Chapter 138

The bad news is that Wei Zhengdao really didn't die.

The good news is that Wei Zhengdao is currently seeking death.

The fact that he didn't die left Li Zhuiyuan feeling somewhat disappointed, but his attitude toward seeking death redeemed his image in the boy's heart, even making him seem a bit more vivid and lively because of it.

At the very least, Wei Zhengdao hadn't fallen into the trap of becoming one of those freaks who voluntarily turn themselves into something neither human nor ghost in pursuit of immortality.

Although, in reality, he had become a freak that even other freaks would call a freak.

This "Five Senses Sealing Diagram" was the rope Wei Zhengdao used to hang himself.

He must have hung from this rope for a very long time, exposed to the wind and sun, the filth on his neck staining the rope black, yet he still hadn't managed to stop breathing.

Instead, he had ended up soaking the rope until it became an evil object.

This evil object later required a Dragon King to personally take action to suppress and shatter it.

Therefore,

Just how filthy was Wei Zhengdao back then?

However, when Wei Zhengdao broke through the seal, the Sealing Diagram certainly hadn't become an evil object yet; otherwise, given Wei Zhengdao's behavioral habits, he likely would have waved his hand grandly and sent it off with a "Destroyed by the Righteous Path."

After being lost, the Sealing Diagram gradually fermented and grew over a long period, eventually becoming an evil entity until it stirred up trouble and brought disaster to the human world; it is truly hard to calculate how much time passed during that interval.

Because even for Deng Chen, his main memories were born only after he was shattered and dispersed; he knows very little about his own past.

As for Qin Kan, who shattered the Sealing Diagram, Li Zhuiyuan had seen his name on the offering table; based on the seating order, one could deduce that he should have been a person from the Yuan Dynasty.

In short, there is currently no specific algorithm that can deduce the year Wei Zhengdao decided to commit suicide and failed.

But what can be roughly determined is that it has been many, many years since then.

This also means that Wei Zhengdao should have continued to attempt other methods of suicide later on.

I sincerely wish him success in his suicide.

The most perfect ending would be that after I enter some mysterious area in the future, I can find a skeleton or a grave with Wei Zhengdao's suicide note left beside it.

The words on it don't need to be many; according to Wei Zhengdao's personality, it should be:

"Haha, I finally succeeded in killing myself."

Thinking of this,

Li Zhuiyuan picked up the photo and gently patted his own forehead.

That won't do,

If I were to see that suicide note, that would be the most terrifying thing and the worst possible result.

After all,

What person who successfully commits suicide could still write down that they succeeded in their suicide?

Therefore, the best result should be that it becomes impossible to find any traces of him anymore; having nothing left behind by him would mean he truly succeeded.

Although this is very unfriendly to future seekers who are curious about him, it is the most consistent with the style he should have.

He had been here, had been proud, had been indulgent, had been rebellious, and finally, he got tired of playing, felt it was meaningless, and had played himself into trouble, then pondered over ways to die, and finally, he died successfully.

Looking back at the "Records of Jianghu Monsters" and the "Records of Righteous Path Demon Subjugation" now, Li Zhuiyuan truly feels as if he is currently spoon-feeding Binbin and the others, grinding things down to a fine powder before feeding it to them.

You, who could write popular science books with such a free and easy spirit, must absolutely not end up in such a cliché way.

Li Zhuiyuan's fingertips traced the sentence on the back of the photo.

The person under the peach tree who practiced Wei Zhengdao's black-covered book turned into that ghostly state, yet when he practiced it himself, nothing happened at all, so Li Zhuiyuan had long suspected whether Wei Zhengdao, like him, suffered from the same mental illness.

But looking at this sentence, there is anger, helplessness, and a wry smile... in short, there are multiple emotions intertwined.

So,

Was your illness cured?

Although Li Zhuiyuan's condition is gradually improving now because of A Li, it's like climbing a mountain; until the very last step, it's really hard to confirm if this path can reach the summit completely.

If there were someone else's successful method and path to refer to, things would be much simpler and clearer.

This guy wrote so many books, did he never think that future generations might have the same rare disease as him, and didn't leave any prescriptions or anything for future fellow patients?

Li Zhuiyuan put this photo into his schoolbag.

And at this moment, Deng Chen returned with Tan Wenbin, Yin Meng, and Lin Shu You.

Lin Shu You walked at the very back, shrinking his head.

He had gone to pick someone up earlier, but ended up not picking anyone up and getting lost inside himself; he felt it was embarrassing enough.

Actually, when Li Zhuiyuan called him to pick someone up, he wanted to instruct him to take the incense burner and light incense to go out, but A You ran out before hearing the whole thing.

In view of this, in future waves or other matters, even if A You needs to be summoned to help, he cannot be arranged to act alone.

A You's independent action sequence must even be ranked behind Runsheng's.

Li Zhuiyuan: "By the way, where is Runsheng?"

Earlier, when the white mist was still there, Li Zhuiyuan hadn't sensed Runsheng's aura.

But Runsheng is, after all, the one with the strongest individual strength in the team; even if Lin Shu You were to perform a spirit possession to summon the White Crane Boy, he still couldn't beat Runsheng with all his Qi gates wide open.

Logically speaking, he should be the least likely to have an accident, but there are no absolutes; for example, Tan Wenbin's complexion is somewhat sallow, which should be because he used the ghost-controlling secret technique and paid the price of his lifespan.

And Yin Meng... seems completely fine, just that her hair is a bit wavy, as if she took the time to go get a perm.

No one answered Li Zhuiyuan's question; everyone had rushed here after resolving the emergencies on their own sides.

Yin Meng's pager was broken and she hadn't received the message, but she knew to call the shop and received the message passed on by Lu Yi.

"Mengmeng, A You, you two go to the vicinity of the Eighth Hospital right now to search; Runsheng should be right around there. He should be injured and temporarily unable to move, but he shouldn't be in life-threatening danger."

The behavior of that pig told Li Zhuiyuan that it was actually worried about the arrival of their side's reinforcements.

And the one who could truly pose a threat to it was Runsheng, so when that pig rushed here, it hadn't managed to kill Runsheng.

Yin Meng: "Understood."

Lin Shu You: "Know~ Understood!"

The two of them left the photo studio immediately.

"Brother Binbin, you wrap up the matters here; for the specific sequence of events, ask him."

Li Zhuiyuan pointed at Deng Chen.

Deng Chen nodded respectfully to Li Zhuiyuan, then smiled at Tan Wenbin.

"Brother Xiaoyuan..."

As Li Zhuiyuan was walking out, he was called out; he turned back to look at Tan Wenbin: "Hmm?"

Tan Wenbin had wanted to ask Brother Xiaoyuan specifically how to wrap things up, or give himself a guiding principle, even a keyword would do, but seeing the paleness and fatigue on Brother Xiaoyuan's face, he really felt embarrassed to make Brother Xiaoyuan rack his brain again, so he changed his words:

"Brother Xiaoyuan, walk toward the west; there is a small shopping mall there, the entrance is suitable for hailing a taxi."

"Good."

It was already dark now; because the thick fog had dissipated, the flow of people on the road had gradually recovered, but the traffic was still interrupted because the road was a mess and cars couldn't pass through.

The drivers who were blocked here and had no way to turn around were still cursing the road administration for suddenly repairing the road in the middle of the night.

Li Zhuiyuan left the photo studio and walked a distance to the west, avoiding the traffic blocked here, and hailed a taxi at the mall entrance.

After reporting the address to the driver, Li Zhuiyuan slumped into the back seat.

He was too tired.

Not only did he take action personally, but he was also injured, and with all the techniques and formations, his whole person was now in a state of overdraft.

In fact, what consumed the most energy wasn't the aforementioned, but "matching wits" with that pig in a short period, and then predicting its operations to dig pits in advance, which was the most brain-consuming part.

Fortunately, that pig didn't let him down; the smartest method he deduced was also what that pig did, which could be considered a meeting of minds between a smart person and a smart pig.

His nose was a bit itchy; it should be that a nosebleed was about to flow out.

Li Zhuiyuan took a piece of paper from his bag, tore it into two halves, rolled them into balls, plugged his nostrils in advance, and then closed his eyes and fell asleep.

"Haihe University is here; is this the gate?" The driver's voice came through.

Li Zhuiyuan glanced at the school gate outside the car window, nodded, and when he was about to take money to pay, he saw that the price on the taxi meter was nearly twice as high as normal.

The boy was very sensitive to data, and he didn't even need to calculate this; he had hailed a taxi back and forth from this school gate to the photo studio twice during the day.

It should be that the driver saw him fall asleep as soon as he got in the car and adjusted the meter; of course, even if he hadn't fallen asleep, seeing that he was a child, he probably would have done the same.

At present, there are indeed many kind and upright taxi drivers in the taxi industry, but it is still impossible to deny the reality that this industry is a mix of good and bad.

It's just that, I just finished a wave, and you're ripping me off on the taxi fare?

Li Zhuiyuan had already seen the black energy condensing on the driver's face as he turned back.

The short nap in the car not only didn't make the boy feel refreshed, but instead made him feel even more exhausted.

The boy didn't question, didn't ask, and was even too lazy to speak; he took money from his bag and handed it directly to the driver.

The driver took the money.

In the black energy on the driver's forehead, blood lines were already vaguely rolling.

Moreover, after taking the money, the driver was still dawdling and didn't give change.

He probably felt that he had met someone who looked young, and as long as the boy was too embarrassed to take the initiative to ask, he wouldn't give change either.

He had seen too many people of all kinds and knew that there were indeed people who, when facing strangers outside, were too embarrassed to speak up even when they were obviously being taken advantage of.

Li Zhuiyuan took his bag and opened the car door.

When getting out of the car, Li Zhuiyuan habitually said: "Thank you, driver."

The driver waved his hand and smiled: "You're welcome."

He was very happy, and he was also very proud.

Li Zhuiyuan saw that on the driver's forehead, the blood light had already appeared.

But the boy didn't say anything, carried his bag, and walked into the school gate.

Just like the sentence his great-grandfather once said:

Everyone has their own fate; some people are truly pitiful and have a hard life, while some people... are just purely, damnably deserving of it.

In the courtyard.

Liu Yi was holding chopsticks and a bowl, checking the newly pickled vegetables.

The old lady's diet was on the lighter side, but it also had to be rich in flavor; all kinds of small pickles were an indispensable supplement and embellishment on the dining table of this home.

Qin Shu was opening up the ground; the last patch of turf in the courtyard was no longer needed either. According to the old lady's instructions, keeping it was useless, so it was better to plant vegetables on all of it.

There was no way around it; with Xiaoyuan starting to walk the river, the old lady's requirements for living life had become increasingly grounded.

When he walked the river back then, the old lady hadn't had this kind of transformation.

Qin Shu felt that it should be because he was indeed far inferior to Xiaoyuan, even though he was already an adult when he walked the river at that time.

Because he was unwilling to admit another possibility, which was that the old lady's mindset had changed because she was old.

In Qin Shu's eyes, the old lady was the matriarch, a mother, and also a master.

Liu Yi walked over with the bowl, picked up a piece of pickled melon with chopsticks, and handed it to Qin Shu's mouth: "You taste it."

Qin Shu opened his mouth to take it, chewed twice, and evaluated: "It can be eaten, but it feels like it's not flavorful enough yet."

"How heavy is your taste? By the time you think it's flavorful, will we still be able to eat it?"

Qin Shu nodded: "Right, that's true."

At this time, the floor-to-ceiling window of the first-floor room was opened from the inside.

Qin Shu and Liu Yi turned their heads to look together; A Li was standing at the doorway.

Both of them had smiles on their faces.

Back at Li Sanjiang's house, they had once played the roles of A Li's parents.

Although they weren't, from an emotional perspective, they had watched A Li grow up.

It's just that the two of them quickly noticed that A Li was holding a crumpled piece of money in her hand.

Looking at the denomination, it should be two yuan.

"A Li?" Liu Yi took the initiative to walk over, "Is the collection box full?"

A Li shook her head.

Liu Yi pursed her lips, glanced upward with her peripheral vision, and asked in a low voice: "Is it that there aren't enough spirit tablets?"

Logically speaking, that shouldn't be the case, because she had just been responsible for replenishing a batch of goods, and given A Li's past consumption rate of raw materials, it shouldn't be out of stock so quickly.

A Li shook her head again. Then, A Li walked out of the room and came to the courtyard.

In the past, A Li would only sit behind the threshold, her feet on the threshold, her gaze looking straight ahead, sitting for a whole day.

After meeting Xiaoyuan and moving here, A Li would sometimes come out of the room, looking at the vegetables and ants on the ground, or look up at the clouds and stars.

Liu Yi prepared to help A Li bring the stool over.

But A Li walked step by step to the courtyard gate.

She reached out and pushed the courtyard gate open.

Liu Yi was stunned, and Qin Shu was also stunned.

A Li walked out of the courtyard gate.

In the past, it wasn't that A Li hadn't been taken out of the door; the old lady would hold her hand and go out, and A Li would be like a sculpture, following along, sitting along.

Later, A Li would sit on Runsheng's tricycle to pick up and drop off Xiaoyuan at school, and Xiaoyuan would also hold A Li's hand, take her to Cui Cui's house to play, or walk and look around in the fields and by the river.

The countryside is vast and sparsely populated, and walking on small paths and field ridges, one wouldn't run into many people.

In one by one/p>

Recently, Liu Yi and Qin Shu also discovered that Xiaoyuan would take A Li for a walk on the playground in the morning.

But no matter what, those were times when there were people close enough to take A Li out.

Right now, this was the first time A Li wanted to go out by herself, and, she actually walked out.

Qin Shu put down the hoe in his hand, preparing to follow.

The courtyard was fine; they were outsiders, and no one would come to visit, but walking out... this was a school, and the population was quite dense.

A Li was afraid of strangers, let alone a crowd of strangers.

Qin Shu had just walked to the courtyard gate when he stopped his steps.

He turned his head and looked at the second floor behind him.

The old lady was standing there, her gaze carrying a warning.

Qin Shu was very surprised; did the old lady mean that she didn't allow him to follow?

"You don't follow; she walked out by herself, and she knows what's outside."

After saying these words, Liu Yumei turned around, closed her eyes, and tears flowed down the corners of her eyes.

On the small path of the family courtyard, there weren't many people.

A Li walked along the side of the road, keeping as much distance as possible from everyone who passed by.

The gates of the nearby family courtyards were mostly open, with people sitting inside; seeing such a beautiful little girl walking past, many of them enthusiastically greeted her.

There were also boys and girls of the same age who took the initiative to walk out, looking at her curiously, and even following her.

A Li didn't respond, nor did she look at them; she just continued to lower her head and walk her own path.

Her left hand was slightly clenched, swaying slightly; in the past, every time she went out, Xiaoyuan would hold this hand of hers.

Her right hand had been subconsciously clenched since she went out, and then she discovered that the money had been crumpled even more by her.

She immediately loosened her right hand, unfolded the money with both hands, and kept smoothing it out.

After leaving the family courtyard and coming outside the playground, the children who were following her either stopped and went back or were called by their families.

Beside the girl, it became much quieter, but in front... there were more people.

She stopped her steps, raised her head, and looked at the crowd in front.

These, mostly, were vibrant college students, but in the girl's eyes, they were terrifying evil ghosts.

She knew they weren't.

But there was no way; those noisy sounds were ghost wails and wolf howls in her ears, and those smiling faces were all exceptionally ferocious in her eyes.

She had stayed in the dream for too long and experienced too much; that environment in the dream had long since eroded her reality.

She took a step back; she wanted to go back.

But lowering her head and looking at the two-yuan banknote in her hand, she raised her head again and continued to walk forward.

She walked into the crowd and felt herself being swallowed up.

The college students who were passing by or simply sitting by the playground chatting and flirting were all attracted by this girl.

It wasn't completely dark yet, and the streetlights inside and outside the playground were very bright, so everyone could see the girl's clothing and appearance clearly.

This sense of refinement, this temperament, it is no exaggeration to say that when eyes fell on her, one would even forget the next breath.

What is popular nowadays are various foreign elements, and ancient-style attire is extremely rare; in most people's cognition, ancient style is like the long sleeves and skirts worn when dancing folk dances at a party.

And what the young girl displayed was a kind of true grace and nobility.

Many students realized at this moment that the descriptions and portrayals in the poems and ancient texts they learned in high school actually existed in reality.

This young girl was like someone who had walked out of a painting; the ancestors really didn't lie to me.

The male and female students on both sides of the road were exclaiming while their gazes followed her movement.

The students who passed by on the road had already opened their mouths when they saw the girl, and after the girl walked past, they all turned around one after another, standing in place and continuing to stare blankly.

After all, this was a university, and the quality of the students was relatively high; everyone was just appreciating and praising, and no one had any other actions.

But the gazes from all around, falling on the girl, brought a scorching burning sensation.

Her vision even became slightly blurred because of this, but she still held on and continued to move forward.

Finally, she arrived at the entrance of the shop.

She stepped onto the steps and walked into the shop.

The enclosed space, the denser crowd, and the closer gazes brought more terrifying pressure and torture.

Her hearing had already been filled with various ferocious laughter and curses, and in her vision, there were terrifying evil spirits and monsters everywhere.

They crawled out from the shelves, they seeped out from the cracks in the floor tiles, and they even hung all over the ceiling.

She stood here, clearly not moving, but this world was crazily twisting and rotating.

Her eyelids began to tremble.

The girl wanted to go crazy, wanted to scream, wanted to let herself lose control completely, because only in this way could she forget her own existence, and when she forgot who she was, she would also forget the terror and suffering.

But she was still trying hard to persist; just when she felt suffocated, she saw that can of orange-white drink on the shelf.

She reached out, took it down, and hugged it into her arms.

Found it.

Next,

Must take it back.

"Wow, what a beautiful little girl." A female student working part-time exclaimed beside Lu Yi.

Lu Yi, who was sitting behind the counter keeping accounts, looked up and saw the little girl walking toward here; he rubbed his eyes because this girl gave him a sense of extreme unreality.

Lu Yi was already feeling uneasy today; the offering table in the dormitory was still set up, and looking at this girl now, he thought he had walked into "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio."

The girl kept smoothing the paper money in her hand as she walked toward here, seemingly wanting to make it smoother, even though this crumpling didn't affect its use and circulation.

Walking to the counter, A Li raised her head and looked at Lu Yi.

In her eyes, Lu Yi was like a long red snake spitting out its tongue, long, section by section.

A ferocious sound came from the counter; the long snake slithered onto the counter, coiled together, like a pile of red sausages stacked up.

Lu Yi leaned his body forward, leaned out of the counter, and asked: "Do you want this?"

A Li placed the two-yuan bill on the counter; the snake used its tail to stick the bill over, spitting its tongue and saying:

"Exactly right."

The girl turned around and walked out of the shop.

Escaping the enclosed environment allowed her to relax slightly.

But next, she still had to walk back home from here.

Li Zhuiyuan dragged his exhausted body into the school and walked in when passing the shop entrance.

"Brother Shentong, Yin Meng called back; I told her where you went to take photos."

"Hmm."

Li Zhuiyuan responded, walked to the shelf, picked up a can of drink, opened it, and took a sip.

He had overdrawn too much today, and he had eaten too much sugar; after entering his mouth, it was full of bitterness, mixed with the surging bubbles, making Li Zhuiyuan feel like vomiting.

He walked to the counter and put the drink he really couldn't drink into the trash can.

Lu Yi didn't notice Li Zhuiyuan's abnormality and continued: "Earlier in the evening, a little girl came to buy things; that little girl was wearing ancient costumes, oh my, she was truly beautiful, so beautiful it was unbelievable."

Li Zhuiyuan's first reaction was A Li.

But then he felt it was impossible; how could A Li run here to buy things.

Whatever she needed, she could just write it down for Liu Yi; she wouldn't even go out herself.

Li Zhuiyuan waved his hand at Lu Yi and then walked out.

After walking out of the living area, he passed by the playground and finally walked into the family courtyard area.

This road, not long and not short, he had walked many times since Grandma Liu moved here, familiar to the point of being unable to be more familiar.

Pushing the door open, he walked into the courtyard.

Li Zhuiyuan saw Qin Shu who was watering the vegetable plot.

"Hello, Qin Shu."

"Hmm." Qin Shu nodded at the boy; he wanted to say something, but seeing the fatigue on the boy's face, he guessed what the boy had just done, so he didn't make a sound at this time.

Li Zhuiyuan pulled open the floor-to-ceiling window and walked in.

A Li was sitting on the bed, should have just finished taking a bath, her body carrying a hint of heat, her hair wet, and Liu Yi was standing behind her, wiping her hair with a towel.

What made Li Zhuiyuan somewhat puzzled was that A Li's complexion seemed somewhat pale, as if she had just experienced a collapse.

But the problem was, even if the girl drew talismans for herself, she would at most feel a little tired, and a short nap would restore her.

In his memory, he hadn't seen A Li in such a state.

"Xiaoyuan is here."

Liu Yi smiled, took away the towel, and walked out of the bedroom; when closing the door, she deliberately didn't use too much force.

The door was pulled to, but not closed tightly.

Liu Yi stood at the doorway, a smile on her lips, waiting quietly.

This sense of anticipation was far beyond tasting the pickled melon she pickled herself.

"A Li, what's wrong with you?"

Li Zhuiyuan's mind echoed with what Lu Yi said earlier; he thought of a possibility, although he still didn't believe it now, because it was too exaggerated and too outrageous.

A Li moved the pillow aside, and inside was a can of Jianlibao.

The girl held the Jianlibao with both hands, knelt and moved from the bed to the bedside, coming in front of the boy.

It really was her who went to the shop!

Li Zhuiyuan pursed his lips; when he reached out to take it, the girl seemed to remember something, lowered her head first, reached out to hook the pull ring, and pulled it open.

In the past, when drinking this, the boy would always open it before handing it to her.

She had accompanied her grandmother to drink tea since she was young; she actually didn't like drinking this sweet stuff, but she liked drinking it with him.

"Pop."

It should have been left still for a good while; the drink didn't overflow.

The girl had a smile on her face, revealing two cute dimples, and handed the drink can to the boy.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out to take it, raised his head, and took a big sip:

"Hmm, so sweet."

———

Today, due to organizing my thoughts, I delayed writing; now I'm posting what I've written, and I'll continue writing. There will be another chapter at noon tomorrow, and I will make up the word count for everyone.

Asking for monthly tickets again; there are only 2k tickets left until the monthly ticket task is completed. Calculated by double monthly tickets, it's actually only 1k away. I implore everyone to help me complete it; hugging everyone tight!

(End of chapter)