"However—" Hao Yun glanced at Master Gu and pursed his lips. "Oh my, since we're going out to eat, we need to figure out a way to dress up Master Gu first. Otherwise, if we let Master Gu go out looking like this, I'm afraid we'll become the most explosive news figures in the world in no time."
Master Gu immediately understood Hao Yun's meaning and smiled, saying, "Haha! Don't worry, buddy, I have a solution."
After saying this, Master Gu waved his hand, and a large mass of black mist suddenly appeared out of nowhere and quickly enveloped him. After about three or four seconds, the black mist suddenly dissipated, and Master Gu's figure reappeared in front of Hao Yun and Dao Lao. However, this time, Master Gu had transformed into a tall and strong old man with a rugged face, shaved head, and a beard. At first glance, Master Gu now looked exactly like Lu Zhishen reincarnated.
Now that Master Gu's image problem had been solved, the next step was to get Master Gu and Dao Lao dressed in human-style clothes. So, Hao Yun took the two old men to the supermarket across the street and bought them each a set of elderly casual outfits. After giving them a little makeover, Hao Yun felt relieved and took them to the barbecue restaurant he frequented.
On the way, Hao Yun curiously asked Dao Lao why the time on Earth didn't stop relative to the time in the Space Base and the Underworld Spirit Realm when they visited.
"What are you thinking? After all, this is the realm of the spirits, so wherever we are, we still need to abide by the time laws of the realm of the spirits. However, depending on our location, the specific time laws we need to follow may vary slightly. For example, the Space Base and the Underworld Spirit Realm are actually both under the jurisdiction of the Upper Realm, and the flow of time there is indeed much slower than in the Lower Realm. But it's just a relative slowing down of time, not a complete stop. Otherwise, everything in the Upper Realm would have turned into motionless wooden figures, right?" Dao Lao explained.
"I see. So if I stay in the Upper Realm for decades before coming out, won't the people who knew me before treat me like a monster?" Hao Yun pondered.
"Of course. Not only will this happen after staying in the Upper Realm for a long time, but the same will happen if you live on a timeline where time flows relatively slower than here for a while. Because unlike the Upper Realm, there are countless timelines in the Lower Realm. And each timeline has its own time laws under the premise of referring to the time laws of the realm of the spirits." Dao Lao responded.
"But with so many timelines in the Lower Realm, what if they accidentally intertwine? Wouldn't that mess up the time of the intertwined timelines?" Hao Yun asked.
"In theory, the problem you mentioned will occur. Because the realm of the spirits has specially strengthened each timeline in the Lower Realm. So, although there will be mutual learning when timelines intersect, they will hardly affect each other's stability. Moreover, there is a department in the realm of the spirits specifically responsible for managing timelines. They regularly maintain the timelines in the Lower Realm and will promptly repair any problematic timelines. After all, creating timelines and creating space are the realm of the spirits' most important skills. Otherwise, the realm of the spirits would not have created such a magical world." Dao Lao patiently explained.
Due to the recent peak of the post-disaster epidemic, even though it was lunchtime peak hours, there weren't many customers in the restaurant. Therefore, Hao Yun didn't need to wait in line. As soon as they arrived at the restaurant, they were seated and quickly enjoyed the spicy and delicious specialty lamb skewers. Not only Hao Yun, but Master Gu and Dao Lao also appreciated the barbecue at this restaurant. Finally, after devouring more than two hundred lamb skewers, the three of them left the barbecue restaurant with satisfaction.
Um— to be precise, it was Master Gu and Dao Lao who left the barbecue restaurant with satisfaction. Hao Yun, on the other hand, had a painful expression on his face as he left the restaurant, because his wallet was bleeding profusely at this moment.
"More than two hundred skewers of lamb! These two old guys can really eat, huh?!" Hao Yun touched his wallet in his pocket, feeling distressed.
(The author, at this point, silently swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva and yearningly exclaimed in his heart, "Lamb skewers! I want to eat them too! I wonder when I'll get to eat lamb skewers again!")
Since the meal was over, it was time to get to work. According to Hao Yun's plan, the three of them were preparing to find an opportunity to contact the ghost doll Liu Erwa late at night. Therefore, the main task for Hao Yun and his companions in the afternoon was to scout the residential area where Xu Fang and Xiao Yong lived.
Because Dao Lao had left a tracker in Xiao Yong's coat last night, based on the resentment aura left by the ghost doll on Xiao Yong and Xu Fang, their coordinates had been locked separately. Therefore, even though Dao Lao didn't need the tracker now, he could accurately locate the specific location of the two humans and one ghost. As expected, the ghost doll was still closely following Xu Fang today, while Xiao Yong was inside a government building at the far end of another city. It seemed that he was waiting there for work-related news.
Since the three main targets were not at home, Hao Yun and his companions could confidently go to the residential area where Xiao Yong and Xu Fang lived for reconnaissance. After reaching the target neighborhood, Master Gu and Dao Lao began to set up array nodes around the area. According to Master Gu's explanation, this was a formation specifically designed to restrict mold spirit energy.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
As long as the ghost doll entered the range of this formation while following Xu Fang home, they would activate the formation here and trap the ghost doll within it. So to speak, they would activate this formation when Xu Fang returned home with the ghost doll in the evening. The formation would trap the ghost doll within it, prevent the mold spirit energy inside the ghost doll from forcibly escaping this timeline, and also prevent it from sending distress signals to other mold spirit energies or warning signals for them to take refuge elsewhere.
"Of course, in order to minimize the impact of the formation on this area, the intensity of the formation we set up is not very high, and it can only last for a short period of time. Therefore, the time left for you, my friend, to contact the ghost doll is very limited. If your plan fails to make progress before the formation fails, we will directly take action to kill it to prevent any trouble," Master Gu reminded Hao Yun once again.
Hao Yun nodded in understanding, then took a long breath, trying to ease his somewhat nervous mood. Although he had Master Gu and Dao Lao, two priests, accompanying him, Hao Yun couldn't help but feel nervous from the beginning of the preliminary preparations. After all, this was Hao Yun's first time participating in an operation in another world. And his first task was to face a ghost doll full of grievances alone.
Seemingly to divert Hao Yun's attention and help him relax a bit, Master Gu, stroking his bald head, suggested, "It's still early before it gets dark. How about, buddy, you take this old man around? I've found that this world is quite interesting, especially the food here is delicious. So, I'm also curious about the taste of other foods here."
"Yeah, yeah," the other foodie, Dao Lao, chimed in agreement. "This old man found that there are quite a few snack shops on the street we just passed by. Just smelling the aroma there is enough to make my mouth water. How about it, Hao, can you bother to take us there to explore and broaden our horizons?"
Hao Yun looked at the time. It had only been about an hour and a half since the three of them finished lunch. How could these two old guys get hungry so quickly? It's not a problem if you're hungry, but the key is if you keep going like this, my wallet won't be able to handle it!
"Well, well! Since you two said so, then I'll reluctantly take you around nearby," Hao Yun said helplessly in the face of the two old guys' pitiful expressions, finally giving in.
Meanwhile, Hao Yun was also calculating in his mind that he might as well use all this money to build a good relationship with the two priests! If he treats them well, maybe they'll be happy and give him some high-end treasures from the realm of spirits?
Thinking of this, Hao Yun became spirited again. He pointed in the direction of the street mentioned by Dao Lao and said, "Dao Lao, you do have a good eye. The food street we just passed by is a famous internet celebrity street in Rongjin City. Not only are there many specialty foods, but it's also a gathering place for fan culture. Many shops there specialize in selling celebrity memorabilia. Especially the memorabilia related to Guli Nazha and Dilireba, there's such a variety that it's enough to overwhelm Master Gu's eyes."
For the rest of the afternoon, a somewhat rakish young man, accompanied by an old man with long white hair and beard, slightly hunched over, who could eat anything sweet, salty, sour, greasy, fat, or lean, and another tall and burly old man with a shiny bald head, fiery eyebrows, and an extremely rugged beard, became the most eye-catching and unique scenery on this internet celebrity street, which had not yet recovered from the impact of a natural disaster.
Of course, the most eye-catching figures were undoubtedly Dao Lao and Master Gu, the two eccentric old men. One of them seemed eager to sample every edible and drinkable item on the food street, with an appetite so voracious it left people astonished; the other one kept shuttling back and forth in the celebrity memorabilia shops on the street. Whenever he spotted merchandise related to Gulnaza or Dilireba, he would become unusually excited. Sometimes he danced with glee, sometimes he looked coy and bashful, his demeanor even slightly lewd, causing several shop owners to consider dialing 110 to report him to the police or dialing 120 to call for psychiatric doctors to come and take him away. This forced Hao Yun to go from shop to shop, explaining that this elderly man was just overly fond of the two goddesses, a mere fan without any malicious intentions, in order to repeatedly defuse the crises created by Master Gu.
Finally, after Dao Lao's mold spirit energy tracking system received the message that Xu Fang had left and was returning home, Master Gu and Dao Lao reluctantly bid farewell to the internet celebrity street. At this moment, not only was Hao Yun exhausted from being tormented by Master Gu, but his already meager wallet was further emptied by Dao Lao's voracious eating. At this moment, Hao Yun couldn't help but feel grateful to Xu Fang because if she had come home any later, Hao Yun estimated that he would have been driven to the brink of collapse by these two old fellows.
"Hey! Old Dao, just finish those skewers of lamb kidneys in your hand! How much barbecue have you eaten today? What? You want to grill a few more skewers to take away? Xu Fang will be home soon! Can't you stop wasting time here? Alright alright! After we finish the job, I'll treat you both to lamb chops, okay?" Hao Yun anxiously shouted at Dao Lao. This old foodie Dao Lao was completely enthralled by grilled lamb skewers; he even wanted to have a few more skewers grilled before Xu Fang returned home?
Ugh! These two troublesome old fellows! They really don't give a moment's peace! I will definitely never take them out shopping again in the future! Hao Yun muttered curses in his mind as he dragged one old man with each hand, walking towards Xu Fang's house.
Now, since they had a task at hand, both Master Gu and Dao Lao only put up a slight struggle before reluctantly following Hao Yun back to the vicinity of Xu Fang's residence to wait. However, because Xu Fang didn't come straight home after work, but went out for dinner with Xiao Yong, Hao Yun and his companions could only find a relatively secluded spot near Xu Fang's house and wait from afar for Xu Fang and Xiao Yong to return home before they could start their operation.
During this period, Hao Yun naturally couldn't escape a round of scolding from Master Gu and Dao Lao. Because if Hao Yun hadn't rushed over so urgently just now, they would have had a little more time to linger on the internet celebrity street after discovering that Xiao Yong and Xu Fang were planning to dine out! Dao Lao could have eaten a few more skewers of barbecue, and Master Gu could have picked up a few more pieces of memorabilia related to the two goddesses! So, under the dissatisfied protests of Master Gu and Dao Lao, Hao Yun endured for another two hours before the arms of Xu Fang and Xiao Yong appeared in the sight of the three of them.