Chapter 84 Images This is the life she chose herself.
"I'll drop you off here." Jiu Su stepped on the brakes, and the Super Management Bureau's car stopped downstairs at Shu Qing's house. He turned his head and smiled at Shu Qing—normally, when the two of them went out together, Shu Qing would drive, as she had a natural distrust of monsters' driving skills.
But at this moment, she was overwhelmed by memories of her past life, and as soon as she sat in the driver's seat, she couldn't even find the accelerator or the brake. If she were allowed to drive home by herself today, tomorrow's trending topics would probably be dominated by "Ancient Immortal Car Accident".
At this point, the traffic management bureau should have assigned a driver to take them, but for some reason, these shrewd people who had overcome numerous obstacles to pass the civil service exam collectively lost their ability to read between the lines, and no one mentioned it.
In the end, Jiu Su borrowed a car and personally drove her home.
The two remained silent the entire way, rarely even exchanging glances. Jiu Su, being a novice driver, simply focused on driving; Shu Qing stared out the window, seemingly developing an irrepressible interest in the capital's night view.
They didn't have their first conversation until they arrived at her apartment building. Shu Qing remembered that Jiu Su had lived with her before, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Aren't you going up?"
“I’m going back to the Super Management Bureau.” Jiu Su didn’t look at her, but stared at the night outside the windshield, as if gazing at the horizon. But if you looked closely, his gaze was actually unfocused. “I need to sort out the demonic power of that monster and control it before I can use it to investigate who left that ‘path’ to it. It would be slower for others to do it, so it’s better if I go.”
This reason was so plausible that it was impossible to refute it. Shu Qing knew he was avoiding spending more time with her, but given this reason, she couldn't say anything wrong, so she could only say, "Take care."
As soon as she said this, she bit her lip in annoyance—she had never known Jiu Su's background before. No matter what others said, she had never seen him fight, so she never had a real sense of his fighting ability.
Now that his past life memories have been restored, he knew what a formidable weapon he was. In the old days when immortals were everywhere and great demons were as common as dogs, even Kunlun was helpless against him and had to use their friendship to scheme against him.
In this modern era where ancient immortals have vanished and only a handful of "supernatural beings" cause trouble, what is there for him to be careful about? As long as he doesn't do something stupid and stab himself in the back—like the collar he's still wearing around his neck, who can do anything to him?
How perfunctory and hypocritical this simple "Take care" sounds!
Shu Qing glanced at him secretly, wondering what he thought of such a perfunctory "take care".
Jiu Su seemed to have no particular feelings, and even if she did, she wouldn't show it on her face. He got out of the car without saying a word, walked around to her side, and opened the car door for her.
Shu Qing had no idea what expression to make, so she got out of the car with a blank expression. The two nodded to each other, like a pair of dedicated and polite business partners.
Before going upstairs, she turned back and glanced at him again, almost as if possessed.
Jiu Su hadn't expected her to suddenly turn around and launch a counterattack. Her gaze, which had been fixed on Jiu Su's back, seemed to be burned, and she quickly looked away, gazing at the horizon in the distance.
Shu Qing smiled unconsciously and looked towards the horizon. They had been rummaging around in the suburban park for quite some time, and it was almost five in the morning when the sky began to lighten. The night was fading, as if the dark curtain covering the fields was gradually thinning and disappearing into nothingness.
She turned around and went upstairs, while Jiu Su got back into the driver's seat, and the two drove away from each other.
As Shu Qing went upstairs, she fumbled in her bag for her keys—she had no choice, as her mind was filled with memories from her past life spanning several decades. Although those thousand-plus years between life and death were just scattered fragments, they were still considerable when put together. Now, even what happened yesterday felt like something from over a hundred years ago to her.
She wasn't even sure where her house number was, and she was only able to find the right place thanks to Shu Tong opening the door in time.
Shu Tong and Zhao Yuqing couldn't sleep after she went missing. Fortunately, Jiu Su called to comfort them, repeatedly assuring them that she would bring Shu Qing back safely. She even instructed the cat Xiao Hua to soothe her. Only then could they sit at home and wait for news.
Shu Tong had been peering out the window and saw Shu Qing get out of the vehicle from the Supermarket Administration Bureau unharmed. She immediately went to open the door, barely stopping Shu Qing from continuing her dazed walk upstairs.
"You scared your mother to death!" Shu Tong looked her up and down, making sure she was safe and sound before giving her a tight hug. "What happened to you?"
In an instant, Shu Qing's soul, which had been wandering between her past and present lives, settled down in this warm embrace.
Perhaps whether one is an immortal or a demon, in a mother's embrace, one can return to one's original nature, to the most primal state of being. From her previous life, she was no longer the Lord of Xiashan, nor did she aspire to be some national treasure-level ancient immortal. This was the life she had chosen, the life she had desperately sought but could not obtain in the past. What was there to hesitate or be confused about?
In a sense, this is also the simplest and most direct way to "question one's true self".
All her memories returned to normal. In the warm yellow light, Shu Qing said with a grin, "Mom, Dad, I'm fine. I was just looking for material when something went wrong, but overall, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise."
She glossed over all the harrowing events in a few words, even vaguely mentioning her past life's memories as "the legacy of an ancient immortal," recounting everything she could. Even so, the two elderly people were still quite frightened, unsure whether to hope she would resolve these matters soon or avoid getting involved in them again.
By the time Shu Qing finally finished explaining and lay down on the bed to sleep, it was already dawn.
Two days later, the Super Management Bureau brought good news—the out-of-control fox demon had basically recovered. It had gone out of control, consuming a huge amount of its demonic power, and its current energy level was only fluctuating around level 5, but it was at least out of danger.
After communicating with it, Jiu Su confirmed Shu Qing's conjecture. The Super Management Bureau then contacted Qi Yun, asking her to bring Nian Nian to the capital headquarters, hoping to use Nian Nian's clairvoyance ability to see who left the "Dao" on this fox demon.
Shu Qing immediately rushed to the headquarters of the Super Management Bureau and set up an array with Jiu Su. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, a familiar figure was projected onto the screen of the energy manifestation instrument.
Xie Heng.
For a full minute, the conference room was completely silent.
"Impossible!" Xie Heng's assistant was the first to stand up and refute. "Miss Shu, Mr. Jiu Su, isn't there a possibility of error in this 'peeping'? Professor Xie has always been dedicated to the Super Management Bureau. What reason would he have to plan all this? He has no motive!"
Jiu Su frowned slightly and glanced at Shu Qing. He wasn't sure what the connection was between Xie Heng and Zhi Heng; only Shu Qing's intuition was accurate.
Shu Qing shook her head at Jiu Su: She couldn't say for sure either.
She initially thought the person behind this was trying to stir up trouble to demonstrate their own usefulness and seize power. However, Xie Heng already carried considerable weight in the Supermarket Management Bureau and had never shown any intention to compete with Director Yang for anything. In fact, his position was merely that of a "Chief Specially Appointed Expert," which was enough to justify the statement that he was "indifferent to fame and fortune."
However, Xie Heng did give her a feeling that was somewhat similar to Zhi Heng. Could it be that he also had the same fate as her?
"This is very strange." This time, because the abilities of a low-level demon like Nian Nian were used, a caretaker was specially invited to supervise the situation, and the person who came was Hu You. He said doubtfully, "Professor Xie didn't deliberately get involved in the demon's out-of-control situation; he was just doing his job. Besides, Professor Xie has always been quite friendly towards demons..."
In an instant, Shu Qing suddenly recalled the day she met Xie Heng in the archives of the H City Superpower Management Bureau: he had asked her then whether it was a good thing for people to idolize superhuman beings.
She found the question strange at the time, but didn't think much of it. Looking back now, it seems there was a subtle, almost imperceptible malice lurking within it.
Why did he ask her that question?
The assistant reluctantly reviewed the screen recording of the energy manifestation device frame by frame, but still found nothing, not even another suspect.
Director Yang's face was grim. He looked around and asked, "Where is Professor Xie?"
"Professor Xie and Minister Jin went on a business trip to L City the day before yesterday," the assistant replied immediately, not daring to be negligent. "They should still be there now."
Shu Qing looked up in an instant, and even Jiu Su's face suddenly lost its color—L City, the city closest to the ancient Kunlun ruins.
Ancient Kunlun Ruins.
In fact, the places that humans can reach today can no longer be considered "Kunlun ruins." The true ancient Kunlun relics have long been buried beneath the vast ice plains. Only a few palaces, once built to reach the heavens, have not been completely buried by thousands of years of snow accumulation, and their outlines can still be barely discerned through the ice.
Xie Heng arrived at an ice pillar that pointed straight to the sky. To ordinary people, it was just an ice spike formed by the wonders of nature. But when he placed his hand on it, the ice cracked open, revealing its true form.
It turned out to be a towering stone tablet.
The inscription was carved in ancient script and is worn down, so even the most learned scholar would not be able to decipher it, but he can still recite every name on it.
"So many people died to lay the foundation for the later victory. How can we be so rebellious today?" he said to himself, his gaze falling on Jin Wanli beside him. "Don't you think so, Vice General Jin?"
Jin Wanli's expression was blank, as if he too had been frozen into a statue by the icy and snowy landscape.
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