Cattail Fly (7)

Shi Jianxia ran away while the cross-dressing man and the freckled young man were focusing on the masked man.

Changxi was her mimicry, and her aura was identical to hers. Coincidentally, a blood moon hung high in the Junlin City, which could bring out Changxi's passive ability to the fullest. She then used Meng Ji's mimicry talent [Shadow Stealth] and slipped away without anyone noticing.

Shi Jianxia didn't want to be controlled by the cross-dressing man, but she wasn't ready to leave either.

After she slipped away, she took advantage of the current environment and quietly came to the bottom of the platform.

The masked man's attack caused the platform to collapse, and the basalt relief also fell apart and shattered into pieces on the ground. However, this platform was not a solid building. Apart from the outer layer of hard stone, the middle was actually hollow.

At this moment, the red-robed young man fell on the broken bluestone slabs, covered in blood, with bright red blood flowing out of all his orifices. It was unknown whether he was dead or alive.

Shi Jianxia just came over to see if there was any chance to fish in troubled waters, but he didn't expect that there would be an opportunity to take advantage of as soon as he came in.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she thought that the person outside would not come in so soon. She decisively approached the red-robed boy and pinched his earring.

She was just about to remove the star core fragment from it when her wrist was suddenly pinched by cold fingertips. The force was not strong, but it was enough to make her unable to move.

Shi Jianxia's whole body stiffened, and when he lowered his head, he met the red-robed boy's strange blood-red pupils.

She twitched the corners of her mouth, not knowing how to react for a moment.

The corners of the boy's lips curled up, as if he had seen something interesting, and his whole body temperament became more and more evil.

Shi Jianxia was thinking about her chances of success if she just robbed the things and ran away. Before she could make a decision, a strong smell of blood hit her in the face and pressed heavily into her nostrils.

She felt her body go empty, as if she had suddenly fallen into a weightless elevator, falling straight down, and the scene before her was replaced by complete darkness.

Plop! Plop! Plop!

The sound of the beating heart was very close, and it was a very familiar sound, but it made Shi Jianxia feel creepy.

She opened her eyes wide and raised her hands to feel around, but she could see nothing and touch nothing.

I don’t know how long it took, but the boundless darkness receded like a tide, and in its place was an ancient and elegant courtyard.

The world seemed to have faded and turned gray. Shi Jianxia looked around blankly, trying to figure out where he was, but after looking for a long time, he couldn't figure out anything.

The courtyard is square, and the most eye-catching thing is the octagonal pavilion and the weeping willows next to it. Under the weeping willows is a pool, which is connected to the courtyard outside, like the garden design of ancient times.

Just as Xia was wondering why he came here, footsteps suddenly came from outside the corridor.

A little boy about five or six years old came in from outside holding a dandelion. He was also gray, with black eyes. He looked very handsome but had no expression.

He walked slowly, staring at the dandelions in the pot.

The dandelions have formed small balls of fluff, swaying in the breeze, but as if imprisoned by a mysterious force, they never fly away.

The little boy put the dandelion under the porch and squatted down to look at it.

He didn't say anything, just watched, as if he could see another new and strange world through the round dandelion fluff.

As time passed, Shi Jianxia vaguely realized something, but did not rush to draw a conclusion.

She waited patiently, and finally, after an unknown amount of time, she heard someone shouting—

"Xiao Yi!"

Shi Jianxia looked back.

In front of the archway of the courtyard stood a middle-aged woman dressed elegantly. Her long dark hair was gently tied up with a jade hairpin. At this moment, she leaned forward slightly, and her tone of voice when calling the little boy was particularly gentle.

The little boy finally stopped looking at the dandelion. He turned his head and called out "Grandma" in a stiff tone. He didn't seem to be very close to the middle-aged woman.

It is true.

The little boy is Jun Xiaoyi.

Grandma Jun came over with a smile, sat on the porch and talked to him. She asked him where the dandelions came from, and he said that a friend gave them to him.

Grandma Jun asked him if he had just met this friend. He nodded hesitantly and said that he liked the gift very much.

The conversation between the grandmother and grandson was simple, and soon Grandma Jun took the little boy's hand and led him out of the corridor.

Shi Jianxia wanted to follow him out, but she found that there was an invisible barrier in the courtyard, trapping her in this square world.

She couldn't go out, but the little boy came every day, squatting under the corridor to look at the dandelion, and occasionally talking to himself. But even if Shi Jianxia got close to him, she couldn't hear these words.

During this period, Shi Jianxia also met the little boy's father. He was wearing a white coat but had no face. He was very cold to the little boy, neither praising him nor scolding him. It seemed that apart from their blood relationship, they were just strangers.

The little boy only reveals his true emotions when he is with Grandma Jun and Dandelion. As for the friend who gave him the dandelion, Shi Jianxia has never seen him.

Time flies, and the little boy still comes to this courtyard every day. The dandelion seems to not know how to spread its seeds, and it sways gently in the wind with its fluffy ball on top, no matter spring, summer, autumn or winter.

The little boy grew up and became a handsome young man. He no longer squatted on the ground to look at the dandelion. Instead, he brought various books, leaned on the railing to read them, and often read for a whole day.

Shi Jianxia leaned over to him and looked at the books. They were all books related to ancient culture. Some of the content was consistent with history, some was different, and some she had never seen before. That part was about what happened after she traveled through time, and she had no way to verify its authenticity.

Jun Xiaoyi once said that his grandmother was a fan of ancient civilizations.

During his childhood when he was a stranger to his father, the taciturn boy got used to listening to his grandmother describe that ancient and mysterious civilization.

He wandered in the world of ancient civilization and no longer paid attention to the dandelions in the flowerpot.

It was a very ordinary afternoon. The boy did not come to the courtyard. A gust of wind came from somewhere, causing the stems and leaves of the dandelions to sway. The dandelion fluff that had never been blown away by wind and rain for more than ten years flew out of the courtyard in that ordinary wind.

Shi Jianxia knew that something unexpected was happening.

It's not a dandelion, but a cattail fly disguised as a dandelion.

She stood in the courtyard, away from the disturbance of the outside world, across the corridor, and heard people wailing, screaming, and calling for help.

She can't get out.

The world was shrouded in dark clouds and heavy rain was pouring down.

After an unknown amount of time, a chaotic sound of footsteps was heard outside the corridor.

The young man, covered in blood, staggered into the courtyard holding a blood-stained hairpin. He seemed to have lost his soul and crawled to the flowerpot with dandelions.

He saw the withered dandelion seemed to understand something, and laughed, and tears streamed down his face as he laughed. He knelt and looked at the sky, as if he wanted to ask something, but he couldn't utter a word.

The rain fell for a long time, and the clear pool beside the weeping willows suddenly turned red.

The young man seemed to have turned into a sculpture, curled up and leaning against the corridor, always holding the jade hairpin in his hand.

This time, grandma won't come to hold his hand again.

There were footsteps outside the corridor again. It was a middle-aged man in a white coat, the boy's father.

His temples were gray, his body was covered in blood, one of his arms was broken, and something seemed to be wriggling on the side of his face.

He stumbled and fell into the courtyard, but he managed to hold himself up and looked up at the young man in embarrassment, saying in a low voice: "Jun Bie Yi!"

The young man raised his head blankly, and the moment he saw his father, his gray eyes were filled with ripples.

He climbed up from the corridor, ran and fell until he stopped beside the middle-aged man. He tried to help him with trembling hands, but was pushed away heavily and fell to the ground dejectedly.

"You go! Go! Nandou Military Academy...find the star core fragments...bring them back..."

Thick blood gushed out of his mouth, and the thing in his face squirmed faster and faster, as if it could break through the thin skin and come out at any time.

"Remember! First... you must... awaken the Xuanwu Totem..."

At the end of his words, a large amount of blood spurted out of the middle-aged man's mouth, splashing on the boy's cheek and collar.

The boy looked at him almost stupidly, tears rolling down his face like pearls from a broken string.

The middle-aged man's body began to twist, a thin strand of hair protruded from his cheek, and a strange hoarse sound came out of his mouth. The last few words were incoherent and he stopped abruptly.

"Kill...kill...me, leave—"

The twisted body staggered to its feet from the ground, and tiny strands of hair emerged from the middle-aged man's face, gradually forming a round and strange dandelion ball.

It tilted its head, with its long mouthparts extending from its nose, and approached the boy greedily. However, it seemed to be suddenly frightened by something unknown, and it took several steps back and crawled on the ground with its body trembling.

The boy sat paralyzed, watching his father, who had turned into a parasite, crawl at his feet.

He raised his hand, and there was nothing but dirt and blood that had oxidized and turned black.

Suddenly, he chuckled and got up from the ground, walking towards the withered dandelions on the porch.

leave.

He can't live without it.

He touched the dandelion he had never touched before. The only tiny hairs remaining on the withered stems and leaves pierced his fingertips, greedily sucking his blood, and turned blood red with a strange gurgling sound.

The dejection on the boy's face disappeared, replaced by bloodthirstiness and frivolity.

He tilted his head and looked in the direction where Shi Jianxia was.

-

Plop!

Shi Jianxia opened his eyes and met the boy's blood-red pupils.

He blinked, raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his lips, and as if he knew the dark memory that Shi Jianxia had seen, he took the initiative to say, "It's symbiosis."

"The barrier of the star core bound it, preventing it from escaping. I possess the power of the star core within me, and while it wanted to parasitize me, it was unable to do so for the same reason. Ultimately, it chose to coexist with me, hoping to escape the barrier formed by the star core."

"I agree."

Jun Xiaoyi curled the corners of his mouth slightly, and his tone was as casual as if he was asking, "Have you eaten today?"

Shi Jianxia didn't expect him to say this to her so directly, and asked, "Aren't you afraid of being swallowed by it?"

Jun Xiaoyi raised his hand and pressed it on his eyelids, laughing softly, as if he had heard a very funny joke.

But he quickly stopped laughing and said nonchalantly, "Why don't I swallow it?"

The relationship between humans and Zerg has never been one of prey and predator.

The Zerg can reproduce and grow by devouring humans, and humans can also gain the possibility of awakening mimicry after being parasitized by the Zerg.

He wanted to devour it.

Shi Jianxia saw these five words from the pair of strange double pupils.

Suddenly, Jun Xiaoyi's eyes became sharp.

"It is trapped in a barrier and has lost the ability to parasitize humans."

"It's the red spider lily. The woman with the ability to control darkness sent it insect crystals and has been secretly feeding it. By the time I discovered it, it was too late."

He bit the three words "Higanbana" and wished he could eat its flesh raw. His sharp eyes also fell on Shi Jianxia, ​​which was as uncomfortable as a knife.

Shi Jianxia seemed to be completely unaware of his fluctuating emotions, and her eyes were unusually calm.

Jun Xiaoyi didn't like her attitude, as if everything was under her control.

He tilted his head. "I've been looking for her, but there's no clue. Apart from the three words 'Higanbana' (Red Shore Flower), I knew nothing about her until that time at the Hot Spring Villa."

Shi Jianxia finally responded and said for him, "You weren't unconscious at the time. We left Dandelion behind to monitor the situation inside and outside the villa."

"You heard our entire conversation on the observation deck. You knew I was the inheritor of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and after learning that I came from the Red Spider Lily, you deliberately didn't take the star core fragment from the manor owner's wife."

Jun Xiaoyi smiled, "As expected, you took the star core fragments. Not long after, you also caused the explosion at the Nan Teng Military Academy and took away the star core that the Suzaku family had entrusted to the previous Nan Teng Military Academy principal for safekeeping."

Shi Jianxia never thought that the star core stored in the secret treasure house of Nanteng Military Academy was actually related to the Suzaku family, and he was quite surprised.

But Jun Xiaoyi obviously didn't intend to discuss the matter of the second star core with her. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "Number Seven, why did you kill that woman? Wasn't she your companion?"