Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 11: Airport

One of the four joys of life is meeting an old friend in a foreign land.

Qian Ai quickly undid the chain lock, opened the door wide, and hugged each of his old classmates. Each hug lasted for dozens of seconds, filled with genuine affection.

Xu Wang was almost choked by his tight embrace, and after finally being released, he scrutinized Qian Ai up and down. Then, marveling at Qian Ai’s nearly 1.9 meters tall and burly figure, he commented, “I remember you standing in the front row in high school, taking the cute route. This drastic transformation is quite impressive.”

“You could say I got fat!” Qian Ai laughed heartily. “Back then, I had a big appetite, only gaining weight without growing taller. But once I got to university, I started shooting up. My legs kept stretching every night, and I couldn’t get a single night of peaceful sleep!” As he spoke, he ushered them inside. “Don’t just stand at the door talking. Come in, come in.”

Once inside, Xu Wang realized there was no one else there. It was just a selfie stick holding up a phone, in front of which several local delicacies were spread out on a table. The overwhelming aroma was simply enticing.

After closing the door, Qian Ai hurried back to the phone to give a final update. “That’s it for today, folks. Coming across old classmates while traveling is too rare. I owe you a proper treat. We’ll continue eating tomorrow!”

Xu Wang finally understood what his old classmate was up to and exchanged a knowing look with Wu Sheng.

The latter understood immediately. “Food vlogger.”

Watching Qian Ai quickly end the live stream, Xu Wang felt a bit guilty. “Is this alright? Won’t you lose followers?”

“Yo, you’re well-informed.” Qian Ai laughed, sitting down on the bed, tossing the blanket aside. “The premise for losing followers is having them in the first place. I’m not worried about that, haha.”

He laughed, his eyes squinting, somewhat resembling his rounder appearance from the past.

“But speaking of capability,” Qian Ai turned to Wu Sheng, as if reconfirming. “I’ve changed so much, and you still recognize me instantly?”

Wu Sheng shrugged naturally. “How else would I have been class monitor?”

A complex look flashed in Qian Ai’s eyes. “Class Monitor, you really haven’t changed at all.”

Wu Sheng agreed. “So it’s understandable if we didn’t recognize you, but you not recognizing us is puzzling.”

Qian Ai felt quite wronged. “In the middle of the night, two men knocking at the door in a place I’m unfamiliar with, I was all on alert. How could I have the mind to notice whether you two were round or flat. What if our eyes met and it became a ‘What are you looking at? You looking at me?’ situation? That would be an unwarranted disaster.”

“Do you need to be that cautious?” Xu Wang said exasperatedly. “With your size, who would dare to start something?”

“When you’re away from home, you have to be careful,” Qian Ai stated matter-of-factly, then belatedly realizing, his puzzled gaze shifted between Wu Sheng and Xu Wang. “You two… are traveling together?”

Xu Wang was at a loss for words. A mere complaint about noise had led to a reunion with an old classmate!

“Well, it’s not just us two. There’s… my aunt’s son.” Xu Wang fibbed, feeling cornered. “He’s on holiday and wants to travel. His parents were busy, so I volunteered.”

“What school has holidays in November…” Qian Ai mumbled but didn’t press further, more intrigued by another question. “You took your cousin out and brought Class Monitor for company? What’s this combination?”

“We met in Beijing, and he also wanted to get out for a bit, so we traveled together.” One lie led to another, and Xu Wang felt increasingly guilty, especially as Qian Ai warmly welcomed them.

Qian Ai didn’t doubt them, looking at them and then back at Wu Sheng with a mix of nostalgia and envy in his eyes. “You two were always inseparable back then. After so long, it’s good to see you’re still close.”

“Close or not,” Wu Sheng sighed, a hint of melancholy in his eyes, “depends on how you look at it…”

Xu Wang felt uneasy, unsure of what Wu Sheng would say next. To regain control of the conversation, he quickly changed the subject. “Love Money, what brings you here?”

Caught off guard, Qian Ai hesitated before picking up his phone and waving it. “I’ve recently ventured into a new industry. My ID is ‘Lao Qian Eats Across China’, so I have to walk the talk and put in the effort.”

“Eating across China?” Xu Wang caught the seriousness in his words. “Are you really planning to make this a career?”

Qian Ai nodded solemnly. “Live to eat, eat until old*.”

*Clarity: He’s referring to the proverb: Live until old, learn until old, or better translated, one is never too old to learn (活到老学到老). This idiom refers to the idea that learning is a lifelong process, and one should never stop no matter their age. Qian Ai has replaced the learn, with eat instead, so basically changing it along the lines of “keep eating even after I’m old” (basically his forever ongoing pursuit to eating… instead of learning).

Xu Wang laughed. “Ah, that fits one of your old personas.”

“One of them?” Qian Ai asked, “What’s the other?”

Xu Wang replied, “Loving money.”

Qian Ai seized the opportunity to protest. “Traits like that are more charming when hidden. You always bring it up; it makes me look shallow!”

“Hidden or not, a trait is still a trait.” Xu Wang pointed out yet indulged his old friend. “So what should I call you from now on? Qian Ai? Sounds too formal…”

“Just call me Lao* Qian,” Qian Ai grinned. “That’s what my fans call me. It’s friendly!”

*Old (老) When used as a form of address, it shows familiarity, affection, or respect. This is usually used for people who are older, higher rank, or between close friends.

“…Okay.” Xu Wang acquiesced, feeling as if he’d unwittingly become a fan.

When old classmates meet, there are always endless topics to talk about, but time waits for no one. As 11:30 p.m. passed, Xu Wang could no longer hold back and excused himself, citing his “cousin”.

Fortunately, Qian Ai didn’t insist on them staying.

Returning to their room, Kuang Jinxin was still asleep. Xu Wang nodded in admiration before pulling back the blanket and gently waking him. “Brother, time to get up—”

In this situation, Kuang Jinxin woke up in a daze, while Wu Sheng had already confirmed the distance between the hotel and the coordinates. “It’s less than two kilometers. We just need to head north once we get in.”

Xu Wang had already put his down jacket back on, looking out the window and sincerely hoping, “I hope we don’t encounter any more bears.”

Finally fully awake, Kuang Jinxin quickly dressed and took out three bags of fish filets from his backpack, pocketing one for himself and handing the other two to Xu Wang and Wu Sheng. “In case we encounter them again, we’ll tear these up and throw them into the air as a Fishnado!”

Xu Wang and Wu Sheng pocketed the fish filets, the former hesitating to speak, the latter bluntly replying, “We should keep these for ourselves to eat.”

23:59:00

The three companions, having exhausted all idle conversation, watched the time on their phones, quietly waiting for midnight.

“Thump, thump—”

The unanticipated midnight knock sounded more terrifying than an owl’s hoot.

The trio, startled to their core, felt their hearts racing with fear and guilt.

“Thump, thump—”

“Are the kids there—”

It was the voice of the front desk lady who had checked them in during the day.

Xu Wang was the first to react, rushing to the door and pretending to be half asleep, lazily replying, “We’re here, already asleep. What’s up?”

“Don’t fool me. The folks upstairs called the front desk saying your room has been noisy, keeping everyone awake!”

Xu Wang held his forehead, realizing they had been chatting while waiting for the past half hour, but it was really the hotel’s poor soundproofing that was to blame!

“Hoot hoot—”

Midnight.

The Owl’s hoot came from afar, eerie and chilling, like a call from the underworld.

Behind them, a purple light shone; without looking, Xu Wang knew the “entrance” had opened. This made him panic, frantically searching for excuses to deal with the situation outside, but the more anxious he became, the more confused.

The lady outside, unaware of the situation inside, noticed the sudden silence. Usually, such quiet means either “guilt” or “fear”. She immediately became cautious. “Hey, you kids aren’t up to no good in there at night, are you?”

“How could we.” Xu Wang, throwing caution to the wind, replied with all sincerity, “We promise not to make another peep and won’t disturb anyone around us!”

But the lady was clearly unconvinced and started knocking on the door again. “Open up!”

This was a private hotel, and from the demeanor, Xu Wang strongly suspected the lady outside was the proprietress. But it didn’t matter if it was the proprietress or the boss; in a few seconds, they were going to be sucked away. They couldn’t just open the door… Wait. Xu Wang suddenly realized he was trapped in a fallacy. Why couldn’t they let someone see them entering the “Owl”? They might not be able to call the police, but someone who saw them being sucked in might!

Changing his mind, Xu Wang was about to open the door when a sudden, intense headache stopped him, as if his head was exploding!

He had never felt such bone-deep pain before, and it brought him to his knees, clutching his head, wishing for death.

“Xu Wang!” Wu Sheng, not understanding what was going on, suddenly changed his expression and immediately crouched down to check, but just as he bent his knees, a whirlwind started above his head, sucking him, Xu Wang, and Jin Xin standing nearby into a purple vortex!

The time on the phone that had fallen to the ground read—00:02:00.

After a dizzying spin, the trio finally landed.

The headache was gone, leaving only a lingering discomfort, but the dizziness brought on nausea.

Suddenly, someone pulled Xu Wang up, and then he heard Wu Sheng’s voice, which sounded both disdainful and concerned. “What’s wrong with you?”

“My head hurts,” Xu Wang replied weakly, still not recovered from the ordeal.

Wu Sheng, recalling Xu Wang’s painful expression just before they were dragged in, instantly understood. “Did you want the front desk to see us being sucked in?”

Xu Wang nodded, his eyes reflecting frustration.

“It’s useless. If the Owl can prevent Sun Jiang and Xiao Jin from calling the police, it can surely stop you from opening the door…” Wu Sheng mused, then his tone shifted subtly. “But if we suddenly disappear and there’s no response from inside, she’ll know something’s wrong even through the door. I wonder if the ‘Owl’ can handle that.”

If Xu Wang had listened carefully and observed, he would have seen Wu Sheng’s expression resembling that of tackling a difficult question in high school. The harder the problem, the more spirited Wu Sheng became. This thrill of tackling tough questions was beyond Xu Wang’s understanding.

But at that moment, Xu Wang wasn’t paying attention to Classmate Wu. All his thoughts were on his arm—[(Defense) Circular Ground Prison] and [(Offense) Cao Chong Weighing the Elephant] were still there in his [Stationery Box].

His initially elevated heart slowly calmed down, but he was still puzzled. According to Kuang Jinxin and Sun Jiang, they tried to reveal the “Owl’s” secret by calling the police, thus the headache, and then they entered the Owl, and their [Stationery Box] was emptied. So why, when he had the thought of confessing to Qian Ai and also experienced a headache, were his items still there?

Before he could figure it out, he heard Kuang Jinxin mutter, “Xu Ge, Wu Ge, this place…is weird.”

Xu Wang and Wu Sheng instinctively looked around, just as perplexed as Kuang Jinxin.

Transparent floor-to-ceiling windows, a dense steel structured dome, bustling crowd, and rows of check-in counters. There were no snowfields or black bears—this was an ordinary airport, with comfortable air conditioning and smiling flight attendants.

Xu Wang rubbed his eyes repeatedly, finally having to accept that he wasn’t mistaken, and then asked his teammates in bewilderment, “Are the four of us in the ‘Owl’ or… Huh? The four of us?”

Something felt off to Xu Wang. He silently counted in his mind: Wu Sheng, Kuang Jinxin, Qian Ai, himself. Right, four people, but it seemed like it shouldn’t be these four…

“Lao Qian?!” Xu Wang finally noticed something was amiss, mainly because Qian Ai was standing right next to Kuang Jinxin. His posture and even the expression on his face was too natural, like a “Big White Mian” mixed in with a bunch of “Big White Rabbits”*—completely harmonious.

*Clarity: So the analogy here is that Qian Ai acted so normally inside the Owl among them that Xu Wang thought he was really part of the team before carefully analyzing it again, just like how Big White Mian (大白免) can easily get mixed in without being noticed among Big White Rabbits (大白兔). The [mian] (免) and rabbit (兔) are the same character except rabbit has a small dot in it.

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