Zhou Nan's Request

Qin Luming put down the entrenching tool. If Ma Shilong were still human, Qin Luming wouldn't attack him.

If Ma Shilong wasn't human, but some kind of monster, the entrenching tool would be useless.

"Follow me."

Ma Shilong glanced again at Che Yun, her face haggard, in the center of the distant camp, then said to Qin Luming.

Watching Ma Shilong walk towards a secluded, deserted area, Qin Luming hesitated. He cautiously rubbed his arms, awakening the power of Zuozuo and Caicai, before following Ma Shilong's footsteps.

Walking down the mountain for over a hundred meters, they could see the reserve team camped at the foot of the mountain in the distance. Lights were blazing there, and soon reinforcements called by Fang Datong would arrive.

Ma Shilong stood on a rock, a sense of looking out at the world with a desolate heart. His Givenchy long-sleeved shirt, Gucci silk trousers, and Nike Air Jordans – like many overweight individuals who lacked a sense of style – were a trendy brand ensemble.

The first time Qin Luming saw Ma Shilong, he was wearing the exact same outfit. Qin Luming sized up Ma Shilong's back, remaining vigilant.

"We meet again," Ma Shilong's voice held a sigh in the night wind, his tone trembling slightly with a lingering echo.

"It's good you're not dead," Qin Luming replied. So many things were unexpected chain reactions... If only Ma Shilong had known back then that abandoning My Wife is the Empress of the Zhou Kingdom would attract Zhou Nan, he might not have dared to abandon it.

"I didn't die, I was just reborn," Ma Shilong turned to face Qin Luming, a strange smile on his face. "I never thought rebirth was actually a thing."

"You were reborn as yourself?" Qin Luming also found it bizarre. "What kind of rebirth is that... At most, you were just knocked out and woke up again."

"No."

"Hmm?"

"The day I met you, I really did die. Then, when I woke up... I was reborn as a pig. That Big Black Pig you met these past few days... yeah, that was me." Ma Shilong let out a long breath and patted his chest. "Ah, life has been too comfortable lately. I've put on weight again, and these clothes are starting to feel tight."

"Wait... Brother Ma, that pig was really you? I thought I felt a strange sense of familiarity the first time I saw it?" Qin Luming felt a mix of amusement and disbelief, but he couldn't laugh out loud. After all, the victim was right in front of him, and he had turned into a pig.

"Do you think I'm unlucky, pitiful, and feel sorry for me?" Ma Shilong said with a smile.

Qin Luming quickly shook his head, trying to spare Ma Shilong's feelings.

"Actually, I think being a pig is quite good. Even if I had the chance to become human again now, I wouldn't accept it," Ma Shilong said earnestly.

Qin Luming was stunned. Brother, has your brain turned into a pig's brain too? Well, he had turned into a pig entirely, so his brain would naturally be a pig's brain.

"I know this is incredible to you humans... but when I actually became a pig, my way of thinking changed too. I started to see the world from a pig's perspective," Ma Shilong looked at Qin Luming with understanding, as if he were narrating his own novel. "I walked through the grasslands, feeling the juicy sweetness of the tender shoots. I ran in shallow rivers, playing with the fish. I rolled in the mud, feeling utterly refreshed. I ran under the setting sun, often remembering how decadent my posture was when I stayed at home. I got along well with the animals in the forest, harmonizing with them in spirit and language. I chewed on fresh fruit, fertilizing the trees with my own excrement..."

"Hold on, hold on... Brother Ma." Even Qin Luming, who had an incredibly high tolerance for abnormal events, felt a shock run through his body hearing Ma Shilong describe his life as a pig. He was so stunned he could barely stand.

Ma Shilong looked at Qin Luming with a gentle smile, making Qin Luming feel like a sage who had suddenly attained enlightenment was looking at the foolish Qin Luming, still wandering lost.

You just turned into a pig, damn it. Don't act like you've become a Buddha! Qin Luming shook his head, rejecting Ma Shilong's attempt to enlighten him.

Qin Luming now realized that when Ma Shilong, in his pig form, had asked Qin Luming to become a pig too, it wasn't out of great malice, but because he genuinely felt being a pig was wonderful.

"When I became a pig, my perspective changed, my thinking changed, my values changed, even my aesthetic sense changed... I was no longer interested in human women... but then..."

"Brother Ma, please, stop talking." Qin Luming knew what he was going to say and simply couldn't bear to hear it anymore.

"Don't you want to experience it?" Ma Shilong said with some regret. After all, he had been human once, so he had a desire to confide in humans. But now that he had spoken, Ma Shilong felt he had no other regrets.

"No, absolutely not, never, not even if I die." He said the important things three times, but for something this serious, Qin Luming had to say it four times, stepping back a few paces.

"Alright, considering you specifically came to my house that day to warn me, I won't force you to become my kind." Ma Shilong nodded with some pride. Humans were always so foolish, thinking themselves superior to other species and looking down on other races.

"Brother Ma, I have a question. I don't know if I should ask."

"Generally, if you don't know if you should ask, don't ask. But go ahead and ask."

"How did you turn into a pig? Was it Zhou Nan?" Qin Luming asked quickly. This was the best opportunity to understand Zhou Nan.

If anyone in this world understood Zhou Nan best, it should be Ma Shilong, after all, Zhou Nan was a character he had created.

"Yes, she took me to her palace and made me finish writing My Wife is the Empress of the Zhou Kingdom according to her ideas and thoughts. But I had been away for ten years; I couldn't get into the mood to write the book anymore..." Ma Shilong frowned, a pained expression on his face.

It seemed being a pig wasn't entirely without its troubles. Qin Luming saw that even as a pig, Ma Shilong couldn't escape the fate of being captured and forced to write. He gritted his teeth, suppressing a laugh.

"Why did she make you finish it?" Qin Luming didn't understand. He had very little research in this area. After all, someone like Zhou Nan, who came from a different world within a novel, wasn't someone you'd easily encounter who would cooperate with your understanding of novel characters crossing into reality.

"She wants to return to the world of the Zhou Kingdom. She believes that as long as I continue writing the novel, the passage from the real world to the Zhou Kingdom can be reconstructed in reverse, and she can go back." When it came to writing the book, Ma Shilong's frown never eased. It was clear this matter wasn't going smoothly. "I've only written a little bit so far... When I write a little that satisfies her, I can exchange it for time to turn back into a human. I'm currently using the human time I've exchanged, and after a while, I'll revert to my original form."

He considered the Big Black Pig to be his original form. Qin Luming was speechless.