Chapter 6: Northwest Branch Bureau

  I've been busy all morning, buying some essentials. My backpack's strap broke in the desert and it's worn out, so I asked Yang Can to include my new backpack in the budget. She gave me a white eye, but reluctantly agreed. I took a liking to a large mountaineering bag, which was a bit pricey, but she became a skilled price negotiator, which made me sincerely admire her - how could someone who's been trapped in a scorpion tomb for 40 years be so capable? I wonder how old she actually is... I wanted to ask, but I was afraid that if I did, my mountaineering bag would be doomed. So, it seems men really need their own private funds... uh, seems like I've gone off on a tangent.

  "After talking for half a day, Yang Cangcang frowned and walked over to say: 'This bag is too expensive, buy this one instead, it's durable, good to use, and cheaper.'"

  Following the direction of her finger, I took a look and directly spat it out. On the backpack, two big yellow letters "s?b" were shining brightly. At that time, I was so helpless, hurriedly waving my hand: "Sister, you've stayed in the scorpion's grave for too long, I won't blame you, this is really something I can't buy, these two letters are unbearable for me."

  "What's wrong with these two words? I think they're pretty good!" Yang Cangcang innocently blinked at me.

  "Uh..." I cleared my throat, "Do you know what this means?"

  "I knew, isn't that a casual meaning?" Yang Cangcang said seriously, and I suddenly had a black face. After taking another look, I found that under the letter "s" there was also a huge right arrow. As soon as I saw it, I decided to buy it. I can stand next to Xiao Lao with it on my back, and immediately feel much more comfortable.

  After buying the bag, my stomach was growling nonstop. Xiao Lao said: "Let's walk two more streets ahead and turn right, we'll arrive at the Xibei Yin Diao Fen Ju restaurant. Once inside, everyone should be quiet and follow the protocol for making contact. If things don't go as planned, Jun Yang will use the Nine Worms to freeze them in place. We shouldn't engage in a prolonged battle, let's retreat quickly."

  "Are the nine worms definitely useful?" I asked hesitantly, standing beside Xiao Lao with my backpack on, looking at the arrow pointing towards him. I exchanged a sly smile with Pei Ma, while Yang Cangcang looked puzzled and Wu Zihan remained expressionless, staring into the distance, lost in thought.

  "If you encounter a master like Zi Han, it's definitely not going to work. Now that your curse has just been lifted, you don't even know how to control your own spiritual power, and the Nine Worms have only just begun to stir. As far as I know, the Northwest Branch doesn't seem to have such powerful masters... Let's take it one step at a time, ah... If Fu Ma's discerning eye is okay... How can we skip so many steps?" Xiao Lao sighed.

  Fu Ma smiled slightly: "Maybe in the future, I can still recover. You all said I'm a gecko, didn't you? I think it's good now, there aren't so many voices swirling around my ears, I feel unprecedentedly clear." It was unclear whether Fu Ma's magnanimity was to comfort us or if he had truly let go.

  We walked for a while, and Xiao Lao stood under a black signboard and said: "We're here." I looked up and saw that the signboard had "Qifeng Yangsheng Cai Guan" written in both Chinese and Uyghur. It looked very ordinary, just an average restaurant, but it was quite spacious inside.

  "Why is it called this name, is there a story behind it?" I asked Old Xiao in a low voice.

  Xiao Lao rubbed his head: "It's said that the leader of the Hiding Bureau is called by this name, but it's just a rumor, I'm not sure either." He turned his face to us, "Remember, when we go in don't talk too much, just listen to what I say and don't interrupt." Everyone nodded.

  Xiao Lao adjusted his collar, put his hands behind his back, and walked in with an air of a leader inspecting the scene. We followed closely behind him like attendants. A female waitress opened the door for us enthusiastically and asked in non-standard Mandarin, "How many are you?"

  Xiao Lao cleared his throat and intentionally lowered his voice, saying: "Six..."

  A tall and beautiful Xinjiang girl walked over, smiling at us and said: "Will you sit here?" She pointed to a seat by the window.

  Xiao Lao shook his head in apparent dissatisfaction, "We have something to discuss among ourselves. Is there a more secluded place?"

  I feel that after coming out of the desert, my eyes seem to have improved a lot. For a moment, I saw the expression on the tall waiter's face stiffen for a moment before quickly recovering with a smile. "Yes, several of you can sit in a private room."

  Xiao Lao puckered his mouth and said, "The private room is too stuffy, let's just sit here." He pointed to a corner at the back of the hall. We walked over and sat down casually, and the waiter placed menus in front of us. I was so hungry that my stomach was sticking to my back, and I couldn't help but drool as I prepared to order. Just then, Xiao Lao gave me a stern glance, and I swallowed my words without speaking. The waiter poured us a pot of tea, and I decided to quench my thirst first.

  Xiao Lao said to the tall and beautiful woman, "Recently it's been hot, let me recommend some nourishing dishes that can help relieve the heat." The waitress chattered on and on, saying a lot of things. She said one thing, I took a sip of water, just in case my saliva flowed out.

  Xiao Lao closed his eyes and listened to her finish, then slowly said: "Jin Yin Hua"

  Immortal Crazy God Bar

  "Is there no dish to quench thirst?" He deliberately made his silver hair a secret.

  "I can make you a cup of iced tea." The tall one smiled.

  "What about stir-fries? How about we have some Golden Hidden Flower Stir-Fried Eggs?" I and Yang Cangcang suddenly spat out the tea in our mouths, Yang Cangcang spit on my face, I spit on Xiao Lao's face, Fu Ma and Wu Zihan were expressionless. Xiao Lao used a tissue to awkwardly wipe his face, saying: "We don't have this dish either, so just bring us four of your signature dishes." To express my mood, I put on my backpack with the arrow pointing at Xiao Lao, Fu Ma was secretly laughing beside me, but Xiao Lao's expression was serious, a change from his usual lewdness.

  After a while, the dishes arrived, and as soon as I smelled the aroma, my mouth started watering. Yang Can glared at me and muttered softly, "Look at you." I didn't care anymore, picked up my chopsticks and was about to eat when Jiuchong suddenly flew onto the tip of my chopstick, chirping nonstop. Since he grew bigger, my ears couldn't accommodate him anymore, so Jiuchong usually quietly perched on my shoulder, hiding in my clothes when there were many people around.

  I looked around and saw no one, then whispered: "What are you doing, little bug? I'm starving to death." Ignoring him, I was about to continue picking food, but Jiuzhong's strength grew stronger, he pressed on the tip of my chopsticks, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't touch the dishes.

  Xiao Lao lowered his head and whispered: "Jiuchong must have sensed something was wrong, he's a spiritual creature, we'd better be careful, don't eat this dish."

  "Somebody is staring at us from behind, let's just eat, I'm fine if I swallow it, you guys will spit it out later." Wu Zihan picked up his chopsticks and started eating with relish. Xiao Lao carefully examined the dish in his bowl and said: "There's a poisonous bug here, it's a kind of insect poison, but it's not enough to be fatal, don't swallow it."

  I stared at the full table of dishes, unable to eat, feeling suffocated. After about a minute, the tall waiter walked over, still with a smile on his face: "The dish you ordered earlier, our chef tried to make it, please go to the kitchen and take a look."

  Xiao Lao gave us a signal, and we followed the tall waiter down the stairs of the restaurant, starting to walk all the way down. After walking for a while, I felt that it was dark and humid here, and my skin began to get goosebumps. After passing through a corridor, we arrived at the hall.

  We couldn't help but admire the luxurious decoration of this grand hall, which was a hundred times more beautiful than the North China Branch. The tall waiter said: "Comrade, welcome, please report your branch and work number, I will arrange for the department head to meet with you."

  Xiao Lao looked up and said, "If you want to see Director Liu, there's something important to discuss. Just report my name, Xiao Xianren, and she'll let you in." The waitress asked the front desk staff to notify them and waited with us in the lobby.

  I suddenly heard a faint noise of quarrel coming from inside, the voice getting louder and louder, but couldn't hear what they were saying anymore. It seemed like someone was fighting, so I asked the waiter: "Are they fighting in there?"

  She nodded, "This morning a very ugly woman came, clamoring to find her husband. She seemed to have mental problems, but had high spiritual power. We mobilized several top experts and managed to fight her to a draw, but we still haven't caught him. Director Liu is now deploying the top spiritual masters in the bureau."

  I once told Old Xiao that top-level spiritual masters have a very high status in the hidden bureau, and their divine powers have reached a certain level, not just anyone can take on this role, even the director cannot easily assign it, here, only Wu Ziheng was a top-level spiritual master when he was in the North China Branch Bureau.

  The receptionist at the front desk came over and said, "Director Liu is inviting everyone." The tall beautiful woman then led us forward, passing through the hall and several winding corridors. She stopped in front of a door and said, "Everyone, we're here."

  The door opened automatically, and a middle-aged man with a hairstyle similar to Xiao Lao's, Mediterranean style, very short, seemingly less than 1.6 meters tall, with a big belly and a smile all over his face, walked over and shook hands with Xiao Lao: "Xiao Xianren, it's been several years since we last met."

  Xiao Lao patted Liu Ju's shoulder: "You're looking more spirited than ever, brother."

  Next to Director Liu stood a young man wearing black-framed glasses, staring at us with a crooked mouth, it was unclear whether he was smiling or sneering. Director Liu took one look and hastily introduced him: "This is Yuan Pengfei, our newly promoted top-notch spiritual master, skilled in Gu sorcery, an outstanding young fellow." Piao Ma and I exchanged a glance.

  Yuan Pengfei stretched out his hand, wanting to shake hands with Xiao Lao, but Xiao Lao looked at him disdainfully and said: "Kid, next time when you're making the powder, don't make it so big, grind it finer, or it'll be obvious at a glance."

  Yuan Pengfei's crooked mouth expression retracted his hand and said: "Xiao Xianren, I've long heard of your great name, but how could I not know that you can see the Gu poison in the dish? The truly deadly poison is on the chopsticks."

  Xiao Lao's face changed greatly as soon as he heard this, and when he looked at his hand, the right hand holding the chopsticks had already begun to wither and shrink, just like a mummy. Director Liu burst out laughing loudly, but immediately became extremely serious: "Director Mu has long issued a nationwide arrest warrant for your Mingyun Sect gangsters. You should surrender now, yet you still dare to come to my territory."

  Here is the translation:

  Above is a backpack that Yang Cangcang picked out for Zhou Junyang. Isn't it very cute?