31. Picking a Fight

The vehicle was full when they arrived, but there were several empty seats on the return trip.

Chi You sat in the back, tapping on her phone app to check the status. She found that the current mission had been successfully completed. Perhaps because she had identified the location of the curse set by the director, Mission 1 was marked as done. Two options appeared on the screen: return or continue to complete the hidden dungeon.

Chi You didn't even hesitate; she clicked to continue with the hidden dungeon. Since they were already there and had triggered the hidden content, why not see it through to the end?

"What are you looking at?" Jiang Pan leaned over. Seeing that she had accepted the hidden dungeon, she teased, "You really have no fear of death at all."

"There are no ghosts in this world." Chi You exited the app and opened her study app to begin reviewing.

Seeing her looking at final exam papers, Jiang Pan remembered that the break was fast approaching. "Sneaking in extra study time without telling me," Jiang Pan grumbled, though she didn't stop her own hands; she pulled out her phone and, following Chi You’s lead, began to study as well. Both were top students, and they couldn't afford to let their academics suffer because of this dungeon.

Liu Qiang, sitting in the front, glanced at them through the rearview mirror, feeling uneasy. *Are these four monsters?* he wondered. *I have no idea what they want by coming back to the city with us.*

The distance from the outskirts to the city was quite long, taking nearly two and a half hours. The group were all homeless youths, and they typically lived in remote "urban villages"—areas where different social classes and shady characters mingled, and all sorts of things happened.

As their two cars drove into the urban village, they immediately drew attention. A muscular man with a white tiger tattoo sitting by the roadside smoked a cigarette, his eyes filled with malice as he watched the cars. At a nearby tobacco and liquor shop, young thugs played with lighters, their gazes fixed on the vehicles. Some women looked on with expressions of surprise. The various stares were felt by everyone inside the cars.

"The people in this urban village are certainly enthusiastic," Chi You said, stopping her review to look out the window. She took in their fierce expressions, the butterfly knives dancing in their hands, and the sight of people indulging in drunken stupors—a side of life she had never seen before.

As soon as the cars stopped and they stepped out, they were surrounded by a crowd.

"Yo, I heard you lot finally made it back from that mental hospital," said the lead man, standing to the side with a piece of rebar. He had a toothpick dangling from his mouth and was dressed in a black undershirt, a loud floral jacket, cropped jeans, and flip-flops. He was the quintessential street thug. Chi You frowned at his attire.

The three people who had descended from the other car stood frozen. Zheng Hong ducked behind Meng Shuyin; these people were clearly trouble—not the kind you wanted to cross.

"Look at that, hiding behind a woman," someone jeered. "What a coward." Zheng Hong didn't get angry; he was used to such insults.

Liu Qiang quickly stepped forward, smiling. "Yeah, we went."

"I heard there was endless treasure hidden inside. Did you bring it back?"

*Damn it, treasure,* Liu Qiang thought, *if you go in, you're lucky to come out with your skin intact.* Aloud, he kept a mournful expression. "We lost three brothers in there. Even Sun Qian died."

The group looked over and indeed noticed Sun Qian was missing.

"There’s no money in there, just corpses!" Liu Qiang emphasized the word "corpses." Seeing their blood-stained clothes, his story became much more credible. "There are all kinds of monsters in there. They trick you with their appearance, then transform into monsters and eat you. That’s how the other three died, and not even Sun Qian could escape."

Liu Qiang knew these people only wanted money, but there was none. To make them give up, he recounted every horrific thing he had seen. The lead man spat on the ground. "If it's that dangerous, why go? I thought you were going to bring back gold and jewels."

Liu Qiang laughed hollowly and pointed to himself. "Look at all this blood; it’s all from those monsters. It took everything I had just to escape." The man clicked his tongue and waved his cohorts away. Once they were gone, Liu Qiang let out a sigh of relief.

"Why are you so afraid of them?" Chi You asked, puzzled.

"They’re street thugs; we’re just small fry," Liu Qiang replied, patting his chest. "They’ve got blood on their hands. Don't mess with them, or you'll die a miserable death." He didn't care if they took his advice; he grabbed his things and hurried toward his place. He had experienced too much this night and needed a hot shower and a distraction.

Chi You and Jiang Pan, having nowhere to stay, used their money to find a small, cheap inn nearby. To save costs, they booked one double room, as did Meng Shuyin and Zheng Hong. The room was sketchy, littered with "special service" cards and hidden pinhole cameras. Chi You had Jiang Pan help her locate every camera before she took a shower in her new clothes.

Afterward, she sat cross-legged on the bed, reviewing the clues from the mental hospital. There was very little information about Fu Shaohuai—only what the director had told them, the photograph, and the medical record. Given how much time had passed, Fu Shaohuai should be dead by now. She wondered if the Fu family was still around.

Chi You searched for the Fu family online and found a significant amount of information. They had been powerful back then and remained so today. However, the person on the press release... he looked familiar.

Chi You picked up the photograph. The facial features were similar. Moreover, the man in the photo looked even more like the son of Ning'er and the director. Suddenly, a bold thought emerged: *Could this man be immortal?*

After all this time, his appearance hadn't changed at all.

Jiang Pan came out of the shower and, seeing Chi You lost in thought, stood in the aisle between the beds and asked, "What did you find?"