Chapter 37 Spiritual Silk
"You've already been to Fuguang City, right? Are you satisfied?" Jiang Ye asked with a smile, clearly already aware of the situation at the base and Bai Chenzhu's plans.
That certainly couldn't be satisfactory, otherwise the young man outside the tent wouldn't have said that Bai Chenzhu wanted to take him away from the base.
This is a good opportunity. Jiang Ye thought for a moment, then rephrased his question, "So what are your thoughts now? Are you still willing to take the risk with me? Or do you want to find another base to settle down in? But can you be sure that the next base will make you more comfortable and at ease?"
"Jiang Ye, aren't you being too arrogant?" After listening quietly, Bai Chenzhu turned to look at him, her dark eyes as deep as the bottom of an abyss, carrying a hint of rejection. "I can find a more comfortable place to live in seclusion, without having to go back to the base, or wander with people like you."
Don't provoke someone's rebellious spirit. Jiang Ye saw his expression and secretly thought, "This is bad."
“Everyone has flaws.” Jiang Ye cleared his throat. “Getting back to the point, although you have many paths to choose from, there is one that is particularly good among all those options.”
Jiang Ye's lips curled into a smile, unwavering in his resolve. He opened his arms, as if to embrace you. "No one knows your background or your thoughts better than me. If you're unsure where to go for now, you're always welcome here~"
Bai Chenzhu already had a plan in mind. He looked down at the ground and didn't give in. "We'll see."
Jiang Ye was unwilling to part ways like this, so he took two steps forward and tried his best to persuade her, "Bai Chenzhu, I was wrong last time. I promise I will tell you everything from now on. To be honest, just spend more time with me."
"How old are you, still acting like a child?" Bai Chenzhu raised his hand and pressed it on the person's forehead, pushing the person away without any room for argument.
But Jiang Ye will come back on his own.
Until their calves touched, with no more distance between them, Jiang Ye took advantage of the situation and grabbed his arm, saying, "I had no choice. Since you wouldn't agree, I had to swallow my pride."
Bai Chenzhu withdrew his hand, crossed his arms, and watched his performance indifferently, "That's enough with the banter."
"Are you really not coming?" Jiang Ye pinched his arm.
"Talk is talk, but don't get physical." Bai Chenzhu slapped his hand away, her gaze falling on his red coat.
It's a wonder that in this apocalyptic world, Jiang Ye somehow found such an eye-catching outfit. "Tell me first, what's with your clothes? Were you doing this on purpose?"
Jiang Ye smiled, sat back down, and tacitly agreed.
"What are you planning to do?" Bai Chenzhu asked.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Ye was really honest. He slowly took off his bright red coat and put it aside, then looked at Bai Chenzhu shirtless. "Use Chen Hao to lure away the zombie king, and we'll sneak into the zombie king's lair to find something. The fragments I want are there... This is information we got from Tang Jie last time."
"You're really something." Bai Chenzhu wanted to sigh for Chen Hao.
Chen Hao's mission was to investigate the unusual activity in the mountains. Jiang Ye knew that this matter was related to the fragments, but he quickly shifted the focus to the zombie king. Chen Hao probably believed him without a doubt and was now going to fight the zombie king according to Jiang Ye's information.
So, while Jiang Ye didn't lie to him, he didn't tell the whole story either. He just happened to need such a target to lure the zombie king away, and Chen Hao essentially delivered himself to his doorstep.
Jiang Ye took clothes out of his backpack.
"Wait a minute." Bai Chenzhu looked at him suspiciously. "The patrol said there was something strange on the mountain, possibly the appearance of a zombie king or something. Such accurate information, you didn't deliberately spread it, did you?"
"As expected of the person I chose, you are really smart." Jiang Ye nodded proudly. "We humans are interdependent, so of course we share the good times and bear the bad times together."
Was he praising himself or someone else? Bai Chenzhu didn't know what expression to make.
He considered himself not good at speaking or socializing, and he always felt admiration for Jiang Ye's enigmatic actions.
That's why Bai Chenzhu's anger burned so fiercely when Jiang Ye set his sights on him—"I thought we were on the same side, but you're using the same methods you use to scheme against others to scheme against me."
“This zombie king, although not strictly speaking at the level of ‘king,’ is even more powerful than Tang Jie’s father whom we encountered last time.” Jiang Ye stared at him cautiously: “If you are scared, you can go down the mountain now, I won’t stop you.”
Bai Chenzhu was still very curious about the Zombie King. He had planned to go and see it, and if it was too dangerous, he would slip away.
Hearing this, a ripple of unease stirred within him, but his expression remained unchanged. "Really not going to stop me? With me here, you'll find the fragments much faster."
Jiang Ye shook his head. "Are you leaving?"
Bai Chenzhu stared at him intently. "Jiang Ye, you're testing me."
Jiang Ye remained noncommittal, but after being seen through, he frankly said, "I hope you stay."
“But I don’t trust you,” Bai Chenzhu sneered. He had been waiting for a better price, and now he said this as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “If I don’t trust you, what can I do? Even if we’re bound together, I won’t feel comfortable. I might as well just leave and be done with it.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ye immediately understood.
If Bai Chenzhu was determined to leave, he wouldn't have spent so much time arguing with him like this. He smiled, confirming his suspicions: all that talking to him was for this one sentence.
Knowing there was still room for maneuver, Jiang Ye perked up. "So what are your thoughts? Tell me."
"Recently, I have discovered a new way to use mental power."
Jiang Ye was surprised. How long had it been since Bai Chenzhu knew and learned to use mental power? At most, it had only been a month.
Bai Chenzhu, unaware of his thoughts, raised his hand and touched the slightly cold air in front of him, which was invisible to others—the floating spiritual threads belonging to him.
"What is mental power? I can't understand anything too profound. I understand it superficially as something like will or soul. Apart from mutants, most people with brains have mental power, so I think the place where mental power resides is our brain. More accurately, I call it the sea of the mind."
Jiang Ye listened quietly, then changed his posture, propping one leg up against his backpack.
"I used to think it was a continuous thing that couldn't leave the body, until I discovered a new use for it." Bai Chenzhu used one strand of spiritual energy to cut off another strand of spiritual energy. The falling strands of spiritual energy gathered together and landed in Bai Chenzhu's right palm like thin clouds.
Of course, in Jiang Ye's eyes, Bai Chenzhu's palms were empty from beginning to end.
Bai Chenzhu extended his right palm forward, "It can leave the body."
Jiang Ye, confused, reached out and poked Bai Chenzhu's palm, feeling a cool mist enveloping his fingers—it felt strangely comfortable. "You're giving it to me?"
“Yes, it’s for you.” Bai Chenzhu raised an eyebrow at the person in front of him. His phoenix eyes resembled those of an androgynous immortal in an ancient painting, while the lower half of his face had distinct features, making it impossible to mistake his gender. He was handsome and radiant.
"If I said I would send it into your mental sea, so that I could see your thoughts and know your location, only then would I dare to trust you. Would you be willing?" Bai Chenzhu made his request, a faint smile playing on his lips.
It sounds like he's doing something wrong, but when you ask him to say it, it sounds as casual as "I'm going to your house to play."
Jiang Ye stared at his face, fidgeting with his fingertips, somewhat reluctant to say anything.
“You are indeed very talented. But I’m sorry, I’ve seen this method ten years later. It doesn’t have as many functions as you’re talking about. At most, it’s just like a locator.”
Bai Chenzhu wasn't nervous when the lie was exposed. It was just a test, and once it was exposed, it was over.
He made a blatant demand, "Then do you dare let me install a locator? If you try this trick again, I'll lure zombies over and kill you."
No matter how much he talks, it's not as real as him putting something on display.
Bai Chenzhu believed he had the ability to make zombies chase after Jiang Ye. As long as he knew Jiang Ye's location, no matter how good Jiang Ye was at fighting, he couldn't withstand a relentless attack.
Mental power, attraction, drive...
A flash of white light crossed his mind, then he was interrupted by Jiang Ye's words.
Jiang Ye rested his chin on his hand and thought for a while, "I've never been spared this thing."
"You choose to refuse?" Bai Chenzhu's eyes darkened slightly. If Jiang Ye was unwilling to even agree to this request, then everything Jiang Ye had just said was just nonsense.
He wasn't unaware of this outcome.
Bai Chenzhu withdrew his hand and planned to leave directly and go down the mountain.
Jiang Ye grabbed Bai Chenzhu's drooping right wrist, his arrogant eyes displaying a half-smile, "I didn't say that."
He sighed, "You're so cunning, knowing full well that I can't refuse you for something like this."
“You’re framing me.” Bai Chenzhu looked at him.
Jiang Ye released his grip, closed his eyes, and let out a breath, adopting a wary posture towards him. "Come on, do whatever you want."
"Follow me?" Bai Chenzhu's expression relaxed somewhat.
He held his tiny wisp of spiritual energy, dangling it around in Jiang Ye's mind, unsure of what to do—he had only experimented on zombies, not living people yet, and the spiritual energy that used to float in on its own was now playing dead in his hand.
Bai Chenzhu stood still, deep in thought, and reached out to clench the mental energy he had been feigning death in his palm.
Jiang Ye has sighed countless times today, never imagining that he would one day have to teach someone how to install a 'locator' on himself.
Jiang Ye poked his palm. "A living person's head is defensive; it won't go in on its own. You have to send your spiritual energy in before it can stay."
Then what he cut beforehand was useless, right? Bai Chenzhu paused, then simply poured it all over Jiang Ye's forehead, making Jiang Ye feel a chill on his forehead and struggle to suppress his laughter.
——
Bai Chenzhu sat cross-legged opposite him, closing his eyes to feel his own spiritual energy.
He poured all his mental energy, everything he had, into the person before him without reservation. As he gazed upon them, he himself seemed to become a part of them, awkwardly flowing into the other person's mind.
Everything was still normal, as long as he left his spiritual thread in Jiang Ye's spiritual sea, then everything would end easily.
But practice is far more complicated than imagined.
As his mental energy surged into his mind, it coalesced into a small, hazy light and shadow, and Bai Chenzhu felt as if he had penetrated a thin film.
Then, he was hit hard by the falling meteor and landed on the ground in a very disheveled state.
Logically speaking, the mental threads should not feel pain.
But Bai Chenzhu really felt the pain. He supported his waist and got up, only to see another apocalyptic scene, which stunned him for a moment.
Is this Jiang Ye's spiritual sea?
His spiritual sea was just an ordinary, large space, with so many spiritual threads that they surged like ocean waves, which he enthusiastically adorned with white clouds.
The white clouds, blue sky, and vast sea are exceptionally beautiful; anyone who sees them must praise the wonders of nature.
He thought that everyone's inner world was so simple and beautiful.
But Jiang Ye's was different; here he saw a chaotic and devastated 'apocalypse' that was more in line with human imagination.
It was a chaotic mix of black and red.
The sun, moon, and stars all turned into fragments, crashing to the ground like fireballs, igniting raging fires that burned the ruined houses and scorched the earth.
Everything was so quiet, except for the booming sound of the fireball hitting the ground and the crackling sound of the fire waves engulfing everything.
The scorching fire distorted the air, and waves of heat washed over us.
Bai Chenzhu took two steps on the ground, supporting his lower back, and then quickly retreated. The next second, a fireball crashed down, and the edge of the crater was right under Bai Chenzhu's toes.
Thankfully, the fire here wasn't real. Bai Chenzhu felt a lingering fear; he realized he had stumbled into an extraordinary place. Looking around, he saw that the area was so vast that he couldn't see the boundaries.
But this didn't scare him away, and perhaps Jiang Ye had deliberately made his mental sea like this to frighten him. Bai Chenzhu pondered how to preserve his mental threads.
He walked a few steps around the area, but no matter how far he went, he always saw this apocalyptic scene, so he gave up looking for a 'safe' place.
"Should I share some of the blue sky and white clouds with him?" Bai Chenzhu squatted down and touched the scorched earth, thinking for a long time about what he should leave behind.
There are fireballs here, hot and dry.
Fireballs can fall from the sky at any time, and if you can't move, you'll be smashed into the ground.
He clasped his palms together, and cool mist gathered in them, while the spiritual threads within his palms solidified into a physical form.
Bai Chenzhu gently opened his palm, and countless ice butterflies the size of a thumb flew up from his palm. More and more ice butterflies appeared, gradually forming a small Milky Way. They fluttered up into the broken sky, bringing a cool breeze.
After it flew out, another fireball crashed down, and the swarm of butterflies quickly scattered. The Milky Way instantly transformed into countless points of light, its lustrous color scattering everywhere.
Like a light drizzle, Bai Chenzhu felt that the temperature here was not so unbearable.
——
Both of them opened their eyes, and suddenly felt as if it were all a dream.
Back in reality, the fireball, the ruins, the ice butterfly—all were gone, leaving only two people gazing at each other.
Jiang Ye rubbed his throbbing forehead, both amused and exasperated. "Good heavens, I only told you to put in a small thing, not this many! You're throwing all your mental energy at me, don't you feel uncomfortable?"
Bai Chenzhu belatedly realized that his spiritual power seemed to have dried up a bit, but his spiritual sea was like a never-ending river, and given enough time, it would always be able to recover.
"I think it's alright." Bai Chenzhu changed the subject reservedly. "Don't you like it?"
Jiang Ye's expression suddenly became indescribable. "Should I like this? I only thought it was a locator, but you've given me a whole bunch!"
He raised his hand to gesture the 'large group' of Bai Chenzhu.
"I didn't force you." Bai Chenzhu felt particularly pleased to see him get the short end of the stick.
He lifted the tent flap, stretched lazily in the sunlight, and said, "Alright, I'll agree to work with you this time for now. After it's done, I'll hitch a ride with you."
What does "this time" mean? Jiang Ye belatedly realized that he had been tricked.
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