Taoist priest goes to America

Fineria hadn't fully recovered from the kiss when her feet were already off the ground again.

Ang Lee scooped her up in his arms again and strode toward the wall of the residential complex. His dark red suit billowed around her knees, the night wind rushed into her black skirt, and the cold air brushed against her skin.

"You're going to do it again—"

Before he could finish speaking, Li An took three steps at a time, his feet slamming against the ground at the base of the community wall, and Princess Fineria was lifted into the air, gracefully vaulting over the more than two-meter-high black wrought iron wall.

The landing made a heavy "thud," and Fineria was jolted. She instinctively clung to his neck, her heart pounding in her chest.

Ang Lee put her down, took her hand, and ran towards the street in the night.

The streetlights cast a trail of light and shadow overhead. The two ran half a block on the empty sidewalk before Li An raised his hand to the side of the road and flagged down a taxi.

"York Street." He opened the car door, first shoved Fineria inside, then sat in the back seat himself, and slammed the door shut, leaving the lively birthday party behind in the exhaust fumes.

The taxi drove through the Brooklyn night, the street scene outside the window gradually changing from neat row houses to red brick warehouses and old factories.

Fineria leaned against the car window, her own face reflected in the glass: messy hair, slightly swollen lips, lingering excitement and a hint of worry.

She secretly glanced at Li An beside her, who was looking out the window, his profile illuminated by the shifting streetlights.

They arrived at York Street, and the two got out of the car. Ang Lee paid the fare and stood on the side of the street looking around.

This is the heart of the DUMBO district. The road underfoot is paved with uneven Belgian cobblestones, and on both sides are old-fashioned red brick warehouses from the last century. The towering walls bear the marks of time, and iron fire escape ladders are attached to the exterior walls like blood vessels.

Ang Lee took out his phone, turned on the screen in the night breeze, and handed it to Fineria: "Call your best friend and tell her we've sneaked out. Ask her to help us out a little longer."

Fineria took the phone, biting her lower lip as she dialed. The call connected, and Tinas's low voice came through the receiver: "Feeding? You guys are done?"

"Uh, Tina... Ang Lee and I are outside. We sneaked out."

"Could you watch the door for me for a bit? If anyone comes looking for me, just say I'm changing clothes or something..."

"What?!" Tinas's voice suddenly rose, then she forcibly suppressed it for fear of being overheard: "What did you say?! You two sneaked out?!"

"Finnie, are you crazy? This is your own birthday party! If you run away, what will happen to those dozens of people down there?"

"What should I do? What if someone knocks on the door and asks where Fini is? What should I say? That she eloped with some Asian student who appeared out of nowhere?"

Li An reached into Fineria's hand and took the phone, holding it to his ear: "If anyone comes looking for you, just call me and I'll handle it."

After saying that, Li An hung up the phone decisively without waiting for any further response.

"You're going to handle this? How are you going to handle it? You're nowhere to be found right now—"

"Hang up."

"Feed? Feed, feed, feed—!"

Ang Lee returned the phone to Fineria, who looked up at him and asked, "You're just hanging up like that?"

"Um."

"She'll definitely swear."

"I've already scolded him." Li An shrugged.

She did indeed curse. Tinas, who was blocking the doorway, stared at the words "Call Ended" on her phone screen, her gray-green eyes practically spitting fire.

She took a deep breath, stuffed her phone into her handbag, and then muttered a curse word in a voice only she could hear.

"Tinas Grey," she muttered to herself, leaning against the wall outside Fineria's bedroom door, "you must have owed Fineria money in your past life. No, you owed her your life!"

She glanced up at Harrington, who was leaning against the wall, his gaze never leaving the door. He had taken off his suit jacket sometime during the night, and the top two buttons of his collar were undone, revealing skin reddened by alcohol.

Tina cursed inwardly again.

After hanging up the phone, Fineria's stomach suddenly let out a clear rumble. She paused, then her ears turned red, and she muttered softly, "I only drank all night... I didn't eat anything..."

"Then you should eat something first, and then go on your date later." Li An glanced around and saw that the street under the streetlights was very lively, with mobile food trucks parked there, their lights shining warm yellow.

Ang Lee glanced around and noticed a food truck with a sign on its roof that read "Jianbing Guozi" (煎饼果子).

The aroma of jianbing guozi, mingled with the smoky scent of eggs and sauce, wafted across the street. A dozen or so people were lined up in front of the jianbing guozi, and plumes of steam rose from the griddle, dispersing in the night breeze.

Ang Lee took Fineria's hand: "Come on, let me treat you to something nice."

"What is that?" she asked, her tone filled with curiosity.

"Jianbing guozi," Li An said.

"Fry...fry what?"

"Jianbing Guozi." Ang Lee had already walked towards the stall. "One of the greatest street inventions of Tokyo University, you haven't tried it?"

Fineria shook her head.

"Then you got to eat it today."

The two squeezed into the short queue, and Ang Lee spoke to the elderly man in the white hat in Chinese:

"Uncle, a large one, with two eggs, sausage crisps and chicken strips, no spice." Then he took out a few US dollars and handed them over.

The uncle responded and deftly scooped a spoonful of batter onto the scalding hot iron plate. With a flick of the bamboo scraper, a round, thin pancake was formed.

Meanwhile, in the corridor on the second floor of the apartment, Harrington could no longer sit still.

He had already drunk his third glass of whiskey, pacing back and forth in the corridor several times, the whiskey swirling in the glass.

Finally, he rushed to Fineria's room door, knocked, and said in a deliberately calm tone:

"Finnie? Are you in there? I prepared some birthday presents for you, come out and see?"

Tinas's voice came from inside the door: "Finnie is still changing. Come back later."

Harrington gritted his teeth and knocked twice more: "Taking so long to change? It's been over an hour... Are you feeling unwell? Should I go in and check on you?"

"I said I'm changing!" Tinas's voice was clearly irritated. "What's the rush, you're a grown man? Just wait!"

Harrington clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and sipped his wine from the glass.

Inside the door, Tinas was frantically tapping on her phone screen, texting Fineria: Harrington's blocking the door!! When are you guys coming back?!

Fineria's phone vibrated in her pocket. She took it out, glanced at it, and handed it to Ang Lee: "Tina said Harrington is blocking the door... What was the solution we discussed before?"

Ang Lee glanced at the screen, handed the phone back to her, and then turned to the pancake vendor, urging, "Boss, how much longer?"

"Almost there! Almost done!"

Inside the apartment, Tinas shouted loudly, still dutifully blocking people through the door. Harrington had already put down his wine glass and was now pounding on the door.

"Phinelia! Phinelia! Open the door!" Harrington, emboldened by alcohol, was determined to see her.

"I told you to wait a minute, are you deaf?!" Tina roared as she opened the door, about to push Harrington away, but her angry expression froze on her face.

"Ah—" she screamed, trembling, then turned sharply and ran to the side, her high heels clicking rapidly on the floor.

Harrington was completely taken aback. When he saw Tinas run away, a sliver of smugness even crept into his heart. Had she finally come to her senses? Was she finally willing to give him and Finney some space?

He gave a smug smile, reached for the doorknob, and prepared to push the door open and go inside.

Then Harrington suddenly felt a chill down his spine, as if something huge was blocking the light from the crystal chandelier coming from behind.

A huge shadow slowly appeared on the painted surface of the wooden door in front of him. The shadow was so large that it was not human-like, with its shoulders almost reaching the walls on both sides of the door frame and its head almost touching the ceiling.

The shadow enveloped Harrington completely, and he could feel the air behind him grow cold and heavy, with a strong, pungent smell of blood emanating from behind him.

He heard the women's piercing screams behind him, and his companions' calls for him to run.

Harrington whirled around to find a gigantic creature covered in long white fur standing behind him. It was at least two meters tall, with shoulders as thick as an adult gorilla, a hunched back, and two blood-red eyes that gleamed like glowing embers under the light.

Its mouth was wide open, revealing two rows of ferocious, dark yellow fangs, and thick saliva dripped from between its teeth, splashing onto the floor.

"ah--!!!!"

Harrington screamed and turned to run, but Old White's huge, hairy hand reached out from behind and grabbed his left shoulder with a "smack".

Old White tightened his grip, and his shoulder blade cracked under that squeeze. Before Harrington could even cry out in pain, he was flung away by a tremendous force, like a ragdoll cat being casually tossed about.