Chapter 386 The Curtain Rises (13,000 words, please give me a monthly ticket!)
It was August 23, 2020, at sunrise. Only one day remained until the battle between Lake Hunter and the Nian Beast Lord officially began. Either tomorrow, or at nightfall, the curtain would be raised on this war between humans and demons.
At that time, the White Crow Brigade and the Gu family will also join this four-way melee.
Therefore, Hulie joined forces with local security forces and evacuated the residents living outside Haifan City a few days in advance on the grounds that a landslide might occur in the near future. They provided them with subsidies and arranged temporary accommodation for them near the city center.
The situation was clearly becoming increasingly tense, but at this moment, the underground bar where the White Crow Brigade was located was still quiet.
The bed in the private room was not big enough for two people, so Xia Pingzhou didn't even take off his sneakers. He just lay his upper body on the bed with his head resting against the girl in kimono.
Placing his hands on his stomach, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
In the silence, the clock on the wall ticked away.
After settling Unit 2, Ji Minghuan synchronized his consciousness to Unit 4.
In the forest of Haifan Mountain, the little Nian beast walked among the shade of the trees, looking for the divine chicken demons that lived in the forest.
With every step it took, it could hear rustling sounds in the woods. Sometimes, ghost squirrels passed through the bushes, and sometimes, some clever monkeys crawled over the branches. However, those civilian demons still tried to avoid him.
After a while, the little Nian beast found its target.
At sunrise, the palm-sized chickens stood in a row on the branches, and were about to raise their combs to crow when the little Nian beast suddenly looked up and glared at them fiercely.
"I want to sleep, so you are not allowed to crow today. Do you hear me?" It lowered its little face and threatened fiercely.
The chicken demons stared at him blankly from the tree, burped, and swallowed the crowing sound back into their stomachs.
The little Nian beast snorted coldly, then walked away. It found a tall tree, lightly jumped onto a branch, and lay down. Just as it was about to close its eyes to rest, it suddenly raised its head and looked at the treetops high above its head.
The sea breeze blew, the summer light came, the huge sun hung at the top of the horizon, and the background color of the sky suddenly changed.
A beam of sunlight filtered through the gaps in the treetops, illuminating the little Nian Beast's head. A cluster of purple-red flames flickered in the beam of light. This was clearly not a suitable place to sleep, so the little Nian Beast leaped down and searched for a tree with denser branches and leaves.
After a while, the little Nian beast hid in the cool shade of the tree, pouting its cheeks in boredom, and patted the lantern demon on the tree with its claws, as if it was playing with it as a tumbler.
At this moment, suddenly a giant green snake crawled slowly from a distance, coiled its body nimbly, and stopped under the tree.
It raised its sky-blue eyes and slowly looked towards the little Nian beast on the tree. The little Nian beast noticed its gaze, opened half of its eyes, and met the green snake's slightly narrowed gaze.
"Hey, you from the Zodiac Team, why are you looking at me?" the little Nian Beast asked curiously.
The green snake demon was silent for a moment.
"If you don't talk, I'm going to sleep." The little Nian beast snorted coldly and put his head back. "I don't have time to chatter with you here."
"Let me ask you, you clearly have such powerful abilities, but you don't want to go on the expedition with the Great Lord..." The Green Snake Demon asked coldly, "Then what is the point of your return?"
The little Nian Beast shook the lantern with its claws and said calmly, "Of course, it's to prevent my father from dying without ever seeing his son. What's the point?"
"You can see that the Great Lord doesn't have much time left. In that battle ten years ago, one of the former Lake Hunters caused irreversible damage to the Great Lord. Even after so many years of recuperation, there is still no improvement..."
The green snake demon said this and stuck out his tongue.
"so what?"
"The Great Lord chose to take a gamble on his deathbed for the demons' freedom... Are you willing to watch your father die with his long-cherished wish unfulfilled?"
The Little Nian Beast said disapprovingly, "Demons need freedom, but humans don't need freedom too? You've seen how many people those mindless demons have eaten. Maybe you should all go out and take a walk. That way you'll realize how much of a frog in a well you are."
"You know a lot?"
"I definitely know more than you, the closed-minded ones. Even if we defeat the Lake Hunters and seize this tiny city from the humans, what good will it do?" the Little Nian Beast sneered. "I've seen it all. Humans have more than just psychics and exorcists. They even have nuclear bombs, but they won't use them easily."
After saying this, it patted the lantern demon with its claws. "Ah, I can't even imagine what kind of demon could survive a nuclear attack... After all, my father's long-cherished wish is something that can never be fulfilled. Is it strange that I don't want to be silly with him?"
"Are you worthy enough to call yourself a devil?" The Green Snake Devil's tone turned cold.
"Why can't you tell me?"
"You have no wild nature at all, only servility. It seems your thinking has been assimilated by humans." The Green Snake Demon said indifferently, "You are not worthy of calling yourself the son of the Great Lord."
"Whatever you say, the demon's IQ is low. It's simply a beast-shaped silver swallower..."
The little lion muttered, yawned loudly, and gently placed his paw on the lantern demon's head.
Its fur swayed gently in the breeze from Lingxin Lake. The little Nian Beast rested its head on its overlapping paws, tilted its head, and slowly closed its eyes.
The green snake demon looked at the sleeping little Nian beast, sighed deeply, and then crawled away quickly.
Listening to the little Nian beast's gradually gentle breathing, the Lantern Demon secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and his heart finally settled down.
Its nightmare is over.
The only price he had to pay was being soaked in the saliva of the little Nian beast for the entire night. Thinking of this, the Lantern Demon suddenly felt like a concubine favored by the prince but with someone else in her heart – both lucky and unfortunate.
After a while, the light of the lantern dimmed, like a firefly disappearing in the night, and the halo surrounding the little Nian beast also dissipated.
In fact, Ji Minghuan did not intend to sleep. He sank and sank in the deep sea of consciousness, and continued to sink. Then he passed by a group of deep blue jellyfish, a giant white whale, and a giant deep blue shark that roared at him with its huge mouth opened.
Then, he slid into the giant shark's mouth, slid down its bottomless esophagus, rolled in a world of red and black, and slowly fell into a spiritual library.
The boy in the hospital gown stood in the center of the library.
Like a suffocating man emerging from underwater, he raised his head and took a deep breath of the dusk-infused air. At that moment, his lungs felt like they were on fire, and his five senses were reactivated in the burning pain.
Every time he actively let his consciousness sink into the spiritual world, he experienced a feeling similar to "near death".
This was obviously not a pleasant experience, otherwise when he had nothing to do, he would come here every day to drink afternoon tea with Red Dragon, or tease the previous generation restricted-level character who was hanging from the ceiling, half-dead.
After a while, when Ji Minghuan opened his eyes again, the sun was setting outside. The empty library was shrouded in the sunset, turning it into a warm color.
On the bookshelf, the covers of the hardcover books are stained with a golden halo, and the leaves of the potted plants are shining in the sun. Everything that comes into view looks so comfortable and peaceful.
It seems like a paradise isolated from the world, which makes people feel relaxed and happy.
In the dim afterglow, the boy in the hospital gown slowly turned his head to look.
At this moment, a figure draped in a white cloak was still hanging upside down from the ceiling. With lowered eyes, he silently flipped through his memory book, his face expressionless, as cold as an ice sculpture.
He seemed unaware of Ji Minghuan's arrival and didn't even turn his head for a long time.
Ji Minghuan tilted his head and looked at him silently; he was unwilling to speak and just let him look at him quietly.
A silence fell between the two of them, during which they could hear the rustling sound of pages turning.
At this time, the red dragon Wales in the corner suddenly groaned, picked up the teacup and drank a sip of afternoon tea.
It looked up at the two of them from behind its reading glasses, smacking its lips and saying, "What are you two...doing?"
Ji Minghuan said coldly, "Did you hear that? I'm talking to you... Are you dead, classmate 1001?"
Restricted 1001 was silent for a moment, "What do you want me to do? A dance to welcome you?"
"Please, I've been standing here for a long time. Could you please say a word of welcome?"
"Hello."
"You're such a ghost. People who destroyed the world once are just arrogant."
"Why are you so anxious today? A girl confessed to you, so you're in a good mood?"
"How can I be in a good mood? Can't you see that I'm in a terrible mood right now? I really want to kick a silver-eating rat to death, punch a diaper demon to tears, and knock a penguin monster into oblivion."
Ji Minghuan sighed, muttered, and sat down on the ground with his legs crossed.
He rested his chin on his hands, staring blankly at the floor, his eyes empty. He didn't speak for most of the day, looking like a typical autistic child. The fact that he was now using a spirit body with the appearance of a three-year-old only made him look even more like one.
"So... what do you want me to do?" Restricted 1001 asked. "Do you want me to ridicule you? Or do you want me to tell you off? If that makes you happy, then I'm happy to do it."
"Great critic, then tell me, what did I do wrong?"
Ji Minghuan lowered his eyes and asked slowly.
"You exploit others' emotions in a despicable way, using any means necessary to achieve your goals... You're clearly a mean person, yet you lack the self-awareness to be a mean person. You even feign concern for those you've exploited and kept in the dark." R1001 said slowly, "Those who try to take the overall situation into consideration often end up with nothing. Knowing how to make choices is a necessary quality for anyone who wants to accomplish anything."
"Objection. I disagree."
"Are you trying to say that you really consider the Gu family as your own family?"
Restricted 1001 said, turning his head, and those indifferent dark eyes met his gaze.
"It's actually nice to have a family. I've been without family since I was a child... They're pretty good, aren't they?"
"What I mean is that your conscience suddenly awakened, and you didn't want to see these fake family members risking their lives to fight against the Savior Society in order to save you, right?"
Ji Minghuan was silent.
After a while, he said, "You've also been with the Gu family before, and you were even adopted by Su Ying for a whole year. Don't you have any feelings for them?"
"If you don't want to talk about yourself, there's no need to change the subject to me." Restricted 1001 paused. "Then let me change the example. Are you trying to say that you really like that Japanese girl and you're not taking advantage of her?"
Ji Minghuan was silent for a moment, looking down at his wrist. "I don't really understand either. This is the first time I've met someone who's been so kind to me. I just feel like... I don't really want to see her sad, even though she must be a bit dazed when she's sad."
"This will only backfire. What you should do is keep your distance from her..."
"I know...but the more I understand what's going to happen next, the more conflicted I feel. I subconsciously want to make amends, even though it's difficult."
Ji Minghuan muttered to himself, and suddenly a piece of sand appeared on his hand. The harder he tried to hold on to it, the more sand slipped out from between his fingers and sprinkled on the ground.
"Guilt and affection are two different things. I've seen too many similar examples in the past hundred years. You're just a child, it's normal for you to not understand these things." R-rated 1001 said, "Your problem is that from the beginning you shouldn't have developed feelings for someone you've exploited. That's just tying yourself up in knots."
He paused. "You may have felt sorry for that girl in the kimono, but you haven't wronged the Gu family. If you hadn't helped, they would have been wiped out long ago. Using them to rescue your true form was a deal that neither party owed anything wrong. Why would you feel guilty about it?"
"Oh, what about Ayase Origami?"
"Let's be realistic. She's just a scumbag who's killed countless people. Why should you feel guilty about using her?"
"How do you know?"
"Is there any good person left in the White Crows?" Restricted 1001 said expressionlessly. "No matter how tragic a childhood experience may be, it cannot excuse a person's evil deeds. If you can sympathize with Ayase Origami, then by the same token... you can completely sympathize with the Ripper."
Ji Minghuan remained silent and lowered his eyes.
"She said she liked me," he said. "It sounded a bit like she was talking in her sleep. She was so sleepy that she couldn't even open her eyes... But it was the first time I heard someone say they liked me."
"So what even if that wasn't a dream." Restricted 1001 said coldly.
"Hey, can you, a bachelor for a hundred years, stop pointing fingers?" Ji Minghuan sighed. "I can't even imagine what kind of weirdo I'll become after our personalities merge."
"Open your eyes and think carefully. She only likes you as a puppet. Besides... she will soon realize that you are deceiving her. Don't fool yourself."
"You make me look like some male Cinderella, wearing glass slippers to attend the party, attracting the prince, but finally running away in disgrace."
"You know, I'm not just referring to revenge against the Ripper. I'm referring to the very existence of 'Natsuhira Hiru'. If Ayase Origami knew that Natsuhira Hiru was just a fake person, what do you think she would think?"
"What's the impact?" Ji Minghuan asked softly.
R-rated 1001 said, "What she likes is the layers of lies you weave, and the reason you can still get along harmoniously is all based on these lies that have not been revealed."
He paused and said, "I've said so much, do you still think she will go with you?"
Ji Minghuan thought for a moment and said, "Actually, it's a good thing that she doesn't come with me. This way, she won't be involved in the affairs of the Salvation Society."
"She's a member of the brigade. Even if she didn't defect with you, she would have followed the captain to the Salvation Society and sought answers from you," Restricted 1001 said. "You couldn't even tell her the truth in advance, so how dare you say you care about her?"
Ji Minghuan was silent for a long time. "I do care. I do care about her, so I can't say it out loud... There's no need to care so much about someone who doesn't care."
He paused. "If you ask me to rush over and yell a hundred times at Silver Swallowing Rat, I'm not Black Pupa. I'm Ji Minghuan. I definitely don't care..."
"So I said, you will only hurt her more..." Rated 1001 said meaningfully.
At this time, the red dragon Wales suddenly sighed and spoke.
It said slowly, "Observer, don't be too harsh on a little kid who lacks love. I've always said that no matter how much knowledge a child has, he's still just a child. There's no difference in his essence."
Restricted 1001 remained silent.
"Are you guys really that annoying? One of you've lived for over a hundred years, and the other has lived for who knows how many centuries. Two old bastards are taking advantage of their seniority to attack me, right?"
Ji Minghuan glared at them angrily and shouted with his arms raised in anger.
"You two old bastards are so disgusting! You can't even tell the difference between host and guest. I'll kick you out tomorrow. Clean your butts and wait for me!"
After saying this, he seemed to have lost his strength, and his body suddenly leaned backwards, collapsing on the ground in a spread-eagle position.
Half of the boy in the hospital gown's face was pressed against the ground, while the other half was covered in a hazy afterglow.
"I'm really tired, okay?" he whispered. "I can't even get a few minutes of rest all day long. To be honest, we still haven't found the Saviors' base. Even if we do... I don't know what I'll do the next time I see Ghost Bell and Blue Arc. I even hope I can't find them, so I don't have to force myself to meet them."
"What's so difficult about this?" asked Restricted1001.
"Please, I don't want to see them again at all; especially that damn diaper demon."
"What happened to Su Zimai?"
"Cry, cry, cry, all you do is cry all day long. What are you crying about? Will I sympathize with her if I cry? Will she die if she loses a brother? She still has so many family members! But I don't even have any family. I was thrown away like garbage when I was a child. Why are you being so pretentious?!"
"She's just a little girl, it's natural for her to be sad about losing her brother."
"Ahhhh, I'm so fed up, so fed up, really fed up! I finally managed to get some time to relax, but if they find the Saviour Society base, I'll have to appear in front of them right away!"
Ji Minghuan kept complaining, kicking his legs and punching the air fiercely.
On the ceiling, the shark's body was twitching all over, shaken by an invisible air current. Its tail swung back and forth like a sandbag, as if it had been punched and kicked.
The next moment, the shark corpse suddenly bared its teeth, raised its fin and pointed at the black pupa beside it, and shouted loudly:
"What did Shark Shark do wrong? Why are you hitting Shark Shark? Why don't you hit the big moth?"
"I'll beat you, I'll beat you!"
Ji Minghuan growled, and threw another uppercut at Yagubaru, sending it flying like a sandbag.
The rope tugged tightly at the shark's head, pulling it back from mid-air.
"You bad guy, you have to pay the sandbag fee for hitting the shark!" The little shark waved its fins.
"Tsk, then I'll go and kill the big moth!"
After saying that, Ji Minghuan frowned and kicked the black pupa hanging from the ceiling in the air, stepping hard on his head.
He yelled, "Sandbag fees, sandbag fees, the sandbag fees are all here! You two are just playing dead and won't share my worries. What's the point of raising you all with so much effort?!"
With a "click", a corner of the black pupa's dark red mask broke, revealing Gu Wenyu's face.
He scratched his chin, "Uh...are you sure, Ji Minghuan? If you want me to help you share your worries, shouldn't you put us down first?"
"That's right, you only know how to take it out on Shark..." Shark wiped his tears with his fin and said with a pout, "Shark is not a real punching bag."
"Get lost, and that sullen, gigolo! There's no point in playing dead!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Minghuan swung his right hand like hitting a table tennis ball and slapped Xia Pingzhou in the face. With a "slap", a red mark was left on his face, and Xia Pingzhou's face twitched slightly.
Ji Minghuan was so angry that he slapped Xia Pingzhou a few more times. Every time he slapped him, Xia Pingzhou would let out a blank "meow".
As more and more red marks appeared on his face, his cries became more and more strange. This scene was so eerie that it gave people goose bumps. Ji Minghuan seriously suspected that this trustee personality had been ruined and it was time to start a new one.
"And finally, you! You, the anthropomorphic animal that kidnapped children, come over here and get your ass kicked! Don't think you can get away with it just because you're less visible! I'll let you kidnap children, I'll let you kidnap children—!"
Ji Minghuan yelled with chattering teeth, grabbed the little Nian beast's tail and pulled it hard several times.
The little Nian beast knocked the restricted-level 1001 hanging next to it, causing it to shake up and down.
After a while, Ji Minghuan finally released the little Nian beast's tail, panting. He bumped back and forth with the little lion's body several times before the shaking slowly stopped.
Restricted Level 1001 raised his hand and patted the cloak that was ignited by the flames on the little Nian Beast's head. The flames on the cloak quickly went out, but the air was still filled with a faint smell of burning.
Red Dragon Wales drank afternoon tea and quietly looked at Ji Minghuan who was sitting on the ground with his knees hugged.
"What are you looking at? Have you never seen a super handsome elementary school student?" Ji Minghuan suddenly turned around and glared at him fiercely.
Red Dragon Wales remained silent, just adjusted his reading glasses on the bridge of his nose and slowly withdrew his gaze.
Restricted 1001 quietly hung upside down below the ceiling and said, "Okay, stop being so heroic and just be the resourceful, melancholic, and dark elementary school student you are."
"Is it none of your business?"
Ji Minghuan's voice was tired from shouting, and suddenly it became weak and a little hoarse.
Restricted 1001 continued, "It's not that you don't want to see Ghost Bell and Blue Arc, you just don't know how to face them, right?"
"Then let me ask, why do I have to act all the time? I have to play so many people every day, sometimes a kitten, sometimes a younger brother, sometimes a brother, sometimes a shark! I'm your sister, Shark?" Ji Minghuan scratched his hair, rolled on the ground, and kicked the air hard, making his shark's round belly sway everywhere.
After a long while, he stopped tossing and turning, and then collapsed on the ground as if dead, motionless.
After a long silence, his lips moved slightly. "Why don't I just tell them that my fucking name is Ji Minghuan...not Gu Wenyu, not Xia Pingzhou, not a stinking shark, and certainly not the son of the Nian beast. I don't have time to play house with you idiots."
Restricted Level 1001 glanced at him silently and reminded:
"But if you confess to them at this point, all the preparations you've made so far will be in vain."
"Why not just take over all my bodies, including myself, and entrust them to me?" Ji Minghuan closed his eyes and murmured, "That way I don't have to think about anything. It's all over."
When he said this, the four corpses hanging above his head suddenly twitched, and then quickly calmed down.
"Then what are you still hesitating about?" Restricted Level 1001 said in a flat tone.
"I can't die."
"That's right," said Restricted 1001. "Instead of venting your emotions and dwelling on random things, why not focus on practical matters... If you don't kill Jack the Ripper, your second unit will automatically be deregistered on September 1st, and the chances of your original unit leaving the Saviors will be even lower."
He paused and said, "If I continue to hesitate like this, it will only hurt others more."
"Forget it," Ji Minghuan said nonchalantly, "I won't kill the Ripper. I'll just let Unit 2 self-destruct. That way I don't have to think about it so much."
Restricted 1001 was silent for a moment, "What about Kong Youling? Isn't she our family?"
Ji Minghuan suddenly fell silent for a while.
He used his fingers to draw circles on the ground out of boredom. His fingertips were like paint, and he drew a little penguin on the floor, and then dotted it with two red eyes.
"That's right." He said softly, "Family..."
"It seems you really care about those people." Restricted 1001 said, "If it were in the past, with your personality, you wouldn't have hesitated at all."
"Every pet you keep will have feelings for you. I still have so many memories of spending time with them..."
"Don't make excuses for your weakness. You should know that they don't care about you, but some non-existent puppets, whether it's the Gu family, Ayase Origami, or Caesar... After you take off the mask, do you think they will still accept you?"
At this point, Restricted 1001 paused for a moment, "Give up... Only Kong Youling will be by your side. Only she knows who you are. Others only know the fake you. Only she knows what the real you is like."
"Yeah…so she's my family."
Ji Minghuan lowered his head, and his drooping hair covered his eyes.
"What about the others? Are they just used and thrown away like garbage?" he continued.
Restricted 1001 said: "You can't consider everyone, give up some people appropriately, admit your own meanness, admit that you are taking advantage of others, is it that difficult?"
Ji Minghuan turned his head and glanced at the restricted level 1001.
"You said you don't care about Kong Youling anymore, but in fact you still care very much."
Restricted 1001 fell silent, lowered his head, and flipped the pages of the book without saying a word.
Red Dragon shook his head. "After searching for someone for a hundred years, how can you let go so easily?"
After a moment, Restricted 1001 spoke up, "I just don't want to see you make the same mistake as me. If you can't let go of something, you'll gain nothing. You'll only watch Kong Youling die in front of you again."
"Okay, stop lecturing me and let me be quiet." Ji Minghuan said in a low voice.
"So, what do you want to talk to me about...it shouldn't just be to discuss these boring emotional topics." Restricted 1001 flipped through the pages of the book and asked slowly.
"Of course it's about what happened a few days ago. Didn't you say you met my parents once?" Ji Minghuan thought for a moment, then sat up from the ground, crossed his legs, and held his ankle. "Ten years ago, when I was only one or two years old."
Restricted 1001 nodded, "Yes, I met them once ten years ago."
Ji Minghuan took a deep breath and did not directly ask what happened at that time, but asked:
"Speaking of which, how did my parents die?"
He thought for a moment, then asked, "Master said they died in Arabia. Is that true? Could they actually be alive and plotting to rescue me and my brother? If so, I'd be truly grateful."
"It's true, they're dead." Restricted1001 replied.
Ji Minghuan had a blank expression on his face.
"How did he die?" he asked.
"The person who killed your parents was Shang Xiaochi, the owner of the mythical wonder 'World Tree'."
"Shang Xiaochi?"
Ji Minghuan raised his eyebrows and was slightly stunned.
"That's right... The instructor controlled her and took her to meet your parents." Restricted 1001 nodded. "Although your father is a Calamity-level psychic, there's no way he could possibly defeat the power of a Myth-level Qiwen."
Restricted 1001 was silent for a moment. "Unfortunately, I arrived too late... But with my current abilities, I'd be hard-pressed to defeat even a Dragon-level esper, let alone a Mythical-level anecdote."
"Then what happened? My brother was taken away by the people from the Salvation Society?" Ji Minghuan thought for a moment and then asked.
Restricted 1001 nodded.
"Yes... They went there for your brother from the beginning. Your parents fled the Saviors to protect your brother... But the funny thing is, no one knows that the real monster is you, the abandoned 'Muggle child'."
"Could it be that my brother is also a restricted-level mutant?" Ji Minghuan asked, "So the instructor wants to use his genes to create a mannequin that can compete with me and is completely under his control."
"I can't rule it out," Restricted 1001 said, "but I've never met your brother in person, and I don't know his potential."
"That's right. After all, in your timeline, you didn't even know you had a younger brother, nor did you know your parents were still alive."
"right."
"So, in this timeline, you met my parents ten years ago, right?"
"That's right."
"What happened then?" Ji Minghuan's lips moved slightly.
Restricted Level 1001 lowered his eyes, and the blood-red afterglow surged in from outside the library like a tide approaching the coast, covering his face.
"Your father's name is 'Ji Huaiye', and your mother's name is 'Lin Xi'. At that time, your parents were still members of the Salvation Society," he said. "After they gave birth to you, they hadn't discovered your potential and mistakenly thought you were just an ordinary child."
"I was wandering around your door for a while, and they found me and thought I was a homeless child. So they opened the door and let me in to keep warm. Your mother gave me a glass of milk and said that I looked like you when you grow up..."
Ji Minghuan lowered his head and listened quietly to his story.
Perhaps it was because the two personalities had begun to merge, but at this moment, the scene from the restricted-level 1001 memory suddenly emerged in his mind.
It was a drizzling rainy night, and Restricted 1001 was wearing a ripped T-shirt and jeans. He had his head drooped, and his rain-soaked hair covered his drooping eyes, making it difficult to see his expression.
Ji Huaiye, the unshaven middle-aged man in a plaid shirt, opened the door and looked at the restricted 1001 squatting at the door. Then he helped him up, put his arm around his shoulders, and led him to the living room.
At this time, Lin Xi, who was holding a baby in her arms, came over, handed him a bath towel, and helped him wipe his hair that was wet by the rain.
The warm fire burning in the living room cast an orange glow over the blanket and onto the body of Restricted 1001.
His entire body warmed up, and he slowly raised his eyes from beneath his forehead and looked at Lin Xi. Lin Xi was gently patting the swaddling clothes in her arms. She had a pair of bright eyes that made it impossible to look away, like a lake covered in maple leaves in the summer.
"Why...are you helping me?" Restricted 1001 raised his head and asked them.
"You can't just watch a child get wet in the rain, right?" Ji Huaiye asked, a cigarette between his lips. "Kid, did you run away from home?"
Restricted 1001 was silent for a while, then shook his head, "No, my parents died in a car accident... I'm wandering outside."
"You can't lie." Lin Xi smiled slightly and put the wet towel aside. "You can sleep here tonight, but my child cries a lot. He might bother you."
After hesitating for a while, Restricted Level 1001 stretched out an index finger and gently scratched the baby's chubby face.
He asked softly, "He's cute, what's his name?"
"Ji Minghuan." Ji Huaiye said with a smile.
"Can I really stay here for one night?" Restricted 1001 asked hesitantly, "Aren't you worried that I might steal something?"
Ji Huaiye pulled a chair and sat down in front of him, resting his hands on the back of the chair.
He said, "Who are you looking down on, little brat? I'm a superpower. I'm watching you, understand?"
"Superpowers? Then are your children ordinary people?" Restricted Level 1001 thought for a moment and suddenly asked.
"Yes, he is just an ordinary person." Lin Xi said.
"Won't you be disappointed? Don't you hope that he is a mutant like you?"
"No, we hope he will grow up to be an ordinary and healthy person," Ji Huaiye said. "He should be content and down-to-earth, so we named him 'Ji Minghuan'."
Lin Xi asked softly: "What about you, where are your parents?"
"My parents..."
Restricted 1001 hesitated for a moment.
"Actually, I ran away from home. Could you please leave me alone? I don't want to be arrested by the police," he said. "I'm leaving tomorrow."
Ji Huaiye held the cigarette in his mouth, took a deep breath, and the smoke swirled around his fingertips.
After a while, he said seriously, "It's actually normal for children and adults to have conflicts. After all, adults don't understand children, and it's hard for children to understand adults either... But if you really can't hold on any longer, just go home. It's not a big deal."
As he said that, he patted Restricted1001's shoulder.
"Thanks."
"I ran away from home when I was a kid, too," Lin Xi said, suddenly laughing. "My husband found me in the park and secretly took me back home. We spread a blanket on his rooftop and chatted all night."
Ji Huaiye scratched his head. "Hey, why do you always talk about this kind of thing? Aren't you ashamed?"
He paused, then pointed at 1001, holding his cigarette. "But then again, running away from home is just a minor issue in our eyes, but cursing your parents to get killed in a car accident is a major problem... How could you, boy, tell such a wicked lie?"
Restricted 1001 was stunned.
"She looks just like me when I was young." Lin Xi said this and suddenly burst into laughter. She didn't know what had struck her funny bone. She laughed so hard that she almost couldn't hold the baby in her arms tightly.
Ji Huaiye hurried over to take it, lowered his head and rubbed the baby's cheek with his stubble, but the child cried even louder and kicked him in the face.
Restricted 1001 looked at them silently.
Unconsciously, his eyes were already wet with tears. He stretched out his hand blankly, thinking that it seemed like he hadn't shed tears in a hundred years.
"Would you like me to drive you home?" Ji Huaiye asked while coaxing the child. "My car is very high-end. You are lucky to be able to ride in it. If it's only one or two provinces, or two or three cities away, then I will take you back tomorrow."
"What about work?" Lin Xi asked, "Don't we have to go back to Iceland tomorrow?"
"Oh yes, how could I forget about this." Ji Huaiye picked up the cigarette and said with a frown.
"Li Jing is quite far from my home. Thank you... Uncle and Auntie, I will go back by myself."
"That's good. Do you have your ID card with you? I'll buy you a ticket."
"No, I can go back."
"Well...if it really doesn't work out, I'll postpone my flight to Iceland tomorrow and take you back myself."
"No, I can do it myself."
"Okay then. Talk to your parents more when you get home. If there's anything, communicate properly. Got it, kid?"
"Yeah, I...will."
"Take a shower and go to bed."
"Your parents actually love you very much. They just had to leave you for your safety."
In the library, restricted-level 1001 voices came from the ceiling, awakening Ji Minghuan from his memory.
"You lied to me. You said you approached my parents as a prophet." Ji Minghuan lowered his head and said, "But that's not the case."
"There's no difference. Although I lost all my powers at the time, I still retained some of my psychic abilities. As long as I was close to your parents, I could sense fragments of their thoughts... It was also at that time that I learned that the Savior Society's base was in Iceland."
Restricted Level 1001 paused, then continued:
"Later, the Savior Society targeted your brother. From the moment he was born, he was determined to become a dangerous mutant. The Savior Society decided to take him in... Of course, your parents wouldn't allow this to happen. To avoid affecting you, they took your brother away and arranged a place for you to live."
He was silent for a moment. "After hearing this, do you still hate your parents?"
"How do I know these things?" Ji Minghuan asked in a low voice.
He raised his head, his face expressionless. "Who made them die so quickly? I didn't even have time to ask them a single question. Isn't it natural for me to hate them?"
"Yes, that's why I showed up." Restricted 1001 asked, "I showed up just to change your fate. Are you grateful?"
"Thank you so much for traveling through time to tell me that I'm not some poor child whose parents don't love me." Ji Minghuan said casually, slowly standing up from the ground, "But I... still don't forgive them."
"Too."
Ji Minghuan let out a long sigh, "Let's go, I still have things to do tonight."
August 23, late at night, Haifan Mountain, inside the cave behind the waterfall.
The waterfall rumbled down, sending a bone-chilling chill in all directions, and wisps of white mist filled the air.
In the meeting space inside the cave, the demons of the Zodiac Team sat on mats, the little Nian Beast sat in the corner listening as usual, the Great Lord sat in the middle with full majesty, and the White Wolf stood silently against the wall in human form.
The little Nian beast turned its head and looked.
The eight demons of the zodiac team, including Totoro, Rat, Mad Bull, Rainbow Horse, Aries, Divine Rooster, Green Snake and Monkey, are all gathered, and the only survivor of the Seven Deadly Sins, the "Gluttony Demon", is wriggling his body and eating the food in the fruit bowl.
Every time the little Nian beast saw this piece of rotten meat, it felt nauseous, so it covered its mouth with its paws and silently looked away.
"It's tonight..." the Mad Bull Demon said in a deep voice, "It's been many years since I fought with the Lake Hunter. I'm really looking forward to it."
"Don't let yourself be beaten into a hornet's nest." The monkey demon said as he took a bite of the huge peach.
The Green Snake Demon emphasized in a cold voice, "Everyone, remember not to act rashly and follow the orders of the Great Lord."
"Hey, did you hear that? The Great Lord is going to war with the Lake Hunters tonight." The Rat Demon stroked his beard and turned to look at the little Nian Beast sitting in the corner. "You little brat, stay away... understand?"
"Oh? Do you really want me to stay away?" The little Nian Beast raised an eyebrow. "Why do I feel like I'll have to rescue you guys later? Right, Dad?"
The Nian Beast Lord remained silent.
"Go away, we don't need you." The Rat Demon waved his hand.
"Even if I'm not needed, I have to come out to show my presence. I haven't gained any attribute points in my reputation system yet." Thinking of this, the little Nian beast slapped the gear panel in the lower right corner of the field of vision with its paw, and cut out the character panel to look at it.
[Character-specific training system: "Ruler".]
[Introduction to the "Ruler" Training System: As a ruler, the higher your prestige among the demons, the stronger you will become.]
[Prestige levels are divided into three levels from low to high: "Newcomer", "Emerging", and "King's Style".]
[Current prestige level: "Newbie."]
[Tip: Every time your prestige reaches a new level, you will receive 1 attribute point as a reward.]
"By the way, Dad, won't you accidentally hurt those ordinary people in the city?" The little Nian Beast raised his head and asked.
"We are demons, so why should we care about human lives? They don't think too much when they slaughter our compatriots." The mad bull demon snorted through his nose, hugged his shoulders and said in a deep voice.
"ha……"
At this moment, the Totoro Demon yawned, lay down on the futon, buried his face in it, and meowed.
The little Nian Beast turned its head and saw the Totoro blinking its sapphire eyes, staring at it motionlessly.
"What are you looking at?" It wrinkled its nose, but the chinchilla grinned, rolled on the mat, and exposed its belly.
The little Nian beast looked away speechlessly.
"What should we do with this rotten meat?" The little Nian beast pointed at the gluttonous demon with its claws.
It knew that the gluttony demon had a very low IQ and couldn't understand what it was saying, so it just pointed at its head and started scolding it.
"The Lord said it would be useful to keep it." The Rat Demon said, "What do you know, little devil?"
"Oh." The little Nian beast nodded.
"Don't talk to our little Nian beast like that, it's just a child." The Aries Demon said kindly. Its face was a little too kind, and it was even easy to cause the uncanny valley effect if you stare at it for too long.
"Let's go and make preparations." The Nian Beast King said in a deep voice.
After saying this, it stood up from the huge cushion in the center, then slowly turned its head and took one last look at the little Nian beast. "You...really not going to accompany me to the battlefield?"
"No." The little Nian Beast shook his head. "Fighting and killing, how can a gentle devil like me get involved in that?"
The Nian Beast Lord lowered his head, a hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes, "That's all."
As soon as it finished speaking, it turned around and walked forward with Bai Tanlang. The eight demons of the Zodiac Team followed behind the Great Lord and disappeared at the end of the forest and into the Lingxin Lake.
The little Nian beast came out of the waterfall, lay on a branch, and watched them leave silently.
At this moment, the voice of restricted level 1001 came from my mind.
"What are you planning to do?" he asked. "Isn't it a good time to follow them? You can even show yourself before the demons, increase your reputation, and complete the training mission for Unit 4."
"You don't understand. If I were to defeat the Lake Hunters now, that mob would just say I'm taking advantage of the Great Lord and the Zodiac Team." The Little Nian Beast shook his head. "Only when my country is in danger can I show up and gain a lot of reputation."
It paused and said, "But why our country is in danger is not your concern."
Restricted 1001 was silent for a moment. "That's not a bad idea, but it's quite risky."
"What's the risk? If the situation isn't right, we really can't beat Lake Hunter. Once I show up, that Lin Xingshi will naturally stop." Little Nian Beast said, "I don't believe that as a childhood friend, she would beat me up just because of a disagreement."
"Indeed, the possibility is only higher than Kong Youling strangling you."
"Could you please stop talking about penguin monsters all the time?"
"Keep going, I'm taking a break."
After saying that, Restricted Level 1001 stopped talking.
Soon, time jumped forward to the early morning of August 24th.
The entire sea was shrouded in darkness. Only the lighthouse on the shore emitted a searchlight, which cut through the night and illuminated the full moon reflected on the sea.
"boom--!!!"
At this moment, suddenly a beam of light like a meteorite started from Haifan Mountain, cutting through the night sky, passing over the wall of Haifan City, and fell from the sky, drawing a series of dazzling arcs like torches, and accurately fell towards the Lin family mansion.
This is the "Explosion Fruit" created by the Monkey Demon using his abilities. Each fruit has a four-meter radius. When the fruit touches the first target, it will immediately explode, turning into a devastating fire.
But the next moment, a huge bronze tripod engraved with nine dragon patterns suddenly rose from the ground, stretching across the front of the mansion like a city wall, blocking all the explosive fruits that were suddenly shot out.
This is the "Nine Dragon Cauldron" summoned by Zhou Jiuya using the Tonggu Compass.
Flames exploded on the surface of the giant cauldron, rising into the sky before dissipating into the night. At this moment, Lin Xingshi, Zhou Jiuya, Zhong Wujiu, and Zhuge Hui were standing at the edge of the giant cauldron.
Lin Xingshi, dressed in a white shirt, slowly raised his eyes, his long, fiery red braid dancing behind his head. From a thousand meters away, he met the gaze of the giant purple lion perched on the mountainside.
Zhuge Hui waved his folding fan and said, "This day has finally come."
"Talk less nonsense, otherwise we lake hunters will seem stupid." Zhou Jiuya put his hands in the pockets of his Zhongshan suit.
Zhong Wujiu put on the Nuo mask silently.
At the same time, the crows lurking in the dark made hoarse calls.
From the woods in the park, from the streets and alleys, and from above the fences of the port, flocks of gray crows rose into the night sky, revealing their figures under the moonlight.
Immediately afterwards, the roar of lightning suddenly came from a corner of the city, and a huge silver-white ruler flew across the sky, followed by a deafening bell ringing.
The curtain opens and a war begins.
(End of this chapter)
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