Chapter 372: The Joining of the Gu Family, the Death of the Seven Deadly Sins (6000 words, please vote)
Haifan City, this is inside one of the mansions of the Hulielin family in this small city.
The first ray of sunlight shone into the office through the thin paper window and sprinkled on the potted plants on the windowsill.
At this moment, Lin Xingshi was sitting on a swivel chair behind the table, quietly reviewing documents. He seemed to have heard something interesting, so he looked up from the paper.
She looked at Zhuge Hui curiously, her long fiery red braid swaying slightly in the morning breeze.
"Lao Hui, are you talking about those people from the Gu family?" she asked.
"Is there someone else outside?"
Zhuge Hui smiled slightly, his eyes gleaming with clarity. "If we need someone to help us look after the brigade, they'd be perfect."
"First of all, let me make it clear that the group you mentioned does not include our genius exorcist, Maimai-sama." Ke Qirui coughed twice and said seriously, "Although she is also a member of the Gu family, she was almost scared into a diaper by the people of the White Crow Brigade before. You don't expect her to face the White Crow Brigade again, do you?"
As she spoke, she lowered her head to her pipe, took a puff of smoke, and couldn't help but smile, "Don't let yourself be scared into some weird new breed this time."
"No one mentioned your little sister either." Zhuge Hui tilted his head. "Anyone with a discerning eye knows her abilities. Why would they send her to do something as utterly disastrous as a moth to a flame?"
Ke Qirui shrugged his shoulders, hearing the sarcasm implied in Zhuge Hui's words.
When she took Su Zimai to the Tokyo Auction House, she indeed believed that with her Ghost Train Group and Zhou Jiuya's strength, they could wipe out the White Crow Brigade in one fell swoop.
But who knew that it happened to rain heavily in Tokyo that day, and Zhou Jiuya fell into a deep sleep. If Xia Pingzhou had not secretly helped, Su Zimai might have really been in trouble.
"That little sister you're talking about might be eavesdropping on you right now by the door. If you get out, she'll give you a slap." Ke Qirui let go of his pipe and teased, "Don't underestimate her. With her temper, she's capable of anything."
Upon hearing this, Zhuge Hui quickly covered his lips with his folding fan and shook his head, "Excuse me, my apology. I shouldn't have said such sarcastic things about the genius exorcist, Master Mai Mai."
"Well... guess what she said about you? You look young, but you speak like an old man. You are smooth-talking and have an old-fashioned air." Ke Qirui said again.
Zhuge Hui's face darkened, but a kind smile still hung on the corner of his mouth.
Zhou Jiuya frowned slightly and couldn't help but take a deep breath. "It's just dealing with a few bugs. Do you still need external help? Aren't you going to let our Lake Hunters down?"
"After all, Old Crow, isn't it because you are too arrogant? If you hadn't let them go at the auction house, would this have happened?" Zhuge Hui shook his head.
"It's only been a month. I wonder how strong they can become?"
"Then I'll be frank. The White Crow Brigade destroyed the box garden and took away a lot of treasures. Now their combat power is no longer what it used to be." Zhuge Hui patted the mahogany table with his folding fan.
"How is it different now than it was then?"
"Not long ago, they also captured the disaster-level esper 'Julius' from the Shinye Township Prison in Hokkaido... You and I have both seen how powerful Julius is." Having said this, Zhuge Hui waved his folding fan.
He turned his head and glanced at Zhou Jiuya, "Do you still think that a group of minions can take down Julius?"
"It's just a small fish with a few more thorns on its body, isn't it still a small fish?" Zhou Jiuya said indifferently, "Don't be so exaggerated, Lao Hui, I didn't realize when you became so stupid."
"Alas, this child is incorrigible." Zhuge Hui sighed and shook his head.
"It smells like old people." Zhou Jiuya also sighed.
"you……"
Zhuge Hui was furious at that moment. He raised his folding fan and pointed at Zhou Jiuya, with black lines on his forehead.
"We at Genius Diapers weren't kidding when we said you smell like an old person." Zhou Jiuya said coldly.
Listening to the conversation between several people, Ke Qirui, who was leaning against the wall, suddenly thought of something.
So she put the pipe back into her windbreaker pocket, lowered her head quietly, and her eyes moved slightly.
At this moment, she was thinking about whether she should mention the matter of "Xia Pingzhou" to the four people from Hu Lie, so as to prevent Xia Pingzhou from being killed by Hu Lie later.
But it might not be a good idea to tell it out at this point in time. After all, Xia Pingzhou is already thinking about how to leave the brigade. If something unexpected happens, it is likely to disrupt his plans.
After much deliberation, Ke Qirui finally chose to keep the secret in his heart.
Besides, even if she said it, she didn't think that given the personalities of the people in Hu Lie, they would show mercy to Xia Pingzhou.
In their eyes, even if Xia Pingzhou initially intended to be an undercover agent, he would eventually be compelled to participate in the massacre of innocent people. As long as they stayed in the White Crow Brigade long enough, they would inevitably be implicated in those beastly acts.
Xia Pingzhou has long ceased to be a clean person.
"Don't be so anxious, both of you. Let's see what the captain thinks first." Zhong Wujiu said coldly.
Ke Qirui looked up at him. This young man, wearing a demon mask and a black coat, was taciturn and rarely spoke. But when he did speak, his voice was surprisingly cold and clear, not as deep as Ke Qirui had imagined.
Zhuge Hui covered half of his face with his fan and looked at Lin Xingshi, "Captain, what do you think?"
"I don't think it's a good idea. Since the brigade is coming for us, Old Crow, how can we push this risk to outsiders?" Lin Xingshi lowered his head and was silent for a moment, then shook his head.
"One of them is a former member of Rainbow Wing, and the other is a Calamity-level time-based psychic. Aren't they enough for this mission?" Zhuge Hui said. "Besides... we don't need them to wipe out the entire White Crow Brigade. That's unrealistic. We're just asking them to help us keep an eye on those bandits."
He patted the mahogany tables and chairs with his folding fan and said, "Once we solve the Nian Beast issue, the White Crow Brigade will have no chance to take advantage of us."
Lin Xingshi held his chin. "I don't mean that I don't trust their abilities, but there's no need to owe them a favor."
"A favor? Since we're protecting them, we should at least collect some protection money." Zhuge Hui shook his head. "We can't help these people for free, not to mention that we've paid a lot."
"Oh, how come I didn't know that you paid a heavy price?" Ke Qirui smiled.
"Ms. Ke, after all, it's a hassle for us to be investigated overtly or covertly by Hongyi's people every day."
Zhuge Hui paused. "Besides, Su Wei was also involved in the uninhabited island incident, even though he recently resigned as president and disappeared. But Hong Yi knows that Su Wei was previously the president of the Exorcist Association, so naturally, he'll be suspicious of us. After all... within the association, only our Lake Hunters can hide from the likes of Blue Arc and Ghost Bell."
Ke Qirui restrained her expression slightly. Although she wanted to stop them from putting the Gu family in danger, what the other party said was true. Since they were under the protection of Hu Lie, they had to pay a price.
"Captain, what do you think?" Zhuge Hui asked.
"You're right, but..." Lin Xingshi lowered his eyes and looked at the table, wanting to say something but stopping himself.
"I also think there is no need to ask outsiders for help. The captain has said so, why are you still chattering?" Zhou Jiuya said impatiently, too lazy to open his eyes.
Zhuge Hui picked up his folding fan and pointed at him, "Hey... you, the culprit, just shut up! You have no say here. Every time we encounter a critical moment, if it weren't for me giving us advice, we would have been wiped out long ago."
"The people involved are outside." Ke Qirui smiled. Even she, an outsider, couldn't help but interrupt, "Why don't you just call them in and ask for their opinions?"
"That's it." Lin Xingshi stopped supporting his chin and sighed, "Call Mr. Gu and Ms. Mai in. We'll ask for their opinions."
"Wouldn't it be better if we did this earlier?"
Ke Qirui said helplessly, walked out of the office, pushed the door open, and looked up from his pipe.
The corridor was empty, the floor bathed in hazy morning light, and the sound of the ocean's tide could be heard in the distance. A standing fan, facing the wall, turned slowly.
She looked at the three members of the Gu family who were leaning against the wall chatting.
Gu Zhuoan hugged his shoulders and lowered his head in deep thought, Gu Qiye stared out the window in a daze, and Su Zimai was browsing Weibo with his head lowered again. Whenever this family of three had a little free time, they would fall into this state, as if they had been collectively infected with depression.
If you dig open their brains, you will find that they are pretending to be the same person at this moment.
"Gu Wenyu, you are really sinful..." Ke Qirui sighed in his heart, and his expression couldn't help but become gloomy.
In fact, from the bottom of her heart, she admired Hei Pupa quite a bit. After knowing that the other party was Gu Wenyu, her mood became even more complicated. She was fooled by a high school student and had no idea what the other party was thinking until the last moment.
Also, she couldn't understand why a high school student could be involved with an organization like the Salvation Society... But Gu Wenyu was already dead, and no one would ever answer her inner questions.
"Have you passed the message to them, Captain?" Su Zimai asked with his hands behind his back.
"Well, they already know that the brigade is in this city." Ke Qirui said absentmindedly.
"Then can we go now?" Su Zimai asked.
She didn't want to stay in this aristocratic mansion for even a second longer. Every second she felt she was out of place here, so she couldn't wait to think of an excuse to slip away. "My brother and my father haven't had breakfast yet, and I'm afraid they'll starve to death! Look, they've become so thin!"
As she spoke, she patted Gu Qinye's muscular leg muscles with her left hand, and patted Gu Zhuoan's sturdy arm muscles with her right hand, and squinted her eyes at Ke Qirui.
Ke Qirui looked at her unhappily and thought to himself, how can you call your brother and your father be considered thin? Even the world champions in ring wrestling would be lifted up and thrown around by them, right?
Gu Qiye chuckled softly and thought to himself, sister, do you mean that the two disaster-level monsters will starve to death if they skip breakfast?
"Say something, Captain!" Su Zimai lowered his head and stared at Ke Qirui.
"No, you can't leave yet." Ke Qirui shook his head. "Our Lion Dance Captain wants to talk to you. If it's convenient, please come into the office."
"Looking for us?" Gu Qinye raised his eyebrows, pointed at himself, and then pointed at Gu Zhuoan.
Ke Qirui nodded silently.
"Okay, then Dad, come with me." After a moment of silence, Gu Qinye and Gu Zhuoan looked at each other.
After saying that, he walked into the office first with no expression on his face. Gu Zhuoan frowned and followed him. Su Zimai looked at Ke Qirui suspiciously, then followed the two of them into the office.
After the three of them entered the office, Ke Qirui silently closed the office door from the outside, then leaned against the door frame for a while and let out a long sigh.
"Xia Pingzhou, you'd better take care of yourself..." she murmured to herself.
Inside the office.
"This is our idea," Zhuge Hui said, "What do you think? Just help us hold back those bandits while we fight the Nian beast. It shouldn't be a difficult task for you, right?" As he spoke, he waved his folding fan and looked at Gu Zhuoan and Gu Qinye with a smile.
"No, weren't my father and my eldest brother beaten half to death by the White Crow Brigade before?"
Su Zimai shook his head decisively.
"I heard that some of you were so scared that you became incontinent." Zhou Jiuya said coldly.
Su Zimai's face suddenly turned red. She frowned in embarrassment and anger, her eyes twitching slightly, and Ke Qirui's face appeared in her mind.
It was obvious that the captain had said that. Thinking of this, Su Zimai held his chest and took a deep breath, thinking to himself, Captain, I will settle the score with you later.
She raised her head and looked at Gu Zhuo'an angrily, then at Gu Qiye, "Tell me, who among you was scared to death by the brigade?"
"I." Gu Qiye smiled slightly, "Is that all right?"
"The White Crow Brigade..." Gu Zhuoan lowered his voice and murmured hoarsely.
The moment the name was mentioned, his mind flashed back to the young man surrounded by a flock of crows at the auction house that day, as well as the scene where Gu Qiye was surrounded and beaten to his knees. Qi Yuanli's indifferent expression and deep eyes seemed to be still before his eyes.
When he thought of this, Gu Zhuoan's face couldn't help but darken.
Gu Qinye remained silent.
Lin Xingshi was also silent. She sat silently in the chair from beginning to end, with her hands and fingers clasped together, staring blankly at the sea and sky outside the window, and did not participate in the conversation.
"Excuse me, do you understand the situation?" Zhuge Hui opened his folding fan, covering the lower half of his face.
"Okay, then we'll help you," Gu Qiye said calmly, "but let me make it clear first, our mission is simply to hold back the White Crow Brigade while you fight the Nian Beast."
Gu Zhuoan also slowly raised his head, his brows furrowed, and met Zhuge Hui's gaze.
Zhuge Hui understood what he meant. For a guy like Gui Zhong whose temper was hard to describe, since he didn't object loudly immediately, it meant that he agreed.
"That's enough." Zhuge Hui opened his folding fan, his face beaming. "Thank you for your help, the two members of the Gu family. Now, Captain, do you have anything to say?"
Lin Xingshi then slowly turned around, opened her mouth, and said softly, "That's it."
"I disagree."
In the silence, Su Zimai suddenly raised his head and spoke.
Gu Qiye was stunned.
"Xiaomai, be obedient." He raised his hand and touched the top of her head, then slowly leaned over and met her eyes. "Or do you no longer trust Big Brother and Dad?"
Su Zimai frowned and remained silent for a while, then his brows slowly relaxed and he murmured in bewilderment, "The last person who asked me to trust him is gone forever."
Gu Qiye restrained his expression slightly, and after a moment, he silently withdrew his right hand.
It was also the morning of August 20th, in the conference space behind the waterfall on Haifan Mountain.
Torches flickered, and upon red cushions sat zodiac demons. Atop a giant cushion in the center lay a crimson lion, its head crowned with a tuft of black mane, its majestic eyes fixed squarely on a palm-sized rat.
"My Lord, the Sloth Demon is dead," the Rat Demon said tremblingly. "We found her body in a forest on the mountain... Her lower body was still alive, but soon became motionless."
"Is he dead..." The Nian Beast Lord narrowed his eyes and murmured thoughtfully.
At this time, it slowly turned its head and looked at the gluttonous demon sitting in the distance and eating.
After hearing the news of the Sloth Demon's death, the Gluttony Demon's expression was neither angry nor furious. After a moment, its brain turned, as if it thought it was time to show its rage, so it opened its mouth and roared to the sky. But soon, its facial tissue relaxed again, and it just ate the fruit on the plate.
The little Nian Beast, lying in the corner with legs crossed, rolled his eyes and thought to himself that my judgment was right. This dumbest demon among the Seven Deadly Sins would not pose any threat if he stayed.
Even if the former Lake Hunter really used psychic abilities on these seven deadly sins demons, such abilities would probably not work on a demon like "Gluttony" who has no brain cells at all.
Fools and idiots are completely immune to psychic abilities because they have no brains.
The whole room was silent, and all the zodiac demons couldn't believe this fact. The Great Lord had been letting the Rat Demon secretly follow the three of the Seven Deadly Sins and report to it if there was any movement.
But last night, the Rat Demon was affected by the singing of the Sloth Demon and fell into a deep sleep uncontrollably, so he didn't know what happened next.
But the Rat Demon knew that it was two exorcists who invaded their territory, but they did not have time to find out the identities of these two humans.
"What about the furious demon?" The Nian Beast Lord pondered for a moment, "How is it?"
"The whereabouts of the furious demon are currently unknown, but I'm afraid..." The Rat Demon hesitated to speak.
After a long silence, the Nian Beast Lord whispered, "Forget it... You, come with me."
Hearing what the Great Lord said, all the zodiac demons present raised their eyes to look at it, only to see that the Great Lord was not focusing his gaze on any of the zodiac demons at this moment, but was staring straight at the little Nian beast lying in the corner with a piece of green grass in its mouth.
"oh oh."
The little Nian beast finally came to its senses. It raised its head to meet the Great Lord's gaze, and belatedly got up from the ground.
The Nian Beast King was the first to stand up from the cushion, and the little Nian Beast followed him and left the meeting space.
Two lions, one big and one small, crossed the rushing waterfall and came to the quiet forest. The lantern demons above their heads lit up one after another.
The little Nian beast raised its head and looked at the myriad lights in the forest with disdain, thinking to itself, why didn’t you welcome me so well when I came here on my own?
The two lions walked slowly in the woods. It was so quiet all around that the only sound was the rustling of leaves in the wind.
"You were the one who did this, right?" The Nian Beast Lord suddenly spoke.
"Why did I do this?" The little Nian Beast turned its head and looked at it. "Dad, aren't you wrongly accusing me? Ten years have passed, and now you're turning against me?"
"You don't need to lie, just tell the truth." The Nian Beast Lord said without turning his head.
"Who knows." The little Nian beast shook its head and looked away.
It doesn't want to admit that these two humans have any relationship with it. Of course, it is possible that the prince will think in the direction of "those two humans were invited by Bai Tanlang", but what does this have to do with it?
"There's no need for you to deny it. The Rat Demon overheard your conversation with the Furious Demon by the Spiritual Heart Lake. We all know that you are the most likely person to have done what happened last night." The Nian Beast Lord said slowly.
He paused, "It's actually quite good. Originally, I invited these three from the Seven Deadly Sins here to verify whether the story about them making a deal with Lake Hunter in order to survive was true... If it's true, then keeping the threat in plain sight is better than letting them roam around in the shadows, where they wouldn't even know if they were stabbed."
"So this is what you think, Dad. I thought you would be stupid enough to cooperate with them." The little Nian Beast said suddenly.
"The Rat Demon was under the influence of laziness and fell asleep. But he said he saw two humans kill them. What is your relationship with those two humans?"
"He's just a friend I met in the human world," said the little Nian Beast, "but don't tell anyone else."
The Nian Beast Lord seemed to want to say something, but only sighed, "That's all..."
It walked alone into the deep forest. The little Nian beast stopped and silently watched the king's back as he left.
Xiao Nian thought to himself, then tonight is the time agreed upon by the prophet and me, I'd better lie in the cell and see what happens, lest anything unexpected really happens, I won't make any more trouble today.
Thinking of this, the little Nian beast leaped up, landed on the branch of one of the towering trees, and lay down on it.
Then he raised his paw and patted the lantern demon who was pretending to be dead, causing it to light up, and then he slowly closed his eyes.
The wind blew the lanterns and the leaves rustled. Over time, the consciousness of the little Nian beast gradually sank and finally came to the library of the spiritual world.
The sun was setting in the west, and the red afterglow shone through the window. Ji Minghuan slowly opened his eyes, raised his head and looked at the four corpses hanging upside down on the roof of the library.
The last corpse seemed to have turned into a young man with purple-red hair.
Ji Minghuan pulled the rope hanging from the ceiling, and the four corpses began to sway. Some of them grinned and laughed playfully, some had blank expressions and no reaction, some were mumbling for food, and some were yawning.
He sighed, loosened the rope, slowly lowered his eyes, and turned to look at the red dragon drinking tea and reading a book wearing reading glasses in the corner of the library.
"Grandpa Long, who do you think the prophet will be?" He asked softly after a moment's silence.
"Won't you know the answer tonight?"
Red Dragon said, glancing at him through his reading glasses.
(End of this chapter)
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