He Had Prayed for a Heavy Snowfall

Upon hearing this, Xu Wan was somewhat dissatisfied. She played with her long, beautiful fingers, her curled eyelashes trembling slightly. "Shouldn't Little Xing catch up with her mother first?"

"Mom, don't worry, there's a long road ahead. I'll take my brother to his room. If you're tired, go back and rest too." Fang Xiao certainly had the air of someone in charge, at least in terms of authority.

He glanced at Xu Wan with his dark eyes, Xu Wan said nothing more, only lingering on Yu Xing with a greedy look.

Ignoring Yu Xing's disapproving gaze, Xu Wan said, "Mom's going back to her room now. Come find me after you're done talking to your brother~ It's been so long, Mom has so much to say to you, and I also have a gift for you."

"What do you mean 'there's still a long way to go'? Do you think you can't understand what I'm saying? I just happened to be passing by and stopped by; this decision was definitely a mistake." Yu Xing sneered, "Do you know what you look like right now?"

Fang Xiao asked leisurely, "What does it look like?"

"Bandit." Yu Xing couldn't help but scoff. "After all these years, you still act like a bandit."

"I don't want to stay here for another second. Let go, I want to leave."

Fang Xiao smiled and lifted his hand, "Little brother, your strength is still as weak as when you were a child. If I were really like the bandit you described, I would never let go. Be good, talk to me for a while, don't make such an impulsive decision."

Medusa and Yan Li's presence was completely ignored by this family. Yan Li was listening to Medusa whisper in his ear, "Yu Xing's acting is really convincing. I heard he used to pretend to be sickly all the time? He's really experienced."

He hesitated whether to reply, then saw Yu Xing turn her head and wink at him.

Yan Li immediately stood up and went over to stand between Yu Xing and Fang Xiao.

Yu Xing, who deliberately restrained his aura, Yan Li exuded a powerful presence. He coldly said, "Let him go. Didn't you see his wrists are all red?"

Medusa sat there, her hands supporting her chin, stirring up trouble. "Before I came with Little Xing, he told me that his family treated him very badly, and seeing him today, it's true. I'm telling you, if you hate Little Xing, just let him go already! What's with you dragging him along?"

"I almost forgot, we have two more guests." Fang Xiao smiled faintly. "It's truly my fault for neglecting you two distinguished guests. There aren't many people in our household right now, so please have the two of you rest in the guest room with Grandpa Gardener."

"How can you be so unreasonable?" Medusa's face fell. "Little Xing ~ Do you want Yan Li to beat up your brother?"

He's just an ordinary man, do you think you can force the three of them to stay? A beating would be enough to get rid of him—that was roughly the message she was conveying, which made the darkness in Fang Xiao's eyes even more sinister.

Yu Xing seemed to have gotten impatient and immediately agreed, "Okay..."

Yan Li looked ready to make a move.

Fang Xiao suddenly pulled Yu Xing's arm, shielding him in front of her, and half-clutched his neck like a hostage. "Shh... little brother, you're still in a state of excitement. Some things you should do after you've calmed down, so you won't regret it."

The voice rang right next to Yu Xing's ear, and with just that one sentence, all three strategists present felt a sense of disorientation.

Inducement.

Medusa was very familiar with this, and she was the first to realize that the statement had a strong persuasive power, and a very strong impact at that. Although it could not affect long-term cognition, it was too easy to change a person's thoughts in a short period of time.

Of course, this level of manipulation wouldn't be enough to deal with the three of them. She knew very well that even if this kind of inducement was targeted at Yu Xing, and the voice was closer to Yu Xing, it still wouldn't affect Yu Xing's thinking ability.

If Yu Xing reacts correctly, they can conveniently stay at the Fang Mansion and split into two groups to investigate.

Everything that is happening right now, including Fang Xiao's potential abilities and reactions, is all part of their planned scheme.

She only realized at this moment that Fang Xiao's abilities were of the same origin as hers, which made her think of a question—precisely because she understood the source of this ability better, she was particularly certain that her abilities did not include any elements related to time.

That creature with a human body and a snake tail is definitely related to the anomalies in Nanshui Town, but besides that, all the time anomalies in Nanshui Town must also be due to another entity maintaining them, plus the indescribable feeling that the Doctor gave off...

This town alone has at least three extremely high-level powers existing simultaneously!

As Medusa pondered to herself, Yan Li deliberately stopped what seemed like a fight, clutching his forehead in pain.

Yu Xing's reaction was even more pronounced. He had been struggling to break free from Fang Xiao's grasp, but after Fang Xiao finished speaking, he suddenly trembled and gripped Fang Xiao's sleeve tightly with both hands.

"Don't worry, little brother, I promise I won't bully you this time. I'll treat you very well. Your friends are really tired. Look at them, they seem very sleepy." Fang Xiao spoke in his voice, which was tinged with a twisted mental tone. From a certain angle, his dark eyes seemed to be covered with black snake scales.

Yu Xing seemed to be swayed by him, looking blankly at the two friends she had brought, her hands gradually losing strength.

Yan Li Medusa also seemed to be confused, as if they were trying their best to think about something but couldn't, and stood there blankly.

"Go back to your respective rooms, it's better for everyone this way." Fang Xiao, no longer noticing Yu Xing's struggle, slowly released her hand.

Yu Xing unconsciously repeated, "Back to the room..."

Fang Xiao's smile widened, and he once again ordered the old gardener standing to the side, "Grandpa Gardener, take the guest to the guest room."

Seeing the old gardener silently lead the two of them, one in each hand, towards the guest rooms, Fang Xiao also personally led Yu Xing away.

As he said, he wanted to take his younger brother back to the room they lived in when they were children. Since his brother left, only one of the two beds in the room remained, which was where he had lived since he was a child.

After getting married, he and Mingzhu didn't specially prepare a new house to live in together. Instead, the wedding room that had been decorated for the wedding was used as Mingzhu's own room, and he still had his own space.

When he took her away, Yu Xing extremely quiet, as if she had lost the ability to think due to the shock, much like a doll.

While feigning emptiness, Yu Xing was actually memorizing the route and pondering something in her mind.

He discovered that the ability Fang Xiao used was very similar to the ability Zhang Yu had described to the Doctor —both used certain words to achieve their goals.

Does this mean that Qianjie and [she] have overlapping abilities?

No, upon closer inspection, it's still different.

[She] is indescribable, and is most adept at breaking a person's preconceived notions, filling their mind with all sorts of mysterious, unseen knowledge or images, making it unbearable for them, until they go mad or die. The more they know, the easier it is for them to become a monster; this is exactly what is being described.

Because the knowledge within [her] system is truly sufficient to alter human bodily functions, and consciousness can influence reality.

The Doctor at the time also used some kind of indoctrination to make Zhang Yu do what Doctor wanted him to do while he was in a daze.

Qianjie is different. Her ability is to use people's preconceived notions to subtly transform them while they are still aware of their true selves through distortion, suggestion, and alteration.

If we had to use the simplest way to distinguish them, the former creates madmen, and the latter creates amnesia. The abilities of these types cannot be divided into strength or weakness; each one is terrifying.

As they approached Fang Xiao's room, Yu Xing began to wonder which domain her tongue belonged to.

It can both resonate with the curse power of the Ghost Tree to produce branches of another dimension, and also has some effects of words becoming law. It seems to be a bit of a mix. It is precisely because the ability extends to several different aspects that it is the most difficult to find the essence.

I can't think of anything right now.

Yu Xing's thoughts came to a temporary halt as Fang Xiao led him into the room, closed the door, and it was time for him to snap out of his daze.

Fang family son, who suddenly came to his senses, was naturally half angry and half terrified. Yu Xing cursed a couple of times with a gloomy face, but after seeing Fang Xiao's unmoved attitude, he became somewhat afraid.

Why did I just...?

He wanted to test how much the Fang family, who lived in this courtyard, actually knew about everything that was happening in town.

Fang Xiao gestured for him to sit down. "There are some things you haven't encountered yet, but once you reintegrate into the family, you'll naturally learn everything."

"..." Yu Xing still refused, "I won't stay here."

"Haha, I thought my brother would be too scared to argue with me after what just happened."

There was a pot of tea on the table in the room. The teapot and teacups were a complete set, and judging from their craftsmanship, they seemed to be antiques that had been passed down through generations.

When Fang Xiao poured tea for Yu Xing, his every move exuded the air of a well-bred scion of a prominent family. Unfortunately, after pouring the tea, he took a sip first, and the way he gulped it down revealed the ruthless nature deep within him.

"It seems that during your time traveling outside, my brother has accumulated quite a bit of experience encountering strange and unusual things. Just like you told me in your letter, you gained a lot of knowledge in those desolate little villages and cemeteries."

Fang Xiao looked at Yu Xing: "Drink."

Yu Xing knew that the tea and food here were the same as in town, which should increase the degree of cognitive distortion. However, his tongue was just a transit point. Even though the food at the Fang Mansion was much more potent than that in town, he could still handle it.

Under Fang Xiao's watchful gaze, he slowly took two sips.

Fang Xiao's words confirmed his earlier suspicions. Sure enough, he received Fang Xiao's letter while in the sanatorium because the two had been corresponding.

In his letter, he even proactively mentioned his past experiences to Fang Xiao, saying that the so-called deserted village and cemetery were nothing more than Coffin Village and tomb palaces.

But why would he need to correspond with an older brother like that? Knowing the family's situation, why would he rush to send his information to his brother? What was his reason?

No matter how you look at it, when writing the letter, "Fang Xing" should have trusted Fang Xiao.

Thinking of this, Yu Xing composed herself, holding her teacup and speaking in a low voice, as if filled with disappointment. "... I haven't even asked you why you tricked me into coming back."

"Lie? I asked you to come home, explained the situation of your family members, and even invited you to celebrate the Snow Festival with me. Which of those was a lie?" Fang Xiao put down his teacup, rested his chin on his hand, and was able to look at Yu Xing properly without being disturbed.

His gaze meticulously recorded every detail on Yu Xing's face, his tone surprisingly gentle, a tenderness he hadn't shown outside. "Little brother, look around. This room seems familiar, doesn't it? After you left, I didn't touch a single thing in the room's furnishings. They removed your bed halfway through, but when I took charge, I moved it back."

"So, it should be exactly the same as you remember it. Looking at this, don't you ever think about the past?"

Yu Xing cooperated by looking around.

Fang Xiao said that if it's exactly the same, then it really is exactly the same. Anyway, he doesn't have any memories of this character's childhood. But upon closer inspection, he can clearly feel the exquisite furnishings of the room. In this mansion that seems to be slowly declining, this room is probably the only one that has maintained its former luxury.

Two single beds are placed side by side on one side of the screen, not far apart. Adults can sleep on them, but children would probably be more comfortable.

This is where the two children used to sleep. It's quite close to the window, no wonder the nanny, Li, was able to spy on them.

However, the Fang Xiao would take the initiative to maintain the room layout, and even keep it that way for so many years, shows that his feelings for his younger brother are definitely not as superficial as the rumors suggest.

It's true that she stole things, and it's true that her younger brother was beaten and scolded by their parents, but... when her younger brother was injured by their mother and bedridden for half a month, the gentleness Fang Xiao showed might be the true explanation for all her actions.

"I remember." Yu Xing had an idea in mind, and looked back at Fang Xiao with sorrowful eyes, "Then do you remember what you told me?"

Fang Xiao paused, her smile still on her face, "Which line?"

Following the description of the young master's experiences given by Never Forget Dwelling, Yu Xing slowly said, "You said, the more you gain, the more you have to repay."

The more you gain, the more you have to repay.

The young master, who had been badly beaten, heard his older brother say, "I'm so envious, you've already paid off your debts."

Being beaten is certainly a form of repayment, and the reason he was able to repay it all is because he never really received much in the first place.

Those things all ended up in Fang Xiao's hands.

If the Fang Mansion contained some kind of rule, then the young master was only spared from being deeply entangled in it because of Fang Xiao's protection when he was young.

On the contrary, Fang Xiao, who has taken even more, may never be able to repay his debts.

Yu Xing felt that this situation was somewhat similar to what was happening now.

The more he eats and drinks at the Fang Mansion, the more pronounced his cognitive distortion will become. There may be other factors as well, such as his increased interaction with the Fang family and his acceptance of Fang family warmth and goodwill. If he relaxes even for a moment, it will certainly increase the degree of his cognitive distortion.

What if this is a rule that has existed since they were children?

Fang Xiao has shielded his younger brother from too many cognitive distortions, and given his proactive behavior, he should know this rule.

No, both children should know.

Living and eating together, Fang Xiao could clearly see his younger brother's lack of favor and suffering, as well as his brother's desire to escape home. So he sacrificed himself, using an unconventional way of protecting his brother so that his brother could escape the den of iniquity, while he himself was forever trapped there, never stepping out of Nanshui Town for the rest of his life.

Perhaps it was precisely because he was fully aware of this matter that the young master who ran away from home maintained correspondence with Fang Xiao and retained a great deal of trust in Fang Xiao.

But this kind of trust should never be given to the person sitting across from him now, who not only wants him to drink tea, but also tries to keep him in the Fang family forever.

"I didn't get much when I was little, so it's easy for me to pay it back." Yu Xing took another sip of tea. "I was able to leave thanks to you, but now you want me to come back."

Fang Xiao's smile faded slightly.

"When did things start to change, brother?" Yu Xing. "Was it when you sent me the last letter?"

He used the pieced-together information as leverage, throwing it out bit by bit. "The handwriting in that letter doesn't look like yours; it's as if you've forgotten how to write as a human being. In that letter, you mentioned for the first time that Mom missed me and wanted to relay what she wanted to say to me..."

"You told others about our contact before you wrote that letter, didn't you?"

To go from a truster to an accomplice, all it takes is for the accumulated cognitive distortions to reach their peak.

Fang Xiao has always been with the Fang family; there's no escaping him.

His twisted nature may never have stopped growing, but as long as there was room, he continued to resist. Judging from Fang Xiao's abilities in his youth, he should have grown into a very powerful person. In fact, "powerful" is not enough to describe him. He kept getting, getting, and getting, persisting for so many years, protecting the last tacit understanding between him and his younger brother.

Then, at some unknown moment, the original Fang Xiao couldn't hold on any longer.

In an instant, the scales of emotion tipped. He had once sided with his younger brother, but now he sided with the Fang family —the entire Fang family now belonged to him.

"Little brother, so you knew." Seeing Yu Xing's expression, Fang Xiao couldn't help but reach out, as if he wanted to touch the head of the pained child, just like the only time he dared to show tenderness directly when they were children.

His hand finally followed his instincts and landed on Yu Xing's head, ruffling it gently, but his expression held a hint of danger. "Since you know that the person who wrote the letter has changed, why did you still come back?"

Yu Xing looked up.

Fang Xiao looked at him, his dark eyes seemingly waiting for him to give a convincing answer.

"I wanted to come back and see you." Yu Xing closed her eyes. "I wanted to see what you've become, brother. I still have a sliver of hope, a hope that you haven't lost yourself."

"There's nothing in this home that I'd ever want to stay for, except for you." In this situation, he didn't mention the old gardener, lest he bring misfortune upon the old gardener.

"I originally planned to come back and take one last look. If you've become like them, I'll run away and never come back. So I brought two friends with me. They're both pretty good fighters, and I thought they could protect me."

Yu Xing gave a wry smile and downed the tea in her cup in one gulp, "But I never expected you to possess an ability that I can't understand."

"I'm so sorry, little brother." Fang Xiao was convinced by this flawless explanation. The probing look in his eyes disappeared, replaced by a composed confidence. "I used to scoff at Fang Deming's beliefs. I pretended to be obedient so that one day I could take everything he had and no longer be under his control."

"But now, perhaps as you say, I have changed, and I have accepted Fang Deming's beliefs, but I still want to replace him. That old man will only have a painful end, while the beliefs he upheld will be carried forward in my hands."

"When I truly felt that everything was so wonderful, I really felt liberated. I realized that as long as I stopped resisting, I could gain so much more."

A hint of fanaticism finally appeared on his face. Yu Xing, who was still seemingly trapped in her grief, was actually jolted awake, realizing that the "faith" Fang Xiao spoke of was the key to everything that had happened in Nanshui Town.

"Of course, I'm really glad you came back for me. My affection for you has always been genuine." Fang Xiao changed the subject. "Why not give it a try, little brother? I persisted for so long, but now I feel that this futile resistance has wasted so much of my time. I'm starting to think that I was wrong in the past. We didn't understand this noble belief, which is why we were prejudiced against it."

Why don't you try accepting it too, and see how happy you are after accepting your belief?

"Just like I promised you, as long as you come back, I'll share half of my power with you, and together we'll control this little world, undisturbed by the outside world, and we might even achieve immortality." Fang Xiao patted his younger brother's head again, seeing the struggle in his eyes, and couldn't help but feel a pang of pity.

Because he had struggled in the same way in the past, enduring pain and torment, and only after giving up did he realize how much precious time he had missed.

Yu Xing found several key words in his words.

To control one's own little world, undisturbed by the outside world, and to live forever.

Nanshui Town is a small world controlled by Fang Xiao.

However, he still didn't know the answers to some questions, so he still had to ask questions.

"I... I don't quite understand." A final glimmer of stubbornness appeared in Yu Xing's eyes. "Do you really understand what that faith is?"

"Of course," Fang Xiao said with a smile. "I once heard Fang Deming say that as time went by, the Fang Mansion had become increasingly decadent. His belief was to restore the Fang Mansion's prosperity and ensure that the Fang family would stand strong for generations to come. That's what a true aristocratic family should be—a family that is passed down through generations."

"At that time, I didn't understand why he was so persistent. I thought he just couldn't let go of the power he once had. He used to kill people at will and no one dared to say a word, but now, killing one person would get him locked up, so he didn't dare to kill anymore. He missed his former privileges and didn't want to see the world change."

"As for the Fang family, there are only a few of us left. What's the point of talking about generations to come?"

"We all know how selfish and arrogant Fang Deming is. That's why I don't agree with him."

Fang Xiao spoke calmly, as if he had already thought it through long ago.

Yu Xing didn't reply, but just listened with wide eyes.

The audience who watched this special Side Quest with him gradually became excited.

The chat was already buzzing with excitement when the trio first entered the Fang Mansion.

Medusa and Yan Li's audience witnessed the existence of various eerie ghosts in the empty Fang Mansion yesterday. Knowing that the Fang Mansion is a recognized key point, yet unable to explore it, they have been itching to find out more.

Unexpectedly, following Yu Xing brought a pleasant surprise. Not only did they enter the "real" Fang Mansion, but they also saw most of the members of the Fang Mansion.

The trio started performing, and the comments section was still buzzing with laughter.

[Why does it seem like everyone in this family has a serious illness?]

[What's with that short woman's gaze? Even though she was looking at Xing, I already felt nauseous.]

[This must be Nanny Li, right?]

[The people in the Fang Mansion are more normal than I imagined; at least they resemble human beings, and completely so...]

[Did the person upstairs not look ahead? Every single one of the people standing here is a bad person.]

[I'm referring to appearance, especially Fang Xiao. He really does look a bit like Xing, he's kind of handsome, but he definitely doesn't seem like a good guy.]

I'm rather surprised by Fang Deming, considering how strict and violent Fang Deming was described earlier. I didn't expect him to turn out like this.

[So Fang Xiao is the most cold-blooded one, right?]

[This tells us that we should treat our children well and teach them truth, goodness, and beauty, otherwise they'll pull the plug on your ventilator when you're old (just kidding)]

[I'm in awe of this 20-year-old mom, she's so beautiful!]

[Look how she Fang Deming, she can even pull off your oxygen mask (yes)]

The three of them looked as if they had been defeated by Fang Xiao's abilities. Any experienced viewer would know that it was an act, and would immediately focus their attention on evaluating their acting skills.

[To be honest, it's true that having real-life experience makes for a more convincing performance; the veteran actors have never disappointed me.]

[I've always thought that deductionists would be in high demand as actors, especially those who excel at playing murderers, psychopathic murderers, victims, psychopathic victims, corpses, and zombie corpses.]

At this moment, the audience had no idea that they would hear about the world's philosophy at the Fang Mansion.

Once inside the room, some people couldn't understand the brotherly relationship between Yu Xing's youngest son and Fang Xiao, but they could understand the immense amount of information conveyed by Fang Xiao.

[I think I understand now. This Nanshui Town is the little world that Fang Xiao mentioned he controls. But how can he control an entire town? Wait, it suddenly occurred to me that there might not be any people in this town, only evil spirits.]

Did the Fang family kill everyone in the town? It doesn't seem like it. If everyone in the town were puppets manipulated by the Fang family, Xing's identity would have been exposed long ago. The Fang family would have been able to find him the moment he stepped into Nanshui Town.

[Oh right, and yesterday they even speculated that the shops on Baibao Street also had differing stances.]

[It's only the second day, and Xing entered the Fang Mansion with almost no effort. How could he obtain such a large amount of information so easily?]

I'll say it again, it's completely unfair!

[First of all, it's not simple. Medusa made it very clear that the Fang Mansion is a place where you might enter but never leave, and even Xing had to bring Yan Li others with him so that they could leave safely.]

[But at least he had the means to obtain the information; others, even if they wanted it, had no way to do so!]

[Secondly, even if you know the world-building, so what? Do you remember what the main plot is? The main plot is to survive for seven days. We already know that the first three days are about following the tour group's itinerary, and the last four days should be about racing against that inevitable death timeline.]

[Just kidding, the Fang Mansion seems to be a real-life setting; every extra second those three stayed was a bonus...]

[Damn, this is even more unfair! This event is blatantly biased towards Yu Xing!]

[Finally, so what if it's unfair? You're playing esports and you still expect fairness? Isn't it unfair that some people die while others live? You're thinking like that red-clothed ghost, experiencing the afterlife in advance.]

[Yu Xing did have an advantage in terms of her identity, such as gaining a large amount of real-world time, but Yan Li Medusa also gained it. The difference is that the two of them are strong enough to be of help in this place, while the others are not strong enough and naturally won't be taken along.]

[Like I said, if you feel it's unfair, it's because you're too weak. Also, that clown upstairs who keeps jumping around, I don't know whose side he's on who's saying it's unfair. Does anyone in the live stream even know you?]

[Stop arguing, I don't care. Plot-driven viewers just want to hear Fang Xiao continue.]

At this moment, Fang Xiao was about to make a turning point.

As the saying goes, all the groundwork laid in the beginning is preparation for the main event later. Fang Xiao harbored resentment and hatred towards Fang Deming, but after bringing down Fang Deming, he became someone who shared the same beliefs as Fang Deming.

How exactly did that ever-increasing cognitive distortion warp his thinking?

"Later I understood: the higher I stood, the more I saw. As people marched toward freedom, the glory our family once possessed was forgotten and buried."

The younger generation looks down on the Fang family, considering us nothing more than outdated, backward, and antiquated people. City dwellers from elsewhere think we're old-fashioned and weak; they've seen a more prosperous world and therefore look down on ordinary families in small town. In their eyes, families like ours are just a joke.

"Most importantly, I've discovered that everything is beyond repair." Fang Xiao sighed with a smile.

"Brother, we were both born too late."

"If we had been born a few decades earlier, perhaps everything would have been different. But we were born at a time when we were powerless to change anything. As children, all we knew was that our home was eerie, our father was volatile and had killed countless people, our mother was paranoid Impermanence, the nanny was like a filthy, dark maggot, and the gardener only had eyes for his woodcarvings. The more we received, the more we were unable to escape Fang Deming's control. We were only concerned with our doubts and fears, but we couldn't find the reason. You left with confusion, leaving me all alone."

Do you know what I found out later?

Yu Xing stared blankly. "What?"

"In the third year after you left, I discovered that Fang Deming had written a book."

Fang Xiao smiled and said, "The book begins with a heavy snowfall."

Suddenly, a strong scent of ink wafted through the air, without warning.

Yu Xing had smelled this scent before; it was a fragrance he had vaguely recognized from the perspective of the branches at the time.

But at this moment, in this room, the smell came so suddenly, and the source could not be found.

And...

When the smell could no longer be concealed, Yu Xing's mind began to spin.

He felt as if he were walking on the sea, his mind swaying, as if he were slightly drunk and not fully awake.

Yu Xing's eyes sharpened, and the power of the curse quietly spread out, resisting the overwhelming cognitive attack.

Not long ago, he had just experienced the same ability from Medusa, a terrifying power that could even manipulate memories!

At the time, Medusa told him not to resist, so he did not actively fight back. But now, even though he used the power of the curse, his mind was gradually becoming muddled.

He certainly has many trump cards that could stop this situation from continuing, but the feeling at this moment means that the scent of ink likely represents the most fundamental thing in the Nanshui Town simulation.

That is, the truth that everyone wants to find.

Therefore, he cannot completely stop it; he needs to let the dangerous yet precious information enter his mind amidst the chaos.

However, one cannot completely let things slide. The strength of a powerful person lies in their methods, not in their invincibility through doing nothing. He has ways to resist this feeling, but that doesn't mean he can maintain his sanity even if he doesn't resist.

This distorted perception of his social status was a serious threat to him, a far cry from the minor threats he faced in the townspeople's homes.

Yu Xing is searching for a balance between the two, to keep herself somewhat clear-headed.

Fang Xiao saw him looking lost in thought. He could smell the ink in the air, but he was already used to it.

He leaned closer to Yu Xing and whispered, "It's a very interesting story. If I tell it to you now, you'll get a glimpse of the truth."

"But you have to pay the price for getting to this truth yourself. Your brother can no longer... nor can he bear anything for you. You may end up owing more and more until you can't pay it back, just like me."

"Little brother, do you want to hear it?"

Yu Xing suspected that even if he said he didn't want to listen now, the other person would still tell him the story. After all, Fang Xiao had insisted that he come to this room to chat, just for this moment.

He might as well feign harmlessness and compromise. "I... think."

Fang Xiao was clearly delighted to receive this answer. In any case, the fact that his younger brother was about to join his side was something that would make him happy for a long time.

He didn't believe his younger brother had any right to run away from the Fang family after learning the truth.

The man touched the scar on the bridge of his nose and spoke in a calm tone, as if telling a story to a child, "The story begins with a blanket of white snow. An unprecedented snowstorm engulfed the innocent town, leaving it isolated and helpless in that turbulent era."

Yu Xing felt Fang Xiao's voice fading into the distance, and he seemed to hear the rustling of pages turning in his ears. A story being written was slowly unfolding before him.

Tourists passing through this small town called Nanshui Town often feel that the town is not very developed.

The town's unremarkable size, simple buildings, and meager resources are all readily apparent. This leads them to merely smile dismissively and treat the locals' tales of Nanshui Town's past glory as a joke when told of its former prosperity.

Historically, Nanshui Town was indeed prosperous because it had a port, but what does that past glory have to do with its current decline?

Tourists look down on the way locals treat the past like a treasure, and often deliberately ask, "Do you still have any proof of your past prosperity?"

The locals would hesitate for a moment, then point to the north of the town and say that there was a mansion there, inhabited by a family surnamed Fang, whose ancestors had made great military achievements and possessed boundless honors.

Times have changed, everything has changed, but that mansion has remained unchanged, standing there solemnly, like the last shadow history has left them.

But the tourists didn't take it seriously, and even mocked the locals, saying that nowadays everyone has built Western-style houses, so what's the point of keeping a mansion from the feudal era?

It's nothing more than using past glories as an excuse to stagnate, a way to embellish one's reputation with empty honors.

The locals thought, "That used to be the general's mansion. The Fang family's generals protected the townspeople for hundreds of years, generation after generation guarding the peace of Nanshui Town."

Even though there are no more dragon robes, no more generals, and the war is over and the country is established, in this peaceful era, their ancestors still can't forget everything the Fang Mansion had done for them. How could such a mansion, which they cherish as a treasure, be described so poorly by outsiders?

But almost all people from other places don't take it seriously.

Over time, some townspeople also started saying the same thing.

The young people, impatient with their elders' praise of the Fang Mansion, laughed and said, "That's all in the past. Don't be so old-fashioned. Even if another war breaks out now, the Fang Mansion can't conjure up a general to protect everyone."

No locals will ever again proudly point to the north of the town and introduce their General's Mansion to tourists from other places.

The Fang Mansion gradually became an ordinary, neglected residence, and it became increasingly out of place with the changing times. Then, for what seemed like the umpteenth generation of young people, the question arose: should they demolish the mansion that was disrupting the town's overall development plan?

As such comments increased, there was always a boy with a gloomy face standing in the corner, his eyes filled with hatred and anger.

It's only been a few years, and nobody cares what happened in the past. These people only care about demolishing the Fang Mansion, taking this large piece of land, building more houses, and making more money.

As a teenager, Fang Deming hated the short-sighted and ignorant townspeople, and he also hated the decline of the Fang Mansion.

The empty glory could not withstand the forced demolition notice. The general's mansion, which could once withstand thousands of troops, was reduced to a few scattered people, and even the demolition office could not stop it.

On the day the demolition decision was confirmed, Fang Deming received a blank book.

The eerie giant python brought the book to him and spoke in human language.

"If you're not satisfied with everything now, then write your own future for Nanshui Town. I will protect you in your story—protect your Fang Mansion."

The snake said, "But there's only one copy of the book. If your story is doubted by others, everything will be ruined, and I won't have a second chance to help you."

Fang Deming, who was encountering the supernatural for the first time, was not afraid. He thanked the giant python, opened the book, and wrote the first line.

Fang Deming managed to get a heavy snowfall.

Countless people froze to death; the roads were completely blocked by ice.

He wanted a heavy snowfall, he wanted disaster to befall this "peaceful world".