Li Zhuyuan held the black-covered book and waved it toward the fish pond. Although he wasn't sure if "it" could see, he needed to express his intention clearly. Right now, there were many tasks and worries at hand, and he had to deal with them one by one.
"Runsheng, come and get the stuff."
"Okay."
Runsheng approached, slinging everything onto his back and weighing it in his hands, revealing a satisfied smile. As for the flag, it didn’t matter, but this set of corpse retrieval tools was his most cherished treasure. He had woken up this morning not even daring to think about it, as the thought caused him pain.
"Xiaoyuan, where are the others?"
"They’ve gone home."
"And what about us?"
"We're going home too."
Once back at home, Li Zhuyuan went straight to the second floor and entered his bedroom. His desk was neatly stacked with many books. He pulled out one book from each of the six sets that included "Records of Strange Tales in the Jianghu," "Exorcism Techniques," "Essentials of Yin-Yang Theory," "Fate Analysis," "Liu Family Qi Observation Technique," and "Qin Family Dragon Observation Method."
Then he searched for the blank margins of the pages, picked up a carving knife, and sliced off strips the width of his thumb, yielding a total of six strips. After hesitating for a moment, he opened the newly acquired black book and cut off another strip. He took a sheet of white paper and wrapped the seven strips in order, then found a black plastic bag and placed the gold ingot inside.
Carrying these items, he went downstairs to the east room. Liu Yumei had just finished bathing and was sitting by the tea table, her silver-white hair still damp.
Seeing the boy come in, she pointed to a closed door and said, "Ali is taking a bath."
"Grandma Liu, I'm here to find you."
"Oh? Then make some tea."
Li Zhuyuan set the items down and began to brew tea.
"Xiaoyuan, I really enjoy watching you make tea."
"It’s my honor."
After both of them took a sip of their tea, Li Zhuyuan put down the cup and took out the paper bundle. "Grandma Liu, I know you’re an expert in paper materials. I have some strips here; could you take a look for me?"
Liu Yumei's greatest interest was designing clothes for Ali, and she often seen with a brush sketching. Though her drawings were just of clothing, the details conveyed a unique charm, rivaling even the great artists who retired at the family compound.
If all went as expected, Liu Yumei’s artistic skills were learned from a teacher, and Ali’s painting foundation was equally strong. Such scholars of ink and color often had thorough knowledge of paper materials.
"Alright, let me take a look."
Li Zhuyuan first took out two strips of paper and laid them in front of Liu Yumei, originating from "Essentials of Yin-Yang Theory" and "Fate Analysis."
Liu Yumei reached out and touched the two strips, asking, "Do you want to know what materials were used, or what era they belong to?"
"The year."
"You seem to understand antiques as well; why? Can’t you tell the age of old books?"
"Grandma, you're joking. I just saw a lot before; I actually don’t understand."
"That's true; ancient texts are a relatively small part of the antique trade."
Li Zhuyuan quietly awaited her answer.
"These two strips are from the Republic of China."
"From the Republic of China?"
"If I’m not mistaken, the characters written on them should be neat and small, suitable for recording."
"Your eyesight is sharp."
Li Zhuyuan then took out the paper strips from "Qin Family Dragon Observation Method" and "Liu Family Qi Observation Technique," placing them on the table.
They had no text, so he was not worried Liu Yumei could tell what books they were from. Of course, even if he had cut the words out, she probably wouldn’t have understood them either.
The characters in these two books became increasingly cursive and less legible over time. In the beginning, Li Zhuyuan could guess what a character was based on context, but toward the end, it looked more like unique symbols the writer created themselves, which he began to decipher.
Naturally, these unattractive characters held deeper meanings; it could even be said that it was exactly because of their unappealing appearance that the value of the "pirated version" far surpassed the original.
After examining these two strips, Liu Yumei picked them up, rubbing them lightly as she brought them to her nose for a sniff before placing them down. "These are from the Ming and Qing dynasties."
"Now I see."
"If you had brought me the part with text, I could determine a more specific era."
"Should I fetch the books?"
Liu Yumei shook her head. "No need."
Li Zhuyuan chuckled, as if he had already anticipated that answer.
Next, he placed the three strips from "Records of Strange Tales in the Jianghu," "Exorcism Techniques," and that black-covered book on the table.
In truth, he wanted to ask Liu Yumei about these three the most.
Li Zhuyuan had been humble earlier; he could trace back the general era of the four books he had just shown.
However, he had never been able to grasp the age of Wei Zhengdao's book, only being able to tentatively conclude it was from the Ming or Qing period based on the quality of the paper and its preservation.
But here lay the problem—the thing in the fish pond was from the Six Dynasties period, roughly fifteen hundred years ago. The writing in his black-covered book was identical to Wei Zhengdao's.
Li Zhuyuan could distinguish whether the writing in the book was the author’s own or if it had been deliberately imitated by later generations. Both "Records of Strange Tales in the Jianghu" and "Exorcism Techniques" revealed a kind of "self-satisfaction" in their writing.
The same could be said for the black-covered book.
This meant that the three sets of Wei Zhengdao's books Li Zhuyuan possessed were not later copies but original texts. However, if he traced the timeline back to fifteen hundred years ago, the preservation of the original book seemed remarkably good.
Initially, Liu Yumei merely glanced at the three strips, but suddenly, she froze, reached out to grasp all three strips, and asked, "Which book are these from?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Li Zhuyuan replied.
"Forget it, no need to answer." Liu Yumei loosened her grip, and the three strips floated gently down; then she took up the teapot, washing her hands with hot tea despite its heat.
Li Zhuyuan asked curiously, "Grandma, what era are these three strips of paper from?"
"Heh, this is not paper."
"What is it then…?"
"It’s human skin."
Li Zhuyuan blinked. "Human skin?"
"Have you heard of human skin paper-making?"
"No."
"Well, that's no surprise. As long as one is willing to pay the price, there are plenty of methods to preserve books, but using human skin as a material is, ironically, the most time-consuming and thankless. Only some special practices would use human skin paper to write on."
"I understand."
"Do you really? Then do you know which era these three human skin papers are from?"
"After the Eastern Han, before the Sui and Tang?"
"I can give you a more specific year."
"Please, tell me."
"Southern Liang."
"Grandma, could you elaborate?"
"Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, once used three thousand human skins to make paper to transcribe Buddhist scriptures in hopes of worshiping the true Buddha. However, this batch of paper didn’t get used much before Hou Jing rebelled, and so this paper circulated out of the palace and became known as Buddhist skin paper. These three books of yours are written on this Buddhist skin paper."
"Using human skin for paper-making? Isn’t he famously known for his Buddhist faith?"
"What's so strange about it? A ruler praying for longevity and continuing to enjoy wealth is hardly out of compassion for the masses. The Taoist emperor of the Ming dynasty was the same. Rulers like those don’t care for the throne or beautiful women but only for themselves; intrinsically, they are quite selfish. Thus, how could they truly care about human lives?"
"Consider me educated."
"This book, this paper—if preserved well, would be considered genuine antiques. It seems your great-grandfather has hidden quite a bit of good stuff in his basement."
"You knew about the books in my great-grandfather's basement earlier?"
"He mentioned it himself. During the movement to eliminate the Four Olds, several groups stored things here, claiming they would come back to retrieve them, but no one has come to take them since."
"Who on earth stored them?"
"I haven’t even seen those books, so how would I know who they were? Plus, I’ve developed presbyopia, making it unsuitable for me to read."
"That's truly a pity; I feel there are some books that seem quite interesting."
"When Ali recovers, you can read them to me."
"I wouldn’t be able to; you’d have to read them yourself."
"Do you have more business to attend to?"
"Yes." Li Zhuyuan opened the black plastic bag, took out the gold ingot, and placed it in front of Liu Yumei.
"You little rascal, have you become a water monkey now?"
"No, I wouldn't dare."
"This is ghost gold, used for burial."
"It's gold."
"Are you looking to exchange it for money?"
"Yes."
"Hahaha." Liu Yumei covered her mouth, laughing, "You little brat, do you think of me as a pawn shop?"
"Fair trade, it doesn’t involve anything else."
Mainly because it was just a piece of gold ingot; this was money for renting land and planting trees. Directly giving it to great-grandfather wouldn’t do well as it wouldn't explain properly, and exchanging it for cash would be troublesome. After all, great-grandfather only needed to pay and sign in the village, while Li Zhuyuan had a lot more to consider.
"Alright, how much does it weigh?"
"I haven't weighed it."
Liu Yumei picked up the gold ingot, weighing it in her hand, and asked, "Should I calculate it based on the current gold price for you?"
"Sure. However, this is a complete ingot."
"Heh, you little brat, I’ll add ten percent for you."
"Thank you, Grandma."
This was the benefit of exchanging it with Liu Yumei; if he had taken it to a shop to cut it, the appearance would suffer.
"A-Ting."
"Coming." Aunt Liu walked out from the kitchen, bowed her head to listen to Liu Yumei's instructions, and then nodded, "Okay, I will go to the bank right now."
Liu Yumei looked at Li Zhuyuan and said, "You can have it tonight."
"Okay, Grandma."
"You still haven’t clarified the situation from last night."
"It’s hard to explain, but anyway, it has been resolved."
"That's good." Liu Yumei slightly tilted her body, looking at the boy, "You don’t look too well."
"Maybe I didn’t rest well."
"No, it looks like you slept too much. Pay attention; sleeping too much is also not good for someone; it can lead to confusion, making it hard to distinguish between reality and dreams."
Just then, the door to the east room opened, and Ali stood at the doorway.
Some ancient phrases might sound exaggerated, yet when you witness them in reality, you realize how fittingly they describe events, like the saying with "natural elegance."
Having been accustomed to seeing Ali’s well-dressed appearance, her look just after bathing appeared exceptionally radiant and delicate.
Li Zhuyuan smiled; with her present, how could he possibly confuse dreams with reality?
Liu Yumei suddenly said, "I was as beautiful as Ali when I was young."
Li Zhuyuan responded, "Did grandpa notice you when you were ten?"
"Boy, you’re asking for a beating." Liu Yumei raised her hand to hit Li Zhuyuan, who evaded it.
Ali came over, and Liu Yumei stood up, preparing to help her granddaughter with her appearance.
Unexpectedly, her granddaughter dashed inside, following Li Zhuyuan up the stairs.
For a moment, Liu Yumei felt somewhat embarrassed, but since she was already standing, she decided to stretch.
"Oh, late at night, exercising?"
Li Sanjiang and Tan Wenbin came back pushing an empty cart, having just delivered a table and chairs.
Liu Yumei remarked, "Old arms and legs need more movement."
"Indeed, the mule at home is sick; I feel utterly drained after delivering it." Li Sanjiang sat down on a chair, pulling out a cigarette to light, needing to relax.
Tan Wenbin asked, "Is Xiaoyuan back?"
"Yes, he just went upstairs."
"Good, Grandma."
Tan Wenbin didn’t go upstairs to find Xiaoyuan but ran to the workroom.
As soon as he opened the door, a rich meat fragrance wafted out.
"Oh, Runsheng, how ungrateful you are, secretly roasting meat here."
As he spoke, he reached out and took a piece from the stove, blowing on it, and stuffed it right into his mouth.
"Hot... hot!"
Runsheng: "..."
"Crispy, not bad; are you roasting pigskin? Why didn’t you prepare any dipping sauce? If not chili, salt would be fine too."
"Is it delicious?"
"Delicious, the meat is pretty fresh."
"Would you like some more?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course, I want more."
"Come on, which piece do you want? I'll cut it for you."
Runsheng presented two sets of leather clothing on the table, "Lifelike."
He was following Xiao Yuan's orders to destroy them, but unexpectedly, when Tan Wenbin walked in, he dove right in to eat; he didn’t even have the chance to remind him.
Tan Wenbin glanced at the two thin figures lying on the table, staring blankly for half a minute while still chewing unconsciously.
Finally, he bowed down and spat out what he had in his mouth, covering his neck:
"Urgh!!!"
"The toilet is just next door; go and throw up there."
Bing Bing ignored him, crouching on the ground to continue gagging.
Runsheng, not wanting him to soil the place, simply picked Bing Bing up and carried him to the toilet, letting him hold the toilet seat to retch loudly.
After returning to the workroom, Runsheng cut up all the remaining leather garments, then placed them in batches into the stove.
They had been disposed of, but afterward, the stove needed cleaning; otherwise, it would be covered in grease.
The pale-faced Tan Wenbin returned and surveyed the now empty table, asking, "I must have imagined it, right?"
"Nothing to worry about; it's just filthy meat."
"No, did you really eat this stuff?"
Runsheng shook his head. "I didn’t eat."
"Hu..." Tan Wenbin sighed with relief.
"This meat isn't dirty enough; it didn’t marinate well."
Tan Wenbin slumped down, running his hand through his hair and said, "I always feel like you guys are lying to me."
"Lying to you about what?"
"It seems like a whole performance; I get pushed to the side at the critical moment. I still haven’t seen a corpse that moves by itself."
"Just take it as a joke."
"But it doesn’t feel like that; Xiaoyuan wouldn’t trick me with this."
Runsheng put a hand on Tan Wenbin's forehead, concerned, and asked, "Did you get food poisoning?"
Tan Wenbin shook his head pitifully; he had seen Li Zhuyuan synchronously spouting out answers to his math problems while he listened. For an almost senior high school student, this was even more astonishing than seeing a moving corpse. "Runsheng, can you tell me what happened last night? Xiaoyuan asked me to come and ask you."
Runsheng nodded and recounted everything that happened last night and today.
After listening, Tan Wenbin’s face went even paler.
"So, the two water monkeys I encountered today were actually possessed corpses?"
"Do you really need to ask? You just ate its skin."
"Don't mention that; I’ve already forgotten."
"Do you have any other questions?"
"No, none." Tan Wenbin trembled as he stood up, unsteadily heading out.
"Where are you going?"
"To the convenience store to call my dad to come get me."
Tan Wenbin squatted on the yard, trembling as he fished a cigarette from his pocket to put it in his mouth, but after striking the match numerous times, he couldn’t produce a spark.
He had only been joking; how could he actually call his dad here to pick him up? He hadn’t seen the corpse this time, but there would always be opportunities in the future.
This feeling was like someone who loves spicy food but can’t eat spicy; it hurts badly, yet they can’t help but want to try again.
"Crackle!"
He finally lit it and leaned down to ignite it.
A roaring noise echoed as a police motorcycle drove into the yard.
Tan Wenbin raised his head, cigarette in mouth, and locked eyes with Tan Yunlong.
"Thud."
The cigarette fell from his lips.
Tan Yunlong disembarked from the police vehicle, approaching and giving him a fatherly kick.
"Bang!"
Tan Wenbin was knocked to the ground, the flat yard causing him to roll several times.
“I brought you here so you could smoke? It seems you have no sense of decorum whatsoever!”
Tan Wenbin retorted, “Dad, didn’t you also use the public vehicle for personal reasons?”
"Heh." Tan Yunlong began to unbuckle his belt.
"What’s going on?" Li Sanjiang stepped forward, grabbing Tan Yunlong, "Don't always take it out on the kid. What if you mess him up?"
"Old man, this guy was just squatting here smoking!"
"Hey, I just kept him here for fun. He wouldn’t know how to smoke anyway; if you want to hit someone, hit me."
"Old man, you can’t coddle him like that; spoiling kids won’t lead to good results."
"I spoil my Xiaoyuan because I think he’s pretty good."
"That’s not the same, is it?"
"They're all kids; what’s the difference?"
"I have dreamed of knowing the difference."
"Come, sit; stay for dinner tonight."
"No, I have work to do. There’s a theater troupe that was in an accident around noon in Pingchao Town. Their vehicle fell into the river after crashing through the guardrail."
"Which theater troupe?"
"The one that performed in Siyuan Village yesterday."
"Oh, that troupe, how are they? What happened to them?"
"Everyone is dead."
"Gee... how did this happen?"
"It was just a simple car accident, but too many people died. I’m here on routine business to inquire if anything went wrong during yesterday’s performance, like fights or conflicts."
"No, no, they performed quite well yesterday; they must’ve been fatigued from not resting all night, leading to driver fatigue."
"Mm, these people are somewhat special, they’re from another province’s theater troupe."
"Probably found it hard to make a living in their home province and traveled here seeking work. Such a pity."
"Alright, that’s enough, old man, you’ve bothered me enough with this."
"Not at all; this kid is quite good and even helps me out. Honestly, I can tell he’s got character."
"It’s just his grades that are lacking; he doesn’t focus on his studies, always thinking about playing."
"Aren’t all kids like that? My Xiaoyuan is too; he loves playing and doesn’t care about studying."
Tan Yunlong: "..."
"Old man, you don’t know about your son’s academic situation, do you?"
"Isn’t it you helping me? If it weren’t for you, I’d still be worrying about whether he can keep studying."
"Xiaoyuan didn’t tell you?"
"He did; he said you helped arrange things."
"That's what I’m supposed to do; with nine years of compulsory education, how could I let the kids miss out?"
Since the elder didn’t know, Tan Yunlong wouldn’t overexplain.
"Just stay for dinner."
"No, I have to go."
After bidding farewell to Li Sanjiang, Tan Yunlong hopped onto the motorcycle and left.
Once Tan Wenbin saw his dad go, he climbed from the ground, brushing off the dust from his clothes.
Li Sanjiang took out a cigarette and handed it over. "Do you dare to smoke again?"
"Why wouldn’t I dare!"
"Smack!"
Li Sanjiang landed a heavy blow to Tan Wenbin’s head.
Tan Wenbin covered his head, feeling quite wronged. “Old man, what’re you doing?”
"Don’t hold a grudge against your dad. He’s just doing this for your own good; once you grow up, he will let you smoke."
"Hey..." Tan Wenbin envisioned that scene, an involuntary smile appearing on his face. "That sounds great."
"Then you might just laugh when your dad hands you the cigarette for the first time."
...
Li Zhuyuan did not rush to read that book, instead choosing to sit in the room with Ali to play chess.
One game after another, losing piece after piece, the boy enjoyed the process as it helped calm his jittery emotions.
He knew he had a bad habit of overthinking but would remain silent in front of the girl.
Aunt Liu came up, knocked on the door, and Li Zhuyuan went out to accept a bag filled with money from her.
"Thank you, Aunt Liu."
"Dinner is ready."
"Okay."
Due to Aunt Liu’s visit to the bank, tonight’s dinner was simple—noodles with two types of toppings—but still very delicious.
"Hey, I said Zhuang Zhuang, why do you have no appetite tonight?"
"I ate too much at noon."
"I thought your dad had kicked your stomach to pieces."
"Not to that extent; he's very precise with his feet."
"Zhuang Zhuang, will you also become a police officer in the future?"
"Definitely not."
"Being a police officer is great."
"My grandpa said, being a police officer is fine, but if it didn’t have ‘people’ in front of it, it would be less tiring and less burdensome."
"Indeed, your grandpa is wise."
"Er, are you talking about my grandpa?"
"He is also your grandpa."
Tan Wenbin turned to Li Zhuyuan and asked, "Xiaoyuan, what university do you plan to apply to?"
"Haihe University."
"Alright then, I’ll apply there too. We can register together when the time comes."
"Slap!"
Li Sanjiang tapped the back of Tan Wenbin’s head with his chopsticks.
"What nonsense are you talking? You’ll be held back for years if you go with our Xiaoyuan!"
Li Zhuyuan noticed Ali’s movements while eating the noodles had become very natural, no longer worrying about uniform lengths anymore.
When she finished, Li Zhuyuan asked, "Do you want more?"
Ali shook her head.
Li Zhuyuan picked up a napkin, and she leaned forward voluntarily.
After wiping her mouth and hands, he folded the napkin and wiped himself.
Noticing the girl was staring at the napkin, the boy intentionally put it into his pocket.
The girl seemed to pout a little.
After dinner, Li Zhuyuan coaxed Ali back to her room to sleep. When he returned to the main room, he found Runsheng and Tan Wenbin sitting in front of the television, both working on paper crafts while watching TV.
To his surprise, Tan Wenbin handled the paper adeptly; anyone unaware would think his family ran a hereditary paper craft shop.
"Brother Bingbing."
"Hey, Brother Xiaoyuan."
"Aren’t you supposed to be studying or doing homework?"
"I brought my homework; I’ve already written my composition. The rest, wait until I return home, you help me write it."
"If you keep that up, your parents won’t let you come again.”
"Don’t worry; the worse my grades get, the more they’ll let me come here."
"That makes sense."
"Hehe, after all, even if I get thrown into the Confucian Temple, it doesn’t feel as bright here."
"Is Haihe University hard to get into?"
"Brother Xiaoyuan, are you reminding me to study hard?"
"I’m just asking."
"Don’t you know?"
"I don’t."
"Oh right, to you, all domestic universities seem the same. With my current grades, my chances of passing into Haihe University are as probable as every household having a color TV in the future."
"Then you should be able to get in; my brother said so."
Once on the second floor, Li Zhuyuan began to breathe deeply and practice his stance.
After finishing, he took a shower and returned to his room.
Sitting on the edge of his bed, he held that black-covered book.
He knew he would definitely learn from it.
At his young age, according to Liu Yumei, it wasn’t suitable to practice hard skills before his bones fully developed, but he couldn’t accept being powerless during crises like the ones he faced time and again.
Even though recently, the crises he faced had been somewhat absurd, encountering Bai Qi outside while simply reading at home.
But… he must learn some non-physical means to confront corpses directly.
It delivered this book into his hands, a conspiracy.
However, the final outcome might not be what it wanted to see.
He placed the book under his pillow, got out of bed, and walked to the wardrobe, staring at his reflection in the mirror.
A sense of unfamiliarity?
Yet, I’ve felt strange ever since I first looked in the mirror at myself.
Twisted and muddied feelings?
How I wish I had the feelings to let them run wild.
You say I resemble Wei Zhengdao; could there be a chance…
Li Zhuyuan placed his hand on the mirror, his reflection becoming blurred, almost morphing into another stranger—of course, this was just Li Zhuyuan's imagination.
"Wei Zhengdao, does he share the same illness as me and Li Lan?"
...
Sleeping early and waking early, when he awoke, the sky was not yet bright. Turning his head, it wasn't time for the girl to arrive yet.
After getting up and washing, he took the black-covered book and walked to the balcony, noticing the door to the east room open. Ali emerged wearing a white top and a skirt.
She raised her head to look at the boy standing on the floor above.
Li Zhuyuan smiled and waved at her.
Though the sky was not yet bright, his sun had already risen.
The girl sat beside him, and Li Zhuyuan began to officially flip through the black-covered book.
Familiar characters, familiar self-satisfaction.
Perhaps it was because it was written for a friend, so this feeling felt stronger, a delight in sharing his good things with his good friend.
Li Zhuyuan thought it might have hated the wrong person.
Wei Zhengdao might have genuinely been teaching him this method with pure intentions, but not every method would be suitable for everyone.
As he continued reading, Li Zhuyuan confirmed his guess.
The first section was about controlling the yin spirit.
The second, merging consciousness.
The third, guiding perception.
The fourth, completing manipulation.
This book wasn’t thick, nor did it contain much content; it merely spoke of methods, requiring him to follow the template.
But the difficulty was immense; just mastering the control of the yin spirit wasn’t something everyone could achieve.
From this perspective, "it" truly was a genius; it had actually learned and controlled so many corpses.
Additionally, this book was quite sinister.
It treated corpses as a type of "animal," establishing a connection through the control of the yin spirit and then merging consciousness to read its memories from its living days, ultimately enticing and controlling its behavior as if hypnotizing or deceiving it.
Similar to… taming animals.
In serious texts, they’d be sure to uphold the notion of "destroyed by the righteous."
But in friends' notes, it was let loose, revealing true thoughts.
Wei Zhengdao, how could you think of such a method? What sort of righteousness is that?
For Li Zhuyuan, the first step wasn't difficult; the third and fourth steps weren't difficult either; he could already control the yin spirit, and he was familiar with hypnosis and temptation as he himself had extensive experience being studied by a psychologist.
It was just the second step he currently had no clue about.
Wei Zhengdao's description was cryptic and profound, and Li Zhuyuan needed to figure out how to "translate" it into modern terms to understand.
It was akin to a frequency, similar to a radio; he needed to create a resonance between himself and the corpse.
Could it be understood this way?
But how to adjust this frequency?
Li Zhuyuan leaned back in the rattan chair, placing the book on his face and closing his eyes.
He wanted to seek a feeling, first finding a state that was neither asleep nor awake to control the yin spirit momentarily.
By his side, the girl saw the boy lie down and followed suit.
In the morning light, the boy and girl lay side by side on the rattan chair, though the girl lay on her side, gazing at the boy’s face.
Li Zhuyuan found that feeling, as if he had successfully controlled the yin spirit; he slowly opened his eyes, only to see a foggy surroundings where nothing was visible.
Following the content of the book, Li Zhuyuan began attempting to control the visual image of his consciousness to shake; this was his interpretation of… frequency.
In reality, the boy lying on the rattan chair began rapidly fluttering his eyelashes.
Ali noticed and reached out to touch him, but halfway through, she withdrew her hand, then closed her eyes too.
In the foggy surroundings, there were no signs of change.
Li Zhuyuan finally recognized a major problem: he didn’t have a subject for his experiments; what could he test without one?
But what could he do? Call Runsheng to come out and tie up a corpse for him to experiment on?
But just then, the surrounding images began to shake rapidly, as if some powerful waves were actively responding to him.
The mist before him began to retreat, and Li Zhuyuan saw a girl sitting with her knees hugged in the center of the dark.
Um,
Did I just sense Ali?
(The chapter ends here.)