Chapter 2868

"I have always believed that resurrecting the dead, even if successful, will inevitably invite disaster."

Xia De said, holding his wine glass, thinking of many things from the past:

"To put it in a cliché way—then what is the price? And isn't his grandfather, whom he resurrected using demonic power, just as much of a risk as his cat and dog?"

"Because he firmly believed that his grandfather's heart was as strong as his own, and that someone who had once shouldered responsibility was worthy of trust."

Mr. Asmon used the brief pause to flip over the ninth card, shook his head, set Star 12 aside, and then told the end of the story:

"Retrieving a devoured soul is not a simple task. So he settled down in this small town, relying on years of accumulated experience and a little bit of luck, to seek out that piece of soul from the essence of the demon sealed within his body.

The soul was successfully retrieved, but the body of the young man's grandfather had long since been destroyed. He did not want to use any means to create a body, so he planned to let his grandfather's soul appear within his own body. He would die as a result, and his grandfather would continue the duty of sealing the demon. Until his grandfather also wanted to rest for a while, he could be brought back again."

"This..."

Xia De opened his mouth slightly, not even bothering to draw a card:

"Well, if I had previously thought that he only had such muddled ideas because he had been carrying all this for too long, now I can basically be certain that he was influenced by the demon."

"The cat and dog, like us now, both saw the wrongness of this idea and the huge risks involved. But even though the cat and dog tried to stop it from the side, the grandfather's soul was ultimately put into the young man's body. Thus, the demon disguised as a soul was resurrected in the young man's body. There was never any resurrection of the dead; what was obtained from the demonic essence must also be a demon."

"As expected... so this time it's a bad ending again? After the young girl who had a crush on the young man, the noble lady who had mutual feelings with the middle-aged man, and the child who sacrificed himself for his family, is it finally the turn of this traveler who has walked a long road to die?"

Xiao En Asmon did not answer, his black eyes looking at Xia De. Xia De felt that a full half-minute passed before he spoke:

"But at the final moment when the demon was about to succeed, the loyal cat pierced the young man's heart with its claws, and the loyal dog smashed the young man's head with its paws.

The demon's plan to occupy the young man's body failed, and it returned to the young man's soul. But the young man was about to die, and the demon would also be resurrected because it had fulfilled his childhood wish. The cat and dog, already severely injured in the struggle, sacrificed their own bodies and souls, burned their own existence, and used the power the young man had given them to bring the young man back from the brink of death."

A sigh came from a corner of the lively Snow Festival celebration, but no one could tell who was sighing.

"So when the young man opened his eyes again, the sealed demon was still in his body, and his traveling companions were no longer by his side. Only two piles of ash in the shape of a cat and a dog were dissipating bit by bit with the wind."

Xia De pursed his lips and took a deep breath through his nose. He still did not draw a card, but turned his head to look in the direction of the lively bonfire. Although he had long known that there would definitely be sacrifices and deaths in the ending of this story, hearing the ending for real, even on such a pleasant night, still left him feeling extremely melancholy:

"I originally thought they could continue to accompany him on a long journey. I didn't expect them to leave so soon. I'm a bit disappointed now. Every story is always like this. I know that's how demon stories should be, but isn't this a bit... tragic for the sake of tragedy?"

"Mr. Watson, don't be anxious, the story isn't over yet."

The demon scholar's mouth curled up, his black eyes staring at Xia De's profile:

"When the young man looked up and looked around, this was not a quiet and peaceful small town, but the ruins of an ancient town standing on scorched earth. Mummified corpses were scattered all over the ruins, and a suffocating, terrifying power had completely defiled this land.

And when he brought the remains of the cat and dog to the small hill outside the ruined town, there was no statue of his grandfather there either. There was only a skeleton tied to a cross, its flesh already pecked clean by crows."

Xia De shifted his gaze to him:

"So, this was all a conspiracy by the demon?"

"In a future dream, the young man traveling alone dreamed of that town again.

His grandfather had indeed been here, but the sinner who wanted to seize the demon's power was greedy for that great power, and the resulting riot of evil spirits completely destroyed this place. After the sinner was finally killed by the young man's grandfather, he was hung on the hill outside the town.

There were no heroic feats here in the past, only disasters caused by the greedy. And now, in the same place, the demon, because of the young man's mental exhaustion and soul's confusion, made another small test. Although it didn't succeed, it could continue to wait. After all, there will be more opportunities in the future.

As for the young man, he buried the cat and dog, just as he had buried many people and things. Then he shouldered his bag and silently continued walking into the distance."

Xiao En Asmon raised his glass to Xia De, then drank the last drop of wine.

The story only truly ended here. This was already the seventh story. None of the endings of the previous six stories were good, but this time Xia De felt particularly sad about the story. He didn't go to drink, but remained silent for a long time before summarizing:

"The young man who had shouldered responsibility for too long wanted to find other ways to deal with the demon, but ultimately fell into a trap and sacrificed his best friends because of it.

Is this story trying to tell us that if something can maintain the status quo, it's best not to interfere with it? Or is it saying that we should listen carefully to the opinions of our friends around us and not act arbitrarily?"

Xia De asked. Xiao En Asmon across the table still answered him with that snake-like tone. Compared to the real demon who had been sitting in this position just a moment ago, he looked more like the ancient evil spirit from the rumors:

"These stories are just trying to tell us a simple truth: beware of the demon's conspiracy."

Xia De nodded slowly:

"Yes, that's the point. But mortals always make mistakes. That young man who had shouldered responsibility since childhood, what... what happens to him next? Having lost his traveling companions, the young man will become lonely again. I believe he will continue to walk on, but he will eventually die; mortals are destined to die. Without his helpers, can he continue to seal the demon for the rest of his life? Even if he can, what will happen after he dies?"

"That is the story for next time, Mr. Watson."

The demon scholar asked softly, and Xia De had no choice but to continue sighing:

"Alright then. Mr. Asmon, I must compliment you; your storytelling level is even better than that detective novelist from the North."

Xiao En Asmon did not comment on this, but reached out to signal Xia De to continue drawing cards:

"Our card game isn't over yet."

The tenth card was flipped over by Xia De, and Sun 2 【Angel · Gakiel, Herald of the End】 appeared in his hand, as if Mr. Asmon had calculated it, and the card game ended just as the story finished.

"I won again."

Xia De said, but without any excitement; the aftertaste of that story was a bit heavy. The demon scholar, however, smiled and nodded, completely unaffected by his own story.

So Xia De took out his wallet, handed twenty 10-pound notes to Mr. Asmon, and then added the new card to his deck. He was glad that the other party didn't ask him why he was carrying such a large sum of money when he went out.

But regardless, with this Sun 2 card, the total number of Xia De's special rule cards officially reached 40. There were only 14 cards left to reach the goal of collecting a full set of special cards.

【Excluding the Time, Chaos, Creation, Sun, and Fate of the Founder series, you are actually only missing nine cards with unique suits and numbers.】

"She" whispered in his ear, and the demon scholar across the table stood up after putting away the banknotes:

"I still need to go to the square on the west side to take a look. Mr. Watson, see you next time. I look forward to our unexpected meeting in the next city."

After he nodded to Xia De, he turned and disappeared into the crowd. Xia De sat there watching him leave, and then planned to go back too:

"I just feel even heavier in my heart. As expected, when you're in a bad mood, you shouldn't listen to any demon stories. I originally thought the news I heard from the real demon tonight was the most annoying thing, but I didn't expect the story I heard from the fake demon scholar to affect my mood the most.

I'll drink a cup of hot tea when I get back and go to sleep. I'll think about those annoying things tomorrow."

【Don't forget your roses.】

"She" said with a smile.

"Yes, yes, that's why I said there are many annoying things. And even if I bring the roses back, I can't go knocking on doors one by one to deliver flowers like I'm handing out flyers. That would make the girls think I'm that kind of... It's the Snow Festival, but it didn't snow. I really thought it would snow tonight."

While muttering about trivial things in his heart, he also disappeared into the crowd in the square, leaving only the table with two wine glasses, a wine pot, a plate of peanuts, and a plate of fried beans waiting for new guests.

Seeing that everyone had left, the pigeons tried to fly onto the table but were chased away by the waiter who came to clean up. They then flapped their wings and flew high, flying over the heads of the cat and dog crouching at the edge of the square under the night sky illuminated by the square's lights.

They crouched there together, watching the colorful world of humans, but no one looked at the black dog and black cat. Darkness enveloped them, light avoided them, and even the troubled Xia De didn't notice that he had been watched by them.

"I just saw the great soul who liberated us from Osenfort in the Randall Valley. Should we go and say hello?"

The cat asked the dog. That was the voice of the Osenfort family's maid, and the answer to her was the butler's voice. The dog scratched its face with its paw:

"I don't think now is the time to disturb him. After all, the time for the answer to be revealed hasn't come yet."

After saying this, they ran into the square together and followed the figure with the messenger bag slung across his shoulder. And inside that messenger bag, a glass bottle gently bumped against a notebook, and colorful smoke flashed through it.