Chapter 79 Calling the Police
Qing Bai had originally planned to remain silent; after all, he was just a delivery man. Who would have thought these two were just paper tigers, bullying their way into the family business, unable to even speak to a dying old man?
A family always needs a strong person to make decisions. These two are obviously not enough, and the gentlemanly Nine Years can't be relied upon. There is no choice but to pick the tallest person among the short ones. Qing Bai can only step forward.
Of course, he wasn't the type to rely on making up stories to scare others. He always sought truth from facts. What he said about his imminent death was true, and what he thought about the old man being 'innocent' was also true. However, when these words came out of Qing Bai's mouth, they sounded so ironic that even his cute little cat appearance couldn't dispel the coldness in his words at this moment.
At least Old Man Tang was confused by Qing Bai's words.
Qing Bai continued speaking calmly and elegantly, "You've lived in vain for so many years, old man. Now that you've extended your life through metaphysics, why don't you open your eyes and see the new world?"
"Ordinary police can only impose a mild fine, but there's a special category of police who deal specifically with this kind of thing. Worst case scenario, there's the 'police' of the underworld. Regardless of where you are, defying the will of heaven to prolong your life is a serious crime. You really don't need to worry, old man, that no one can handle you."
Qing Bai's words were not made up on the spur of the moment, but were told to him by Officer Yang, a serious public servant.
Even though Qing Bai had registered with Officer Yang for the funeral home case, at that time it was only for 'enthusiastic reporting citizens and eyewitnesses who might be retaliated against by the suspect's family'. Officer Yang had only taught him some safety precautions, and later on, when they met at the Third Hospital of Beijing City, that was pure metaphysics. After the incident, the enthusiastic and thoughtful Officer Yang recommended several 'internal' public accounts to Qing Bai. Qing Bai would occasionally check them out and learned a lot of 'common sense'.
One article specifically features bizarre stories of "defying the will of heaven to prolong life," citing numerous real-life examples, each laced with blood and sorrow. The most recent, a century-old, shocking case nearly annihilated an entire family. With so many shocking precedents before us, any involvement in "prolonging life" must be dealt with with utmost severity, regardless of the cause.
Old Man Tang's eyes flickered, and he opened his mouth and said, "Who are you?"
"...Speak nicely! Who are you calling a piece of shit?" Fat Qi frowned, thinking that this old man was really hopeless.
Old Man Tang ignored Fatty Qi. He looked at Qing Bai and Jiu Nian carefully with a serious, almost rigorous gaze. However, no matter how serious, rigorous or careful he was, he could not conceal the nature of this gaze - this was not the gaze of looking at a human being or looking at one's own kind.
Old Man Tang: "Are you monsters? Cat monsters?"
Qing Bai raised his eyebrows slightly... although it was not very noticeable: "If you think so, then so be it."
"Monster..." Old Man Tang's gaze grew increasingly fiery. He fiercely crawled forward two steps. "Monsters can live for a very long time, right?"
Qing Bai understood the look in his eyes. This old man wanted to build another temple dedicated to the "divine cat"!
Having ideals, pursuits and courage is commendable.
Qing Bai happened to be quite curious himself, so he simply looked at Jiu Nian and asked in a dragging voice, "How long can he live?"
This question certainly wasn't about how long a monster could live, and Jiunian understood the meaning, giving a vague answer: "For eternity."
Wow, as soon as these words were spoken, the dilapidated temple suddenly became much brighter. The old man's eyes shone like two light bulbs, and his ambitions were clearly revealed in them.
Qing Bai felt both pity and hate for what he saw, so he changed the subject: "Alright, you don't have much time left. If you have anything to say, talk to the victim. Don't waste your precious stolen time on irrelevant people."
After saying this, Qing Bai felt a little worried again. After such a long time, he naturally realized that Old Man Tang was a mortal with no eyesight and could not see the soul of the little monkey whose life he had killed. Not only could he not see it, but the Monkey King seemed to be unable to see it either. The key point was that the little monkey who climbed up and down in front of them so boldly and unscrupulously seemed to be quite afraid of this old man who was so old that he only had the strength to speak.
...Perhaps the painful memories before death were too profound, even if only a pile of bones remained, the fear deep in the soul was hard to dispel.
But every injustice has its perpetrator, and Qing Bai wants him to see it.
Before Qing Bai could say anything to ask for help, Jiu Nian swept his tail into the air and the cold wind started blowing in the temple again. This time the wind was much weaker. It didn't blow up the straw or create a whirlpool, but only a little dust. The other people and the monkey didn't react at all, only Old Man Tang tilted his head as if his eyes were blinded by the dust.
After he rubbed his eyes with one hand with great difficulty and opened them again, a half-dead scream suddenly rang out in the temple.
Seeing that Old Man Tang's face was trembling and twisted with extreme fear, Qing Bai felt relieved.
The frightened little monkey was still standing there in a daze, looking as if he had not reacted yet.
Qi Xiaopang was now bolder and goaded the little monkey, "The old man can see you! Go get close to him! Pull his hair! Lift his crown!"
Qi Xiaopang was eager to try, but the little monkey quickly took half a step back. It looked even more frightened than Old Man Tang.
The frightened little monkey backed away while subconsciously making a short "chirp" sound, and the next second it fell into a familiar and warm embrace.
The monkey king, who looked much stronger than ordinary monkeys, bent down and gently embraced the black shadow that could not be seen in monkey shape. At this moment, the wildness and confusion in his deep brown eyes faded away. At just one glance, he recognized that this was his child.
Qing Bai was a little surprised: "You opened the eyes of the Monkey King too?"
Jiu Nian nodded, looking like a big boss who could do nothing but give one and send one away.
Because of Nine Years' actions, the dilapidated temple became very lively for a while, and everyone's liveliness was not connected, everyone was busy in their own way - the Monkey King hugged the black shadow and chattered back and forth, the warmth and beauty were mixed with the sadness of the long-separated reunion; Old Man Tang struggled to climb to the temple door while shouting for help; Fatty Qi was the busiest. In the last second, he was still sighing at the touching reunion and hugging of mother and son, and in the next second, he stretched out his artificial feet and stepped on the trouser leg of the "reptile" Old Man Tang to add to the burden and obstacle, determined to be a sturdy human-shaped nail, and turned around to persuade Ai Chan that what happened in the past was not his fault, and if anyone was to blame, it was the old man who was greedy for life, afraid of death, and selfishly harmed the monkey and had a very bad conscience.
The old man inside the door wants to go out, and the mob outside the door wants to come in... Maybe they don't really want to come in, but the boss who paid them is inside, so he has to act like he is bravely trying to save the enemy but the enemy is too strong so he can only struggle in grief and anger.
Qing Baijiunian squatted on the high altar, occupying a vantage point to observe everyone's reactions. He was just watching the excitement when some idiot outside suddenly shouted, "Whoever's in there, hand Mr. Tang over! Otherwise... otherwise, don't blame us for being rude! I... I'm calling the police! I'm really calling the police!"
The sound was as resounding as a bell. There was silence for two seconds inside and outside the temple. All the people and monkeys temporarily put down what they were doing and looked over to see which young man was shouting.
Seeing the opportunity, Old Man Tang struggled hard to get out... but to no avail. Fatty Qi, weighing 200 pounds, was no pushover, and one foot was as steady as a rock. Old Man Tang didn't give up the struggle either, and began calling out names for help, the first one he mentioned being Miss Yan.
Because Miss Yan was a monster that could transform, Qing Bai had been keeping a wary eye on her. However, Miss Yan was small and quick, and she only pecked at the Monkey King for a few rounds at the beginning. She did not move in the subsequent series of conflicts. If Qing Bai had not been distracted, he probably would not have known that she had actually been hiding on the beam and her position was questionable.
Old man Tang shouted until he was hoarse, but Miss Yan stood still as a mountain.
The scene was very embarrassing...
Qing Bai couldn't bear to see others embarrassed, so he turned around and patted Jiu Nian: "Cellphone."
Nine years of tails rolled up, the phone was handed over, and the lock screen was opened considerately... Qing Bai took a look at the fluffy, soft and incredibly flexible tail, and felt envious.
He pressed a string of phone numbers that he had called frequently recently on his pad, and only when he heard a righteous "Hello" from the other end did Qing Bai look away.
"Officer Yang, I'm reporting this under my real name. Someone is gang-hunting a nationally protected second-class animal!"
As long as you call the police quickly enough, you will never be the suspect!
“…”
Perhaps it was because the two of them were in a high position and Old Man Tang was busy enough, so no one noticed the commotion Qing Bai made for a while.
No one broke through the monkeys' blockade and came in to rescue him. Old Man Tang finally realized that he was isolated and helpless. He didn't want to struggle anymore, and he was too weak to do it anymore, so he just lay on the ground and pretended to be dead.
Fatty Qi waited for a while, but when he saw that the man was really obedient, he felt bored. He loosened his foot from the trouser leg and slid towards Qing Bai. After finding a good position, the fat boy asked his brother Qing slyly, "Brother Qing, can you translate for me? What are those two talking about?"
Qing Bai glanced at Qi Xiaopang, who couldn't calm down for a moment, and said lightly, "We didn't talk about anything."
"How is that possible!" Qi Xiaopang didn't believe it. He thought that his brother Qing was annoyed with him and was deliberately perfunctory with him. Look at the Monkey King holding the black shadow and chattering back and forth without a word. Even if it's not a long speech, there should be some small talk, right?
"Brother, just tell me! You don't know, when I was trapped in that thing earlier, I was forced to share the little monkey's memories. Oh, it was so immersive and empathetic, it was like I was reborn as a monkey again!"
"And their end was so tragic, it caused indelible and unforeseeable damage to my young heart. So now I feel very close to monkeys, especially those two."
Qi Xiaopang made a mournful, artificial expression. "Alas, it's all because I'm not a precious spiritual intuition. I can't understand what they're saying, so I can only ask the handsome, gentle, kind, and understanding Brother Qing to help translate. But if I'm rejected, what can I do? I still have only..."
"Stop." Qing Bai couldn't listen any longer. "They really didn't talk about anything."
Qi Xiaopang said "Oh" but his expression was "I don't believe it, you lied to me".
Qing Bai had no choice but to explain in detail, "Although the Monkey King and the little monkeys are both very smart, they are still just monkeys, beasts, and animals. While they can communicate with each other, and even within their own tribes, it's not enough to form a 'language'. It can only be considered a 'signal', mostly used for hunting, sentinel warnings, or to express simple and strong emotions. It's not yet the level of chatting."
"Oh..." Qi Xiaopang seemed to understand: "Then where are they and what are they chirping about?"
Qing Bai paused and said softly, "They are calling each other and then responding."
"Just...keep calling, keep responding?"
Qing Bai nodded. The extremely simple "language" between monkeys could only do this... No, even if the language was as complex and sophisticated as that of humans, at this moment, all they could do was call and respond.
“Sometimes simple words can soothe the soul more than long speeches…”
Emotion is almost always at odds with eloquence.
Qi Xiaopang's expression suddenly became complicated. He said with a look of admiration, "Brother Qing, you're right... Look, after calling it, the monkey returned to its original form..."
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