Chapter 62 Monkey King

Often a person's first reaction can best reflect his or her character.

Qi Xiaopang: "What's missing?"

Qing Bai: "Congratulations?"

Nine years: "My condolences."

The three of them spoke in unison, leaving the cicada speechless and choked.

Qing Bai looked around and explained his congratulations, "Haven't you always wanted to return to secular life? The demise of the temple is a godsend."

Qi Xiaopang, while stealthily reaching out to try to slip a string of candied lotus seeds, sternly declared, "Brother Qing, you can't say that. Zhiliao wanted to return to secular life because his six senses were impure and he had worldly desires. He voluntarily resigned and returned to secular life because the temple was gone. It was the company that went bankrupt and forced layoffs... So, why did your temple close down?"

Jiu Nian glanced at Qi Xiaopang, his eyes were calm and gentle, but Qi Xiaopang retracted his fat hand. He inexplicably felt like a child who had been caught stealing food in the kitchen while the adults were busy.

How could I possibly deserve to have friends like you who care about my return to secular life? Ai Chan shook his head and smiled bitterly, "It's said... the Monkey King caused trouble, smashed the temple gate, pushed over the Buddha statues, and injured many monks."

Qi Xiaopang was curious: "Is your temple in Emei?"

Qing Bai raised an eyebrow: "Then the Monkey King's surname is Sun?"

There were so many complaints that even the otaku Ru Ai Chan didn't know which one to pick up first, so he had to force himself to be serious: "The Monkey King is not that Monkey King, nor is he Sun Wukong, but... but..."

Seeing Ai Chan's awkward expression, Qi Xiaopang snapped his fingers and said, "Got it! When there's no tiger in the mountain, the monkey becomes king!"

"Although there are indeed no tigers in the mountains, the Monkey King is no ordinary creature." Ai Chan sighed, feeling somewhat helpless and ashamed. "He's a 'celestial being' who has received offerings and worship."

Immortal? Qing Bai glanced at Jiunian. Given this person's status and position in the underworld, he should also be called an immortal... A gatekeeper immortal?

It’s better to be a security guard. Although simple, he is serious after all.

"Would an immortal do such a thing as smashing temple doors, pushing Buddha statues, and injuring monks?" Qi Xiaopang suddenly realized something and shouted, "Could your temple be stealing other people's believers and dividing their incense offerings?"

"Competitors are enemies, especially those of you who espouse feudal superstition. Your audience is shrinking, and business is struggling. We're bound to fight." Fat Qi felt more and more that what he said made sense. He tutted his tongue a few times, shook his head, and said, "So, Zhi, your leaving the monastery was truly the right decision."

He completely ignored the fact that his brother Qing had now entered the sunset industry of "feudal superstition".

Ai Chan still smiled bitterly: "But I grew up in the temple. Although my beliefs may be different, the kindness of raising me is real. Now that disaster is imminent, how can I just leave?"

Qi Xiaopang originally wanted to joke that husband and wife are birds of a feather but fly away separately when disaster strikes, but after thinking about it, he shut up silently. The grace of raising his daughter was too great, and he could neither explain it nor make a joke about it.

Qing Bai asked bluntly, "If that's the case, what's the point of telling us about the incident at your temple?"

This was really rude. Qi Xiaopang's heart skipped a beat and his eyes shifted carefully between Qing Bai and Ai Chan.

Even Jiunian showed a look of surprise.

Ai Chan, who faced Qing Bai's questioning directly, did not look nervous at all. His tone was even not as anxious as when he entered the door before. He was still neither hurried nor slow, and even recited a Buddhist mantra for the first time in a long time. If it were not for his T-shirt, flip-flops and shorts, he would really have the posture of a high monk.

"...I want to ask you two for help."

One dares to ask, the other dares to speak, both are quite direct.

Qing Bai: "How do you want us to help you?"

Ai Chan was silent for a moment, then said, "Salvation for the Monkey King."

Even though Qing Bai had been mentally prepared, he was still stunned for a moment by Ai Chan's answer: "Salvation? Isn't that what you Buddhists are good at?"

Ai Chan shook his head: "Only you can 'save' that Monkey King."

As soon as these words were spoken, the identity of the Monkey King became clear, but it also added more mysteries.

Qing Bai and Jiu Nian exchanged a glance, then said seriously, "You mean, the Monkey King is a wounded soul?"

The sad cicada nodded.

"Isn't it said that a broken soul is the resentment of people who suffered great injustices in their lifetime and could not get revenge? Can a monkey also become a broken soul?" Qi Xiaopang was very puzzled. "And it smashed doors, pushed Buddha statues, and hurt people. It's so wild and reckless. It can take revenge for anything, right?" How can it be turned into a broken soul?

Ai Chan shook his head: "I don't know either."

Ai Chan couldn't answer, so her questioning gaze subconsciously turned to Jiu Nian.

Jiunian only said: "All things have spirits."

Qi Xiaopang immediately raised his hands to defend himself: "I don't mean to discriminate against species, I just asked casually."

Ai Chan smiled bitterly, there was silence for nine years, Qing Bai seemed to be lost in thought, and no one paid attention to the sensitivity and thoughtfulness of Qi Xiaopang, who suffered from the aftereffects of surfing the Internet.

Qing Bai patted Jiunian's arm: "Cellphone."

Jiu Nian took out a cell phone from his wide sleeves, but did not hand it to Qing Bai directly. Instead, he unlocked the screen in an unskilled manner before placing the phone on the table in front of Qing Bai, carefully adjusting the distance.

The scene unfolded so suddenly and naturally, so naturally that Qi Xiaopang's first reaction was to praise Jiu Nian's thoughtfulness. It took him several seconds to realize that the key point was that Jiu Nian actually knew his brother Qing's phone password! Although he wasn't very skilled at unlocking the phone, he had successfully opened it... It was outrageous!

Qi Xiaopang's expression twisted from shock to confusion. How could someone in this world share their phone password with someone else? And that 'someone else' wasn't even clearly identified yet!

Aren't all the young people of today like him? Even if they were hit by a car while walking on the street one day, they would struggle to format their phones immediately before they could die peacefully? They want to leave a clean record in this world!

I don’t understand, Qi Xiaopang really doesn’t understand!

Although I am not very skilled at using the phone after nine years, we are very skilled at the pattern of you saying a simple word and I immediately giving the correct response. We are either an old couple or a perfect soulmate. We don't accept the third possibility.

Qing Bai didn't notice Qi Xiaopang's shock and confusion. As soon as the phone was handed to him, he immediately raised his paw and opened the food delivery app that he hadn't opened for a few days... but failed to open it.

Almost at the moment Qing Bai pressed it, a notification popped up - a new version of the software was released and needed to be updated.

Looking at the update package size displayed on the screen, Qing Bai was speechless for a moment, snorted coldly, and slapped the update button with his hand.

Qi Xiaopang had just come out of his own emotions when he saw this scene and couldn't help but applaud his brother Qing's decisiveness. A small update package was also trying to stop his brother Qing's progress? Just open the data and download it! As expected of Qing, he was generous!

The update progress bar rushed forward rapidly, looking even more anxious than Qing Bai. The download and installation were completed in one go. When I opened it, I couldn't say it was exactly the same as before, but it hadn't changed much.

Qing Bai flipped through the few pages and functions one by one, and finally found a 'takeout ranking' that had not been there before in a corner.

Rankings seem to have a kind of magic. Even if you don't know what the ranking is, you can't help but want to click in and take a look when you see it. If it is related to you, you will read it carefully.

Qing Bai was naturally no exception, not to mention that this was the ranking list that he had spent a lot of traffic to update. He didn't know whether it was the ranking of takeout shops or the ranking of takeout drivers. Qing Bai raised his paw and tapped lightly... but it didn't move. He looked closely and found that there was a light-colored, large copper lock pattern in the middle of the page, and a line of ant-sized red words below it - four orders must not be lost before it can be unlocked.

Qing Bai's originally stretched claws silently shrank into a small ball, and the sharp claws in the pads were ready to move. Fortunately, his reason curbed the instinctive impulse in time... If the mobile phone is broken, he has to buy a new one himself.

Seeing Qing Bai's strange look, Fatty Qi came over, squinting his eyes and reading word by word: "The fourth unit must survive in order to unlock it... What does this mean?"

Jiu Nian was close by and had good eyesight, so he saw the pattern and words the moment they appeared. He frowned and patted Qing Bai's back soothingly. Qing Bai gave him an 'I'm fine' look, then exited the page and said, "Literally, only by successfully delivering four takeout orders can you unlock this list."

Qi Xiaopang twitched his lips. "Brother Qing, please don't make it sound so easy... You can unlock the list only if you successfully deliver four takeout orders and survive. Survival is the key!"

"...Brother, how many orders have you delivered so far?"

"Three orders." Qing Bai didn't even raise his head. His attention was already drawn to the order page. After tapping and swiping a few times on the screen, he paused. After quickly scanning the text on the screen, he looked up at Ai Chan and whispered, "Is your Buddhist temple in Chushan?"

Ai Chan quickly glanced at the phone on the table, but it was upside down and she couldn't see clearly.

"yes."

Qing Bai smiled, not seeming surprised: "That's a coincidence, I just happened to have a takeaway order for Taozi at the address of Chushan."

It was such a coincidence, so coincidental that it seemed as if a pair of eyes were staring at them in the dark all the time, making people feel a chill in their hearts.

The atmosphere was a little frozen for a moment.

Qi Xiaopang, who had just casually checked a map, broke the silence. "Chushan is in the next province. It takes two hours to get there by high-speed rail, and it's not a direct route. You'd have to transfer to other means of transportation in between... Ordering takeout at this distance wouldn't be a good idea, right? How much would the delivery fee be?"

Qing Bai gently pushed out the phone: "One hundred."

Qi Xiaopang's eyes widened. "That's it? The production team's donkeys ran away overnight, and the travel expenses alone are not enough! Only a fool would accept—"

Qing Bai added calmly: "The unit is ten thousand."

Qi Xiaopang's eyes widened: "Take it!"

Qing Bai: "Are you not afraid of death now?"

Qi Xiaopang smiled awkwardly: "Haven't we had a big brother for nine years..."

Jiu Nian frowned and looked at Qi Xiaopang with disapproval.

Qi Xiaopang shrank his neck and immediately changed his words: "The main thing is that Zhiliu has asked for help, we can't just stand by and watch him die..."

Qi Xiaopang was momentarily dazzled by the huge delivery fee, but soon came to his senses. There's no such thing as easy money in this world. The greater the reward, the greater the risk. They've already escaped poverty and are well-off, so why take that risk?

Moreover, this was arranged just after his brother Qing had successfully completed three orders. It was obvious that there must be something wrong. It was basically a trap!

Qi Xiaopang broke out in a cold sweat at his previous greed for money. He gave Ai Chan an apologetic look and said, "Although, life is still more important. How about... should we call the police first?"

"I picked up." Qing Bai said suddenly.

After hearing Qing Bai's words, Jiu Nian didn't react at all, as if he had expected it. Ai Chan just closed his eyes and chanted a Buddhist prayer and said thank you. Only Qi Xiaopang was still thinking about this takeout order being a trap and didn't keep up with everyone else's pace: "Why?"

Isn't this just jumping into a pit?

Qing Bai said casually: "Because... he gave too much."