Yan Tuo said: “There’s one more thing. There’s a folk rhyme, I wonder if Miss Nie has heard it. The first two lines are ‘With knife and dog through Qingrang go, Ghost hands crack whips with pearls aglow.'”
Nie Jiuluo paused for a moment before speaking: “Limp Father said quite a bit.”
“Not much, just a few lines.”
Nie Jiuluo: “It’s just a folk rhyme. Didn’t the Bandaged Army used to have their villages? During festivals, they would set up stages for opera performances. ‘With knife and dog through Qingrang go’—’dog’ refers to the Dog family members, ‘knife’ is a weapon. In ancient times, they all used cold weapons, and knives were the most common. Of course, you’d need both knife and dog to traverse Qingrang.”
“‘Ghost hands crack whips’—that’s about what happens after catching a Di Xiao. They have a beast nature and won’t submit to bonds willingly, so they need to be whipped. The costumes on stage are very elaborate, with whips decorated in gold and jade, so when they’re cracked, of course, they’d flash with pearl-like light.”
Yan Tuo: “What about the line about the mad dog?”
“‘Mad dog leads the way’? Hunters always bring dogs. Dogs are the vanguard, naturally the more fierce and mad they are, the better.”
Yan Tuo maintained his composure: “Then how about the line about the mad blade?”
This line—Limp Father had only managed to say three characters before his mouth was gagged.
“‘Mad blade sits center tent’? The center tent is the commander’s tent, where the marshal stays, representing the decisive figure. To capture a Di Xiao, the decisive role must have extraordinary skills, usually the one best with the blade. It’s called ‘mad blade’ just to match with ‘mad dog,’ makes it catchier to sing.”
Yan Tuo made an “oh” sound and stared at her for a while before saying: “You’re lying.”
Nie Jiuluo lightly pressed her lips together.
Interesting, how did he tell?
“How am I lying?”
“Before, you were either dismissive or refused to answer. When it came to these rhymes, your attitude changed noticeably. You answered everything I asked, even volunteering extra information, breaking down each line to explain, and trying hard to convince me that these rhymes have no special meaning—that they’re ordinary. But this precisely shows that these rhymes are not only extraordinary but likely related to you—you’re someone who doesn’t care much about others but cares a lot about yourself.”
Nie Jiuluo raised an eyebrow: “Really? Don’t you think you’re being paranoid and overthinking things?”
So what if I’m lying? As long as you have no proof and I firmly deny it, everything goes by what I say.
Yan Tuo smiled and finally did as she wished, picking up his tray and politely getting lost.
Before leaving, he said: “We’re not familiar after all, so I don’t mind if you want to hide things. However, Miss Nie, if you happen to know someone with the nickname ‘Mad Blade,’ you can tell them that Gou Ya’s companions are very interested in them.”
Nie Jiuluo watched Yan Tuo walk away.
He was right about one thing—she didn’t care much about others but cared a lot about herself. Just as she had little curiosity about outsiders and external matters when it came to herself and those close to her, she would still get to the bottom of things.
—”If you happen to know someone with the nickname ‘Mad Blade,’ you can tell them that Gou Ya’s companions are very interested in them.”
After returning to her room, she contacted Jiang Baichuan and had a phone call with him.
The kidnappers’ message was “Eighth day, come to Nanba Monkey Head for the cripple,” but Jiang Baichuan wasn’t a fool: In movies and TV shows, cunning kidnappers always change the delivery location repeatedly. You set up an elaborate trap at location A, and then they call and demand an immediate change to location B. While everyone scrambles to relocate, arriving breathless, they announce that C is the final transaction point.
Therefore, Jiang Baichuan didn’t commit his elite forces to Nanba Monkey Head. So far, he had only sent an advance team of three, including one Dog family member, into the mountains to scout the situation while looking for a “crossing point” around the Nanba Monkey Head area.
This “crossing point” was being sought for Nie Jiuluo.
Tracing their ancestral roots, whether it was her, Jiang Baichuan, or Xing Shen, they all belonged to an ancient branch—the Ba Mountain hunters.
Before liberation, there was a saying: “Ba Mountains in the north, Mei Mountains in the south.” Ba Mountain hunters and Mei Mountain hunters shared equal fame. However, because Mei Mountain was located in the Xiangxi area, it carried mysterious shamanic overtones. Legend had it that Mei Mountain hunters all knew some magic, with the highest-ranked being tiger hunters. Thus, there was an old saying: “Mid-rank Mei Mountain hunters hunt in mountains, and high-rank Mei Mountain hunters shoot tigers with crossbows.”
Ba Mountain hunters, however, relied purely on practical skills—tracking by sound, and smell, and identifying droppings and footprints. At their peak, they too had a saying: “Mid-rank Ba Mountain hunters hunt in mountains, high-rank Ba Mountain hunters go underground to ambush Xiao.” This saying later fell out of use because those unfamiliar with it found it problematic: Xiao in classical Chinese referred to “evil birds and flying creatures,” so they would naturally be in the sky—how could one go “underground” to ambush them? It made no sense.
Combined with the Bandaged Army descendants’ intentional secrecy, over time, while many knew of Ba Mountain hunting, those who knew of “high-rank Ba Mountain” hunters became nearly non-existent.
Ba Mountain hunters had a habit of finding “crossing points” when hunting. In simple terms, when hunting in an area, they would first identify a location good for concealment and convenient for attack—this was called a “crossing point.” The hunter with the best marksmanship and most skilled techniques would guard it, called “sitting the crossing.” While hunting, others would make as much noise as possible to drive prey toward the crossing point, where the guard would wait and deal with them one by one.
For dealing with Di Xiao, without a doubt, she should be the one sitting at the crossing.
In the past, she wouldn’t have had any objections, but this time, she felt uneasy.
She said: “Uncle Jiang, you’ve seen that Gou Ya person. He’s completely in human form and appearance now. Don’t you find that strange?”
Jiang Baichuan smiled: “Of course it’s strange, that’s why we’re so eager to find out how they came to be—after all, our golden gates were all supposed to be well-locked.”
Nie Jiuluo said: “That’s not what I mean. I’m saying that over thousands of years, our understanding of Di Xiao has remained stuck in our ancestors’ era, with no further discoveries. When you went to Qingrang in ’91, you relied on handwritten notes passed down for who knows how many generations from our ancestors.”
In biological classification—domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species—if Gou Ya was a Di Xiao, he certainly wasn’t the same kind as back then.
“They’re different now. Isn’t it too risky to still use traditional old methods against them?”
Jiang Baichuan was more optimistic than her: “Nie Er, I’ve thought about all this too. But think carefully—although Gou Ya looks like a person, Big Head still smelled him out, and your attack still took him down. So I believe that despite all changes, the essence remains the same. No matter how they change, their weakness stays constant.”
That made sense. Nie Jiuluo said: “There’s another issue. Yan Tuo is wealthy, and money can be used to do many things—among their people, some might be neither Di Xiao nor companion ghosts, just hired help. Have you considered this? If conflict breaks out and you accidentally injure or kill these people…”
Jiang Baichuan had considered this issue: “That’s why the Dog family member is crucial this time. I’ve already notified Xing Shen, he’s on his way.”
Nie Jiuluo made an affirmative sound: “One last question. Limp Father was captured. No matter how tough he is, can you guarantee he won’t say anything? If he has already talked, what’s your plan?”
Jiang Baichuan let out a long sigh.
He said: “I trust Limp Father quite a bit, but I can’t guarantee anything. Fortunately, he only dealt with a few people, so there’s a limit to what he can reveal. I’ve had everyone who needs to lay low notified. I’m not worried about Xing Shen—Old Blade and Grasshopper are always with him. As for Yu Rong, I’ve had her stay at the villa, she should be arriving soon. As for you…”
Jiang Baichuan lowered his voice: “No matter what Limp Father reveals, it won’t lead to you—after all, only Xing Shen and I know about you.”
At dusk, Old Blade’s car entered Shihe County.
As soon as they entered the urban area, both vehicles and pedestrians became noticeably dense. Even knowing the windows had privacy film, Xing Shen in the back seat still said: “Grasshopper, glasses.”
Old Blade looked in the rearview mirror: Grasshopper was putting on a pair of children’s glasses with bright yellow frames.
It already wore a small mask on its face. If not for its brown-black hands, dry and thin like chicken claws, with slightly protruding and gleaming fingertips, others would surely think it was just a child.
After putting on the glasses, its claws quickly retracted into its sleeves.
Old Blade remarked: “Amazing, just like a human.”
Xing Shen said: “Even with dogs, after two or three years of raising them, they can understand simple commands. Not to mention this one.”
The traffic light ahead turned red. Old Blade slowly stopped the car while picking up the thermos from the cup holder, unscrewing it to drink: “Sometimes though, seeing how human-like it makes my skin crawl. You mentioned it last time, what was it called… the cuckoo effect?”
Xing Shen chuckled: “The uncanny valley effect.”
The uncanny valley effect was a theory proposed by Japanese scholar Masahiro Mori, originally used to describe emotional responses between humans and robots, but later expanded to other fields. Simply put, when people face a humanoid object, they feel affection due to its slight human resemblance, but when this similarity increases to a certain point, the emotional response rapidly turns negative, even to revulsion and horror.
For a simple example, when a pet dog follows commands to squat, sit, or drink water, you find it adorably cute. But if one night you find it standing upright by the kitchen counter, front paws gripping a boning knife and grinding it on a sharpener, then lifting it with a grin—wouldn’t you flee in terror?
Old Blade said: “Right, this uncanny… cuckoo effect, it’s creepy.”
Xing Shen said: “You’ll get used to it.”
Old Blade thought to himself: How could anyone get used to this? You can’t see it, so you don’t take it seriously, but if you could see…
Getting increasingly uncomfortable, he quickly changed the subject: “Brother Xing, everyone’s guessing Nie Er will come this time too.”
Actually, he was older than Xing Shen; calling him “Brother Xing” was just a habit, given Xing Shen’s abilities.
Xing Shen said: “Why do you care if she comes or not?”
Old Blade: “Just curious. Mad Blade Nie Er, Mad Dog Xing Shen—as the old saying goes, when Mad Blade meets Mad Dog, legends are made. Want to see you two join forces.”
Xing Shen replied flatly: “That was ancient times—Mad Blade, Mad Dog, underground hunting, all grand affairs. Now, what legends are there?”
Old Blade sighed: “You and I see each other often, and I’ve met Yu Rong too. But Nie Er—I only saw her when she was thirteen or fourteen, and she had her face covered. Think how embarrassing it was, a grown man like me, defeated by her.”
Xing Shen knew about this, and had witnessed it: “Actually, it’s not embarrassing. She loves using tricks too much. In terms of real strength, she wasn’t your match then.”
Old Blade said: “I used to comfort myself with that thought too, but later I realized—trickery is also a kind of strength. All’s fair in war, when armies clash, that’s honorable ‘trickery.’ If someone’s better in skill, they can be better in trickery too…”
Just then, Grasshopper suddenly turned sideways, clinging to the right car door, its claws scratching wildly inside while making growling sounds in its throat.
Xing Shen barked: “Sit properly!”
Old Blade didn’t think much of it, wanting to continue: “So being inferior is just being inferior, losing is just losing…”
Not only did the Grasshopper not sit properly, it turned around and grabbed Xing Shen’s clothes with one claw, pulling toward the right side.
Now even a fool could tell something was wrong. The car suddenly went quiet. Xing Shen looked to the right: the cars on their right weren’t aligned with theirs, there were two of them. From what he could “see,” nothing seemed unusual—each car only had a driver.
Old Blade got nervous: “Brother Xing, did it smell something?”
Xing Shen felt something was off, not because he smelled anything, but precisely because he smelled nothing.
The light changed, and the cars on the right started moving. Cars behind them were getting impatient, already honking, so Old Blade had to start driving.
Xing Shen quickly said: “Old Blade, help me look—the two cars on the right, what are the cars and drivers like?”
Old Blade didn’t hesitate, slowing down while quickly lowering the passenger window for a better look: “The first one is… a Tesla, female driver, around thirty, she’s turning…”
The driver behind them stuck his head out and cursed: “Damn it, are you moving or not? Driving so slow, learning to crawl?”
The car behind the Tesla also turned. Hearing the cursing, its driver glanced at Old Blade’s car.
This was a burly middle-aged man. Old Blade considered himself bear-like, but this man looked a size larger. Even in the spacious Grand Cherokee, he seemed cramped. Perhaps because the car’s heater was on high, in such cold weather he wore only a black T-shirt, muscles bulging, with text on his chest reading “Beat Up Idiots.”
“Following is a Grand Cherokee, male driver, thirtyish, bigger than me, looks pretty tough, also turning…”
Old Blade’s lane was for going straight. He had to speed up—if he didn’t, that cursing idiot behind them might crash into them.
One straight road, two turns, the distance between cars grew. Grasshopper scratched anxiously—clearly, if something was wrong, it had to be one of those two cars.
Xing Shen made a quick decision: “Follow them!”
Ignoring traffic rules, Old Blade sharply turned the wheel, driving ahead amid a chorus of brakes and curses, while asking again: “Brother Xing, did you smell something?”
Xing Shen shook his head. He smelled nothing, but he trusted Grasshopper wouldn’t be restless without reason.
“First pass the Grand Cherokee, see how Grasshopper reacts. If no reaction, then chase the Tesla.”
Old Blade followed the instructions.
As they neared the Grand Cherokee, Grasshopper noticeably calmed down, but once they passed it, it became agitated again, clawing toward the back.
Old Blade understood—the target was the Grand Cherokee. He slowly reduced speed, falling behind the Grand Cherokee, following at a distance.
The Grand Cherokee drove steadily through streets and roads, finally stopping at the county’s only quasi-four-star hotel.