Chu He looked at Zhang Shun and didn’t speak for a long moment.
Since he was young, Zhang Shun had always felt that his brother’s gaze was oppressive, as if a thousand-pound boulder was pressing on his spine, forcing him to bow his head. But at this moment, Zhang Shun didn’t want to yield. He straightened his back and met his brother’s gaze, trying his best to look calm and resolute, even though cold sweat was already soaking through his clothes.
“What did Zhou Hui tell you?” Chu He suddenly asked after a long pause.
Zhang Shun hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. “That guy surnamed Zhou didn’t tell me anything.”
His hesitation for that thousandth of a second had already given the answer. Chu He pressed his forehead and let out an almost inaudible sigh.
“Zhou Hui’s personality… is actually a bit paranoid. This trait was significantly amplified after being inherited by Maha. So, no matter what Zhou Hui says, you don’t need to take it to heart. Maha became like this because it’s his nature, it’s nobody’s fault.”
“Brother, do you still think I’m a three-year-old child?” Zhang Shun’s upper body suddenly leaned forward, almost right in front of Chu He. “What exactly happened? Why did you suddenly come to the Zhang family? Why have you always been so good to me? I’m already an adult. Whatever the answer is, I can bear it!”
But Chu He shook his head. “You think you can because you don’t know what the answer is yet. Only children would clamor that they’ve grown up. Have you ever seen an adult who needs to hang their age on their lips?”
His attitude was gentle but unquestionable. Zhang Shun knew his brother. It wasn’t that his brother’s decisions were absolutely unchangeable, but it was indeed very, very difficult to change them. With Young Master Zhang’s power, it was like a child rolling on the ground, wanting an adult to buy candy. Even if he screamed his throat out, his brother wouldn’t pay him any mind.
To change his brother’s will, one must present enough convincing arguments. If there wasn’t enough to convince his brother, then one had to at least grasp his brother’s pain point.
—Two months ago, Zhang Shun felt that his brother had no pain points. This man, who desired nothing, had a meticulous mind and absolute calmness, and his psychological endurance was incredibly strong. Sometimes, Young Master Zhang would maliciously speculate whether his brother had truly achieved this state of cultivation by being impotent, but then he felt that even if his brother discovered he was impotent, he wouldn’t panic at all. Perhaps raising an eyebrow would be the limit of his emotional expression.
But now it was different. Zhang Shun changed his sitting posture, his eyes slightly squinting under his deep brow bones, staring thoughtfully at his brother.
Too much had happened in these two months. Even if his brother intentionally concealed it, those two pig teammates, Li Hu and Zhou Hui, had revealed quite a few fragments, enough for him to piece together a vague outline. The problem now was just how to find a more precise and ruthless point in this vague and inaccurate outline.
A pain point that even his omnipotent, infallible brother couldn’t hide.
“…Brother,” Zhang Shun said slowly, almost every word turning over in his mind several times before he spoke. “If you left Zhou Hui for the Demon Lord Fan Luo, and then came to the Zhang family to find me because you couldn’t stand the Demon Lord, using my Buddha bones to resist the corrosion of demonic power… then are you so good to me because of guilt?”
For a few seconds, he almost thought he had succeeded.
Chu He’s expression did indeed undergo a subtle change.
Zhang Shun’s first reaction was strangeness and excitement—so this was how satisfying it was to make his brother, who was as calm as an iceberg for ten thousand years, show such an expression—but then, a tide of guilt engulfed him.
Zhang Shun tried his best not to reveal any emotion, making his face look profound and inscrutable.
But then he found that his brother was not showing a pained expression. On the contrary, he was laughing.
“Zhou Hui said you’re sometimes very similar to him when he was young,” Chu He said with a smile, seeming to find it very interesting. “Indeed, you are. Even this kind of low-class psychological pressure tactic is exactly the same.”
Zhang Shun: “…”
“I did have some business with the Demon Lord, but I didn’t even tell Zhou Hui the specific reason, let alone you. As for guilt…” Chu He laughed again. “Without me, your Zhang family’s company would have gone bankrupt long ago. Would you still be able to casually spend hundreds of thousands to pick up girls? Why should I feel guilty?”
Zhang Shun felt abashed, covered his face with his hands, and slumped in his chair.
But it was alright. Losing face in front of his own brother wasn’t too shameful.
“Sometimes, the fate between people is decided in a previous life. There is always a cause and effect. You don’t need to be confused,” Chu He said. “In my eyes, no one has made an absolute mistake, not even Maha. I can understand why he became like this today… If I have to say, it’s the jealousy rooted deep in his heart and the belief in evil in his nature that are at play.”
Zhang Shun was surprised. “Jealousy?”
He couldn’t help but think of the Peacock Vidyaraja’s stunningly beautiful, divinely crafted face. Born as a Vidyaraja, residing high in the Thirty-Three Heavens, what was there to be jealous of?
“He’s jealous of Zhou Hui, jealous of you, even jealous of his own younger brother. He is a complete replica of Zhou Hui as a demonic creature, but Zhou Hui suppresses the evil side of his soul, while he unscrupulously twists and amplifies his nature. As for you, to him, you are just a trigger.”
Zhang Shun listened in a daze and, after a long while, asked, “What… what exactly did he do?”
“—He devoured the Buddha,” Chu He paused. “Out of jealousy for you, he rushed to the Thirty-Three Heavens to provoke all the gods and Buddhas. When the Buddha became angry, he opened his mouth and swallowed the Buddha’s body whole.”
The hospital room was silent, so quiet that only the sound of a heartbeat could be heard. Even the sound of the breeze rustling through the treetops outside the window became distant and unclear.
After a long time, Zhang Shun finally asked, “…What exactly did I do?”
Chu He rubbed his forehead and sighed.
“You didn’t do anything. You are just a Buddha bone that the Buddha pulled from his true body and gave to me for safekeeping. I carried you with me for many years before I met Zhou Hui.”
Zhou Hui was eavesdropping outside Yan Lanyu’s room when the door behind him suddenly opened, and the disastrous brother-in-law walked out in a daze.
“That guy surnamed Zhou…”
“Shh!” Zhou Hui immediately stopped him and gestured for him to come and listen.
Young Master Zhang was baffled. He leaned over and cocked his ear. Yu Jingzhong’s voice came from inside. “…Don’t overthink it. I’m just asking. Of course I hope you’ll stay in China, but the organization will definitely send people over to repeatedly investigate your background and motives. If I know the reason, I can try my best to mediate…”
Yan Lanyu’s gentle voice interrupted him. “Deputy Yu.”
“Hmm?”
“Mr. Zhou and Young Master Zhang are eavesdropping outside.”
With the speed of lightning, Zhou Hui dragged Zhang Shun and ran. The next second, the ward door opened, and Yu Jingzhong jumped out, roaring in frustration, “Zhou Hui—! Take your little brother-in-law and go cool off somewhere! Be careful, or the organization will give you a demerit!”
“You’ve been suspended, for f*ck’s sake! What demerit!” Zhou Hui shouted back, then immediately ducked his head, dodging the ashtray Yu Jingzhong had thrown at him in a thousandth of a second, and hid around the corner of the corridor.
Zhang Shun was dragged along, stumbling. Before he could even stand firm, he was slapped on the head. Zhou Hui scolded him with an expression of disappointment, “I told you to shout! I told you to shout! What kind of ears does the little beauty have? If you hadn’t interrupted, Lao Yu would have confessed just now!”
“…” Young Master Zhang’s head was shaken a few times by the slap, but contrary to his usual behavior, he didn’t curse back. Instead, he stood there dejectedly, not speaking.
Zhou Hui became suspicious. “What did your brother tell you?”
Whenever Young Master Zhang acted abnormally, his brother would immediately ask if Zhou Hui had said something, and Zhou Hui would immediately ask if his brother had said something. In a way, Zhou Hui and Chu He’s way of thinking was actually somewhat synchronized.
But the dejected Zhang Shun didn’t notice this and just stood there without a word.
Zhou Hui couldn’t stand seeing people like this the most. He went up and pretended to kick him. “What did your brother tell you? Are you going to tell me or not? If you don’t, I’ll go back and ask your brother!”
“No… nothing.” Only then did Zhang Shun react, hastily retreating to dodge Zhou Hui’s Foshan Shadowless Kick. “Really nothing. He just said that Maha became like this today because he devoured the Buddha…”
“That’s because he’s stupid. He could have done anything, but he had to go and devour the Buddha,” Zhou Hui said impatiently. “What else? You didn’t say anything stupid to poke at your brother’s wounds, did you, disaster-in-law?”
Zhang Shun hastily shook his head to indicate he hadn’t, then hesitated for a long moment. “Brother Zhou…”
This form of address almost scared Zhou Hui to death. He quickly held onto the wall to steady himself. He heard Zhang Shun mumble again, “My brother said… in a past life, he, you, and Maha were a family, and I was just a piece of jewelry he wore. Is that true?”
Zhou Hui: “…”
The corner of Zhou Hui’s mouth twitched continuously. After a moment, he said slowly, “Not entirely accurate. You were at least a rather valuable piece of jewelry.”
Zhang Shun lowered his head and said, “Oh,” then turned and walked away dejectedly.
Yu Jingzhong slammed the door shut with a bang, then quietly opened it again a moment later to confirm that Zhou Hui hadn’t run back, before gently closing the door.
“You’ve been suspended?” Yan Lanyu asked in surprise from behind him.
“It’s just temporary. It’s a long story.” Deputy Yu wiped his face and returned to the bedside to sit down. “Well… to continue our previous topic, if you don’t mind my being presumptuous…”
Yan Lanyu was wearing a light gray, single-layered pajama robe. The young man’s hair was soft and black, his skin pale. Although he had no makeup on, he had a simple and elegant charm like a blend of black and white. From Yu Jingzhong’s angle, he could see his crow-wing-like eyelashes slightly lowered, the corners of his eyes tilted up in a gentle arc, hidden in the fine strands of his hair, like a beauty from a Jiangnan riverbank ink painting, making it hard to look away.
He suddenly and without warning remembered Zhou Hui’s words—not only do you have no money, but your future is also almost over. Why would the little beauty be with you?
He suddenly felt a wave of unspeakable embarrassment.
It wasn’t just because he was over thirty and truly poor and without support, but more because this child had fled thousands of miles to China and had saved his life twice. This debt of gratitude was heavier than a mountain, yet just because he was good-looking, he had used those kinds of thoughts to speculate about him. Just thinking about it felt filthy.
Yu Jingzhong, are you still a man? When did you become so shameless?
Yu Jingzhong took a breath and tried to look away naturally. He heard Yan Lanyu say softly, “It’s okay… I can understand. I just didn’t react for a moment when you said someone would come to investigate me.”
“It’s just a procedure…”
“I understand,” Yan Lanyu said. “For someone with an awkward identity like me, suddenly running out from such a sensitive place as the esoteric sect, anyone would ask a few more questions… There’s nothing much to say about that.”
He was quiet for a moment, his gaze seeming to be fixed on a piece of floating dust in the air. After a long while, he said softly, “Our sect leader is about to fall to the demonic path.”
Yu Jingzhong was surprised. “Fall to the demonic path?”
“Mm, you are a leader of the Special Affairs Department, you shouldn’t be unfamiliar with such supernatural and demonic things.” Yan Lanyu smiled bitterly. “A living person falling to the demonic path is a rare sight in a hundred years, completely different from a demon cultivating to become a demon. The latter are mostly hidden in deep mountains and old forests where people rarely go, while the former will lose their humanity, go on a killing spree, and after causing extremely terrifying effects in the human realm, they will fall into the ‘Four Evil Paths’ and directly become Asuras. The living Asuras recorded in history were basically all killed by heavenly tribulations, but before the heavenly tribulations descended, Asuras killed people in the human realm in the hundreds of thousands. There is even a saying that ‘as long as one living person falls to the demonic path, the Hell Path will be filled with billions of fierce ghosts’.”
Yu Jingzhong was stunned. “Is there no way to stop this process?”
“The esoteric sect believes in the Asura Path and pursues the fall of living people to the demonic path. This process is irreversible.” Yan Lanyu paused. “When I left Tokyo, the sect leader had already begun to show signs of falling to the demonic path.”
Yu Jingzhong asked, “So you had to escape the esoteric sect as soon as possible to avoid being involved and losing your life, right?”
Who knew that as soon as these words were out, Yan Lanyu suddenly fell silent.
There seemed to be something very hard to describe in his eyes, heavy and tired, making it hard to even look at him for too long.
“…Yes,” just when Deputy Yu thought he wasn’t going to answer, he suddenly heard the young man speak softly. “That’s right.”
His complexion was very bad. Although it had been a week since he had been rescued from danger, such a conversation was still a great burden on him. For a moment, Yu Jingzhong thought he would immediately lie down, but Yan Lanyu didn’t. He just leaned against the pillow without attracting attention, staring fixedly ahead.
There were still many questions, but Yu Jingzhong knew that was it for today.
“You should rest first,” he stood up, patted the young man’s shoulder, and said gently, “It’s okay. I still have my connections. I’ll try my best to mediate.”
The corner of Yan Lanyu’s mouth curled up.
It looked like a smile, but it was so pale that there was no hint of a smile in it.
“Get well soon and leave the hospital. I’ll take care of everything. Oh right, if you don’t have a place to stay in Beijing, you can stay at my place for now. It’ll be more convenient for daily life.”
Yan Lanyu said politely, “Won’t it be inconvenient?”
“It’s fine. It’s just me and my daughter,” Yu Jingzhong said casually. “She’s only two, and I often send her to daycare, so she won’t be noisy.”
Yan Lanyu seemed a little stunned, but he didn’t let this emotion show for too long. He quickly smiled, his attitude a bit strange. “Thank you.”
Yu Jingzhong took his leave, but it was clear that he was very worried. He would probably, as he had done in the past few days, go to the doctor’s office and sit for half a day before leaving the hospital, then go home to carefully study the various reports.
This had practically become his routine.
Only Yan Lanyu was left in the hospital room. The young man leaned against the pillow and closed his eyes. Although he was extremely mentally exhausted, he had no desire to sleep at all.
—So you had to escape as soon as possible to avoid losing your life, is that right?
That’s right, but it seems to be different somehow.
It was early autumn, but Yan Lanyu suddenly felt a bone-chilling cold and couldn’t help but wrap himself tighter in the blanket.
He remembered that before Aida Yoshihide left Japan for China, one night, he suddenly discovered a certain black demonic pattern spreading on the sect leader’s body. Being in the esoteric sect, he knew all too well what that was. He was so shocked he almost fell on the spot, but the sect leader turned and held him down.
In the dark night, the man’s eyes glowed with a terrifying light, looking very demonic. Yan Lanyu could even hear the chattering of his own teeth.
“Don’t be afraid,” the sect leader said. “It’s not time yet, but it’s close.”
Yan Lanyu was wearing a white kariginu. He was only able to stand because the sect leader was holding him up, his legs were so weak. His face was very young due to extreme fear, his lips trembling, paler than his clothes.
“Logically, I should ask if you want to fall to the demonic path with me, but forget it. An uncle sometimes needs to protect his own illusory self-esteem.” The sect leader laughed, his expression full of mockery. “—But, after falling to the demonic path, I won’t recognize you. I might even kill you casually, you know.”
Yan Lanyu shivered.
“Don’t be so scared. Aren’t you always fearless? Or is it that if you die, you won’t be able to wait for that person from two years ago to come and get you, and that’s why you want to live as long as possible?”
The blood instantly drained from the young man’s face. His mind was buzzing, and there was only one thought in his head: He knows!
He’s always known!
The sect leader reached out and stroked his hair. His fingers slid from the ends of his hair to his cheek, pausing on the young man’s cold chin.
“Aida Yoshihide is going to China to extradite the Earth-born Fetus. I’ll have you go with him. If you can find a chance, just run away and don’t come back.”
“Sect…” Yan Lanyu trembled violently. “Sect Leader…”
“You’re so surprised. It’s as if I’ve never done a good deed.” The sect leader thought for a moment, then suddenly said with a hint of regret, “It seems I really haven’t done any good deeds for you… Well, this is the last time. I’m giving you a chance to live. Just consider it the only bit of compensation for all these years.”
The young man didn’t know what to say, and didn’t dare to say anything. He could see the demonic patterns on the sect leader’s body winding and becoming active—this was a stage. This person was rapidly transforming towards a living person falling to the demonic path. Soon he would become a terrifying existence that was neither human nor ghost, transcending the laws of heaven.
The fear and timidity in his eyes were so obvious that the sect leader laughed and lowered his head to kiss the young man’s lips, which were cold and trembling with fear.
“This is the last time. Remember me as I am now, a person. Soon, no one will ever know what it was like.”
—Has that man already fallen to the demonic path by now?
If so, the esoteric sect might have already experienced a massacre. If he were still in Tokyo, he would have inevitably become a victim under the butcher’s knife, perhaps even becoming the first person in hundreds of years to die at the hands of a living Asura.
So, in this situation, could it be considered an escape from death?
Yan Lanyu took a long breath, feeling his entire lungs ache from the stimulation of the air.
He liked this pain. It made him feel that he was indeed still alive, not a walking corpse, nor slowly rotting into a pile of broken bones in some dark, sunless corner of the world.
He pulled the blanket over himself, curling up into a small ball as much as possible. After a long time, he finally felt a trace of warmth gather in his body. He wrapped himself in this warmth and slowly fell asleep.
