Chapter 12 of Volume 1: The Barbarian

  The person who came was surprisingly Kong He, whom he had met at the Alien Club event last time. This kid clearly didn't expect to run into Jiang Qicai here either. The two of them stared at each other for a while, and Kong He involuntarily clenched his fists in the dark, his tone resentful: "It's you again? Last time you deceived me as soon as you appeared, this time it's even more outrageous, you actually hit me!"

  Looking at Kong He's bruised and swollen face, with a long stream of blood flowing from his nose, Jiang Qi's expression was one of utter dejection. "Come on, I'll give you a tissue paper, wipe off the blood first!"

  Kong He pushed away Jiang Qi's arm that was reaching out to help him, and then wiped his sleeve. "Don't try this with me! How do you plan on making up for this punch?"

  "Who told you to sneak over here quietly? And it's not my fault!" Jiang Qicai's voice was as soft as a mosquito buzzing, seemingly afraid that there were ears on the other side of the wall.

  "Who is the person lying inside? The one you knocked down?" Kong He only suddenly discovered that besides Jiang Qicai, there was another person lying prone in the broadcast room, and he couldn't help but point.

  "It should be the DJ here, but not the one I'm confused with!" Jiang Qicai swept his gaze around the crowd of onlookers still standing in the dark below, looking bewildered, and gently pulled Kong He's sleeve. "This isn't a place for talking! Let's go out through the back door and talk about it later!"

  "Ugh..." Kong He let out a listless sigh, following Jiang Qicai as he walked, muttering to himself, "Looks like I've taken another pointless punch. You're really my nemesis, why do I always have bad luck whenever I meet you?"

  ……

  Later.

  A few thousand meters away from "True Love Bar", in a small alley, there was a small and simple restaurant without air conditioning. Kong He stared at the waiter in amazement as he continuously brought out dish after dish: stir-fried green peppers with dried tofu, wood ear mushrooms with cucumber, a small bowl of braised pork belly, a flower-shaped vegetable dish, several cold mixed pig's feet, a plate of marinated beef, several stale cold rice balls, and two bottles of beer cooled with ice water. He couldn't help but shake his head again and sigh: "You said you wanted to treat me to a big meal to make up for it, is this what you meant by... a big meal? Damn, it's really not ordinary!"

  Jiang Qicai smiled and pushed the small bowl with braised pork in front of Kong He, "Eat! Don't look at this place being small and dirty, but the taste of things is still good! Besides, I just punched you once, do I have to treat you to a French feast? Your nose is too precious!"

  Kong He reluctantly picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in his mouth, chewed twice, took another sip of beer, and said with some surprise: "I must say, the flavor here is really not bad!"

  "Nonsense! Can I fool you? Come on, try this dried tofu and this beef, how is it, not bad, right?"

  Then the two of them chatted idly for a while and drank more than half a bottle of beer before getting to the point.

  "Why did you appear here?" Kong He asked first.

  "That kind of place, of course, is for picking up chicks!" Jiang Qicai laughed like a little fox. Even if Kong Heming knew he was lying, there was no way to expose him. "And you?" Jiang Qicai stretched out his hand and asked the waiter for two more bottles of beer, asking with a very refreshing tone.

  "Of course I'm here to pick up chicks too!" Kong He smiled like a little fox, and even winked at Jiang Qicai.

  "Is it? Then why did you come to the recording studio?" Jiang Qicai asked calmly.

  "You go for what, I go for what! Only your move is one step faster than mine!" Kong He rubbed his nose.

  Jiang Qicai could only spread his hands and say, "Alright! I'll tell the truth. It seems like someone has been keeping tabs on my every move. If I'm not mistaken, she must have installed a pinhole camera in my place of residence. And today at Dee Bar, she even snuck up on me! That person is actually a woman! Originally, I couldn't figure out who could be monitoring me without being detected, but after seeing that girl who suddenly disappeared today, I realized that there are just too many perverts in this world!"

  "Does she want to kill you?" Kong He asked a crucial question.

  Jiang Qicai stopped his chopsticks, thought for a moment, shook his head and said: "No! I think she just wanted to beat me up to vent her anger, didn't mean to kill me. Otherwise, she wouldn't have launched a sneak attack on me with bare hands. Or maybe she wasn't confident in killing me, or simply came to test my strength, who knows?"

  "Do you know what kind of person she is?" Kong He asked again, opening the second bottle of beer with his teeth in a very casual manner.

  "It's temporarily unclear, but what I can clearly sense is that woman has some kind of mysterious power on her!"

  "Slap!" Kong He suddenly clapped his hands loudly at this moment, "Superpower? That's right!"

  "What's right? What is it?" Jiang Qicai slightly furrowed his brow.

  Kong He considered for a moment, "Alright, I'll be straightforward with you too! Actually, the main purpose of my trip down the mountain this time is that my master gave me an important task at the last minute!"

  "Stop beating around the bush and get to the point!" Jiang Qicai glared at him with some impatience.

  Kong He's smile disappeared, and he suddenly became very serious: "Jiang Qicai, are we friends or not?"

  Jiang Qicai also replied very seriously, "Although we have only met twice, I think you're not a bad person! Except for being a bit ** when speaking, you should be able to get along!"

  Kong He looked around and lowered his voice, "Then are we considered like-minded? We both want to catch ghosts?"

  "Don't worry! And rest assured, what you said to me today, I absolutely won't breathe a word about it!" Jiang Qicai naturally knew what Kong He was worried about.

  "Alright! I'll get straight to the point. The person you just met, her nickname is 'Shadow', and behind her back, there's a mysterious organization with eight members, all of whom possess superpowers. According to my master's collected data, these people are naturally born mediums, their spiritual power varying in strength, but they've all signed a death contract with certain powerful wandering spirits!" He paused for a moment before continuing, "By the way, before I reveal the most crucial information about this organization, can you be a bit more honest with me?"

  "What do you want to know?"

  "You... are you also a natural medium? And just like those people from that organization, you've caught some very powerful wandering spirits and forced them to sign a death contract?"

  Kong He only said a small part of it was true, and this wasn't the biggest secret about Jiang Qicai. Of course, Jiang Qicai wouldn't be foolish enough to voluntarily confess everything about himself.

  So Jiang Qicai took advantage of the situation and nodded his head, saying: "That's right!" In fact, what Kong He said was indeed not wrong.

  "It's indeed the case!" Kong He nodded, "Now let's talk about that mysterious organization again. The name of the organization is 'Liao', which originally comes from the meaning of 'Liao Zhai'. It implies that they are all people who often come into contact with spirits. However, because their boss dislikes 'Liao' for not being majestic enough, it was changed to 'Liao' with a different character, a play on words!"

  "What else?"

  "The one who just ambushed you, ranked seventh, as the name suggests, her special superpower is that she can quietly transform her body into a shadowy form and move around, of course with certain time limits."

  "So that's how it is, quite a remarkable ability! No wonder she can sneak into people's rooms without being detected. But thinking about it carefully, this ability isn't really useful except for gathering intelligence and escaping. " Jiang Qicai suddenly realized and smiled, now he understood why the girl could suddenly disappear from the ground and stage! This beauty is indeed a bit like the legendary "Dark Night Spirit".

  Just as Jiang Qicai finished speaking, he asked again, "So, apart from the Shadow, what are the abilities of the others? Who is their leader? I have no grudges against them, why did they take the initiative to find me?"