Wu Xie
The next morning, Wu Xie woke up feeling a bit suffocated and overheated and when he opened his eyes, he realized that Xiaoge was holding him tightly, which is why the first thing he saw was the black cloth of his jacket. He was practically glued to his warm chest, which was more or less normal, since they began their romantic relationship. His head rested on Xiaoge's arm as they slept across from each other, as they did when they slept together, but there was something very different this time, which was causing both the overheating and suffocation.
The reason why he felt like he was short of breath, was not just because he was too close to Xiaoge, but also because there was something heavy on his back that was forcing him against Xiaoge's body more like it would on any other night. Furthermore, it was not only the pressure from his back but also the weight of another arm that rested on his waist, in addition to that of his lover, that was holding him a little higher on his back, protectively.
Wu Xie slowly turned his head, still half asleep to come face to face with what appeared to be a damn mummy, then screamed as he sat on the bed in a rush between the two bodies and pushed the mummy away from him out of sheer instinct. His scream and sudden movement awaken Xiaoge, who jumped out of bed, ready to kill anything that threatened Wu Xie and the mummy... which turned out to be Pangzi's covering with bandages all over his face, who rolled out of bed and fell from it with a thud to the floor.
"What the hell Tianzhen? Why did you push me like that? You scare the hell out of me!" Pangzi protested, as he rubbed his hurting back and Wu Xie was tempted to strangled him, just for the scare Pangzi had giving him first thing in the morning.
"Si Pangzi! Just look at yourself in a mirror! Why are you cover in bandages?! Didn't you said it was just one bee?" Wu Xie asked and he hear a load Oh, coming from Pangzi, finally understanding Wu Xie's sudden panic and touched his head slightly while smiling.
"Come on Tianzhen, this was done by Yun Cai... how can I complain about the way she bandage it?" Pangzi whined and Wu Xie sighed, throwing himself backwards over the bed, trying to control his racing heart back to normalcy.
Xiaoge smirked slightly, because this is how the Iron Triangle wakes up in the morning when they all share the same bed. Basically, they walled up Wu Xie at night and scared him to death when morning came and he found either Pangzi hugging him like a koala with his favorite tree or covered in bandages with a mummy appearance.
After such a start, they pretty much wake up the entire house early in the morning, which end up with Yun Cai promising to do a better job when treating Pangzi's bee stung. Soon after a brief breakfast they went out and Yun Cai insisted in applying a local remedy into Pangzi's forehead, where the bee had got him and both Wu Xie and Xiaoge enjoyed seen him been torture by the woman he liked while he try his best to hold on a scream.
This time, Yun Cai use a bigger band aid instead of bandaging his whole face, which was way better than before and when she left to do her daily shores, Wu Xie laughed to his heart content. It had been quite hilarious to see Pangzi hold on his pain as she apply the ointment.
"Idiot, just yell when you are in pain..." Wu Xie teased and Pangzi cry in silence and muffle a scream that only make him laugh more.
After the amusement they get to work to try melt the piece of metal, but even with the acid, the thing remained unscratched, no matter what method they used. Nothing could penetrate the hard shell.
"So we had no leads again..." Pangzi said dejectedly as he looked at the piece of metal.
"That's not true... Xiaoge draw a picture of the beast on the slope-shoulder man. It may not be the same as the Qilin Xiaoge had, but it may have been done with the same technique or same person." Wu Xie said.
"Then, is Xiaoge really related to this stalker man?" Pangzi asked eagerly as Xiaoge give him a cold stare.
"I told you before, they may not be related... we don't know about the Zhang's history, or how they train their family members to whatever purpose they had. We only know that they are extreme..." Wu Xie said as he looked at Xiaoge with a hint of sadness.
"They sure were, no offense Xiaoge, but your infancy shouldn't be too happy, nor your adolescence either and well... not you adulthood for that matter..." Pangzi said and Wu Xie took a corn that was hanging and throw it to Pangzi, who catch it on his hand.
"Stupid Pangzi, don't be rude to Xiaoge, it's not his fault to be born a Zhang." Wu Xie fumed.
"Yeah, yeah... I forgot, not offending the amnesic either... but honestly... we have two tattoos made basically in the same way in the same place, even if they are not the same beast. What does that means? For what purpose the tattoos are printed in their skins and in such an unusual way..." Pangzi said and Wu Xie ponder on it.
"You got a point there... maybe we should give Xiaoge's tattoo a better look." Wu Xie said as he looked at his lover.
"Wu Xie, don't be a pervert this early in the morning. Do you want to heat him up so badly?" Pangzi said and Wu Xie throw another corn to him, this time while blushing.
"Shut up! We can use a warm towel, idiot." Wu Xie shouted and Pangzi laughed and after heating some water, Wu Xie carefully wet the small towel and gently placed it over Xiaoge's naked shoulder.
"Is it too hot?" Wu Xie asked, but Xiaoge moved his head.
"No." He whisper as his skin started to heat. Then Wu Xie keep placing the towel all over his back, arm and chest, until the tattoo was fully visible.
"Such a big work... I wonder for what it was make like that..." Wu Xie whisper as he looked at the dark figure of the Qilin.
"Tianzhen... you are drooling..."
"What? I am not!"
"Yes you are... he is half naked and you are staring at him like you want to eat him."
"Of course not! Don't go making things... I was just wondering if there is more to the tattoo than what it seems. Maybe there is a pattern on it, or something that a Zhang needs for who knows what..." And so Pangzi and Wu Xie started another bickering contest... but something that Wu Xie said, definitely clicked into Zhang Qiling's mind. It was a map... he was now sure of it, but he could still not remember of what or of where.
"Wu Xie, it's a map." Qiling whisper and immediately both of them stop their quarreling.
"What?" Wu Xie asked, not sure if he had heard right.
"The tattoo is a map." Qiling answer calmly.
"Of what?" Pangzi asked and as he try to remember, once again a headache assaulted him.
"I don't remember..." Xiaoge answer as he flinched in pain and immediately, Wu Xie took back his jacket and help Xiaoge to dress again.
"It's okay Xiaoge... don't try to remember more now. We can take things one step at a time..." Wu Xie said as he also help him back to the bed, which was unnecessary, because Qiling could move on his own just fine, but he was not going to complain about his lover care at all.
"But... this still led us nowhere... if it is a map, it can be anything of anywhere." Pangzi insisted.
"If someone else had a similar map here in Banai, then I think we are in the right track. Perhaps it's the map of something in the mountains... the place that Chen Wenjin went or wanted to go. We still need to go there and find out what happen back then."
"Damn, when is this Panma guy is coming back?" Pangzi asked and Wu Xie cover Xiaoge with a blanket and offer him some pain killers, but Xiaoge refused again with his head.
"It's okay... it will pass soon." Qiling said to Wu Xie, closing his eyes to let them rest for a moment until his head stopped hurting.
"Alright. Rest for a while... I will try to find more info with Xiao Hua. I can send him the picture and see if he can find something else about it."
"Wu Xie, don't tell him..."
"Yeah, don't worry, I will not tell him is a map, just asking for more info about the tattoo. He had Xiazi with him, which mean he had more resources than us..."
"Okay." Qiling conceded. He instinctively trusted Hei Xiazi, even if he was not as sure about Xie Yunchen, thus Wu Xie send Xiao Hua, Xiaoge's drawing and call him.
"Wu Xie... what's this?" Xioa Hua asked as he received the picture Wu Xie had send him.
"This is the tattoo we find in a man that seems to live in the mountains. We don't know who he is, but maybe his tattoo can be traced. Can you spare a moment for the info?" Wu Xie asked.
"I will see what I can find, but Wu Xie... you must be careful in Banai. Something big is going to happen there. I can't tell you what, I don't know much myself, but it had something to do with the Zhang family." Xiao Hua said, which only confirmed his own guess.
"Alright, I will be careful and you should as well. I think we may be pulled into the mess of the past generations of mystic nine deeper than we first thought. Chen Wenjin was even here before the expedition of the Parcel Islands, so perhaps... I can find something more about my uncle San and Xie Lian Huan." Wu Xie said and Xiao Hua sighed.
"I'm looking into things myself, but so far I had no real clues of what really happen back then, but I had the feeling it started with Fo Ye and the first generation of Mystic Nine. Perhaps there is more to their story that what we had been told from our grandparents."
"Yeah, it seems so... perhaps grandpa was quite involved in all this, before he involved my Uncle Third and then he involved me... it should be the same for you. Our families had always been in good terms with the other for at least three generations and our grandparents were good friends... if they keep secrets from us, then it's fair to look for them together. If I find something on my end... about Xie Lian Huan, I will let you know."
"I will appreciate that... take care and Wu Xie... for heavens sake, be more aware of people watching your every steps. Even I can tell were you are right now." Xiao Hua said before he hang up.
"So...?" Pangzi asked.
"He will give us a hand. He also said that something big may happen here and it involves the Zhang's, so we are definitely in the right track..."
"I have been thinking about the woman we saw yesterday in Panma's house. She really looked like Ah Ning... her same style, way of addressing people and do things... and that car also looked familiar..."
"Cox Hendry?" Wu Xie guesses.
"Mn, probably and if he is searching for this Panma man already..."
"Then he had an idea of what happen here years ago and there is something left behind by the expedition team..." Wu Xie confirmed Pangzi's suspicions.
"Then..."
"Then we must find Panma before Cox Hendry does."
"Damn old man! Just how many days it takes to hunt? I will ask Yun Cai a bit more about it. You two rest some more. I will even take care of lunch..." Pangzi said as he went out of the room.
"Xiaoge... how is it now?" Wu Xie asked as he sit by his side.
"Kiss me..." Xiaoge whisper without opening his eyes, which make Wu Xie blush. Xiaoge was getting bold lately and he like it.
"Will it help?" Wu Xie asked as he came closer.
"Yes." Xiaoge hushed and Wu Xie gave Xiaoge a soft kiss on his lips that Xiaoge immediately returned. The kissing distracted him from trying to remember more pieces of the puzzle. He could tell by now that as long as the pain assaulted his mind in such a way, it meant that it was not the right time for him to grasp all his past secrets.
Kissing Wu Xie soothed his mind, which ease the pain, while he enjoy the sensation of been loved, of having the luxury of enjoying life, perhaps for the first time since he was born. It was true what Pangzi had stated about him before. No matter in which circle of his life, he had no real life before Wu Xie make him human again... of that he was absolutely sure.
"Better?" Wu Xie asked after their first few kisses ended.
"Yes." Xiaoge confessed.
"Then... want a bit more?" Wu Xie asked while blushing.
"Yes." Xiaoge said as he pulled Wu Xie to him, to feel him closer. Then kiss him again for a while.
By midday, Pangzi was cooking along with Yun Cai, when Panma's son barged in and tell them that something had happen to his father.
"Mr. Gui... we can help search in the woods if you point us into the right direction." Wu Xie offer and soon enough they were in the near forest looking for the lost old man that could be seriously hurt, judging from the bloody shirt another hunter found near a deadly place called Buffalo Trench by the locals.
"Panma!"
"Uncle Panma!!" The yells were shouted all over the forest pretty much all the way, until Xiaoge spotted blood on the ground, over the dead leaves.
"Blood." Xiaoge said and they looked more closely into the area, finding several more blood traces going in one direction.
"Let's keep following the trace... we should find him soon enough." Wu Xie said and give a step forward when he was yanked back by Mr. Gui.
"No! Master Wu Xie... you must not go into that place." Mr. Gui said with urgency.
"But Panma is probably there and seriously hurt. We must find him before it could be too late." Wu Xie insisted, but the man refused to let him go.
"If he really was there... then there is no hope. You just don't know, but that place is one of no return. No one that had ever put a foot inside that cursed place have ever come back to tell the tale." Mr. Gui explained.
"Ah, if it is a place of no return, then you should not worry about us going in. Believe it or not all three of us have go inside those kind of places more times than we can count now." Pangzi said proudly.
"You don't understand, there is a man eating monster there. The Buffalo Trench it's it territory... it's a forbidden place no one can enter and come back alive." Mr. Gui said with even more urgency.
"It can't be worse than blood zombies, or waves after waves of bugs of all kind, nor worse than human faced birds, giant centipedes, or forbidden ladies, candle dragons, or perhaps monkeys, ghosts, or deadly snakes on every square of a rain forest, damn, no more than several man-eaters monster we had encounter so far..." Pangzi said, trying to remember all the monster they had encounter on their adventures... which only make Mr. Gui look at them with shock and noticing that Pangzi simply laughed.
"I told you before... we are lovers of good mysteries and of course, we had face them head on, or our reputation as the Iron Triangle will crumble to pieces and we will lose our money faster than we can blink. You don't want that, right?" Pangzi asked as the seriously taken aback man.
"Ah... no?" Mr. Gui just manage to let out of his mouth and Pangzi gave the man a soft tap on his tired shoulders.
"Of course not. We, the Iron Triangle of the big city will never back down on a challenge and even less when lives are at stake... so, off we go guys. Don't worry Uncle Gui, we will be back before nightfall.. if we don't get lost first that is." Pangzi said to Mr. Gui who was still with his mouth half open and walked ahead.
As they walked Qiling begin to worry about the list that Pangzi just mention. Having no recollection of them, he looked at Wu Xie. If that was true... how had he manage to keep Wu Xie alive so far...?
"Wu Xie... did we really encounter that much on tombs?" Xiaoge asked and Wu Xie smiled nervously at him.
"Yeah... it had been quite a lot right?" Wu Xie admitted a bit flushed and Pangzi laughed, seen through Xiaoge's train of thoughts.
"Oh you certainly had been very busy saving him in the past years Xiaoge... you are a true hero in every tomb raider's book." Pangzi said, as he went ahead still laughing, slightly leaving Xiaoge to worry a bit about the future and Wu Xie embarrassed by his past dangers.
AN: LOL. Ah, Pangzi, you certainly enjoy yourself in this one. Thanks for reading and see you next time. Until then, please take care. 💖💖💖