Chapter 164: Superposition State

Having dismissed the Middle Corpse that begged for food and the Upper Corpse that was greedy for wealth, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe bypassed Shen Qing, who was lying on the ground unable to speak, and walked toward the second floor.

"Um, the stone statues downstairs..." Xia Yubing hurriedly followed, asking in a low voice.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe didn't look back: "They won't move again for the time being."

The rule of the stone statues is "having life when not being observed," and before going upstairs, he had placed a lit flashlight on the stairs, and now he had switched back to the identity of Feng Yushu.

The stone statues included in the Strange World's field of vision are in a state of "being observed," and therefore do not have life.

"Okay, I understand." Xia Yubing nodded, looking up at Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's soft, beautiful lower back as he walked in front, silently swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

She continued: "When I was on the street before, I lost a lot of things in my bag, and they were all high-value items—bank cards, car keys, jade watches, sapphire earrings, etc. Does this also have to do with the ghosts in the town?"

"The Upper Corpse is greedy for treasures; you must have happened to walk near a deceased person, encountered the deceased's Upper Corpse, and had the 'treasures' in your bag stolen by it."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe thought for a moment, couldn't figure out the specifics, and shook his head: "Pity I don't know whose Upper Corpse it was."

Xiao Ke's Upper Corpse was dismissed as soon as it appeared; the one who stole the luxury goods from Xia Yubing's bag shouldn't be Xiao Ke. There should be other deceased people in Zanju Town, and the detached Three Corpses wander around the houses and yards of Zanju Town.

"The Three Corpses of other deceased people..." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe hissed, remembering something: "When Du Diao Hanjiang called you before, he said he met A-Zhen?"

"Right." Xia Yubing nodded: "He said A-Zhen was chasing him."

"Then what he encountered might be A-Zhen's Lower Corpse." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe speculated: "A-Zhen died here three years ago; I didn't expect that after so long, her Three Corpses would still be wandering here."

If you put it that way...

Are the shadows that he "saw" through the Strange World's vision before, those shadows that disappeared as soon as they appeared and could not be observed, also the Three Corpses left behind after someone died?

But "cannot be observed" should be the characteristic of the stone statues in the town; he just faced the Upper and Middle Corpses of Xiao Ke and even fed them Snickers, so clearly the Three Corpses can be observed.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe pondered for a while and listed the known information in items:

【1. People who die in Zanju Town will differentiate into Upper, Middle, and Lower Corpses, wandering around the town】

【2. The stone statues in Zanju Town are in a superposition state of "living object" and "dead object"】

Specifically manifested as—the stone statues are dead objects when observed, and living objects when not observed.

【3. The rules of the Thought Steel Seal cannot operate normally in Zanju Town, suspected of being interfered with by something】

But the rules of Taiyi and the Strange World can operate normally.

Pondering, the two walked to the stair corner between the second and third floors, where Xiao Ke's corpse lay.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe originally intended to quickly meet up with Jiang Han in the center of the town to see if he could learn more useful information from him, but what just happened changed his mind.

Having just dismissed Xiao Ke's Three Corpses, he wanted to see how her corpse was doing now.

"You, who are you?!"

At this moment, a timid whisper suddenly sounded from ahead. Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe walked up the stairs, looked up, and saw a slim woman in a pink puffy dress leaning against the wall, looking at them with vigilant eyes.

"Who I am is none of your business." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe said without hesitation: "Don't let her move around."

Xia Yubing hesitated for a moment, looked at Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe, whose attitude was as usual, and finally forcibly suppressed the fear in her heart. She rushed forward in one stride, braced Xiao Ke's shoulders with one hand to hold her in her arms, and locked her arms firmly with the other, completely depriving her of the ability to resist.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe walked up and reached out to touch Xiao Ke's neck and chest.

The body felt warm, the pulse was calm, and the heartbeat was constantly accelerating; he didn't know if it was from anger or fear, but in any case, she was still alive. Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's hand rested on Xiao Ke's left chest as she struggled constantly, his brow slightly furrowed. He felt as if he had figured out some things, but also as if he hadn't.

—First, did Xiao Ke really die?

From the perspective of the vital signs of a human body, yes, she died; Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe touched her with his own hands and felt no body temperature or pulse.

But when he and Xia Yubing first arrived downstairs in this building, the Strange World observed two shadows in the stairwell, one was Shen Qing, and one was Xiao Ke.

At that time, the female corpse riding on Shen Qing and squeezing him was judged by the Strange World as a "living person."

A living person with no vital signs.

And after Shen Qing paid the energy to satisfy the Lower Corpse, and he gave treasures and food to dismiss the Upper and Middle Corpses, Xiao Ke's body regained vital signs, and she even regained self-awareness and a sense of shame.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe looked at Xiao Ke, who was blushing, struggling constantly, but unable to break free from Xia Yubing's arm lock, and nodded slightly.

"The stone statues in Zanju Town are in a superposition state of 'living object' and 'dead object,' which is very similar to the previous Xiao Ke.

When riding on Shen Qing, her body had no vital signs, but her shadow was judged by the Strange World as a 'living person'; isn't this also a superposition state of 'life' and 'death'?"

Extending along this line of thought, what determines the life and death of the stone statues is "observation"; if someone observes, it is death, and if no one observes, it is life.

Then what determines the life and death of Xiao Ke?

It is the Three Corpses.

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Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe narrowed his eyes, his thoughts entangled, recalling the records he had seen in books before about the Three Corpses and Nine Worms:

【When a person is born, they all reside in the parents' womb, fed by the essence of the five grains; therefore, each person's belly contains Three Corpses and Nine Worms, which are a great harm to people.】

This passage comes from the "Taishang Three Corpses Middle Scripture," which means that when a person lives in the world, in a mortal body, eating the essence of the five grains, the belly harbors Three Corpses and Nine Worms, which are very harmful to people.

This kind of ancient text from a long time ago is half science and half metaphysics.

Among them, "Nine Worms" is the scientific part, referring to the nine types of parasites in the human body, such as: roundworms, lung worms, dung beetles, etc. Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe had read another book, "Taishang Removing Three Corpses and Nine Worms to Protect Life Scripture," which taught ancient methods of preventing parasites through regulating lifestyle habits and using medicine.

And "Three Corpses" is the metaphysical part, saying: After a person dies, the soul ascends to heaven, the spirit disperses to earth, and only the Three Corpses wander, causing trouble everywhere, and are called "ghosts."

When a person is alive, the Three Corpses don't stop either. Every year on the night of the Gengshen day, when a person is asleep in bed, their Three Corpses will take this opportunity to communicate with heaven and earth, adding oil and vinegar to the evil deeds the person has done, reporting them to heaven, bringing disaster and reducing the person's lifespan.

Therefore, in Daoist cultivation methods, there is a saying of "Guarding Gengshen," meaning that practitioners cannot sleep on every Gengshen day, needing to stay up all night until dawn, not giving the Three Corpses a chance to report to heaven.

【Three times guarding Gengshen, the Three Corpses will tremble in fear; seven times guarding Gengshen, the Three Corpses will be cut off forever. Then the spirit will be stable, the body will last forever, the five spirits will be calm, and they will no longer harass.】

This passage can be roughly understood as: guarding the Gengshen day seven times in a row can starve the Three Corpses to death in the belly, from then on the spirit is stable, and life is prolonged.

Thinking of this, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe carefully looked at Xiao Ke, who was still struggling constantly in front of him.

"Shen Qing and I successively satisfied the three desires of the Three Corpses; in a sense, does this count as bribing her Three Corpses so they didn't go to report to heaven?"

Just like his grandmother using maltose to stick the Kitchen God's mouth shut, not letting him say bad things about their family.

Could this be the reason why Xiao Ke changed from the superposition state between life and death back to a living person?

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe opened his phone and looked:

【July 27, 2018】

【Lunar June 15】

【Gengshen Day】

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 165 =====