Chapter 64: The Shoulder Tap

"Brother Fan, slow down!"

"Yeah, Brother Fan, you trained as a kid, but we didn't!"

Song Zichen and Wang Yitao were even weaker than Cai Yifan. At first, they could keep up, but eventually, they fell behind Chen Huaian and the two female celebrities. Not wanting to miss the camera, they ran until they were out of breath.

Cai Yifan was also exhausted, his face pale and drenched in sweat.

He was determined to expose Chen Huaian, no matter the cost.

Seeing the timing was right, he stopped to catch his breath and pointed at Song Zichen and Wang Yitao, mocking them:

"Are you two even men? Look at Chen Huaian—he's disabled, yet he's climbing better than both of you. And he's not even sweating, while you two are already worn out!"

His words were sharp.

On the surface, he seemed to be praising Chen Huaian, but in reality, he was highlighting the anomaly in Chen Huaian's behavior, drawing everyone's attention to him and raising suspicions.

Song Zichen and Wang Yitao looked at Chen Huaian and were stunned.

It was true.

They had been climbing for half an hour now. Chen Huaian had not only kept up with everyone but wasn't even sweating, his breathing steady, in stark contrast to everyone else.

Facing the scrutinizing gazes around him,

Chen Huaian just smiled innocently: "Hehe~"

Song Zichen and Wang Yitao certainly didn't want to admit they were physically weak. Even if they were, the mountaineer leading the group wasn't weak, right? The team leader at the back was sweating a bit, yet Chen Huaian, in the late stages of cancer, was climbing so effortlessly?!

Everyone began to notice something was off.

Their gazes toward Chen Huaian grew strange.

Only Su Xingchen remained clueless, blurting out praise for Chen Huaian: "Brother Huaian, your stamina is amazing! You're so determined!"

Director Zhang had seen Chen Huaian's medical records and verified the authenticity of his condition. A while back, Chen Huaian was in the mid-stages, but recent checkups confirmed he was now in the late stages.

As for whether there was any hope of a cure, he didn't know.

All he knew was that Chen Huaian's illness was severe.

But honestly, he was also puzzled by how Chen Huaian could keep up with the group without showing any signs of strain.

As the director, his job wasn't to uncover the truth but to keep the show moving.

"Shh—!" He deliberately put on a serious expression and said in a deep voice, "Do you hear that?"

The cameraman focused the lens on him.

Everyone's attention shifted.

Director Zhang put on his best performance, his face grim as he said, "It's a wolf's howl!"

A wolf's howl?!

The two female celebrities immediately looked terrified.

It was perfectly normal for there to be wolves in the mountains. However, since this area had been developed into a tourist attraction, the underlying dangers were overshadowed by its surface glamour.

If they were walking the regular tourist route during the day, the chance of encountering a wolf would be almost zero. But now, everything was the opposite.

The crew members couldn't help but chuckle at Director Zhang's serious act.

They knew this was his way of diverting attention.

You had to hand it to the veteran director—he was quick-witted.

Even if a wolf did appear, they weren't afraid.

Not only would the wolf struggle to take on so many people, but there was also a van following them. If things got really bad, they could just hop in the van. If they couldn't fight it off, they could always run it over!

"A wolf's howl? I didn't hear anything," Cai Yifan said, unwilling to let Chen Huaian off the hook. He smiled and added, "Don't worry, everyone. If there's really a wolf, I'll handle it. I've trained for this. And if I can't, there's always Brother An. He's definitely a hidden expert!"

"You?" Director Zhang chuckled, deliberately scaring them. "The wolf I'm talking about isn't an ordinary one. It's the Shoulder-Tapping Wolf of Tianmen Mountain. Legend has it that this wolf is extremely cunning. It hunts people climbing the mountain at night, silently sneaking up behind them, standing on its hind legs, and gently tapping their shoulders. If the person turns around, it bites their head off in one go!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

What? It's just a legend.

"Director Zhang, you're such a tease…" Zhang Lulu rolled her eyes, patting her ample chest.

Su Xingchen also calmed down, still a bit shaken.

She was terrified of wolves—not just wolves, but dogs and cats too. Oddly enough, she wasn't as scared of bugs or snakes.

"Director Zhang, I'm 1.9 meters tall. What kind of wolf could tap my shoulder?" Cai Yifan scoffed, smirking.

His height had always been his advantage, so he took every opportunity to show it off.

"If a wolf could tap my shoulder at this height, it would have to be 2.5 meters long, right? The largest wolf in the world is only about 2 meters at most, and it's not even in our region."

Just then—

Awooo—!

A long, eerie howl echoed from deep within the mountains.

The entire Tianmen Mountain fell silent.

The chirping of insects and birds ceased completely.

Everyone looked horrified.

Director Zhang was also stunned. He hadn't expected there to actually be a wolf.

Cai Yifan hunched his shoulders, feeling a cold breeze behind him. He turned around but saw nothing.

The wolf's howl had come from far away, so it didn't seem like a threat.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and sighed, "Haha, scaring ourselves for nothing."

As soon as he finished speaking,

Cai Yifan felt a heavy weight on both his shoulders.

It was as if a pair of massive "hands" had pressed down on him.

…

Deep in the forest, a petite figure darted through the trees with lightning speed, navigating the dense bushes and trunks as if they were nothing.

She moved like a ancient martial arts master with incredible lightness skill!

Though this "master" was wearing a rather out-of-place school uniform.

"Ahhhhh—!"

Suddenly, a scream more piercing than a pig's slaughter cut through the heavy night.

Lin Lingling's expression changed as she looked in the direction of the scream, her once graceful steps becoming slightly chaotic.

"Damn it, why are there people climbing the mountain on this small path at night?"

She had to save them.

Ever since the spiritual resurgence ten years ago,

it had been her duty as a folk demon hunter!

…

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