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Chapter Eighty-two: The Gymnasium

  That night, Zhao Zhu was sleeping in the bathtub. When he woke up, he felt truly refreshed and even his mental strength had become more solid. The fatigue and pressure he had accumulated before were all gone. Probably the only one who wasn't satisfied was Zhu Wanqi. For the past two days, she had been sleeping in the same room as Zhao Zhu, but he hadn't touched her at all. Last night, Zhao Zhu even slept in the bathtub.

  In the morning, after having breakfast, Fan Pian took Zhao Zhu and Zhu Wanqi to West Lake for a stroll. Fan Pian chartered a painted barge and they drifted on the lake.

  All around, there were also many painted pleasure-boats crowded with tourists constantly going back and forth on the West Lake. In comparison, Zhao Zhu's boat seemed much more secluded. At noon, the sky suddenly darkened and a light rain started to fall. The surrounding mountains and waters became misty and hazy, and the sounds of human voices and noise were muffled. It was only at this moment that the West Lake truly had some of its own unique charm.

  Zhu Wanqi originally wanted to pull Zhao Zhu to help her take a photo, but looking at Zhao Zhu sitting there with both hands playing cards in a serious manner, she didn't dare go up and make any requests. Fortunately, there were two female waitresses on the boat, and under Fan Pian's eye signal, they went to accompany Zhu Wanqi to the bow of the ship to take pictures.

  "You're in high spirits today, not bad." He said while brewing tea on one side.

  "It's really good, I think so too." Zhao Zhu smiled and nodded in agreement. However, he didn't plan to tell Fan Pian about the jade hairpin.

  "Come, have some tea." Fan Pian arranged the tea and gestured for Zhao Zhu to help himself.

  "Please."

  Both of them drank tea and chatted casually for a while. Although they were not very old, their experiences were quite rich. Fan Pian had exceptional talent in chemistry since he was young, and when he was in college, he started making drugs for some drug-trafficking gangs to make his first pot of gold. This is similar to the popular American TV series "Breaking Bad". Later, he entered the world of online horror novels and gradually cut off ties with those things, opening a tea house and doing only the chemical research he liked and needed. Zhao Zhu was also a returnee who had studied abroad and was talented in spiritual illness research and psychology. When they chatted, there were many topics and no awkward silences.

  As they chatted, Fan Pian suddenly asked: "You've strengthened your spiritual power and willpower, so shouldn't your abilities have a restraining effect on ghosts and monsters?"

  "It's okay." Zhao Zhuo was clear that Fan Pian wouldn't shoot randomly, so he answered more cautiously.

  "I won't hide anything from you anymore. There's something, I originally didn't plan to investigate further because actually, I'm not very familiar with those people in the group either, and I don't have the ability to invite them to come out and help me here. But since you're here, I just want to talk to you about it, of course, I'm not saying that I must ask you to do something."

  "I understand, just say it." Zhao Zhu nodded, he knew that Fan Pian was so clever and wouldn't be so clueless about human relationships, directly asking for help after giving someone a gift would only ruin the relationship they had just established.

  "There's a male employee in our tea house, a local from Hangzhou, who is a soccer fan. However, half a month ago, after watching a Chinese Super League match at the Huanglong Sports Stadium, he fell ill and has been dazed and confused ever since, talking nonsense all day long, with rare moments of clarity. He went to the hospital but it didn't help much."

  "So, you're thinking that it might be related to something dirty, like catching an evil spirit?" Zhao Zhu asked while sipping his tea.

  "No, I wouldn't have thought of it that way originally. After all, although I don't do many good deeds, I am a scientist and an atheist. However, you know, after reading that book and entering this horror web novel world, and joining that group, I discovered that the world isn't as pure as I thought, there's still a side beyond science. I think my employee might have really encountered something dirty." Fanpi poured the tea dregs directly into the West Lake water outside the boat, splashing up a ripple.

  "Hmm, even if that's the case, this shouldn't be your reason for saying this here, because, after all, it was I who was possessed by evil spirits, not you, right?" Zhao Zhu said.

  "Am I so selfish?" Fan Pian retorted.

  "We are more or less the same kind of people. I judged you based on myself, thinking that I wouldn't do something like this, but you did it anyway. Apparently, you have a deeper purpose."

  Fan Wen heard this and nodded, saying: "That's right, it's indeed like that. Zhao Zhu, do you know what I exchanged with the group owner?"

  "You didn't say, how would I know?"

  "It's a Metallurgist build, which perfectly matches my original profession and interests."

  "And then?"

  "Then, after I exchanged my physical body, which was yesterday, when I drove to the airport to pick you up, I passed by the Huanglong Stadium. There, I felt something different, as if there was a very precious material inside that was calling me, attracting my feeling. This is my feeling, no other real evidence, but I believe that there must be something special in the Huanglong Stadium."

  "There may be danger."

  "My employee isn't dead, just sick or a bit crazy. So even if investigating that thing is dangerous, it won't exceed the scope of our control. Moreover, there's no such thing as gaining benefits without taking any risks in this world."

  "What I can promise you is that I can go take a look and press some points, but I cannot guarantee anything."

  "No problem, that's what I meant. If it works out, we'll split it 40-60, I'll take 40 and you can have 60."

  "Good."

  Just after the two had discussed things, Zhu Wanqi returned to Zhao Zhu's side with a photo and, summoning up her courage, said she wanted to take a few more for Zhao Zhu. Zhao Zhu silently shook his head, and Zhu Wanqi lowered her head, skipping over that topic.

  Fan then looked at his phone, pretending to be unaware of their conversation, but actually to prevent Zhu Wanting from being too embarrassed.

  In short, the morning's play was also enjoyable. When returning to the tea house for lunch, Zhao Zhu said to Zhu Yuqi:

  "Tonight I'll find two people from the tea house to take you to see the 'Songcheng Millennium Romance' show, I have something on so I won't be able to accompany you tonight."

  As soon as Zhao Zhu said that he couldn't accompany her again at night, Zhu Wanqi felt a little unhappy and asked persistently:

  "Is it something important?"

  "Yeah, it's pretty important."

  "Oh, then I won't watch the performance either, I'll just rest in my room."

  "Stop messing around and go watch the performance quietly, got it?" Zhao Zhu's gaze condensed slightly, this tone was not to be refused.

  "Alright, you should get some rest too, go back to your room and sleep early." Zhu Wanqi still didn't dare disobey Zhao Zhu's words.

  "I know."

  In the afternoon, Zhao Zhuo accompanied Zhu Wanqi to several scenic spots and turned around. Before dinner, the two parted ways. Fan Pian arranged for his two employees to accompany Zhu Wanqi to watch the performance, while he personally drove Zhao Zhuo to the Huanglong Sports Stadium.

  "Really don't need to go take a look at that employee of mine?" Fan Pian asked.

  "It's not necessary, you've already sensed that something is in the gym, and that employee got sick after watching the game, just go to the gym to take a look. By the way, there are quite a few people today." Zhao Zhu looked out of the car window, seeing many people coming and going, dressed as fans.

  "Hehe, it's just that there are a bit more people today. Usually, the home games of Hangzhou Greentown have not had many spectators. One reason is that this team used to be called Zhejiang Greentown and now it's changed to Hangzhou Greentown, so fans from other parts of Zhejiang don't come to watch the games as much. Also, the team's level has never been very high, they just barely avoid relegation every year, and they don't win many games, which makes it even harder to attract fans to the stadium."

  "Why are there so many people here today?"

  "Most people came to see Guangzhou Evergrande, today is a match against Evergrande."

  "Oh, have you bought the tickets? Are we going to watch the game tonight too? With so many people here, even if there's something dirty, it would be suppressed by the thick atmosphere and wouldn't dare to show its head."

  "The area I bought is not crowded, it's where my staff usually likes to watch the game and sit, and also the place that I felt strongest when I entered the venue myself beforehand. But as they say, 'different trades have different expertise', even if I know where the location is, there's nothing I can do about it, so I'll have to rely on you."

  "Since you've already made arrangements for the investigation, let's go in and take a look first."

  "Aren't we going to have dinner first? The match is still more than an hour away."

  "There's KFC inside, right? Let's buy a family bucket and go in directly. I just exchanged some symbol water and other stuff from the group owner. If there are many people, they'll think I'm crazy when I use it."

  Fan also smiled and said: "Okay, I'll listen to you."

  The game hasn't started yet, so after entering the venue, except for the die-hard fan zone where fan club members were hanging banners, all other stands were empty. The area where Zhao Zhuo and Fan Pian were seated was particularly deserted, as it was a second-tier stand on the west side with a poor view. It's unknown why the staff member under Fan Pian liked to sit here to watch the game.

  Zhao Zhu held a hamburger in one hand and a cup of Coke in the other, stopping between two rows of seats.

  "Where shall we go first?" asked Fan Pian, pecking at a chicken wing.

  "The train is fully seated, how are we going to get on?" Zhao Zhu asked back.

  "What kind of person is this? Where did he come from?" Fan Pian asked in confusion.

  Zhao Zhu heard this and spread his arms, saying: "There is a small bottle in the small pocket on my chest. Take it out and drop it into your eyes like eye drops."

  Although he was very skeptical, Fan still followed the example and took out the bottle of cow tears mixed with symbol water from Zhao's pocket. He rubbed it on his eyes, and after rubbing, his eyes felt a bit sore. When he opened his eyes again to look around, he was also stunned:

  The originally empty stands were suddenly filled with people, a sea of black heads, each person sitting upright, their cheeks flushed red, their faces pale to the point of being eerie, and their faces all wore an abnormal smile. The air around seemed to freeze as well.

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