Chapter 119: Shy in the Pocket

I have encountered death three times.

The dim world was filled with monotonous colors. Pale flames jumped happily in the hollow trunk of the ginkgo tree. Everything around was silent. The Earth God, wearing a wide official robe, still sat in the small Earth Temple, kind-hearted and smiling, holding a jade tablet in both hands at his waist.

【The Great Emperor of the Profound and Subtle Manifestation, Mighty Suppressor of Monsters】, 14 gold-lacquered characters were listed vertically, appearing particularly eye-catching in the dim tones around.

"Ah..." Feng Yushu's mouth opened slightly, waking up from the fear of death, her brain still a bit dazed. She still couldn't quite understand what had happened just now.

"Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe, I... where are we?" She couldn't help but ask softly.

But as soon as the words left her mouth, Feng Yushu was stunned, because she found that she... couldn't hear what she said.

Not only human speech, but also the rustling of the wind through the ginkgo canopy, the crackling of flames roasting wood, the chirping of insects in the corner, her own breathing... and the ubiquitous environmental white noise, everything, all sounds, had disappeared.

This was a world completely without "sound."

The world of "Xi."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe didn't seem surprised or unexpected. He silently took out his phone, opened WeChat, and typed a line in the input box:

"We are on the -2 layer."

-2 layer?

Feng Yushu frowned and also typed a line on her phone, showing the screen to Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe: "-2 layer, does that mean we died three times?"

"Yes." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's response was crisp and neat, typing a question in the input box:

【How many lives do you think a person has?】

"Life only happens once, so naturally, it's 1 life." Feng Yushu's judgment was without hesitation, giving her answer directly:

【Of course it's 1 life.】

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe nodded, typing while walking toward the road he had come from. Feng Yushu followed him hurriedly.

Neither of them made a sound while walking.

The ghost shadows that had surrounded them from all directions just now had disappeared at some point. The beheaded Ji Taimi, the human bone white snake that crawled out of Ji Taimi's grandmother's body... all kinds of eerie things seemed to have disappeared along with the colors and sounds of this world. Now, the entire Nursing Village was empty, empty and dead silent.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe finished typing quickly. Feng Yushu took the phone and saw a long paragraph of text on it:

【A person has 1 life, so the human world, the Yang world, or the real world where living people live, is the 1st layer.】

【After a person dies, life returns to 0, changing from a living person to a Yin soul, which is the so-called soul, or ghost. The place where ghosts are is called the underworld, which is the 0 layer.】

【After a ghost dies, it becomes 'Gui', and life changes from 0 to -1. 'Gui' is a deformed spiritual body that is half-human, half-beast, extremely cruel. Ghosts fear 'Gui' just as people fear ghosts.】

【The place where 'Gui' are active is called the 'Ming Realm of the Ghostly', which is 1 layer deeper than the underworld on the 0 layer, which is the -1 layer.】

【And the place where we are is even deeper than the Ming Realm of the Ghostly on the -1 layer.】

Feng Yushu nodded secretly, half-understanding, and carefully remembered the words on the screen: "The 1st layer is the Yang world, the 0 layer is the underworld, the -1 layer is the Ming Realm of the Ghostly..."

What is the place deeper than the Ming Realm of the Ghostly?

While Feng Yushu was reading the text on Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's phone, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe had already typed the next paragraph on her phone:

【The ancients said: When people die, they become ghosts; when ghosts die, they become 'Gui'; when 'Gui' die, they become 'Xi'.】

【This is a saying that once circulated widely among the folk in the Central Plains, which can be traced back to the Song Dynasty. Books like "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" in the Qing Dynasty also mentioned it, and the "Tao Te Ching" also has relevant annotations on the morphological characteristics of 'Xi', 'Yi', and 'Wei' after 'Gui' die.】

【We committed suicide 3 times, falling from the Yang world on the 1st layer to the -2 layer. This is the world of 'Xi'.】

【The "Tao Te Ching" records: Listen but cannot hear, it is called 'Xi'.】 "'Xi' means, listen but cannot hear..."

Feng Yushu read the text on the screen and suddenly realized. It turned out that it wasn't that her ears had a problem, but that this world was originally a world without sound.

And the way for people to fall from the Yang world on the 1st layer to this faded world without sound was death.

Ning Zhe paused slightly and looked at the bamboo forest not far away—as the whole world turned into gray tones, the originally simple and clear roads in Nursing Village became slightly difficult to identify.

Stopping his steps, a water well was half-hidden in the bamboo forest ahead, looming, and Ji Taimi's small building was not far away.

"But this doesn't make sense..." Feng Yushu had some doubts in her heart, hurriedly typed another line on her phone, pulled Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's sleeve lightly, and handed the screen to him to see.

【But if it is as you said, people are on the 1st layer, ghosts are on the 0 layer, and 'Gui' are on the -1 layer, then what happened just now cannot be explained.】

【We committed suicide 3 times in total, and only then did we successfully descend to the -2 layer.】

【But when we subdued Ji Taimi, we only committed suicide once, and we witnessed with our own eyes his grandmother turning into a half-human, half-beast human bone snake. I think that is 'Gui'.】

【But we only committed suicide once at that time. We should have been in the underworld on the 0 layer at that time. Why would there be 'Gui' in the underworld? Shouldn't 'Gui' be in the Ming Realm of the Ghostly on the -1 layer?】

Feng Yushu couldn't figure out the reason.

... Moreover, Ji Taimi's grandmother was originally a living person. She had only been killed by Ye Yao once, so her life after death should be 0. Even if a mutation occurred after death, she should have turned into a ghost, not that kind of monster that was half-human, half-beast—'Gui'.

=9+Shu_Ba

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe nodded slightly, acknowledging her doubt, and typed a line on the screen again:

【You are right, there shouldn't be 'Gui' in the underworld.】

【So there shouldn't be ghosts in the Yang world, right?】

"Ah..." Feng Yushu's shoulders trembled, as if an electric current had passed through her brain, straight down her spine to her tailbone.

Could it be...

【It cannot be determined yet.】

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe patted her left shoulder lightly, walked toward the small building hidden in the bamboo forest, and typed another line on Feng Yushu's phone:

【All inferences, reasoning, associations, and assumptions, the more steps, the easier it is to be wrong. Let's take it one step at a time, don't be overly ambitious.】

The first step of reasoning based on factual evidence can have a high accuracy rate, but the second step of reasoning based on the results of the first reasoning might be very wrong.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe came to the door of the small building. The door was tightly closed, and the lock on the door latch was also locked.

"Hoo..." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe exhaled lightly, turned to look at Feng Yushu behind him, and exchanged their phones again.

A new line of text was already lying in the input box:

【Do you want to know why I brought you here?】

Feng Yushu's eyes brightened instantly, and she nodded repeatedly.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 120 =====