Chapter 2463 — The Revenge of Su Lengzi

"Down in the valley, did what you said still count?" Wei Zhao asked flatly.

"Down in the valley? What did I say?" Kang Jinglong had indeed begun playing dumb. Friendly gestures were all well and good, but on matters of principle he could not budge. Down in the valley there had been no one else around, so saying it then was one thing—but in front of You Panhu, he could not go spouting off whatever came to mind and bring disgrace upon the Kang family.

"Nothing." Wei Zhao had long since guessed that Kang Jinglong would renege, but let him. Never mind that he was merely engaged to Wang Xinyan—even when the day truly came for them to discuss marriage, Wei Zhao would not regard him as worth a thought.

Having dared to turn the Kang family upside down once, Wei Zhao was not afraid of a second time, or a third.

Hearing Kang Jinglong begin to backpedal, Wang Xinyan was displeased, even though she had expected it. Kang Jinglong was as good as his word was worthless—just as she had thought.

Dinner was served in the dining hall of the resort's main building. The resort comprised many small buildings and villas, and students of different majors and classes were for the most part housed separately, so the dining hall did not feel crowded. A few tables of dishes had been prepared for the medical and pharmaceutical students.

After dinner came the entertainment the resort had arranged. This resort was famous not for its natural ski slope, but for the abandoned village halfway up the mountain!

The nighttime exploration of the abandoned village was one of the resort's long-running and ever-popular attractions.

The village was of unknown age, utterly deserted. Its houses were built in an antique style, mostly of stone, which was why they had survived so many years without decay. At the village entrance stood a massive memorial archway whose paint had worn away through years of wind, rain and sun; under the moonlight at night it looked especially eerie and terrifying.

Of course, if it were merely these desolate buildings that inspired fear, that would hardly be enough. The real draw was that the abandoned village had ghosts! Whether the ghosts were real or merely a gimmick to lure tourists, no one could say.

Opinions differed, in any case. Some tourists claimed that riding the exploration vehicle through the village at night, they had truly seen unclean things; others said it was only the eerie atmosphere creating psychological pressure. Either way, the place had made a name for itself.

Moreover, night visits had to be made aboard the hotel's exploration vehicles. Tourists were strictly forbidden to intrude upon the village on their own, and were not permitted to get off the vehicle during the tour.

All of this might well be a trick by which the resort frightened tourists out of their money—after all, riding the exploration vehicles cost money. If tourists all drove themselves or walked to the village to explore, how would the resort make any profit?

Such a rather frightening form of entertainment would ordinarily not have won Foreman Bai's easy approval; but over the years, despite the hair-raising rumors about the village, not one tourist who had ridden the exploration vehicle in had come to any harm. All had returned safe and sound.

So Foreman Bai had more or less figured it out: this was probably just the resort's scheme for making money and drawing tourists. There were no ghosts in the abandoned village at all.

The exploration vehicles were converted nine-seat minibuses. Apart from the driver's and front passenger's seats, which could not carry tourists, each vehicle held only seven people. Wei Zhao, Han Jingyi, Wang Xinyan, Kang Jinglong, You Panhu and two of their subordinates all sat in the same vehicle.

Naturally Wei Zhao did not want to travel with them, but You Panhu and Kang Jinglong had shamelessly climbed aboard, and surely Wei Zhao could not just kick them off? There was no help for it—he had to let them on.

What Wei Zhao did not know was that the boarding of Kang Jinglong and You Panhu would land him in no small amount of trouble.

Before boarding, the driver of that exploration vehicle had received a phone call from Su Lengzi.

The driver knew well enough what standing Su Lengzi held. He was nothing but a hired hand, while Su Lengzi might be called half-owner of the resort. How would he dare defy a word from Su Lengzi?

"Brother Lengzi, what are your orders?" the driver asked cautiously, wondering what Su Lengzi could want at this hour.

"The passengers in your vehicle are enemies of mine!" Su Lengzi had spotted Kang Jinglong and You Panhu boarding the vehicle from a distance, and only then had he obtained the driver's number and called.

"Huh?" The driver was stunned by Su Lengzi's words.

"Keep your voice down. Don't speak—just listen to me, then do as I say!" Su Lengzi lowered his voice and instructed the driver: "Understand what I mean?"

"I understand..." How would the driver dare go against Su Lengzi's wishes? He hastily steadied himself and spoke as though nothing were amiss.

"Good. In a little while, when you take the people in your vehicle to the abandoned village, drive them to some secluded spot, then find an excuse that the vehicle has broken down. Get out, come back, and leave them stranded there!" Su Lengzi said.

"That..." The driver hesitated. This hardly seemed right. If he abandoned these guests in the abandoned village, in some out-of-the-way place, and anything happened, how would he answer for it? As an exploration vehicle driver who had shuttled between the resort and the village for years, he knew very well that there really were ghosts in the abandoned village!

It was no rumor—there really were ghosts. They simply had no intention of harming anyone, and only on the condition that the resort did not disturb them. The routes their vehicles took had all been carefully chosen to avoid provoking the ghosts as much as possible; that was why, all these years, the two sides had coexisted in peace.

As for the unclean things the tourists saw, those were not merely tricks of the eye or imagination. Sometimes, at certain points along the route, the ghosts could indeed be glimpsed.

"Did you hear what I said? You don't want your job anymore?" Seeing the driver silent, Su Lengzi grew angry at once. "Give me a straight answer—yes or no. If not, I'll replace you this instant!"

"All right..." There was nothing for it. The driver steeled himself and agreed. Nor did he have any choice in the matter: this job at the resort amounted to one run a night—easy work with good pay—and he did not want to lose it.

But... watching a group of innocent tourists about to be abandoned in the abandoned village, perhaps frightened out of their wits, the driver could not help but sigh. Still, no matter what, he could not afford to cross Su Lengzi.