Chapter 43: Rainstorm Wild Temple 5
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The production team had prepared three vehicles in total. After the previous mountain incident, Zhang Wubing had become more cautious and stocked up on emergency food and medicine, all of which were kept in the logistics car.
In this arrangement, the director’s car led the way at the front to clear obstacles, followed by the guests’ car in the middle, and the logistics car brought up the rear, ensuring the safety of the guests to the greatest extent.
However, when the driver of the guests’ car had to make an emergency stop, the logistics car in the rear couldn’t react in time. To avoid colliding with the car in front, they had to abruptly swerve and brake, veering to the other side of the road. They came perilously close to hitting a nearby tree before finally coming to a stop, leaving deep skid marks on the muddy road, with the wheels sinking into the soft mud at the side of the field.
When Zhang Wubing ran back to report that the road ahead was impassable, the personnel in the logistics car reluctantly got out and shouted, “Director! You might need to proceed first. We’ve encountered a problem here and need to get the car out.”
In the guests’ car, the guests who had been thrown around due to the sudden braking had finally helped each other to their feet.
Hearing the voices from the logistics car behind, several male guests immediately opened the car windows and asked, “Can we help you push the car together? More hands make lighter work, and it’ll be faster this way.”
Upon hearing this, the personnel from the logistics car were initially pleased and about to agree. However, upon seeing the live-streaming devices attached to the guests’ shoulders, they realized that the filming was still ongoing.
So, the assistant director quickly waved his hand and declined, “Please stay in the car. The road ahead is too muddy, and I almost got stuck in the mud just now.”
Especially in a culture where fans place such importance on celebrity status and treatment, this show was already quite popular. If fans perceive that helping out like this is a mistreatment of the guests by the production team, it could lead to more harm than good. It’s best to be cautious.
An Nanyuan also noticed the concerns of the staff. “It’s okay; it’s normal for a strong man to help push the car.”
However, Anthony quickly added with a smile, “Brother Nan is really good at being a laborer. I wonder if Brother Nan’s fifty million fans will see how hard Brother Nan is working and think that he’s suffering.”
An Nanyuan’s expression immediately darkened.
But the assistant director had concerns and firmly declined, politely asking them all to stay in the car and not create any additional challenges for the staff in terms of public relations.
Only the female actress seemed to have pulled a muscle due to the way she fell between the seats. She sat in her seat, repeatedly complaining of pain.
Yan Shixun, however, paid no attention to this and didn’t turn to check on the actress’s condition. Instead, he casually raised his hand, made a quick calculation, and then continued to stand next to the car, inquiring about the specific conditions of the road ahead from Zhang Wubing.
“To reach the Wild Wolf Peak, we need to leave Binhai City, cross the mountain road at the border with the neighboring province, and enter the territory of the mountain province. However, it’s currently the summer rainy season, and heavy rains in the upstream province have caused the water levels to rise dramatically, washing away the river bridge at the border with Binhai City.”
Zhang Wubing: “There’s no way we can pass that road now. We might have to detour around this river and enter the mountain province from the side.”
With that, he used his smartphone to search for an alternative route on the electronic map and showed it to Yan Shixun.
Because of his deep understanding of Zhang Wubing’s condition, Yan Shixun didn’t immediately agree to his proposal and felt that something was amiss.
However, when Yan Shixun cautiously surveyed the surroundings, he noticed that the director’s car that Zhang Wubing had driven back did indeed show signs of being soaked in rain, with mud on its wheels and body. They hadn’t encountered any rain on their way to their current location, indicating that the mountainous terrain had influenced the climate in the two provinces, and the rain on the mountain roads ahead hadn’t stopped yet.
Yan Shixun took out his own smartphone to check the recent weather forecast for the neighboring province, confirming his suspicion. He then searched for the alternative route again, ensuring that it was passable, and nodded, saying, “This route works. Let’s go.”
“Mr. Yan, Director, you can go ahead. We’ll catch up shortly.”
The assistant director, along with the crew, attempted to free the heavy wheels stuck in the muddy ground while raising his voice to address the situation. “It seems like it has been raining here for quite a while. The ground is so soft that once we get stuck, it’s hard to pull out.”
Since they were in the midst of a live broadcast, Zhang Wubing couldn’t afford to waste the guests’ time waiting. He reluctantly agreed, saying, “I’ll send you the new route.”
The change in the route had put Yan Shixun on high alert, especially after the driver had claimed to see a face, and he himself had caught a glimpse of something yellow passing by the car window.
Instead of immediately getting back into the car, he took long strides towards the logistics vehicle. Ignoring the assistant director’s protests about getting his clothes dirty, he jumped down onto the embankment, splattering mud onto his Martin boots and black trousers.
The staff members were somewhat puzzled as they watched Yan Shixun, who didn’t seem to care about getting muddy. He bent down, extending his hand to inspect the wheels of the vehicle.
“Why did you drive into this area?” After examining the skid marks on the muddy road and the natural wear and tear on the tires, Yan Shixun was already certain that the logistics car had been intentionally immobilized, rather than being the work of supernatural forces. Still, he cautiously asked the driver of the logistics vehicle, “Did you see anything outside the car window just now?”
“See anything?” The driver, still leaning against the car, replied in confusion, “I didn’t see anything. It’s just that the car in front braked suddenly, and I was afraid of rear-ending it, so I turned the steering wheel abruptly. But the dirt road was muddy, and it veered off.”
This area appeared to be the fields of a nearby village. Yan Shixun could see crops growing in the fields, and there were scarecrows standing in the distance. However, the field they were standing on seemed to have been neglected. The embankment was piled with dead branches and mud, and the car’s wheels had sunk in deep. Even with the combined effort of over a dozen staff members, they struggled to lift the already heavy car.
After dispelling his concerns, Yan Shixun didn’t immediately get up and return to the guest vehicle. Instead, in this bent-over posture, he reached down and firmly grasped the lowest part of the car’s body. He then lowered his eyelashes, slowly adjusted his breathing, and, at the same time, quietly and rapidly recited complex incantations.
Under the puzzled gazes of the nearby staff, Yan Shixun suddenly raised his eyes and exerted force. His arm displayed smoothly defined muscles, and the car’s body, being gripped in his palm, emitted a metallic hum. As he began to rise, the car’s body gradually lifted along with him, accompanied by the sound of mud clinging to it, and the wheels smoothly pulled out of the muddy ground.
“!!!”
The staff members’ eyes widened, and their minds were flooding crazily with “F*ck!”.
No one had expected that the task that over a dozen people on their side had just struggled with was instantly resolved by Yan Shixun??
You should know that this car, along with the things inside, weighed two tons! Why could one person lift it with their bare hands? This was unbelievable!
“Why are you standing there? I’ve solved the most difficult part for you. Don’t you want to move the car back onto the road?” Yan Shixun raised his chin slightly to urge the dumbfounded staff.
“Oh, yes, thank you, Mr. Yan, for your help. We’ll take it from here,” prompted by Yan Shixun, the staff members finally woke up from their daze and quickly joined forces to push the car’s body back onto the rural road.
“By the way, Mr. Yan,” one of the staff members couldn’t resist his curiosity and asked, “Is what the director said true? Can you really do some unscientific things? Like spells that make you stronger, for example. It seemed like you were reciting something just now.”
“Do you have a vivid imagination from watching too many movies?” Yan Shixun took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the mud off his hands.
The staff scratched their heads in embarrassment and said, “Ah, Mr. Yan, you really have great strength. We couldn’t move it with so many people just now, but you managed to do it in one go. Also, I think I saw some light in your hands just now, like what happened back in Gui Mountain.”
Yan Shixun seemed to find the staff’s guess quite far-fetched and responded with a smirk, “Well, I do have a way to increase my strength. Would you like to know?”
The curious staff leaned closer, eager to hear more.
And he heard Yan Shixun say——
Yan Shixun continued, “Do you know Popeye the Sailor? Remember to eat plenty of spinach. It not only makes you strong but also benefits your eyesight. Seeing even golden light, do you have astigmatism?”
Staff: “…”
The curious viewers in the live chat: […..]
[Wow, this explanation is something else. I took out my notebook thinking Brother Yan was going to share some incredible secret techniques. And this is it? Seriously?]
[Hahaha, Popeye the Sailor loves spinach. Brother Yan’s explanation is so scientific, completely in line with that other guy’s way of thinking.]
[Although Brother Yan’s recent display of strength did surprise me, this car must weigh over a ton, and he lifted it all by himself! Brother Yan’s strength is truly astonishing.]
[That burst of strength, isn’t it said that when a person’s potential is unleashed, their strength can reach three times what it usually is? And looking at Brother Yan’s smooth muscles, they don’t seem like the dead muscles people develop for looks in the gym. It should be the result of years of high-intensity training, so having such strength is normal.]
[?? Why are all of you so scientific? It makes me feel out of place here believing that Brother Yan used some kind of occult method just now. We’re quite different, aren’t we?]
[But this is too realistic. The road is blocked, and they have to change their route temporarily, the tires are stuck in the mud—aren’t these just the annoying problems you encounter on a normal road trip? The script for this show is too good! It’s so immersive that even someone like me who can’t go outside because of the heavy rain feels like they’re traveling right now. Amazing.]
[Oh my God, oh my God!! Yan Mais, I’m so excited! Brother Yan looks so cool! Did you see the muscle definition just now? I’m sorry, I was being superficial. I started stanning him for his perfect face from the screenshots, but I never expected him to have such an amazing physique!]
[Oh, the Yan Mai above, wipe your drool. Brother Yan might be repelled by you. But it’s true, Brother Yan, with this overwhelming surge of hormones and power, I feel like a maniac at home clapping my thighs and laughing hysterically! It’s incredible!]
[Did you install surveillance in my house? Take it down! How do you know that I’m laughing so maniacally right now? My thighs are already red from all the clapping.]
[Why are you just taking screenshots? Get moving!]
[This is the first time I’ve seen a celebrity wear Martin boots and look so powerful. When Brother Yan jumped down from the road above and hung in the air for that moment, I finally understood the sexiness that strength brings.]
[Yes, and I think the image of Brother Yan covered in mud is even cooler and more impactful. If I didn’t watch this live while squatting if someone showed me this screenshot separately, I’d think it’s a fashion magazine’s professional photo shoot.]
Having quickly resolved the logistics vehicle’s predicament, Yan Shixun gracefully leaped onto the country road with a slight bend of his long legs.
The assistant director quickly expressed his gratitude to Yan Shixun and assured him that they would handle the remaining tasks and catch up with the convoy promptly.
However, Yan Shixun failed to notice that when he leaped with that bent posture, his phone was squeezed out from his pocket and fell to the ground.
With a faint “thud,” the phone landed in the nearby weeds and dry branches.
As he walked back to the guest vehicle, Yan Shixun sensed a pair of eyes that had been hidden, continuously observing him. If he hadn’t focused his senses, he might have missed it.
Yan Shixun raised his head sharply, and his gaze, as sharp as a blade, directly returned to its source.
Behind the tinted privacy glass, which had one-way mirror functionality, a clearly outlined side profile was faintly visible in the dim light of the overcast day.
He furrowed his brows, temporarily unable to match the face inside the car.
“Brother Yan?” Zhang Wubing saw Yan Shixun halt not far from the car and couldn’t help but wonder, “Is something challenging over there? Are they having difficulties?”
“No, it’s already been taken care of. They’ll catch up soon,” Yan Shixun replied.
Yan Shixun tapped on the car door with the small red flag in his hand, grabbing the attention of all the guests. They turned to look at him before he stepped into the car with a long stride, saying, “No need to worry, we’re just taking a different route.”
With the little episode resolved, both the director’s car and the guests’ car quickly resumed their journey, following the newly planned route to Wild Wolf Peak.
However, Yan Shixun remembered the driver’s mention of seeing a face earlier, so he switched seats to the one beside the driver.
The driver, who had initially been frightened, suddenly felt his body, chilled by the cold and rainy weather, warming up as if he had approached a little sun filled with vitality. His fear and coldness dissipated, and his hands, which had been trembling while gripping the steering wheel, steadied.
The vehicle was back in motion.
The guests inside the car were not as concerned as Yan Shixun had thought. When the car made an abrupt stop earlier, they were focused on helping others and didn’t hear the driver mention seeing a face. They assumed the difficulty stemmed from the rainy road conditions.
They quickly returned to their lively chatter, led by the variety show celebrity, creating an entertaining atmosphere.
However, Bai Shuang couldn’t shake the feeling that her body was shivering with cold. Even though she was wearing clothes and seated in the car, it felt as though cold drafts were coming from all directions, making her feel uneasy.
“Is the car’s air conditioning too low?” she puzzled, taking out her mountaineering jacket from her backpack and draping it over herself.
With Yan Shixun beside him, the driver felt a sense of reassurance, and the car moved steadily.
Yan Shixun continued to glance at the scenery outside the car window while holding his tablet, casually responding to the barrage of questions and comments from viewers.
“Why did I become a tour guide? Well, you should ask Zhang Wubing for that.”
He answered wearily, “Being a tour guide means managing the comments and barrage, and I can’t sleep in the back seat anymore. It’s annoying. So, when you leave comments in the barrage, please make them positive and healthy. Don’t give me extra work.”
“Why am I so strong? Eating more fruits and vegetables, especially spinach, along with a balanced diet, is the key. I’m just within the range of an ordinary person’s strength, right? Every time I see you asking these kinds of questions, I almost think I’m living a few hundred years ago. Believe in science, read more books, and watch fewer movies.”
Because the main screen was focused on the guests and not on Yan Shixun, who was sitting at the very front of the car, many viewers and fans rushed to his split-screen feed to see him.
When they heard Yan Shixun seriously and confidently asking them to believe in science, many of the seasoned viewers who had watched the Gui Mountain journey burst into laughter.
[Brother Yan, stop pretending. I saw you counting on your fingers, you’ve been counting the whole time, without stopping.]
Yan Shixun curled his lips in annoyance, raised his hand with the same gesture he had been using to count, and said to the camera, “I have ADHD.”
[……]
[Okay, okay, I’m a fan myself. I believe, I believe!]
Yan Shixun didn’t care whether they believed him or not. As long as they didn’t post content related to the supernatural that could get the livestream banned, he couldn’t be bothered.
As his gaze casually swept over the car window, it was drawn to the distant scarecrow in the field.
Yan Shixun had excellent vision, and he could clearly see the scarecrow in the distance, dressed in human clothing and incredibly lifelike.
In most regions, scarecrows were placed in fields to deter birds from eating crops.
However, this scarecrow was the most realistic and peculiar one Yan Shixun had ever seen.
Its body wasn’t hastily put together like typical scarecrows; it genuinely had hands and feet, and the exposed shoulders and neck could easily be mistaken for a human body at a casual glance. The clothing it wore was long and covered the pole used to support its body, making it appear as if the scarecrow was standing in the field by itself when viewed from a distance.
Its eyes were covered by a straw hat, so Yan Shixun could only see the lower half of its face.
Perhaps it was for the convenience of the villagers, or maybe they used whatever materials were available. The scarecrow’s face was made from paper money, the kind used for funerals, giving it the appearance of a paper-mache figure found in a memorial hall.
The scarecrow’s pallid paper face had been painted with a bright red mouth and two rosy cheeks. Due to the rain, the red paint had run down the paper face, creating eerie streaks of red, like bloodstains, on the ghostly white surface.
This face made Yan Shixun uncomfortable, but he continued to stare at the scarecrow for a long time. Even after the car had passed by, and he could no longer see the scarecrow, he couldn’t identify anything unusual.
Was he being overly suspicious?
Yan Shixun furrowed his brow, puzzled by the fact that he had remained on high alert several times but had yet to find anything amiss.
Bai Shuang, who was sitting by the car window, did catch a glimpse of the scarecrow in the distance, but her vision wasn’t as sharp as Yan Shixun’s. She squinted her eyes but could only make out a blurry silhouette.
The scarecrow had pants covering its lower half, but the red-painted pole supporting it was unusually long and protruded right through its head.
So, at first glance, Bai Shuang nearly thought it was a person impaled from foot to head on the pole. She gasped in shock and quickly covered her mouth.
When An Nanyuan looked over in confusion, she lowered her voice and pointed at the window, asking, “Do you see someone over there?”
The variety show celebrity hearing this, turned to get a clearer view of the scarecrow and laughed, “Bai Shuang, did you grow up in the city? That’s a scarecrow, not a real person. It’s used in the fields to scare away birds.”
Embarrassed, Bai Shuang took another look and smiled, “Oh, it’s a scarecrow. My mistake, my mistake. This scarecrow… does look a bit ugly.”
The variety show host chuckled, “As long as it looks human, we’re good. We’re not too concerned about its appearance.”
Laughter filled the car as they sped past the fields.
Above the fields, silence once again enveloped the surroundings.
Under the gloomy sky, raindrops suddenly fell and quickly grew larger.
The curtain of rain isolated all sounds. Over the deserted wilderness, there were no villages or rising smoke from chimneys to be seen, only the cold, untended fields, and…
The scarecrow, with small stones embedded as its eyes, shifted its stiff, slow gaze. It raised its straw hat to reveal a pair of disheveled, childlike pure black eyes, blocked from view until now. It slowly turned its head to follow the convoy of vehicles on the distant road with its gaze.
A sodden piece of paper suddenly fell onto its pallid paper face, right at the location of its mouth.
It was as if the scarecrow had opened its bright red mouth.
And it was smiling.
Silently, maniacally, malevolently…
Due to the incident at Ghost Mountain last time, although it had been resolved in the end, Haiyun Temple hadn’t completely let its guard down. Instead, one of the Taoists continued to monitor this TV show.
Moreover, the middle-aged and young Taoists at Haiyun Temple had grown up listening to the legendary stories of Taoist Chengyun’s adventures and had a strong curiosity about his disciples.
Taoist Ma, who had been assigned the task of watching the live broadcast, didn’t find it boring at all. On the contrary, he was quite engrossed and found Taoist Chengyun’s disciples quite interesting.
However, as he continued watching, the smile at the corner of Taoist Ma’s mouth gradually disappeared.
He suddenly realized that the destination of this show’s journey was none other than Wild Wolf Peak.
—And it was raining at Wild Wolf Peak again!
Taoist Ma quickly took out his phone and sent a message to the personal account he had obtained from Yan Shixun last time.
[Junior Brother Yan, are you on your way to Wild Wolf Peak now?]
[Don’t go! Come back quickly! Wild Wolf Peak on a rainy day is not Wild Wolf Peak!]
However, Taoist Ma anxiously kept an eye on his phone for quite a while, but he didn’t receive a reply from Yan Shixun. The messages he sent remained marked as “unread.”
Beside the rain-soaked field, a phone screen suddenly flickered, emitting a faint light that struggled to penetrate the increasingly dark curtain of the rainy night.
A skeletal claw suddenly reached out from the side, grabbed the phone amidst the muddy twigs, and crushed the feeble light.
Crack!
Yan Shixun abruptly opened his eyes, the fleeting drowsiness from his short rest now completely gone.
The rain intensified, drumming against the car windows so fiercely it felt like the glass might shatter.
Even the guests at the back of the car, who had previously been laughing and making noise, involuntarily lowered their voices. Their shaken tones exposed their fear.
In the desolate expanse of the rainy night, the car’s high beams were the only source of light. Traveling on a seemingly endless, deserted road, they appeared feeble, as though they could be swallowed at any moment by the surrounding darkness and silence.
With no village in sight, no sign of civilization, and no external assistance available, the subconscious sense of danger crept in, even when it wasn’t immediately necessary.
For some of the guests, accustomed to urban life, the sight of the desolate wilderness outside the car windows, with no signs of human presence or artificial light, only heightened their inexplicable anxiety.
The dirt road that the vehicles were traveling on extended between two distant mountains, resembling a gateway guarded by fierce gatekeepers, leading to an entirely unknown world.
The vehicle constantly rocked due to the rocks on the road and the wind blowing from the front, with angles tilting dangerously as if it were about to be overturned.
Even inside the car, Yan Shixun could feel the strong wind seeping in through the gaps in the car windows, hitting his face directly.
Although it was difficult to see the specifics in the darkness of the night, Yan Shixun relied on the faintly visible mountain terrain and the blowing wind to determine that the narrow passage ahead.
Also known as a “wind gap.”
In Feng Shui, this type of terrain was referred to as a “wind-blown alley,” where the stronger the wind, the more inauspicious it was—a place of danger.
From a logical perspective, a strong wind like this likely indicated that the passage ahead was very narrow, barely wide enough for a single car to pass through. Poor visibility or delayed reactions could lead to scraping against the mountain. In rainy weather, landslides were also common, and vehicles had no way to avoid falling rocks.
“We can’t continue forward.”
Yan Shixun calmly spoke up, “Driver, inform the front and rear vehicles to stop. We can’t proceed on this mountain road tonight. Let’s look for a nearby village to stay for now.”
The already nervous driver quickly called Zhang Wubing, instructing the lead director’s vehicle to stop.
However, when he tried to call the logistics vehicle behind them, all he heard from the receiver was a continuous “beep” sound.
“No signal? That can’t be right. I’ll slow down a bit and give them some reaction time behind us,” the driver said in confusion, lowering his phone and gradually reducing the speed to park on the side of the road.
No signal? They were less than a kilometer apart from the front and rear cars. If they could reach Zhang Wubing, why couldn’t they contact the one behind?
Before the car even came to a complete stop, Yan Shixun turned around and immediately looked to the rear.
Then, his heart sank.
— There was no car behind.
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