Chapter 315 Jiuxing

Neat and clean medium-length black hair, fair and delicate skin, and an endearing appearance... The little girl who appeared in the villa room practicing swordsmanship looked to be the same age as Xiaowan in the photo, about ten years old, and even their appearances were exactly the same.

Regarding Xiao Wan's true identity, both Ma Zao and I have made speculations. Xiao Wan might be a relative of Zhu Shi, perhaps Zhu Jiu's illegitimate daughter, or Zhu Shi's daughter born during the apocalypse. Ma Zao even suspected that Xiao Wan's father might be me…

I have considered the possibility that Xiao Wan might actually be Zhu Shi herself. Although it's chronologically incorrect for the future Zhu Shi to "rejuvenate" into a young girl, I've already witnessed so many things that defy common sense, so one more wouldn't be surprising. The apocalyptic world is inherently a world with disordered spacetime, and given that I myself possess the ability to "rejuvenate," imagining whether the same thing might happen to others is quite logical.

However, I never expected it to be this similar.

This resemblance cannot be explained simply by being related or being a daughter. Even biological daughters would at most share a 70-80% resemblance, not be identical. Of course, there may be people in this world who look so much like their mothers or female relatives that they are indistinguishable, but I cannot simply dismiss my astonishment as a coincidence.

"Do you have any other relatives who look like Zhu Shi?" I asked as an aside.

"Relatives? No, I don't know... I've never heard my grandparents talk about relatives."

Xiao Chang'an first shook his head, then looked at Xiao Zhu Shi, who was practicing swordsmanship, with a ashamed expression.

It was clear that Xiao Zhu Shi was so exhausted and in pain that he wanted to give up, but he still forced himself to move his body with tears in his eyes, despite being scolded by Mr. Zhu.

"Thank you... no, I wish you well!"

With a stern expression, Old Master Zhu addressed Xiao Zhu Shi by his full name and said in a cold, solemn voice, "That boy Chang'an is no longer reliable. The future of the Zhu family rests solely on you."

“In the past, because you weren’t the heir, I listened to Ajiu and let you laze around all day, playing house with your dolls. But from now on, you must pick up all the lessons you’ve missed and train twice as hard!”

Xiao Zhu said breathlessly, "Grandpa... I'm so tired, my arms hurt so much, I can't practice anymore..."

"Sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in battle! How many times do I have to tell you before you understand!" Old Master Zhu scolded. "Now you say you can't train anymore, I can let you rest. But when those demons and monsters have their claws and teeth pressed against your throat, are you going to tell them you can't fight anymore and beg them to spare your life?!"

"But...but aren't we demon hunters? Why are there so many...so many killing techniques in the things Grandpa made me practice..." Xiao Zhu Shi said painfully.

"Because you will also be killing people in the future," the old man said coldly. "Among the enemies you will face in the future, there will not only be strange creatures, but also fallen demon hunters. The latter are sometimes more dangerous than non-human monsters. Only by learning how to kill can you avoid being killed by them."

"I...I don't want to kill anyone..." Xiao Zhushi shed tears.

Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhu revealed a look of fury.

"I didn't ask if you wanted to. You don't need to have your own ideas, just do as I say! Do you understand? If you understand, then keep practicing!"

At the thunderous rebuke, Xiao Zhu Shi trembled, his hands slipping from his grasp and the Yama Sword falling to the ground. Seeing this, Old Master Zhu grew even angrier, stepping forward and raising his right hand as if to slap him. Xiao Zhu Shi screamed in terror, involuntarily falling backward and curling up on the ground, clutching his head.

Seeing this, Mr. Zhu was stunned, his raised hand frozen in mid-air. A look of reminiscence appeared in his eyes, then his expression relaxed, and he slowly lowered his hand.

Seemingly realizing that the pain she had imagined hadn't come for a long time, Xiao Zhu carefully opened her arm to peek at Mr. Zhu's expression.

After a while, she timidly uttered, "...Grandpa?"

Grandpa Zhu looked at little Zhu Shi silently for a long while before saying, "I'm sorry, little Shi... Grandpa was wrong. Grandpa shouldn't have yelled at you... Please forgive Grandpa."

"That's enough for today's lesson, but... we'll continue tomorrow. We need to keep practicing our killing techniques. There are many bad people in this world. Learning how to deal with them is to save more good people, and also to protect ourselves..."

“Your brother is no longer able to live, your mother and grandmother are not strong enough to support this family, your father… let’s not talk about him, and your grandfather can’t be your protector forever… you have to be strong on your own.”

As he spoke, a look of dejection appeared on his face. Little Zhu Shi stared blankly, then whispered, "I...I understand. I'll keep practicing...I'll keep practicing swordsmanship and magic. Grandpa, don't be sad..."

Looking at Zhu Shi like this, I recalled the times I had seen her, how she swiftly and skillfully killed enemies on the battlefield, and how she calmly beheaded fallen demon hunters whose fate was unknown, ensuring the enemy's death...

She wasn't born with the courage to join the fight, nor was she born with the heart to take someone's life.

How much blood, sweat, and tears did she shed to become who she is today?

Xiao Chang'an stood beside him, observing the scene through the window. After a moment, he said, "I should have been the one practicing swordsmanship there. Although Grandpa has always disliked me, he also admits I was born to be a demon hunter. Demon blood flows in my veins; with just simple training, I can unleash extraordinary power... but..."

"I've lost my talent to become a witcher, and I've even forgotten all the knowledge and skills I learned in the past..."

He wore a very distressed expression, his hands clenched into fists at his sides in frustration, and he muttered under his breath, "It's all my fault, Hisayuki has to suffer so much..."

Chang'an, you're actually a "fallen genius"... I couldn't help but think this, and then I said, "The training you and Zhu Shi received must have been for dealing with strange things, and there must have been some training in magic as well."

He answered vaguely, "Well, that's about it..."

"But you previously said that you couldn't prove the existence of the supernatural and the Witcher to others at school, nor could you find them? You yourself clearly have elements of the supernatural?"

In order to make him realize that this was a false dream and thus help him wake up, I deliberately pointed out the contradictions in his statements.

He nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and said, "Yes, because I can't remember any of these things... I've completely forgotten about the training I received, I don't know that I'm a descendant of demons, I don't know that I come from a demon hunter family, I don't know who is shedding blood and sweat for me..."

He seemed oblivious to his own contradictions, sighing from a perspective detached from the dream's context. At this point, I felt that logic and reason might not be able to truly bring him to his senses.

After speaking, he continued walking forward, and I followed behind him. The surrounding scenery subtly changed, and we found ourselves inside the Zhu family mansion villa. The time and space in dreams are distorted; I wasn't surprised by this, but rather pondered the deeper meaning behind the changes.

Although the scenery was changing, Xiao Chang'an continued walking ahead of me; the changes seemed to be centered around him. Indeed, beneath Xiao Chang'an's exterior lay Chang'an himself, and this was his spiritual world.

As I made my judgment, I continued to observe my surroundings. We were now in a corridor, and on one side of the corridor was a half-open door that allowed a direct view into the room. It seemed to be Xiao Zhu Shi's room, with many delicate and soft decorations and furnishings, and a few rag dolls scattered around.

Xiao Zhushi was also in the room at that moment. Tears welled up in her eyes as she silently picked up the rag dolls in the room, held them in her hands and looked at them carefully for a long time before putting them into a large, rough burlap sack. Then she picked up another rag doll, looked at it carefully for a long time again, and put it into the large burlap sack as well...

"Zhu Shi?" I asked.

She seemed unable to hear my calls, as if she were in a different world from us, silently repeating the same actions. It seemed that apart from Xiao Chang'an, all the other characters in this dream were merely "NPCs," and I was unable to interact with them normally.

I had originally thought that I might be able to talk to Zhu Shi and Mr. Zhu in my dream and get clues about the small bowl from them—but when I thought of this, I felt a strange sense of unease.

At the same time, watching Xiao Zhushi's actions, I inexplicably thought of something else.

At the end of the last virtual meeting, in order to make it easier to pinpoint Xiaowan's true identity in the real world, I asked Xiaowan for clues about her past, and she said a few things.

"When I was little, I seemed to have a lot of dolls, but then something happened that made me decide to throw them all away..."

—"My mother picked up all the dolls I had thrown away and carefully kept them in a white box."

Could it be that what Xiaowan was talking about is what Xiaozhu is doing right now?

(End of this chapter)