Chapter 36

"Luoshi?" Xu Mo's heart was filled with doubt, and he asked in disbelief.

"Big Brother Xu." Luoshi's voice came from the phone, very low, as if she was deliberately suppressing it, afraid of being overheard. Her tone was filled with fear, and Xu Mo could feel her trembling uncontrollably on the other side of the phone.

Xu Mo's heart sank, and he hurriedly asked, "Your sister said you've gone missing. What happened?"

Luoshi couldn't hold back her tears but still tried to suppress them, saying, "Big Brother Xu, I deeply regret not listening to you back then. They... they tricked me." Her voice was filled with heart-wrenching regret.

Xu Mo didn't have time to think much and asked again, "Where are you now? Why didn't you call the police?"

Luoshi, in a state of panic, said, "I... I just called the police, but one of them answered. Big Brother Xu, they've already found me, and they're coming over."

Xu Mo was shocked, "There are people from them in the police station?"

Luoshi, in a panic, said, "I don't know, the person who answered wasn't a police officer."

Xu Mo didn't have time to think about the difference between the two statements and asked, "Where are you? I'll call the police for you."

Luoshi, in a hurry, said, "I... I don't know. They knocked me out and brought me here."

Xu Mo asked, "Is it the group of people from the Bamboo Grove Elder?"

Luoshi, with hatred, said, "Yes, it's them. I only found out now that the Bamboo Grove Elder was just a young man in disguise, not some hermit at all. There was one thing he didn't lie about; he said I would face a calamity, and this is it. Big Brother Xu, it's really a thousand times worse than death."

As she spoke, she sobbed uncontrollably, her voice trembling, and it took great effort to form a complete sentence, clearly out of sheer terror. Xu Mo could feel a deep chill through the phone.

"What... did they do to you?" Xu Mo couldn't help but ask.

"They..." Luoshi had only managed to say two words when she was interrupted by a sinister laugh. Xu Mo could clearly hear that it was a man's voice.

Luoshi shouted, "Big Brother Xu, save me."

Her voice, though loud, quickly became muffled and abruptly stopped, as if someone had covered her mouth. The call was then disconnected, and there was no more sound.

Xu Mo was shaken. He immediately realized that Luoshi had been discovered, and the man, perhaps the one who had disguised himself as the Bamboo Grove Elder, had found her. Additionally, what had they done to her that made her admit it was a thousand times worse than death?

As he was still in a daze, the phone rang again. It was Luoshi's phone. Xu Mo, sensing something was off, answered and held the phone to his ear but didn't speak.

The person on the other end seemed to have the same idea and didn't speak either. After several minutes, Xu Mo couldn't bear the oppressive silence and asked, "Who are you?"

"Hehe!"

The person on the other end laughed again, the same man's voice, cold and terrifying. After the laugh, the call was disconnected.

When Xu Mo tried to call back, the phone was unreachable.

Xu Mo, holding the phone, felt very uneasy. He didn't know why the man had called him, but he suspected it wasn't for good. He couldn't guess what the man intended to do.

He wanted to call Luoshi's sister, Lu Ci, to explain the situation, but after some thought, he didn't know how to tell her. Luoshi had left very few clues. Even if he told Lu Ci, it wouldn't be of any help. So he didn't make the call.

At the same time, Xu Mo found it strange that those people, having captured Luoshi, would leave her with her phone. How did she find the opportunity to make a call?

Their plan was so meticulous that such a mistake shouldn't have happened. Could there be some hidden agenda? Did they deliberately leave the phone for Luoshi to call for help, intending to trap whoever came to save her?

But if that were the case, why did the man appear early, preventing Luoshi from leaving any useful clues?

The more he thought about it, the more doubts he had. Even things that were clear at first became confusing after he thought about them. In the end, he could only sigh in frustration.

By evening, Xu Mo felt somewhat restless. After some thought, he believed it was due to Luoshi's call, so he didn't worry too much about it.

During the three days he had been hiding, he had been in the internet cafe, feeling uneasy and neglecting his practice of the Tranquil Breathing. He had thought that after these three days, his control over the Tranquil Breathing would have declined, or even regressed. However, when he practiced it the past two days, it felt smoother than before.

This surprised and delighted him.

The principle of Tranquil Breathing, to be precise, was to influence blood circulation through breathing, thereby freely controlling the rate of energy consumption in the body. Once truly mastered, it seemed to offer protection against cold and heat, though there were limits. Once these limits were exceeded, it wouldn't work.

Apart from these two points, there was nothing else. In this regard, it didn't seem to have much significance, and mastering it didn't seem to be a big deal.

But that was just a guess. He had spent over a month on this, endured countless cold nights, and used a large amount of Dream Powder. He was eager to know what the true mastery of Tranquil Breathing would be like compared to his imagination.

He lay in bed, carefully experiencing it.

Since the day he encountered the Black Eagle, Xiaoqing had been restless. Tonight, she seemed even more agitated, moving around the room and even climbing onto the bed, moving nonstop. Xu Mo, focused on achieving Tranquil Breathing, didn't bother with her.

Around midnight, Qin Ruolan's son started crying, just like usual.

Xu Mo, hearing the cry, felt inexplicably irritable. The baby's cry seemed no different from before, but for some reason, it felt much louder this time.

In the past, after taking Dream Powder and entering a realistic illusion, he could completely block out external sounds. But today, the baby's cry seemed to have a strong penetrating power, piercing through the walls, breaking through his eardrums, and directly entering his mind.

He turned over, changed his position, and lay down again, but the result was the same. Finally, he tore a piece of tissue, rolled it into a ball, and stuffed it in his ears, but the sound still entered uncontrollably.

Xu Mo sighed, sat up, and Xiaoqing, sensing the movement, quickly climbed up his body and onto his shoulder. Then Xu Mo felt a tightness in his hair, and a pain at the roots. Turning back, he saw Xiaoqing had left his shoulder, biting his hair and swinging in the air.

Xiaoqing was usually playful, but this was relatively rare. Xu Mo couldn't help but laugh, picked her up, and placed her on the pillow, scolding, "Little one, stop fooling around."

At that moment, a loud 'bang' came from the hallway, as if someone had kicked Qin Ruolan's door. A man's voice shouted, "Are you done yet?"

Xu Mo was startled and asked, "What's going on?" He quickly put on his clothes and walked out of the room.

The hallway was lit by a motion-sensor light. Standing at his door, Xu Mo saw a middle-aged man in pajamas standing in the hallway in front of Qin Ruolan's door.

The man was about thirty-five or thirty-six years old, tall and strong. Xu Mo had lived here for over a year and was familiar with him. He knew the man lived in a room on the second floor near the stairs, also a tenant. They had no interaction, and Xu Mo didn't know his name.

The man glanced at Xu Mo and immediately turned away, clenching his fists and pounding on Qin Ruolan's door, shouting, "Are you done yet? Can't you let people sleep?"

Qin Ruolan's son, startled, cried even louder.

After a moment, the door opened, and Qin Ruolan, buttoning her clothes, stepped out. Seeing the man, she felt the pressure from him and instinctively stepped back, saying softly, "Sir, what's the matter?"

"What's the matter?" The man glared at her, coldly asking, "What do you think is the matter?"

Intimidated by his presence, Qin Ruolan was afraid and instinctively took a step back, her back hitting the door.

The man took a step forward, and Qin Ruolan tried to step back again. But then she heard her son's cry, and a surge of courage came over her. Though still afraid, she didn't step back and blocked the door.

She glanced at Xu Mo and then turned to the man, forcing a smile, "The child is young and doesn't know any better. What can I do?"

The man, impatient, said, "I don't care what you can do. You can't keep me from sleeping."

At this point, other residents in the building, hearing the commotion, opened their doors and came out. At the end of the hallway, a thin, middle-aged man, about forty, spoke more calmly, "It's fine for a day or two, but we all have to work during the day. We can't keep up with this."

Qin Ruolan's neighbor, a young female office worker about Xu Mo's age, opened her door halfway, leaning against the door frame, and said sarcastically, "The other day, someone promised to move out, but they haven't. Are you just talking nonsense?"

Hearing this, Xu Mo realized that they had already had a similar argument before he returned.

Qin Ruolan, hearing the harsh words, didn't get angry and smiled apologetically, "I haven't found a place yet. As soon as I do, I'll move out."

The female office worker spat and said coldly, "If you can't find a place, you're lying. There are rental ads everywhere downstairs. If you really wanted to, you'd find one."