16: Chapter 16 Four Taoist Priests

The clamor in the private room finally died down as the midnight bell chimed.

The deafening music was cut off.

The rotating colored lights also stopped flashing.

All that remained was a room full of mess and a thick, lingering scent of alcohol and tobacco.

Tonight was more about venting.

Venting all the exhaustion, shock, and unease from this recent period.

Huang Guohua rubbed his temples, his steps unsteady as Sun Hao supported him, mumbling incoherently.

"I'm old... can't handle this tossing around anymore."

Zhao Xiaoya's face was flushed and her eyes were hazy as she tightly held onto Ding Qing's arm.

It was as if only by doing so could she draw a faint sense of security.

Wang Yang was the most energetic one, shouting for the bill and arranging designated drivers.

Ding Qing remained steady, like a sound-absorbing sponge, soaking up the remaining unease and emotions around him.

He pulled the hood of his sweatshirt back up.

Most of his face was hidden in shadow, revealing only the cold, hard lines of his jaw.

He stood at the door.

His tall figure blocked the doorframe, his gaze sweeping over the backs of everyone leaving with a silent scrutiny.

After Wang Yang saw off Huang Guohua, Zhao Xiaoya, and Sun Hao,

He watched the designated driver's taillights merge into the city's neon flow. As he turned to greet Ding Qing,

He found the other man's eyes, startlingly bright under the shadow of the hood, fixed unblinkingly on him.

"Speak."

Ding Qing's voice wasn't loud, but it pierced through the lingering noise at the KTV entrance and the cool night breeze, stabbing directly into Wang Yang's ears.

"I saw you holding it in all night. What happened?"

The smile on Wang Yang's face froze instantly, then collapsed.

He glanced quickly left and right to make sure no one was paying attention before stepping closer, lowering his voice, and speaking rapidly.

"Brother Qing, people from Zhang Han and Zhou Qinghai's families came to find me yesterday afternoon."

The gaze under Ding Qing's hood didn't flicker at all, as if he had long expected this. He only let out a very soft, cold snort from his nose.

"Mhm. What did they ask?"

"The people who came asked what exactly happened on the bus that day!"

"Those two families have a lot of influence, especially Zhang Han's family. You know, their background isn't clean, and they rose up through wild means. That kid on the bus even threatened Teacher Huang back then."

Wang Yang licked his dry lips, his eyes carrying lingering fear and a hint of cunning.

"I told them the story we agreed on before. I didn't mention any of that supernatural stuff.

I just said that after the fog rolled in, the bus suddenly broke down and wouldn't start no matter what.

Zhang Han and his girlfriend Li Ting felt suffocated and insisted on getting off for some air. Teacher Huang tried to stop them but couldn't, and that kid Zhou Qinghai followed them down.

Later, the rest of us tinkered with the bus for a long time but it still wouldn't work. Seeing the fog getting thicker and thicker, we got spooked and could only brace ourselves to get off and feel our way down the mountain along the path...

As for what happened after, I said the fog was too thick, we got separated, and never saw them again."

Ding Qing listened quietly.

His fingers unconsciously kneaded inside his large sweatshirt pocket, his knuckles making a slight 'crack' sound.

Wang Yang's response was within his expectations.

Although this kid was cowardly,

His mind worked faster than anyone's at critical moments, and he could spin a convincing lie.

"They believed it?" Ding Qing asked.

"They seemed skeptical. Their eyes were like knives, especially that guy in the black suit sent by Zhang Han's family. He looked like he'd been in the underworld; his gaze was damn creepy.

But Teacher Huang and Xiaoya's side should have the same story, so they can't find any major flaws for now."

Wang Yang paused, his brow furrowing. He lowered his voice even further, sounding confused and uneasy.

"But Brother Qing, something's a bit weird. Among the group that came to find me, the leaders were four Taoist priests!

They were dressed quite convincingly in Taoist Robes and carrying Fly-whisks. They didn't look young. That old man leading them... his eyes... how should I put it? It felt like he wasn't looking at a person, but at... a thing. It was chilling.

No matter how rich Zhang Han and Zhou Qinghai's families are, they wouldn't go as far as hiring Taoist priests to ask questions, right?"

"Taoist priests?" Ding Qing's brow under the hood finally furrowed slightly.

This indeed exceeded his predictions.

Zhang Han's family had been involved in shady business in the early years, so their eccentric behavior was understandable.

But to directly dispatch four Taoist priests to investigate...

The intent was too specific.

They didn't seem satisfied with the explanation of an 'accidental disappearance.'

Instead, they had sniffed out a deeper, more 'unclean' Aura.

This confirmed his previous suspicion.

The Zhang and Zhou families didn't expect to find people alive at all.

They were looking for the 'reason.'

Looking for the reason their heirs were missing without a trace, a reason that defied common sense!

And the appearance of Taoist priests meant they not only suspected something but might even possess information channels inaccessible to ordinary people.

An invisible pressure, heavier than the thick fog on Phoenix Mountain that night, began to spread.

"The Zhang family's origins are dirty and their methods are wild. Now that people are gone, with no bodies found, they definitely won't let it go.

Teacher Huang, Zhao Xiaoya, you, and I—we survivors are the only mouths they can pry open."

Ding Qing's voice was low and cold, carrying an unquestionable gravity.

"During this time, stay on your toes. If they can find you once, they can find you a second time."

He turned his head, his gaze from the shadow of his hood sharp as a knife, piercing straight at Wang Yang.

"Stop loitering outside and don't be alone at night. Keep your phone on twenty-four hours a day. If anything happens, call me immediately."

He paused.

"Remember, that means anything."

Wang Yang felt his heart grow cold under that gaze. He subconsciously straightened his back and nodded vigorously.

"Don't worry, Brother Qing! I get it. I'm not a damn idiot; I definitely won't wander around. If there's any sign of trouble, I'll call you right away!"

Though he was afraid, there was no shrinking in his eyes.

Only absolute trust in Ding Qing and a hint of tension from being entrusted with a heavy responsibility.

Only then did Ding Qing nod slightly, and that pressing Aura retracted a bit.

He took one last glance at the dimly lit street in the distance, as if he could pierce through this prosperous facade to see the undercurrents surging beneath.

"Alright, get lost and go to sleep."

He waved his hand, his tone returning to his usual casualness.

"Remember my words."

"Understood!"

Wang Yang made an exaggerated cupped-fist gesture and turned to jog away to hail a taxi.

Ding Qing stood alone under the massive neon sign of the KTV entrance.

The hazy, shifting light and shadow flowed over his cold, hard profile, but it couldn't illuminate the frozen lake deep within his eyes.

Taoist priests... Zhang Han... Zhou Qinghai... that ghostly thing on Phoenix Mountain...

Fragments pieced together rapidly in his mind, pointing toward an even more bizarre and complex vortex.

Hengyu Group!

The cause of all this, in the end, was still an issue with Hengyu Group.

Ding Qing slowly raised his hand and cracked his neck.

Underneath his sweatshirt, the muscles where the nine Body-Suppressing Veinss resided let out a faint hum, like a bowstring tightening and then relaxing.

Trouble has come knocking.

Good.

A cold and fierce arc curled at the corner of his mouth.

He was just worrying that he had nowhere to test the edge of this Iron Cloth Shirt he had just tempered to its limit.

It's time for some exercise.