"Brother Bao," Lanya said.
"Forget everything else," Brother Bao replied. "You all know I used to hang out over there. I understand that place better. At worst, we can find him and pay ransom for your return. Wu Guodong is brutal, but he's not averse to money; otherwise, he wouldn't be in the drug business."
I felt I couldn't just stand there any longer. If I waited any longer, Brother Bao would actually suit up and go look for me in the mountains.
I cleared my throat and walked to the doorway. "My ears are so itchy, is someone talking about me?"
Da Kui was standing at the door. Seeing me come in, he punched me. "You still have the nerve to joke around? Everything's about to blow up."
Lanya and Jing Lei leaped up from the sofa. Jing Lei, without a second thought, rushed over.
I quickly pushed her away with my hands. I was too dirty, looking like I'd just crawled out of a mud pit.
Brother Bao sat in his executive chair, looking at me with a dark expression.
I hurried to the desk and said to Brother Bao, "I'm sorry. I won't do it again."
Brother Bao stood up, not even glancing at me. "It's good that you're back. Go clean yourself up quickly. We need to go to the hotel to see Brother Qing off later."
With that, he called Da Kui and left.
"You're something else," Lanya said. "It's been over a day since you went missing. Do you know how worried we were?"
"I know," I replied. "I was reckless this time, trusting their words too easily. But look, I'm fine, aren't I? Aside from being dirty, I'm completely unharmed. I even brought someone back with me. Isn't that a gain?"
"Go wash up quickly," Jing Lei said. "You stink."
It was funny how she'd rushed to hug me earlier, and now she knew I stank.
Suddenly, she seemed to notice something. "Where are your clothes? Why are you back in their military uniform? What happened?"
"I'll tell you everything later. For now, find me some clean clothes. I can't stand this smell myself."
As I spoke, I went into the bathroom, stripped off the stinky clothes, and went in naked to wash myself.
The warm water cascaded over my tired body. Reflecting on the life-and-death journey of the past day and night, I truly marveled at the miracle of life. If both of us had been strangled by pythons or eaten by leopards last night, would we still be conscious? Or would our thoughts still exist? Would that thing called a soul quietly stand by, watching all of this?
If the soul doesn't exist, then where do we go?
This question really made my head hurt, so I decided not to think about it. Anyway, I hadn't really died, and my soul was still safely in my body.
Jing Lei came in and placed the clothes on the cabinet. Then she brought over soap and started lathering me up.
I didn't move, letting her soap me all over.
She then used a scrubbing mitt to wash me repeatedly. After rinsing me clean, she lathered me up again.
I applied shampoo to my hair, which had all matted together.
It took two washes with shampoo before I felt clean.
After I finished washing and put on clean clothes, Jing Lei asked me to sit on the sofa and began drying my hair with a hairdryer, even applying some hairspray.
"It really is true that clothes make the man and beauty needs adornment," Lanya commented. "Now that you're tidied up, you look like a decent person."
"I looked handsome just now too," I said. "I was just a bit smelly."
"Don't even mention that smell," Jing Lei said. "I've opened all the windows, and I don't know how many mosquitoes have flown in."
"You must have gone through a lot," Lanya said. "Tell us, what happened? Did you meet that person?"
"I did meet him," I replied. "But it wasn't the right time. I didn't see him when I went, but I saw him when I was leaving. Guess why? He came to claim my corpse. But I didn't grant them their wish, so we had to fight again."
"What about that person you brought back?" Lanya asked.
"That's a long story," I said. "Brother Bao mentioned going to the hotel, right? We can talk on the way."
After Jing Lei finished drying my hair, she went to the mirror to touch up her makeup. Then she came over to Lanya and said, "You go get dressed up too. You always look like a tomboy. Today is a banquet, so go get yourself dolled up like a lady."
She pushed Lanya towards the wash area, telling her to tidy herself up.
They both had their own wardrobes here with a few commonly worn outfits.
Lanya couldn't refuse her, so she went to fix herself up.
Jing Lei nestled beside me. Since returning, she hadn't asked me anything about what happened, but from her eyes, I saw a lot of worry and fear.
Her concern was hidden deep in her heart, while Lanya's was out in the open.
"Tomorrow, help me and Wen Siqiang get new phone SIM cards and buy two phones," I said.
Jing Lei hummed in response, continuing to rest her head on my shoulder.
Lanya emerged from the washroom and saw Jing Lei clinging to me. She walked over and said, "Let's go. We can go home today. Go cling to each other at home."
"I'll cling right here," Jing Lei replied.
"Alright, sister, time is running out. Let's hurry," Lanya urged.
Jing Lei finally got up from the sofa and then pulled me up.
As I went downstairs, I asked Wen Siqiang to arrange a resting place for Qian Fugui and told him to rest as well. I got into Lanya's car.
In the car, I briefly recounted my experiences in the triangular region. When I mentioned the python, Jing Lei shrieked, startling me.
"I'm terrified of those things," she said.
"Wen Siqiang was so scared he didn't dare to enter the cave," I said. "He'd rather stay at the cave entrance with the leopards watching."
"Those brutes are truly ruthless," Lanya said. "They knew that anyone who went there wouldn't survive, yet they still sent you down."
"At first, I tried to be clever and said a lot of things to impress them," I explained. "But there was no movement all night. At dawn, the two of us figured out a way to leave the valley, only to run into Wang Dong and learn the truth. Apparently, there was a bounty of 500,000 for killing me. This money was likely from that Sun fellow, which is why they were determined to kill me."
"If I'm not mistaken, this Wang Dong came to verify if you were dead," Lanya said.
"Yes, he and Qian Fugui came to see if I had turned into bones," I replied. "He could then go back to Wu Guodong to claim his reward. It was just his bad luck; he didn't expect to run into us alive. We captured him on the spot and were just about to finish him off when the soldiers searching the mountains arrived and saved his life. However, Qian Fugui couldn't go back. When I told him to execute Wang Dong, he didn't manage to pull the trigger before the rescuers arrived, and Qian Fugui had to run with us."
"This Wang Dong can't be kept," Lanya said. "He's definitely trouble. By the way, what about those two assassins from Myanmar?"
"Keep them," I said. "These two can serve to restrain Wu Guodong here. We just need to hide them well and make sure they aren't discovered."
"It won't do to keep these two at the base," Lanya said. "It's not secluded enough, and there are too many people. We need to find a reliable place for them."
"I'll figure something out tomorrow," I said. "I also need to talk to them again and ask about this Wang Dong matter."