The Tale Never Ends Chapter 169 News

"Come on, Zhigui," Yan Jishi, the expletive-vending machine roared with laughter, "Did you not always brag about how strong your sense of smell can be? How did you fail this time?"

As it turned out, that was Zhang Zhigui that we saw from the top of the hill, reaching a hand into the noxious and miasmic haze before he took out some face masks and applied some medicine on it. From atop the crest of the hill, that was all that we saw. What we did not know was, Zhigui had sniffed at the smell of the haze, hoping that he might know something about it.

Unlike the conventional methods of "Watching, Listening, Inquiring, and Examining" of traditional Chinese medicine, the healing skills Zhang Zhigui learned included smelling, which ironically shared the same Chinese word as "Listening." This was due to his gifted sense of smelling and his years of honing this very sense which has always made him proud of. Some might even argue that his sense of smell was as good as a hound. But little did he expect that I would release the noxious miasmic gas which was excreted by fox demons...

"Alas... This trick of yours, Shiyan, was a natural counter against me that I was immediately robbed of the use of my most precious sense. And being unable to see in the haze, I was no more useful than a cripple..." Zhang Zhigui admitted, his face burning brightly in red.

With that, Zhang Zhigui and his companions stayed in the subterranean village for a day to help ease the tensions between the foxes and the weasels before he led the weasels back to Yizhou City. Then I went to Lao Tao. "I remember the immortal who calls himself Master Six had sent a weasel here. But I have yet to notice its presence here during my stay? Am I right in guessing that the weasels from Yizhou City were here because they wished that it might help to speak to you on their behalf to let them stay?" Lao Tao giggled, "Then it might interest you to know that that weasel has never once come out of its lair since coming here. It must be the rebuke by the demigod Master Six that it is now afraid of causing more trouble. I was surprised myself that it never once showed itself even when its kin from Yizhou City was here. But I suppose it's afraid of incurring the wrath of any more powerful beings and entities. "But that weasel is older than even you, Lord Mountain Deity,” I mused quietly. Then again, this weasel must be a sharp and cunning one. It must have long realized that the appearance of its kin here and everything that followed was more than an interspecies squabble and it had correctly predicted that somehow I would be involved.

The rest of us enjoyed another two days in the lost paradise of Yellow Soil Ridge before we took our leave and said our farewells to Lao Tao to return to Wu Zhong. During our parting, Lao Tao, with a retinue of various demons and sprites, had accompanied us all the way to a nature resort just outside of the Ridge where we parted and said our thanks for their hospitality. But I could not help but feel worried for them; imagine the panic setting loose on the media if anyone were to notice such a large troupe of demons loitering about in daylight!

We went back to the resort. For the past few days, we had left our car there before we ventured into the wilderness of the Ridge. The proprietor of the resort was overjoyed and anxious to meet us. "Heavens! I was going to call the police! Where have you been!? I thought you were lost in the Ridge or somewhere!" I merely smiled and said nothing. His reaction was understandable, and hence forgivable, although we would dispense with providing him any details.

We arrived back at our Center in the afternoon and the first thing we did was to recharge our phone batteries. Our phones had long gone dead for the past few days. But as soon as our phones were powered on, they began buzzing, ringing and vibrating uncontrollably. Edelweiss' phone was peppered with advertisements while Lin Feng's and Chongxi's were undoubtedly packed with messages and emails from Yuanyuan and Xiao Yu. But when mine was on, I was surprised to find my phone buzzing as well! It was all messages from Zheng Shuang, asking for me and telling me that something bad had happened!

I immediately placed a call to Zheng Shuang. "Hey, Zheng Shuang, it's me." He was relieved to finally hear my voice. "Oh my God! Shiyan?! Where have you been!? Why is your phone dead!? I was so worried?!" "Relax," I said, "I was busy for the past few days and had been away from Wu Zhong for a few days." But before I could say anymore, Zheng Shuang's voice had come from the other end of the phone. "Where are you now? The Center? Wait, I'm coming right over now!"

Within just ten minutes, Zheng Shuang's car screeched to a halt just outside our door.

Zheng Shuang stormed through the doors, his hands digging deep into his pockets as he moved. When he came to me, he showed me his phone, displaying a news article. "This news has been blazing through the entire region east of the capital for the past few days! Look at this video footage!" I looked into the screen, frowning slightly at Zheng Shuang's anxiety. But when I saw the video, I immediately held my breath. It was footage recorded somewhere in the outback, depicting millions of weasels scurrying in innumerable numbers like an army of locusts! From above, their number looked so great that they blanketed the entire landscape from horizon to horizon, sweeping through everything; fields, residential compounds, and even roads! The lands everywhere turned brownish-yellow from the coats of their fur and it was nothing short of amazing or even awesome! I scrolled up and saw the title saying "Disaster or Apocalypse: Legions of Weasels Mustering in Zunhua City!" My hand shuddered that I almost dropped the phone. But I quickly placed it down and asked Zheng Shuang, "When did this video turn viral?"

Zheng Shuang must have noticed something from my expression. Grimly, he said, "About five days ago. It was uploaded to the Internet five days ago and the clicks have never stopped. Even the local papers began reporting about this the following day. As Zunhua City was only nearby Wu Zhong, the bizarre phenomenon has captured the attention of the authorities of all cities and towns in the vicinity. Who knows what could become of this?!" Before I know it, Zheng Shuang opened another video clip for me with another intriguing title, "Accelerated Growth of Vegetation at the Foothills in Yellow Soil Ridge While Shrouded in Dark Haze"

"Someone had noticed Zhang Zhigui's rejuvenation magic and had recorded it on video!?" I could not help feeling a knot forming in my gut. "Were we caught on video too?! Oh Heavens, this cannot be! We'd never be able to explain ourselves!"

At the same time, Lin Feng, Chongxi, Edelweiss huddled over to see what I was looking at. As soon as they saw the screen of the phone I was holding, I heard only long and heavy breaths from them as they looked on from over my shoulders like their very breaths had been robbed from them. "Where do we go from here?" I asked under my breath. "A joint task force between the authorities of the surrounding cities and towns and Zunhua City has been formed to investigate this matter. But so far, there has yet to be any headway. I was there yesterday with some other officers from other municipal districts but we found nothing either. But even the experts can come up with no explanation about what happened and this has unsettled a great many hearts. If the investigations continue to yield no results, I fear..." Zheng Shuang's voice broke, but he spoke again, his voice renewed, "In truth, I care nothing about all that. But I was wondering if this could be the work of some monster or demon? Surely this is only my imagination?"

We almost burst out laughing when we heard him. He was looking confused as I got up and patted him on the shoulders. "Heh heh heh... Relax. Those are not demons. I was the one who conjured the dark noxious haze at the hills." And I went on with a summary of what happened during the Battle of the Yellow Soil Ridge.

"Oh my God, Shiyan! Look at what you've done!! How would you expect me to get by this now! The higher-ups are hot at our heels, chasing us for answers! We'd be in trouble if we cannot find a proper explanation for all this!!"

I scratched my head and said, "Can't you just dismiss the video as fake?" "Would that I could. But the person who uploaded the clip had stressed that his video is true and he had looked for a professional to verify that for good measure. There's no way I can throw it out the door and call it a fake now. No one would believe this! Moreover, he's not the only one then to witness everything!"

Chongxi and Lin Feng were quiet now, having doubts of their own. Edelweiss was however smoking casually as she chuckled. "That should be easy. Just call your experts to come up with some reason or whatever. That should do." "That's easy for you to say, Sister," Lin Feng added, "No one is as daft as that!"

But what Edelweiss said inspired an idea. "Wait up. Relax. I got an idea. But we'll need your expert to agree with us. Can you give me the contact for the expert? I'll need to speak to him."

Zheng Shuang stared at me wordlessly for a couple of seconds before he pondered a while. At last he said, "Well, giving you the contact of the expert is easy enough. But how do you expect to explain everything to him, Shiyan?" I giggled. "What else? The truth, of course."

Chapter end