"Why?" I asked again, confused.
Yaoyao paused before replying, "Wu Chengfeng, do you want to live out the rest of your life in mediocrity but in peace, or do you want to do something earth-shattering that benefits all living beings, even if it means risking your life?"
I could translate Yaoyao's question for her: are you choosing to lie flat, or to strive?
"I don't understand what you mean at all," I feigned ignorance. In fact, from the fierce competition for me among so many factions, I had already guessed about seventy to eighty percent of the truth. There must be some mysterious power within me that everyone coveted. My pretense of ignorance was simply to get the truth from Yaoyao, who was, relatively speaking, the closest person to me!
Unfortunately, Yaoyao didn't fall for my trick and continued to withhold information, merely pressing me to choose between option A and option B.
If you're going to ask like that, then don't blame me.
"Of course, I choose the former. Isn't being alive more important than anything else?" I sneered. "Didn't your master seal you away for four hundred years precisely to let you live?"
Yaoyao was a bit angered by my retort. "Then leave! Go wherever you want! You useless piece of trash!"
With that, she hung up the phone.
I handed the phone back to the hawk demon. "Let's, go."
"Go, go where?" the hawk demon asked, still catching her breath from the short call.
"Mujige is angry, and it's not a good time for us to go back. How about you find a place to hide with me for a while?" I tested, unsure of her loyalty to Yaoyao given her usual taciturn nature.
"Alright, you decide." The hawk demon agreed.
To avoid pursuit by the Mohe, I decided to do the opposite of what was expected. Instead of heading west back to Fucheng, I turned east.
The hawk demon had no objections. She had been east before and was more familiar with the route.
Transforming into a hawk, I grabbed her claws and we fled eastward along the road.
She wasn't carrying my full weight; she bore about half, while I supported the other half by rapidly moving my feet, running at high speed close to the ground. We had used this tactic before in Benxi's tunnel. Our speed was not slower than a car, and she was less tired, while I could also endure it, allowing for long-distance transfers. Kuai Shu Ge.
After running for about half an hour, I felt the phone tied to the hawk demon's claws vibrating. I tucked my legs up, suspended in mid-air, and maintained my balance. Looking up, I saw it was Yaoyao calling.
The hawk demon ascended a bit, maintaining a safe altitude, and chirped at me from above, a questioning sound. From her angle, she couldn't see the caller ID and didn't know who it was.
I remained silent, letting her fly forward. We passed over a small mountain, and a city appeared before us. I didn't know where it was. As we neared the city's outskirts, a car appeared ahead. Fearing a commotion, I had the hawk demon set me down on the road. She then transformed back. At this moment, several more cars appeared. The sides of the road were water channels, offering no hiding place. I had to take off my jacket and give it to her, so she wouldn't be seen naked.
The hawk demon squatted by the roadside, completely covering herself with the jacket. She untied the phone from her ankle and handed it to me from her collar.
A passing motorist was kind enough to honk and ask if we needed assistance.
After thanking the driver, I considered it and decided to call Yaoyao back.
The call connected. Yaoyao didn't speak, and neither did I. We remained in a stalemate for a full five seconds before Yaoyao finally spoke, "I'm sorry, Chengfeng. I shouldn't have forced you back into a dangerous situation. You must have endured a lot of grievances there, haven't you?"
To be honest, Longyue and the others treated me well. Even when I escaped mid-way once, they didn't do much to me, just locked me up and restricted my freedom. They still served me good food and wine. As their leader, she even personally drank with me. I suspected Longyue had something important to tell me, but I got her drunk before she could say it.
"It's nothing, that's not important. What's important is that I don't want to be a captive, completely passive, not even knowing why I'm being targeted by them, why by the Yincha Mansion, why by Shakespeare, why... why by you."
Yaoyao was silent for another moment, then slowly uttered four words: "Pure Yin constitution."