But it was much better when they got into the Jiuzhaigou areas, and it began to look like a small town. In fact, as an area developing mainly on tourism, its infrastructure was much better than other places of Xichuan, although it was still far behind those developed cities. And there were more cars and people, different from the desolated scenery they had been watching, where the road was escorted by only mountains and gra.s.slands.

Su Bai held the steering wheel with one hand, took out his phone with the other hand and was about to start the map on it. He asked:

"Monk, which hotel are we staying in?"

"Go into the scenic zone."

"What time is it? The scenic zone must be closed already. Besides, even if we can sneak in, do we have to carry the three dead bodies with us?"

Jiuzhaigou Valley Scenic Zone covered a large area and a variety of alt.i.tudes. It wasn’t difficult for Su Bai and Seven to sneak in, but it wouldn’t be easy if they were going to carry three bodies with them.

What was more important, the vehicles of travelers were all forbidden in the scenic zone; only buses were allowed among spots transporting travelers.

"There are some Tibetan villages in the scenic zone, I’ve got acquaintances there. Someone will meet us by the gate and we can drive in."

"Fine, that’ll do." Su Bai drove directly towards the scenic zone without searching for any hotels.

Fifteen minutes later, the car was stopped in front of a side gate of the scenic zone as expected. There were a dozen security guards. Su Bai rolled down the window and looked around. It was turning dark. Eastern coastal cities would be enveloped by darkness by now, but in Xichuan, it was merely sunset.

Several Tibetans were waiting. They came up as soon as they saw the van, and one of them went to talk with the guards.

After a while, they were let through. One of the Tibetans offered to show them the way in the car; Seven couldn’t let him get into the trunk with the three bodies, so he opened the door beside the pa.s.senger seat and waved to the man. The man was flattered. Then he got in while the others took the tour bus back to their village up the hill.

"Monk, you’re really respected here, aren’t you?" Su Bai said with a smile.

"Master is a great benefactor of our entire village."

The Tibetan sitting next to Seven understood Chinese. Of course, almost every Tibetan living in a scenic area could understand Chinese, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to cater to their customs.

With the rapid economic growth, authentic ethnic or local features had become really rare. In many places, tourism started when a chief of a village or a town bought some unique ethnic costumes that local people had rarely worn or even seen before, and then they would put them on to attract travelers. As for those Tibetans who owned a village inside Jiuzhaigou Valley Scenic Area, they were like owning a grad hotel in the prime business zone, which meant a tremendous amount of profit.

Su Bai had traveled here with his parents when he was little. His father even hired a Tibetan living in the scenic area to show them to a lake that hadn’t be commercially exploited. Only the local Tibetans knew about those routes.

Driving upwards for about twenty minutes, there appeared a Tibetan village by the road. While they w

ere driving, there were many tour buses driving past them; apparently, a lot of tourists were to be carried down the hill, even though it was already the closing time.

The van entered the village. With the guide of the young Tibetan in their van, Su Bai drove the car into a garage. There were many luxury cars parked here, clearly the Tibetans were a lot richer than most of the tourists.

They all got out after the van was well parked. Seven took out several spell paper from his sleeves and attached them onto the van doors. Then he told the Tibetan to arrange two guards here because there was evil in the van and they shouldn’t be more careful.

The Tibetan really respected Seven so much that he didn’t doubt at all, and he crossed his heart that everything would be taken care of immediately.

Then Su Bai followed Seven into the guest rooms that were already prepared for them. It was a kind of agritainment; it had Tibetan features and modern hotels at the same time. Of course, it cost a lot.

After a while, the Tibetan who had led them here came and knocked on the door. Seven told Su Bai that this young Tibetan boy was called Poggi, and his grandfather was the chief of this village and the clan leader.

Following Poggi, Su Bai and Seven went to the rear part of the village, where most important guests were received and ceremonies were held. Poggi’s grandfather couldn’t walk because of his age, but he was waiting for them on a wheelchair by the gate of the hall.

Seeing Seven walking towards him, Poggi’s grandfather put his palms together and saluted sincerely. Seven saluted back with an "Amitabh", and then they all went inside.

A feast was prepared for them, not Tibetan but Chinese dishes with milder flavor. It must be meant to cater Seven.

Su Bai had only had some bread on the way here and he was really starving. Seven was talking to the clan leader, so Su Bai just helped himself. When Su Bai was almost full, their conversation came to an end. Seven simply had two bowls of rice soaked in soup, then got up and signaled Su Bai to leave.

"Such a hurry? Are we gonna act at night?" Su Bai was tired after a long day’s drive.

"This place will be filled with tourists during daytime, how can we fetch anything from the Colorful Ponds? It has to be done during the night."

This time Poggi was still leading the way. He drove Su Bai and Seven to the Colorful Ponds in his Cayenne. Then Su Bai and Seven got out while Poggi waited inside.

These ponds would s.h.i.+ne with different colors under suns.h.i.+ne, and now, in the moonlight, they still looked fantastic. It was a summer without much rain, so the ponds were not very large.

Seven climbed over the railings and jumped into the water. Su Bai hesitated for a moment and then jumped in. The water in the ponds was cold, piercing to the bone; Su Bai couldn’t help but s.h.i.+ver.

"Here."

Seven called to him.

Su Bai swam to him and dived down. From a crack among the stones at the bottom of the ponds, Seven pulled out something like a ribbon. It was bright yellow, and still looked new despite of the countless years it had been under the water.

Su Bai lifted the stones up and Seven kept pulling the ribbon out. Finally, with their corporation, the ribbon was pulled out; it was a dozen meters long and about ten centimeters wide. Then they got ash.o.r.e.

"We travelled all the way long only for this?" Su Bai asked while wiping out water from his body, "Is this a weapon or something?"

Seven nodded, "I left this piece here for nourishment because the veins on it were damaged. Tomorrow we’re going to Mountain Xuebaoding in Huang Long area, then we tie the three dead people together with this so the coldness there and the sunlight at noon will take away their hatred."

After they had retrieved what they needed, they returned to the village in Poggi’s car. They had to stay in the village for the night and get some rest.

Su Bai’s room was right next to Seven’s. After a hot bath, Su Bai sat on the bed quietly. The lights were off, so was the TV; Su Bai just sat in the silence.

Later, he seemed to notice that he had been sitting there for too long. He smiled with self-mockery and was about to have some sleep. Just then, the door was knocked and he heard Poggi’s voice.

He opened the door and saw Poggi holding a bowl of soup with a delicious fragrance.

Su Bai thanked him with a big smile. He took the soup back into the room and took a few sips. It tasted great; he felt warm and cozy all over. But then, his sleepiness grew stronger. Su Bai drank up the soup, lay on the bed and immediately fell asleep.

When the suns.h.i.+ne landed on Su Bai’s face, his eyelids moved; then he slowly opened his eyes only to find himself tied up with that yellow ribbon.

"What do you mean by this?" Su Bai looked up at Seven by his bed and asked.