Chapter 76 The Flower in the Dream is displaying its plumage way too frequently, isn't it? ...
Shu Qing spent the entire morning at the headquarters of the Supermarket Management Bureau, and all she managed to do was visit the headquarters' main archives. As soon as it was past noon, the staff came to clear the area, and since she couldn't go anywhere else, she had no choice but to resign herself to going home.
She sat in her small bedroom and first sent a message to Xie Heng, indicating that she planned to stay in the capital for a while and wanted to borrow some ancient books and cultural relics from the Immortal Capital. Then she went into the guest room where the little monsters were kept and comforted each one in turn. Then she took out the small box containing the Dream Weaver Butterfly and opened the lid.
“You have to help me this time,” Shu Qing reasoned with the little monster. “I need to recover some more memories. There are some very important things that I absolutely must figure out.”
The little butterfly fluttered its wings and struggled, the wind it stirred up splashing all over her face.
"Xiao Hong won't dare to bully you anymore," Shu Qing promised. "If he dares to bully you again, I'll teach him a lesson."
The little butterfly neither understood the technical means of the Super Management Bureau nor the feelings between Shu Qing and Jiu Su. It absolutely did not believe that this human girl had the ability to deal with that ferocious demon king, so it desperately shrank into the corner of the box and refused to cooperate.
"..."
Shu Qing gritted her teeth and silently made a note of Jiu Su's mistake, deciding to hang him on the clothesline to dry overnight when he came back.
She pleaded and begged, promising to film extra videos to restore Little Butterfly's demonic power once things calmed down, and assuring her that Jiu Su wouldn't cause it any trouble, but all to no avail. Finally, Jiu Su had some free time and called her by voice. Shu Qing turned on the video and made him personally promise not to cause any trouble before things were finally settled.
"What do you want to remember?" Jiu Su asked at this moment. "Relying on dreams is not necessarily accurate. Why not just ask me directly? Now that things have come to this, I won't hide anything from you."
What I'm implying is that, at this crucial juncture, I'm only now speaking frankly and without reservation; things I wouldn't normally tell you, I still won't tell you.
Shu Qing laughed and rolled her eyes: "It would have been better if you had done this earlier? Trust needs to be built up sooner. I'm used to guessing now, so I won't ask you anymore."
Jiu Su was speechless.
"Okay, actually, I don't think just talking isn't enough." Shu Qing retorted, feeling better, before explaining properly, "Asking you means it's all your memories, and I can only offer some other perspectives. But maybe my memories contain something else useful. Two people's memories are always better than one person's, right?"
Jiu Su gave a forced "hmm," clearly still not wanting Shu Qing to regain her memories. This time, Shu Qing didn't doubt his intentions. She had only regained that one memory before, and it already felt like her heart was being torn apart. Every time she thought about it, she felt heartbroken, and now she would never think about it unless necessary.
If it weren't for the current circumstances, she wouldn't want to regain her memories. What's the point of remembering sad things?
Shu Qing sat up on the bed and asked him, "How's the situation on your end? Have you caught that monster that attacked humans?"
"Yes, we caught it," Jiu Su said. "This is another case of a monster going out of control."
Shu Qing's heart skipped a beat.
Their previous analysis suggested that the mastermind's purpose might be to create chaos. The developments in the past few days have somewhat confirmed their guesses—after the third incident of monsters going out of control broke out, conflicts occurred in various places. The Super Management Bureau's field teams were busy dealing with these conflicts, not with new incidents of monsters going out of control.
With no new monsters going out of control these past few days, their anxiety gradually eased, and they assumed that the person behind the scenes was satisfied with the current situation... but it turns out that wasn't the case.
Shu Qing's lips moved slightly.
Jiu Su knew what Shu Qing wanted to ask, so he spoke first without her having to ask: "I also found traces of similar 'rules' at the scene... Putting aside everything else, the Super Management Bureau's detection equipment is quite useful."
"No, although that's important too, that's not what I want to ask right now," Shu Qing said helplessly. "Don't you think you should first tell me about your own situation?"
Jiu Su paused for a moment, then smiled and said gently, "I'm fine. I'm not as fragile as you worry. Who was it that warned me not to bully the weak just now?"
Shu Qing snorted and muttered, "These are clearly two different things, don't confuse them."
But she couldn't find any signs of injury in his voice or face—mainly his voice, which sounded relatively stable, and his face, which had been as pale as paper for days, was no worse than it had been a few days ago.
She felt a little relieved. "According to the procedure, you should be able to come back now, right?"
"Yes. I'll take care of the aftermath and should be able to go home the day after tomorrow. What about you? Did you make any new discoveries at the Supermarket Management Bureau today?"
Shu Qing sighed heavily, leaned back, and recounted her day's events to him. She glanced at her phone again and said helplessly, "Professor Xie still hasn't replied to my message. Is the Super Management Bureau headquarters under complete lockdown all this time?"
“Martial law has been in effect since the second out-of-control incident,” Jiu Su said. “Now, not only are you a partner, but even an employee of the Super Management Bureau cannot move around freely. They are indiscriminately guarding against all humans and monsters.”
Shu Qing understood, "Because they can't find out who the big boss behind the scenes is, they're even suspecting the internal staff?"
“I’m not sure.” Jiu Su smiled casually. “There are many things they can’t let me know. The fact that they don’t doubt me is already quite calm… Maybe I’ve dragged you into this.”
Shu Qing remained silent, feeling deeply distressed. Heaven and earth could bear witness that they genuinely wanted to find the person behind the scenes and truly did not want the current conflict to escalate further. However, because of Jiu Su's background, they were now being suspected by their teammates.
Are the boundaries of this "kind" really so difficult to cross?
Shu Qing didn't want to let her mood become too heavy, so she chatted with Jiu Su about something lighthearted before hanging up the phone and returning to her bedroom with the Dream Weaver Butterfly in her arms.
She greeted her parents without mentioning that she wanted to "find her memories of her past life"—after all, she was facing her biological parents from this life. She simply said that she was tired and wanted to take a nap, asking them not to wake her up.
She drew the curtains and, surrounded by the magic of the Dream Weaver Butterfly, drifted into a dream.
Shu Qing had prepared herself for another nightmare, expecting to witness scenes of war and casualties. But upon entering the dream, she discovered it wasn't like that at all. She was surrounded by a gentle spring breeze and the fragrance of flowers; she was actually on a date with Jiu Su.
Shu Qing was speechless, "..."
What's the deal with this Dream Weaver Butterfly? Was it threatened by Jiu Su, who was afraid it would be punished by her after she had nightmares, so it forcibly painted a peaceful picture for her in her dreams?
She heard herself in her dream say, "Really? What new progress have you made in your cultivation? Show me so I can broaden my horizons."
Although Shu Qing was preoccupied with her own thoughts, she couldn't help but chuckle after hearing this: The former Xiao Hong's temper was simply a bit childish. She had to show off her progress in cultivation to her sweetheart. She was showing off her skills far too often.
“This time is different.” Jiu Su took a light step forward, stood in front of her, and walked backward facing her, her silver hair swaying in the wind. “I have touched the ‘Dao’.”
Ashu stopped abruptly, her eyes widening, momentarily speechless. In an instant, a flood of names of her fellow disciples who had sought the Dao but failed to attain it surged into her mind. The names were numerous and complex, and Shuqing couldn't distinguish them all. She could only quickly grasp that they included her master and a group of senior and junior disciples.
What is your 'Tao'?
"What else could it be?" Jiu Su leaned over and touched nose with her like a small animal. "I was born in the blizzards of the North. I could not survive without fighting since I was a child. After following my father, I have always done things involving killing. My path is, of course, the same."
“Oh,” Ashu understood, “destruction, or rather, annihilation, that kind of thing?”
"yes."
"I've never seen this before... Could you show it to me?"
Her request seemed a bit difficult. Jiu Su frowned and thought for a while, her gaze sweeping over the available demonstration props around her. Finally, it settled on a small white flower at her feet.
These small white flowers bloomed by the river, delicate and fragile, trembling at their feet, as if they could be blown away by the east wind at any moment, or as if they were about to drift away with the water.
Shu Qing was dumbfounded. In both her past life and this life, the same question arose in her mind: Wasn't he going to show me the way of destruction? Even if he didn't find something particularly sturdy to destroy, he shouldn't have chosen such a fragile little wildflower, right?
The next moment, what Jiu Su showed her left her even more astonished—he threw his dagger at the little wildflower. The dagger in the hand of this rising demon youth was a weapon that struck fear into the hearts of all under heaven, and had killed countless people like snowflakes in the wind. Yet, at this moment, it failed to cut a delicate wildflower.
The little flower still bloomed precariously, its slender stem peeking out from the dagger, blooming on the sharp tip.
Shu Qing stared wide-eyed at the scene before her, thinking: Am I having a dream or something? Can such a clipping bug really happen in the real world?
Seeing her surprised expression, Jiu Su smiled and sheathed the dagger: "Want to try it yourself?"
Ashu did try, but no matter how she tried to break the flower branch or uproot it, she failed. The wildflower continued to bloom as it always had, so fragile yet indestructible.
She gave up, dusted off her hands, and exclaimed, "Indeed amazing. But isn't your 'path' about killing and destruction? What did you kill?"
“Of course it’s about the fact that it can get hurt.” Jiu Su winked at her. “Unfortunately, my cultivation is not enough yet. My ‘Dao’ can only be used on such a small wildflower. I’ll use it on you later.”
"Come on, come on. I'm not even in the same league as this little flower. I might just drain you dry." Ashu chuckled and then asked, "So, this flower will never get hurt, never die, and will always bloom here, right?"
"Um."
"That's wonderful!" Ashu exclaimed, her eyes sparkling. "I thought your ability was perfect for magic tricks. Now it seems it's also great for preserving some special items for me. Come here, I have a whole bunch of precious spiritual flowers and herbs. Quickly help me kill all those 'injured,' 'rotten,' and 'withered' things, and I'll never have to worry about how to store them again!"
"..."
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