Chapter 33: Yuzhou Laiqiang (Part 3) Knowledge changes destiny.

Over the past two days, Zhang Deng has roughly understood the situation here. Communication is very inconvenient on this continent, and there is no unified country. The so-called "states" are just small countries one after another. Almost everyone with money and power desires to achieve immortality, which leads to the fact that power here has the color of divine right. The state lord rarely shows up, and is always represented by the nobles who are enfeoffed by them. The term of office and lifespan of each state lord is extremely long, until they ascend to heaven or die of old age.

In other words, this is a completely desolate place.

When I woke up early the next morning, Wei Yuanye was gone again.

But Zhang Deng was already used to it, so he wasn't too anxious this time. It was Wei Yuanye who asked him through the communicator after a while, "Are you awake?"

Zhang Deng had the communicator in his pocket when he suddenly heard a voice. He got out of bed and searched for it for a long time before replying into the receiver, "He's awake."

"Come out when you wake up. I'll be waiting for you at the door," Wei Yuanye said, then dismissed his own statement, "Forget it, I'll pick you up."

Zhang Deng said he didn't need it, but Wei Yuanye didn't listen. After a while, he opened the door and came in. Zhang Deng was washing up. He stuck his head out, with toothpaste foam on his lips. He said, "I didn't know which toiletries bag was yours, so I just used whatever I wanted."

Wei Yuanye didn't care. He said, "There's a restaurant not far away on this street. It's quite clean. Let's go there for dinner."

Zhang Deng: "Just wait for me at the door, I'll be quick."

Zhang Deng washed up very quickly in the morning. He had almost no beard. He snores a few times and then went out. But Wei Yuanye said, "The rat is at the door."

Zhang Deng let out an "ah" and spat out the foam in his mouth before he realized that it was Wei Yuanye who thought he would be scared.

He smiled, put on his clothes, and said, "Let's go."

After going out, the mouse was indeed standing at the door. It was about the height of Zhang Deng's thigh, and looked half human, half mouse. Its face had some human outlines, but its eyes, mouth and hair still made it clear that it was a mouse at a glance. The hair on its limbs was half fallen off, and its fingers had the shape of human joints, but had long nails.

This form is difficult to imagine even in a dream, it is too abstract.

Zhang Deng politely bowed his head to him as a greeting, but the mouse suddenly said to them, "Is the neighbor causing you any trouble?"

Zhang Deng glanced at Wei Yuanye, who asked, "Who's next door?"

This was also a kind of answer. The mouse said, "You haven't encountered it yet."

The mouse laughed obscenely, or perhaps it was deliberately making this obscene expression. It said, "If you make some noise at night, you'll know."

Zhang Deng didn't know why Mouse kept mentioning what was happening next door, but now he suddenly understood. Mouse thought they were a couple and were going to have sex at night.

Zhang Deng had rarely been teased in such a vulgar way before. He glanced at Wei Yuanye. Wei Yuanye just glanced at the mouse. The mouse smiled again, waved his hand, and let them go.

Wei Yuanye pulled the lantern over, and the two walked side by side for a while. Wei Yuanye said, "Don't mind it."

"I don't care." Zhang Deng said. This was the truth. He didn't think that such dirty jokes could really hurt him. He just didn't react at the moment.

Wei Yuanye said, "All spirits are like this. Unlike the ones you see in novels and movies, these creatures are uneducated, and are controlled by nothing more than the desires of lowly beasts."

Zhang Deng took note of this and said, "Have you seen any other monsters?"

"I've also seen slightly larger ones," said Wei Yuanye.

"What?"

"Dragon." Wei Yuanye said.

Zhang Deng: “What!!”

Everyone around looked over, and Zhang Deng whispered in disbelief, "Have you ever seen a dragon?"

Wei Yuanye said, "There is a world with many, many dragons. I have ridden one before."

Zhang Deng asked, "What does a dragon look like?"

Wei Yuanye only said one word: "Fishy."

Zhang Deng discovered a truth: "You can never expect to hear any romantic words from Wei Yuanye."

The two of them arrived at the restaurant Wei Yuanye had mentioned. It was indeed as clean as Wei Yuanye had said, at least there weren't any stains on the tabletops. The restaurant was run by a husband-and-wife team, and the proprietress was at the front welcoming customers. When she saw them, she said to Wei Yuanye, "Are you ready now?"

Wei Yuanye nodded, and the proprietress went to the back to ask the chef to cook. Zhang Deng said, "Have you finished ordering?"

"I thought you were hungry." Wei Yuanye said.

Zhang Deng should have had a good appetite when he woke up in the morning, but he had been feeling a bit uncomfortable with the climate recently and had no appetite at the moment. However, he suddenly felt that Wei Yuanye had been particularly attentive to him recently.

Wei Yuanye had been very good to him in the past, always taking care of him as meticulously as if he were a younger brother, but he had been especially nice recently.

When Zhang Deng first met Wei Yuanye, he had no idea that he was actually a very considerate person, because Wei Yuanye had a very strong personality. He was very unruly and bohemian, and he always liked to observe everyone silently. When he had to come out, he always did something out of the ordinary. It was difficult for such a person to be associated with words like considerate and gentle.

But the Wei Yuanye Zhang Deng knew was like this. He always observed silently and then gave his all.

To Wei Yuanye, all of this seemed to go smoothly. He did not use his own efforts as a bargaining chip for any emotional blackmail. He just did it, very naturally.

The proprietress served three dishes and two bowls of rice. One dish looked like cabbage, another looked like some kind of meat, and there was only one kind of gelatinous round stick-shaped food that was fried and turned soy sauce-colored. Zhang Deng didn't recognize this dish among them. He asked, "What is this?"

The proprietress said, "Beef with vegetables."

Seeing Zhang Deng still didn't seem to understand, she said, "Jincai root. It's a specialty of Yingzhou, used to be dug up by mountain hikers. The flowers of Jincai look like lanterns, in red, yellow, and blue. Jincai root looks like this, too."

Zhang Deng picked up a piece and felt inexplicably disgusted. How could the roots of a plant grow like this?

"Is this really edible?" Zhang Deng asked Wei Yuanye in a low voice.

Wei Yuanye certainly wasn't that omnipotent, and he didn't even recognize this dish. He said, "I don't know. I saw it said vegetable beef on the menu, so I ordered it."

Zhang Deng laughed and said, "Do you think it's stir-fried beef?"

Wei Yuanye nodded. It was rare for Zhang Deng to see him being humiliated, so he thought it was quite amusing and a little touching.

Then he hated himself again - it was because of his reliance on Wei Yuanye that he ended up here!

Could you please stop being so useless?

Zhang Deng tasted it with caution. It was not as bad as he had imagined, but it was not as delicate and rich as the flavors in his world either. It just had the taste of ordinary coarse seasoning. Zhang Deng was not very picky about food. When he was losing weight before, he would eat cucumbers mixed with salt. So he found it acceptable at this time.

But in the end, he still couldn't bring himself to try the vegetable beef. Wei Yuanye took two bites, and when Zhang Deng asked him how it tasted, Wei Yuanye said, "It's okay."

Wei Yuanye has always had a very healthy relationship with food. He has no filter when it comes to food; for him, it's just something to fill his stomach. It's best if he can make it himself, but if not, just a quick bite will do. Wei Yuanye doesn't rely on food to alleviate any of his negative emotions. He doesn't control his weight or gain muscle. Because he has no cravings, his description of food is also scarce and monotonous.

Zhang Deng felt that Wei Yuanye could cook well simply because he was very smart and was good at everything he did.

The man at the next table looked at them for a long time and said, "They must be from out of town."

"It must be from outer space," the man said. "No wonder I've never tasted vegetable beef before. This thing is a rare thing."

Zhang Deng glanced at him. The man's clothes were very strange. In such cold weather, he was wearing a strange gray uniform, as if he was an employee of a factory somewhere. His expression was exaggerated, not like that of an ordinary person.

Zhang Deng felt a little scared of him, but still said politely, "We are wasting natural resources."

"What do you mean?" The man didn't understand. He said, "My name is Dong Yu. What's yours?"

This man actually had a surname. Wei Yuanye glanced at him, then casually introduced himself and Zhang Deng to him, and said, "Why don't we eat together?"

Dong Yu didn't say much. He picked up the chopsticks, held his bowl of noodles in one hand and the plate of pickles in the other, and sat down in one step.

Zhang Deng saw that although his clothes were shabby and strange, he was dressed quite neatly, his nails were clean, and there was no strange smell on his body. His hair was a little long and slightly oily, and he tucked it behind his ears.

Dong Yu said: "Are you also here to fight with your spirit body?"

"There's something else going on," Wei Yuanye said, "I can't say I'm here solely for my spirit body."

Dong Yu pretended to understand, his eyes narrowed, a gleam of brilliance flashed in them, and he said, "As soon as you entered the room, I saw that you were not ordinary people."

Zhang Deng asked, "What about you? Are you a local?"

"No," Dong Yu put his four fingers together and pointed from his upper body to his trouser legs. He said, "I am a visitor from outer space."

Zhang Deng saw a long scar on his wrist when he raised his hand, which looked like the mark of a cut.

Zhang Deng asked calmly, "Where did it come from?"

Dong Yu acted mysterious. "I'm the boss of the largest local gang. Back then, spiritual energy was depleted. I traveled here to explore the true nature of Taoism and the source of the Qi body. I heard there's a martial spirit body here. Consuming it can ensure immortality and cure all illnesses. I've known this for a long time and have been waiting here for three years."

Zhang Deng said, "That's amazing."

Dong Yu smiled contemptuously and said, "Why did you come here?"

Wei Yuanye asked, "I heard that in order to celebrate the acquisition of the martial spirit's true body, they even brought in a human sacrifice from Yuzhou for a grand ceremony?"

"No."

Dong Yu said: "That is just the state lord's strategy. The spirit body is of course useful to ordinary people like you and me, but it can no longer help the state lord. He just wants to select elite warriors for his use. Perhaps-"

He kept the question a secret, then suddenly slammed the table and said, "Tell me, what on earth are you guys doing here?"

Zhang Deng said, "He welcomed the rebels and encouraged them to rebel, then he established his own army. If he didn't make a sound, he would be a surprise attack and become the new king of Yingzhou."

Dong Yu angrily scolded: "Small gains, short-sighted."

Zhang Deng was filled with admiration and said, "Then why don't you continue to tell me what the governor wants to do?"

"The spiritual energy between heaven and earth is becoming increasingly thin," Dong Yu said mysteriously. "It's not so difficult for us. We might not even achieve enlightenment after waiting for a thousand or eight hundred years. But the state lord can't wait any longer. I guess he wants to use his spirit body to stir up trouble. Recruiting talent is one thing, but he also wants to break the Tianchi Lake and obtain endless energy."

Zhang Deng didn't quite understand what he was saying, and he didn't really want to get anything useful out of a stranger, so he asked, "What about you?"

"Me?" Dong Yu said, "I traveled back to my time and became a great hero."

Zhang Deng was a little confused. He asked, "What's the name of your organization?"

"Foxconn Electronics Factory."

Zhang Deng: “?”

Wei Yuanye: “?”

Zhang Deng looked at him in disbelief. Dong Yu was puzzled: "What's wrong?"

"...Palace Jade Wine?"

Dong Yu said, "I've never tried it. What does it taste like?"

Zhang Deng breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's okay, it's quite expensive."

"How expensive can it be?" Dong Yu said, "I've drunk wine worth tens of thousands of yuan."

"What?"

"Moutai." Dong Yu smacked his lips. "Good wine, good wine."

Zhang Deng: "Odd changes, but even doesn't?"

"What a mess," Dong Yu said to Wei Yuanye, "Is there something wrong with your friend?"

As he said this he pointed to his head.

Wei Yuanye said: "It is true that there is a little bit, but it does not affect my life."

Zhang Deng was very puzzled. This shouldn't be the case. This shouldn't be the case.

Could it be that Dong Yu traveled from a world axis very close to him? But that was impossible. They could only travel on the timeline within their own coordinate axis. How could they travel across worlds?

Zhang Deng glanced at Wei Yuanye, but Wei Yuanye didn't seem very excited.

Wei Yuanye asked, "Where do you live?"

Dong Yu waved his hand and said, "Eh? It doesn't matter where you live. We are all travelers in the world. There's no need to be attached to appearances."

Zhang Deng was really confused by this world. Everyone was so inexplicable, as if something was wrong with everyone. Then this wrongness became right, as if he and Wei Yuanye were the most normal people in this world.

Dong Yu was talking, then he waved his hand hastily and said, "I'm going to the bathroom."

After he left, the proprietress came over to wipe the table. She looked in the direction he had left and whispered to them, "He's a notorious lunatic. Don't let him fool you."

"He always says he's an alien," the proprietress said. "That's pure bullshit. I watched him grow up. When he was little, he and my son would pee all over the house naked. Then he got sick in the head and went crazy. He ran away for a few years. When he came back, he insisted he was an alien, that he was going to become an immortal, and that he tricked people into giving them money to support him."

If Zhang Deng and Wei Yuanye really knew nothing, they might believe it, but how do they explain that Dong Yu can really say something about other worlds?

Zhang Deng felt that this matter was indeed suspicious. Wei Yuanye placed five dollars on the table and said, "I'm leaving now."

Zhang Deng followed him out and asked, "What do you think?"

"I haven't figured it out yet," Wei Yuanye said truthfully, "Let's take it one step at a time."