Last Words

Yu Xuan's empty cosmetics bottle lay quietly in the drawer.

But there was nothing inside it!

Jiang Qian's pupils contracted... The Peacock Spider was gone?!

That little thing was highly venomous.

He closed the door behind him and activated Spirit Vision for the first time, searching the room for living creatures...

As if it were an instinct written into his genes, the moment his vision opened, the entire house seemed to turn black and white. He could see every empty space and solid object.

Living things appeared in shades of scarlet; the higher their temperature, the deeper the color.

As he searched, Jiang Qian tried to expand his range, making his "vision" cover the whole house, even the outer walls!

About five minutes later, Jiang Qian drew his vision back in.

Leaning against the door, he panted slightly. "Thank goodness..."

Aside from a few ordinary little creatures, he hadn't detected any dangerous species in the house.

He also learned the limits of Spirit Vision. Using it in his own ten-square-meter bedroom was fairly effortless for the first two minutes. But when he expanded his range to cover the entire house—over a hundred square meters, more than ten times the area—he began to feel noticeably tired after three minutes.

It seemed this wasn't a skill he could use for long.

That made sense.

An ability that was practically a Heavenly Eye was already powerful enough. Wouldn't it be bizarre and terrifying if he could use it indefinitely? In any case, Jiang Qian wouldn't want a neighbor like that living nearby.

Of course, perhaps my abilities will expand further as I evolve and level up... Jiang Qian assessed himself as he walked to the window.

The window was half open, just as it had been when he first woke up.

"If something else took my place when I saw the guest out, then the 'me' at the time must have returned to the house, too, to make it look like I'd been alone in my room. So where did the substitute leave from?"

Muttering to himself, Jiang Qian subconsciously crouched until his eyes were level with the windowsill. He used Spirit Vision's enhanced sight to examine the dust.

A faint partial footprint came into view.

So someone really had left from here...

That shoe size definitely didn't belong to the little girl.

Jiang Qian took off one of his slippers and tried comparing it to the print. He chuckled, then his expression turned cold.

"A-Qian... A-Qian? Are you all right? If you're not feeling well, don't force yourself..." His aunt's guilty-sounding concern came from outside the door.

"No big deal! That little bit of food you made wasn't even enough to fill a tooth. It's a disgrace to your reputation as the Queen of Dark Cuisine!" Jiang Qian called back brightly.

"Auntie's sorry~~"

His aunt pleaded softly from the other side of the door, followed by the old lady's stern scolding...

That was one downside to living with women: little distractions could easily break his concentration.

But the upside was plain to see, too: the precious warmth of everyday life.

Only when the noise faded again did Jiang Qian let out a breath and sit on the edge of his bed, quietly reviewing his plans.

First, tomorrow he'd go find the little girl and figure out why she'd pulled him into the Super-Species World. It might affect how he planned to survive in the future.

She had tried to explain this point before: if she didn't do it... what would happen?

Was she just putting on an act, or did she really have some unspoken difficulty?

If something was threatening her, had he already been dragged into it?

Fortunately, the little girl hadn't hurt his family. Since he'd returned, he hadn't found any obvious danger or constraints. That suggested the other party wasn't in a hurry to fall out with him.

"Then what does she want from me?"

All these questions urged Jiang Qian to meet with the little girl as soon as possible.

"But for now, I still don't know what she can do or what level she's at. If I meet her, I'll need a contingency plan."

Jiang Qian got up, drew the curtains, and sat down at his desk.

He closed his eyes and focused, recalling the storage compartment's ability to preserve items and summoning it with his mind.

Sure enough, the familiar interface appeared before him.

A virtual storage cabinet opened in front of him. Four slots held everything he'd brought back from the Super-Species World: the Secret-Seeking Notebook, the Little Devil Set, a Rollback Subpoena from "Whispers of the Inner Demon," and ten Super-Species Crystals.

He'd leave the Rollback Subpoena alone for now. Jiang Qian had only just gotten out and wasn't planning to go back for more thrills.

First, he reached for the Secret-Seeking Notebook.

This was the first time he'd taken the item out in the real world since acquiring it.

"I'm not sure if I'll need it this time. I'm mainly worried someone might steal it. This thing will definitely come in handy someday."

As he spoke, a prompt appeared:

[First use. Please set a four-digit password.]

"Password?"

Jiang Qian was taken aback.

This item sure knows what it's doing. It knows I'm worried someone might steal it, so it immediately offers a modern solution—encryption!

Good idea!

After a brief moment's thought, Jiang Qian took four digits from one of his usual six-digit passwords and entered them into the item with his mind.

[Password set successfully]

[Item activated!]

The next second, a glint of light flashed across the textured brown notebook, then it returned to normal.

There was no obvious external "password lock" that might give its secret away.

[Write the password on any page of the Secret-Seeking Notebook to activate its function]

[Note: This prompt only appears when the password is set. It will not appear again. Please remember the rules!]

"Thorough. This way, no one else will know there's a secret hidden in the notebook."

Jiang Qian opened the notebook and wrote the password on a random page. The ink of the four digits immediately sank into the paper and disappeared.

[Prompt: Secret-Seeking Notebook unlocked! Close the notebook to lock its function automatically. If someone else takes possession of it, they must enter the password again before using it.]

Jiang Qian was even more satisfied.

He began his first round of testing by facing the mirror and writing down his ID: Hidden Dragon.

The notebook remained silent for a moment.

Then a line of text slowly appeared:

"Hidden Dragon, a...? A flawed and extremely dangerous Teng Snake?"

So it worked for uncovering secrets about himself, too, and the reflection didn't affect the results.

But what was with the two question marks in the middle of perfectly good text?

Was this notebook looking down on him?

"A" Teng Snake? Seriously?

Had it forgotten that mighty, imposing Dragon Card of his? At the very least, he was two Teng Snakes.

...That was just Jiang Qian's irresponsible grumbling.

In fact, he was quite satisfied with the notebook's function.

Another line appeared beneath the description:

"Please offer a secret only you know. Any wording is acceptable."

Jiang Qian tried writing: I stole my sister's cosmetics bottle and put a spider in it.

A moment later, words appeared on the page:

"Verification failed! You have two attempts remaining."

Jiang Qian examined the notebook in confusion, then tried again: I stole my sister's cosmetics bottle.

"Verification successful! You're so boring. You only steal useless things~"

Jiang Qian raised an eyebrow.

So the spider counts as someone in the know, too...

He continued testing. He tore a page from the notebook, wrote the password on it, and then wrote his ID.

As expected, the answer appeared on the page. But it didn't ask him to offer another secret.

It seemed that any paper torn from the notebook retained its secret-discovery function, and secrets that had already been traded wouldn't be "charged" for again.

After that, Jiang Qian tested the messaging function and the self-destruct-after-reading function. Neither required him to offer a secret.

He closed the notebook and returned it to the storage compartment.

Then Jiang Qian took out the Little Devil Set.

The box, covered in strange runes, radiated an eerie, terrifying aura.

At the same time, a selection prompt appeared before Jiang Qian: [Open Box], [Summon Individually], and [House Ward Function].

Remembering everything that had happened in the dungeon, especially the strange sight of Black Porcelain Figurines running all over the place, Jiang Qian decisively abandoned [Open Box].

If the Old Buddha or his aunt saw them, wouldn't they mistake him for a heretic in some evil cult?

He selected [Summon Individually].

From among [Joy], [Anger], [Sorrow], [Fear], [Love], [Evil], and [Desire], he chose to summon the Sorrow Demon—the one he'd encountered in the second stage of "Whispers of the Inner Demon," the creature that had planted a Heart Anchor in him.

A cloud of mist rose from the rune-covered box!

The mist swelled and thickened, and countless tentacles, with nowhere else to go, reached out from within... Jiang Qian had to stand and retreat, making more room for the cloud.

Only when the mist filled half the room did he finally get a glimpse of the Sorrow Demon's "true face": a downcast countenance took shape at the center of the dense fog...

Then Jiang Qian heard that familiar, grief-stricken voice. "Ah, this is..."

When it spotted Jiang Qian standing to one side, the miserable-looking face showed shock and confusion!

"You're still alive?!"

"Thanks to you, we meet again. This is where I live." Leaning against the wall, Jiang Qian greeted it with an air of calm.

"This is unbelievable..."

"I got lucky."

"No, this couldn't possibly be luck! Do you really understand what kind of beings we represent?"

The miserable-looking face turned ferocious. Then, impatiently, it questioned Jiang Qian: "How did you deal with those last three? And that door... How could you possibly have come out alive?!"

I only bluffed. I never actually went in... Jiang Qian grumbled inwardly.

Seeing the other party's wonderfully expressive reaction, he almost felt bad about keeping up the deception.

"We'll talk about all that later. Right now, I'm going to deal with something tricky, and I need your cooperation." Jiang Qian spoke, his expression turning serious.

"Ah... I understand," the grief-stricken voice replied, its tone unexpectedly relieved. "We are already your slaves... That's fine, then!"

It turned solemnly toward Jiang Qian. Its miserable-looking face dipped slightly as it said humbly, "My master, what would you have me do?"

The sudden change in its attitude caught Jiang Qian off guard.

But it made sense.

After all, they were merely item-based living beings he owned.

Jiang Qian naturally stated what he needed. "How do I use the substitute?"

"That's simple."

As it transformed, the dense mist filling the room began to gather. Countless tentacles curled inward, gradually forming a human-shaped puppet with the same height and build as Jiang Qian.

The remaining mist swirled around the puppet, slowly shaping its features—an exact likeness of Jiang Qian, albeit with an air of deep melancholy.

The puppet suddenly opened its eyes and spoke in Jiang Qian's voice, though in an extremely gloomy tone. "This is the substitute I've made for you... You have two options: you can try controlling it yourself, or you can leave it to me. You only need to give the orders."

Jiang Qian studied "another self" curiously. He closed his eyes and tried to establish a connection with it.

Then he awoke inside the puppet and saw himself resting with his eyes closed.

"My limbs and joints all work properly... just like my real body!" Jiang Qian exclaimed in delight.

At the same time, he tried controlling both his real body and the puppet, coordinating their movements.

Greeting each other, shaking hands, hugging...

Not bad!

Now for attacking and defending...

"Ugh!"

As expected, this kind of somewhat dangerous maneuver needed more practice. He couldn't count on coordinating eight people to drive back the enemy in the near future. For now, it could only serve as a backup way to save his life.

Jiang Qian rubbed his shoulder, handed control of the puppet back to the Sorrow Demon, and took up a stance. "Come on. Try to knock me down."

The puppet Jiang Qian narrowed his eyes, his manner still gloomy. "Are you serious?"

"Uh, not that serious. I mean... just give it a try!"

A figure flashed before his eyes—Snake Shadow Stealth!

"Ugh! Damn!"

The Old Buddha immediately scolded him from the living room. "Jiang Qian, what are you doing? Can't you settle down for once?"

"Sure, sure! This stupid movie's action scenes are terrible and too noisy. I'll put something else on!" Jiang Qian shouted back, picked up his phone, opened the music player, and started some background music.

Then he turned back to the puppet. "Keep going!"

Ten minutes later, Jiang Qian sat slumped in the corner, bruised and battered, gasping for breath.

The Demon Clones, back in their dense-mist form, looked at him sympathetically and offered comfort. "Your control isn't as good as mine. That's only natural. I've killed more people than you've eaten grains of salt... Don't be so impatient."

"I just wanted to get used to my ability. Thanks for being my sparring partner. That's enough for today."

Jiang Qian managed a weak smile, then used his thoughts to return the Demon Clones to the box.

He looked around at the wrecked bedroom and sighed deeply!

That was a mistake. I should've made it clean up before it left...

Using the wall for support, Jiang Qian got to his feet. He tidied the room and changed clothes while going over the various techniques he'd used in the hand-to-hand fight.

Finally, wrapped in a bathrobe, he slipped into the bathroom and washed himself.

He didn't draw the Old Buddha or his aunt's attention again.

When he returned to his bedroom, Jiang Qian felt much better. His genes had already changed after becoming a Super-species, and his body healed far faster than an ordinary person's.

Many of the small cuts from the fight had already healed on their own, and the bruising beneath his skin had begun to fade.

But exhaustion soon weighed heavily on him.

Now dressed in his pajamas, Jiang Qian sat silently at his desk for a moment. His gaze settled on an old family photo.

In the photo, his father had his hands on the shoulders of Jiang Qian and his brother, Jiang Yang, smiling warmly and kindly.

His mother leaned peacefully against his father, one arm around him and the other around Grandma, who sat in a chair...

That had been the family of five back then.

Less than half a year later, his father died in an accident.

Looking at the photograph, Jiang Qian couldn't help revisiting the memories that had been reawakened in the instance: the flood that suddenly surged down the mountainside, his mother and Jiang Yang frozen in terror, and his father's unhesitating Choice...

"Ah Qian, don't look back!"

"Hold on tight! Stay there and don't move! Listen to me..."

"Protect your mother..."

The raging flood battered every part of his body, stealing away his warmth.

But in the end, he was rescued. He was the only one who survived—his father, trapped in the torrent, used the last of his strength to throw his son onto the shallows. Then, unable to go on, he vanished into the waters under the force of the current.

Jiang Qian looked at the photograph.

His gaze was vacant, his expression indifferent; there wasn't the slightest trace of grief or pain.

For him, remembering meant only retracing the facts themselves, shutting out any excess emotion.

Unlike those mentally ill people who lived in false dreams because they couldn't accept the deaths of their loved ones, Jiang Qian knew perfectly well that his father would never come back.

He had lost his father.

Now his older brother's life or death was unknown, and his mother continued to distance herself from him, yet he'd been denied even the right to grieve or suffer.

"Your wife avoids me like I'm the Plague God. How am I supposed to protect her..."