The monk stopped talking, just looked at Su Bai with a smile as if he hadn’t heard that.
"Please don’t be mad. I’m an observer."
Su Bai shrugged to indicate that he was not asking for trouble; but the wounds were too obvious to be ignored, and the Buddha beads around the monk’s wrist were a real eye-catcher. Besides, maybe it was because of his capability improvement, Su Bai’s attitude towards many things had changed; it may be a little overstated to say that he had become fearless with such a strong power, but it was somehow so true— just like cops were less frightened when facing thieves or robbers than ordinary people.
"I’m leaving." The monk didn’t want to waste any more time with Su Bai. What was more, the monk had valued Su Bai more than the others from the beginning, which Su Bai had noticed. Apparently, the monk was not sure about Su Bai’s capability.
"Then I’m calling the police." Su Bai took out his cellphone and waved it to the monk.
"Amitabh," The monk said. Then he got into the van and soon took off.
Su Bai yawned. He didn’t call the police, though the kid was killed by the monk’s Buddha beads. These three bodies carried a strange, trembling sense that somehow proved the monk’s words. If the bodies were not handled properly or lost in such an isolated place, there would be terrible consequences.
Of course, the most important reason was that Su Bai was here for pleasure, not for business. He would use some free time before the next story world began. And that was his plan.
The monk had left in his car; if he kept driving along this road, sooner or later, Su Bai would catch up with him since there was no branches— one main road was difficult enough to build, and it was meaningless to build a traffic network in such an untraversed region.
Su Bai went back to the restaurant. Lan was not here, probably in the restroom, but her boyfriend was here, and he was leaning close to Nikki and even secretly touching Nikki’s legs! Nikki just kept eating as if nothing was going on; but the blush on her cheeks gave away that something was going on and she was aware.
That was interesting.
Su Bai suddenly felt that he was right to take these people out for a trip. He had been living by himself for so long that he needed something new for his life; at least, traveling with other people would make him look less lonely. Although he had to admit that these college student were shallow and childish, their chatting sounded so lively.
Inside the Audi, Lucky was still sleeping. Su Bai opened the door and felt Lucky’s hair; it was bathing in the sunlight, and its hair was warm and smooth. Lucky opened its eyes, looked at Su Bai, then turned its head away and went back to sleep.
Just then, the others finished their lunch and were ready to hit the road. They were still over three hundred kilometers away from their destination; judging by the road’s condition, at best, they would arrive in Jiuzhaigou Valley at six or seven o’clock this night.
Lan and her boyfriend was still riding in the same car. His name was Li Yu; Su Bai heard that from Nikki during their chat. Maybe Liu Gang, Sun Lin and Grace didn’t notice, but Su Bai could tell from Nikki’s tone that she was ready to steal her "best" friend’s boyfriend. Poor Sun Lin had been trying to impress Nikki all the way, but he had no idea that someone else had been fondling his beloved girl during lunch.
Su Bai lit up a cigarette as they got back onto the road. The scenery was becoming better and better with all those gorgeous mountains. He felt good driving along this road, despite the poor road condition. Suddenly, Zoige Grassland[1] came into Su Bai’s mind. He had been there when he was very young. There were luxurious grass and brushes, herds of cattle and sheep… There was a photo of him with his mother kept in his home— his mother was putting him onto a yak and his father had taken the picture.
He didn’t ask his fellows whether they were going to visit Zoige Grassland. After dropping them in Jiuzhaigou Valley, he would go visit it by himself, even if he’d have to pay for their air tickets back to Chengdu.
The temperature dropped dramatically when it was afternoon, but the people in the car got more and more excited as the scenery became more and more amazing. The sky became clearer and cloudless, mountains were no longer barren but lush. It was like traveling in a painting. Rugged places were left behind. In one more hour, they would be in Jiuzhaigou Valley.
Nikki suddenly pointed to somewhere by the road: "Look! What’s that place with colorful flags?"
Sun Lin immediately got excited and explained: "That’s the site for celestial burial. The locals will leave the bodies there after some special process, and the hawks will eat them."
"Sounds so romantic." Nikki was in a good mood; even such a horrible idea couldn’t scare her.
"I think it’s creepy," Liu Gang said.
"Yeah, that’s scary." Grace agreed.
"You guys are shallow! Just think about it! You won’t be buried in dirt or burn into ashes after you died; these free elves will take you into the air! You’ll be flying! How romantic!" Nikki was drunk in her imagination.
Su Bai flicked his cigarette outside the window. "Celestial burials are expansive. Usually it cost tens of thousands of yuan[1], which is a considerable income for local Tibetans and Mongolians. But for most people, they would have to work hard throughout their lives, just in order to become a feast for the hawks"
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