A Good-for-Nothing

283. Literally Held in a Hand

Translator: Dragon Rider

After leaving the mountain, Li Zong directly headed for the airport.

He Zheng in the pocket was rocking backwards and forwards with Li Zong’s movements. He had to grab Li Zong’s clothes to steady himself. Seeing that Li Zong was in such a hurry, he asked again, “Where are we going?”

“Kunlun Mountains.”

“Ah?” He Zheng was perplexed. Why were they going to that place?

While speaking, Li Zong hailed a taxi.

Li Zong pulled open the car door and sat himself in the back seat. For fear that He Zheng would feel uncomfortable if he stayed in the pocket for too long, Li Zong pulled He Zheng out of it, placed him on his lap and explained, “Right now that soul of yours is in the Nalingrad Gorge in Kunlun Mountains.”

“How did it get there?” He Zheng was bewildered. Though having no idea where that gorge was, he had heard about Kunlun Mountains before.

Li Zong, lips pressed tightly together, looked faintly grave.

Li Zong showed no inclination to expound. He Zheng could not be bothered to ask again. He moved his little hand and slowly walked up to Li Zong’s fingers lying on Li Zong’s lap. Even Li Zong’s finger was thicker than He Zheng’s leg. Fortunately Li Zong’s fingers were lying there flat. If they were erect, they would be like mounds for He Zheng.

He Zheng clambered onto Li Zong’s fingers from his lap and, wheezing, slumped on to Li Zong’s palm.

Seeing that He Zheng was having fun, Li Zong did not disturb him. He Zheng was lying on his back in Li Zong’s palm. In his eyes, the roof of the car was as vast as the sky, and Li Zong was like a giant.

“Now you’re literally holding me in the palm of your hand, Supt. Li!” Now He Zheng’s height was about the width of Li Zong’s palm. A petite little cutie!

Li Zong, amused by his words, chuckled, “Yeah. You’re my U Loveit now (an advertising slogan).”

This quip reminded He Zheng of that catchy tag line and he burst into laughter.

The two of them were having fun, but the taxi driver was startled. At first, when he had picked up such a handsome fare, he had thought that Li Zong was a celebrity or something, and he had planned to ask Li Zong for his autograph and then give it to his daughter after returning home. And then, when he had seen Li Zong produce a doll, he had not suspected anything in particular, because the doll could be a gift from some girl. But when the handsome young man began to play with the doll so happily, chuckling from time to time, the driver felt that there was something queer going on. What scared him was that there was clearly nobody else in the back seat apart from the young man, but the latter seemed to be talking to someone, which was really creepy!

“This is daytime … This is daytime … Ghosts don’t show up in daytime … ” muttered the driver inwardly. If it weren’t for his work ethic, he would have some time ago asked Li Zong to get out of his car.

When they got out of the cab at the airport, the driver said, “Hey, handsome, there’s a very famous psychiatric hospital in this city. Maybe you should go there and get some help.”

“No, thanks.” Li Zong did not give much thought to the driver’s words, but the doll curling up in Li Zong’s chest pocket, which was He Zheng, nearly laughed himself stupid.

It had never crossed his mind that Li Zong, the deputy director of SMB, the second most noted figure in Coastal City, whose fame was second to only him, Childe He, would some day be taken for a psycho!

His laughter reached Li Zong’s ears. Li Zong, somewhat resigned, poked He Zheng in the cheek with his finger and warned, “Keep your voice down. If anybody else hears you, the next suggestion I get would be that I go to a police station rather than an asylum.”

He Zheng was even happier at these words. Was this what the saying “The younger, the merrier” meant?

He Zheng found that though being tiny rendered him unable to make out with Li Zong, there was a very obvious upside – the two of them needed only one flight ticket.

This was not a busy travel season, so there were not many passengers on the plane. Unoccupied seats could be seen everywhere. All the seats around Li Zong were empty.

He Zheng found that this form of his was not that bad. Though his body was tiny and made of mud, at least he was not panting or feeling dizzy frequently as he had been previously. On top of that, he did not have to walk. All he needed to do was stay in Li Zong’s pocket or on his shoulder. It was like he had a personal palanquin bearer. It felt so good.

Li Zong had a stewardess bring him a blanket. The air conditioner was cooling the cabin, so it was not surprising for a passenger to ask for a blanket. He Zheng used the blanket as camouflage and lay beside Li Zong’s hand. After talking with him for a while, He Zheng felt somewhat sleepy.

Now that He Zheng was lying on Li Zong’s hand, he could distinctly feel Li Zong’s every body movement. He Zheng was on the verge of falling asleep when he suddenly felt Li Zong’s hand twitch. He groggily opened his eyes. Li Zong put his other hand above He Zheng’s face and said, “Sleep.”

His voice was somewhat tremulous. He Zheng did not know whether or not he was hallucinating, but he felt that Li Zong’s hand became scalding, and there seemed to be sweat breaking out on it.

“Are you hot?”

There was no reply. If He Zheng were sitting beside Li Zong, he would have seen Li Zong’s face instantly become ghastly white, his eyes tightly shut – Li Zong was suffering from headaches.

The throbbing pain was unbearable, but Li Zong was enduring it with amazing willpower, teeth gritted. He did not let out a single groan. In order not to raise He Zheng’s suspicions, he even had to relax his hands.

Li Zong’s silence struck He Zheng as faintly confusing. He wheezingly climbed up Li Zong’s finger. The headache now gone, Li Zong looked at the little man on the back of his hand and asked in a somewhat hoarse voice, “What’s the matter?”

“Why are you sweating? I thought there was a flood.” He Zheng looked up. As he saw Li Zong’s pasty face beaded with perspiration, he forgot what he had wanted to say.

“Sorry.” Li Zong first put He Zheng onto the seat beside him, dried his hands and then carried He Zheng back.

“It’s a little hot.”

He Zheng was suspicious, and he found that there was weariness etched on Li Zong’s face. He Zheng wanted to say something but eventually kept silent. To help him get his soul back, Li Zong had been on the run for quite some time and had barely slept.

He Zheng gave it some thought and then said to Li Zong, “Put me on your shoulder.”

“Um?”

Li Zong, though unaware of what He Zheng wanted to do, did as he said.

He Zheng was bodily lifted up and then placed on to Li Zong’s shoulder. For Li Zong, it was just a movement of raising his hand, but for He Zheng, it was as thrilling as a roller-coaster ride, which nearly scared the life out of him.

“What do you want to do?”

With He Zheng on his shoulder, Li Zong was unable to see him, but this position made it more convenient for He Zheng to observe Li Zong, who had dark circles under his bloodshot eyes and looked piteous.

He Zheng, feeling upset, clung to Li Zong’s neck and pecked his cheek. “Here’s your pre-snooze kiss. Now sleep. You need to get some rest as well.”

He did not know that because of his tiny size, Li Zong could barely feel his kiss, but Li Zong still curved his lips and asked him, “You want to sleep on my shoulder?”

He Zheng shook his head. “I want to sleep on your hand.”

The two of them were talking, but in other passengers’ eyes, it was a handsome young man muttering to himself. Once again some innocent passers-by were subjected to misunderstanding.

There was no direct flight from Nanchang to Sunlight City. They had to travel to Chuan City first and then took a train for Sunlight City before they could get to Kunlun Mountains.

The journey took them two days and now He Zheng had less than seven days left.

In SMB.

Old Master Zhu, after hearing that one of his grandson’s souls had been taken away and restrained, was frightened out of his wits and no longer in the mood for deciphering the remainder of the divinatory symbols with Tan Lubai.

Because of Old Master Zhu’s special identity, Zhen Daoyuan had no choice but to pay him a visit to comfort him in person.

It was after hearing that Li Zong had taken He Zheng to the Tigers and Dragons Mountain that Old Master Zhu felt slightly relieved, thinking that Li Zong was indeed quite considerate. Were it not for Li Zong, his beloved grandson might have to suffer a lot more.

The two of them were talking when Tan Lubai suddenly burst out of the room, her eyes bloodshot, her face utterly bloodless, but there was an inscrutable gleam tinged with sorrow in her eyes.

“Director Tan?”

“Mr. Zhen, I’ve deciphered the symbols.” Tan Lubai’s voice was so husky her words were barely discernible, a small piece of paper in her hand, her fingers quivering. She took a deep breath and cast Old Master Zhu an oddest glance.

Old Master Zhu felt as though his insides had turned to ice.

Old Master Zhu had deciphered half of the divinatory symbols, which conveyed the meanings of a couple of words: god, Demon, King, son, peace.

It had been Tan Lubai who had deciphered the remainder of them.

Old Master Zhu suddenly had a sense of foreboding. “Xiao Tan, did you–”

“Yes.” Tan Lubai paused momentarily before continuing, “Do you still remember what Zhou Yize said before his death?”

Tan Lubai’s eyes, no longer as tolerant as those of a genial teacher, moved from Zhen Daoyuan’s face to Old Master Zhu’s. In a soft voice, she said, “Before his death, Zhou Yize said that the Demon King’s real objective was to get the Demonic Seed and become one with it to create a new Demon King. And the Demonic Seed has been infused into a soul, which means it can’t be detected by the Extreme Yang Circle of the Lin family.

Actually I don’t think there’s any magic tool that can detect its existence.”

Zhen Daoyuan’s face also became grave. “Director Tan, are you saying that the Demonic Seed is still–”

“Yes.” Tan Lubai, looking at Zhen Daoyuan, smiled a mirthless smile that was far from relaxed.

“The symbols I deciphered, combined with those deciphered by Old Master Zhu, mean that ‘When gods go into hiding, Yōkai will run wild, and the Demon King will start wreaking havoc. Replace him with a son and destroy him, and there shall be peace again.'”

After saying this, Tan Lubai closed her eyes.

Old Master Zhu and Zhen Daoyuan were both shocked.

“This means back then, when Zhu Ning … went to Mount Wushan to look for the Demonic Seed, she was actually trying to … ”

“Over twenty years ago, Zhu Ning was pregnant, but she went to Mount Wushan alone to look for the Demonic Seed. Old Master Zhu also said that in that year Zhu Ning met He Changchun by chance and soon made up her mind to marry him. Before long they had their first child, but He Changchun had an affair with Qiao Peiyu … Zhu Ning turned a blind eye to the whole thing.

Zhu Ning was the heiress to the powers bestowed upon the Zhu family. Old Master Zhu, your family has believed in the God of Divination for generations. What if it was the God of Divination who instructed Zhu Ning to do what she did?”

“Then why … why … ” Old Master Zhu’s hands were shivering.

Zhen Daoyuan’s eyes gradually became apprehensive. “‘Replace it with a son’ … This means that the Demonic Seed is still in He Zheng.”

As Zhen Daoyuan finished speaking, the room fell silent. None of the people present uttered another word.