Chapter 137

Chapter 137:

"Mr. Chen, it's a pleasure to meet you." The visiting master, a spry man in his early sixties, beamed upon seeing Chen Ji. He clasped Chen Ji's hands in both of his, and Chen Ji quickly reciprocated, bowing slightly. "Professor Zhuo, the honor is all mine! You're too kind!"

"Not at all, not at all!" Professor Zhuo Jun chuckled. "Young people like you are a rarity these days. Others might not realize, but I know precisely the immense effort it takes for someone your age to sustain an old temple. To speak grandly, you are helping to preserve our nation's cultural heritage!"

"Oh, no, not at all," Chen Ji demurred with a self-deprecating smile. "It's not as exaggerated as you make it sound. This is family property, and I'm merely taking the opportunity to make some repairs. I never dared to dream that a master of your caliber would be willing to help restore the deity statue."

Professor Zhuo simply waved a dismissive hand, muttering, "I wouldn't go that far." Chen Ji wisely let it pass; after all, a little flattery never hurt. Such a distinguished professor had traveled thousands of miles to restore the deity statue for him, so there was no need to embarrass him. Besides, the one back at the temple was watching him closely. If he drove the professor away, he'd surely face dire consequences.

Chen Ji led Professor Zhuo up the mountain, explaining as they walked: "The mountains here are all wild, and the paths are quite challenging. Professor Zhuo, please let me take your luggage... It should take us about three hours."

For those accustomed to the trails, it was just over two hours, but for an older man like the professor, three hours was an optimistic estimate.

"No, no, I've got it. It's just a change of clothes inside. I can carry it myself," Professor Zhuo waved his hand, chuckling. "I researched it before coming. Isn't there a helipad here? Some tools will be delivered by helicopter tomorrow."

Chen Ji paused. If they could come by helicopter, why hadn't the professor come along with it? Was the helicopter too full of tools?

Chen Ji nodded. "Yes, we have a landing spot, so that's no concern... Your room is ready. If it's truly insufficient, we can even clear out a side room for you to use as a workspace."

"Excellent, excellent. Thank you for your trouble," Professor Zhuo said as he followed Chen Ji upward. After a while, he was too winded to speak. Seeing the professor panting, Chen Ji took his backpack. This time, the professor didn't protest. After walking for an hour, they had only covered a fifth of the distance. Professor Zhuo was sweating profusely. Chen Ji suggested, "Professor Zhuo, perhaps we should rest for a bit?"

The professor, gasping for breath, nodded and sat down on a rock by the path. Chen Ji handed him water, and after drinking half a bottle, the professor took a moment to recover before saying, "I'm getting old... My stamina truly isn't what it used to be."

Chen Ji calculated the time. His original estimate was three hours, but now it seemed they might not reach the summit before dark. He said gently, "If it's truly too much, we can head back down and take the helicopter up tomorrow."

Professor Zhuo replied, "But a helicopter flight is terribly expensive! I'd rather make my own way up!"

"I'll pay for it," Chen Ji offered.

The so-called "forest rescue" helicopters here were indeed costly—over a hundred thousand yuan—because they were medical helicopters equipped with emergency devices, complete with three or four doctors on board, flying directly to the town hospital. The expense was akin to that of an ambulance.

However, there were no ordinary helicopters here. The helicopter Professor Zhuo had called to deliver his things was likely privately chartered from who-knows-where. The money would be spent regardless. It wasn't as if they could knock the professor unconscious and have Second Master Huang come pick them up, right?

Professor Zhuo, however, insisted, "Ah, no. I only called for the helicopter out of necessity. Those tools are too heavy. What a waste that would be! It's better to use that money for restoring the deity statue."

Chen Ji mentally rolled his eyes, thinking that even if they layered the deity statue with eighty coats of gold leaf, that deity wouldn't thank anyone—in His mind, these were simply the duties of His followers. If He was pleased, He might bestow a small reward, which would be considered good fortune. Receiving nothing at all was perfectly normal.

Given His temperament, it was more likely that after the statue was restored, if there was a single line He didn't like, He would dispatch a dozen red-clad beings or monsters to kill you.

Since Professor Zhuo put it that way, Chen Ji didn't press the issue. He slowly led the professor upward; they had to stop for twenty minutes every half hour. Soon, the sunlight began to fade, and the entire forest grew dim. Chen Ji led the professor into a patch of forest where dense leaves swallowed most of the light. He snapped off a branch from a nearby bush and used it to sweep the path ahead of them.

Professor Zhuo asked, "What are you doing?"

Chen Ji explained without looking back, "This path is quite damp, and many poisonous insects live here."

In truth, it was only a fifteen-minute stretch, and it was generally unlikely they'd be unlucky enough to encounter anything. Chen Ji had once been bitten by a leech on this very path, but since traveling up and down the mountain with the monsters, nothing had happened. Today, he was putting on a show for Professor Zhuo—mostly because Chen Ji was bored. Just walking without listening to an audiobook or chatting, trudging along in silence, he needed to find something to do.

"Oh... I see!" Professor Zhuo said with interest. "Before coming, I watched your videos. Did you rescue a five-step snake, a weasel, and a white tiger?"

"You've seen them?" Chen Ji replied with a smile. "Second Master Huang is at my home. Little Red is there too. Fifth Grandpa and Xiangxiang aren't easy to come across."

"I noticed you post videos of the white tiger every day?"

Chen Ji's account had already gained 200,000 followers. Chen Ji explained, "Those were all filmed in one go. Whenever I catch it, I film some videos and then spread them out over several days."

"So that's how it is," Professor Zhuo said, somewhat disappointed. "I thought I might get to see it... A wild white tiger is so rare. And its size far exceeds that of a normal adult tiger. You should be careful too—who knows if there are poachers around..."

Professor Zhuo asked curiously, "What about the tiger?"

"Xiangxiang doesn't eat people," Chen Ji said, a hint of a smile appearing at the mention of Xiangxiang.

Forget the past—just recently, Chang Xu had been feeding it mousse cans, chicken patties, beef freeze-dried treats, and occasionally deep-sea fish and shrimp. If you asked it to eat a person, it would probably complain about too many bones.

But the one on the mountain did eat people. However, that one didn't roam around. If He really wanted to eat someone, it wouldn't matter whether He was roaming or not.

...Yikes, he really disliked Him.

Chen Ji chuckled inwardly. Professor Zhuo didn't press further. Suddenly, Chen Ji's eyes lit up. He told Professor Zhuo to wait, then ran to the side, pushed aside some leaves and a five-step snake only as long as an arm, and dug out a particularly beautiful mushroom growing beneath.

Chen Ji held it lovingly. "I didn't expect to find mushrooms at this time of year! We'll have this for dinner tonight!"

The mushroom was entirely yellow, shaped like a round egg, with the classic "wearing shoes on its feet and a ring around its waist" appearance. Professor Zhuo gulped. Although he didn't know much about whether mushrooms were poisonous, this configuration seemed like it should be toxic. "Is this edible?"

"Edible," Chen Ji said, patting the mushroom cap. "This is an orange amanita. Only this variety is edible; the others aren't. It's only because of its distinct appearance that I can tell it apart."

Even so, Professor Zhuo decided he absolutely would not eat that thing tonight. Someone his age couldn't compare to a young person. What if the young man ate it and was fine, but he ate it and dropped dead?

—He'd rather eat instant noodles!

Chen Ji tossed the yellow mushroom into his basket. Before he had taken two steps, his eyes lit up again. He ran ahead to pick some thornberries, stringing together a bunch of dark red ones and handing them to Professor Zhuo. "Want some? These are definitely not poisonous."

Only then did Professor Zhuo accept them. He rinsed them with water and popped them into his mouth. After walking so far, he was indeed hungry. To his surprise, the small thornberries melted into a mouthful of juice upon eating—80% sweet and 20% sour. It made his mouth water and gave him energy to walk. Just as he finished the thornberries, Chen Ji picked some unknown wild fruit from ahead. It looked like an egg and could be split open with a little force to reveal a paste-like pulp and large, watermelon seed-like pits.

"Wild ones have more seeds," Chen Ji said as he handed it over, smiling as he reminded him, "Be careful not to choke."

Professor Zhuo's appetite had been whetted by the earlier thornberries—the more he ate, the hungrier he felt. He thanked Chen Ji, broke it open, and ate it. The pulp emitted a fresh fragrance, and eating it was like consuming a kind of egg paste. It was indeed high in starch and very filling.

Unfortunately, there were only two. They barely filled his stomach before they were gone.

Since they wouldn't make it to the temple before dark anyway, Chen Ji wasn't in a hurry. This season was when the mountain had the most fruit. He picked a little of this to taste, broke off a bit of that to eat, and practically filled Professor Zhuo up.

"...No more... I can't eat anymore..." Professor Zhuo burped and even felt a little sleepy. "How much longer until we arrive?"

Chen Ji glanced at his navigation and said easily, "We're halfway there."

Professor Zhuo: "...Let's keep going!"

Judging by Professor Zhuo's expression, he probably regretted not agreeing earlier to turn back and take the helicopter. Chen Ji didn't want to torment the old man further and asked, "Shall I carry you?"

Normally, he found this stretch exhausting too, but today, with all the walking and playing, rest time and walking time were almost equal. Chen Ji really wasn't tired.

Professor Zhuo glanced at Chen Ji's slender build and felt too embarrassed to agree. He had heard that Chen Ji was in poor health and had bad eyesight. He really didn't dare let him carry him.

In the end, Professor Zhuo walked all the way until past 7 p.m. before reaching the Mountain Lord Temple. By the end, Professor Zhuo couldn't even speak. Chen Ji directly supported him to the guest room to rest. Professor Zhuo collapsed onto the bed without a word, while Chen Ji went to fetch water for him.

Second Master Huang slipped in through the door crack. Professor Zhuo heard the door creak and thought it was the wind, but when he looked up, he saw a weasel with its paws resting on the foot of the bed, its black bean-like eyes fixed intently on him as if it possessed human intelligence. He couldn't help but let out a scream: "Ah—!"

Chen Ji hurried over to check and found Professor Zhuo unconscious on the bed. Seeing Second Master Huang at the foot of the bed, he scolded with a laugh, "Second Grandpa, what are you doing? Scaring him unconscious? Is he alright?"

Second Master Huang tilted his head. "I didn't do anything. Is it my fault?"

"Alright, the old man is advanced in years. Let's call a doctor."

Chen Ji raised an eyebrow slightly and dialed the forest rescue number.