Chapter 10
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Lou Yan calmly asked, “Have you been here all along?”
“Indeed,” the mysterious man pressed down on the brim of his hat, speaking calmly, “I’ve always been here, Mr. Lou.”
“Why do you know my name?”
The mysterious man smiled, somewhat mischievously, “I occasionally read financial newspapers.”
Lou Yan chuckled and approached the mysterious man step by step, “Your footsteps guided me out of the anomaly, right?”
Lou Yan took two steps closer, and the mysterious man took two steps back, speaking as he retreated, his vocal cords sounding as if they had been damaged by gravel, “You’re very clever, indeed, those were my footsteps… So that thing is called an anomaly? I did indeed help you escape the anomaly. Since you’ve guessed it’s me, you should know that I mean no harm to you… Please don’t come any closer to me now. Your danger to me is no less than that monster just now.”
Lou Yan stopped in his tracks, scrutinizing the mysterious man, “Am I dangerous? What’s your purpose?”
The way he looked now did indeed seem quite dangerous, not at all dignified. His leisure suit had long been slashed to tatters by a knife, stained with blood and black water. However, Lou Yan didn’t feel constrained or inferior because of this. He stood tall, his long legs slightly apart, exuding a powerful aura. His face, handsome to the point of being stunning, was smeared with blood and dirt, his lips dotted crimson, the corners of his eyes slightly sinister. Against the backdrop of the anomaly and grotesque monster corpse, he seemed as dangerous as a demon.
The mysterious man also stopped, answering each question with a good attitude, “I saw you swallow that monster’s heart with my own eyes, and then roll out from inside that monster’s body. You can kill such a powerful monster, so you’re indeed dangerous in my eyes. As for my purpose, it’s actually quite simple. I just wanted to see what kind of person the one I would follow in the future is like.”
Lou Yan frowned and repeated, “The one you would follow in the future?”
“Yes,” the mysterious man who called himself Duan Zege took out a tarot card from his pocket, skillfully shuffling the cards, “I awakened a talent called ‘Divination,’ and after awakening this talent, due to the curiosity of the ability, I immediately divined my future. The result of the divination told me that I would follow someone here, and I wanted to know who this person was, and then I met you.”
Lou Yan hadn’t expected it to be like this, it sounded reasonable, but he didn’t believe it, “Why didn’t you get trapped in the anomaly like me when you came here?”
Not only did he not get trapped in the anomaly, but he also easily gave Lou Yan hints and helped him escape the anomaly.
Even Lou Yan, who had experience from his previous life, couldn’t do this. His talent and Duan Zege’s talent belonged to the ‘precognition’ category, but his talent was blocked by the anomaly, so why could Duan Zege, who had just awakened his talent, achieve this level?
“In fact,” the mysterious man’s answer once again caught Lou Yan off guard, “I actually live in this building.”
Lou Yan: “…You said you live here?”
Duan Zege nodded, even spreading his hands and leisurely turning around in front of Lou Yan, saying with a tone that questioned Lou Yan’s intelligence, “Clearly, I’m a homeless man.”
Lou Yan: “…”
The mysterious man seemed pleased with Lou Yan’s expression, chuckled a few times, and then became serious, “I have nowhere else to go, and this abandoned factory is a good place for homeless people to rest. Because the windows on the first and second floors are broken, I sleep where it’s sheltered from the wind upstairs. But I didn’t expect a monster to suddenly appear here tonight, which fortunately awakened my talent for ‘Divination’ due to misfortune.”
He shrugged, “Before you arrived, I went downstairs to take a look. The monster was on the second floor, and the anomaly you mentioned was spreading from the first floor, so it didn’t affect me upstairs. When I saw you trapped, I kindly helped. Let me tell you the truth, when the monster first appeared, the anomaly only occupied one-third of the first floor, but by the time you arrived, the anomaly had occupied the entire first floor. I guess if you hadn’t stopped it in time, the anomaly would probably have spread layer by layer to the entire building. So, in a way, saving you also saved myself.”
He explained earnestly and in detail. Regardless of whether Lou Yan believed him or not, his expression softened slightly, “Thank you for helping me leave the strange domain.”
“Don’t mention it,” Duan Zege emphasized leisurely, “You are the person I choose to follow, so it’s only natural for me to help you. But if you really want to thank me, why not take me away? Look, I’m a homeless man with nowhere to go, and I have no money for food. I’m living a miserable life, and I won’t have anything to eat tomorrow.”
Lou Yan directly took out his wallet from his bag. When he tried to find a bank card to give to Duan Zege, Duan Zege shook his head and refused, “No, I don’t want money. I just want to follow you. The tarot cards told me that we would become partners who trust each other and live and die together in the future. I’m curious if the prophecy is true. You can trust me more and take me away. I won’t harm you, and my ‘Divination’ talent would be helpful to you, wouldn’t it?”
Well, it turns out this guy isn’t after money, but after his “heart.”
Lou Yan laughed directly, “But I really don’t trust you. You know a lot about me, you’re mysterious, but I know nothing about you except for a name—I don’t even know what you look like. How can I trust you to take you away?”
Duan Zege suddenly realized, “Oh,” “If you saw what I looked like, would you be willing to take me away?”
Lou Yan neither agreed nor disagreed, “Maybe?”
The mysterious man didn’t say anything, directly and cleanly took off his gray-black hat, lifted up his messy shoulder-length hair like dry grass, revealing a face full of scars.
Duan Zege grinned, and the scars on his face moved with his smile, “I hope I didn’t scare you. I’m ugly.”
Rather than saying “ugly,” it’s more like “ugly scars.” Lou Yan didn’t know what kind of past Duan Zege had to leave so many deep and shallow scars on his face. The scars were chaotic and intersecting, making it impossible to see Duan Zege’s facial features clearly. All you could tell was that whoever left these scars was ruthless, completely aiming to disfigure him, without mercy.
Lou Yan wasn’t someone who overflowed with sympathy, but he inexplicably felt a little soft-hearted at this moment. He clicked his tongue and suddenly felt uncomfortable in his heart, “Pack up and come with me.”
Duan Zege’s eyes lit up, and he smiled as he put his hat back on his head, “Okay.”
But Duan Zege, a homeless man, had nothing to pack, so he followed Lou Yan into the car empty-handed.
Lou Yan came alone, but he brought back one more person. When he sat in the car, he couldn’t help but marvel at how strong his butterfly wings were.
In his previous life, he didn’t merge with the anomaly, didn’t save Lu Haoxiu, and didn’t have a person named Duan Zege actively come to him. Everything was clearly taking a different direction. Lou Yan didn’t know if this change was good or bad, but he felt that it was generally good.
Because as long as there was a slight change, this world would be a little unfamiliar to Fu Xuezhou.
At this moment, the sky was still dark. When Lou Yan started the car, he suddenly realized something was wrong. He raised his hand to check his watch, looking extremely surprised. “How come only one hour has passed?!”
Clearly, he had spent at least five hours within the strange domain!
Duan Zege sat in the passenger seat, supporting his head. “Is one hour strange? From the moment I saw you enter the building until I went downstairs to help you leave the strange domain, the whole process took only two minutes.”
Lou Yan looked at him sharply. “Are you sure?”
Duan Zege nodded confidently, rubbing his chin in confusion. “How long did you think had passed?”
Lou Yan furrowed his brow, pondering for several minutes before slowly saying, “I thought it had been five or six hours already. Could it be an illusion? No… I even had a meal in the strange domain, although the feeling of being full might have been false. But then, how do you explain the restoration of my mental energy? While resting in the strange domain, my mental energy increased from 2 to 10, which would have taken at least an hour and a half. Mental energy doesn’t lie. There’s no way I could have spent only two minutes in the strange domain.”
Duan Zege shook his head. “That’s really strange.”
“Then there’s only one explanation…”
Lou Yan opened his hand, looking at his palm.
The strange power he had absorbed must be related to time, which is why the strange domain had a different flow of time.
Lou Yan clenched his fist thoughtfully, saying no more. He started the car and drove towards the city.
He needed to find some time to thoroughly explore the strange power within his body.
***
In front of Chengjiang University.
Chengjiang University, usually filled with academic atmosphere, was now covered with a layer of dark clouds. The gloomy cold wind blew through the campus, carrying the foul smell of blood.
A group of parents gathered anxiously in front of the school gate, looking into the school with worry and fear on their faces. Some couldn’t help but sob and cry loudly, their cries echoing.
Just half an hour ago, an accident occurred at Chengjiang University. Several screams were heard from the teaching building and dormitory building, attracting many onlookers. They witnessed many students and teachers running frantically towards the main gate, only to tragically die inside the school gate. Even the security guards, who wanted to escape, knelt against the wall as if possessed and banged their heads until they died, turning the entire campus into a bloody h*ll in an instant.
Parents who were anxious to find their children also seemed possessed as they entered the school, either strangling themselves or slamming their heads against the security room wall. The farthest any parent got was only twenty meters.
At this moment, several bodies laid on the ground inside the school gate, with blood flowing slowly. Each corpse had bulging eyes, their faces filled with resentment and terror.
This was too terrifying!!!
It couldn’t be explained by science at all!
Watching these bodies, no one dared to enter the school gate to meet their doom. Parents screamed, went mad, and cried out loud, their voices deafening. One middle-aged woman couldn’t bear it anymore and, shouting “Da Ya,” rushed into the school. People around her hurriedly stopped her, “Do you want to die?” “Big Sister, don’t be impulsive. We’ve already called the police. Just wait for them to come.”…..
“But what if my Da Ya is dead? What should I do then?” the middle-aged woman cried, tears streaming down her face.
Her sobbing triggered emotions in other parents, and the atmosphere of sorrow and oppression became heavier, making everyone feel unable to straighten their bodies.
The cold wind whistled through the school gate, like the mournful cries of the dead.
Suddenly, a parent, staring intently at the teaching building, trembled with disbelief, “Someone, someone is coming out?!”
Everyone looked up, only to see a slim figure wearing a loose coat walking out of the teaching building towards the school gate.
The gloomy wind obscured the figure in the sand, making it blurry. People watched from a distance, anxiously and nervously, and could only see the wind tossing the person’s long hair wildly, and the coat flying to the side, emitting a dangerous and unsettling aura.
The dark clouds rolled, seeming to roar angrily at him, but the figure was unaffected, calmly stepping over the bloodstained ground and the scattered limbs and bodies, getting closer and closer to the school gate.
The crowd outside the school gate was in an uproar, retreating in fear. “Is this person a ghost?”
Soon, the gloomy wind stopped, and the dark clouds gradually dispersed, everything becoming calm. The cold moon shone down, casting a pale light on this young figure.
The strange silver hair was exposed from the darkness, the high bridge of the nose, and the cold jawline.
…And the faint smile at the corner of his mouth.
As he approached, people saw that this person was actually holding a bloody heart in one hand.
That heart was strangely still beating! Drops of blood dripped from his hand to the ground, drawing a grim red line.
“Ah!”
Many people gasped, even more terrified as they retreated. Some desperate parents were consumed by anger and hatred, clenching their fists and wanting to rush forward to question him.
“Who are you?! Did you kill my child?!”
“Ghost, you must be a ghost! You’re definitely a ghost!”
But the next moment, someone exclaimed in joy, “Look! The students are coming out!!!”
Behind this figure, a large group of students were cautiously supporting each other as they walked out of the teaching building and dormitory.
The parents couldn’t hold back anymore and ran towards the school gate, shouting the names of their children, embracing them tightly when they found them.
The students, held by their parents, cried and looked fearfully towards the person who had already walked out of the school gate.
A parent asked, “Who is that? Is he also a student at our school?”
The students swallowed nervously and whispered, “He’s a student at our school. His name seems to be… Fu Xuezhou.”
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