Chapter 111: Tricking Them

Yun Huizhou looked at Zhao Honglan, seeking his opinion; after all, Zhao Honglan was the most anxious among them.

Zhao Honglan paused for a moment before saying, “Let’s rest for a night. We haven’t stopped once along the way, and now that we’re about to enter, we should rest for a night to adjust our condition.”

“Alright,” Lian Li nodded and said, “Then we’ll go buy the dry rations now, then head to the inn. We’ll check out and leave first thing tomorrow morning.”

When they were less than fifty meters from the dry rations shop, Yun Huizhou and Zhao Honglan both paused simultaneously. Noticing their abnormality, Lian Li quickly asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Someone is following us,” Yun Huizhou said.

Lian Li frowned slightly and said, “Act as if we don’t know for now. Buy the rations as usual. When we get to the inn later, book the rooms for three days. Tomorrow morning, we leave directly without checking out.”

The other two nodded. Then, the three of them entered their chosen dry rations shop as if nothing were wrong, purchasing the supplies they needed with the utmost speed.

Not far away, those following the trio watched them buy rations at that specific shop, their faces filled with disbelief.

It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with the shop itself, but rather its location. Whether coming into town or heading out, choosing this shop required taking a massive detour.

For a moment, the trackers were filled with suspicion and uncertainty. Did these three know about their arrangements?

Unaware of the trackers’ complicated feelings, the trio went straight to the inn closest to the dry rations shop.

Zhao Honglan went up and paid for three rooms for three days. Lian Li thought for a moment, then went up and added, “We’d like some food sent up to one of the rooms.”

The three went upstairs and gathered in a single room. Lian Li said, “When the food comes up, let’s not touch it. We’ll just eat the dry rations.”

Yun Huizhou and Zhao Honglan nodded. They had originally been somewhat confused as to why Lian Li suddenly wanted the inn’s food; now it seemed it was to mislead the trackers.

After the food was served, the three sat around the table, staring blankly at the dishes.

Lian Li stroked his chin and suddenly said, “I wonder if the people following us took advantage of the inn staff’s inattention to tamper with our food.”

“What if they did, and what if they didn’t?” Zhao Honglan said. “We aren’t planning on eating this food anyway.”

Lian Li picked up his chopsticks and poked through the dishes. “Gu insects are living creatures. No matter how small they are, they are still alive. So, if they were going to tamper with it, they would definitely have to do it after the food was cooked. Otherwise, if they put them in the raw ingredients—boiling them with the rice or frying them with the vegetables—wouldn’t they all just be toast?”

“So?” Yun Huizhou asked. “If they did tamper with it, what do you plan to do?”

Lian Li said casually, “Just poke around and see if I can find any of those strange little things.”

Hearing him say this, the other two also picked up their chopsticks and began rummaging through the food. Before long, Yun Huizhou spotted a dark object, barely larger than a sesame seed, in the dish he was searching.

He picked it up with his chopsticks and asked Lian Li, “Look at this. What is it?”

Lian Li and Zhao Honglan leaned in together to look at the object Yun Huizhou had placed on the table. Lian Li even used his chopsticks to carefully flip the thing over.

Yun Huizhou stared at it for a while and said, “Why is it just a round little lump? I don’t see any legs or antennae.”

“It’s probably encased inside. Otherwise, if it looked exactly like a bug, who would ever eat it?” Lian Li flipped the object back and forth before finally taking out a small porcelain medicine vial.

He moved the medicine to another identical vial and then placed the suspected little insect inside the empty one, sealing it shut.

He shook the vial and said, “Let’s leave this here for now and see if a little bug crawls out later. By the way, look for more. If they really tampered with the food, they wouldn’t have only put it in one dish.”

“And people don’t always finish the dishes, but they usually finish the rice. Check the rice too.”

With that, he picked up his chopsticks again and began searching through the food.

They searched back and forth for over half an hour, eventually finding a total of eleven identical, sesame-sized round lumps.

Zhao Honglan put down his chopsticks, amazed. “I originally thought the first one we found was just a coincidence.”

“Coincidence or not, it doesn’t matter.” Lian Li dropped all the “little sesames” into the vial and sealed them up. “Anyway, we’ve got all these bugs locked away. If they aren’t dead by the time we head back, we’ll give them to Junior Uncle to study.”

Although they had booked three rooms, Lian Li did not intend to sleep in one alone, so he followed Yun Huizhou into his room.

Yun Huizhou didn’t mind, letting him sleep wherever he wished.

The night passed without incident.

When they woke up in the morning, Lian Li covered his nose and mouth as he opened the vial containing the suspected insects. He found that the “little sesames” that had been playing dead all night had now all turned into insects, scurrying around inside the bottle.

He quickly called Yun Huizhou over. “Look, they really are insects. After a night, their disguise has worn off.”

Yun Huizhou took a look and then capped the bottle. He said, “We’ll find a place to hide this bottle later. Don’t carry it with you into the Southern Border. If it accidentally breaks, the insects will crawl onto us.”

Lian Li nodded and said, “Once we’re out of town, we’ll find a memorable spot to bury the bottle.”

Zhao Honglan had also risen by then. The sky was still dark, but the roosters had already begun to crow.

The three of them took their belongings, went to the stables to get their horses, and headed out of town under the cover of night.

Back in town, the people lying in wait for them only realized they had lost their trail three days later.

They hurried to the inn where Lian Li’s group had stayed to inquire. Although the innkeeper was confused, he spoke truthfully: “They paid for three days’ rent, but before dawn on the second day, they took their horses and left. We thought they were just going out to handle some business and would be back, but they haven’t returned since, nor have they come back to ask for a refund.”

Only then did the people from the Spirit Cult realize they had been played.

“Quickly, activate the Gu insects! See where they are located!” a woman said with a frown.

A man and a woman beside her heard this and immediately activated their own Gu insects. Soon, the Gu in their hands gave feedback, dancing their antennae toward a specific direction.

“Follow them.”

“Yes.”

When the three reached the place sensed by the Gu, they saw no one. However, the Gu in their hands stopped beneath a tree and refused to move any further.

“Dig.”

At the command of the woman who appeared to be the leader, one of the people beside her crouched down, took out a small trowel, and began digging at the spot where the Gu had stopped.