Two hours later, I returned to my room only to be greeted by an antsy Dali and teary-eyed Bingxin who had been too afraid to sleep. As soon as I entered the room, Dali pounced on me, choking back a sob, "Dude, you’ve been gone for so long! I heard some noises outside but wasn’t sure what was happening so I didn't dare to sleep either. You scared me half to death!"

"It's okay, let's go to sleep now," I said.

"Sleep?" the two blurted in unison.

"We need to recharge for tomorrow,” I explained. “Don't worry, there won’t be any problems tonight. If you’re so worried, then the three of us can take turns keeping watch."

In that manner, the three of us rested till dawn when an ear-piercing shriek woke us up from our slumber. "Chief... I mean, abbot, something has happened!"

The voice belonged to Scarface. "Let’s go and have a look," I suggested.

We tidied ourselves...