“BA……”
Caught completely off guard by this brutally realistic news, the two of them fell into a sudden silence.
Speaking of money, Qu Fengyin, who had always been unable to shake his preoccupation with wealth, couldn’t help but ask enviously, “How is your county so rich like this?”
Xiao Liu puffed out his cheeks, sincerely blinking his big eyes: “I’m not the County Magistrate, you know.”
The implication was that even he didn’t know.
“Oh, that’s true,” Qu Fengyin murmured.
Xiao Liu tapped the fan into his palm and smiled, “Brother Qu, now that we’ve spoken frankly and you’ve explained your identity to me, I’ll be straightforward too.”
“The Jin Yi Wei’s mission is to exterminate demons and evil spirits, but look at my tiny little county town — where exactly is there any rampant evil to warrant the presence of a top-tier Jin Yi Wei like you?”
He gestured at Qu Fengyin with the folding fan, then flipped it open in his other hand. “This is something I just can’t figure out.”
Qu Fengyin was equally puzzled. Tentatively, he asked, “Well, just looking around, it’s obvious something’s off.”
Which county town had every single person looking exactly the same? Even a fool could see the problem.
Xiao Liu frowned. “How do you figure?”
Qu Fengyin frowned in return. “Just by looking. That’s all.”
The two stared blankly at each other for a moment before the child suddenly burst out laughing.
Qu Fengyin flailed his arms trying to explain, while Xiao Liu propped his chin on his hand, his youthful face full of amusement.
Speaking of explanation, that word was like a key unlocking the gates of memory for Qu Fengyin, who couldn’t help but recall his entire exploration of the county town.
As a Jin Yi Wei, one of Qu Fengyin’s occupational habits was to memorize every place he passed, even down to the smallest details in the scene.
His head began to throb in pulses as vivid memories surged uncontrollably like a tide.
He and his subordinate Jin Yi Wei had been staking out outside the town, waiting for three days and nights without seeing anyone enter. One subordinate suggested they couldn’t delay any longer.
Time was critical; this matter was urgent.
They decided to forcibly infiltrate the county town, splitting into two groups: one scaling the city wall from above, the other entering through the gate with official credentials.
Qu Fengyin led a B-Rank subordinate up the wall at dawn, sneaking into the town. But no sooner had they climbed over the wall than they were discovered.
The Black-Clad Constables appeared like ghosts from nowhere. The B-Rank subordinate was caught off guard and immediately ensnared.
The lasso in the Constables’ hands seemed to be a weapon forged by Enchanters. Once fully looped around a target, escape was impossible.
Qu Fengyin wanted to rescue his subordinate, but the Constables, relying on their numbers, surrounded and battered him.
His Changou spear was designed to strike ghosts, but the Constables’ souls were tightly bound to their bodies, solid as stone. Qu Fengyin’s repeated attempts all ended in failure.
Watching his subordinate dragged away, he suddenly fainted, utterly powerless to fight.
Qu Fengyin had no choice but to flee, relying on his speed and sharp senses to evade the Black-Clad Constables all the way until he was cornered in a study pavilion—where he met Xiao Liu.
They went to a food stall for lunch, feasting on lavish dishes.
Wait.
Qu Fengyin’s face stiffened in his memories.
He grasped the child’s hand as they ran through fragmented recollections.
Countless faces appeared in his mind.
Qu Fengyin looked around in disbelief.
People on the street, diners in the food stall, scholars in the Scripture House.
All sounds were completely stripped away.
They seemed to notice Qu Fengyin’s gaze. At some unknown moment, they all turned their heads.
Their pitch-black eyes stared unblinking at him.
Goosebumps rose all over Qu Fengyin’s body; waves of pain throbbed through his head as memories blurred.
Everything before his eyes began to melt; fragments of colors swirled and mixed.
Only those identical pairs of eyes hung high on the infinite wall, staring at him relentlessly.
Chaos engulfed everything.
Qu Fengyin lowered his head; his own hands were dissolving like a snowman in the sunlight.
Would his eyes eventually hang on that wall too?
“Qu Fengyin?”
He looked up dazedly and saw the pure white child frowning at him.
He instinctively tried to force a smile.
But his face was already stiffened. After trying for a long time, he gave up.
Come to think of it, what did he originally look like?
He remembered the Guoshi had told him that the first thing in learning to change one’s face was to remember one’s own.
What had his handsome face looked like?
Xiao Liu pressed his lips together, took a few steps back.
Qu Fengyin was rambling about his mental journey when suddenly he started spewing gibberish.
Xiao Liu tried to understand, but it made no sense at all.
***
The child glanced quietly at the incense burner burning near the wall.
Could it be that the Truth Serum was mixed with some kind of juice? Did he accidentally add it while preparing it?
Qu Fengyin had become strange, the poor Jin Yi Wei stiff as a dried corpse, motionless for a long while.
His eyes were completely lifeless.
Xiao Liu sighed softly, forced to face reality.
Qu Fengyin hadn’t been like this originally. He’d once been vibrant, lively, like a silly dog sticking out its tongue, full of life.
This was the first time in his life he’d seen someone like this.
Xiao Liu always couldn’t resist teasing him, curious how far the poor man could fall.
It had only been a day, after all.
Xiao Liu had hoped he could hold out longer with his dull head.
After all, playing with him had been fun.
But unfortunately, this was probably the limit. His transformation was so sudden.
Xiao Liu had seen many newcomers to the county town quickly become nothing more than background figures in the crowd.
They lacked desire, lacked motivation, lacked the power to choose, and had no room for thought.
They wandered endlessly within a fixed program; once any bug appeared, they would just keep repeating “error” like a broken record or blindly follow the flawed bug.
Just like him—a little liar who managed to fool everyone in this town with his lies.
This was a Peach Blossom Land that only took in fools.
Tomorrow, who knew how many more walking corpses would appear?
But Xiao Liu was face-blind; if he accidentally lied about someone, that was just bad luck.
If he could recognize them, he’d repent, taking it as payment for the joy Qu Fengyin had brought him that day.
Xiao Liu reached out and picked up Ling Lingqi, helplessly tapping the origami bird’s head.
“With a strong-willed agent like Ling Lingqi and a weak little toy like me, life’s going back to boring again.”
The child hugged the origami bird, hands tucked into his sleeves.
“In the end, only you’re with me.”
The carefully crafted script had lost its audience; Xiao Liu, the director, could only exit regretfully.
Behind him, Qu Fengyin emitted a painful groan, mixed with the scratchy sound of nails clawing flesh, sending chills down the spine.
Xiao Liu ignored it, stepping forward calmly, about to open the door.
“Pft~”
A sudden sound of coughing up blood came from behind, followed by frantic coughing: “Xiao Liu… cough cough cough — This place is wrong! It’s dangerous! If you stay, you’ll die for sure!”
Shock flickered across the child’s cold face.
He spun around sharply to see Qu Fengyin writhing on the ground, struggling to lift his head, revealing a simple, honest face.
Square jaw, thick eyebrows, large eyes—nothing elegant or refined about him. If anything, he looked like an honest man.
His face flushed deeply, as if slapped multiple times.
Xiao Liu’s mouth twitched into a grin, his eyes shining brightly.
“Brother Qu! I told you I’m rooting for you!”
***
【Age 7: Your Bansheng Talent is activating.】
Qu Fengyin staggered to his feet, anxiously repeating, “This place is dangerous, this place is too dangerous, there’s a breach here, there must be a breach.”
Could he not tell if a place was dangerous or not? Look at how incoherent he sounded.
You smirked, watching him gesticulate wildly.
When he calmed down a bit, you asked again, “So, how do you plan to exterminate evil spirits here?”
Qu Fengyin frowned deeply, pondering for a long time—long enough that you almost thought he was about to fall asleep.
He lifted his head, his face flushed: “Can you help me? The Jin Yi Wei can’t handle this here; I need to bring back more intelligence and ask Fomen to intervene.”
You raised an eyebrow. “Help you? Are you sure we’re on the same side?”
“I cannot lie.”
Qu Fengyin said resolutely, “I can feel that you want to leave. I’ll help you—I will definitely get you out.”
He rambled on about the outside world, expressing much of his inner thoughts.
You snorted. Although you found this place dull and spent your days looking for fun, his clumsy words weren’t enough to convince you to act.
You’d lived here a long time; it wasn’t surprising you’d come to regard this place as home.
Seeing you still silent, Qu Fengyin anxiously scratched at his head, throwing out every good and bad argument, even threatening to die for it.
By now, he had completely forgotten that he’d been tricked before—he’d come to regard you as a lost problem child on the path of life.
How could the Guoshi have entrusted such a fool?
You couldn’t help but feel a flicker of curiosity.
But as the old saying goes, speak of the devil.
Suddenly, Qu Fengyin shouted, as if remembering something.
He pulled out a crumpled letter from somewhere.
Eagerly, he handed it over, urging, “Almost forgot this. It’s a Jin’nang Miaoji from the Guoshi—it will definitely convince you to act!”
You smiled wryly. Whose Jin’nang Miaoji was given to the enemy?
But you still opened the letter.
At first glance, you let out a “Huh”—such ugly handwriting.
You forced yourself to read on; your smile suddenly froze.
—Yan You, do you want to know the truth of the world? I’m waiting for you in the Imperial Capital! Come find me! I will tell you everything!
—Shen Cuo
Yan You, this is the secret name you gave yourself.