Just then, someone walked into the middle of the road, waved to them and blocked their way.

Su Bai took the chance to move his lighter away and calmly put it back to his pocket. Then he blew out a smoke ring.

Nine stepped on the brake.

It was a short, fat guy standing in front of them. It was summer, but this guy was wearing a rather heavy coat. If he wasn’t so neatly dressed and fair-skinned, he would be considered a lunatic who had just escaped from a madhouse.

Seeing that their car had stopped, the fat guy came to them at a quick pace only to find that the door was locked.

Nine was frowning, as if he was going to drive away. But Su Bai leaned over and opened the lock of the rear door. The fat guy opened the door and wormed in.

The entire car sank as he got in. He was indeed very heavy.

"I’m in the right car, right? I’ve been waiting for you! It’s rude to keep me waiting for so long since you’ve taken my order." The fat guy complained.

"Wrong car. I didn’t take.."

But Nine’s words were cut off by Su Bai.

"Never mind, bro. Where are you heading? We’ll drive you there."

The fat guy nodded with a big smile and answered without politeness: "Floral Brook Park."

"Nine, let’s drive him there first." Su Bai took out his cellphone, found that place in Baidu Map App and put it in front of Nine’s eyes.

With Su Bai’s insistence, Nine had to agree.

The car was running smoothly. Su Bai put his hand out of the window and felt the wind outside. It made him a little absent-minded.

It seemed that he had become jinxed since the first time he met the Dreadful Radio. He hated such an idea. He still remembered that when he was young, his aunt once took him to his grandfather’s birthday celebration; there were people secretly called him a jinx, and when his aunt heard that, she had a real quarrel with them.

Litchi had warned Su Bai not to go home tonight, and Su Bai had realized that something must have happened to Nine who tried to visit him at home just now, which could be confirmed by that lighter. But Su Bai would not regret. It was the same choice he would make if his parents were in danger. After all, throughout his life, there weren’t many people that Su Bai would miss or worry about. Besides, if anything had happened to Nine, it might well be because of Su Bai.

That bronze chest..

While his thoughts were wandering, he suddenly saw in the rearview mirror that the fat guy behind him seemed to be doing something. Su Bai coughed, sat up and started to observe from the rearview mirror.

The fat guy was wearing a coat, and now his hands seemed to be fumbling around under the coat.

He’s got skin disease?

That was the first idea came into Su Bai’s mind.

Then..

"Tinkle..."

With a crisp sound, the fat guy paused..

Su Bai paused..

And Nine also paused.

A small bell fell under the fat guy’s feet. It was an ancient-styled bell, carved with the appearance of a Bodhisattva. It didn’t look like some simple handicraft that could be found at any stall by the street.

The fat guy was so scared that his whole face went pale. Then, he cautiously raised his head up and looked forward.

Nine frowned. He seemed to have a strong aversion to this shameless fat guy; he was not invited in this car, and now he was annoying them with this stupid bell! Although Nine was starving, he didn’t want to disobey Su Bai’s will, so he had to drive this fat guy to his destination and find dinner later.

Su Bai just sat there as if nothing happened. But in his mind, he was troubled. Who the hell was this fat guy? And what could this bell do?

He had got a sharp hunch that this fat guy was more than just an ordinary person getting into the wrong car; it seemed that he had come with a strong purpose.

The fat guy sneakily picked that bell up, put it on the seat beside him and murmured:

"Phew! A little gift from my girlfriend. Can’t throw it away. Annoying."

That sounded unnatural. He was trying to hide something but only made it even more obvious.

Nine humphed and continued driving.

Su Bai closed his eyes and pretended to be sleeping.

Seeing neither of them paying any attention to his incident, the fat guy seemed quite relieved. He sat there for one minute, but when the car stopped before the traffic lights, he started fumbling under his clothes again.

Su Bai’s eyes were slightly open, and he was still observing this fat guy from the rearview mirror. What on earth was this fat guy looking for?

What on earth was there under his coat?

Su Bai didn’t think he was just touching his fat body.

As he had expected, after a while, there came a dumb sound.

"Rub-a-dub."

The fat guy paused in astonishment again.

Su Bai was surprised too.

It was a wooden fish[1] falling down beside the fat guy’s feet.

The wooden fish must have contained some particulate matters, therefore it sounded crisply after it hit the floor.

A bell and a wooden fish? What the hell was this fat guy up to?

Ghost?

Su Bai subconsciously looked at Nine in the driver seat. Was Nine still human?

The fat guy’s face went pale again. But afterwards, he found that neither of them responded weirdly. He nearly collapsed when he picked up that wooden fish and put it aside.

"This is from my father-in-law. My father-in-law is a monk. A professional monk."

Su Bai shook his head speechlessly. This fat guy was indeed very funny. Su Bai’s original plan was to check on Nine by himself when the time came or to go visit Litchi— although he was not close to Litchi, she seemed to be his only hope for now.

However, just then, the fat guy suddenly stood up. A string of Buddha beads fell out of his pocket; he stepped on it, slipped over and fell onto the rear seats.

"Son of a.. What’s wrong with you?"

Nine got so angry that he slammed on the wheel, turned around and yelled at the fat guy.

Su Bai also felt a little awkward, turned around and looked at this noisy, fat guy.

The fat guy was lying on the rear seats, pale and sweaty, with his lips moving silently.

"Bai, is this guy insane?" Nine asked Su Bai. He was suggesting that they should throw this guy out.

Su Bai shook his head, "No, it’s almost there. He’s gonna leave anyway."

Since Su Bai was still insisting, Nine said no more and kept driving.

The fat guy was lying there feeling very embarrassed. ‘It had been three times’, he thought. He could have scared himself to death. Then he managed to sit up with difficulty.

Soon, Nine pulled over and pushed the horn.

"Here we are."

"Oh, thank you."

The fat guy replied immediately and reached out to the door.

Su Bai was watching closely, so he noticed that the fat guy was holding something red in his hand.

No..

Properly speaking, his entire palm was stunningly red.

The fat guy opened the door but didn’t get out. He suddenly turned around, held up a spell paper with one hand, and pulled back the other hand to draw on that paper with his finger covered with cinnabar. His drawing was finished within a blink; then he shouted:

"Buddha of Immeasurable Divinity, Hierogram Will Control Evil!"

The fat guy was planning to subdue the ghost!

Su Bai turned around immediately. He had speculations about the fat guy, but he had lowered his guard a little due to all those clumsy actions, and then he subconsciously believed that the fat guy would get off after they arrived.

But the fat guy played them at this time.

He had drawn a sign and read a spell without stopping; apparently, he was an expert of Taoism, not clumsy at all.

However, Su Bai wasn’t ready to offend Nine here; he hadn’t even figured out what he should do. Would Nine be incurable if he did anything rashly? Was Nine still alive or already.. dead?

But what happened next amazed Su Bai even more: he felt a chill from his forehead between his eyebrows.

"Clap!"

The fat guy tagged the spell paper onto Su Bai’s forehead!

Then the fat guy shouted: "Ho! I could smell the evil in your car from miles away! You smell even more vicious from here! Spell is cast, Buddha will show the power. Now reveal yourself, you demon!"

After that, he shouted to Nine on the driver’s seat:

"I’m hunting the ghost. You’re mortal, so just get off now, otherwise, it’ll be my fault if you get hurt."

Just then, a sound came from the trunk. The bronze chest, which had been nicely placed in the trunk, was now giving out a faint light.

Nine’s eyes also started to shine with the same faint light while the spell paper on Su Bai’s forehead just fell off.

"..." The fat guy was totally confused.

——————————————

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Wooden fish: a wooden fish is also known as a Chinese temple block. It is a wooden percussion instrument used by monks and laity in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. The Taoist clergy has also adapted the wooden fish into their rituals. — Wikipedia