Chapter 83: Clownfish

The house on the hillside has been abandoned for a long time. The entire village now only houses a dozen or so elderly people; like other places, the population drain is severe, and most of the villagers have moved to the nearby county town. Perhaps in less than ten years, this place will completely turn into a Huangcun.

When dusk hung low, a black city SUV pulled up at the entrance of the village. No one noticed as a man slowly stepped out of the car, lingering by the side for a moment, seemingly admiring the dusk in the mountains and fields. Then, he walked slowly along the dirt road leading into the village.

His legs seemed to have some trouble; he leaned on a metal cane in his hand. The road into the village was an uphill slope, and he had to rely on the support of his cane from time to time, walking with some difficulty. If someone happened to walk out of the village at this time, they would see that he was a relatively young man, only the long-standing pain in his expression made him appear somewhat aged. Of course, the greatest pity was that his legs were bad; otherwise, he would truly be a very handsome man.

He walked very slowly, but he was not in a hurry. He was not from this village, but he had lived here for a long time. Once, in that house on the hillside, someone waited for him to return every night. Now that person was gone, so even if he walked even slower, what did it matter?

In the past, they often sat at the doorway together, looking down at the valley below. Clouds and mist came and went. There was an orchard in the valley; in the spring when the weather was clear, looking from afar, it seemed as if a piece of red mist was floating in the orchard.

He finally reached the door of that house. The courtyard gate was not locked, and he walked into the abandoned courtyard. The two crabapple trees in front of the window still grew so well even without anyone to care for them. When the flowers bloomed in the spring, the courtyard would be full of vitality. However, he knew that by autumn, the fruits the two trees bore would be so sour and astringent that they were completely inedible.

He walked slowly toward his old house, his footsteps becoming lighter, as if afraid of waking someone sleeping inside. The glass on the windows of the old house was already half-shattered, and wooden boards were nailed firmly to the outside.

As the man gradually approached, the iron nails driven into the wooden boards kept loosening and falling into the weeds on the ground. Finally, amidst a cloud of dust, the boards fell off completely, revealing the window. A candle grew out of the silence inside the window, its flame flickering red, illuminating a bit of the empty room.

He stopped in front of the window, not going in, just looking inside through the window. In the dim candlelight, he seemed to see his wife busy in the kitchen. As long as he softly called her name, she would run out like a child. If he forgot to bring a gift back, he would place a small bird on her shoulder or conjure a rose. In this chaotic world, she was so innocent, so easily moved.

When they possessed love, they believed they were invincible; they believed that even if fate did not send them fragrant roses, it would at least show mercy. At that time, he was also content; he did not know why a cripple like him made her feel happy.

In the blink of an eye, before he had fully awakened from the dream, he was left all alone.

From that moment on, his anger never ceased.

He reached out his hand, and a rose spun and landed in his palm. He lowered his head and planted a light kiss on the petals, then carefully placed the flower on the windowsill. It was as if the woman in his memory would still come here and be pleasantly surprised to find this rose.

Suddenly, the Yajian in his consciousness was tugging at him. He touched the ring on his thumb and released a message in the traditional way. Behind the Lotus-shaped mark, the Sage Mage was calling the clownfish.

He responded, and two names that needed his attention appeared in the air.

At the same time, in a satellite suburb of a human city, inside the number one Ghost Building king among the so-called ghost cities, in a room on the fifteenth floor, Du Zhengyi cursed loudly and stood up abruptly from his chair.

Luo Qi flinched and buried himself back into the quilt, curling up under the window.

"Damn it!" Du Zhengyi cursed viciously.

Yes, now he could be certain that Luo Qi was definitely capable of influencing his emotions.

"I am going to kill Luo Ruian," Du Zhengyi announced.

"You are not allowed to kill my dad," Luo Qi said weakly from inside the cocoon he had made with the quilt.

"If it weren't for the maggots your dad planted..."

"Your dad is the fly!" Luo Qi retorted weakly.

Du Zhengyi cursed again, walked over to the quilt cocoon, and kicked it.

"I feel like I'm a parasite," Luo Qi said mournfully. He had already complained a bunch, but he hadn't protested Du Zhengyi's abuse of him, "An alien brain parasite."

"How many disgusting sci-fi movies did you just watch? You still have the energy for self-pity." Du Zhengyi took the pitifully small old phone and looked at it, "How come you didn't tire your eyes blind?"

"What is the point of me living anyway?" Luo Qi muttered, "From now on, my life is like playing a single-player narcissistic game."

"Shut your mouth, Luo Qi." Du Zhengyi kicked him again, "I'm telling you, you can indeed radiate some mental infection, but it's very limited, and the emotions output are also relatively extreme. When you are lively, I do feel in a good mood; you really are a mascot, damn it. But now that you are extremely depressed, you are also a damn Plague God. I get dragged into it too, troubled by this gloomy emotion; I'm even remembering the time when that scumbag Mahjong snatched my lollipop when I was a kid. That shameless guy, how could he be old enough to bully a child? But, that's it. That's it, do you understand what that means?"

"I should be locked up alone in the Cube under Qionglin," Luo Qi muttered.

"Damn it," Du Zhengyi roared in frustration, "Can you listen to me? You haven't, and you couldn't possibly, sway my actions and my mind. You aren't that high-level yet; you can't do such complex work. This is all Luo Ruian—sorry, that bastard father of yours—deliberately provoking me, trying to make me dump your troublesome self back onto him." "Then why don't you dump me back onto him?" Luo Qi asked.

"I'd like to, damn it. If your dad could be consistent, if he were as human-looking on the inside as he is on the outside, I would have kicked you back long ago, and then I'd be worry-free. But look at him; he is clearly a paranoid," Du Zhengyi said irritably. "Damn, I wanted to go find Mahjong tonight, but you Mind Mages, none of you are good people."

"Du Zhengyi," Luo Qi said weakly, "don't you feel like you've never lost your temper this badly before? Does this have anything to do with me?"

"I really want to slaughter you right now, cut you up, and build you into my back wall," Du Zhengyi squatted down, poking at where Luo Qi's head was roughly located on the quilt as he spoke. "Is this your thought too? If it's your thought, then I can do it without any burden?"

"Pervert, restrain yourself!"