Friend 1

Chang'an was never one to embellish things, and as his friend, I considered myself to have a deep understanding of his personality.

He had a stubborn side, or perhaps a contrary one. If you directly asked him to do something, he might comply. But if you strictly forbade him from doing something, he might develop a rebellious streak and insist on doing the forbidden thing, making a big show of it as if afraid no one would know.

So I knew very well that if I suddenly distanced myself from him without a word, or told him we were breaking off our friendship right here, he definitely wouldn't accept it. Not only that, but he might even pester me every day. That was something I didn't want to see. I didn't want the misfortune that Maza had spread to me to spread to him.

I already had a concrete plan in mind for distancing myself from Chang'an and other normal relationships. This distancing wouldn't be sudden, but gradual.

It's just that I had already prepared my words, but the moment I saw Chang'an's face, I suddenly didn't know what to say. The carefully crafted speech vanished into thin air.

I could only try to regain my composure.

Perhaps these were all excuses. I just wanted to talk more with my good friend during our last moments together. Anything was fine.

Chang'an sat with me at the long table in the fried chicken shop. He smiled and loosened his collar, then started talking about his recent days. "I was at the military hospital all this time. The food there was healthy, sure, but it was terrible to eat. And no one was there to talk to me. My mom couldn't speak either."

I dryly interjected, "How is Auntie doing now?"

"Same as always, lying in bed, unresponsive," he said.

Chang'an and Zhu Shi's mother was in a vegetative state. According to Chang'an, one day she mysteriously fell into a coma and never regained consciousness. Although medical examinations showed all her vital signs were healthy, she just wouldn't wake up. If it weren't for her continued bodily functions, she could essentially be considered a corpse.

Chang'an naturally couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried, but Zhu Shi definitely knew, and I understood now as well.

This was "Soul Deprivation Syndrome."

The source of transmission was unknown, the method of transmission was unknown, the treatment was unknown... It wasn't even a condition that fit the definition of a normal medical illness, but rather more like a curse caused by something abnormal. Those afflicted had lost their souls, an abnormal phenomenon spreading worldwide.

Maza was the only person in the world to have woken up from it, which was the fundamental reason Luoshan searched the entire country for her.

If Maza was truly a transmigrator from the apocalypse, then by all logic, her awakening would have nothing to do with Soul Deprivation Syndrome. Studying her wouldn't yield any results, let alone help Chang'an's mother.

But I had other ideas. Why did she happen to transmigrate into someone with Soul Deprivation Syndrome, and into a body that was almost identical to her original one? Was her transmigration truly unrelated to Soul Deprivation Syndrome?

From my perspective, if she refused to maintain our relationship, I would have no choice but to imprison her, hiding her where no one could reach her. Conversely, as long as I could maintain our relationship and she was willing, it wouldn't be impossible for Luoshan to find a cure for Soul Deprivation Syndrome through her. This would undoubtedly be something Chang'an would be happy to see.

However, there was a crucial issue here: the way certain factions within Luoshan disregarded Maza's basic rights during their search for her made me subtly sense something wasn't right. I didn't have the right to accuse them of disregarding others' basic rights, but that didn't stop me from being wary and cautious of people who acted in such a manner.

Chang'an continued to grumble, "My sister, on the other hand, she visits Mom often. But when I go, she disappears, leaving me to face it alone. Isn't that strange?"

I knew Zhu Shi was busy with the Fallen Demon Hunter incident at the time, and I couldn't tell Chang'an about it, so I replied perfunctorily, "Maybe you misbehaved, and she dislikes you."

He ignored me, only sighing, "She was such a cute girl who loved music when she was little, and she liked playing her guitar. Look, she's still carrying a guitar case around now, probably playing in a band somewhere. But ever since she changed her name a few years ago, she's been strangely cold towards me..."

Now, Zhu Shi's guitar case might not contain a guitar; it probably held the sword she showed me last time.

As I thought this, I noticed a key piece of information in Chang'an's words: "Changed her name?"

Chang'an had mentioned something similar to me before, but at the time, I didn't know Zhu Shi's true identity, and I wasn't particularly interested in her, so I had missed that topic.

"Yes, isn't her name Zhu Shi now? Don't you think that name doesn't sound very feminine?" Chang'an asked.

"Zhu Shi sounds quite neutral, but it's not that uncommon to give a neutral name to a girl."

"Let me tell you, this 'Shi' isn't the 'Shi' from 'pick up,' but the 'Shi' from the capital letter 'ten'," Chang'an gave me an unexpected answer. "Our Zhu family has some strange traditions. For some reason, we always give our descendants numerical names. For example, my mother's name is Zhu Jiu, and before her was Zhu Ba, Zhu Qi, Zhu Lu..."

That was quite a mysterious tradition.

The Zhu family was a local hidden wealthy family, and I had never associated them with the abnormal before.

Before, seeing Zhu Shi hide the fact that she was a Demon Hunter from Chang'an, I thought she was a lone Demon Hunter whose family was unaware. Now, could it be that the Zhu family itself had some secrets, but Chang'an was simply unaware?

"What if there were other siblings?" I asked.

"Generally, we first give all the children non-numerical names, and after selecting an heir, we change that heir's name individually," he said. "For example, my sister used to be called Zhu Jiuxing. After she started junior high, she began to be called Zhu Shi."

"Your name is Chang'an, and hers is Jiuxing. They do sound like siblings' names," I commented.

"Although we're not biological siblings," he said mournfully. "As you know, I'm just the illegitimate son my scummy dad had with another woman outside. And the one lying in the hospital now isn't my biological mother. Although in my heart, she is my real mother, and she's been very good to me, but..."

"Is this why you haven't been visiting Auntie?"

"I know I'm being difficult, but... do you think Zhu Shi is distancing herself from me because of this too?" he asked hollowly. "Is my dad not coming to see me because of this too...?"

He always put on a carefree facade in front of others, but now he showed a vulnerable side to me.

Because he was my friend, I had inquired about it before. His father was a high-ranking official in the official forces, and he had been missing for many years.

It wasn't that Chang'an's father had died somewhere, but rather that he seemed to be engaged in secret activities that were inconvenient to disclose publicly. Perhaps it was related to some classified government projects. His official position in the government remained, but he was not present at his post. And it seemed he was also secretly keeping an eye on Chang'an; whenever Chang'an did something that required him to clean up the mess, he would specifically send people to handle it.

He was a son-in-law who had married into the Zhu family, and his position was inherently precarious. As his illegitimate son, Chang'an naturally didn't feel normal family warmth in the Zhu household. I had suspected before that Chang'an's constant troublemaking outside, apart from venting his negative emotions, might also have been a motive to attract his father's attention.

"He's probably caring for you in his own way, but due to work reasons, it's inconvenient for him to show himself publicly," I comforted him.

"I hope so," he said, quickly ending the topic and turning his attention to something else. "By the way, Acheng, about that cave... the cave in the Fifteenth Floor room, do you remember it?"

"Of course, I remember."

"I actually... have some regrets. I didn't become interested in abnormal things after meeting you. I always wanted to prove the existence of abnormal things before. But... I ran away from that cave. I didn't even dare to go inside." He gritted his teeth. "I've been having nightmares for the past two days, dreaming of a giant hand reaching out from the cave and dragging me into the dark depths below. Then the entrance disappeared, and I couldn't find a way out... I feel like instead of living in constant fear, it's better to..."

As he trailed off, he suddenly became dejected and mocked himself, "I'm sorry... What nonsense am I spouting? Just forget what I said. It's too crazy no matter how you think about it..."

"I'm sorry, you might be disappointed to hear the next piece of news," I said. "Regarding the cave you mentioned, it won't appear again."

"...Huh?" He widened his eyes. "What!"

"Actually, I asked you out to tell you this," I said with determination. "I've already explored that cave. Due to some circumstances that are inconvenient to explain, the cave has now completely disappeared."

"Wait! Don't just gloss over it. What kind of circumstances are inconvenient to explain?" he pressed.

I took a breath, my resolve hardening, and began to weave my lie: "The problem isn't there, it's after."

He stared at me. "After?"

"Perhaps I was cursed by that cave. The reason I can't tell you the whole story is because I don't know if the information I share might harm you. You should know this, right? Just knowing about abnormalities can be dangerous." I adopted a serious tone.

"Ah, um, some new ghost stories have that kind of setup, like memes and stuff..." He nodded, half understanding at first, then his eyes widened in shock. "So you're entangled with something like that!?"

"Yes. Just telling you over the phone might lack a sense of reality, so I'm telling you face-to-face now." I said solemnly, "It's probably best if we don't keep in contact for a while after this."