The repair shop was filled with the sounds of packing things up.
Following Granny Qian’s instructions, Little Frost and Mu Yingying each pulled a rickshaw.
The carts were filled with wrenches, pliers, and spare parts from the shop.
As for White Night, her bicycle, which had just undergone a major maintenance, was placed securely on the softest cushion in Little Frost’s cart.
White Night’s soul body also lay back comfortably, her twin tails fanned out in a relaxed manner.
The two aunties had started their daily bickering early that morning over who would pull White Night.
“Big Fat Butt, your cart is already full of heavy iron junk, let me pull the bike!”
Mu Yingying opened her arms, trying to seize the right to pull the cart.
“Keep dreaming.”
Little Frost snorted, gripping the rickshaw handle with one hand.
She clenched her other hand until her knuckles popped.
“With your clumsy technique, you’d flip the cart over a pothole.”
“Say another word, and I’ll use this new wrench to loosen your bones.”
Looking at Little Frost’s fist, which was the size of a sandbag, Mu Yingying shrank her neck and decisively backed down.
She muttered under her breath: “Pull it then, you violent brute. You have as much strength as an old ox; you’ll work yourself to death sooner or later.”
Little Frost pulled the rickshaw, walking steadily across the wasteland.
Whenever she encountered bumps, she slowed down in advance, and White Night barely felt a jolt inside the cart.
Mid-journey, taking advantage of a break to drink water, Little Frost’s gaze inadvertently fell upon a black bowknot on the front of White Night’s bike.
A small black bowknot was tied to the front of the handlebars.
The edges of the ribbon were frayed; it looked very old.
“White Night, has this bowknot always been there?”
Little Frost moved closer, reaching out to touch it.
As soon as her fingertip touched the ribbon, it was pushed away by an invisible force.
It didn’t hurt, but the sense of rejection was strong.
It felt like trespassing into someone’s territory and being pushed away by the owner without a shred of politeness.
Little Frost’s expression was full of shock and suspicion.
“Little White Night, does this thing even recognize its owner? I can’t seem to touch it.”
“Maybe it’s because you’re a violent, bad auntie, that’s why you can’t touch it.”
Mu Yingying took the opportunity to criticize her.
“You loose woman, do you want me to beat you to death with a punch? I’ll treat it as practicing my Yin Killing Technique.”
Little Frost threatened her with dissatisfaction.
“Cough cough, don’t be angry, my good Frosty. The Yin Killing Technique shortens one’s life, you really shouldn’t use it…”
Mu Yingying quickly surrendered and faked a smile.
White Night poked half her head out of the cart to look.
“That’s right, Auntie Frost, you should use that Yin Killing Technique less. By the way, Auntie Frost, you can’t touch it?”
“I haven’t mastered it yet, you don’t need to worry about me, Little White Night. Let’s talk about what’s going on with this bowknot instead.”
“That’s right, I just tried and I couldn’t touch it either.” Mu Yingying was also very curious.
“That’s because you’re a bad auntie and a loose woman.” Little Frost took the chance to mock her again.
“I am a loose woman, but the little bike likes me just fine because I have a big butt and am wild enough, so what, are you not convinced?” Mu Yingying retorted shamelessly.
Little Frost and White Night were speechless, their understanding of Mu Yingying’s shamelessness rising to a new level.
“Cough, let’s get back to the bowknot. I feel its power seems to be exhausted; it can’t be used anymore.”
White Night quickly changed the subject before it became too spicy and made her face blush.
“I thought it had turned into an ornament, but to think you two can’t touch it—it must still have some other function. Of course, I don’t know what it is. Regardless, that little girl shouldn’t mean us harm; the bowknot has already saved us from danger many times.”
After White Moon finished her analysis, the two aunties nodded, and they continued on their way.
After walking for half the day, the terrain changed from flat wasteland to rolling hills.
On the horizon in the distance, a black object appeared; it was only when they got closer that they realized they were trees.
Charred trees.
There were over a dozen of them, not many, but the cross-section of every single one was unnaturally straight.
They hadn’t been knocked down by fire; they had been sliced through.
Little Frost stopped the cart and walked over to touch the cut.
The cross-section was smooth, without any burrs, as if it had been severed instantly by high heat.
“This is very strange; these trees are eerie, be careful.”
Little Frost said in a deep voice.
White Night observed the compass.
The needle was steady, with no reaction.
“The compass has no reaction to weirdness; this was done by a human.”
Little Frost stood up and surveyed the entire grove.
The cutting angle of the dozen trees was consistent, forming a straight line from the southeast to the northwest.
It was as if something had swept across from that direction, slicing everything in its path.
Mu Yingying didn’t look at the trees; her gaze fell to the ground at the edge of the grove.
There lay The Strange Corpse.
The corpse was humanoid, grey-skinned, and withered.
The most terrifying part was the wounds on its body—seven or eight of them, sliced from the left shoulder all the way to the right waist.
The wounds were parallel to each other, with strikingly consistent spacing and depth.
Little Frost squatted down and watched for a while.
“This wasn’t left by a fight. The cuts are too neat, and the force applied was the same. The person wasn’t panicked at all when cutting; they were likely… standing perfectly still.”
Mu Yingying squatted on the other side, her peach-blossom eyes retracting their usual laziness as she continued: “The weirdness might have been dead already or immobilized. This person was cutting something that wouldn’t move.”
White Night looked at the corpse, her soul body turning a shade darker.
“Could it be… that person was torturing the weirdness? Or some kind of evil ritual?”
The three fell into silence, an indescribable chill spreading between them.
Just then, Mu Yingying’s pocket suddenly turned burning hot.
She subconsciously covered her pocket and froze.
It wasn’t a slow heat, but as if it had been scorched by a cigarette butt.
It was that Go Piece.
That black Go piece she had carried since she was a child was reacting for the first time.
Immediately following, the Fate Coin in her other pocket also grew slightly hot, then cooled down again just as quickly.
“Auntie Ying?”
White Night noticed something wrong with her from the cart.
Mu Yingying froze for a moment, then immediately grinned, returning to her carefree self.
“It’s nothing, the button in my pocket poked me.”
“Let’s go, let’s go! This place gives me the creeps!”
She said this and strode forward, her pace quickened as if she were avoiding something.
Little Frost went back to pull the cart.
Passing the corpse, she looked down one more time.
At the edge of the wounds, there were faint, hair-thin burn marks.
By evening, they found a half-collapsed cement building to spend the night.
Little Frost started a fire and carried White Night’s body down from the rickshaw.
She knelt on one knee to stabilize the frame and took out a warmed soft cloth.
“Let’s do some maintenance.”
White Night obediently said, “Mm.”
Little Frost started from the front of the bike, using the soft cloth to wipe down the frame inch by inch.
Her force wasn’t heavy, and her movements were very slow.
When she wiped the edge of the basket, her finger crossed the line slightly.
The fingertip wrapped in the soft cloth brushed the back of White Night’s soul-body hand.
She touched it.
It was a real, tactile sensation.
Little Frost’s fingers paused.
A slightly cool sensation traveled from her fingertips, soft and resilient, like touching a ball of breathing light.
Her fingertips subconsciously, very lightly, rubbed against it.
White Night’s soul body shook uncontrollably, a wave of numbness spreading through her entire body.
She made no sound, nor did she shout that it was ticklish like she usually did; she just stayed there obediently.
A layer of pale pink rose on her cheeks.
Accompanied by this gentle touch, a warmth flowed through White Night’s mind.
She clearly felt it.
“What is going on? How did I touch you, Little White Night?”
Little Frost was shocked and delighted; she tried to reach out to touch White Night again, but she grabbed only empty air.
“Was it just an illusion?”
Little Frost was suspicious and unsettled.
“It wasn’t an illusion, Auntie Frost, you really did touch me just now.” White Night regained her composure, savoring the feeling she had just experienced—tingling and numb—and couldn’t help but blush.
“Let me try too.”
Mu Yingying reached out her hand toward White Night’s bottom, only to grab empty air as well.
“It doesn’t work.”
Mu Yingying’s tone was filled with disappointment.
“You’re asking for death! That’s a place you can touch, you loose woman? Why must you be so base?”
Little Frost swatted away the hand Mu Yingying still had hovering in that spot.
Mu Yingying was quick-witted and retracted her hand rapidly.
Snap! A crisp sound rang out, sounding particularly distinct in the wilderness.
All three pairs of eyes widened.
White Night’s soul body covered her swatted little bottom, her mouth wide open. Feeling the hot, stinging, real pain behind her, her little face turned as red as a tea pot.
“Big Fat Butt, you have no shame, how could you do such a thing? Little White Night, does it hurt? How is it? Auntie is heartbroken to death! No, Auntie has to rub it for you.”