Su Er slept until the evening. He woke up from thirst and opened his eyes to find Ji Heng lying on the other side of the bed. Because of his posture, it was difficult to tell whether he was sleeping or resting with his eyes closed.
After hesitating for a moment, he did not open his mouth to wake the other person, but went barefoot to find water to drink.
Seeing the rain outside the window show no sign of abating, but instead intensifying, Soul worried about the bad weather the next day. By then, the full moon would be obscured by dark clouds, and lighting the ram's horn candle to summon the demon might be problematic.
"save--"
There seemed to be voices in the distance, and Sur hurried to the window, listening carefully. However, his sight was constantly drawn to the eagle squatting in the tree outside. At this moment, it was staring at Sur motionlessly, and its sharp eyes showed no friendliness at all.
"Help!"
The cries for help began to become clearer.
The man running over was extremely disheveled, his hair, slightly longer than that of an average man, dripping wetly across his forehead, covering half his face. He didn't even look at the road the entire time, just desperately rushing forward.
Chen Buqi?
Su Er raised an eyebrow and stepped to the right to expand his field of view. After half a minute, he was almost certain that there was no one behind Chen Buqi, and there was no ghost chasing him.
Chen Buqi seemed to sense something and suddenly raised his head. His eyes, too black and white, looked over and saw the fear in Su Er's eyes fade a little. He sprinted to the French window, reached out and slammed it, shouting hoarsely, "Save him!"
Suer looked at him for a while and pointed in the direction of the door. Chen Buqi understood and hurried to the gate.
"Thank...thank you."
Su Er noticed that he didn't lock the door immediately when he entered: "Is someone chasing you?"
Chen Buqi shook his head, his face pale as he gasped, "A ghost wants to get me."
"…"
Frightened and cold, Chen Buqi burped several times before recounting his experiences. He had been left alone in the bamboo building for a checkup when his body had inexplicably reacted, causing him to leave immediately. Unexpectedly, just moments earlier, while he was resting on the sofa, Zhu Mei had somehow appeared in the room, straddling him.
"I couldn't control my desire, and before I could have sex, I used my remaining rationality to punch my lower body and ran away."
After hearing this, Su Er couldn't help but feel sympathy.
Chen Buqi wanted to say a few more words, but he was caught off guard by the sight of the skin tissue on the statue. He swallowed his saliva and said, "That thing... seems to be moving."
Su Er's expression remained unchanged: "You are mistaken."
Chen Buqi was very sure that he was not mistaken, but he was under the eaves and heard the other party deny it. He could only smile stiffly and said, "My eyes are blurry."
Then he quickly brought the subject back to the topic: "Zhu Mei is almost certainly a voluptuous womanizer. I have a feeling that if I have sex with her, I will definitely die."
"It's not a ghost, it's a demon."
A low voice interrupted the conversation. Chen Buqi looked up and saw an extra person at the stairs, half of his body in the shadows, like a silent ghost.
His heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly felt that the small building he was in was even more weird and terrifying than the one outside.
"Devil?" Suer was not surprised by Ji Heng's appearance, and lowered his head in thought.
Ji Heng slowly walked down the stairs. "The mistress had been abused for years and was filled with resentment. She somehow learned how to summon a demon. She previously claimed to be the demon's servant. Zhu Mei must be the demon she summoned."
Su Er suddenly realized: "No wonder the reward is a candle. The Book of Samsara is more like a companion creature. Every time a demon is summoned, a new Book of Samsara will appear."
"What candle?" Chen Buqi was confused.
"A tool for summoning demons," Su Er said with a faint smile on his face. "Of course, you can also use this information to gain Ye Xiaocen's protection."
It was a very gentle voice, but Chen Buqi couldn't help but shiver.
"Absolutely not!" he promised, raising his hands.
Ji Heng sat down and said, "To tell you the truth, those who obtain the Book of Reincarnation can gain additional benefits, such as a glimpse into the past or a fragment of the future."
future?
Chen Buqi's eyelashes trembled, his eyes flickered, but he said, "I just want to get out of the dungeon alive."
Ignoring his calculations, Ji Heng continued, "Ye Xiaocen has probably guessed some of it. Once he knows everything, he will definitely come to fight for the candles."
After understanding the implication in the words, Chen Buqi quickly said, "I'll try to mislead them."
Ji Heng took the Painted Skin Ghost off the statue and whispered something, and the Painted Skin Ghost crawled over.
Chen Buqi shuddered and instinctively wanted to run away.
"Don't move."
The voice was quiet, but intimidating. Seeing the cold light in the other person's eyes, Chen Buqi froze for a moment. In that brief moment of daze, the Painted Skin Ghost had already slipped into his pocket.
Ji Heng said calmly: "If you want to live, don't play tricks."
Chen Buqi's face turned ugly, and he said stubbornly: "Players can't kill each other."
Just as he finished speaking, he felt a slippery touch on his arm. To his horror, Chen Buqi discovered that his hand was covered with a layer of skin, like a funny duck's web. He couldn't even hold the props and could only watch as the skin enveloped his entire body.
The consciousness is still there, but the initiative of the body has been lost.
The Painted Skin Ghost couldn't control its cruel nature and wanted to take advantage of Chen Buqi as food. Ji Heng pinched its eyeballs slightly, and it immediately calmed down, transforming into a skin again and slithering into his pocket. Chen Buqi first moved his fingers to make sure he had control of his body, and then he collapsed to the ground.
After a long while, he regained his strength, put away his previous thoughts, and said with a wry smile: "If you have such a method, why don't you use it directly on Ye Xiaocen?"
Ji Heng: "Ye Xiaocen's spiritual power is not low, so he might be able to sense the danger first."
"I see."
The fear left Chen Buqi in no mood to ask how they made the deal with the ghost.
Ji Heng: "You stay here tonight. Ye Xiaocen will definitely come to see you tomorrow."
Chen Buqi tactfully said, "Then I'll sleep in the living room." After a pause, he asked worriedly, "What if Zhu Mei comes in again?"
"No."
Ji Heng said it with certainty.
Chen Buqi breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt extremely regretful.
If he had known that the special service only referred to tattoos, he would not have turned Zhu Mei away no matter what he said in the morning.
Ignoring his nagging, Ji Heng looked at Su Er: "It's still early, sleep a little longer."
Su Er said "oh" and went upstairs to lie back on the bed, but he was not very sleepy. He tossed and turned for a long time and finally fell asleep in the second half of the night.
The next day was a sunny day.
Many of the stone bricks on the ground were broken, and water accumulated in the depressions. The road was difficult to walk on, and if you were not careful, you would step into the mud.
Zhu Mei did not go door-to-door to promote her tattoo business today, and Chen Buqi felt regretful.
On the way to the restaurant, just as Ji Heng had expected, Ye Xiaocen came over in person, saying he wanted to chat. He made no secret of his intentions and directly mentioned the props. Chen Buqi glanced at Ji Heng, hesitant, and ultimately chose to follow Ye Xiaocen.
Zhou Que, who was waiting over there, smiled smugly upon seeing this.
He deliberately slowed down his pace, and only resumed his normal pace after the men turned and left. Occasionally, he twisted his neck to loosen up his cervical spine, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the eagle in the tree, and froze for a moment. "Do you feel... that it wants to peck me?"
Before he could finish his words, the eagle had already rushed down at an incredible speed. The distance between the two was only a few meters. Sur quickly bent down to avoid it.
A gust of wind swept past overhead.
The eagle did not attack, but simply circled above his head, cried out as a warning, and dropped a pile of feces.
At the critical moment, Ji Heng pulled Suer and saved his hair.
Soul deadpanned, "I don't think it has anything to do with luck."
The eagle simply dislikes him.
Ji Heng: "The sheep horn candle is on you. It is tainted with the breath of the devil, and the eagle is responsible for suppressing the devil."
Su Er sighed, trying to figure something out. "On the day I arrived, when Zhu Mei appeared, all these birds of prey folded their wings and struck a pose. I thought it was a sign of respect, but it was actually supervision."
The eagle was helpless against the demon that had been released, and could only stare closely and offer some intimidation. This made him even more worried. If he tried to light a candle and summon the demon after midnight tonight, he was afraid he would be blocked.
Due to the delay on the road, they were the last to arrive at the restaurant.
Ye Xiaocen and the others sat at one table, while Zhu Mei still sat at the table in the center, eating her snow meringue. The moment she saw Su Er, her beautiful eyes were filled with murderous intent.
Soul shook his head and whispered, "This time yesterday she still thought I was Sweetie."
Overnight, everything changed.
Ji Heng gave him a funny look and said, "Knowing that you were eating the Painted Skin Ghost, it's a good thing he didn't rush over to fight you."
The chef at window number two returned, his head, previously severed by Ji Heng, sewn back together, a black line resembling a centipede's, now visible around his neck. Seeing the two men, he was furious and savagely sprinkled a handful of seasoning onto the roasted whole lamb.
The size of the roasted whole lamb was smaller than yesterday's. Even without the help of the mysterious eye, Sul could tell that what was actually being roasted was Lin Lele's corpse.
A sheep must be sheared at least three times. Adhering to this principle, he went to window number three again.
The female chef was making snow meringue. When she saw the uninvited guest, she stopped stirring the fat and walked aside to get a plate of fruit.
Soul was surprised when the plate was handed to him.
The female chef locked her eyes on his pocket and said faintly, "I smell the breath of the devil on you."
Su Er didn't say much, picked up his plate and sat down at a random place.
Today, the female chef only gave them one fruit salad. Since it was quite filling, the two of them didn't bother to argue and just shared the whole dish. After taking the last bite of mango, Su Er and Ji Heng went straight back the way they came.
Ye Xiaocen: "Are you sure they are going to the bamboo house tonight?"
Chen Buqi nodded.
Ye Xiaocen suddenly put down his chopsticks and stared at him without saying anything.
If it were before yesterday, Chen Buqi might have been overwhelmed by this aura, but after experiencing the Painted Skin Ghost, he knew nothing was more torturous than that. His face immediately turned cold: "Believe it or not, it's up to you."
Ye Xiaocen's tone slowed down a bit: "It's just a casual question, don't take it to heart."
After breakfast, Su'er and Ji Heng stayed indoors, patiently waiting for nightfall. More and more hawks gathered outside the window, each gazing eagerly, eager to pounce and devour them alive. He rolled up his sleeves and noticed the tattoo had almost faded. He couldn't help but ask, "What's the first thing a demon will do when it's summoned?"
"If there is no reversal, the person who summoned it should be killed."
Ji Heng seemed to think of something interesting as he spoke: "The type of demon may be related to the individual's nature."
Soul: "Individual nature?"
Ji Heng nodded and said, "It has nothing to do with character. For example, what did you think of the original mistress of the villa?"
"Very charming."
Speaking of the matter, the hostess's bone structure is the most enchanting one Su Er has ever seen.
Ji Heng said, "Chen Buqi was nearly raped by Zhu Mei, so she belongs to the Lust Demon category." His gaze shifted to Su Er. "If we can guess the type of demon that will be summoned, we can make some preparations in advance."
His eyes turned around twice and finally turned into a sigh.
"…"What does this mean?
Ji Heng shook his head: "It's hard to imagine what the demon you summoned would look like."
On the issue of summoning candidates, both parties reached a consensus without any discussion. There were too many mysteries about Sur, and he needed the Book of Reincarnation even more.bookshelf
Ji Heng suddenly whispered two words.
Su Er was surprised: "As soon as the demon came out, he threw the statue as a hidden weapon?"
Ji Heng made a gesture to keep quiet, as if he was worried that the wall had ears: "Keep your voice down."
"...good."
The next few days were even more torturous. As dusk approached, Ji Heng made some arrangements, locking the front door and pasting several talismans on the windows. He chose the first floor as the location for lighting the candles. For some reason, Su Er felt that he did this so that he could easily throw the statue away at the critical moment.
On the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, the moon was exceptionally round at night, and Suer realized that his worry last night that the moon would be covered by dark clouds was unnecessary.
Matches could be found in any drawer upstairs and downstairs, as if they were specially prepared for them. When midnight was approaching, he placed the candle on the edge of the table, struck the matches in advance, and stared at the clock on the wall to prevent missing the time.
The second passes the last frame and the match approaches the wick.
Just as the candle was about to be lit, the eagle's cry became particularly shrill, and it swooped down and hit the window frantically. Fortunately, Ji Heng had made preparations in advance, and the talisman paper played a restraining role to a certain extent.
The dripping wax from the candle was black, and the stench of corpses permeated his nostrils, making Soul begin to doubt the material of the candle. He tried to withdraw his hand several times, but the candle seemed to go out as soon as it was out of the flame. When his fingers were about to be burned by the flame, he struck another match as quickly as possible.
The window trembled violently under the impact. The talisman itself was more targeted at ghosts and had little effect on the eagle. Sur glanced at it from time to time, inevitably feeling a little anxious, but his hand was steady, keeping the match and candle wick in close contact.
A minute seemed to stretch endlessly. As he changed the matches for the seventh time, the noise outside suddenly died down. The eagle circled angrily in the air, then distanced itself from the house. The black wax that had flowed out earlier continued to flow, merging into a perfect circle with some indecipherable, mysterious symbols in the center.
Soul took a deep breath, knowing the demon was about to appear.
The first thing to emerge from the formation was a head. The demon had long, dazzling golden hair, and its face was so delicate that it was impossible to tell whether it was male or female. Gradually, the entire upper body emerged, with its left hand raised, supporting an ancient book.bookshelf
"Take advantage of now!" Ji Heng suddenly spoke.
Suer had been holding his breath for a long time, and he snatched the book from the demon's left hand at the fastest speed in his life. On the other side, Ji Heng picked up the statue and smashed it hard on the demon's head.
The demon with only half of its body exposed: "???"
statue:"???"
Ji Heng reminded: "Hurry up and turn the pages of the book."bookshelf
While speaking, he covered his face with the expression "coal face to meet people".
Su Er also quickly used the Crying Child, and a mournful sob sounded. The demon's gaze suddenly became compassionate, and its murderous intent extinguished a lot. The crisis was temporarily averted. He lowered his head to study the book. He originally wanted to invite Ji Heng to read it together, but as soon as another person focused their attention on it, the words of the Book of Samsara would automatically disappear.
Su Er had no choice but to walk aside and read the book alone, and found a line of exaggerated small words printed on the cover: "The Book of Answers", the sister book of "The Book of Reincarnation", is now on the market!bookshelf
"…" No wonder the hard texture feels so familiar.
The first page only has a title: "Past Events".
With a flick of his finger, the page of the book paused automatically, and a few more words appeared on it: The person turning the pages - Zhou Wuxia.
"Zhou Wuxia?"
Guessing that this was probably his name before entering the game, Soul didn't pay much attention to it and just flipped to the back.bookshelf
At first, he looked calm and composed, but then his eyes darkened until his thin lips were almost pressed into a straight line. Suddenly, someone banged on the door, as if Ye Xiaocen had realized he'd been tricked and was trying to break in. The clamor continued in waves, but Su Er seemed to be in another world, his voices quickly filtered out.
There were not many words on each page, and he finished reading it quickly, then closed the book with a snap.
After a moment of silence, Su Er looked up at Ji Heng and said, "The reason I was originally recruited was because a member of the Guifen team died."bookshelf
After a pause, he asked, "Do you remember what that team member looked like?"
Ji Heng nodded. After being teammates for so long, he naturally remembered. However, knowing the question wouldn't come out of nowhere, he thought about it again. After a while, his expression changed slightly... The face he thought he knew so well had actually become incredibly blurry.
"In your memories, he died from cheating, but he didn't..." Having guessed the outcome, Soul said word by word, "He succeeded. He successfully passed the inevitable death trap, collected all the achievement points, and then left the game."
Zhu Yun predicted the future of three people in total, one was hers, one was his own, and the last one was something Su Er paid a certain price to ask her to predict... about Ji Heng's future.
In that future, Ji Heng chose to stay in a world where death was inevitable.
"I want to change the ending of a story," Su Er lowered his eyes, "so... I came back."
The last sentence seemed like an explanation, but also like a simple statement. Finally, he raised the corners of his mouth slightly with a sense of relief: "Fortunately, the future really can be changed."
Even if I have to start over again and go through life and death, as long as I can still stand face to face and talk like I do now, everything will be worth it.