“Holy crap! Are you Okay?” though stunned by the blinding light from the lightning, Robert and Stephanie were otherwise unaffected by it, and they rushed to Caroline and Jason’s assistance.

Neither Caroline nor Jason was responding at first, until Robert and Stephanie came over and helped them lie on their backs. Right before Stephanie started dialing 911. Both Caroline and Jason started breathing heavily and quickly, then woke with gasps.

“Ouch ouch ouch ouch! Holy fuck!” Jason started rolling on the ground holding his left knee, Caroline was no better, she was twitching on the ground and was not able to get a word out with intense mumbling.

Robert and Stephanie both backed off with relief and some concern, Stephanie looked at Robert and asked: “Are they on drugs? ”

“No, no, no. Not on drugs, just some really painful cramps.” Jason took the time to explain as the pain he was experiencing started going away: “Just give us a few seconds. We’ll be fine. Don’t call an ambulance, we can’t afford it. Ouch ouch ouch...”

“You’re sure? You look like you were struck by that lightning!” Stephanie wanted to help but was again scared away by Caroline and Jason’s reactions.

“Yep, I am sure. We just need to have another chat with Boss.” Caroline sat up and said, “If I remember correctly this should not happen this soon.”

“And we’ll need some additional vacation days.” Jason also seemed to have recovered from his cramps.

“What happened? That was really scary.” Stephanie helped Jason stand up, and Robert Caroline, “Looks like the lightning struck you?”

“Yeah, and then some. But believe it or not, it is actually good for us.” Jason laughed, then coughed uncontrollably as the burning feeling within his body still remained in his body.

“Please drive us back to the inn.” Caroline also coughed and said: “I don’t think we can walk ourselves back.”

“Of course! ” Robert nodded earnestly: “Are you sure you don’t want to go to a hospital?”

“Yep, no, I think we just need to eat.” Caroline said: “I am feeling a bit hungry, Jason you’re feeling hungry?”

Before Jason could answer, his stomach already growled loudly: “... yeah let’s head back to the inn to eat.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Okay, you I know a good burger place nearby if you’re really that hungry...” Stephanie supported Jason by the arm and walked slowly towards Robert’s car, and Robert also helped Caroline to his car.

“No, those probably won’t help. Just take us back to the inn, I’ll call Boss.” Jason said.

At this time, traffic was much better than when they came, it took only 10 minutes for them to get back to the inn.

“Boss! Help!” Jason mustered up his final strength and ran to the diner, “Food please! We’re starving!”

“You just had tribulations? What the hell?” Jianmen was at the reception’s desk and was genuinely surprised at the aura around both Caroline and Jason.

“That’s what we’re gonna talk about! ” Caroline also rushed into the diner, and took out a big bowl of meat stew from the refrigerator: “You told us this wouldn't happen!”

“Yeah. It shouldn’t happen until you reach the end of the second layer and start breaking into the third… something must be wrong...” Jianmen swiftly went into the diner and then the kitchen, not even caring that Robert and Stephanie also came in the diner: “Take it slow, don’t stuff too fast and remember to control the flow of your Xuanli through your meridians! It can be really bad if you lose control!”

“‘Kay! ‘Kay!” Jason already swallowed a couple mouthful of his bowl of meat stew and had to pat himself on the chest to help the food go down: “Oh… my god, I feel like my whole body is burning! ”

“Mind your flow! Mind your flow! Hang on a bit, I’ll make some vegetables for you.”

“Hey, guys? What’s going on? What are you guys talking about?” Robert and Stephanie watched Caroline and Jason eating like animals in embarrassment and confusion, “Are you okay?”

Before Caroline and Jason could answer, Jianmen in the kitchen snapped his finger and pointed to Robert and Stephanie with his left index and middle fingers. Robert and Stephanie stopped talking immediately, and just had harmless smiles one their faces.

“Woah Boss. What’d you do?” Jason stopped eating, and stared at Robert and Stephanie.

“Shut up, keep eating and concentrate on your flow.” Jianmen brought out two plates of green vegetables: “One plate for each, if you feel stuffed or the food is burning your stomach, take some vegetables. And drink your wine in your flasks.”

“Thanks. Boss.” Jason promptly took some vegetables and swallowed with a satisfactory sigh.

“You said this wouldn’t happen. Then why did it just do?” Caroline also swallowed some green vegetables and took a sip of the wine in her flask.

“I don’t know either. What did you do? What happened before the tribulation?” Jianmen asked, with a sense of genuine concern.

“We basically killed a ghost.” Caroline answered, while looking Jianmen straight in the eye and pointing at Robert and Stephanie: “It’s in their movie set. Their set seemed to have some ghost inhibiting it. We promised them we would take a look, and we just went. ”

“And you guys killed a ghost, good job. What else?”

“Umm… nothing?” Caroline thought for a while, then she felt hungry again and started chowing down on her meat stew.

“The ghost did feel really easy though.” Jason raised his head from the bowl and said: “Almost feels like it's too easy.”

Jianmen did not respond, instead, he pulled out two copper coins and gently blew on it. Then, he held the two coins in his left hand and lightly waved this hand in front of both Caroline and Jason. Both Caroline and Jason had a tingling sense that something slightly chilly, depressing and dark was taken away from them.

Jianmen then took out an incense burner and three incense sticks. He buried the two coins inside of the ashes in the incense burner, and stuck the three incense sticks straight up into the ashes. With a quick blow from the mouth, the three incense sticks started burning.

“What is this?” Both Caroline and Jason felt kinda full after each finishing a bowl of meat stew.

“Shh, meditate and focus on your flow. I will explain later.”

Caroline and Jason looked at each other, Jason shrugged and sat straight on his chair and went into meditation. Caroline sighed, gave Jianmen a serious look and started meditating as well.