Nie Jiuluo’s idea was rather brutal.
—The woman Yan Tuo had seen in the farm’s second basement level had been half-buried in the soil.
—After Dog Tooth was “killed,” Lin Xirou and her people immersed him in a murky mud pool.
Perhaps Chen Fu couldn’t revive because he lacked “nutrients”? These nutrients likely came from either soil or water.
She commandeered the bathtub in Yan Tuo’s guest room, directing him to dig up soil from beneath the thriving plants in the courtyard. She created a mud pool and secured Chen Fu against the bathtub’s edge, submerging him.
Yan Tuo thought this method was too superficial but complied anyway. However, that same sense of sin he’d felt when handling Han Guan’s corpse returned. Standing before the bathtub, he found the scene disturbing: “If Sister Lu saw this, she’d lose her mind.”
Nie Jiuluo shared his sentiment: “I’ll tell Sister Lu not to clean your room or bring meals here. Starting tomorrow, eat in the small dining room. Keep the door locked when you come and go to avoid complications.”
Yan Tuo looked at Chen Fu: “Can you get anything out of him? Weren’t the captured ones all silent as mutes, refusing to speak?”
Nie Jiuluo said: “Force won’t work, but we can deceive and trick him. As long as we plan the process well, it should work.”
Yan Tuo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, thinking she’d make quite a talent in phone scams or pyramid schemes.
He hesitated: “A’Luo if I go to the Golden Human Gate, could you… wait for me here?”
Nie Jiuluo didn’t answer immediately, then said: “Are you saying you don’t want me to go?”
Yan Tuo’s silence confirmed it.
He didn’t want her to go. He still remembered the last time, when she lay on Lu Xian’s operating table with no heartbeat.
“Xing Shen and the others have no choice, they’re on Lin Xirou’s blacklist, while you’ve been fortunate enough to stay hidden. I have to go because Xin Xin is my family and my burden. But you’re different—you have no compelling reason to go. If you went because of me, I’d have another weight on my conscience.”
By the end, he even regretted not controlling his feelings these past few days. If Nie Jiuluo risked herself because of him, wouldn’t that be emotional manipulation?
Nie Jiuluo smiled: “When we first met, do you know why I was at Stone River?”
Yan Tuo had a vague guess.
“Because Uncle Jiang and the others were walking the Green Soil Path. For the previous decade or more, walking the Green Soil Path was like a casual tour—they’d circle and return without encountering anything. Uncle Jiang even wondered if the Ground Wraiths in that area had died out.”
“So they didn’t ask me to walk with them, just to guard the perimeter. According to my previous ‘agreement’ with Uncle Jiang, I should be involved in situations dealing with Ground Wraiths.”
“Now Uncle Jiang is being held hostage. If Xing Shen and the others are all going to the Golden Human Gate, do you think I could stay quietly in this courtyard?”
She looked around the house: “I forgot to tell you, this entire courtyard was bought for me by Uncle Jiang. Though property prices were low then and this small courtyard wasn’t expensive, nowadays, a traditional courtyard house in the city center wouldn’t go for less than ten million.”
“Uncle Jiang isn’t perfect, and I dislike many of his methods. But objectively speaking, first, I have an agreement with him, and second, I’m indebted to him. Of course, I could stand aside and at worst be called ungrateful—I’m capable of that. But everyone has their principles and ways of living, and I just don’t want to live that way.”
Her phone rang again, showing Xing Shen’s caller ID. As Nie Jiuluo prepared to leave to answer it, she told Yan Tuo: “So please don’t overthink and assume I’m risking myself just for you.”
Yan Tuo felt somewhat embarrassed by her words, realizing he’d been presumptuous.
He silently watched her leave the bathroom, but unexpectedly, she poked her head back in, smiling: “Though, even if it were for you, it’s not impossible—just depends if it’s worth it.”
As she said this, she looked Yan Tuo up and down, like evaluating produce at the market.
Before Yan Tuo could respond, Nie Jiuluo was gone, rushing to answer the phone before Xing Shen’s tenth call went unanswered.
When the call connected, Xing Shen spoke first: “Finally you answer. Couldn’t get through for so long, thought something had happened.”
Earlier…
Nie Jiuluo’s face suddenly felt hot. She cleared her throat: “I received and read the email.”
Xing Shen: “What do you think? And what’s Yan Tuo’s stance?”
Nie Jiuluo said: “He probably wants to go, but if it’s just walking to our deaths, I don’t see the point. The power gap is too large. We need a feasible plan to overcome superior forces.”
Xing Shen paused: “Aluo, there’s something I need to tell you.”
He told her what he’d previously told Yu Rong.
Nie Jiuluo’s reaction wasn’t as dramatic as Yu Rong’s: “Ghost soldiers? Like in the ghost army passages?”
Xing Shen said: “No, Black White Rapids is also called Yin Yang Rapids. Sometimes we casually call this side the Yang realm, and once inside Black White Rapids, it’s the Yin realm.”
Nie Jiuluo’s mind stirred.
Yin realm, ghost soldiers—interpreted, were they soldiers within the Yin Yang Rapids?
She hesitantly asked: “Do we still have people in the Yin Yang Rapids?”
Xing Shen answered: “Enter Black White Rapids, humans become wraith-ghosts—if this saying exists, it means many from the Twisting Head Army entered but never came out.”
Nie Jiuluo didn’t understand at first, but upon reflection, she felt chilled: “What do you mean? Our people are still in there? Not dead?”
Xing Shen remained silent, as he hadn’t seen it himself and couldn’t be certain.
Nie Jiuluo’s thoughts grew wilder: “Ground Wraiths might live forever, but that doesn’t mean people who entered Black White Rapids can too. ‘Many from the Twisting Head Army entered’—how long ago was that? The Qin Dynasty, right?”
Even if these people were still alive—relatives and friends become estranged after decades apart, let alone those ancient Twisting Head Army soldiers. How can you be sure you can communicate with them, ‘borrow’ their power and get their help?
Xing Shen: “I’m not certain now, as I’ve never tried. Since Lin Xirou’s message came, I’ve been thinking about how to overcome superior forces through unexpected means, and suddenly remembered this. I believe our ancestors wouldn’t have passed down the phrase ‘borrow ghost soldiers’ without reason. I plan to leave in the next few days to search for the earliest village. Any chance is worth trying.”
Nie Jiuluo thought this was completely unreliable: “With this effort, you’d be better off trying to get some guns.”
Xing Shen smiled: “That’s being worked on. Yu Rong spent time in Thailand before, she has some wild connections so that task is with her.”
The next two days passed relatively peacefully.
Yan Tuo had heard about the “borrowing ghost soldiers” from Nie Jiuluo, and he was quite accepting of it—after all, just a few months ago, he’d accepted the whole Ground Wraith setting. Not only that, he felt a hidden anticipation: if the Twisting Head Army’s ancestors were still wandering in Black White Rapids and could truly be “borrowed,” this interaction across ancient and modern times…
Just thinking about it gave him goosebumps, not from fear, but from an indescribable sense of awe.
…
These days, the only discomfort came from using the bathroom, which had both a bathtub and shower. With the bathtub occupied, he could only use the shower, but showering while knowing what was soaking nearby…
It wasn’t just showering—even using the toilet had become psychologically challenging. What if that thing woke up mid-business? How awkward would that be…
The feeling was too intense.
However, he couldn’t say anything. Borrowing Sister Lu’s bathroom wouldn’t be appropriate, and borrowing Nie Jiuluo’s felt wrong, so he could only deal with it himself. He covered Chen Fu’s head with a towel—though seeing a head with a white cover every day didn’t make him feel much better.
What he feared came true on the third evening. During his routine bath, with his head full of shampoo foam, everything was normal before rinsing. Halfway through rinsing, he wiped the water from his face and suddenly noticed the covering towel had slipped into the muddy water, and Chen Fu’s eyes were open.
Not only open but staring fixedly at him.
Yan Tuo’s mind went blank. His first reaction was to grab a bath towel, but he gave up the next second—what’s seen can’t be unseen, and panicking would be petty. Just treat it like being in a public bathhouse.
He calmly finished rinsing, came out to change into his pajamas, and then sent Nie Jiuluo a message.
—Chen Fu is awake.
Within ten seconds, hurried footsteps came down the stairs, so fast that Yan Tuo worried she might fall.
He opened the door to meet her.
Nie Jiuluo had thrown a coat over her nightgown. She stopped at the door, not rushing in, her voice extremely low as if afraid of startling someone: “He’s awake?”
“Yes.”
Nie Jiuluo was extremely frustrated: “I haven’t had time to put on makeup.”
Yan Tuo stared at her for a while: “You don’t wear makeup to see me, but you wear it to see him?”
Nie Jiuluo muttered: “You don’t understand.”
She had planned everything for when Chen Fu opened his eyes—he was supposed to be in a pitch-black room, then a dim light would come on in the corner, and she would stand there in a backless floor-length evening gown, holding a glass of red wine (though it wasn’t summer clothing season, this would confuse Chen Fu’s sense of time). She would calmly meet his frightened gaze, drink the wine, and then press a remote to show him photos of the five bound Ground Wraiths, hoping to create a psychological impact.
All planned for nothing—the first impression was ruined. Chen Fu had shown no signs of waking earlier in the day.
But for now, she couldn’t think of any way to salvage the situation.
She asked Yan Tuo: “Has he said anything since waking?”
Yan Tuo shook his head.
Nie Jiuluo looked past his shoulder toward the bathroom, finding it strange how quiet Chen Fu was.
She wrapped her coat tighter: “Let’s take a look.”
At first glance, Nie Jiuluo felt something was off about Chen Fu compared to last time, though she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what.
She tentatively called out: “Chen Fu?”
Chen Fu didn’t respond, his gaze still fixed. Nie Jiuluo was puzzled and followed his line of sight.
It was just the empty shower stall?
She looked at Yan Tuo: “What’s he looking at?”
Yan Tuo: “Maybe he wants to shower.”
Just then, Chen Fu woodenly said: “Huh?”
The sudden sound startled them both. After recovering, Yan Tuo lowered his voice: “He seems a bit dull.”
Nie Jiuluo felt uneasy—had her soaking method gone wrong and made Chen Fu stupid?
Yan Tuo shared the same thought: “I said from the start, that Lin Xirou’s pool probably had specific nutritional ratios. It couldn’t be as simple as mixing water and soil.”
Nie Jiuluo wouldn’t give up: “Chen Fu?”
She waved her hand in front of his eyes.
After a while, Chen Fu’s eyeballs slowly turned: “Huh?”
He seemed to have some response, but couldn’t fully wake up, like sleepwalking… no, more like being half-foolish.
Nie Jiuluo’s heart suddenly raced. Steeling herself, she barked: “Chen Fu, where is Yan Tuo’s sister?”
Yan Tuo was startled, then understood, his whole body tensing as he stared intently at Chen Fu’s face, waiting for his answer.
Chen Fu remained half alive, mumbling after a long while: “Black… White…”
His speech was slurred, mouth crooked, drool dripping from the corner.
But he didn’t need to finish—they knew he meant Black White Rapids.
Nie Jiuluo’s heart beat faster, her hands growing cold: “Is she still alive? Is she with Lin Xirou?”
Chen Fu’s eyeballs slowly raised, staring at her: “Huh?”
After that “huh,” there was no follow-up.
Nie Jiuluo grew impatient. Yan Tuo quietly suggested: “Maybe he can’t process more complex questions?”
Possibly, or maybe because she hadn’t called his name and her tone wasn’t harsh enough, he didn’t realize she was questioning him.
Nie Jiuluo took a breath, raising her voice: “Chen Fu, is Yan Tuo’s sister still alive?”
Chen Fu’s voice seemed to float, scattered and slow: “Don’t… know…”
Yan Tuo’s heart jolted, blurting out: “What do you mean, don’t know?”
If she was with Lin Xirou, how could Chen Fu not know?
Nie Jiuluo gestured for Yan Tuo to stay calm, then strictly followed her previously discovered formula: “Chen Fu, where did Yan Tuo’s sister go?”
However, patiently waiting only brought another dream: “Don’t know…”
Nie Jiuluo was extremely frustrated, wanting to crack open Chen Fu’s skull and pull out the answers. Just as she felt helpless, Yan Tuo suddenly asked: “Chen Fu, how did you become human?”
The room grew quiet. On the shower glass, condensation droplets slowly slid down, and occasionally, the remaining water drops from the showerhead fell with a soft plink.
After a long time, they heard Chen Fu’s confused answer.
He said: “Nüwa’s… flesh…”