little sympathetic, but Lu Qinglian withdrew her gaze, her voice devoid of any emotion:
"Don't use your sympathy in the wrong place. I don't feel anything myself, so being looked at with strange eyes, whether it's pity or weirdness, bothers me a lot."
Alright.
Zhang Shutong stopped talking.
He guessed she was used to it.
In the end, the two of them parted ways in front of the port.
There were still only the two of them on the bus. When he got off, only Lu Qinglian was left. She sat by the window. Not far away was the vast lake, where a ferry was slowly sailing back. A few plumes of black smoke rose into the sky. It seemed that it was inconvenient to get around in the heavy snow. A lot of people were leaving the island today. The port was bustling, and the sound of the horn was a bit noisy. Lu Qinglian was a person who liked quiet, so the bus carried the girl away into the distance.
The sun had set, and the sky was already dark. Zhang Shutong thought that her foot was not well, and going up the mountain would be very slow. By the time she got up the mountain, it would probably be completely dark. But she walked that path every day, day after day, year after year. Should he say that she didn't feel lonely or that she had gotten used to being lonely?
Zhang Shutong was not in the mood to ponder this question for now.
He followed the instructions in the text message and found his family's motorcycle. The motorcycle's glove box was broken and could be opened with a gentle pull. His dad had hidden the key inside.
This was a cruiser motorcycle with a displacement of 350cc. His dad was a cool man when he was young, and how could a cool man not have a motorcycle?
He had ridden it a few times before and had learned how to shift gears. Now he was a little rusty. After starting it up, he practiced for a moment and then rode away from the port.
The clamor of human voices gradually disappeared behind him. People who should go home for dinner went home for dinner, and people who should go to bed went to bed. Even if it was too early to sleep, they could watch TV for a while.
Those who didn't go home were like his mom and dad, choosing to stay in the city for a night. They could go to the park and movie theater at night, which were good places to pass the time, lively and fun.
The day was coming to an end, but it was not the end for him.
Zhang Shutong twisted the throttle and headed for his next destination.