Chapter 64 Mountains and Rivers Blocked, Seemingly No Way Out
Chang'an stared at us as if his brain was overloaded.
Zhu Shi said calmly, "Strictly speaking, I am not a superhuman, but a demon hunter from Luoshan."
"Luoshan? A demon hunter?" Chang'an asked blankly.
"Luoshan is the official national organization that handles strange events, and the Witcher is the professional in this organization," I explained simply.
Chang'an stared at my face: "Then... you're also a demon hunter from Luoshan?"
"Yes," I shamelessly admitted, "I just joined recently."
Although my becoming a member of the heretical sect Wuchang has not yet been finalized, even if it is, it will not be considered that I have truly become a member of Luoshan.
But Zhu Shi didn't expose me. Instead, he continued to say to Chang'an, "Zhuang Cheng has already told me about what happened to you. You seemed unwilling to tell him what you knew before. But as you can see, we are all professionals. You should tell us all the clues you know."
Her attitude was businesslike, not like she was treating her brother, but like she was treating someone involved in a strange incident.
The words made sense, but such a blunt attitude would only provoke Chang'an's rebellious spirit. Especially being spoken to like that by his own sister, Chang'an was likely to feel humiliated. Sure enough, Chang'an fell silent. However, he wasn't truly foolish; he should have known very well that explaining his difficulties to a professional was the most sensible choice.
I tried to guess Chang'an's current state of mind as a friend. He's probably very conflicted right now. His familiar friend and sister have suddenly transformed into so-called professionals who deal with the supernatural. That being said, the impression of "professional" probably can't outweigh the impression of "friend and sister." His emotions are probably still stuck on the level of "I can't let my friend kill someone" or "I can't let my friend and sister participate in my dangerous situation," and he can't seem to get over it for a while.
What's needed to convince him now isn't words, but time. I reckon he'll convince himself in a little while.
Zhu Shi seemed to have come to her senses, and she said, "Let's not stay here any longer, let's go back first."
"Go back where?" I asked.
“My home,” Zhu Shi replied.
-
Unlike Chang'an, who lived alone away from home, Zhu Shi always lived with her family.
However, one of their parents was missing and the other was living in a military hospital, so Zhu Shi only lived with his grandparents.
Generally speaking, "grandparents" refers to "father's parents," but the Zhu family's situation is different from that of a normal family. Because she and Chang'an's father married into the family, the "grandparents" she refers to automatically become "mother's parents."
The Zhu family mansion is located on the edge of the city. Their house is very large, with a small garden; I even found myself using the word "mansion." At the entrance, you can still see the surrounding walls and iron gate.
We used a mobile app to hail a taxi and arrived here. A kind-looking old woman was already waiting at the gate; she was probably Zhu Shi and Chang'an's grandmother. She saw Zhu Shi dressed in a straw raincoat and bamboo hat, but she didn't show the slightest surprise.
As soon as Chang'an saw the old woman, he couldn't help but shrink back. The old woman then beckoned Chang'an to her side, glanced at me, and asked with a smile, "You must be Zhuang Cheng, the one Chang'an keeps talking about? Thank you for being friends with our Chang'an. Please come in and have a seat."
Zhu Shi spoke up from the side: "Grandma, we have other things to do later."
"Huh? Aren't you coming in together?" Chang'an was stunned. "Then I'll..."
I was also a little confused, but the old woman's voice became stern: "Chang'an, you stay."
"Okay...okay!"
Chang'an reflexively agreed; it was the first time I'd ever seen him so obedient.
"Well then, you can go ahead and get busy," the old woman said to us in her kind voice, then looked at me and said, "If you have time after you're done, remember to come visit."
I nodded in agreement, and the old woman led Chang'an away into the distance. Chang'an kept turning back, as if she couldn't wait to escape. Zhu Shi saw this too, but pretended not to notice, leading me away from the Zhu family mansion, and casually putting his martial arts attire into the guitar case he always carried with him.
"Why separate from Chang'an? He clearly still has clues he hasn't revealed. And if we leave him alone, he might be attacked again."
I stopped by the roadside and asked Zhu Shi a question. At the same time, I secretly released a "firefly" and sent it to the Zhu family mansion.
"Don't worry about my brother. I've already informed the family about his situation. The Zhu family has a special barrier for guarding and defending against external enemies, and my grandfather is also there. Let alone a shadow clone of that level, even if several Fallen Demon Hunters attacked with their main bodies at the same time, they wouldn't be able to gain any advantage in that area." Zhu Shi was clearly very confident in the Zhu family mansion.
Seeing this, I was somewhat relieved and then asked, "Is your Zhu family really a demon hunter family?"
“Yes.” She nodded.
"Everyone in your family knows about this except Chang'an?" I asked curiously. "Why?"
"Hmm..." she hesitated.
"Is it inconvenient for you to say?" I thought that if she really didn't want to say, I would investigate it myself.
“It’s really inconvenient…” she shook her head. “Never mind, I’ll tell you anyway, otherwise you might investigate it yourself.”
They saw right through me.
“First of all, you should know that my brother is our father’s child with other women, that is, an illegitimate child.” She seemed to be carefully choosing her words. “Actually, there is a secret in this matter that even my brother himself does not know, that is, his mother is not human, but a demon.”
"—Huh?" I was stunned. "A demon? Did I hear you wrong? Did you just say that Chang'an's mother wasn't human?"
We met in college and spent so much time together. He knew nothing about the supernatural world and seemed like an ordinary person's friend—but he was actually the child of a monster and a human?
“You heard me right, that’s what I said.” Zhu Shi said very seriously, “My brother is half human, he was born with the blood and power of a demon. So in the beginning, my grandfather planned to make him the heir of the Zhu family.”
"Wait... I understand even less now that you've said that." I gathered my thoughts and emotions. "Chang'an's father married into the family, and his mother was a demon. In other words, Chang'an not only doesn't have the blood of the Zhu family, but he's not even entirely human."
"Under these circumstances, why did your grandfather initially intend to make Chang'an the heir, instead of you? Why was that? Did your grandfather have extremely patriarchal ideas?"
“No, that’s not it.” She shook her head. “Our grandfather hoped that the Zhu family could take a long time to slowly move away from the dangerous and strange world. And during this transition period, at least one family witcher was needed to defend against the dangers. Grandfather wanted my brother to take on this task.”
"However, during his cultivation, my brother's demonic side went berserk. In order to save his life, my grandfather had no choice but to seal his demonic blood, turning him into an ordinary person."
"After that, the task of succession fell to me."
I slowly processed what he had said, and then asked, "Then... why doesn't Chang'an know about these things? Has he lost his memory?"
“Yes.” She nodded. “Strange things attract each other. Not to mention someone like my brother who has demon blood, even just having come into contact with strange events or knowing information about strange things is equivalent to having a connection with strange things.”
"Therefore, simply sealing away the power will only leave my brother defenseless when he encounters strange beings in the future. My grandfather had previously researched many secret methods to stay away from strange beings, one of which was to seal away all the memories and powers related to strange beings that the person in question had.
"At this cost, the person will not only be able to sever their connection with the supernatural, but will also become less likely to associate with the supernatural in the future."
I suddenly realized: "The reason you didn't mention the strange world to Chang'an was because you were worried he would remember it?"
“That’s right. I just didn’t expect him to encounter strange events on his own. Once would be fine, with that seal, he wouldn’t immediately become involved with strange things. But twice in a row…” She sighed, “Perhaps it’s related to the frequent strange events in the last two years. Besides, that seal only makes it less likely for people to encounter strange events, it doesn’t mean that it can prevent people from encountering strange events 100% of the time.”
That's what I said, but I still feel that I've affected Chang'an.
The same thing happened this time. Perhaps it was because I placed the "Firefly" next to Chang'an that he got involved in the Fallen Witcher incident. Although according to Asao, simply placing the "Firefly" wouldn't have caused this result, Asao's experience with the jinx constitution was gained in a chaotic apocalyptic environment and may not be entirely reliable.
It was my fault.
This incident must be ended as soon as possible, and the mastermind behind the threat to Chang'an must be found and killed.
I really need to find Ma Zao as soon as possible. It's true that good fortune never comes in pairs, and misfortunes never come singly!
“Zhu Shi, you still have one question for me. Why did you separate from Chang’an just now? We haven’t gotten any clues from him yet,” I asked.
“The reason is simple: the clues on my brother's side are irrelevant, and we don't need to waste time trying to persuade him. If you want clues, I have them right here.” Zhu Shi said, taking out several photos from his pocket. “Zhuang Cheng, do you remember what kind of people the Fallen Demon Hunters targeted?”
"They must be people from the wealthy and powerful upper class," I replied.
“Yes. I initially thought Detective Kong was the killer, but in the last few days, new victims have appeared. Still local elites, and the murder scenes are exactly the same as before.” She handed me the photos. “There are also other fallen witchers, wandering the nights of Saltwater City.”
I took the photos and looked down at them.
Most of the photos are of the crime scene, showing gruesome bodies lying either inside a house or in the grass outdoors, as if they had been gutted by a large carnivore, indicating extremely cruel methods of committing the crimes.
A few photos also appear to be screenshots from street surveillance footage, with blurry, strange figures flashing by on the streets late at night, their true forms unclear.
When I flipped to the last photo, I almost dropped them all on the floor because my hand slipped.
The last photo also appears to be a screenshot from street surveillance footage.
But what appeared in the center of the picture was neither a corpse nor a strange shadow, but a girl of thirteen or fourteen years old.
The girl wore a black cat-whisker mask, a black printed hoodie, a short skirt, cotton tights, and black ankle boots. She also had a red GPS bracelet on her left wrist.
(End of this chapter)
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