The 372nd chapter: Nothing but death

  "Since you've forgotten, let me remind you." The female ghost's voice turned vicious, her pale hands raised high, and the red-glowing fingernails stabbed towards Hong Jun's chest. Suddenly, she raised both hands and clawed at Hong Jun. Hong Jun painfully opened his eyes, watching as the long fingernails drew closer and closer to him.

  "What's wrong?" Rui Xin suddenly flashed to Hong Jun's front from behind, shaking his hand and asking. At the same time, Hong Jun, who was one head taller than Rui Xin, saw that his fingernails had been inserted into Rui Xin's back.

  "Ah." Hong Jun felt himself able to move again, he desperately let out a loud cry, painfully closing his eyes. In the instant his eyes were closed, it was as if he had already seen Rui Xin's back covered in blood.

  "Hey, what's wrong with you?" Rui Xin's voice reached his ears again, like a heavenly sound, full of concern. Hong Jun opened his eyes in confusion, the woman was gone, and Rui Xin stood intact in front of him, looking at him with a tense face.

  Was it an illusion? Hong Jun turned to Rui Xin's side, looked her up and down, and didn't find any signs of injury. He shook his head, and couldn't tell himself whether what happened earlier was real or not. "I'm fine, just now... I had a bit of dizziness, probably from drinking too much wine. I mistook that tree for a person and scared myself." Hong Jun lied.

  "Master, look, he's over there." Rui Xin was not a three-year-old child, and Hong Jun's lie to coax the child naturally couldn't convince Rui Xin, but a voice interrupted her doubts, making her give up asking. Because several people came running from afar.

  Hong Jun's heart was lifted again, just a female ghost almost killed him, now five people ran over, including one with a slender figure, should be a woman, and someone called Shifu, did the female ghost call her own brothers and sisters as well as Shifu?

  "It's all over, looks like I'm done for," Hong Jun told himself. He wanted to run, but lifted his foot and put it back down again. Because he suddenly realized that no matter where he ran, it would be pointless in front of the ghost, and rather than exhausting himself running around, he might as well just wait for death on the spot. Besides, a cornered dog will jump over a wall, a desperate rabbit will kick a hawk, let alone himself being a three-foot-tall man, who knows if he can't even defeat a female ghost? He was trying to boost his own morale, although he knew that the possibility of him defeating the female ghost was just a myth like a fairy tale.

  However, Hong Jun immediately recognized that the one running over was not a female ghost but a person. He saw the last person in the group, with a bloated body supported by two stout legs, trembling and running towards him, or perhaps it couldn't be called running, although the body had already used up all its strength to do its best run.

  That chubby body is Fat Chen.

  He recognized Fat Chen, and Hong Jun smiled. Then, he identified one by one the people who came running: Xu Ming, Liu Ping, Lin Jie, and an old monk wearing a kasaya, whom Hong Jun did not know.

  "How did you run here? Let's find a good place." Chen Qing was the last one to rush in front of Hong Jun, but he was the first person to speak.

  "I'd rather be with you all again, I'm afraid of implicating everyone." Hong Jun said hesitantly, and then thought of Rui Xin beside him, he couldn't help but want to slap himself a few times. Afraid of implicating Xu Ming and the others, wasn't he also afraid of implicating Rui Xin? But he still dared to be with her. However, if he were to leave Rui Xin, his heart would have ten thousand unwillingnesses. He suddenly discovered how selfish he was, willing to drag the girl he loved into danger.

  "Never mind about that, let's invite Master Rongkong over." Xu Ming patted Hong Jun's shoulder.

  Who is the master of emptiness? Hong Jun glanced at the elderly monk standing beside Liu Ping, an old man in his seventies with a kind face, long white eyebrows and half-closed eyes that shone brightly. With just one glance, the anxiety and fear in Hong Jun's heart suddenly vanished without a trace.

  "Master, this is Hong Jun," Liu Ping said to the monk.

  "Master, hello." Seeing the old man running from three kilometers away from the Temple of Gratitude in the middle of the night for his own affairs, Hong Jun asked politely. Rui Xin, although not understanding what was happening before him, also asked out of courtesy.

  The Empty Master nodded, slowly opened his eyes, carefully examined Hong Jun again, looked at Rui Xin, stretched out his right hand holding the Buddhist beads, and gently placed it on Hong Jun's head, closed his eyes and meditated.

  The people around saw the movement of Shi Kong Master, and they all held their breath, not daring to make a sound. They stood there silently for about a minute before Shi Kong Master nodded slightly and withdrew his hand. "Master?" Liu Ping was the first to lose patience.

  "Everything has a cause and an effect, the reason is born from the heart, but also needs to be eliminated by the heart." Master Shi Kong gave a Zen phrase, including Hong Jun, most people listened with confusion, looking at each other in dismay.

  Looking at everyone's bewildered gaze, Hong Jun smiled wryly at Master Shi Kong: "Master, I don't understand this, please enlighten me."

  "You don't need to understand, there are those who will. Isn't that right, little girl?" Master Ryeong didn't respond to Hong Jun, but instead turned his head and asked Ruixin.

  "Master, I don't understand what you mean either." Rui Xin smiled unnaturally.

  "All worldly affairs are predetermined by fate, ultimately returning to dust. The gathering and dispersing of relationships are all decided by heaven. Do not be deluded, do not sorrow in vain." Master Shi Kong spoke again with a Zen phrase.

  "Master, we can't understand, can you just tell us what happened to Hong Jun and how we should deal with it?" Chen Qing urged.

  The Master of the Empty slowly pulled out a yellow satin pouch from his bosom and handed it to Hong Jun: "Benefactor, this is a relic left by the former abbot of the Temple of Gratitude after he passed away. You carry it with you, and at critical moments, it may come in handy. The Buddha said that some things cannot be spoken of, only felt with the heart."

  "This is it. Since the master has come, even Buddha can cut his flesh to feed eagles. Please, Master, point out a clear path." Hong Jun recalled the conversation above and flipped it out from his mind.

  The Empty Void Master pondered for a moment: "This matter cannot be resolved for the time being, I will return to the temple now and discuss with the elders, hoping to find a solution in a short period of time. It seems that the donor has an extraordinary aura, not like ordinary people, perhaps able to turn misfortune into good fortune. The donor does not need to worry excessively, remember that heaven never seals off a person's path."

  Master Xikong came and went in a hurry, Liu Ping also returned to the hotel overnight. Hong Jun and several others discussed it and decided it was better to return to the dormitory. Firstly, Master Xikong had given them a brocade pouch, secondly, the entire building of the dormitory was occupied by factory workers who were familiar with each other. In case something happened, they could take care of each other. Although they might not be able to help, familiar places and people could bring comfort to everyone's hearts. So, several people with lingering fears sneaked back to the dormitory like thieves. Lin Jie was a girl after all, she had a smaller temper and grabbed onto Chen's arm, refusing to let go, insisting on returning to the dormitory with Chen instead of going back to the hotel.

  "Buddies are quite annoying, be careful or it'll be your turn soon." On the road, Fat Chen secretly got angry and immediately pinched a piece of flesh on his thigh with two strong fingers until he apologized repeatedly, Lin Jie finally let go with a smirk.

  Rui Xin left after giving Hong Jun her contact information, citing that she still had things to attend to at her own factory. When Hong Jun offered to escort her back to the factory, he was firmly rejected: "The factory is just up ahead; it's late at night and you're a grown man - it wouldn't look good if you walked me back."

  "Disaster and fortune are interdependent," Back in the dormitory, Fat Chen grabbed a package of instant noodles to eat, but was taken away by Lin Jie, who cooked them for several people like a good housewife. Fat Chen glared at Hong Jun and scolded him severely, no longer calling him "brother". "You rascal, you've had a harrowing day without a scratch, and in the end, you even hooked up with a heavenly beauty like Rui Xin."

  Xu Ming, lying on the bed, tossed over a book and hit Chen Feishuang's back: "What are you talking about? Is that called flirting? That's just dumb luck. A cow pie fell into a cluster of flowers, and a dead skin stuck to one."

  "Ah..." Hong Jun sat in front of the computer, glancing at Lin Jie who was busy cooking. If it were any other day, he would have definitely retorted with a witty remark. But today, these two companions had accompanied him through life and death, and even ran several miles in the middle of the night to help him find Master Shi Kong. Being teased by such friends suddenly felt like a kind of happiness.

  "Let's not talk about that, have you guys felt that Rui Xin is a bit strange?" Hong Jun beckoned to let Fat Chen and Xu Ming lean in closer to him, saying softly to the two.

  I thought the two would be shocked, but unexpectedly, Fat Chen and Xu Ming exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously.

  "Did you notice?" This time it was Hong Jun's turn to be surprised. These two people, who were usually careless and sloppy, had become meticulous and serious when did they change?

  "Yes, Rui Xin is not only a bit strange, but also a bit crazy. A beauty like her can fall in love with you, this is the most bizarre thing in the world. Welcome to Jiupin Literature Network, search for 'Jiupin Literature Network' on any search engine to quickly enter our site, we provide free high-quality and txt format download services!" Xu Ming said, and burst into loud laughter with Fat Chen.

  Hong Jun couldn't laugh it off, he was born to be the kind of person who wouldn't change color even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him. If it weren't for today's events being too bizarre, exceeding his understanding of life and human nature over the past twenty years, he would not have been so flustered. However, even when facing the bizarre, when he ran out of the hotel and decided not to implicate his friends anymore, he had already calmed down. He didn't believe he had such great charm that a stunningly beautiful girl would come to him in the middle of the night. He thought everything should have a cause and effect, no cause no effect.

  Then, in the process of having dinner with Rui Xin later on, he who had been suspicious of Rui Xin's sudden appearance discovered a secret.

  From start to finish, Rui Xin's left hand was clenched into a fist and never relaxed, and a thin, bright red line came out from the middle of the fist, extending along the tiger's mouth all the way down to the sleeve.

  Why is she always clenching her fists? Is she disabled or holding something in her hand? If it's something, what could be so important that she needs to hold onto it from start to finish? And, as a girl, the factory dormitory is not far away, why did she run into a hotel in the middle of the night? What was she doing there?

  "Don't interrupt, I'm saying..." Hong Jun was about to continue when Xu Ming's puzzled voice cut in: "Wait a minute, where's Little Snake? Why isn't he here?"

  A dormitory with one room and two halls, Chen's bed was searched thoroughly, including under the mattress and inside shoes, but after only three minutes, everyone came to a consensus - the little snake was not there, or rather, it had vanished.