Chapter 052 Three Sentences Fill the World-weary Villain with Hope (Seventeen)

"That guy" sneezed violently, stepped on empty air, and stumbled back to where he was.

Yufa rubbed his nose and asked, "Who said something bad about me so early in the morning?"

The doors and windows of the library were wide open. Ming Shaotu and You Fei were sweeping the floor with feather dusters. Seeing his figure from afar, You Fei waved at him.

"Good morning. Here's today's task list." Yufa placed the task list on the table and glanced around casually. His body was tense as usual, but his heart didn't have the usual tension and vigilance as before.

Not seeing the person he wanted to see, he sighed regretfully, "Mr. Chen hasn't arrived yet?"

"Yeah, breakfast at home." Ming Shaotu walked to the door and dusted the feather duster vigorously. The dust particles rose and fell in the wind, floating in the golden sunlight. "By the way, he seems to be living with someone, a young man with outstanding looks."

"Hmm?" Yufa, who had been lazily leaning on the edge of the table, suddenly straightened up with vigilance. "Living together? Are they close? Have they confirmed their relationship?"

You Fei rolled her eyes. "How would we know? When Mr. Chen comes, you can ask him yourself."

Yufa nodded seriously, "Of course I have to ask. Salaries are due today, and I'm going to invite him to dinner under the guise of a get-together. So, please don't mess with me."

Ming Shaotu and You Fei looked at each other and suddenly shook their heads at the same time.

"I have an appointment tonight, so I won't be going to the dinner party."

"It's so rare that the danger in the library is over. I want to spend the night immersed in the ocean of knowledge. Don't try to tempt me with the mere desire for food!"

Although one of them spoke concisely and the other in an exaggerated tone, their refusal was very firm and there was no room for maneuver.

"No!" Yufa's face turned bitter. "If you all aren't going, he definitely won't go either. Then my salary this month won't be worth anything, right?"

Hearing this, Ming Shaotu was about to complain a few words when he heard Chen Yunli's surprised voice coming from outside the door: "How can salary be meaningless? What's the point of paying salary? Isn't the existence of salary the greatest meaning?"

Three Soul Questions for Workers.jpg

Yufa turned around as if he had been electrocuted, and Chen Yunli just walked into the library door. The sunlight danced on his long eyelashes, clearly illuminating the surprise and confusion in his eyes.

At the same time, Youfa also saw Chen Wenjian walking side by side with him - as Ming Shaotu said, he was indeed young and outstanding in appearance.

"Mr. Chen is here, good morning!" Youfa immediately stood up straight, straightened his clothes and smiled elegantly, "I was just joking with Shao Tu and the others."

As he spoke, he changed the topic to Chen Wenjian: "This gentleman looks unfamiliar. Is he your friend, Mr. Chen?"

"Well, his name is Chen Wenjian, and he's my...roommate, I guess." Chen Yunli blinked, but didn't dwell on his previous doubts. He walked to the table and picked up the task list.

Today's tasks are fewer and simpler than yesterday's, with only two: one is to organize the library catalog, and the other is to organize the catalog of borrowed books.

As for the librarian's inherent duties of supervising the evil god's nest and observing the operation of the seals on the nest, which Ming Shaotu mentioned not long ago, it did not appear on the list.

Considering that there were no tasks related to these two responsibilities in the task list of the previous two days, Chen Yunli assumed that this was a job that could only be completed by Ming Shaotu and did not ask any further questions.

When Chen Yunli was checking the task list, Chen Wenjian and Youfa made eye contact. They could each feel the other's scrutiny and hostility towards themselves. To outsiders, the situation seemed quite tense.

Although You Fei was happy to see You Fa suffer in love, reading was his top priority in life, so he smiled secretly and went into the bookshelves to study hard, without watching the subsequent excitement.

Ming Shaotu shook his head helplessly and reached out to tap Chen Yunli's shoulder bone: "Mr. Chen, I have something I want to discuss with you. Also, non-staff members cannot stay in the library for a long time. Can your 'roommate' please leave here first?"

"Oh, okay." Chen Yunli looked up, "Chen Wenjian, you go home first. Come pick me up after get off work in the evening and we'll go grocery shopping together."

"Okay. Go ahead and do your work. I'll pick you up this afternoon."

The moment he looked up, Chen Wenjian put away all his sharp edges and agreed with a smile.

Yufa's reaction speed was not as fast as his. He remained in a daze with a semi-frozen provocative expression, which looked a bit funny at first glance.

Chen Yunli hadn't noticed the secret rivalry between him and Chen Wenjian. Seeing his face stiffen, he asked curiously, "Mr. Yufa, why do you look like that?"

"...It's okay, it's okay." Youfa rubbed his face hard, glanced at Chen Wenjian between his fingers, and then looked at Chen Yunli. His expression had returned to normal.

He cleared his throat and decided to ignore Chen Wenjian. He first extended an invitation to Chen Yunli: "Mr. Chen, are you free tonight? I..."

"He's busy." Chen Wenjian interrupted, his pupils flashing with a cold, animalistic light for a moment. "After get off work, we're going to the market to buy groceries. I also have to cook for him. After dinner, we'll take a walk downstairs. He'll need to rest."

Yufa's smile broke, and he said sinisterly, "I'm not asking you, Mr. Chen Wenjian."

Chen Wenjian didn't even look at him, but stared straight at Chen Yunli: "Yunli, was what I just said right?"

Yun Li?

Hearing this intimate and gentle address, Youfa felt numb from head to toe, and his furrowed brow revealed a hint of irritability and displeasure.

Where on earth did this brat come from? Chen Yunli's profile doesn't mention him!

Also, Yunli what Yunli? Yun what Li? Why is he calling her so affectionately?

As if he had heard Yufa's thoughts, Chen Wenjian glanced at him indifferently. Although his expression was calm, there was a hint of boasting in his eyes.

Yufa: "..." A plant.

Sensing the subtle and turbulent confrontation between the two, Chen Yunli was both angry and amused, but ultimately he still favored Chen Wenjian and nodded, "Yes, you're right."

Yufa immediately drooped like a deflated pufferfish.

Fortunately, he is broad-minded and can let go. After all, one failure does not mean anything and there will be opportunities in the future.

Youfa scratched the back of his head and said with a smile, "Since Mr. Chen is not free tonight, let's talk about it later. I have to go back to work first."

"Take care."

After watching Youfa leave quickly, Chen Yunli noticed Chen Wenjian's face full of smugness and kicked him lightly: "You should go back quickly too."

Chen Wenjian didn't hide, letting him kick him until he was done before saying, "Okay, see you in the evening."

After a while, all the "outsiders" left, and the library finally returned to its former tranquility.

In just a moment, Ming Shaotu had almost finished organizing the catalog. Without even looking up, he jokingly said, "Mr. Chen is incredibly charming. I hope your suitors won't interfere with your work in the future."

Chen Yunli held his forehead helplessly.

"Let's not talk about this anymore." He sat down next to Ming Shaotu. "You said you had something to discuss with me. What was it?"

"Oh, actually, my colleagues from other units in the Spiritual Department asked me to discuss a transfer with you. It's not a real transfer, but they want you to stay at their workplace for two days."

The library was no longer in danger, but Ming Shaotu still wore his glasses out of habit when he talked about it.

"I forgot to tell you earlier, besides the five evil god lairs in An City, there are also several other evil god strongholds. These are the work locations of the various units under the jurisdiction of the Spirit Seeing Department, and the library is one of them. Since Mr. Chen can suppress the evil god in the library, perhaps he can also suppress the others. They hope to use your power to eliminate these invisible bombs in human society."

"Well... I don't mind walking around." Chen Yunli held up his chin, "It's just that I can't control my power smoothly yet. If I go to other units, it may not be as effective as in the library."

"That's fine. Even if it only has a small effect, it will be a good thing for the entire department and even the entire Ancheng." Ming Shaotu smiled slightly. "If it's convenient, let's go to the local express delivery station closest to the library."

Chen Yunli: “……?”

It turns out he came prepared.

…

The city express delivery station is located on Songyue Street next door. There are pine and cypress trees planted on both sides of the street. There are no other buildings except the silver house shaped like a full moon at the end.

When Chen Yunli and Ming Shaotu arrived, the restaurant owner Yue Xun, whom they had met once before, came out to greet them.

He still looked sleepy and lazy, standing in the corridor with his head tilted back and a long yawn. The sunlight reflected from the eaves at an angle that was enough to make physics impossible to exist, and hit him at his feet, so dazzling that it almost gave him an illusion... No, that was probably not an illusion.

Chen Yunli narrowed his eyes, slowed down his pace and stopped, his gaze fell on Yue Xun - he was wearing a straight white robe, and under the robe, where his legs should be, extended a long silver, scaleless tail.

The tip of his tail bent and arched flexibly, supporting the upper half of his body. The wide clothes wrapped him tightly, leaving only a small piece of skin connecting his jaw and neck exposed when he raised his head. The skin was pale and thin, covered with fine blue lines like blood vessels.

These lines were like living things, wriggling towards his cheeks and eyes.

Unlike the fleeting illusion last time, the body of Yue Xun that Chen Yunli saw this time was unusually clear and distinct. Besides looking ferocious and weird, there was also a sense of fragility that made him vulnerable to any blow.

"Hey, here I come." Yue Xun smiled lazily, but his facial muscles suddenly twitched uncontrollably for a while. "Hiss... I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well right now. I hope Mr. Chen didn't scare you?"

Before Chen Yunli could answer, Ming Shaotu's eyes became fierce and he said in a deep voice, "Go back to the house! Are you trying to kill yourself by coming out at this hour?"

"Oh, it's too cold in there." Yue Xun raised his thin, dry fingers and rubbed the wrinkles on his face, his eyelashes drooping in boredom. "I'll come out and get some sun. I won't die."

"you!……"

Ming Shaotu was feeling depressed, but Chen Yunli looked into his eyes thoughtfully. To be more precise, he was looking at the "true appearance" of Yue Xun reflected in his eyes.

Unlike what Chen Yunli saw, the Yue Xun in Ming Shaotu's vision had almost lost its human appearance. It was completely a scaleless white snake with a head twisted into an irregular shape, with sharp edges and dislocated facial features. The whole "person" was twisted into a strange shape, like an ambiguous, evil and ferocious symbol in ancient mystical books.

If this is his true appearance, then what kind of terrible pressure and psychological torture is he under while retaining human consciousness and rationality?

Unimaginable.

"If you stay in the evil god's entrenched area for too long, your body will gradually become alienated and your soul will be gradually corroded. You will eventually degenerate into a monster or die miserably." Chen Yunli's sympathetic frown fell on Ming Shaotu's eyes. He couldn't help but sigh and said softly, "Yue Xun has been working here for almost two years. He is already terminally ill."

Hearing this, Yue Xun smiled and said, "Shao Tu, don't act like that. This is not like you. It's not easy for Mr. Chen to come here, so let's get down to business. What do you think this room looks like?"

Chen Yunli pulled himself out of his thoughts and was caught off guard by his hopeful eyes. He suddenly remembered that Ming Shaotu had asked him a similar question before. His answer eventually became the current appearance of the library and also made the library's zeroth rule concrete into reality.

So, does he hope to solidify this same-city express delivery station into what he wants it to be?

Chen Yunli pursed his lips, followed Yue Xun's wishes, and looked up to carefully examine the post station in front of him.

This is a perfect circular building, shaped like a full moon. The white walls and black tiles are like the shadows of the undulating mountains in the moon. It is surrounded by pine forests and the breeze is gentle, which makes it quite poetic.

But in Ming Shaotu's eyes, the bright moon, surrounded by indigo, was a handful of wriggling ashes, pieced together into the shape of a house, constantly repeating the process of dispersing, gathering, collapsing, and recovering. Although there were a few sparks burning within it, it was like a yellow flower about to wither, the afterglow about to fade, cold and lifeless.

Ashes?

Chen Yunli frowned, then relaxed his brows and walked up to Yue Xun.

Yue Xun tilted her head in confusion, and saw him suddenly stretch out his right hand and slap his forehead hard.

"Hmm?"

"There's dust on your face." Chen Yunli rubbed his fingers, which were stained with a little gray dust. "Okay, I'll wipe it off for you."

Yue Xun stared at him blankly, while Ming Shaotu stared at Yue Xun blankly.

In his eyes, the inhuman figure was like the auxiliary lines on sketch paper erased by an eraser, which were neatly and unevenly repaired to reveal a young and handsome face, figure and outline.

That was the photo printed on the monthly patrol work ID card, which had not been shown to the public for a long time.