This Damned Thirst for Survival
chapter-55

Jiang Luo thought it was someone else, but it was Qi Ye, who had always wanted to compete with him for first place.

After letting go, Qi Ye was still looking at Jiang Luo, he was so anxious, his eyes were boiling red, his lips were even puffy, “Are you idiots, not knowing how to be cautious when facing the Red and White Furies, and being dragged away like this?”

Jiang Luo didn’t expect to be met with a harsh comment, he raised an eyebrow and asked in return, “Are you so worried about me?”

Qi Ye’s face flashed uncomfortably, “Who’s worried about you ……”

Zhuo Zhongqiu patted Qi Ye’s shoulder and said, “Have you had enough hugs? Isn’t it time to move over and let us hug Jiang Luo?”

Qi Ye’s face flushed, and he took two steps back to make way.

The friends took turns to hug Jiang Luo and Lu Youyi. Jiang Luo did not understand why friends hug each other, but after experiencing it first-hand, he came to realise that the hug was a message of concern and remorse from a friend to a friend.

Jiang Luo accepts their hugs.

It’s kinda …… warm.

After making sure they were both unharmed, the group returned to the spa.

Jiang Luo looked around at the crowd and asked, “Where are Ge Zhu and Sai Liaoer?”

Wen Renlian paused and said, “He was seriously wounded and Sai Liaoer was invoking the gods to heal him.”

When Jiang Luo and Lu Youyi were caught up in the Red and White, Wen Renlian, Kuang Zheng and Sai Liaoer went after Ge Zhu. They were clearly not slow, but by the time they reached Ge Zhu, he had fallen to the ground badly injured.

Ge Zhu’s body was covered in wounds and he was barely breathing. He lay weakly on the ground, his face covered in blood, and if Wen Renlian had not noticed his faint breathing, Ge Zhu would have been dead.

On the way back to his room, Ge Zhu’s fingers hung lifelessly in front of Kuang Zheng’s body, his face buried in Kuang Zheng’s neck, tears and blood staining Kuang Zheng’s collar.

This is what Ge Zhu looks like as they have never seen it before.

“He was trying to get to your rescue when his brother showed up,” Wen Renlian sighed, “Things were complicated for the two brothers. Ge Zhu ran after his brother and thankfully, his brother didn’t choose to attack us ……”

Wen Renlian would never have imagined that Ge Wuchen would be there.

It was too much of a coincidence and instead seemed like a trap to lure them away.

Jiang Luo didn’t care who came to his rescue and who didn’t, “Could Sai Liaoer have succeeded in invoking the gods?”

“We were also surprised,” Wen Renlian smiled, “that Sai Liaoer, who sang a song that was still pentatonic, succeeded in inviting the gods this time, don’t you think it’s strange?”

Jiang Luo’s curiosity was piqued, “Let’s go and have a look.”

Ge Zhu and Sai Liaoer were in Ge Zhu’s room when Jiang Luo entered, but the invocation was over. Sai Liaoer was so tired that she fell asleep in a corner under a blanket, but Ge Zhu was nowhere to be seen.

They couldn’t find anyone, so they woke Sai Liaoer up, ” Sai Liaoer, where’s Ge Zhu?”

Sai Liaoer opened her eyes in a daze, her blue eyes still sleepy, “Huh?”

He rubbed his eyes and sat up, glancing at the bed, wondering, “Ge, who was in bed before, sleeping.”

Wen Renlian frowned, half crouched down and asked, “Have you cured him?”

Sai Liaoer is still a little excited about this, and he dances around saying, “It’s all good!”

Wen Renlian breathed a sigh of relief, “I’m not afraid of him running away as long as he’s well, it’s good to leave him alone.”

Jiang Luo sat cross-legged next to Sai Liaoer and asked, “Sai Liaoer , why did you suddenly succeed in invoking the gods?”

Sai Liaoer shakes his head in bewilderment, “Suddenly it worked.”

He doesn’t look like he knows why he’s succeeding either. Jiang Luo rests his chin and is about to ask more questions when he suddenly smells the stench of his own body.

He blushed and stood up, “I’ll go to my room and take a shower, we’ll talk later.”

The ghosts’ blood had dried on Jiang Luo’s face, crumpling it into a layer of dried mud. Jiang Luo returns to his room and closes the door before he reaches the bathroom and can’t wait to get undressed.

By the time he reached the bathroom door, he was also stripped clean.

After throwing the clothes into the dirty clothes basket, Jiang Luo turns on the shower head and stands underwater for a moment before suddenly turning back to the dirty clothes basket.

He looked at it for a moment and went over to pick up the dirty clothes he had just put inside. Jiang Luo had a habit of taking off his clothes, first his shirt, then his trousers and finally his underwear. He also threw his clothes in the same order, but at this moment, the order of the clothes he had thrown in the dirty clothes basket this afternoon had all changed in the same way.

Someone had turned over his clothes.

Jiang Luo’s forehead is tense and he puts down the clothes he is holding and walks back under the shower head, holding down his anger.

What person would look for something to find a dirty clothes basket?

He couldn’t think of anyone else but Chi You, the pervert.

Jiang Luo used to take a shower in ten minutes at most, but today he was covered in dirt and took half an hour to wash. While brushing his teeth, Jiang Luo thought back on his encounter with Chi You and became more and more furious, and finally broke his toothbrush with a click.

Jiang Luo’s heart rises with a sense of eccentricity.

Forced him up and down and even put his hand inside his lips, Chi You Is that to specifically disgust him?

A subtle, inexplicable sense of crisis has risen in Jiang Luo.

Intuition tells him that he should try to avoid this form of encounter with Chi You.

Jiang Luo trusts his instincts, and even if they’re not right, he doesn’t want to experience that weird feeling of sweating when Chi You touches him all over again.

After the shower, he exited the bathroom all fresh. Jiang Luo had not forgotten the clothes in the dirty clothes basket, but they were clothes that Chi You had touched by some unknown means.

He burned all his clothes with a grimace.

When this was done, the sun had risen in the early hours of the morning.

He hadn’t slept all night, but Jiang Luo wasn’t the least bit sleepy. The experience of being on top of 10,000 people in a ghost fighting arena has left him in a high state of mind even now, but after a busy night last night, his body is a little tired despite being full of energy. Jiang Luo plans to go and find some wine to drink so he can sleep more quickly.

At that moment, there was a knock at the door.

Jiang Luo walked over to see Ge Zhu, who was dressed in a Taoist robe. He opened the door, “Where have you been? Wen Renlian and I were just looking for you.”

Ge Zhu looked no different from his usual self, smiling with a light and fairy-like smile, “I heard from Sai Liaoer, isn’t this coming to you?”

He smiled and waved the jug in his hand, ” Jiang Luo , come to your room for a drink?”

Jiang Luo laughed, “I was just about to go and get some wine.”

He asked Ge Zhu to come in, took two cushions to the balcony and the two of them sat down on the floor.

The drink Ge Zhu brought was a slightly cloudy white wine, Jiang Luo tasted it and was speechless, “…… surprisingly it’s glutinous rice wine.”

He had expected some kind of deep white wine, glutinous rice wine tasted like sweet water to him, and while it tasted good, don’t expect to drink it until you’re slightly drunk to help you sleep.

Ge Zhu scratched his head, embarrassed, and said, “Sticky rice wine is the cheapest in the restaurant.”

“……” Jiang Luo , “Did you forget that the three days were free food and drink?”

Ge Zhu instantly regretted, “I really forgot about that. The staff were not there and I gave them the money at the price tag and put it in the till.”

He looked painfully regretful and looked like he wanted to go back and get his money back. Jiang Luo was happy, ” Ge Zhu , how poor are you?”

Ge Zhu, the Taoist priest, is always stingy when it comes to money, a question Jiang Luo has long been curious about.

Ge Zhu laughed bitterly and held out three fingers, “I have three younger siblings to feed at home.”

Jiang Luo was stunned, “Three siblings?”

Ge Zhu lowered his head, looking at the glass of wine in his hand, the water rippling, his tone still so beyond the world generally optimistic, “Isn’t it? My younger siblings are still young, so I need to take good care of them. I had to go to school and I didn’t have time to look after my siblings, so I gave them to Kuang Zheng’s parents and let my siblings live with them.

“There are still more good people in this world,” Ge Zhu looked up at the dim sky before the morning sun, ” Fu Sheng Wu Liang Tian Zun…… fortunately, my uncle and aunt were willing to take my money.”

They were a group of people who rarely talked about their origins or their families. Jiang Luo takes a sip of wine, looks away and thinks to himself, “So Ge Zhu and Kuang Zheng were also so difficult.

The two of them were quietly drinking when Ge Zhu suddenly sat up cross-legged and made a serious apology to Jiang Luo, ” Jiang Luo, I’m sorry for you and Lu Youyi. If I hadn’t left when you two were caught up in the Red and White Furies, and had I been quicker, you might not have had to suffer so much.”

Jiang Luo said to himself, “That’s not going to happen.

Chi You is waiting for him in the coffin, how can Ge Zhu deal with Chi You?

He shook his head to show he didn’t care, ” Wen Renlian said your brother showed up.”

Ge Zhu clenched his glass abruptly as he took a deep breath and said, “Yes …… his name is Ge Wuchen.”

His other hand slowly balled into a fist, “He’s a monk.”

Jiang Luo opened his eyes with a pleasant squint and remembered the bald monk standing beside Chi You in the middle of the ghost fighting arena.

“What kind of monk?” He pursued, “Was it a good-looking monk, dressed in white monk’s clothes?”

Ge Zhu nodded in silence.

Jiang Luo is certain that the monk next to Chi You is Ge Zhu’s brother.

But why is Ge Zhu’s brother with Chi You?

Ge Zhu said, “Although he is good-looking, he is a snake with a heart of gold. Jiang Luo, if you meet Ge Wuchen in the future, stay as far away from him as you can and don’t mess with him easily.”

He covered his face in remorse, “I am sorry for you all, as soon as he appeared in front of me, my reason was all overwhelmed by hatred and I ended up forgetting that the best thing I should have done was to save you ……”

Jiang Luo raised his glass and clinked it with Ge Zhu, “Lu Youyi and I are safe, but you, on the other hand, would have been in danger if Sai Liaoer hadn’t succeeded in invoking the gods.”

“I’m actually curious,” he said, ” Ge Zhu , did Ge Wuchen hurt you?”

“Yes,” Ge Zhu’s expression became obscure, “he almost killed me.”

When Ge Zhu caught up with Ge Wuchen, he was seriously wounded by him.

He lay on the ground, his peachwood sword broken beside his hand, blood flowing from his mouth, pain coming from his limbs as if they were broken. Ge Wuchen walked like an immortal to Ge Zhu’s side, his head bowed, the moon bright and round behind him.

Ge Wuchen’s expression was shrouded in shadow, but he said mockingly and dismissively, ” Ge Zhu, as you are now, you still want to come and get me?”

“I was going to kill those friends of yours, like the ones you had,” Ge Wuchen said carelessly, “but having fought you, I’m in a good mood now, so I’ll let your friends live for now.”

He kicked Ge Zhu and turned around to leave, but suddenly he let out an “oh” and looked sideways at Ge Zhu.

The moonlight finally illuminated his expression.

But a malicious smile appeared on her pretty face, and Ge Wuchen whispered, ” Ge Zhu , I wish you were dead for this.”

Ge Wuchen left.

But Ge Zhu’s anger and hatred rose up so violently that his life flared up and he survived until Wen Renlian and his men found him.

“I don’t know why he’s like this sometimes,” Ge Zhu bowed his head, his hair crooked and dishevelled at his temples, “he didn’t used to look like this.”

“I wanted to kill him, but more than that I wanted to catch him and then question him,” Ge Zhu reached out and looked at the palm of his hand, “I wanted to ask him why he did what he did back then, I wanted so badly to know the truth of what happened, no, maybe it was just my subjective will. In fact there is no such thing as the truth, he was just born that bad. He’s still called the Buddha’s son of the Ge family, but he’s just a wolf’s heart and a dog’s lungs.”

Jiang Luo was even more curious, “What did your brother, at one time, do?”

Ge Zhu lifted his head and looked at him with a bitter smile that looked like tears.

“He killed our master and our uncle, our master, or our adoptive father.”

“He also killed three of my close mentors and brothers.”

” Ge Wuchen …… He rebelled against the Buddha and burned the Buddhist scripture collection.”

*

It was because of Ge Wuchen that Ge Zhu, with his three younger siblings, decided to leave the Buddhist order and turn from Buddhism to Taoism.

He had no face to stay in the Buddhist sect any longer.

That night was like a nightmare, and Ge Zhu woke up several times in the night. Every time he woke up, he asked Ge Wuchen, “Why did you do that?

This question had tormented him for several years, and as soon as he met Ge Wuchen, his sanity was gone.

Jiang Luo did not feel drunk after finishing the jug of glutinous rice wine, but Ge Zhu had already fallen asleep against the wall with the jug in his arms.

Jiang Luo dragged him to the bed, which was fortunately big enough for them to lie down and sleep in half. Jiang Luo thought he would not be able to sleep, but smelling the bed full of wine, he too fell asleep without realising it.

When he woke up again, Jiang Luo was dazed and confused, and when he looked next to him, he saw that Ge Zhu had rolled out of bed and was sleeping on all fours.

Jiang Luo yawned and picked up his phone to see that it was already 4pm.

He woke Ge Zhu up and the two of them woke up sleepy and went out to see that almost everyone was still awake.

Everyone had tossed and turned all night, but had slept almost as well as they could have by now. The two men went from room to room waking people up and going down to dinner together.

After the nine of them finished their meal, the staff came over to ask about last night and Lu Youyi waved his hand and said proudly, “It’s done, it’s okay from now on.”

The staff were all smiles and rushed to arrange another after-dinner activity for them – fishing.

There was a lake right next to the spa and the staff had prepared fishing gear, seats and snacks for them, so they walked down to the lake in a relaxed manner and started fishing at their leisure.

There were plenty of big fish in the lake and it took little effort before Jiang Luo connected with two, which he mocked mercilessly: “Silly fish.”

He was putting the fish in a bucket and putting the bait on the hook when Yu Guang caught a glimpse of the man beside him. Jiang Luo was quick to throw down his hand and stop Sai Liaoer, who was plunging headlong into the lake.

Sai Liaoer seemed to have fallen asleep, and only after a moment did his eyes snap open and he slapped his chest in fear and thanked Jiang Luo: “Thank you, Jiang Luo.”

Jiang Luo let go of his hand and looked at him thoughtfully.

Sai Liaoer was so uncomfortable that Jiang Luo smiled gently and asked, “Sai Liaoer, are you very sleepy?”

Blushing in the face of such soft words, the little blonde curly-haired man nodded obediently and yawned on the spot, “Very sleepy.”

“What time did you sleep last night?” Zhuo Zhongqiu also asked.

Sai Liaoer thought for a moment, “I don’t remember.”

“He was asleep when Jiang Luo and I went to look for Ge Zhu at four o’clock in the morning,” Wen Renlian frowned, “I accompanied Sai Liaoer to his room and he went in and turned off the light, no later than four thirty at the most. ”

I went to bed at 4.30am and got up at 4pm, that’s eleven and a half hours in between, so I shouldn’t be this sleepy.

As he talks, Sai Liaoer sits back in his chair, tired, his eyes peeking out into slits again.

He’s really sleepy.