Chapter 114: He tried hard to learn how to be a normal person, just hoping An Wujiu wouldn’t leave him.
An Wujiu came to his senses and smiled, “No, nothing at all.”
He grabbed Shen Ti’s hand and lowered it, his eyes looking toward Yang Ce, who was walking away from the temple.
Shen Ti noticed An Wujiu’s gaze and looked over as well. Then he raised his hand and pinched An Wujiu’s face, “Really, An Wujiu…”
An Wujiu withdrew his gaze and glanced at Shen Ti with a hint of reproach, “What are you thinking about every day?”
Shen Ti shrugged, pulled his hands back, and put them in his pockets, “What else can I think about besides you?”
If someone else had said this, An Wujiu might have thought it was flattery, but when Shen Ti said it, An Wujiu inexplicably felt a bit sad.
Shen Ti was a special existence, seemingly unconnected to anything or anyone in this world.
An Wujiu reached out and touched his cheek, suggesting they first move the bodies of Toudou Sakura and the other two, as it didn’t feel right to leave them there.
Shen Ti agreed.
The two of them busied themselves and placed the three bodies in a room. When they returned to the temple hall, they encountered Zhou Yijue.
This time, Zhou Yijue in the game no longer had the ever-present confident smile on his face. He seemed more real—so real that An Wujiu felt he had indeed lost a lot.
So before Zhou Yijue could speak, An Wujiu told him directly.
“I drew two cards last night. You can draw a maximum of two times a day. One was a white card, which was nothing, and the other was a Time Reversal Card.”
Shen Ti felt somewhat displeased. Although Zhou Yijue had previously asked for their help, An Wujiu drawing a card and not telling him first, but Zhou Yijue, was annoying.
However, after thinking about it, he found it acceptable, since he was also standing there. Technically, he and Zhou Yijue heard it at the same time.
“Time Reversal?” Zhou Yijue frowned slightly. “What kind of skill is that?”
“It uses life points to exchange for time,” An Wujiu explained. “The more you pay, the more you can reverse. It’s a good skill, but it’s limited to the same instance, so it probably can’t save the person you want to save.”
His tone lacked much emotion, appearing excessively cold, but Zhou Yijue knew that was the reality.
“I’ll draw the last card tonight,” An Wujiu told him. “But I can’t guarantee that I’ll get a Resurrection Card. The odds are too low.”
For a moment, he wanted to persuade Zhou Yijue to let it go, but then he thought, if it were Shen Ti who had died, would he say the same?
An Wujiu understood the principle of not imposing on others what you do not desire for yourself.
“If I draw it, we’ll discuss it then.”
Zhou Yijue nodded. This was already one of the best possibilities he had imagined. If it were someone else, they probably wouldn’t even have the chance to talk. Only someone like An Wujiu, whom Zhou Yijue had almost killed, would still be willing to give him a hand.
After Zhou Yijue left, Shen Ti and An Wujiu stepped out of the temple, intending to find Yang Ce.
“If you really draw the Resurrection Card, will you give it to him?” Shen Ti asked.
“I…” An Wujiu hadn’t really decided, “If I hadn’t drawn the Time Reversal Card, I wouldn’t give it to him.”
“If I had only one Resurrection Card, I’d save it for you.”
As he heard this, a snowflake landed on An Wujiu’s shoulder.
Shen Ti didn’t know how to describe his current feelings; he’d never felt this way before. In the past, he always looked at everyone from a superior and detached perspective. Though there was no concrete evidence, Shen Ti knew he was special. No one was important to him, not even his own life.
An Wujiu was the first person who thought he was important, the first person to place Shen Ti’s life before his own.
“I don’t need it,” Shen Ti said.
An Wujiu turned his head, the snow light making his face almost transparent and stunningly beautiful, “You signed a contract with me. Your life isn’t yours to control.”
He smiled and added, “But now with the Time Reversal Card, if anything really happens, I can reverse time.”
Reverse to a time when he could save Shen Ti.
Shen Ti remained silent, walking beside him.
He didn’t want An Wujiu to use any skill cards on him, but he knew An Wujiu was stubborn and couldn’t be persuaded.
“So if I do get another Resurrection Card, I might give it to him, unless…”
“Unless what?”
An Wujiu thought for a moment, “Unless something happens to Wu You and the others. Then I might be a bit selfish and save it for my companions.”
“That’s not selfish.” Shen Ti stopped and held An Wujiu’s shoulder, “After what Zhou Yijue did to you in the last game, you’re still willing to help him. That’s more than most people would do.”
An Wujiu understood, but every time he saw Zhou Yijue’s expression, he couldn’t help but think of himself. He feared that one day, he would become like Zhou Yijue, pleading for his lover’s resurrection.
The snow in Water City piled up thicker, nearly reaching their calves, making it hard to walk. An Wujiu turned to look at Shen Ti, whose eyes, reflecting the snow, had become a beautiful light green.
“Shen Ti.”
Shen Ti held his hand and turned his head, “Hmm?”
“You…” An Wujiu paused for a long time, “When you first saw me, did you feel a sense of familiarity?”
Shen Ti frowned slightly, seeming puzzled.
This expression made An Wujiu feel guilty. He seemed to really be trying to connect Shen Ti with that indescribable “him.”
Regarding the things he remembered, An Wujiu had doubted more than once: did gods truly exist, or were his parents just crazy, passing on their madness to him, causing him to imagine those horrifying illusions?
But it felt so real. Compared to the intensely real pain of those memories, the warmth and love Shen Ti now gave him seemed fictional.
“A little,” Shen Ti finally said after thinking for a long time, “But if you mean familiarity, it’s not that I felt it at first glance, but rather that I discovered it after spending time together.”
An Wujiu looked at him quietly.
“It’s kind of scary to say,” Shen Ti smiled, “I might not understand you when you’re happy, but your pain—it’s like I’ve seen it hundreds or thousands of times. That’s when I’m most familiar with you.”
An Wujiu froze.
That sentence almost confirmed his suspicions.
“I shouldn’t have shown much pain in front of you…”
“Yes,” Shen Ti nodded affirmatively, his feet crunching in the snow, “That’s why I said it’s scary. I feel like I’ve seen it before.”
An Wujiu almost couldn’t breathe. His whole body felt cold, his mind filled with images of being operated on and observed as an experimental subject, his battered self possessing only a floating gem light—an eerie god unseen by anyone.
He didn’t know how to tell Shen Ti about these things without being seen as a madman.
How do you tell a living person that they resemble an unnatural being you once summoned?
“But if I really have seen it,” Shen Ti said again, “I would definitely save you.”
An Wujiu laughed.
If it really was him…
An Wujiu thought that everything was destined.
But he was sure that the “blue” god who his mother claimed had killed his father was not Shen Ti. It definitely wasn’t.
An Wujiu thought of the “kindred” Shen Ti mentioned and became even more suspicious.
Since Shen Ti had already appeared here, where were his kindred?
Too many doubts and unknowns intertwined, shrouding An Wujiu in a fog that was difficult to unravel.
In any case, they had to leave this game safely first.
Everything else would become clearer once he remembered more.
Shen Ti wanted to tell him that he could often hear many of An Wujiu’s inner thoughts recently, including just now. Shen Ti had been aware of An Wujiu’s many struggles and conflicts.
Although he didn’t know why this was happening, it was as if An Wujiu’s heart was growing within his own body.
An Wujiu seemed to have classified him into the non-human category.
Shen Ti wasn’t surprised because he himself felt that he wasn’t quite like an ordinary person.
He tried hard to learn how to be a normal person, just hoping An Wujiu wouldn’t leave him.
The snow fell harder and harder as the two struggled to reach the place where the townspeople lived. An Wujiu thought about how Yang Ce had left in a hurry, looking like he already had a destination in mind.
An Wujiu stood still, thinking, and a possibility flashed through his mind.
He stared straight ahead, “Do you think he might be…”
“Looking for the High Priest,” Shen Ti interjected.
An Wujiu turned to look at Shen Ti, surprised that he had thought of it so quickly.
Shen Ti swore that this time he hadn’t heard An Wujiu’s thoughts. He shrugged, “I’m just guessing.”
“I was thinking the same,” An Wujiu turned and walked towards a house with its lights on. “This game has two objectives: one is to ensure that your camp survives, which everyone is working hard to do, but the other objective seems to have been overlooked by everyone.”
“Yes, I remember it being something like, ‘Rescue the townspeople of Water City from danger and give them freedom and peace,'” Shen Ti thought. “I always found it strange. The first objective mentions that the Blood Moon is caused by priests who worshiped an evil cult and turned into wolves. As long as we kill them all, we can lift the Blood Moon curse. So why mention a second objective? Isn’t that redundant?”
“It must be another hidden condition for passing the game,” An Wujiu thought. This wouldn’t be something only they had thought of. Yang Ce leaving the temple in such a hurry was probably also because of the second objective.
They entered the house with the lights on, and inside was a young man sitting on a low stool, working on some stone tools. When the man saw them, he immediately stood up and greeted them respectfully.
Shen Ti asked about the specific location of the High Priest’s glass house. The man emphasized that the High Priest was in seclusion, but Shen Ti pressed him again.
The man had no choice but to tell them the exact location. Just as they were about to leave, he spoke again, “You two priests must attend tomorrow’s ceremony.”
That ceremony again.
An Wujiu nodded, “We will.”
His intuition told him that something was wrong with the ceremony. It might hold clues to solving the mystery of Water City.
Following the man’s directions, the two bypassed half the city and arrived at the High Priest’s seclusion place. The so-called glass house was actually a tower-like structure, with the top indeed made of glass. The door to the tower was half open. An Wujiu pushed it open, revealing a staircase spiraling upward.
He didn’t go upstairs immediately but stood at the doorway for a moment.
“Mr. Yang.”
An Wujiu said calmly, “I have no intention of following you, but there are some things I want to verify.”
Not long after he spoke, Yang Ce walked out from behind the door.
He had given up the idea of an ambush and looked at An Wujiu.
“Have you already been upstairs?” Shen Ti asked him.
Yang Ce nodded, “The top is sealed off with a message saying that the High Priest will come out on his own when the Blood Moon ends.”
An Wujiu stared at Yang Ce’s face and said, “It’s windy here. Let’s go upstairs and talk, Mr. Yang.”
Shen Ti noticed that Yang Ce seemed a bit wary of An Wujiu. Unlike others, whose fear of An Wujiu mainly stemmed from his performance in the game, Yang Ce didn’t seem like a player who had been in the same game as him.
As they climbed the stairs to the second floor, An Wujiu didn’t hesitate and directly asked, “Do you know Yang Erci?”
Yang Ce clearly hesitated and then frowned slightly.
An Wujiu continued, “May I ask, are you Erci’s father?”
Shen Ti wasn’t very interested in such melodramatic family relationships. Yang Erci didn’t seem like a pitiful child looking for her father, so he didn’t need to worry. Shen Ti found a chair and sat down to listen.
“How do you know? Do you know Erci?”
Yang Ce’s response was almost a confirmation.
An Wujiu breathed a sigh of relief, “Yes, she’s our friend whom we met in the altar.”
He briefly explained how they met Yang Erci, “She’s been looking for you because of you. She left Sha Wen and entered the altar. You should know what kind of place the altar is. I don’t understand one thing, Mr. Yang. Why are you unwilling to go back to see her?”
An Wujiu spoke directly, feeling that Yang Erci’s efforts were undeserved.
If her father truly cared, he would have found a way to see her, even in the altar, over the span of so many 24-hour periods, just to let Yang Erci know that he was alive and well.
Sitting nearby, Shen Ti raised his hand in a “let me say something” gesture, “Could it be that you’re part of some mysterious organization, and that’s why you can’t go back?”
Yang Ce didn’t respond, seemingly unable to speak about it. After a long silence, he only told An Wujiu, “If you see Erci again, tell her that I’m already dead.”
An Wujiu guessed he had unspeakable difficulties and didn’t press him further.
“She’s a researcher who digs into everything. I can’t deceive her,” An Wujiu said. “I’ll tell her everything; at least that way, Yang Erci will be somewhat reassured.”
Yang Ce remained silent, but he never expected that his daughter would fall into the same abyss as he did.
This was what he least wanted to see.
“Since we can’t meet the High Priest and the message has been delivered,” Shen Ti stood up, “let’s go.”
An Wujiu nodded and was about to leave when he suddenly heard Yang Ce call out to him.
“Is your mother… named An Congnan?”
An Wujiu froze, stunned for a second. He stepped forward, his always calm face finally showing emotion, “Do you know me?”
“To be precise, I knew your parents.” Yang Ce gazed into An Wujiu’s eyes and said, “You look very much like your mother. From the moment I saw you, I had my suspicions.”
An Wujiu had too many questions he wanted to ask, but for a moment, the thousands of questions seemed to form a tangled mass, blocking his heart.
“They all said you were dead. I thought I was mistaken.”
In the end, it was Yang Ce who spoke first.
“Dead?” An Wujiu’s confused expression was like that of an unscarred child.
“Yes. The news reported it that way.” Yang Ce could still recall what An Congnan looked like when she was arrested. “They said your mother killed you and your sister, so she was arrested and sent to a mental hospital. I didn’t expect you to be alive.”
An Wujiu lowered his eyes and asked softly, “Then in the report, how did my mother kill us?”
“The police found an old car with failed brakes at the bottom of a lake near a cliff. The car belonged to your mother, and she had a previous record of arson. Although no bodies were found, the car had your and your sister’s DNA and a little girl’s shoe. The police concluded that she intentionally committed murder and arrested her.”
This sounded like an entire setup.
An Wujiu tried hard to keep his heart calm, but all kinds of conspiracies kept popping up in his mind, uncontrollably.
Finally, he could only look up and question Yang Ce, “Then how do you know them? Aren’t you a researcher from Sha Wen?”
Yang Ce did not deny it, “Have you forgotten? Your father was too, and his level was higher, responsible for more confidential projects.”
“But he’s dead,” An Wujiu said.
Yang Ce looked at him, feeling he was being too cruel. An Wujiu seemed different from what he thought; he seemed unaware of many things from the past.
“Yes, many of the people responsible for that Human Revolution Project are dead.”
The sound of wind and snow outside was loud, making the room feel even colder.
Shen Ti quietly watched An Wujiu, feeling that the accumulated memories and pressure over this period were almost forcing out another side of him that had calmed down.
“So you don’t know what they were responsible for either?” An Wujiu held back all his emotions and continued to ask.
Yang Ce wasn’t sure if he should tell him so much, but facing An Wujiu, he felt some compassion. “What I know is that this project was aimed at extreme situations, modifying the human life form, but so far, there seems to be only one successful test subject.”
Shen Ti asked curiously, “What kind of extreme situations?”
Yang Ce paused, “I already said, I don’t know that much. But before this project started, something happened that left a deep impression on me.”
That was already more than ten years ago.
At that time, due to the gap between social classes, multinational corporations used lower-level pleasures in virtual worlds to pacify the middle and lower classes, aiming to solidify resources and class structures. They were already used to this. But then, a small virtual game suddenly appeared, called “Call of the Old Covenant.”
The so-called Old Covenant was not the Bible, but an old ancient book. The game’s content was simple, similar to a low-difficulty puzzle game. If you managed to open the book and read it, you would receive many game rewards.
None of them expected that this small game would quickly sweep across the Americas and even the world.
It was also at that time that the global crime rate soared. People suddenly plunged into hatred and slaughter, with extreme emotions spreading wildly.
“When many of those arrested at the time were shouting, ‘The real Lord has returned,’ the government, in collaboration with some enterprises, including Sha Wen’s researchers, launched an investigation. As far as I know, that plan started after this incident.”
After hearing this, An Wujiu was even more convinced that the so-called human revolution plan aimed to create stronger and more stable humans through technical means and mental stimulation and to popularize the plan to achieve self-protection for humanity under such indescribable spiritual ravages.
“I tried to understand whether this was true, including how they defined success, but I couldn’t get definitive data. I didn’t even have a list of test subjects. If you’re interested, the person who knows the most about this is Sha Wen’s executive director, Russell. After all, he initiated this project, and your father was the core researcher.”
“Russell…” An Wujiu felt that the name was very familiar.
Seeing An Wujiu’s reaction, Yang Ce confirmed his suspicion, “You should have heard of his name, as he is the biggest investor in the holy altar game.”
Shen Ti suddenly felt that something was off. The backer behind a top-secret human modification project just happened to be the main supporter of the holy altar.
There was likely a significant connection between the two.
Adding in the mysterious organization investigating the holy altar that Yang Erci mentioned, it was clear this was a confrontation between multiple forces. He didn’t want An Wujiu to get involved; surviving in the altar was hard enough.
“Understood.” An Wujiu was very grateful to get this information from him. “Thank you.”
He was also sure that Yang Ce wasn’t at the core of the human revolution plan; otherwise, he couldn’t have behaved so naturally in front of him.
An Wujiu thought that he might be the “successful” test subject.
If so, he would at least be rare, and those who placed him in the holy altar were likely the people behind the project.
How ironic that his father had been a core figure in this plan during his lifetime, dedicating himself to research to combat the “Lord” that lunatics claimed was returning. But after his death, the research no longer belonged to him, and even his children became sacrifices for the plan.
Now, from his body to his spirit to his memory, every part of him was fragmented, and he couldn’t even remember his father’s and sister’s names.
His family was truly the sacrificial lambs, for the so-called survival of all humanity.
The city of water, covered in snow for days and nights and completely frozen, was not as cold as An Wujiu’s heart.
“Wujiu.”
As An Wujiu was about to leave, Yang Ce called out to him, using the tone and stance of an elder.
An Wujiu turned around and looked at him.
Looking at the child in front of him, Yang Ce genuinely thought of that gentle and beautiful woman and thought of his father; they were the most matched pair he had ever seen.
“Did you change your name yourself, or did your mother change it?”
An Wujiu was stunned.
“I didn’t used to be called this?”
Yang Ce nodded as a matter of course. He lit a cigarette with a lighter, inclined to believe it was An Congnan who changed it, but felt it was unnecessary.
“Your father discussed this with me before. He earnestly said he wanted you to take your mother’s surname because it had a better meaning. But due to the traditions of a patriarchal society, even your mother’s surname wasn’t really her own… He said a lot, and I interrupted him, asking him to just tell me what his son’s name was.”
Yang Ce smiled rarely, “He later integrated it, telling me he combined his surname with his wife’s to name you Shen An, with the nickname An’an.”
When An Wujiu heard this, suddenly, some memories flooded him like the sea, overwhelming him.
He remembered that his father’s name was Shen Siyuan. He remembered that after his father’s death, as a child unable to sleep, he silently recited the forbidden spell his mother had seen as taboo, summoning “him.” His childhood self, already falling into madness, regarded “him” as his only friend, confiding in him his fears, likes, and dislikes.
He even wrote for him, using his finger to write the character “Ti” on the ground.
[My dad taught me this. He told me to be careful no matter what I did so that I wouldn’t make mistakes.]
[Can you read my writing? This is my name. My surname is Shen… The character on the right is pronounced Ti.]
An Wujiu’s eyes stung with tears.
It turned out that even his name came from himself.
[This is my favorite character.]
