Chapter 524: 524

The next morning, Zhang Hongpu woke up and sat on the bed for a while, his brow slightly furrowed, as if he was contemplating something.

He seemed to have had a strange dream, vaguely dreaming about a very strange-looking person asking him about some early stuff related to “Divine Technology”.

Indeed, as Xiang Kun and Old Xia had guessed, regarding this part of the dream, because Zhang Hongpu himself didn’t remember clearly, it was a bit blurry, and he had just talked about “Divine Technology” during dinner last night, so he didn’t find it strange.

However, the “strange person” who asked him those questions was a bit troubling to him—because it was really too strange, he didn’t remember where he had seen this kind of “strange person”.

Around seven o’clock, Zhang Qian came over to have breakfast with her grandfather. She has her own place to live in Pengcheng City and does not live here.

While eating breakfast, Zhang Qian was still talking about the meeting with Xiang Kun yesterday, and then indirectly praising Xiang Kun, because she was a little worried that the things Xiang Kun said about “seeing Divine Technology as a role model for technology companies” at dinner last night would upset her grandfather.

She knew very well how much her grandfather loathed “Divine Technology”.

However, after a brief chat and testing her grandfather’s attitude, Zhang Qian found that her grandfather seemed not to care much about what Xiang Kun had mentioned about “Divine Technology” last night. In his words, his impression of Xiang Kun was actually okay, and he even thought he was quite honest.

Indeed, recalling the conversation between Xiang Kun and her grandfather last night, Zhang Qian suddenly realized that their exchange seemed extraordinarily harmonious, even after Xiang Kun mention “Divine Technology”, they were still on the same wavelength.

In more common words, Xiang Kun’s way of talking seemed to appeal to her grandfather’s “taste”.

However, in her opinion, while Xiang Kun’s capacity is indeed trustworthy, he is not by any means a person of’sincerity’ in his actions and words. He could even be the most elusive, most opaque fellow she had ever met. The reason her grandfather has this “misunderstanding” about Xiang Kun probably has to do with all of the praise and groundwork she had laid before. Last night, Xiang Kun had “verified” nearly every point she had made to her grandfather.

Of course, as of now, her grandfather’s positive impression of Xiang Kun is beneficial for both her personally and the development of “Tengjiao Mutual Entertainment”.

Having sighed in relief, Zhang Qian decided to leave after breakfast, saying: “Grandpa, I have to run, Mr. Xiang and Miss Tang are heading back to Haixi Province this morning. I want to take them to the airport, and chat with them on the way.”

Zhang Hongpu nodded, but after his granddaughter got up to leave the table, he seemed to remember something. He couldn’t help but stop her, asking: “Qianqian, can you think of an animated character… it has outline, and ears, limbs, body, like a panda, but its face is a human face. And the expression… how do I put it, the expression is… hard to describe.”

Zhang Hongpu frowned as he spoke, seeming to struggle to find the right words to make his granddaughter understand. As he organized his vocabulary, Zhang Qian was stunned and instinctively asked: “Grandpa, are you sure it’s an animated character?”

“I’m not sure either. It’s just an image that looks like an animation,” said Zhang Hongpu, “But I’m not sure which work the character is from.”

“Grandpa, is it this one?” Zhang Qian took out her phone, opened WeChat, then clicked on the family group chat, clicked on her grandfather’s avatar, and sent an emoji to him.

Zhang Hongpu looked at the panda figure emoji displayed on his granddaughter’s phone and immediately said, “Yes! That’s it! Although the movements aren’t the same, the overall feeling is right, and it has the same expression. Qianqian, which animated character is this?”

Zhang Qian couldn’t help laughing and said, “Grandpa, it’s not an animated character, it’s an emoji. Um… when you use WeChat, don’t you see those moving images that others send? The ones that my aunt loves to send in the family group chat, they’re like the smiley faces, crying faces, etc. The face on this panda is P-shopped on – P means… it means pasted on with software. Oh, do you know about Photoshop, grandpa?”

Zhang Hongpu had a WeChat account, but he seldom used it. Whether to contact his subordinates, friends, or family, he either made phone calls or used video communications. Other people knew about his habits, so in group chats where he was included, people generally didn’t send messages if it wasn’t necessary, nor would they randomly send emojis.

Without questioning further, Zhang Qian thought that her grandfather accidentally saw this emoji of a panda’s body with Jacky Cheung’s face, hence was curious. After she downloaded a few emojis of this series onto his phone, she bid him goodbye and left.

Playing with these panda-human face emojis, Zhang Hongpu was still a bit puzzled and confused. He couldn’t remember where he had seen these emojis, why would he dream about them?

But what Zhang Hongpu didn’t notice was that in order to view the large images of these emojis, he sent each one directly as he was checking them.

As a result, the members of the Zhang family’s group chat were shocked to see the old grandfather, who seldom spoke up in the group, continuously sending panda head emojis early in the morning.

“You’re shit!” Then there was “Go study!”, “Don’t forget to thank Fly Brother!”, “All kneel down for me!”, “I’m so handsome, how can others live”, “If you don’t come out, I’ll kick you all off”…

Seeing those panda head emojis popping up one after another, everyone was in turmoil, first suspecting that the old man’s WeChat was hacked.

But they immediately considered the possibility of the old man’s WeChat or mobile phone being hacked, and the likelihood of the thief sending these pictures afterwards.

So some people started paying attention to the words on these emojis – could it be the old man was implying something?

Especially certain people who harbored doubt, they were automatically affected to think deeper about the implications, making them feel a chill on their hearts.

…

As Xiang Kun, Tang Baona, and Yang Zhen’er were arriving in Jianzhou by plane, Fang Pingfang led the members of the investigation team to Youlong Restaurant in Tongshi Town for dinner. It was their third time this week.

Normally, if they didn’t go elsewhere and stayed in the villa area next to Wushu Mountain, they would visit once or twice a week. But now, it was only Wednesday and they had already come for the third time, meaning that they came every day, either for lunch or dinner.

On the one hand, their recent investigation had ended a phase, waiting for other city’s research bases to produce detection reports. Once they received the detection reports, the next investigation plan could then be determined. Currently, there wasn’t much for them to do, hence more free time.

As they were waiting for the food to be served, Zhou Rui was scrolling through his phone and said to Ye Chong, “Xiao Ye, you should apply to the logistics department, see if we can live in Tongshi Town. It’s best to live nearby, so we can come straight here whenever we want to eat rabbit meat. Given how often we have to run around the area, we’re no longer only investigating Wushu Mountain and don’t necessarily need to live nearby.”

“We don’t have a bloody logistics department, I am your logistics,” said Ye Chong, rolling his eyes. At first, when he joined Dr. Fang and others in the team, he was quite cautious. But after spending a lot of time with lively people like Zhou Rui and Mijoe, it was hardly possible for him to remain composed for long.

“Let’s change then! Shift us to Tongshi Town!” Zhou Rui cheerfully said. “You seemed pretty high when you were eating the meat. For the sake of everyone’s stomachs…Dr. Fang hasn’t objected, so we should heed the leader’s will!”

Ye Chong smiled bitterly and lowered his voice: “We aren’t here on vacation, is it possible for us to stay wherever we want? Different teams have different mission objectives; the requirements for accommodation are different. Tongshi Town doesn’t have a suitable residence, or the suitable residence is not within our scope of resolution.”

Zhou Rui immediately understood the meaning of “suitable” when he thought of all the equipment they needed. He snickered, “It seems like you’ve considered this issue before, Xiao Ye!”

Mijoe looked at the packed dining hall on the first floor, squinting her eyes, she said: “Have any of you noticed that in addition to the rabbit meat, all the other ordinary home-style dishes at this place also taste different, exceptionally delicious. But when asked to pinpoint what makes them special, I can’t describe it.”

Zhou Rui nodded repeatedly: “Right, I’m getting addicted to it. Hmm, could it have to do with the restaurant’s décor? Next time we come, we should bring some airtight containers to take some home for analysis at the lab. Let’s see if any special ‘ingredients’ have been added.”

“Didn’t the food taste off when we brought it back last time?”

“That’s why we need to use airtight containers, just in case any key volatile substances evaporate. And we can’t let the waiters pack the food, we have to order in-house food, then secretly take it home ourselves, and take it directly to the lab. We can have the results within 10 hours,” Zhou Rui speculated, stroking his chin.

Fang Pingfang couldn’t help but laugh: “You guys are too much. The company isn’t paying us to study food.”

“It’s not like we’re busy, and anyway, it won’t keep us from doing our real work. We always need to eat,” Zhou Rui joked.

They were seated in a corner on the first floor. While Zhou Rui, Mijoe and others were chatting, Li Shibao was standing, studying the wood carvings displayed on the protruding wooden platforms on the walls.

After a while, he asked Fang Pingfang to come over and then, pointing at the small minion and chubby cat wood carvings, he said, “Dr. Fang, do these wood carvings remind you of anything?”

Fang Pingfang immediately understood what he meant: “You’re referring to the rabbit wood carving we brought back from the Qinling, right?”

Li Shibao nodded: “I don’t know why, but when I see these wood carvings, I have an inexplicable feeling similar to when I discovered that wood carving in the cave. It’s not about their shape, but an intuition… I can’t describe it very well.”

Fang Pingfang shook her head: “I observed all these wood carvings the first time we came. There is absolutely no relation to the rabbit wood carving we brought back. I’m very familiar with that rabbit wood carving. I’ve thoroughly researched every detail, every directional feature, and written a comprehensive report. Furthermore, I’ve developed a habit of invariably observing any wood carving of similar size and comparing it with the rabbit carving. So, I can assure you, apart from both being wood carvings, these carvings have no similarities with the rabbit wood carving we brought back.”

Hearing Fang Pingfang’s explanation, Li Shibao nodded in agreement. After all, his feeling was nothing more than an uncertain intuition that appeared out of nowhere. If it was related to his field of expertise and they were in a dangerous situation in the dense forest, he might have insisted on following his intuition.

But in these matters… Dr. Fang was clearly much more professional than him.

When it’s time to trust science, you trust science.

Shortly after, the dishes they ordered came up. As everyone began to feast, Zhou Rui was suddenly drawn to a conversation between some young people who had just seated themselves at the next table and were casually chatting after ordering their food.

“I was just about to nod off while listening to an audiobook last night when I was startled awake by a bolt of thunder. Then the whole village had a power outage, and even our phones stopped working. When I went outside to check, boy, it was like I’d travelled back in time. It was all foggy and… guess what? The fog even smelled nice!” one young man said in accented Mandarin, dramatically narrating the events.

“What, you opened your door and a fragrant breeze came in? A seductive female ghost brought warmth to your door in the middle of the night?” his friend laughed.

“No, it’s not that kind of scent, it’s the smell of meat, like grilled meat!” With that, the young man gave his friend a playful punch: “And there was even strange noises, really weird ones. I was so scared I immediately closed the door and went back inside.”

The friend who had been joking earlier couldn’t help but laugh again, “What kind of weird sounds? How weird? Was it…’Come and play, young master~’?”

“Come on, I’m being serious! I swear I’ve never heard that sound before. In fact, I would’ve recorded it had my phone been working,” said the young man.

As he was talking, another companion from the same table spoke up: “Oh, don’t tell me. Ah Lin is not joking around. This morning when I went back to the village, my uncle told me that he was about to go to the toilet last night, but the room was pitch dark, the outside was foggy, filled with weird noises, there was thunder and a bunch of eerie sounds coming. He was so scared that he didn’t even dare to pee and went back to bed.”

“Yes, yes, yes, so much weird noise, and rustling sounds, I think I also saw ghost lights, heading into the mountains! Early this morning when I woke up, I opened the door and saw a pile of dead birds. There were tens of thousands of them!” The young man who first shared the story quickly chimed in.

“Tens of thousands, my ass! There were only one or two that died from hitting the wall. If there were tens of thousands, our village would be trending already! Can you be more logical in your storytelling!” A companion from Chongyun Village said, unable to decide whether to cry or laugh.

“Oh, is it that something paranormal has happened in our Chongyun Village again? Last time didn’t you hear that Pig Tail and Liu Er Tong, those two, sneaked into Uncle Nineteen’s construction site only to see something that scared them into calling the police.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, they said they saw a little girl dressed in white, holding a bloody knife.”

“Those two idiots got it wrong, it was just a flock of birds. The birds pooped all over their car and it scared the hell out of them, they didn’t even dare to flee.”

“Well, you can’t really say what happened for sure, I’ve played cards with Pig Tail, he’s cunning, it’s not likely that birds would scare him into calling the cops, probably something really happened that night.”

“Who knows… but my grandfather has said that our village is blessed by the mountain spirit. That spirit must be good to us. Do you remember in March, two fugitives ran into our village, stole stuff from Liu Gaoshang’s house, ran into the mountains, and were then struck by lightning? My grandfather said that the spirit of the mountain protects us, expelling evil. Once it destroys the evil, it will bring good luck to our village. Haven’t you seen how our village is developing so well? Those street lamps, shining all night long, and so many surveillance cameras in the village, which other village in Tong Shi Town can have what we have?”

Hearing the young men from Chongyun Village farther away chattering away, Zhou Rui also became interested, turned around and greeted them, then asked: “Bros, the Chongyun Village you guys spoke about, is it the one near Tongshi Town? Something weird happened there last night? There were weird noises? What exactly happened?”

The five young men at the next table turned their heads and looked at him, their discussion instantly ceasing. After two seconds, the young storytelling man asked: “You guys… are tourists?”

Zhou Rui had visited Chongyun Village many times before, but mostly while passing through on his way to Chongyun Mountain. It made sense that this young man didn’t recognize him. Deciding not to elaborate about himself, he said, “Yeah, we’re looking for somewhere to have fun.”

The young man quickly switched to standard Mandarin without a local accent and warmly said, “Then you came to the right place in our Chongyun Village. Ah, it’s a bit early now. If you come back in two months, we’ll have large scale agrotourism, homestays, and so on in our village. You’re all welcome to visit! The stuff I just mentioned was just for fun. Our Chongyun Village has beautiful mountains and clear waters, and the people are honest and simple. The fame is not too great, but when it comes to scenery and fun, we’re no worse than Wushu Mountain! They’re a 5A level, we’re at least a 5B level!”

His companion seconded, “Indeed! Do you know why the rabbit meat here at Youlong Restaurant tastes so good? Because they use rabbits from the farms in our Chongyun Village! Young man, the mountains and waters of our Chongyun Village are truly awesome. They not only breed rabbits but people as well! I dare not claim to be the best in the world, but ranking in the top three in Haixi Province would be no problem! You should come and play! I’ll invite you to my house for a stay, no charge!”

“Not only are the mountains and waters good, but the people are even better. We definitely won’t do anything like charging random fees, slaughtering guests, or blocking the way to demand money. If you come across any of these, you just call 110, or our village committee, and we’ll take care of them.”

“Our Chongyun Village won’t engage in any so-called ‘monster tourism’ nonsense. Don’t believe any rumors. Chongyun Village is definitely a place with great mountains, waters, scenic landscapes, kind people, hospitality, and good food. It’s genuine and without gimmicks!”

“Absolutely! We have a stable power supply, and the lights will stay on all night long! We even have WIFI, which covers the entire village, including all the small lakes and fish ponds. When you’re fishing, you can even play King’s Glory on your phone. And I heard that a 5G base station is to be set up in the future!”

“Our village plans to engage in internet farming in the future, and we want to build a massive research base, the first in the country. No, the first in the world! In the future, many high-achievers from 996, 233 universities will come to us. My uncle said that the Americans have ‘Turtle Valley’, which is all about high technology. We are also going to build a ‘Worm Valley’ for high-tech farming…”

“Shut up, it’s bloody 985, 211, what the hell is 233? It’s embarrassing…”

Facing the sudden enthusiastic “promotion” of the five young men who had been sharing bizarre stories just a moment ago, Zhou Rui was at a loss for what to say.