"Protected?"

I raised an eyebrow: "Who could be so extravagant?"

Dazhu suddenly grabbed the teapot and took a sip of water.

“That’s what I asked too!” Old Zhou chuckled, tapping his glass with his gold watch chain, and said, “You think I gamble? Now someone’s giving me money!”

"I panicked and said, 'Fu Cai, don't do anything illegal!'"

"What did he say?" I asked.

He suddenly slammed the bottle on the table!

Dazhu slammed his hand on the table: "He said, 'Illegal? I can sleep one night and it'll be worth three months of your work!'"

"The woman was laughing right there."

Dazhu suddenly leaned closer to me, the smell of decaying leaves mixed with alcohol wafting over me: "Master Chen, isn't it strange? This rough guy who can't even wash his socks properly is now telling people 'money comes in after a good night's sleep'!"

I stared into his eyes and asked, "Didn't you find out who sent the money?"

Dazhu bit his lip so hard that his lower lip almost bled, and after a long while, he nodded mechanically.

Fear and shame surged in his cloudy eyes.

"Old Zhou said that as long as you go to sleep there for a few nights, you will find something that can be exchanged for money next to your pillow when you wake up."

He took out the cigarette case, which was damp with sweat, and lit another one.

When I saw that he sent it to me, I quickly refused.

My throat hurts after just a few words.

“I refused right away. If word got out, how could I ever face anyone? Besides, no one sleeps for nothing; there's always something fishy going on behind the scenes…”

“I wanted to ask, but the woman suddenly stood up and said, ‘Brother Zhou, it’s time to go back and keep your sister company.’ Old Zhou immediately stopped talking, handed me a gold business card, and said, ‘Brother, come find me if you need anything.’”

I stared at the ripped hole in his sleeve, the fabric so thin you could see the skin underneath: "Then why did you still go?"

"Later, there was no other way! My daughter was diagnosed with leukemia!"

Dazhu suddenly pounded his head with his rough hands, his knuckles hitting the wooden table with a dull thud, his eyes red and swollen.

"The doctor said a bone marrow transplant is needed, and the deposit alone is 200,000 yuan! My wife kneels down in the hospital corridor every day to beg for money. She's only in her thirties, but her hair is already completely white..."

He choked back tears as he pulled open his collar, revealing dark red scratch marks on his collarbone. The edges of the marks were bluish-black, as if they had been scratched by some sharp claws.

As soon as I saw it, I knew it was something an animal had scratched.

fox spirit?

"I squatted in the hospital stairwell and smoked a whole pack of cigarettes, thinking that even if I was bitten by a ghost, as long as it could save my child's life, I would accept it!"

I handed him a clean tissue, and he choked up as he said thank you.

"Old Zhou was quite straightforward. When he heard that I agreed, he drove over to pick me up in a BMW the next day. The car seats were so soft, but I was still feeling uneasy."

"The deeper we went into the mountains, the lower the cell phone signal became, until it finally disappeared completely."

His voice suddenly became as low as a mosquito's buzz.

"Looking out the car window, all I saw were desolate graves, the inscriptions on the tombstones covered in moss. I kept wondering if Old Zhou had sold me to work in the coal mines in northern Myanmar. Several times I thought about jumping out of the car, but then I remembered my daughter lying in the hospital bed..."

As they were talking, Dazhu's gaze suddenly drifted to the window, as if something was staring at him.

"What's wrong?"

I followed his gaze and turned to look out the window.

The twilight had thickened like ink that couldn't be dissolved, and the streetlights cast blurry halos in the drizzle.

"No, it's just... it just feels like someone is watching me."

Dazhu's teeth chattered as he spoke, and his withered, yellow fingers gripped the edge of the table so tightly that his knuckles looked white as if they were about to bleed.

I reached out and pressed down on his shoulder: "Calm down, I'll go check it out."

After I finished speaking, I got up and walked to the window.

Fine water droplets condensed on the glass, blurring the view outside.

Smoke billowed from the food stalls downstairs, and the aroma of grilled skewers mixed with the smell of stinky tofu wafted over.

A few drunkards walked by arm in arm, loudly singing off-key old songs, making quite a scene.

Just as I turned around to return to my seat, I caught a glimpse of a white figure flashing past the alley entrance out of the corner of my eye.

The figure moved as fast as lightning.

When I looked closer, I only caught a glimpse of its fluffy tail sweeping across the moss in the corner of the wall.

It was a pure white fox, its fur gleaming like pearls in the night.

His amber eyes glanced back coldly before disappearing around the corner.

They've chased us all the way here?

My heart sank, and my fingertips unconsciously rubbed the lightning sword hidden in my sleeve.

Dazhu seemed to sense something and suddenly grabbed my wrist: "Is it... is it coming after us?!"

His palms were ice cold.

Don't scare yourself.

I calmly pointed out the window, "Look, even though it's drizzling, it's quite lively downstairs."

Dazhu craned his neck to look around with some skepticism, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the vendor downstairs lift the lid of the steamer and white steam instantly fill the glass.

He plopped back down in the chair and tightened the cloth bundle in his arms.

I sat down again and pressed down on his still trembling hand.

The chill shot from my palms straight up my spine, as if I were holding a stone pulled from an ice cellar.

"Go on, what's it like when we get there?" I added a spoonful of boiling soup to Dazhu's bowl, the steam blurring the bloodshot eyes.

Dazhu suddenly started coughing violently: "That's no place! The road ends halfway up the mountain, and all around are tall grasses that are as tall as a person. When the wind blows, it rustles like someone is grinding their teeth in your ear!"

He wiped his mouth and lowered his voice to a whisper: "I gripped the car door handle and asked Lao Zhou, 'What are we doing in this desolate wilderness?'"

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