“This is close to the head. If it crawls inside, you won’t even be able to mimic a gecko shedding its tail to survive.”
Yun Huizhou and Zhao Honglan: “…”
What kind of nonsensical yet damn logical thing was that to say?
“Lastly, if you encounter people from the Spirit Cult and fight them, you must be careful not to let their blood touch your skin. Also, don’t accept any strange invitations.”
After saying this, Lian Li scratched his head and added, “That’s about all I have to say.”
Zhao Honglan and Yun Huizhou both nodded, taking his advice to heart. “We’ve noted it.”
To be honest, they were already aware of some ways one could be infected by Gu, which usually amounted to nothing more than being wounded by the enemy’s weapons during an encounter. They truly hadn’t expected Lian Li to bring up so many bizarre and peculiar methods.
“Let’s leave it at that for now. I’ll add more if I think of anything else,” Lian Li concluded.
Although they were supposedly discussing matters, it was mostly Lian Li speaking while the other two listened.
Having said everything he could think of for now, the three entered the small town. There were many shops selling dry rations there, and Zhao Honglan and Yun Huizhou instinctively started heading toward the nearest one.
However, Lian Li reached out and stopped them.
“Junior Brother Lian, what is it now?” Zhao Honglan asked, puzzled.
“The moment you two entered, you instinctively headed for the nearest provisions shop. That’s not right.”
“Huh?” This time, even Yun Huizhou was bewildered. “You aren’t suggesting that we’ve both fallen under a Gu spell, are you?”
Yun Huizhou circulated his internal energy through his body once and said, “I feel perfectly fine.”
Lian Li wagged a finger and said, “Look, after we left Uncle Qu’s place, we rushed here without pause. Without taking any detours, we could only have entered from the direction of this town, right?”
Yun Huizhou and Zhao Honglan nodded in unison. “That’s right.”
“So, if someone wanted to resupply, they’d likely just stop at the nearest ration shop along the path they entered from, wouldn’t they?” Lian Li asked again.
“That’s right,” Yun Huizhou and Zhao Honglan nodded in unison once more.
“If I were going to pull something, I’d definitely choose the most convenient spot right after entering,” Lian Li analyzed with a serious expression. “Because this shop is so well-positioned, anyone coming from this direction looking for supplies will naturally pick this one first. Look at you two—didn’t you just head straight for it without a second thought? Even though this place isn’t within their territory, it would be very difficult for anyone to notice if they secretly tampered with a few specific shops.”
Zhao Honglan was left utterly dazed. He clearly hadn’t expected that Lian Li, who appeared so well-behaved and had such innocent eyes, could articulate such convoluted schemes with such practiced ease.
Yun Huizhou, however, had long been familiar with this side of Lian Li. Clutching his blade, he nodded incessantly and chimed in, “That makes sense, quite right.”
Zhao Honglan looked from Lian Li to Yun Huizhou, his gaze filled with nothing but helplessness.
“Then how about we go to the one at the very end when we leave?” Zhao Honglan suggested, trying to make himself appear useful for something other than just his combat prowess.
Lian Li thought for a moment before saying, “It’s still a bit risky. Even if it’s on the way, we shouldn’t go.”
“Then which shop are we actually going to?” Yun Huizhou couldn’t be bothered to think about it anymore and asked Lian Li directly.
“The three of us will each pick a shop at random, then we’ll draw lots. We’ll go to whichever shop was chosen by the person whose name is drawn,” Lian Li said. “This way, even we won’t know which one we’re going to, making it even more impossible for them to guess.”
Yun Huizhou and Zhao Honglan exchanged a look and could only nod.
The three of them walked around the small town and found that there were eight dry food shops in total. Excluding the one closest to where they had entered and the one nearest to their intended exit, there were still six options to choose from.
The three of them each chose a place and then began to draw lots.
All three possessed striking appearances, which had already drawn many eyes. Once the onlookers noticed their peculiar behavior, even more people began to stare.
Zhao Honglan was accustomed to being the center of attention, but he wasn’t used to this kind of scrutiny at all; it even sent a chill down his spine.
Lian Li picked up a small slip of paper from the ground and opened it, finding his own name written inside.
He immediately showed the slip to the other two. “The shop that was drawn is the one I chose.”
“In that case, let’s go to the shop you picked, Junior Brother Lian.” Zhao Honglan had no objections.
Lian Li picked up the other two small slips of paper from the ground and stuffed them into his pocket, then the three of them headed toward the shop they had drawn.
Not far away, a woman with an ordinary face but exceptionally spirited eyes watched their retreating figures, gritting her teeth in frustration.
She couldn’t understand it no matter how she thought about it; the two tall ones had clearly been about to enter the dry food shop to buy provisions, yet they were suddenly stopped by the shorter one.
The two tall ones were too skilled in martial arts, so she didn’t dare follow them too closely and couldn’t hear what they were saying. She could only see that after the short one finished speaking, the three of them actually walked in a circle around the town before finding a random corner to huddle together, tearing and crumpling paper. Finally, they even threw the paper on the ground and picked it up again.
They were already quite a distance from the provisions shop, and it was unlikely they would double back to buy from this store now.
Thinking of this, a flicker of irritation rose within the woman. However, her mood improved slightly when she remembered they were heading toward the Southern Border and that arrangements had already been made at the shops along the path out of town.
She raised her hand, and a bug the size of a fingernail twitched its antennae on her finger for a moment. Then, it changed color and crawled away in the direction leading out of town.
In the dry goods shop closest to the town’s exit, another woman with an ordinary face but lively eyes seemed to sense something. She raised her hand, and a small insect landed on her finger, its antennae twitching.
Observing the insect’s color and the rhythm of its movements, she raised an eyebrow slightly. It seemed those three were about to ingest her Gu insects.
It looked like she was going to win this round.
Lian Li had no idea that his wild, random guesses had actually hit the mark yet again, and Yun Huizhou and Zhao Honglan were just as oblivious. They simply assumed that since Lian Li had the weakest martial arts skills of the three, he felt the least secure and thus thought more deeply and acted more cautiously than others. However, both men felt that Lian Li’s prudence was by no means a bad thing; if they truly managed to avoid some underhanded plots because of it, it would be a massive win.
The three of them walked toward the dry rations shop Lian Li had chosen. Along the way, Yun Huizhou suddenly asked, “Do you think we should buy the rations now, or wait until we’re about to leave?”
“Huh?” Lian Li scratched his head, thought for a moment, and said, “Let’s just buy them now. Oh, by the way, do you think we should rest for the night, or head out immediately after we’ve bought them?”
