Chapter 73: Truth Never Lasts Since Ancient Times

After making plans with Ning Zhe for their next contact, Feng Yu shu left the hotel and returned to the hospital to care for her comatose daughter.

The doctor treated Feng Yu shu’s bloodied palm, pierced by bird claws, and warned her to be careful, not to approach raptors recklessly—whether domestic or wild—or next time it might not just be her hand injured.

But Feng Yu shu seemed distracted; she ignored the pain in her palm, her mind filled entirely with what had just happened in the hotel.

When Ning Zhe’s condition finally stabilized and he anchored his consciousness amid the chaos, his eyes turned toward her.

The boy’s left eye was golden as amber, his right eye silver-gray as metal; his luminous pupils no longer held their former lifeless dullness, but instead radiated an ancient, weathered aura—as if the sun and moon, revolving above the heavens for ten thousand years, had witnessed countless seas turned to mulberry fields.

Feng Yu shu was about to ask if he felt better, but Ning Zhe stared at her silently, his beautiful, luminous eyes unblinking.

Ning Zhe looked directly at Feng Yu shu and asked her: “If in the future I ask you to do something extremely dangerous, with a near-certain chance of death, will you obey?”

Feng Yu shu answered without hesitation: “Yes.”

Ning Zhe paused, then rephrased: “If the danger were so extreme that death was inevitable, if every clue suggested I was deliberately trying to kill you, and everyone you trusted most begged you not to believe me—that I was sending you to your death… would you still go?”

Feng Yu shu’s answer remained firm: “Yes.”

In these few short days, too much had happened; by now, she trusted him unconditionally.

“Good,” Ning Zhe nodded. “That’s settled.”

They parted outside the hotel. Back at the hospital, Feng Yu shu stared at her freshly bandaged wound, pondering the meaning behind Ning Zhe’s two questions: Had she not been obedient enough? Did he think she didn’t trust him?

Ning Zhe, walking the streets as Yu Zi qian, thought: “It seems even the Thought Stamp simulated by Tai Yi is effective on humans.”

Though perhaps not as “absolute” or “extreme” as intended.

Correct—he had confirmed the feasibility of simulating a Thought Stamp on himself, then immediately applied the Thought Stamp 【I must obey Ning Zhe without question】 to Feng Yu shu.

Feng Yu shu possessed the two highly complementary rules, Te Rang and Ye Yao, yet lacked the experience and insight befitting someone of her rank—she was timid, indecisive, and accustomed to relying on others; an ideal subject for control.

Since Hejia Village, Ning Zhe had been slowly conditioning her psyche through various means, and the results had indeed been excellent; his escape from Hejia Village would not have been possible without her conditioning.

Yet no matter how meticulous his manipulation, it could never match the simplicity and brutality of absolute trust granted by a Thought Stamp. Once the obedience stamp was applied, he could use her freely for any task. Humans are always easier to control than ghosts.

Like a cultivator in a xianxia novel implanting a slave Gu into a beast.

“Hmm… got myself a decent enforcer… an enforcer? Or a puppet?” Ning Zhe pondered, then shrugged—it didn’t matter. They were the same.

A normal person, in just a few days, had mastered two mutually compatible ghosts, gaining transcendent power without paying any price—power surpassing that of Yu Zi qian, a veteran who had struggled in the strange world for five years. How could such a thing exist?

Feng Yu shu didn’t pay a price to the ghosts—but the ghost collecting the price was now a man named Ning Zhe.

Ning Zhe strolled through the bustling commercial street of Taoyuan’s city center and entered a hotel named Sophia. This hotel was Yu Zi qian’s temporary residence in Taoyuan—he had booked the most expensive presidential suite on the upper floors, spending lavishly.

Thanks to Yu Zi qian’s generous tipping, the receptionist—who had received many tips from him—recognized Ning Zhe despite his lack of room key or any ID, confirmed his identity, and handed him the spare key. Ning Zhe took the key, entered the elevator, and frowned slightly.

He had only acquired the identity of “Ye Yao, known to Tu Yu,” and though he could simulate Ye Yao’s rules and the Thought Stamp via Tai Yi, he knew little about Yu Zi qian himself.

After all, Tu Yu was a senior in the Ascended circle, while Yu Zi qian’s five-year experience was merely that of a novice showing early promise.

After interacting with the receptionist, Ning Zhe gained the identity of “Mr. Yu, known to the receptionist,” and a flood of information surged into his mind, leaving him with a strange, unsettling feeling.

According to the receptionist, Yu Zi qian had arrived at Sophia Hotel with two girlfriends—and they had booked only one suite.

“This kid really knows how to live,” Ning Zhe mused, playing with the keycard, amazed by Yu Zi qian’s private life.

But after thinking a moment, Ning Zhe realized Yu Zi qian wasn’t so bad—after rummaging through Zhang Yangxu’s memories, he’d actually found something even wilder; the boss clearly played harder than Yu Zi qian.

“Showing this to a virgin is still too intense,” Ning Zhe shook his head, clearing the images from Yu Zi qian and Zhang Yangxu’s memories, then stepped out of the elevator with perfect calm.

Ning Zhe had come to Yu Zi qian’s hotel not out of some heroic whim to seduce his girlfriend, but to interact with those close to Yu Zi qian, acquire a fuller identity, and search for information about the ghost tied to the Thought Stamp.

“Tai Yi’s simulated Thought Stamp can only buy temporary relief. To fully resolve the drawbacks of cognitive chaos, I still need to find the real ghost,” Ning Zhe thought, walking toward Yu Zi qian’s presidential suite while recalling the scene at the hospital:

Feng Yu shu, possessing Te Rang, could crush Ye Yao outright, but Tai Yi’s simulated Te Rang could only briefly injure Ye Yao.

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The rules simulated by Tai Yi through identity recognition were merely “good enough”—nowhere near the power of a real ghost.

“I hope Yu Zi qian’s girlfriends know something,” Ning Zhe said, swiping the keycard to open the door. A wave of perfume rushed out; two sisters in bathrobes rushed forward, pressing against him from both sides, each kissing his cheek sweetly, cooing and fawning.

“Zi qian~ You’re finally back! We missed you so much.”

“We’ve bathed! We used jasmine-scented bath salts—smell, Zi qian?”

As the sisters’ perception of Yu Zi qian was stolen by Tai Yi, a torrent of information flooded Ning Zhe’s mind, leaving even his usually composed self momentarily stunned.

“Holy shit…” Ning Zhe was deeply shaken.

Though he had prepared himself mentally, the reality before him still struck him hard—he realized he had been utterly wrong. Zhang Yangxu, the boss, was not even close to being as wild as Yu Zi qian.

Because the twin sisters clinging to him were not Yu Zi qian’s girlfriends at all—he had never truly dated them.

Yu Zi qian was a complete scoundrel; he made these sisters utterly devoted to him by directly implanting the Thought Stamp 【I love Yu Zi qian more than myself】.

“Zi qian, what’s wrong? You seem distracted,” one sister’s soft hand gently touched Ning Zhe’s face; both sisters looked at him with concern.

The worry and love in their eyes were so real, so genuine, it sent a chill down Ning Zhe’s spine.

What, in the face of rules, is a human being?

(End of Chapter)