Chapter 156...
A biting chill swept in from all directions.
The peach wood sword Ling Quan had retrieved from her waist was unusually hot, almost as if it were about to catch fire. Ignoring Azan, who was being dragged along by Nezha, she scrambled towards the broken window. However, the moment she took a step, the light on the ceiling flickered for a split second.
The flickering lights did not slow Ling Quan's pace. As she reached the gaping hole in the window, a powerful gust of wind, strong enough to knock a person over, rushed in. Within this building, all the lights in the Baishui Street area went out simultaneously. With the power cut off, the remaining light clearly illuminated the scene on the ground. She clung tightly to the ground, peering down:
From the city's drainage pipes, countless torrents surged forth, scouring the infrastructure of White Water Street, engulfing the entire street, and threatening to rise halfway up the buildings. Strangely, it wasn't raining, and Ling Quan didn't hear any gurgling sound of rushing water. She turned on her phone's flashlight, the beam pointing directly at the ground, not the water. People were walking on it, and stray cats squealed when blinded by the light.
This is utterly absurd.
It was as if overnight all living things had learned to breathe underwater.
Nezha released his Hun Tian Ling (a magical ribbon). He stepped over the red silk draped on the ground, pulled Ping Yu into his arms, and asked, "Have you been waiting for me for a long time?"
Ping Yu smiled and said, "You arrived faster than I expected."
The girl's smile faded after she answered.
She closed her eyes and sank her primordial spirit into her inner palace.
As soon as she landed in that pale space, Pingyu felt unsteady. The Milky Way was tilting, and all the water accumulated on the ground flowed forward. Pingyu walked forward step by step. Her shoes stepped into the remaining celestial water, leaving footprints. She didn't look back, resolutely walking towards the Gate of Hell, so she didn't see the grass and flowers blooming behind her, countless weeds and tiny flowers sprouting from the soil of her inner palace. The closer she got to the Gate of Hell, the darker the water on the ground became.
The sky and water were dark and cold, but the Ghost Gate seemed brand new. It shed its grime at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if the water on the ground had been stained black by the dirt it had shaken off.
After walking a few steps, Pingyu arrived at the Gate of Hell.
Vines sprouted again from the ground, supporting the tablet. The screen was bright, flashing a line of text:
Please select the location where the Ghost Gate will descend.
Baishui Village.
She opened her eyes and, with Nezha's help, straightened up. Ling Quan was communicating with her superior behind a hidden earpiece when Ping Yu spoke to her from behind: "Sister Ling Quan, we can go to Baishui Village now."
So the matter of the Infant Burning Tower has been resolved?
Ling Quan was almost choked by the "sister." Given the abilities these two had displayed, she was afraid that Ping Yu's shout would shorten her lifespan. She turned around with an embarrassed smile and saw Nezha kicking something towards her. The object rolled on the ground and finally stopped in front of Ling Quan. After releasing Azan, the Hun Tian Ling ran to the washbasin in the room to clean itself. Without any instruction, it turned on the faucet and even lathered itself with hand sanitizer.
The next second, Nezha scooped up Pingyu in his arms.
He pulled the girl into his arms, not even giving Ling Quan a glance, and rode away through the crack in the window on his fiery wheels. The flames streaked across the sky, bringing only boundless desolation to the room.
She, Ling Quan, the 89th generation direct disciple of the Ling family of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, was a prodigy even in the eccentric Bureau 749! At this moment, she clearly felt that she was being disliked. Not only that, the Hun Tian Ling also flew out unhurriedly. It floated in front of Ling Quan and took her wrist.
"Ancestor, are you perhaps...?"
Are you trying to comfort me?
This possibility was dispelled by the next move of the Hun Tian Ling. It lifted Ling Quan's hand simply to wring all the water off its body onto his wrist. Feeling the water washing over his wrist, Ling Quan had reason to believe that this was a personal vendetta.
Because this was the hand that Pingyu had just grabbed!
After taking revenge, Hun Tian Ling left without any hesitation.
Ling Quan was left alone in the empty room, staring at the lifeless corpse of Ajarn on the floor. After a long while, she squatted down in despair. Ling Quan took out a dozen talismans and stuck them on Ajarn's seven orifices to seal his soul. She also wrapped them around his neck to prevent his head, which was about to fall off, from finally falling off.
She carried the body down ten flights of stairs with her life on her shoulders.
.
Nezha and Pingyu waited for quite a while before Ling Quan finally arrived at the entrance of Baishui Village. The woman arrived late on a motorcycle, the engine roaring like thunder.
Wow~
Ping Yu praised it highly.
This is Ling Quan's beloved car. She took off her hood, confidently tossed her hair, and seemed quite pleased with the little girl's praise.
Unexpectedly, Pingyu clapped his hands and asked, "Sister, why aren't you flying on your sword?"
This kind of travel is so slow, and so unpretentious.
Ling Quan almost fell.
She got off the motorcycle speechlessly, and gritted her teeth as she replied, "My sword-wielding license was recently revoked."
Pingyu: Wait, there's such a thing?!
Ling Quan didn't want to delve too deeply into this topic, so he walked ahead of them and said, "Come with me, I'll take you to the Infant Burning Tower."
After saying that, she led the way into the village.
Like many declining villages and towns today, Baishui Village is experiencing an aging population, with young people leaving for school and middle-aged people working elsewhere. The Infant Burning Tower, located in the village's most sunny spot, was originally built in the late Ming Dynasty and flourished in the Qing Dynasty. It arose because the economy and resources could not keep up with the explosive population growth. Here, whether it was a baby girl, a sick infant, or a disabled child… any life deemed unworthy of being raised and unable to create value was discarded like garbage.
The two followed Ling Quan to the front of the Infant Burning Tower.
This was a brick and stone building, showing no signs of decay or collapse even after many years. It was about 3-5 meters high, made of gray bricks and stones, with two pits in the wall, one for male infants and one for female infants. Ling Quan looked at the infant incineration tower, his tone heavy: "To demonstrate the bond between blood relatives, in the past, when people abandoned infants, they would place the child in a basket and hoist her in intact with a thick hemp rope."
After death, the soul retains its form from before death. The spirits of infants who died with their bodies intact became the best material for Ajarns to create amulets. Humanity's hypocrisy caused these infant spirits to suffer a second time; thinking about it this way, it's truly hateful.
After the Heavenly Dao's cheat was removed, Ping Yu clearly felt her divine power recede. However, her cleansed meridians allowed her to open her Heavenly Eye without relying on Nezha's power. As Ling Quan spoke, she looked at the Infant Burning Tower. This towering gray tower was a massive coffin tomb. It was built by a feng shui master in a highly yang location, because the villagers hoped the infant spirits would be reborn into good families with pure hearts. But in reality, no amount of excuses could erase the fact that they were killing people. Fearing retribution, the tower was placed here, solely to suppress these wronged souls with yang energy. The yin energy swirling around the tower was almost tangible; even with feng shui suppression, it still caused the surrounding vegetation to wither. Countless infants cried here, like cats and wolves, their cries tearing at the heart and lungs.
No wonder Ajarn was able to make so many amulets.
After all, there are always more dead people than living people.
A loud thud drew Ping Yu's attention back. Dust billowed from the ground, and Ajarn's body lay there. With two deities present, Ling Quan had no say in the matter. She asked, "My lords, what should we do?"
"Sister Lingquan," Pingyu asked, "If you hadn't met us, how did you initially plan to deal with the infant spirits in the Infant Burning Tower?"
Ling Quan pointed at the Ajarn on the ground and said, "Throw him into the tower and use his flesh and soul to appease the hatred of the infant spirits inside."
“Then let’s do it this way for now.” Ping Yu said, bending down to lift the Ajarn’s body from the ground. After the man died, the magic on his body was broken, and the lifespan he had stolen from others was returned to the victim.
He was nearing the end of his life, and his body, constantly tainted by yin energy, was swollen. His skin and flesh drooped and hung down, like a bloated, dead pig. Pingyu was running out of strength, so Nezha came to help. He grabbed the Ajarn's arm and transferred his weight to him. With Nezha's help, the Ajarn on his body became as light as a sheet of paper, and the two of them threw him into the window for casting infants.
Whether it was the decaying corpse year-round that teemed with cockroaches, snakes, and rats, Ajarn's body fell heavily to the ground, followed by a continuous rustling sound. Laughter, gnawing, and gasps mingled incessantly. The crunching sound, like sawing wood, made one's teeth ache. Pingyu clapped his hands and took a deep breath. These infant spirits could only devour Ajarn's body; they couldn't affect his soul.
As for the remaining punishments and the redemption of the infant spirits, Pingyu has his own way of doing so.
“Let me do it,” she said.
The girl closed her eyes and clicked "confirm" on the tablet in front of the gate of hell.
The water, which had slowed down on the ground, surged even more violently in an instant. Ling Quan felt his hair stand on end and goosebumps rise all over his body.
One begets two, two begets three, three begets all things...
Starting with one, one after another, white bone hands, each holding a drum and a hammer, emerged from the void of black water on the ground.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The resounding drumbeats echoed in people's hearts. The intertwined, long, pointed fingers, resembling flower stamens, sprouted from the ground like clusters of white spider lilies. Behind the skeletal hands, spirits, vengeful ghosts, and ghostly messengers emerged from the water's depths…
Ox-Head and Horse-Face, along with Black and White Impermanence, stood on either side, the four demons holding eight chains as thick as tree trunks. Upon seeing Nezha and Healer, the oxen and horses of the underworld (in biological terms) all turned their heads away.
I see this old acquaintance when I'm on business and it makes me want to laugh.
As the four enormous demons straightened the iron chains, they shouted to the sound of drums and slowly pulled up a door panel, making it stand upright. It blotted out the sky, half of its body hidden in the clouds, making it impossible to see its edge. The bronze door panel was carved with demons, twenty-four ghosts with ferocious faces, suffering immense pain.
The black, viscous water tore through the prayer flags, as if they were rising from amniotic fluid. Orange-yellow, crimson, and fluorescent green prayer flags fluttered, spewing clusters and clumps of will-o'-the-wisps, while the golden statues of the Ten Kings of Hell were slowly lifted from the rippling water. Their shoulders reached the sky, their wide-open, angry eyes gazing down with overwhelming power. The oppressive aura of the spirits surged, and even the grass and trees bowed their heads.
Overwhelmed by the weight, Ling Quan knelt on the ground with a thud. However, the clouds in the sky churned unpredictably, and hundreds of thousands of heavenly soldiers and generals awaited orders, armed with swords, forks, axes, and halberds. Ping Yu and Nezha did not kneel, but stared directly at the heavens.
The clouds condensed into a mouth, and He asked, "Green Grape, can the Gate of Hell be opened?"
Pingyu's pupils are shimmering.
Her round pupils were like flower buds, with blue flowers blooming in concentric circles. She raised her arm, pointing straight to the Gate of Hell, "The twenty-four ghosts are all here." At this moment, the souls of Qingti Fairy and Pingyu merged. She parted her lips slightly and uttered a single word: "Open."
In an instant, the gates of hell burst open.
Countless powerful cyclones churned and crashed around, the surging black water rising into a gigantic maw, threatening to devour the forest. But when the bronze gate fully opened, everything stopped. There was no howling wind, no wailing of ghosts. Behind the gate lay only a deep, unfathomable darkness. After death, bodily functions permanently cease, plunging one into boundless desolation. Therefore, the Gate of Hell is also quiet and solitary.
Inside the infant incineration tower, the infant spirits, who had been excitedly and restless as they devoured Ajarn's flesh and blood, fell silent in an instant. Then came an even more piercing scream. The swords and blades hurled by the heavenly soldiers cleaved through the air, severing the black puppet strings connecting the amulets to the heavens along the entire White Water Street. The false deity statue in Ajarn's office cracked, and the amulets dimmed.
Inside the Infant Burning Tower, countless specks of light—tiny souls, faintly glowing with pure white or dim gray light—like dandelion seeds blown by the wind, drifted continuously from the tower's two inlet openings and from the cracks in the bricks. They were so small, some not even human-shaped, cast down simply because their pregnant bellies were not the right shape. These infant spirits, along with clumps of flesh formed from resentment, carrying their final pain from life, converged into a trickle. At first slow, then faster and faster, it flew towards the wide-open gate of hell.
The ghost messengers stood solemnly on both sides, their clubs no longer striking. The golden statues of the Ten Kings of Hell silently allowed the river of countless prematurely deceased souls to enter the Gates of Hell, their angry eyes tinged with pity. Pingyu looked up, and she could feel that every soul that brushed past her was giving thanks, returning to the long cycle of reincarnation, hoping to be reborn into a better life in this era.
Nezha stood silently beside her.
With the gates of hell opened, Pingyu's destiny was fulfilled.
He should go back.
Ling Quan was completely mesmerized. She knelt on the ground, her heart filled with nothing but awe and fear of the grand divinity.
The torrent of light lasted no more than the time it takes to burn an incense stick.
Finally, all the white light entered the Gate of Hell. The Infant Burning Tower coughed out its last burst of charcoal-black light.
"Save me," the ball of light spoke.
Before the grand principles of Heaven, every life is but a grain of sand; therefore, Ajarn's ball of light was the same size as those infant spirits. He screamed and cried for help: "No...no! Save me, I don't want to go in...I'm Thai, you can't punish me!"
However, in the void beyond the Gate of Hell, Pingyu saw a different scene.
After the infant spirits crossed the River of Oblivion, countless festering hands reached outwards. They attempted to pry open the void beyond the Gates of Hell, dragging in the incoming souls. Between the arms, narrow patterns shifted and changed:
Sinners lined up to have their tongues ripped out and fingers cut off by demon soldiers, and Ajarn, in his daze, became one of them. His tongue was pulled out by iron pincers, and all ten fingers were severed, causing him excruciating pain, tears streaming down his face. The souls of the sinners clapped and cheered, laughing maniacally. The next second, he was grabbed by a giant hand with long nails and hoisted onto a tree of steel, his back pierced by a sharp blade, and he was dangled high in the air. A nearby sinner, annoyed that he was taking up space, kicked him off. Ajarn plummeted, falling into a giant mirror, which reflected his many evil deeds, forcing him to shed tears of blood. Behind the mirror was a steamer; he landed on it, his human skin peeling off like eggplant from the heat. Terrified of falling into the fire beneath the steamer, he clung to a red-hot copper pillar, his bloodied flesh hanging from it as he climbed a mountain of knives, crossed an icy river naked, and finally slipped and fell into a vat of boiling oil. His screams were muffled by the bubbling of boiling oil, sizzling as he was fried into a piece of meat and thrown into the road. He was deep-fried until his shape was set, unable to move. He could only watch helplessly as the cattle trampled him to pieces, the demons swept him away, pounded him in a mortar, and soaked him in a pool of blood to be reborn. Then he was subjected to a thousand cuts, his flesh to be thrown into a volcano to be burned, his limbs slashed by the blade.
The eighteen levels of hell offer no escape from beginning to end, subjecting one to endless cycles of reincarnation.
Ajarn noticed Ping Yu watching him. He struggled to grow a hand from behind his back, crying out, "I was wrong, I was wrong!!"
Pingyu felt a little dizzy and pressed his hand to calm himself. The giant mouth in the sky spoke again. This time, however, it was less stern and more lenient: "Qingti, this matter is over. The twenty-four ghosts should return to their places. After this world, you can ascend to immortality."
Ping Yu withdrew her hand from the Gate of Hell, the severe blue-green shadow gradually fading, revealing her normal, round pupils. Her face was somewhat pale, but she stood ramrod straight, bowing respectfully towards the sky and the direction of the Ten Kings of Hell.
"Qingti, I will obey the decree."
As her voice faded, the colossal bronze gate, reaching to the heavens, began to slowly close. The Ox-Head and Horse-Face demons, along with the Black and White Impermanence, strained against the chains, the chains creaking and groaning. The giant mouth spoke again: "Nezha, the Red Sand Formation is broken. Xiqi cannot do without your help; it's time for you to leave."
"etc!"
Before Nezha could speak, Pingyu spoke first. She didn't care who had given the order; she grabbed the boy's arm. She demanded, "Weren't we given three days? This is only the first day! Why are you taking him away!"
"How can personal feelings compare to the fate of the nation?" Heaven's authority pressed down on Pingyu. She felt a buzzing in her head, her body slumped half an inch. But Pingyu stubbornly refused to yield, refusing to beg for mercy. She clung tightly to Nezha, retorting sharply, "Without us, you wouldn't have been able to gather all the members of the Ghost Gate! How can you so easily betray someone after you've served your purpose? Even Heaven must uphold justice!"
"Why are you being so fierce?" the giant mouth said, sounding somewhat aggrieved. "I didn't say we couldn't discuss it!"
Pingyu was momentarily stunned by the sudden remark. The oppressive aura emanating from her dissipated, and she exhaled a breath of stale air. Nezha, also a little nervous, encircled Pingyu and held her in his arms. The two looked at the Heavenly Dao with a resentful gaze, like a pair of mandarin ducks about to be separated. The Heavenly Dao coughed lightly and said, "The battle over there is urgent. I can only give you an hour and a half at most. He must return after that."
Having said that, they gave Pingyu no further chance to bargain. The prayer flags sank rapidly into the black water, the golden statues of the Ten Kings of Hell descended quickly, and all the gods in the sky vanished in the blink of an eye, fearing that Pingyu would call out to them again. The black water on the ground receded like the tide, and the white skeletal spider lilies and the bone hands holding the drums also disappeared like phantoms, leaving no trace.
The village of Baishui returned to the tranquility of the night, with only the moonlight shining upon them and the Burning Infant Tower.
Ling Quan let out a long sigh of relief, feeling weak all over and almost collapsing to the ground.
Nezha and Ping Yu looked at each other in silence. He wiped away the tears from the corners of the other's eyes and shook his head: "It's okay, we will meet again."
Just then, a ringtone suddenly sounded. Ping Yu touched his phone and saw it was Ling Quan calling. The woman hurriedly pulled out her phone, saw the words "Director" displayed on the screen, and quickly answered.
“…Yes, Chief. The matter is resolved… Hmm, good… Bring them back, right? Okay…” She looked at Nezha and Ping Yu in front of her, her expression becoming more complicated. As soon as she hung up the phone, Nezha brandished his Fire-Tipped Spear.
Ling Quan raised his arm to indicate that he meant no harm: "It's just that this incident involves too many people, so the bureau needs to find people with knowledge of the situation to get a general understanding. And..."
Ling Quan looked at the gleaming tip of the young master's spear with genuine nervousness. She swallowed hard and continued, "The depletion of spiritual energy in modern times has led to an urgent need for manpower in our department. This young lady possesses exceptional skills, and we'd like to ask her if she'd be willing to join our staff...!"
After a while, Nezha put away his Fire-Tipped Spear. Pingyu exhaled, but then heard the boy say, "Let's go then."
Pingyu: ?
Ling Quan: ?
"I'm not going!"
Pingyu realized: "You only have three hours. If you go, you won't have enough time!"
"Since ancient times, when evil ways are eradicated, only the common people rejoice. Do you know why?" Nezha asked her calmly. Pingyu slowly loosened her fingers, understanding Nezha's meaning. He was worried that some people who had received favors from the Ajarn might be angered by having their livelihood cut off and would cause trouble for Pingyu after he left. Therefore, he wanted to use the last moments to pave the way for her and find her a powerful backer.
Hearing this, Ling Quan had no choice but to interrupt: "Um..."
The two men glared at her.
Ling Quan lowered his head, his voice even softer: "The director said we can go tomorrow...!"
He said that children need to sleep to grow taller, and told you to get some rest first.
.
One and a half hours is three hours
It's the middle of the night, there's nothing I can do.
Pingyu had just experienced a divine manifestation and the opening of the gates of hell, leaving him exhausted. Nezha agreed with Lingquan's assessment, and he held Pingyu's head, which was shaking like a rattle-drum, and said, "You should rest."
"don't want!"
Ping Yu shook off Nezha's hand and turned to Ling Quan.
"By the way, if you're going anywhere, remember not to use the Wind and Fire Wheels," Ling Quan reminded her. "The director said that what just happened was filmed by many night owls. If supernatural phenomena are witnessed in multiple locations, it will probably cause a social uproar."
Without the Wind Fire Wheels, they would waste a lot of time traveling. Pingyu went over the things she wanted to do with Nezha several times in her mind, but in the end, only one option remained. She asked, "Sister, I just helped you so much. Could you do me a small favor in return?"
Ling Quan's internal alarm bells rang: "Tell me what kind of help you need first?"
Pingyu held up her finger, making a "mini" gesture. She said, "Could I borrow your motorcycle for a bit?"
There's no reason to ask someone for another man's wife!
Ling Quan refused repeatedly, then raised her hand to dial a number. She gestured for her to calm down and said, "Wait here, I'll help you borrow a car."
Not long after, a flashy red Ferrari SF90xx sped up. A white-haired man with slicked-back hair got out and shouted at Ling Quan, "Sis, why did you call me here so late at night?"
Ling Quan didn't reply to him, but turned to Ping Yu and Nezha and said, "Let's go, get in the car."
She first carried her own motorcycle into the trunk of this vehicle, then affixed a space-enhancing talisman to ensure the motorcycle fit perfectly. She then reached out to the young man, asking, "Give me the keys."
Man: Huh? Oh...!
He didn't understand the situation and obediently handed over the keys.
Ling Quan didn't waste any words. After Ping Yu and Nezha got into the car, she stepped on the gas. The Ferrari roared past, leaving a trail of dust that splattered all over the man's face. It took him a while to realize he'd been left behind. He exclaimed incredulously, "Holy crap, sis, I haven't even gotten in the car yet!?"
In this desolate wilderness, no one paid him any attention anymore.
Pingyu leaned out the window, somewhat worried: "Is everything alright, like this?"
“Men are lucky, they won’t die,” Ling Quan said nonchalantly, pulling up the navigation app and asking, “Where to?”
Pingyu gave the answer he had prepared long ago: "Prince Temple."
It takes an hour and a half to get here from the Prince Temple.
Brake, stop.
Pingyu pulled Nezha off the bus.
The stone tablet outside the Temple of the Third Prince reads: Nezha, the Third Prince's Palace.
The temple wasn't open at this hour, only the strong aroma of incense wafting from behind the door. Pingyu led him across the street to a bus stop. Pointing to the low bus stop sign specially for the elderly, she held up the number "6" above it and said, "Take this bus after you come out of the Prince Temple, understand?"
Nezha nodded and silently made a mental note of it.
Although he didn't know the meaning of the words, he could remember their shapes by looking at the pictures.
Ping Yu slid his finger to the left and pointed to another stop, saying, "This stop is called Jinfu Huayuan. When you're on the bus, if you hear someone call this name, get off. Understand?"
"Understood."
The next second, Nezha saw Pingyu stretch out his hand to him: "Give me your phone."
Nezha handed over the phone, and Pingyu set a default route on the navigation. She taught Nezha: "Click this first, then remember that. Then follow the route above. If you don't know how to press the elevator, take the stairs. My home is in building seven, on the sixth floor, 605."
She then took Nezha to a 24-hour convenience store near the Prince's Temple to exchange all the cash. In this era of digital payments, paper currency has drastically decreased. Pingyu exchanged 984.7 yuan, some in smaller denominations. She rolled up all the money, secured it with a hair tie she was carrying, and stuffed it into Nezha's phone case. Returning to the temple gate, she asked, "Could you take me inside the temple?"
Nezha agreed, "Okay."
He scooped Pingyu up in his arms and leaped lightly into the temple. He watched as Pingyu crawled inside the largest statue and hid her phone there. It was a spot no Taoist priest would clean, and it was covered in cobwebs. Pingyu, usually so fastidious, had no such scruples. She chattered incessantly to Nezha, “I think that a thousand years from now, if you come back, you’ll come back from the Prince’s Temple. So I put my phone and money inside. You can find them when you come back. I know you have a good memory, Nezha. Just follow the route I tell you and the navigation I taught you, and you’ll find me and our home.”
"That's right!"
Pingyu wanted to crawl back into the statue: "Do you remember how to turn on your phone? I'll teach you..."
“Pingyu,” Nezha stopped her: “I remember everything.”
"Then we..."
I want to spend some time with you.
Nezha said, slowly and deliberately, "Just us."
Pingyu finally snapped out of her daze. Nezha led her outside, and they sat together on the stone steps in front of the Prince's Temple. Nezha let Pingyu rest her head on his body and helped close the girl's eyes.
Pingyu was actually very tired.
The constant stream of events left them no respite, only a relentless push forward. Knowing that Nezha's departure was inevitable, Pingyu softly said, "Nezha, I'll be waiting for you at home."
"Okay," Nezha replied.
"Even if I become rich and make a lot of money in the future, I will not move."
"good."
"You need to come find me soon, and don't forget me. If possible, please don't like anyone else, okay?"
"good."
"All you can say is 'yes'!"
Pingyu laughed in exasperation. She abruptly opened her eyes, intending to confront him. But as soon as Pingyu sat up, she bumped into Nezha's smiling face. His eyes were also glistening with tears, or perhaps it was the natural luster of his eyes. Pingyu silently swallowed the question she was about to ask. She lay back down on Nezha's shoulder and held up her phone: "Let's take a picture!"
The surveillance camera, which had been pulled up, captured the two of them sitting disheveled on the stone steps. The moonlight was sharp, and a gentle evening breeze blew. Ling Quan lit a cigarette and leaned against the car, watching them. After a while, the sky began to lighten slightly. Golden dawn light rippled at the horizon, and through Nezha's palm, he began to appear transparent. The boy carefully picked up Ping Yu and handed him to Ling Quan.
“Take good care of her,” Nezha emphasized, “I’m not afraid of you.”
"My goodness, I'm terrified of you!" Ling Quan took Ping Yu and joked in a low voice, "Please let me go... Aren't you going to say goodbye to her?"
"She'll be able to see me soon."
Time ticked by, and the golden glow at the horizon grew ever wider. After an unknown amount of time, the stars shifted, and night finally fell. Pingyu opened his eyes, and the first thing he smelled wasn't the scent of lotus, but the smoky smell of his coat. Lingquan, eating a steamed bun, knew Pingyu was awake through the rearview mirror. She mumbled, "Awake?"
"woke up."
Pingyu rubbed his throbbing head.
Ling Quan turned around and handed over a bag of breakfast: "Want some?"
"No, thank you."
Pingyu looked around, but Nezha was nowhere to be seen. Her heart sank, and her body felt even weaker. She already knew what had happened, but still asked with a glimmer of hope, "Where is he?"
Ling Quan felt a pang of guilt, but still replied, "I'm leaving."
Pingyu remained silent for a moment, then got up from the back seat. She reached out to Lingquan, changing her mind: "Sister, I want to eat breakfast."
Ling Quan was surprised, but still handed the bag and mouthwash back to him. Ping Yu held the steaming plastic bag, talking to himself as if to himself, "If I don't eat breakfast properly, he'll scold me."
Just like when I was a child having breakfast at the Lin family mansion.
Ling Quan started the sports car and headed towards Bureau 749. Exhaust fumes billowed from the tailpipe, leaving a trail of gray smoke in front of the Prince's Temple. Actually, Ping Yu hadn't slept very soundly, waking up in the early hours of the morning. The disrupted timeline, as people from two different eras returned to their respective points in time, was able to return to normal. In the Third Prince's palace, the statue where Ping Yu hid his cell phone stirred. Decades of memories, thousands of years of recollections, flooded into his consciousness as the river of time returned to normal.
As a result, the eyes of the statue, which were originally made of clay, blinked once when no one was around.
Author's Note: I will conclude the story tomorrow.
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