The sky was already very late, and Lin Ran had also woken up.
Chu Tian asked him, "How is Tao Jiayu, can you talk to her?"
As he asked, everyone looked at him. Chu Tian explained, "It's that spirit, a former high school classmate of mine."
Chu Tian's explanation was worse than no explanation; it made everyone look at him even more strangely.
Jing Kaiyu, who usually didn't talk much, said with a peculiar expression, "Tian Ge... you didn't sleep with her and then refuse to take responsibility, did you?"
His remark caused everyone to look at Chu Tian with expressions of understanding and realization.
Lin Yu looked disgusted.
Zhao Lei, sitting next to Chu Tian, was completely bewildered as he didn't understand the situation. He tilted his head and asked him, "Who is Tao Jiayu? What's a spirit? Does Luo Luo know you slept with her?"
"Know... Pfft..." Zhao Lei blurted out a string of questions, and Chu Tian instinctively replied.
He quickly added, "What nonsense are you talking about? We were just classmates..."
Then he recounted how he met Tao Jiayu, bought the gym out of anger, and finally fired her.
At this point, everyone finally understood.
However, they were still very curious why Tao Jiayu hated Chu Tian so much that she lunged at him, enduring being whipped, at that time.
Simply being fired shouldn't have caused such deep hatred, right?
Chu Tian himself was also very curious about this matter.
That's why he asked Lin Ran if he could talk to Tao Jiayu.
He wanted to ask clearly how she died and why she hated him so much.
Lin Ran checked the time. Because he had bitten his tongue while being beaten earlier, he spoke indistinctly:
"Yes, you can, but it's not time yet. Let's wait until midnight! However..."
He paused here and looked at Chu Tian, then continued after a moment's thought, "She's very fierce. It took me a lot of effort to subdue her. If she goes berserk when she sees you, she might have to be eliminated."
He stopped again, looking at Chu Tian, waiting for his decision.
Chu Tian knew what he meant. After considering, he said, "If she's eliminated, what about Yan Pengkun and the others? Those four from the hospital."
As Chu Tian finished speaking, Lin Ran directly turned his head to look at Lin Yu. Chu Tian, not understanding why, also followed his gaze.
"Why are you looking at me? I haven't received a single cent, so I'm not doing it!"
Lin Yu gave Chu Tian a sideways glance and continued to snack on sunflower seeds.
Chu Tian smiled sheepishly and took out his phone.
"Come on, boss, calculate how much it all costs."
Lin Yu's spirits lifted upon hearing this. She pulled out a calculator from behind her and started pressing buttons.
Chu Tian was dumbfounded, wondering if she carried a calculator everywhere.
After a series of clicks and calculations, she made an exorbitant demand, asking Chu Tian for two hundred thousand.
Chu Tian was too lazy to haggle with her now. In "Tiandao," consuming a high-grade instant recovery potion would cost more than this.
He transferred the money directly.
Seeing that Chu Tian didn't even bargain, Lin Yu felt dejected, thinking, "I didn't expect him to be such a sucker. I should have asked for more money."
However, she immediately added, "Oh, and our safety guarantee fee.
Because you failed to catch that rubber figure from the Ninth Bureau, our safety has been threatened.
Give us another two million!"
Chu Tian glanced at her after hearing this and said, "This really isn't my fault. I was about to catch him, but then I encountered a master..."
He then described the strange black and white shifting.
Lin Ran suddenly chimed in, "I say, buddy, can you at least draft your lies...?"
"Huh?" Chu Tian was taken aback.
"Why don't you say you encountered someone who could make it winter and then summer? Just say you don't want to pay." Lin Ran rolled his eyes, clearly not believing Chu Tian's story.
He thought Chu Tian was making up a story to avoid paying.
Chu Tian felt annoyed at being doubted, "What do you mean winter and summer? Explain yourself clearly..."
"Beyond the Northwest Sea, north of the Red Water, lies Zhangwei Mountain.
There is a god, with a human face and a snake's body, all red, with eyes looking straight ahead.
When it closes its eyes, it is night; when it opens its eyes, it is day.
Its gaze turns darkness into day, and its closing of eyes turns day into night.
Its breathing causes winter, and its exhalations cause summer.
It does not eat, does not sleep, does not rest, but is sustained by wind and rain."
Lin Ran suddenly recited something inexplicable, then stared at Chu Tian with his neck sticking out.
Everyone thought he had more to say, but he stopped there.
*Bang...*
"You f*cking speak human language!"
Lin Chi suddenly kicked him.
Lin Ran was kicked off his stool.
"Ouch..." Big brother, can you stop resorting to violence?
"If you speak properly, I won't hit you."
Chu Tian and the others were speechless. These two clowns were truly something else.
Lin Ran righted the stool and said aggrievedly, "What it means is: in a place called Zhangwei Mountain, there is a so-called god with a human face and a snake's body.
When it opens its eyes, darkness turns into day, and when it closes its eyes, day turns back into night.
When it exhales, dark clouds gather, and heavy snow falls, bringing winter.
When it inhales, the sun blazes fiercely, melting metal and stone, bringing summer.
Its name is Zhulong, also known as Zhujiuyin, and there is a legend known only to a very few..."
Upon hearing this, Chu Tian, Gao Kai, and the other four widened their eyes. Chu Tian suddenly stood up.
"This legend known only to a very few, doesn't it say: Zhujiuyin is actually a combination of two creatures? Zhujiu is a type of insect.
Yin is the one with the snake-like human face and body. Zhujiu usually attaches itself to Yin, becoming its scales?"
After he finished speaking, Lin Ran was stunned. He remained silent for a long time, then stood up and looked at Lin Chi, saying,
"See? Xiaoyu and I said it before! He just doesn't want to pay.
He knows such obscure legends, so he must be fooling us. You still said he wasn't that kind of person."
After listening to Chu Tian, Lin Chi also looked at him blankly for a while, but still said,
"You two only care about money. If we three hadn't met them today, would we have returned alive? Two hundred thousand is already enough to pay the rent."
After Lin Chi finished speaking, Lin Yu and Lin Ran immediately fell silent.
Chu Tian also sat back down in his chair. Gao Kai and the others exchanged glances, all understanding each other's thoughts.
They all guessed that the person Chu Tian encountered was likely Ye Ling.
However, why did Ye Ling save that person?
"Xiaotian, what about that text message..." Gao Kai asked tentatively.
Chu Tian nodded, "She's my senior, in the same major as me."
Gao Kai suddenly understood. All the mysteries of today were solved. Zhao Lei losing his phone could explain everything.
With Ye Ling's skills, taking his phone and wallet from him would have been easy.
So the text message was also sent by her to Chu Tian, using a method only understandable by 'programmers'.
As for why, it was probably because she feared being monitored or for some other reason.
Only the reason why she ultimately intervened to save that person remained a mystery to them.
Ye Ling must now be on the enemy's side. Could the rubber figure be a member of that mysterious organization?
Initially, they thought that the team they encountered today all belonged to that organization.
This was because they found it hard to believe that a team from the Ninth Bureau would be so cold and dark.