Sheikh must have remained that way for a long time before he met his mother.
Has she stopped growing up?
Shi Jinzhe thought for a moment, then leaned back slightly to increase the visual distance.
The first time I saw Shekh, she looked like an adult, about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, similar to myself. After three molts and evolutions, apart from her tail becoming darker, she was no different.
He's neither older nor younger.
It is clear that her physical changes were not related to her own vitality; her growth had other causes.
Unable to find any suspicious points, Shi Jinzhe picked up the portrait again, trying to discover something from it.
The paper was turned over and examined from all angles, while Sheikh beside him frowned and stared intently at the portrait in silence.
Suddenly, a flash of white light on the plastic film shone into her eyes.
"Wait, do that action again."
Shi Jin folded the drawing paper and laid it horizontally. "Like this?"
"Tilt it a little more."
As the angle of the drawing paper changed, the reflection reappeared. Scherrer lowered his gaze and saw what was hidden in the reflection.
It seemed to be some kind of ancient script, one she had never seen before and could not identify.
She tried to turn the mirror so Shi Jinzhe could see it, but no matter how she changed it, Shi Jinzhe couldn't see the two lines of text in the reflection. It was as if each of them was locked, and no one but her could see their true appearance.
Helpless, Shekh decided to memorize what the words looked like first, and then relay them to Shi Jinzhe.
She glanced at it, but before she knew it, she had blinked, and the way she had memorized the writing was gone without a trace, leaving no mark on her memory.
Shekh refused to believe it and wanted to verify it a second time. She moved closer to the drawing paper, intending to look at it more closely.
Suddenly, the words seemed to come alive, rushing straight into her heart.
As if he had learned mind-reading in an instant, all the locked-up mysterious text was decoded and its contents were immediately read by Sher.
[Go and acquire knowledge, create yourself. Even like the destructive Apophis, you must personally choose the course of your own destiny and never be deceived.]
Suppressing his astonishment, Sher lowered his folded hand, tilting it a few degrees, and mentally read the remaining sentence.
...
As soon as she finished reading the last word in her mind, all the words vanished without a trace.
Shekh remembered those two sentences, clenching his tattered hand tightly, his heart filled with complex emotions.
She quickly focused her attention on other things and stopped thinking about it.
Shi Jin asked, "What did you see?"
"Some scratches, when the light shines, I thought they were words."
Shekh spoke in the same indifferent tone, her voice cold, as if she didn't care about anyone: "Waste of time, after looking for so long, it's nothing."
She returned the portrait to Xiao Wu, saying, "It's getting late, we should head back."
Shi Jinzhe glanced at her, asked Xiao Wu a few more questions, and after confirming that Xiao Wu didn't know anything more, he said goodbye to Bing Zhou and returned to his car.
On the way, Shekh started the conversation: "I wonder if the people in the car are honest or not."
Shi Jinzhe reassured her: "That Sun Qi is very capable; there won't be any problems."
"Oh, let the driver go back and drive through the night. He's rested for several hours and has plenty of energy."
"Yes, I also want to finish as soon as possible and leave as soon as possible."
"If he doesn't want to, you can drive it."
"Exploiting me again?"
The two of them asked and answered questions, as if they were just making conversation.
Until Shekh casually asked, "Did you get the side quest reward?"
"It was given."
Shi Jinzhe took out a card.
Skill: [You have to give up something to gain something]
Result: Life is a continuous process of making choices; sometimes, giving up some things is the only way to get what you want.
When you don't know what to give up, using this skill will help you choose how to gain the greatest benefit with the least loss.
Shekh scoffed dismissively.
"Who determines the minimum loss, and whose interests are maximized by the maximum benefit? These are inhuman things, all they do is play these word games all day long."
"It sounds like you really don't like this card."
"It feels redundant. You don't need to give up anything to get what you want."
When Shi Jin folded the card back, Shekh's words had a hidden meaning.
He sighed dramatically, feigning distress: "But this damn game is so unethical. Sometimes I have to exchange something to achieve my goal."
“That was before. Now you’ve taken back the willow branches and found your parents. Life isn’t so hard anymore.”
“That’s true.” Shi Jinzhe followed up on her words, “My luck has improved now, and I’m sure I can find more things related to my mother.”
"Yes, just like this side quest. Although the card was useless, you found part of Bai Weishuang's past, so it can be considered a stroke of good luck."
"That's a good word, but without the willow's blessing, it'd be difficult for me to change my own luck, though it might be possible to change yours..."
Shi Jinzhe paused for a moment, but quickly recovered and said nonchalantly, "After all, I was the one who woke you up and helped you evolve a few times, so this isn't a bad way to put it."
“There was nothing wrong to begin with.” Shekh looked back at him. “My transformation all came after you came into my life.”
"What you're saying makes me want to push my luck. Why don't we go to sleep?"
Shi Jin got back into the car, entered the compartment, and closed the door to the safe house.
"..." Shekh couldn't tell for a moment whether he was continuing to verify information with her or using the opportunity to get aroused.
She steered the conversation back to the main point: "Do you remember you didn't tell me a bedtime story yesterday? And you still want to go to sleep early?"
"If you'd like to stay up later, I'm happy to oblige."
"Then don't sleep, tell me a story all night to make up for it."
"Sure." Shi Jinzhe's meaning was implied: "What do you want to hear, or do you want me to just talk about anything?"
Schech smoothly interjected: "Do you know the story of Apophis? I want to hear that."
Shi Jinzhe thought about it briefly and found the corresponding information in just a few seconds.
"The Chaos Serpent Apophis, a god in ancient Egyptian mythology, is a symbol of destruction and darkness, and is considered to be pure evil in the world."
At this point, Shi Jinzhe observed Shehe's expression, found nothing amiss, and continued speaking.
"Apophis wants to drag the world into complete darkness. To do this, he will lie in wait in the underworld and devour Ra, the sun god who passes by every day. When Ra is swallowed up, the sun will disappear and night will come."
"And then what happened?"
As usual, Sheh clung to him without any backbone, squeezing Shi Jinzhe's broken hand with varying pressure.
"Without the sun, how can light return?"
"Later, the other gods killed Apophis at dawn, and he spat out the sun god from his mouth, and then daylight returned. But no matter how many times Apophis was defeated and killed, he would be resurrected."
"I thought gods were immortal and could be killed."
"Not necessarily. In the ancient Egyptian view, they believed that death was another beginning. Even gods would die and be reborn repeatedly, relying on the alternation of life and death to achieve an infinite and eternal cycle."
"At dawn, life and death alternate; God is both fragile and powerful."
Shekh sighed, recalling the second sentence Bai Weishuang had left behind.
[When your time comes, and you are reborn, we will meet again through the cracks in the light.]
More than 30 years ago, someone left behind this saying: "If good fortune comes, it really means bad luck comes."
That is, Bai Weishuang foresaw some things and deceived the system.
Bai Weishuang never believed its promise not to let Shi Jin get involved in the game.
Her deal with the system was based on mutual calculations. Shi Jinzhe must have something that the system is unaware of, and it must be closely related to her.
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