Nie Jiuluo’s idea was rather brutal.
—The woman Yan Tuo had seen in the farm’s second basement level had been half-buried in the soil.
—After Dog Tooth was “killed,” Lin Xirou and her people immersed him in a murky mud pool.
Perhaps Chen Fu couldn’t revive because he lacked “nutrients”? These nutrients likely came from either soil or water.
She commandeered the bathtub in Yan Tuo’s guest room, directing him to dig up soil from beneath the thriving plants in the courtyard. She created a mud pool and secured Chen Fu against the bathtub’s edge, submerging him.
Yan Tuo thought this method was too superficial but complied anyway. However, that same sense of sin he’d felt when handling Han Guan’s corpse returned. Standing before the bathtub, he found the scene disturbing: “If Sister Lu saw this, she’d lose her mind.”
Nie Jiuluo shared his sentiment: “I’ll tell Sister Lu not to clean your room or bring meals here. Starting tomorrow, eat in the small dining room. Keep the door locked when you come and go to avoid complications.”
Yan Tuo looked at Chen Fu: “Can you get anything out of him? Weren’t the captured ones all silent as mutes, refusing to speak?”
Nie Jiuluo said: “Force won’t work, but we can deceive and trick him. As long as we plan the process well, it should work.”
Yan Tuo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, thinking she’d make quite a talent in phone scams or pyramid schemes.
He hesitated: “A’Luo if I go to the Golden Human Gate, could you… wait for me here?”
Nie Jiuluo didn’t answer immediately, then said: “Are you saying you don’t want me to go?”
Yan Tuo’s silence confirmed it.
He didn’t want her to go. He still remembered the last time, when she lay on Lu Xian’s operating table with no heartbeat.
“Xing Shen and the others have no choice, they’re on Lin Xirou’s blacklist, while you’ve been fortunate enough to stay hidden. I have to go because Xin Xin is my family and my burden. But you’re different—you have no compelling reason to go. If you went because of me, I’d have another weight on my conscience.”
By the end, he even regretted not controlling his feelings these past few days. If Nie Jiuluo risked herself because of him, wouldn’t that be emotional manipulation?
Nie Jiuluo smiled: “When we first met, do you know why I was at Stone River?”
Yan Tuo had a vague guess.
“Because Uncle Jiang and the others were walking the Green Soil Path. For the previous decade or more, walking the Green Soil Path was like a casual tour—they’d circle and return without encountering anything. Uncle Jiang even wondered if the Ground Wraiths in that area had died out.”
“So they didn’t ask me to walk with them, just to guard the perimeter. According to my previous ‘agreement’ with Uncle Jiang, I should be involved in situations dealing with Ground Wraiths.”
“Now Uncle Jiang is being held hostage. If Xing Shen and the others are all going to the Golden Human Gate, do you think I could stay quietly in this courtyard?”
She looked around the house: “I forgot to tell you, this entire courtyard was bought for me by Uncle Jiang. Though property prices were low then and this small courtyard wasn’t expensive, nowadays, a traditional courtyard house in the city center wouldn’t go for less than ten million.”
“Uncle Jiang isn’t perfect, and I dislike many of his methods. But objectively speaking, first, I have an agreement with him, and second, I’m indebted to him. Of course, I could stand aside and at worst be called ungrateful—I’m capable of that. But everyone has their principles and ways of living, and I just don’t want to live that way.”
Her phone rang again, showing Xing Shen’s caller ID. As Nie Jiuluo prepared to leave to answer it, she told Yan Tuo: “So please don’t overthink and assume I’m risking myself just for you.”
Yan Tuo felt somewhat embarrassed by her words, realizing he’d been presumptuous.
He silently watched her leave the bathroom, but unexpectedly, she poked her head back in, smiling: “Though, even if it were for you, it’s not impossible—just depends if it’s worth it.”
As she said this, she looked Yan Tuo up and down, like evaluating produce at the market.
Before Yan Tuo could respond, Nie Jiuluo was gone, rushing to answer the phone before Xing Shen’s tenth call went unanswered.
When the call connected, Xing Shen spoke first: “Finally you answer. Couldn’t get through for so long, thought something had happened.”
Earlier…
Nie Jiuluo’s face suddenly felt hot. She cleared her throat: “I received and read the email.”
Xing Shen: “What do you think? And what’s Yan Tuo’s stance?”
Nie Jiuluo said: “He probably wants to go, but if it’s just walking to our deaths, I don’t see the point. The power gap is too large. We need a feasible plan to overcome superior forces.”
Xing Shen paused: “Aluo, there’s something I need to tell you.”
He told her what he’d previously told Yu Rong.
Nie Jiuluo’s reaction wasn’t as dramatic as Yu Rong’s: “Ghost soldiers? Like in the ghost army passages?”
Xing Shen said: “No, Black White Rapids is also called Yin Yang Rapids. Sometimes we casually call this side the Yang realm, and once inside Black White Rapids, it’s the Yin realm.”
Nie Jiuluo’s mind stirred.
Yin realm, ghost soldiers—interpreted, were they soldiers within the Yin Yang Rapids?
She hesitantly asked: “Do we still have people in the Yin Yang Rapids?”
Xing Shen answered: “Enter Black White Rapids, humans become wraith-ghosts—if this saying exists, it means many from the Twisting Head Army entered but never came out.”
Nie Jiuluo didn’t understand at first, but upon reflection, she felt chilled: “What do you mean? Our people are still in there? Not dead?”
Xing Shen remained silent, as he hadn’t seen it himself and couldn’t be certain.
Nie Jiuluo’s thoughts grew wilder: “Ground Wraiths might live forever, but that doesn’t mean people who entered Black White Rapids can too. ‘Many from the Twisting Head Army entered’—how long ago was that? The Qin Dynasty, right?”
Even if these people were still alive—relatives and friends become estranged after decades apart, let alone those ancient Twisting Head Army soldiers. How can you be sure you can communicate with them, ‘borrow’ their power and get their help?
Xing Shen: “I’m not certain now, as I’ve never tried. Since Lin Xirou’s message came, I’ve been thinking about how to overcome superior forces through unexpected means, and suddenly remembered this. I believe our ancestors wouldn’t have passed down the phrase ‘borrow ghost soldiers’ without reason. I plan to leave in the next few days to search for the earliest village. Any chance is worth trying.”
Nie Jiuluo thought this was completely unreliable: “With this effort, you’d be better off trying to get some guns.”
Xing Shen smiled: “That’s being worked on. Yu Rong spent time in Thailand before, she has some wild connections so that task is with her.”
The next two days passed relatively peacefully.
Yan Tuo had heard about the “borrowing ghost soldiers” from Nie Jiuluo, and he was quite accepting of it—after all, just a few months ago, he’d accepted the whole Ground Wraith setting. Not only that, he felt a hidden anticipation: if the Twisting Head Army’s ancestors were still wandering in Black White Rapids and could truly be “borrowed,” this interaction across ancient and modern times…