A Mysterious Creature Suddenly Appears!

Liu Chang'an recalled that in 1894, Gustave Le Bon, in response to Darwin's Evolution and Ethics, published The Psychological Laws of Evolution, and the following year published The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind. In the preface to this book, he mentioned that "the unconscious behavior of the crowd has replaced the conscious behavior of the individual, which is one of the most prominent features of our time."

This statement remains accurate even more than a hundred years later.

The book mentions that humans, like animals, have an innate tendency to imitate, and imitation is a need. However, the premise is that this imitation must be very simple. In every era, a small group of highly individualistic people spread their behavior, while the masses unconsciously imitate them. However, this individuality cannot be too far removed from established habits, otherwise it will be too difficult to imitate, and there will be no influence.

When Liu Chang'an saw Shangguan Dandan and Zhou Dongdong each holding a pork knuckle, he remembered Gustave's words.

"Who went to get the pork knuckle first?" When Liu Chang'an led them to their seats at the banquet, they were already each eating a pork knuckle.

"Her." Shangguan Dandan pointed at Zhou Dongdong.

"Me!" Zhou Dongdong raised her hand.

"If you fill your stomach just by eating pork knuckles, don't cry when you see lots of other delicious food and can't eat it," Liu Chang'an reminded Zhou Dongdong.

Zhou Dongdong hesitated for a moment, then took two more bites before putting down the pork knuckle in her hand.

"You've lost the elegance of an empress dowager. What empress dowager would be gnawing on a big pork knuckle with her mouth all greasy?" Liu Chang'an wiped Shangguan Dandan's mouth with a tissue.

Shangguan Dandan looked at the pork knuckle in her hand with difficulty, and finally put it down.

Liu Chang'an used a knife to cut the meat off the two pork knuckles, chopped the skin, mixed it with the appetizers, wrapped the meat filling in a thin pancake, made a large roll, and then started eating.

Shangguan Dandan and Zhou Dongdong stared blankly at Liu Chang'an, finally understanding why he had tricked them into putting down the pork knuckles they were holding.

Looking at their expressions, Liu Chang'an couldn't help but laugh. With their blank and annoyed expressions as a backdrop, today's wraps tasted especially delicious.

"Liu Chang'an is the most annoying person in the world," Shangguan Dandan said angrily.

"If you give me a bite, I'll still like you." Zhou Dongdong adopted a conciliatory strategy.

Liu Chang'an cut the long roll into three pieces.

That's more like it. Shangguan Dandan decided to stop disliking Liu Chang'an until she finished eating the wrap, and Zhou Dongdong still liked Brother Chang'an.

The two small pork knuckles were divided into three portions, which were just appetizers. As the Shangguan Dandan continued to eat in a seemingly casual and sloppy manner, keeping her mouth full of food but not showing it on her face.

Liu Chang'an first poured himself a glass of orange juice and slowly drank a few sips before picking up his chopsticks. Just as Gao Cunyi had said, the chef the hotel had hired today was very skilled, probably because Gao Cunyi connections and the hotel was giving him face.

One dish in particular was the chicken kidneys, which were cooked until slightly tender. After removing the skin, the kidneys were simmered in chicken broth, resulting in an incredibly tender and flavorful dish.

This dish is not suitable for middle-aged and elderly people to eat too much, since chicken kidneys are mainly composed of fat and protein and contain high cholesterol... However, this does not apply to elderly people like Liu Chang'an.

As they were eating, the waitress who came to serve the food was Li Hongfang. She glanced at Liu Chang'an, her eyes showing a hint of surprise and delight.

Could it really be a coincidence? Liu Chang'an was slightly puzzled, but he didn't think too much about it, because he didn't need to see Li Hongfang. If Li Hongfang needed to see him, she would come looking for him again.

After a while, Li Hongfang came over to serve the dishes again, and then helped Liu Chang'an replace the bone plate, leaving a note underneath.

Liu Chang'an glanced at the table, finished his orange juice, picked up some of Zhou Dongdong's favorite dishes, and then got up and walked out of the banquet hall.

The hotel has several banquet halls, and various companies and organizations are holding events there today. In the lobby, there are also several young girls dressed in Ming Dynasty costumes welcoming the participants of their events. Liu Chang'an walked over to the restroom on the other side of the lobby, listening to the guzheng playing "Learning to Meow".

There are four sinks outside the restroom. The sound of traditional Chinese string and bamboo instruments comes from a speaker made of bamboo tubes. It is quite elegant. Li Hongfang is wearing a red cheongsam with a high slit and stands next to the sink.

"What's wrong?" Liu Chang'an turned on the tap and watched the water flow out of the half-bamboo tube-like trough.

"I got it!" Li Hongfang said in a low voice.

Liu Chang'an nodded. If his hearing weren't better than average, he would have thought that Li Hongfang had only moved her mouth.

When she said she got it, she was probably referring to the first edition of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival - Qingming".

This version of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is the true record of the daily life in Eastern Capital during the Qingming Festival, unlike the version preserved in the Along the River During the Qingming Festival today, which includes scenery from all four seasons, leaving many questions for later generations.

"I know someone is watching you all the time, so I haven't dared to contact you," Li Hongfang continued. She knew Liu Chang'an wasn't very enthusiastic about the "Along the River During the Along the River During the Qingming Festival" scroll; otherwise, he wouldn't have instructed Li Hongfang to retrieve it.

Liu Chang'an about it and realized that Su Nanxiu was the most likely candidate, as she was the only one with the inclination, motivation, and ability to do so.

Previously, Zhu Juntang liked to keep an eye on Liu Chang'an, but Zhu Juntang used her binoculars and camera, not by sending people to secretly watch him.

After joining the Nine Provinces Wind and Thunder Sword Sect, Zhu Juntang didn't do these things much anymore. After all, with more exposure, they no longer seemed so mysterious.

"There are still some people who want to find me, but that doesn't matter... I... I released something from that treasure trove." Li Hongfang's voice suddenly stopped, her teeth chattering, revealing a look of panic.

"What is this?" Liu Chang'an thought for a moment. There was a coffin inside, filled with some decent treasures. After all, people's impression of treasures must be piles of gold and silver jewelry, which makes them look more impressive.

What else could be so scary?

"I don't know... From the moment I went in, I felt like something was watching me. Even after I took the 'Along the River During the Along the River During the Qingming Festival' painting, I didn't dare stay any longer. When I opened the mechanism again and looked back, there was a pair of eyes right behind me." Li Hongfang felt a chill run down her spine. "Even now... when I'm alone in my room at night, I always have this feeling that it's watching me from somewhere."

Liu Chang'an pondered for a moment, "Oh, maybe it's being targeted by a ghost."

"Brother, don't scare me! I'm easily frightened!" Li Hongfang trembled, looked around, and quickly went around to stand next to Liu Chang'an, taking his arm.

Liu Chang'an laughed and brushed her hand away. "You're a tomb raider, you've dug up countless ghosts' ancestral homes, and you're still a coward? Afraid of ghosts?"

It was really funny, so Liu Chang'an laughed three more times and then washed his hands.

"How can this be the same? I've encountered many strange things before, but none like this. You don't understand that feeling... On my back, on my back... there's a handprint." Li Hongfang said, trembling with fear.

"Let's take a look." Liu Chang'an became slightly interested.

Li Hongfang glanced in the direction of the passage she had come from, then went into the women's restroom. She unzipped her zipper, revealing her Butterfly blades, where a large, dark handprint was clearly visible. The skin there had no visible scars, but it looked exceptionally aged, as if this was the only place on Li Hongfang's skin that had aged.

"Was it not this obvious or this big before?" Liu Chang'an asked.

Li Hongfang nodded repeatedly, a glimmer of hope appearing in her eyes. Liu Chang'an seemed to have seen this situation before.

"Is this the Nine Yin White Bone Claw?" Liu Chang'an analyzed the information. Today, he had talked to some people in the martial arts world about various martial arts. Someone mentioned that some people still practice the Nine Yin White Bone Claw, making thick calluses on their fingers and then soaking their fingers in poison to block the poison from entering... The idea is very good and scientific, but in the end, they still poisoned themselves to death.

"Brother Liu, I beg you, please stop joking." Li Hongfang dared not show her face now, and only asked a errand runner to help her buy some medicine for treating skin diseases to apply, but it had no effect.

"Didn't you even realize when you were slapped like that?" Liu Chang'an beckoned her out, otherwise it would be a bit indecent for him to keep staring into the women's restroom.

Li Hongfang quickly zipped up her cheongsam again and came out of the women's restroom. The cheongsam was a bit tight, and she had to strain to pull it up.

"Yes, at first when I left that spot, my back was just a little itchy, but it gradually got bigger and bigger. Brother Liu, will this thing cover my whole body?" Li Hongfang became more and more scared as she thought about it.

"You're not completely clueless, are you?" Liu Chang'an looked at Li Hongfang. Tomb raiders are often well-informed and have heard of many strange and unusual things, even if they haven't seen them themselves.

Li Hongfang crossed her arms, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes, and nodded. "I've read many ancient texts and notes, and some of them record similar experiences by our colleagues in ancient times... but at the time, we mostly regarded them as strange tales and thought it was more likely to be a bacterial infection or something similar."

"This isn't a bacterial infection; you've definitely had your life force drained by some kind of creature." Liu Chang'an recalled the many hens he had given to Shangguan Dandan.

However, compared to Shangguan Dandan's coffin, which took a domineering approach, directly sucking the life out of the little hen, centipede, loach, and so on, the thing that attacked Li Hongfang took a sinister approach. It did not covet Li Hongfang's life force, but rather wanted to make Li Hongfang wither and shrink due to the loss of life force.

It even prolonged this process of losing vitality, giving Li Hongfang more time to experience fear and despair.

What a disgusting thing! Liu Chang'an didn't find it interesting this time; doing this was not fun at all.

Book Recommendation: The Holy Roman Empire

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People often say I write superficially, but I'm really not. A book's style, the atmosphere of its writing, the richness of its characters—all of these rely on these so-called "subtleties." Without them, the whole book would be absolutely dry and lifeless.

I never intentionally try to pad my word count. If I can't write anything, I'll stop updating and try again another day. If I write less, I'll update less. I don't have the habit of forcing myself to update.