Chapter 391: I Am Not That Person

In Lin Ling's eyes, from the smallest microorganism to the greatest Alien God, what difference is there between them? To Lin Ling, they are actually all the same.

Therefore, humans and Alien Gods are strictly equal in his eyes.

In fact, it is not only humans who patronize the Forest Cabin; when humans did not yet exist, Alien Gods also patronized the cabin.

In the world of Alien Gods, there is no concept similar to a "trading place" as humans understand it, but they still have a cognition of "trading," so the Forest Cabin is not a small shop in the eyes of Alien Gods, but a place of worship.

To Alien Gods, the concept of "trading" is lower life forms offering prayers to them, and they selectively provide feedback based on their mood.

Precisely because there are levels of strength among Alien Gods, there are actually times when "trading" occurs between them as well.

When they face Lin Ling, they naturally also engage in trading behavior.

In the eyes of some Alien Gods, Lin Ling is a generous benefactor, because rarely is there anyone like him who will definitely provide feedback to the trading requests they propose, even though in human eyes this is merely an equivalent exchange.

But in the eyes of a miser, perhaps an equal trade is already an act of charity.

Their reactions are too boring in Lin Ling's view, and just as Li Yuning thought, once one becomes like them, one becomes boring.

Power is never an interesting thing; it is interesting precisely because limited abilities create unexpected developments.

When one fails to do a thing well within the scope of one's ability, it is not interesting, because this is the incompetence that makes one feel depressed.

Incompetence is also not interesting.

So, Lin Ling likes to watch tiny creatures struggle in adversity; this is his only pleasure.

Humans are rare, intellectual, and wise creatures, yet they are full of seven emotions and six desires; rich emotions and a changeable spiritual world are the unique characteristics of this species.

Furthermore, humans are creatures built between loss of control and reason; looking across the universe, they are quite strange existences.

In the eyes of Abnormal creatures, are humans not also Abnormals in their eyes? It is just that in their eyes, these Abnormals that differ from them pose no threat.

No threat does not mean the risk factor is zero.

Seeing humans turn around to harm or even kill Abnormals, seeing Abnormals being subdued and killed in ways they never anticipated—such scenes that exceed conventional situations are what Lin Ling loves to see.

Of course, if in the process humans are too clever for their own good, or if an Abnormal suffers a mishap due to other accidents, that is also fun.

As long as there are "accidents" he cannot foresee, they are all fun.

It is easiest to find fun in humans; Lin Ling acts closer to them, and only then is it easier to see the fun.

Lin Ling saw the struggles of the father and daughter, Li Jiahong and Li Yuning, in his eyes. Although he could understand the mood and reasons for them performing these actions, he still smiled with satisfaction as he watched them step by step walk toward a result he had not anticipated.

In that "parent-child story," the person who actually corresponds to the story is not Li Yuning, but Li Jiahong himself.

The general in the story will lose his own biological child, then welcome a new child, and finally die a miserable death; this is the general trajectory of Li Jiahong's fate.

As for how he loses his biological child, how he welcomes a new child, and finally dies in what kind of predicament, those are individual choices. If he himself does not realize his own destiny, no matter how he chooses, he cannot escape his general trajectory of fate.

This is also the truth of the cycle of destiny.

However, Li Jiahong misunderstood; he thought the daughter he adopted corresponded to the child in the story, and his actions instead facilitated the true destiny of Li Yuning.

The general trajectory of Li Yuning's fate is to have successively almost died at the hands of her parents, and finally to die a miserable death.

She had already almost died in the danger created by her own mother, and this time Li Jiahong pushed her toward death with his own hands.

Li Jiahong asked Lin Ling for help, and Lin Ling provided help.

The Doll Piggy Bank that Li Yuning obtained, which can acquire coins for lifespan limits, actually could indeed help Li Yuning jump out of her cycle of destiny. She could live beyond the limit of her expected lifespan; during this period, as long as she could find a way to change "dying an unnatural death," then she would have jumped out of fate.

Lin Ling watched this pair of father and daughter right under his nose, paying for each other with love, and slowly pushing each other off a cliff; he only felt it was interesting in his heart.

As long as they do not make a request, he will not disturb their subsequent progress.

And now, regrettably, Li Yuning failed to escape her fate; she still died a miserable death under the joke of an Alien God, but Li Jiahong used the method he found to transform Li Yuning into an Abnormal, allowing her to continue living under a different identity even after death.

Therefore, Li Yuning's new cycle has restarted; the new cycle will "grow and diverge" into new forks of fate, and only then will Li Yuning again possess the voucher to trade at the Forest Cabin, because she again has "currency" with which to shop.

It is a pity that this pair of father and daughter are still immersed in their own worlds and do not realize this, thinking they are looking out for each other, when in reality they are hurting each other.

"Still a slightly regrettable ending to the cycle, then," Lin Ling thought.

He just sat quietly on the recliner in the Forest Cabin, stroking the black cat napping on his stomach, his gaze sweeping over the other employees in the shop.

These employees have basically all jumped out of the cycle, except for the Li father and daughter; their identities are special, yet as humans they can stay in the strange-filled Forest Cabin and come into contact with the strange, but their fates have not become special because of this. It is truly a pity; in fact, they were just that little bit away.

"Did I succeed? Did I help Yuning escape her fate?" Li Jiahong asked Lin Ling, his tone somewhat urgent; he hoped that all the effort he made was worth it, his eyes filled with hope.

Lin Ling, however, told him frankly: "No, she has already restarted now."

Li Jiahong's face turned pale, his steps unsteady, and he stumbled to support himself against the table beside him, barely standing firm. He then, with a heavy heart, once again submitted a request for a day off to Lin Ling and went home to shut himself away.

Seeing Li Jiahong leave, the other employees in the cabin felt a little sympathy.

Li Duojin is the employee in this cabin who respects Lin Ling the most; he asked with some curiosity: "Boss, can you see your own fate?"

"Fate?" Lin Ling smiled, let the black cat go from his hand, and stood up to pace inside the cabin. "I was never born into the six paths of reincarnation; I was born free of shackles."

"But don't you have a great vow?" Li Duojin recalled the stories he knew, that practitioner who made the grand vow: "If hell is not empty, I vow not to become a Buddha."

"There is one thing you seem to have misunderstood." Lin Ling stopped his steps and looked back at him. "I have never been the person you think I am."