Chapter 8

As the off-road vehicle drove through the winding mountain road and over the stone bridge, Xu Mo, with his heart in his mouth, found that nothing unexpected happened, and they arrived safely at their destination.

Could the content of the Book of Revelation not be what he had guessed? Xu Mo was filled with doubt.

The parking area was a square, with over a dozen trucks parked in the distance. The trucks were loaded with various pieces of furniture and beds, and beside them were some disorganized hand carts. In front of the square, the terrain was undulating, and although there was a small path, the trucks could not go up. Through the trees on the mountain, one could vaguely see wooden houses, pavilions, and thatched cottages.

The part-time job clearly included unloading these items from the trucks and transporting them to the houses of the mountain lodge, setting them up.

It was only three in the afternoon, and the tall, thin man arranged the work, paying for the remaining time as half a day.

In theory, such part-time jobs would not end at five or six in the evening; at least they would work until eight or nine, or even ten at night. However, due to the dangerous terrain on the mountain, accidents were more likely to happen at night, so they could stop for dinner at 6:30 and did not need to work at night.

When Xu Mo heard this arrangement, he felt strangely puzzled: Since they were not working at night, why not send us back and have us stay overnight here? It was over a hundred miles, and with the mountain road, it would take no more than two hours to get back to the city.

He was not particularly concerned about whether to return or not and did not think much about it at the moment.

The tall, thin man divided them into several groups of six, each group responsible for a specific area. Fang Xing coincidentally ended up in the same group as Liu Qian and Su Yan. Besides the three of them, there were two men and one woman in the group.

The two men and one woman were named Zhao Hongzhe, Xu Tao, and Guo Xia. They seemed to know each other, and their relationship was somewhat complicated. From their conversation, it seemed that Guo Xia had originally been in a relationship with Xu Tao, but they broke up, and she started dating Zhao Hongzhe. However, even after dating Zhao Hongzhe, she still maintained an ambiguous relationship with Xu Tao, which Zhao Hongzhe did not seem to mind.

All three were in their early twenties, and their conversation was very young and immature. Xu Tao was a short, fat man, while Zhao Hongzhe was tall and thin, like a bamboo stick. Guo Xia, on the other hand, had a bit of charm, but she was even thinner than Zhao Hongzhe, and her hands looked like chicken claws when she stretched them out.

All three were very lazy and never took the initiative to do anything. They only moved when called upon. Xu Mo and Su Yan did not like them and did not want to talk to them, while Liu Qian directed them without any hesitation.

Xu Mo suspected that the man in the Book of Revelation was either Zhao Hongzhe or Xu Tao and secretly observed them, but he did not find them to be a match.

The six of them were assigned to a row of thatched cottages. The cottages were newly built, and the rooms were full of dry lime and mud. Their task was to clean the thatched cottages, remove the garbage, and move the furniture and beds inside, arranging them according to the layout on the blueprint.

They used a small cart to transport a few pieces of furniture and cleaning tools up to the row of thatched cottages.

The thatched cottages were divided into many single rooms, each not very large, about thirty square meters. They maintained their natural state, truly being thatched cottages. Large windows were set in the doors and back walls, embedded with transparent frosted glass, making the rooms bright and airy.

Around the thatched cottages, various types of bamboo were planted, forming a small bamboo grove of several acres. Winding paths made of crushed stones led in all directions. A water well was equipped with a frame, and grapevines climbed up the frame. A small ditch diverted the well water into the bamboo grove.

Su Yan, looking around at the scenery, exclaimed, "So beautiful!" but the others were completely unimpressed.

The six of them entered the thatched cottages and began cleaning. Su Yan and Guo Xia used brooms to sweep the spider webs and dust from the roof and walls. When they reached the second room, Guo Xia suddenly screamed and ran out of the room.

Xu Mo and the other three were still cleaning the first room. Hearing her scream, they immediately went out, and Su Yan also came out of the room.

"What's wrong?" Zhao Hongzhe asked.

Guo Xia pointed at the door of the thatched cottage and said tremulously, "There's a big scorpion."

Liu Qian rolled his eyes and said dismissively, "What's so scary about a scorpion? Just kill it."

Su Yan asked, puzzled, "How could there be a scorpion in the room?"

Liu Qian laughed, "There are many insects on the mountain. What's the big deal about a scorpion?"

Guo Xia pushed Zhao Hongzhe, "You go and kill it."

Zhao Hongzhe grunted and unwillingly walked into the room. After a while, he came out with a broom, saying, "It's a big scorpion."

Xu Mo subconsciously looked at the broom and saw a seven to eight centimeter-long scorpion crawling on it. The scorpion was golden all over, except for a dark spot at the end of its tail, indicating that it was highly venomous. He was startled and asked, "What kind of scorpion is this?"

The scorpion was still alive, moving continuously on the broom. Zhao Hongzhe changed his grip on the broom to prevent the scorpion from crawling onto his hand.

Liu Qian said, "Strange, I've never seen such a scorpion before. Be careful, don't get stung."

Guo Xia shouted, "Why don't you kill it?"

Zhao Hongzhe glanced at her, shook the broom, and the scorpion fell to the ground, where he stepped on it and killed it. Surprisingly, after the scorpion was crushed, it released golden liquid.

Everyone was shocked. Liu Qian instructed, "This scorpion is probably highly venomous. If there's one, there might be more. If you get stung, it will be troublesome. Be careful."

Xu Mo thought to himself, "The Book of Revelation doesn't have a page about scorpions. Unless the book is fake, this scorpion shouldn't pose any danger."

He vaguely remembered that the sixth page of the Book of Revelation was a small baby, which should not be related to this part-time job.

Thinking about the off-road vehicle not having an accident, he began to doubt the authenticity of the Book of Revelation.

The afternoon slowly passed, and by 6:30, it was getting dark. The bell rang, and they lined up to go to a courtyard on the back of the mountain to eat.

Xu Mo took a tray and stood behind Liu Qian.

This was the staff canteen, and since the mountain lodge had not yet opened, there were no staff. The room was simple, and the serving area was a long table with four large bowls of simple home-cooked dishes: stir-fried vegetables, tomato and egg, green pepper and potato, and braised pork.

The servers were two middle-aged women in their thirties, one fat and one thin. Each managed two dishes. The fat woman was friendly, while the thin woman was dark and thin, with a fierce and domineering look, treating the part-timers arrogantly. In a short time, she had already argued with several people. She was fierce and abusive, and the part-timers, not wanting to cause trouble, had to endure it.

The thin woman, seeing this, became even more aggressive.

Soon it was Liu Qian's turn. He took a little of each dish, looked at his tray, and pointed to the bowl of braised pork, "There's too little meat. Give me some more."

The thin woman, who was in charge of the braised pork, said impatiently, "If everyone does that, what will happen?"

Seeing Liu Qian's muscular build, she did not dare to say anything too harsh. She picked up a spoon and scooped a few pieces of meat from the bowl into his tray.

Liu Qian still thought it was too little and said, "Give me some more."

The thin woman looked at him with disdain, ignored him, and turned to the others, tapping the bowl with the spoon, "What do you want? Move faster! How long will this take? I don't have time to waste on you."

"Troublemaker!" Liu Qian cursed, snatched the spoon from the thin woman, and added a few more scoops of meat to his tray. He threw the spoon back into the bowl, and the meat broth splashed, leaving black spots on the thin woman's white apron.

"Brat, if you cause trouble here, I'll tell Xiao Chen to fire you," the thin woman shouted, pointing at him. From her expression, if not for Liu Qian's muscular build, she might have jumped over the table to fight him.

Xiao Chen, the tall, thin man who had hired them, was sitting in a corner with a few drivers, eating, but did not turn around, clearly not wanting to get involved.

Liu Qian turned and said coldly, "What's wrong with you? Have you ever heard of a place that doesn't let people eat their fill when they work?"

The thin woman was speechless, not knowing what to say. Seeing Xu Mo standing behind Liu Qian, she guessed they were together and vented her anger on him, saying coldly, "What do you want? Hurry up, I don't have time to serve you trash."

Xu Mo was furious but, being naturally quiet, he suppressed his anger and did not react. Like Liu Qian, he took a little of each dish.

The thin woman gave him a spoonful of green pepper and potato and half a spoonful of meat. She deliberately bullied Xu Mo, and the spoon was mostly broth with only two small pieces of fatty meat floating on top.

Xu Mo did not want to cause trouble and, imitating Liu Qian, said, "There's too little meat. Give me some more."

The thin woman threw the spoon down and said coldly, "Eat it or not, if you don't, get lost."

Xu Mo was furious. Lowering his head, he saw a piece of wood with a few black nails on the side of the table. He kicked the wood lightly, and it hit the corner of the table, flipping over. The nails, which were quite long, now pointed upwards, protruding two or three centimeters from the wood.

Xu Mo glanced at the thin woman's feet and saw she was wearing a pair of cotton slippers. An idea came to him, and he kicked the wood towards her feet and walked away, sitting opposite Liu Qian to eat.

Not long after, the thin woman let out a heart-wrenching scream, crouched down, and shouted, "Ouch! Ouch! Who threw the nails?"

The part-timers could not help but laugh, and Liu Qian laughed loudly.

The thin woman shouted, "What are you laughing at?"

Liu Qian said loudly, "You deserve it!"

The thin woman grumbled a few more times, and Liu Qian ignored her. Su Yan, who had also gotten her food, sat down.

At this moment, someone behind them said, "That's strange. Don't toads hibernate in winter? When I was cleaning the pavilion halfway up the mountain, I saw a black toad."

Another person said, "What's the big deal? When I was cleaning the room, I saw a palm-sized white spider. Have you ever seen a palm-sized spider?"

Another person joked, "No way! Toads and spiders are both poisonous. Is this a poisonous mountain?"

Xu Mo's heart raced, thinking of the golden scorpion. Was it a coincidence?