Ruan Zhan didn’t respond.
Truthfully, he had been jealous. Although he felt most at ease leaving Xiao Xia to Wan Li after his death, he still wasn’t able to bear seeing her embracing Wan Li while sitting in his lap.
But he was about to die. How was he qualified to be jealous?
“Actually, she just got dizzy and fell over.” Wan Li explained. “It wasn’t anything intimate.”
Although he loved Xiao Xia, he was a candid person, unwilling to take advantage of this misunderstanding.
“Perhaps I should hope for your death so Xiao Xia could be mine.” He continued. “But I don’t. You and I are friends for life. I want you to live. I’m greedy. I want both love and friendship! So pull yourself together. I’ll put my life on the line to make sure you live.”
“Your life isn’t worth anything at all.” Despite his words, a smile spread across Ruan Zhan’s face.
“Well, you should take a look at the cheap life over there first!” Wan Li pointed at Bao Da Tong.
Ruan Zhan held his hand over Bao Da Tong’s face and spoke after a moment. “I already noticed his situation wasn’t too bad earlier. However, his karmic backlash is very severe. Have you noticed the red imprints on his body?”
“Red imprints?” Startled, Wan Li hurriedly moved over to the bed. As expected, the Bao Da Tong’s skin truly was covered in many tiny red marks. It reminded him of porcelain on the verge of shattering.
“What is going on?” He asked, both shocked and guilty.
He had watched over Bao Da Tong the entire day. Since Bao Da Tong had lain peacefully the whole time, he had carelessly assumed he was fine. Xiao Xia was a woman in the end, so she wouldn’t have examined Bao Da Tong’s body too closely. His dark skin had caused Wan Li to miss it too.
“He’s…going to be fine, right? Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to avoid blame even by dying thousands of times.”
“From the red imprints, it seems he was first struck by a fiend spell prior to his karmic backlash.” Ruan Zhan said. “Luckily he was smart enough to attach his soul and yang energy on the talisman to prevent both his essence and yang from leaking out too quickly. It’s also good I returned relatively early, or he would be in danger. No need to blame yourself. Even if you noticed the red imprints, you couldn’t have done anything.”
“That’s good. I was worried my negligence would cost him his life. Although this guy isn’t good for much, a life is still a life! Do you have any ideas?” Wan Li felt slightly relieved and purposefully spoke lightheartedly.
“When Xiao Xia returns, the two of you will have to carefully recall what he did over the past few days. After figuring out the reason for his karmic backlash, we can figure out how best to help.” Ruan Zhan felt Bao Da Tong’s pulse. “The fiend spell he was struck by is very ingenious. It’s impossible to detect from the outside.”
“What if we can’t recall anything?” Wan Li said in a troubled tone. “He knew it was karmic backlash before he passed out, but even he himself had no idea what he could have done.”
“If you can’t recall…” Ruan Zhan’s tone was flat but his expression helpless. “Then you’ll have to figure out how to tell Uncle Bao that his only son died from a fiend spell. I have no intention of being the one to tell him.”
“I understand.” Wan Li spoke after spacing out for a bit. “Basically, we have to figure out when he got afflicted!” That entire night, the three racked their brains over Bao Da Tong’s karmic backlash, but had nothing to show for it by the time the sun was about to rise. Wan Li leaned over Bao Da Tong and noticed the red imprints had increased quite a bit. They had spread from his stomach to his face and the soles of his feet. It was like his entire body was about to shatter! At the same time, the blood glyphs Bao Da Tong had drawn were slowly turning black!
“How much longer can he hold on?” Wan Li asked.
“Sunset tonight.”
“Then what should we do? He can’t die! You have to save him!” Xiao Xia was extremely worried. She subconsciously grabbed Ruan Zhan’s hand. Ruan Zhan felt her cold hand trembling slightly. She was clearly extremely panicked.
“We have an entire day. I won’t give up.” He looked at her gently. “Go sleep a little and then head to work.”
“How can I be in the mood for sleep and work?” Xiao Xia glanced at Bao Da Tong, unable to imagine such a lively person dying.
“You have to be!” Wan Li pulled Xiao Xia up, pushing her towards the other room. “Sitting around won’t do any good. You should do whatever you need to do. Who knows, it might provide some insight. Let us know if there are any new developments. Going about your normal routine can stimulate the memory.”
Helpless, Xiao Xia could only follow Wan Li’s advice. However, whether during sleep or work, her mind was occupied by Bao Da Tong’s situation. By noon, she had a splitting headache.
At that moment, her phone rang. She initially thought something had happened to Bao Da Tong and only dared pick up after some time. Yet glancing at the screen, she saw it was the friend who was helping her recover the data on her hard disk.
“The hard disk isn’t too badly damaged. I’ve already fixed it. Your data is safe and the laptop has been reassembled. When are you coming to get it?” Her friend asked.
Xiao Xia was about to say in a few days, but a thought suddenly flashed across her mind, like lightning illuminating her darkened memories. She desperately tried to follow the thought, and finally figured out a possible reason for Bao Da Tong’s karmic backlash.
Therefore, she hurried like mad to her friend to pick up her laptop, forgetting everything else as she rushed back. Along the way, she hugged the laptop tightly, afraid of any mishaps occurring.
“I have something!” She panted.
Ruan Zhan and Wan Li were currently sitting in the room, at their wits’ end.
“What is it?” Ruan Zhan was closer to the door so he hurriedly helped Xiao Xia to a chair, tenderly wiping the sweat from her brows. “Breathe deeply, take your time. Wan Li, get a glass of water.”
“No no, I’m not thirsty and I don’t need to breathe deeply. I want to save Bao Da Tong right away!” She carefully handed the laptop over to Ruan Zhan. “I’m not sure, but he might have suffered karmic backlash because of this.”
“The laptop?” Ruan Zhan was a little surprised.
“Didn’t you say that since he’s certain he didn’t get hit by a spell from Lu Yan or her son, and that we couldn’t find any injuries on his body, we needed to figure out what he had damaged?” Xiao Xia swallowed. “He broke my laptop a few days ago!”
Ruan Zhan and Wan Li looked at each other. “Even if he broke your laptop, there needed to have been something related to him inside.” Ruan Zhan said. “Try to remember, did he use your laptop for anything before?”
“He used it to contact Uncle Bao. He also used it to check his emails normally.”
“How are we supposed to access his email, QQ, MSN and other messenger accounts?” Wan Li said. “We can’t find someone to hack into it. There isn’t enough time!”
“I can solve that issue.” Xiao Xia hurriedly said. “He’s always been sloppy and unable to remember passwords and addresses. Therefore, he ended up writing them down in a notebook. I even joked that stealing the notebook would mean finding out all his secrets and getting access to his bank accounts.”
Before she finished speaking, Wan Li and Ruan Zhan ran to Bao Da Tong’s room and started ransacking it. Before long, they found a black leather-bound notebook at the bottom of his suitcase.
Using the notes, they started looking into every possible cause of the karmic backlash. Yet in the end, they didn’t find any clues. His chat logs and emails were completely worthless. Their excitement turned to dejection once again.
“At least we now know his online friends are all girls. He goes after everyone, from lolis to cougars!” Wan Li tried to lighten the mood, but wasn’t even able to cheer himself up.
Seeing Xiao Xia about to cry, Ruan Zhan spoke after some thought. “I also feel his karmic backlash might be due to this laptop, but we must have overlooked something. Xiao Xia, tell me what happened that day in detail.”
Xiao Xia thought for a moment before recounting the events, not even omitting details like what she had eaten that night or the slightest change in Bao Da Tong’s expression. Ruan Zhan listened with a frown before remaining silent for a long time.
“Have you thought of something?” Xiao Xia asked softly, afraid to interrupt his thoughts.
“You said a child was harassing you that night?”
“That’s right.”
“You saw Zhang Jia Lin, Lil’ Tong and Yang Yang in the closet?”
Xiao Xia nodded. Recalling the events still made her skin crawl.
“Yang Yang is definitely not the problem. You and Bao Da Tong never encountered Zhang Jia Lin’s true form at the time. It seems the most suspicious ones are Lu Yan and her son.” Ruan Zhan analyzed. “However, Bao Da Tong said he wasn’t struck by any spell from them. I believe he wouldn’t have misjudged that. Thus, based on my conjecture, if the culprit used the laptop to cause Bao Da Tong’s karmic backlash, and if Bao Da Tong didn’t slip up while using the laptop…”
“They got to him through me?” Xiao Xia finished for him, involuntarily shivering. The laptop had only been used by the two of them. Had she harmed Bao Da Tong?
“It’s not you!” Ruan Zhan’s heart ached at seeing Xiao Xia’s fluster and self-reproach. He wanted her to be happy, to be shielded from grief and helplessness, to live the most innocent life. But why could he never accomplish it?
“It wasn’t because of you.” Ruan Zhan looked earnestly into her eyes. “You were unlucky enough to meet us. You are the closest to us, so if anyone wanted to harm us, they would turn their thoughts to you. No matter how careful you are, they still have ways to set you up!”
Xiao Xia shook her head bitterly. “If I were a little stronger…”
“If I had been more careful, Nana wouldn’t have died.” Wan Li interrupted. “Weren’t you just telling me that no one can be perfect? Ruan Zhan is right. You are the victim here, for having met us.”
“No, I am lucky to have met you guys.” Xiao Xia said sincerely.
“I’m glad you think that.” Wan Li patted her head. “Besides, this is no time to assign blame. Let’s figure out where we gave Lu Yan and her son an opening, or rather gave Lil’ Tong an opening. I keep getting the feeling everything is due to that kid messing around.”
Lil’ Tong? Was it Lil’ Tong?
Xiao Xia lowered her head in thought, doing her best to remember if she had gotten Bao Da Tong involved during the times she had been with Lil’ Tong. The first time Bao Da Tong encountered Lil’ Tong, everyone had been present. There shouldn’t have been any issues then. The next time was when she had been trapped beneath the closet with Lil’ Tong. Bao Da Tong had saved them. He had seemed a little suspicious of Lil’ Tong, and had even probed his body. But since Bao Da Tong said he hadn’t fallen for any traps, it shouldn’t have been that time either.
Then when could it have been?
Bao Da Tong was so clever. If Lil’ Tong really used her to harm him, he must have done it when it was just the two of them.
Suddenly, her heart shook as she recalled a very minor, insignificant, yet extremely important event.
“There was one time I was coaxing Lil’ Tong with a game…” Xiao Xia slowly said, feeling all her blood rushing to her heart. Her chest felt tight and stuffy. “I have an app on my laptop that let’s you age someone, and even change their clothes. You just need to upload a photo for the app to transform. I thought it was fun and since I had a photo of Bao Da Tong on my laptop, I…for the sake of making Lil’ Tong happy, aged Bao Da Tong, gave him a mustache and put a Daoist robe on him.”
“Oh?” Ruan Zhan perked up. “Do you remember if he, Lil’ Tong, showed any unusual expression or actions?”
It had been a while and the event was very ordinary. Xiao Xia couldn’t really remember. However, she knew Bao Da Tong’s life was on the line and desperately thought back. “At the time, Lil’ Tong was sitting on my lap. He was facing the screen so I couldn’t see his face. However…seeing Bao Da Tong’s aged Daoist appearance, Lil’ Tong suddenly fell silent. I ad thought he couldn’t recognize Bao Da Tong anymore because the old version looks very different from the young. Therefore, I think I asked him whether he recognized him. He said: This is Uncle Bao! He also said…”
“Said what?”
“He said…I think he said..I can recognize him, no matter how he changes!” Xiao Xia finally remembered.
“He?” Ruan Zhan frowned, paying close attention to this word. “Lil’ Tong didn’t say ‘Uncle Bao’ or something, but rather ‘he’?”
“I can’t recall clearly.” Xiao Xia said gloomily. “I can’t be sure of the exact words. He might have said ‘him’”.
“Alright, let’s not worry about that.” Ruan Zhan hurriedly smoothed Xiao Xia’s worsening emotions. “I now know where the problem is. You don’t need to worry anymore, Bao Da Tong won’t die!”
Xiao Xia couldn’t have been happier to hear anything else. She finally relaxed, and this allowed her to suddenly recall something. “I remember. When I showed Lil’ Tong Bao Da Tong’s photo back then, he spent a while touching the monitor with his finger!”
“Then this is it.” Ruan Zhan’s mind also cleared up. “He must have used the laptop to cast a spell on Bao Da Tong, before seeking a chance to scare you. His target wasn’t you, but rather Bao Da Tong. He calculated that you wouldn’t be able to turn off the laptop and must also have known Wan Li and I weren’t there. So only Bao Da Tong could have “saved” you, but he was really trying to trick him into destroying the laptop.”
“That’s enough to cause karmic backlash?” Wan Li asked.
“That’s right. The world is far more mysterious than we imagine. I’ve heard of a killing spell that mixes the target’s blood with a special type of ink before painting the target’s portrait. Of course, it has to be a decent likeness. Then, tearing the portrait would cause the target to die mysteriously in three days.”
“Goodness, that’s terrifying. It’s essentially a traceless murder!” Xiao Xia exclaimed.
Ruan Zhan shook his head. “Hopefully we won’t encounter anything like that. Otherwise, I’d have no idea how to break that spell.”
