Chapter 39 Qing Shui Town 11 Recommendation

  The young woman wearing a beret looked like she was from a big city and didn't seem to be from Qing Shui Town or the surrounding towns.

  What is someone like her doing in that mountain? She doesn't look like she's here to pay respects, after all no one would bring a gun when paying respects. That mountain isn't some deep forest either, it's just a small hill slightly bigger than a mound, there shouldn't be any dangerous situations where you'd need a gun.

  Qin Fei decided to go up the mountain and take a look.

  Curiosity about what the woman was doing on the mountain was one reason, and continuing to wander around the village would probably not find any clues related to the curse either. It's better to go take a look at that grave hill which also belongs to Qing Shui Town, see if I can coincidentally find something. Apart from these two reasons, being idle also accounted for part of it.

  Qin Fei changed direction just before reaching the entrance to Zhou Tian Tong's home and headed towards a grave hill some distance behind Zhou Tian Tong's house.

  At the foot of the mountain, there is a small path leading into the mountain. It's not man-made, but rather formed by many people frequently taking this route into the mountain, and over time, it has become a relatively flat and smooth trail.

  This intersection was also where Qin Fei had just seen the woman wearing a beret, he stood at the intersection and looked around, but didn't see anyone's shadow. He thought that person probably hid deep in the mountains.

  Qin Fei hesitated for a moment, then followed the small path at the foot of the mountain and walked up.

  The mountain road is not steep, but it's not easy to walk either. Qin Fei walked slowly, paying attention to the surroundings as he went along. The small path on both sides was lined with tall trees, some of which were evergreen and still looked vibrant in the cold winter; others had already shed their leaves and looked bare and desolate.

  This mound is not special on ordinary days, or for some particular reason, generally the townspeople don't come, so Qin Fei walked all the way to the middle of the mountain without seeing a single person.

  Qin Fei stopped in his tracks, as he ventured deeper into the mountains, the cold that was originally characteristic of winter gradually changed, becoming a kind of gloomy chill that made people feel uncomfortable. This eerie feeling was somewhat similar to being followed by those things.

  This is the tomb mountain, where you can encounter those things. Qin Fei didn't have much to be surprised about. There will be a sense of eeriness, which means that those things might be nearby. Qin Fei was self-aware and although he was curious about what the girl with the beret was doing here, he didn't plan on putting himself in danger because of it. On him, apart from the protective charm Gu Yin gave him, there was nothing else to deal with those things.

  Qin Fei took a glance at the direction of the mountain top, without any hesitation, turned around and decided to head back down the mountain.

  Just as Qin Fei had turned his body, his gaze inadvertently swept over the tomb not far from the small path, he saw a dark figure emerging from the bluestone stele. The facial features were unclear, but when his eyes met the figure's, it clearly raised its head to meet Qin Fei's line of sight. Then Qin Fei saw that the unclear face twisted, suddenly opening its bloody mouth wide and pouncing towards Qin Fei with a sharp whistle.

  Qin Fei was startled by that sharp whistle and his mind went blank for a moment, but he quickly turned around and ran without slowing down.

  It was almost at the moment when Qin Fei started running that a gunshot suddenly exploded in the woods, and the next instant, that ear-piercing whistling sound stopped abruptly.

  Just a few steps away, Qin Fei turned his head back to see that the dark figure seemed to be nailed to the tree trunk, struggling for a moment before turning into a wisp of black smoke and disappearing.

  Qin Fei slowed down his footsteps as he ran down the mountain, stumbling twice before stopping. He looked in the direction of the gunshot and then saw the woman who had hidden in the mountains earlier, wearing a beret.

  Qin Fei's gaze fell on the woman, who was still holding that rifle-like gun, pointing in the direction where the dark figure had just disappeared. It was clear that the shadow had been shot down by this woman.

  But if he wasn't seeing things, that black shadow should be a ghost, right? A ghost was shot and killed by someone? Ghosts and guns... Qin Fei felt that the styles of these two didn't quite match.

  Qin Fei's thoughts were diverted for a moment to an unimportant place, and when he looked back, the woman had already put away her gun and stood up straight. She didn't immediately greet Qin Fei, but instead swept her gaze around him in a circle. After not seeing anyone else's shadow, she swiftly ran out from the woods with a low profile and walked to Qin Fei's front.

  As he drew closer, Qin Fei suddenly discovered that this young woman was unexpectedly beautiful.

  "Are you alone?" The woman asked first.

  "Just me." Qin Fei said.

  "Isn't Gu Yin with you?" The woman continued to ask.

  Qin Fei was slightly taken aback, could this person be an acquaintance of Gu Yin's? And judging from his tone, not a very pleasant one at that. After turning the guess over in his mind for a circle, Qin Fei shook his head and said, "He wasn't with me."

  "That's good." The woman let out a sigh of relief, then introduced herself, "I'm Ren Qiaoqiao, you can just call me Qiaoqiao. Last night in the middle of the night I was wandering around town and saw you secretly meeting with Gu Yin, I thought that guy was still with you! So when I saw you at the foot of the mountain just now, I hid in the woods."

  It's indeed a familiar face that Gu Ye didn't want to see... But---what is this private meeting about?

  Qin Fei's mouth twitched slightly, and he briefly introduced himself to Ren Qiaoqiao before asking with some confusion: "You said you saw me talking to Gu Yin last night...? It was so dark at the time, how did you see it?"

  He remembered that when he opened the window to greet Gu Yin, he didn't turn on the light, and at a distance, it was impossible to recognize anyone. If they were very close, then he and Gu Yin should have discovered each other at the time.

  "I am in a place a bit far from you, and I saw it with this thing."

  Ruan Qiaoqiao pulled out something from her windbreaker pocket and waved it in front of Qin Fei. Qin Fei took one glance and recognized what it was - a rifle scope with night vision function.

  Jian Ruoqiao put away the scope, Qin Fei's gaze shifted to the gun in her hand, "What are you doing on the mountain? And with a gun..."

  "What am I doing? Can't you see?" Qin Fei could see ghosts, and Ren Qiaoqiao didn't hide it either. She said frankly, "I'm clearing the vengeful spirits on this mountain. As for this gun... it's an air gun. The talismans are balled up into bullets, one shot for each vengeful spirit I meet, very effective."

  Qin Fei: "This... is really advanced."

  Ren Qiaoqiao smiled complacently: "That's it! I invented it. People in our line of work also need to keep up with the times."

  Qin Fei smiled and did not comment on Ren Qiaoqiao's words, instead asking: "What's the story with the vengeful spirits on this mountain?"

  Ren Qiaoqiao slightly tilted her head, looking in the direction of the mountain below. That was the direction where Wan Gui's army had been defeated and died seventeen years ago. The vengeful spirits on this mountain came from there, someone intentionally released them, swallowing the dead energy on the grave mountain, and then planned to do something with these vengeful spirits. Ren Qiaoqiao didn't intend to tell Qin Fei about this, so she spoke vaguely for a while before changing the subject.

  "I've cleaned up most of the vengeful spirits on this mountain. Although it's not a big mountain, with just me alone, finding the remaining few is already quite difficult." Ren Qiaoqiao's gaze swept around Qin Fei and then circled back to him again. "Just now was just you being lured out by them, huh? Ah, I see, your soul is unstable, making you a very tempting existence for those vengeful spirits. How about it? Come help me get rid of the remaining vengeful spirits?"

  "How can I assist?" Qin Fei asked.

  "Qiao Qiao: 'You stand still and don't move, I'll go hide, those things are coming, then I'll shoot.'"

  Qin Fei: "......" means letting him be the bait.

  Ren Qiaoqiao patted Qin Fei's shoulder with her hand: "How is it? Good idea?"

  Qin Fei sighed, "Miss Ren, I refuse to accept your idea. I'm going back."

  Qin Fei finished speaking and turned around to head down the mountain.

  "Are you really not going to help me out?" Ren Qiaoqiao stood still, shouting at Qin Fei's back.

  "It feels too dangerous and I don't think it's necessary to participate, so that's it." Qin Fei didn't turn back, walking forward while waving his hand at Ren Qiaoqiao behind him.

  Going down the mountain was much faster than going up. Qin Fei spent almost half of his working hours and walked to the foot of the mountain.

  This trip up the mountain was quite rewarding, although he only found out that there were vengeful spirits on this mountain, and these vengeful spirits obviously weren't originally from this mountain. As for where these vengeful spirits came from and why they appeared on this mountain, Ren Qiaoqiao clearly didn't intend to tell him, so Qin Fei also didn't continue chatting with her.

  However, apart from Ren Qiaoqiao, there is one more person Qin Fei can ask.

  Zhang Zhixin, he went up the mountain with Zhou Tian yesterday to sweep the tomb, and Zhang Zhixin should also know about the vengeful spirits on this mountain.

  Qin Fei rushed back to Zhou Tian Tong's residence, and as soon as he walked into the yard, he saw Zhang Zhi Xin sitting at the door, smoking a cigarette with an occasional puff, looking somewhat dazed, and his whole person seemed to be in low spirits.

  "Third Uncle, what's wrong? What happened?" Qin Fei walked up to Zhang Zhixin and asked with some concern.

  Zhang Zhixin looked up at Qin Fei, a hint of panic flashing in his eyes, and quickly extinguished the unfinished cigarette in his hand, stuttering: "N-nothing happened."

  Qin Fei looked at Zhang Zhixin with suspicion, this expression clearly indicated that something had happened.

  "Have you found anything after walking around?" Zhang Zhixin asked, avoiding Qin Fei's gaze.

  "I met a vengeful spirit in the back mountain." Qin Fei said slowly as he looked at Zhang Zhixin.

  "How did you end up going up the mountain? Is everything all right with you?" This time Zhang Zhixin finally looked up and gazed at Qin Fei.

  "I'm fine." Qin Fei shook his head, "You know, Third Uncle? The vengeful spirits on that mountain?"

  "Uh-huh, I knew it." Zhang Zhixin hesitated for a moment, then lied.

  On the mountain, the vengeful spirit He didn't know that when he went with Zhou Tian Tong to pay his respects to Zhou Qing's grave, he only felt that the dead energy on the mountain was a bit heavier, but he didn't feel the vengeful spirit. Otherwise, he would have warned Qin Fei not to go up the mountain long ago. Now thinking about it, at that time, Zhou Tian Tong probably did something secretly. He already knew Zhou Tian Tong's plan and could guess that those vengeful spirits were also necessary materials for finding back lost souls, just like the seven black porcelain bottles of fierce ghosts.

  "What's with those vengeful spirits? Are they related to that cursed person?" Qin Fei asked.

  Zhang Zhixin's hand, which was placed on his knee, stiffened for a moment, and then his fingers twitched slightly. He didn't dare to look up at Qin Fei, but instead pulled the corner of his mouth and said vaguely, "Maybe there's some connection."