Chapter 24 Continued_1

"Not good." The old man sighed, "You even die with such restlessness. You're really annoying."

"I don't want to either, if you'd just let me go, there wouldn't be any trouble, right?" Huai Shi's breathing became raspy.

"See, it's all shattered, all shattered!" The elder wiped the sweat from his wrist and threw the thing into the trash can, "It's all gone, how can you be so annoying?"

"Even Bi Gan could live for half an hour without his heart, half an hour is good enough."

"Nag, nag!"

"I had a lunch appointment with a second fifth today, ate hotpot..."

Huai Shi had even lost his breath, but incredibly he could still make a sound. Perhaps it was the fear of death that suddenly broke through the façade he'd been wearing; he'd never felt so alone and sad, he didn't want to die, and he wanted to talk to someone, so he went on and on:

"Have you ever had hotpot? You look like a foreigner. Hotpot is China's specialty. You know, although Old Yang is tricky and troublesome, his hotpot is really second to none..."

"..."

The old man stopped talking

He came into this world bare and was about to leave it just as bare, stripped of his mortal coil, but this guy still hasn't died?! And somehow, he just keeps spouting garbage!!!

"We've come to this point, why won't you just hurry up and die?!"

"Who the hell knows, you son of a bitch, nutcase, creepy old pervert..."

A dull, raspy voice came from the skeleton, "I say, can you help me, please? I'll sell myself to you, as long as you don't do that base thing, I'll do whatever you say... wait, even that base thing is fine..."

The elder's white hair stood on end from anger, revealing stitched scars on his face, and he slammed the table almost violently, "Death is destined!"

"Even if it's destined, I still don't want it..."

Huai Shi hesitated for a moment, trying to bargain with him, "Can't I just wait until I've lived enough before dying?"

"..."

The elder fell silent, frantically scratching his own hair, emitting an irritable roar. As if his fighting spirit had been utterly crushed. He bent down and methodically packed away his knife, chisel, and scissors, categorizing them back into the toolbox, took off his apron, pulled out a comb, and neatly groomed his disheveled hair.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!!!!!"

Suddenly, he roared in fury, angrily flung the toolbox onto the ground, stomping on it again and again, picked up the axe from the corner and smashed the cabinet to pieces, venting the nameless rage in his heart.

"Damn it, what the hell is this!"

He yelled at the ceiling, as if glaring at something, "See that? He won! Take your test subject away from here! Now! I don't want to see him ever again!"

At that moment, time seemed to stop, everything froze.

Within the void, it seemed a door opened, a beam of light shone through it, descending like a rope, pulling him slowly upward.

Huai Shi looked around blankly, not knowing what was happening.

He didn't even know if he should follow the example of the predecessors and flip the bird on his way out.

The next moment, he was engulfed by the light.

Or rather, 'drowned', as if in a sea of silver-gray light that engulfed him. He was pulled by an invisible force, upward, as if traveling through the depths of the sea, feeling the terrifying force pressing in from all sides. Yet, what terrified him even more, every drop of water in this silver sea was Source Substance, dense almost to the point of condensation.

As far as the eye could see, almost boundless, beyond the sight and perception of man, as if it encompassed the entire world.

The Sea of Silver.

The void ocean that gathers all human Source Substance, the wellsprings of all intelligence, a grand existence that reigns above Miracles... the description Crow had used once again surfaced in his consciousness.

That moment, he broke through the surface of the sea and was cast into the air.

Drifting aimlessly between the void sea and sky, he watched the pure darkness of the Sky Dome and the endless stream of silver light surging below.

In the distance, he seemed to see two vague shadows, seated upon the sea surface.

"You know, after seeing your photo last time, my daughter cried and made a fuss, demanding a raven just like big sister's... I was out of options, in a hurry to leave, so I just grabbed a pigeon for her. Then she asked why it wasn't the same color, and I could only say: 'It was black originally, but its mother ran out of ink when giving birth to it'... Sigh, it's been seven years without seeing her, I don't know if she's doing well, how her studies are going."

The middle-aged man with a goatee sat cross-legged on the sea surface, smoking a cigarette, holding a can of beer in his hand, and complaining to his 'drinking buddy' beside him.

Nonchalantly, he flicked his cigarette ashes into the wondrous sea beneath his feet.

"Don't worry, don't worry, I just saw her before coming, she's grown quite a bit, already a tall and slender young lady,"

Raven, with a cigarette and a beer of the same brand in its wings, also patted the middle-aged man's shoulder: "Although that pigeon you stuffed her with seems to have caused her some minor problems… Ah, here comes my Contractor."

The bearded man raised an eyebrow and took a glance: "She looks pretty average, anything special about her?"

"Does playing the cello well count? The kind that earns extra points on college entrance exams."

"That good? Any tricks to it?" The bearded man's eyes lit up.

"Ah, that's probably natural talent. Not something others can learn."

Raven flapped its wings, raised its head to finish the last of the beer in the can, and stood up to say goodbye: "It's getting late, I'll take my leave... But come to think of it, as a Guardian of the Sea of Silver, one of only seven Natural Enemies in the world, is it really okay for you to let this fugitive leave so flamboyantly?"

After pondering for a moment, the bearded middle-aged man scratched his face gloomily and sighed: "Forget it, I'm off work in two days. I've been slacking off here for seven years, can't I relax a bit more in the end?"

"Then I truly appreciate it."

Raven smiled in agreement, spread its wings, and flew into the distance.

That agile shadow danced on the surface of the silver sea, elongating like a flame, transforming, until at last, it became a slender figure.

The black skirt, rippling like water, had already spread out on the ground, not touching any dust, with a simple design edged with delicately patterned dark gold rust, like thorns stretching up along the edge of the long dress.

When Huai Shi blankly looked up, all she saw were the slender legs revealed beneath that cascade of skirts, dazzlingly pale.

The back part of the long dress was openwork, showing off a smooth back, and that elaborate pattern which nearly covered the whole back.

Numerous crimson hues interwoven, created a bizarre and dignified pattern that seemed to be constantly changing, making it unclear to the eyes.

Soon, the strange tattoo was concealed by the cascading black hair.

As Huai Shi gaped, she raised her head, revealing a mature and exquisite profile.

"Let's go, my Contractor,"

She, holding a box that seemed familiar, beckoned to the young man with a hook of her finger and smiled triumphantly:

"I'll take you home."

.

.

In that instant, in the suburban area of Xinhai City, Huai Shi's bedroom was suddenly erupted with terrifying Source Fluctuations!

The burning brilliance lit up.

—The Book of Fate!

As if lifted by an invisible force, countless pages turned frantically, with an abundance of Source Substance emerging from within, forming into burning flames.

It was the Source Substance that it had been incessantly drawing from Huai Shi's body over an extended period. Now, in the blink of an eye, it burned out, bringing forth endless illusions and transformations.

One by one, the pages burned into nothingness within the fire, until at last, only one page remained, bearing his name...

On that title page, the waxing crescent started to grow once more.

The final gap… closed!

After reading through countless deaths, it had finally pieced together its own demise, turning the endless record of death into pure black ink. The ink surged within the phantom image of the moon, circled around the very center, and began to swirl violently.

Countless deaths clashed against each other furiously.

In the end, they broke the confines of the moon, tearing away the restraints, revealing their majestic contours—numerous dark deaths spun, forming into a massive vortex, propping up a wild perfect circle, with sharp flames jutting out, transforming into its corona.

It was a fierce dark solar disc!

Drip!

As if by illusion, a faint ripple emerged on the cardiogram in the emergency room.

Life was renewed.