Chapter 144: Chapter 143: The Protective Talisman Shattered... Hypnosis?

"Ah!"

A scream rang out, and chaos erupted.

Bansha’s assistant and attendants screamed as they rushed to help him, while uninvolved bystanders backed away in fright, distancing themselves from the scene.

"What’s going on?" the orchestra leader asked in alarm.

The people around them all shook their heads. The leader of another folk orchestra looked around and asked, "Was he shot?"

The way Bansha had suddenly flown backward did look as if he’d been hit by a bullet.

The crowd couldn’t help but look around before turning their gazes back to the center of the commotion, murmuring amongst themselves.

"But I didn’t hear a gunshot."

"And the angle is all wrong. He was facing a wall of the restaurant."

"Did he have a sudden medical episode? Epilepsy?"

"It’s not epilepsy. Look, he’s not moving at all. Is he dead?"

Hearing this, everyone looked at Bansha. His face and clothes were stained with blood, and his eyes were tightly shut. From a distance, it was impossible to tell if he was still breathing.

His assistant didn’t dare move him carelessly, simply laying him flat while frantically calling for an ambulance.

Xiao Ya and Jiang Shishi held hands and took small steps back. The two people from Hengta Group who had been waiting in the corner came forward and pulled them away from the crowd.

After the two girls had backed away, Xiao Ya noticed that Jiang Shishi’s hand was still trembling slightly. She squeezed it reassuringly. "Don’t be scared."

Jiang Shishi shook her head and pressed her lips together tightly. Holding Xiao Ya’s hand with one hand and her phone with the other, she ignored the food on the table spattered with blood and turned to the orchestra leader. "Let’s not just stand here gawking. We should head back first."

The orchestra leader looked at Jiang Shishi’s pale face, assuming she was frightened by the incident, and nodded repeatedly. "Right, let’s go back. After something like this, dinner is out of the question."

By now, everyone in the restaurant had stopped eating to see what was going on. Even the person in charge of the banquet had come over with a group of waiters, standing by.

Bansha had collapsed in public without any physical contact with the folk orchestra. Because of this, no one at the scene connected the incident to them. Most people assumed he’d had a sudden illness, so the orchestra members were able to leave as a group and return to the hotel without any trouble.

Those completely uninvolved in the matter grumbled about their ruined dinner, resigned to ordering takeout at the hotel or grabbing a quick bite somewhere nearby.

But Jiang Shishi, who had been complaining of hunger right after their performance, had completely lost her appetite. She pulled Xiao Ya straight back to their hotel room.

Xiao Ya finally realized something was truly wrong with Jiang Shishi. "What’s the matter with you? I’ve never seen you this timid before."

Jiang Shishi said nothing, merely shaking her head. Then, nervously and with trembling hands, she took her phone and removed its case.

Xiao Ya followed Jiang Shishi’s movements with her eyes. When the phone case came off, she saw that the Yellow Paper folded into a triangle was gone. In its place was a small pile of pale white ash.

"What happened?"

Xiao Ya was stunned. She subconsciously took out her own phone, removed the case, and found her Yellow Paper Talisman still resting safely inside.

"Even if the phone overheated, it wouldn’t..." Xiao Ya trailed off, her eyes meeting Jiang Shishi’s. She saw the panic in her friend’s gaze.

"It was because of what just happened, wasn’t it?" Xiao Ya asked, shocked.

Jiang Shishi nodded, gritting her teeth. "When that Bansha guy looked at me just now, I felt like his eyes were a vortex. My mind went blank for a second."

"Hypnosis?" That was the first thing that came to Xiao Ya’s mind.

"Probably!" Jiang Shishi nodded again. "Then I felt my left hand heat up, and my mind cleared. The next thing I knew, that guy suddenly spat up blood and went flying."

Xiao Ya thought back. "You were holding your phone in your left hand."

"That’s right. This Talisman saved me," Jiang Shishi said, the fear still lingering. "Otherwise, I would have been hypnotized."

Bansha had invited them out for a late-night snack. Worried they would refuse, he had resorted to Hypnosis to make them agree. It was easy to imagine what would have happened after that.

No wonder Jiang Shishi was trembling all over. She had been terrified.

But now, back in the hotel, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief and calmly recount the incident to Xiao Ya.

"This Protective Talisman is incredible!" Xiao Ya said, staring at the one in her hand.

Jiang Shishi was just as amazed. "To think it can even break Hypnosis."

"Not only can it break Hypnosis, but it even counter-attacks. It’s so smart!" Xiao Ya added, then couldn’t help but ask, "That guy... he didn’t die, did he?"

"I don’t know," Jiang Shishi said, shaking her head blankly. Then, she gritted her teeth in resentment. "If he did, he deserved it!"

Xiao Ya nodded. A creep like that certainly didn’t deserve any pity, but...

"If he’s dead, that’s one thing. But if he’s not, do you think he’ll realize it was our counter-attack that hurt him?" Xiao Ya asked nervously.

Jiang Shishi couldn’t help but swallow. "He probably won’t, right?"

"You can’t be sure!" Xiao Ya frowned, then said after a moment of thought, "Let’s not go shopping tomorrow. We’ll just stay at the hotel with the main group. Don’t go anywhere alone, and don’t give them any opportunities."

"They don’t have any proof, so they won’t dare do anything to us. Besides, we’re heading back tomorrow afternoon."

As Xiao Ya spoke, she glanced at the triangular talisman paper inside her phone case and snapped it shut. "Just in case, you’re sticking with me tomorrow. We won’t separate."

Jiang Shishi nodded repeatedly.

The talisman paper had proven its worth. Now, without the talisman paper to provide a Protective Body, Jiang Shishi felt completely insecure.

After what had happened, the two girls didn’t dare go out. They just ate some of the snacks they’d brought with them before getting ready and climbing into bed.

"Gu Zhao is so amazing!"

"It’s just like in the movies!"

"So the Protective Talisman isn’t just for healing and health—it’s for a real Protective Body!"

It was still early, and the recent events had left them too stirred up to sleep. The two girls chatted idly, but a determined glint shone in their eyes, showing they had made up their minds about something.

...

Wang Runheng made a habit of checking in on the folk orchestra’s itinerary every two or three days.

It wasn’t that he was worried something would happen—it was rare for trouble to arise during these semi-official group performances. However, this was the first time Gu Zhao had ever asked him for a favor, and he had to handle it perfectly to build a better relationship with him for the future.

Making a thirty-second phone call to tell his people to be more attentive was well worth it in Wang Runheng’s eyes.

And that was how he learned about what happened tonight.

The two men he had assigned were just office staff for Hengta Group’s Southeast Asia branch. They hadn’t been present during the negotiations in Port City and simply assumed Bansha had suffered a sudden illness.

But since they usually had nothing to report, which made it seem like they weren’t doing their jobs, they reported this incident to him and took some credit in the process.

"We were nearby at the time and quickly pulled the two young ladies out of the crowd, then followed them back to the hotel," one of them reported.

But to Wang Runheng’s ears, those words were a massive shock.

The scene was an exact replica of what had happened during his negotiations in Port City. Thinking of the legendary Black Magic Masters of Siam, Wang Runheng didn’t dare to be careless. He ordered sternly, "You must protect them at all costs! I’m buying a ticket to Siam right now. I can be there tonight!"