Serious People Don't Keep Diaries

What is the situation with the greatest psychological letdown in this world?

It's not finding out that the girlfriend you just found is a veteran sex worker, nor is it excitedly rushing to a store with a winning lottery ticket only to discover the promotion ended yesterday.

It is when you have gone through all sorts of hardships, pieced together countless clues, and finally found the mastermind, only to discover that he has long since turned into a pile of mush.

He had even been plastered onto a wall.

Zhou You reached out and waved his hand in front of that face.

--There was absolutely no reaction.

"Hey, hey, can you hear me?"

The greeting received no response either.

That patch of skin seemed to simply exist; it had no sentience, offered no answers, and provided no clues to pry open.

Zhou You really wanted to use his Blood-Stained Knife to poke it a few times to see if he could make it speak, but seeing its fragile state, he was afraid that if he were a little too heavy-handed, he might send it to the afterlife.

After carefully pondering for a long time, he suddenly looked at the flashlight in his hand.

--Damn, how did I forget about this?

--Isn't this an excellent tool for interrogation?

Zhou You turned the flashlight to its maximum brightness, pried open the other party's eyelids, and shone it directly into those dull eyes.

Under the reflection of the light, the pupils shrank instantly, but the intense light immediately caused severe burning pain to the lenses. Under this pain that reached deep into the marrow, that face desperately wanted to close its eyes, but unfortunately, it was nothing more than a face and could not break free from under Zhou You's fingers.

Watching the expression on the other side shift from numbness to pain, from pain to pleading, and finally from pleading to weeping, Zhou You finally took the flashlight away.

"It looks like... you do have a sense of self after all. I thought you were planning on playing dead until the end."

Zhou You said with a chuckle, but the tear-streaked face didn't make any reply. After recovering for a long time, it glared at Zhou You angrily, its mouth opening and closing repeatedly as if it were saying something—but not a single sound came out.

Although Zhou You wasn't particularly skilled at lip-reading, he reckoned that what the other party was saying must be a bunch of beautiful, pleasant words.

Things like "You are very handsome," "You are dashing, wise, and heroic," or "Your luck is godly," and so on...

Zhou You accepted all of these with composure—after all, they were facts—but he didn't have time to listen to these compliments now, so he interrupted directly.

"Friend, you don't have to be so anxious. In fact, I have no conflict of interest with you; I just want to tell you a little something..."

Before he could finish, the human face spat at him.

Although there was no saliva, there was foul-smelling, bloody water.

Zhou You didn't mind at all, even managing to maintain that professional smile.

"In fact, I might be able to do you a small favor..."

The human face remained full of disdain.

"For example..."

Zhou You took out the Blood-Stained Knife and lightly sliced across the skin.

The equipment's passive ability, "can cause minor damage to supernatural entities," was activated.

The skin, which had no blood vessels left, suddenly split open, and deep red blood gushed out from the wound like a spring.

"...killing you, for instance."

The skin froze immediately.

Then, an endless look of madness appeared on its features.

The skin opened its mouth wide, revealing an oral cavity that no longer had a tongue or teeth, roaring silently at Zhou You, its eyes shifting from the initial coldness and contempt to the most profound form of begging.

Although he still couldn't hear the other party's words, this time Zhou You quickly identified them.

What he said was.

"Please, please, please, you must... kill me!"

But at this moment, the man pulled back his knife.

The other party immediately revealed a look of immense terror—there is nothing in this world more desperate than giving someone hope only to crush it—and then Zhou You said with a smile.

"As you can see, I do have the ability to grant you release, but the problem is that I can't work for free..."

Before he could finish, the human face opened its mouth wide and began to howl.

Zhou You could guess the meaning even with his pinky toe; it was nothing more than offering to transfer all his vast wealth to him if he would just give him a quick death.

However, Zhou You simply shook his head slightly, rejecting it.

"Don't worry, I don't want your money, nor do I want any beauties or power. The only thing I want is everything you did with this Jixiang Jimiao Guimu Bodhisattva."

As soon as he finished speaking, the expression on the human face—which was the city's richest man, Liu Shang—suddenly froze.

Even though he had been full of pleading just a moment ago, he now looked as if he had heard something truly terrifying. His eyes became cowardly and cowering, as if he hoped Zhou You would change his condition.

But Zhou You's voice remained firm and unyielding.

"Don't try to negotiate with me; I only want this."

The skin still hesitated, but Zhou You had already crouched down and tapped its forehead lightly.

"If I'm not mistaken, this state of yours—neither living nor dead—must be the work of that Bodhisattva, right? Since they've reduced you to this pathetic state, it's obvious they've treated you as a discarded pawn. What's the point of defending them? You'd be better off telling me everything cleanly and efficiently; at least that way, you might get a swift release from me."

This time, Liu Shang finally made up his mind. He struggled to roll his eyes, looking toward a certain direction.

There was nothing there but a carpet of mixed minced meat and fat.

Zhou You didn't say anything else. Without a word, he stood up, used his foot to sweep the nauseating pile of rot aside to reveal the bare floor tiles underneath, tapped on them briefly, and then immediately reversed his knife, slamming the hilt hard against the tile surface!

With a crisp "crack!"

The tile shattered instantly, revealing a hidden compartment and a wooden box inside.

There was only one thing in the box: a very thick diary with yellowed pages.

Zhou You glanced at the human face, then took out the diary and flipped it open casually.

The beginning was filled with trivial matters, mostly related to business, with many entries recording acts of extortion and bullying—but since he had already anticipated this, Zhou You skipped over that section entirely.

However, when he reached the middle of the book, his languid gaze suddenly sharpened.

Starting from this page, the original black ink handwriting vanished, replaced by a brownish-red color.

Zhou You sniffed it, sensing the overwhelming scent of stale rust.

It was the smell of blood.

This must have been written using a mixture of blood and ink.

But the strange thing was, judging by the condition of the pages, this had clearly been written countless years ago, yet for some reason, the blood still looked as if it had been applied only recently, and the scent had not yet dissipated.

As for the line of text, it was simple. It consisted of only eight characters.

"Today, I met the Bodhisattva."