Strange and Familiar

"This place needs to be investigated."

Qin Yiguan narrowed his eyes and slowly approached the black building.

But what one saw on the front of the building was actually two wooden doors that ran through the roof.

at this time.

The wooden door was ajar, with a two-centimeter-wide gap showing.

The crevice was dark and deep.

Qin Yiguan continued to approach, his head close to the gap, his eyes narrowed as he peeked inside with a smile.

"!"

Qin Yiguan instantly took a step back.

just.

As Qin Yiguan looked through the crack in the door, another eye appeared in the crack. The two Qin Yiguan met, and the distance between their Pupil was no more than 10 centimeters!

Qin Yiguan calmed his mind.

Ever since entering the Ghost City, I've been restless. The fear of the night consumes my mind, while the various ghosts I face during the day keep me on edge, like a frightened bird.

It's just a black house.

He was just one resident of the Ghost City.

What am I afraid of?!

Qin Yiguan shook his head with a wry smile, then reached out and grabbed the crack in the door, trying to open the wooden door.

But then, from inside the crack in the door, a small hand reached out and gripped the door from the inside, struggling with Qin Yiguan. Qin Yiguan wanted to open the door, but he didn't want to!

Qin Yiguan frowned slightly.

The appearance of that small hand proves that a child is hiding in the dark house, and his age is definitely no more than 10 years old.

to be honest.

This child's strength was no match for Qin Yiguan's.

With just a little effort, Qin Yiguan could open the black door completely.

But Qin Yiguan let go.

I just stared silently at the small hand gripping the door so tightly that its knuckles turned white.

Qin Yiguan came to inquire about clues, not to become a robber.

Let me see.

The Shitian monk Shitian peered through the crack in the door, closed one eye, and looked inside.

Then, the little monk smiled and said, "Hello, little friend. My name is Shitian, and I'm a little monk who was abandoned by my master."

But then the child withdrew his hand from the wooden door.

Shitian had a kind face and a simple, honest appearance. He greeted people with a smile, and he really didn't pose any threat at all.

But the child didn't respond at all.

Qin Yiguan's eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness. He tilted his head slightly and looked through the crack in the door at the inside of the building, where he saw the child huddled in the innermost corner.

It was a little boy, about 5 years old.

He was wearing a coat similar to a doctor's white coat, and he was barefoot with some dried mud on his feet. There was also some mud stuck to his white coat, along with a few dry blades of grass.

He was also Xiaoguang, but his head was surrounded by bruises.

Qin Yiguan squinted and examined it closely.

The bruises were all regular in shape, square and neat.

--That's not a bruise, it looks like a scar caused by prolonged use of some kind of instrument.

Then he looked at the child's face.

His skin was fair and clean, and his eyes, which should have been bright and lively, were now filled with a grayish-white color. His Pupil, which were looking at the ground, were trembling slightly. He must be feeling extremely scared right now.

at the same time.

A clear feeling spread through Qin Yiguan's heart.

It looks so familiar.

The child felt very familiar to him.

It was as if he had seen him many times, but Qin Yiguan was certain that he had never seen him before.

Watching the child's every tiny movement, Qin Yiguan Qin Yiguan had a feeling of déjà vu, but he was certain he had never seen him before.

The child's eyes made Qin Yiguan feel like they were old friends.

But Qin Yiguan was certain that he had never seen him before.

"Little friend, what did you see last night when it was dark?"

The Shitian monk Shitian continued to ask questions patiently.

The child didn't speak, showing no intention of saying a word.

Qin Yiguan silently shook his head.

He didn't understand why he felt a sense of familiarity with the child.

Looking back...

The tombstones I saw on the edge of the Ghost City, with their names and portraits, felt familiar, but I had never seen them before.

although.

The little boy in this Black Room evoked a far greater sense of familiarity than the person on the tombstone.

But... I still haven't met him.

"It seems this child won't speak."

The Shitian monk Shitian shrugged.

Qin Yiguan turned around and looked at the street in the distance. The light in the Ghost City was already very dim, and the shadows of the buildings were very long.

After a leisurely afternoon stroll.

It's getting dark.

Still at a loss.

Qin Yiguan turned his head and walked towards the Black Calamity Mansion.

He didn't even realize that this was a subconscious act of avoidance.

suddenly.

A hand grabbed Qin Yiguan's shoulder.

Qin Yiguan turned around and saw the Shitian looking at him with a smile.

Shitian, "If I were you, I wouldn't go back."

Qin Yiguan's gaze shifted slightly downwards, noticing that Shitian's palms were still fairly fair, but there was a layer of black dirt under his fingernails, and the cuffs of his gray monk's robe were worn and tattered.

However, Shitian's hand seemed very strong, gripping Qin Yiguan's shoulder tightly.

The young monk laughed and said, "We've tried all the other methods, but none of them worked. Now there's only one left: face it head-on! Whether it's a god, a demon, a monster, or a ghost, tonight, we'll defeat it!"

"Benefactor Qin."

"This humble monk, Shitian, will also stay here with you."

Qin Yiguan looked at the young monk with a faint smile on his face, but his every move exuded an incomparably strong determination, as if there was nothing in this world that he was afraid of, and nothing that he could not accomplish.

There was a moment of silence.

Qin Yiguan asked, "Shitian, a small number of humans who enter the Experimental Zone gain a special power. This power is enhanced based on a unique talent you possess in the real world. Shitian, what talent do you have in the real world?"

Shitian still smiled, "To be honest, I have no special skills whatsoever; I'm utterly ordinary."

"It could also be a talent you're unaware of."

Qin Yiguan still didn't give up, "After you entered the Metaverse, did you experience any strange sensations, such as some kind of mysterious perception, or changes in your gaze when you look at certain things...?"

Shitian was still smiling, "Benefactor Shitian, I don't have any of those feelings you described."

Qin Yiguan was really fed up with beating around the bush and asked directly, "Then do you have... ugh, do you have any mental illness?"

"Oh, you mean mental illness?"

Shitian was still smiling, still holding Qin Yiguan's shoulder, "Benefactor Qin, what is a mental illness?"

Qin Yiguan exhaled slightly, "It's about whether there's someone else talking in your heart, or a little Shitian hiding inside, or some little devils or monsters lurking within you."

I have nothing in my heart.

The young monk Shitian tilted his head. "If there's anything I have in my heart, it's Buddha. I have Buddha in my heart."

Okay.

The assessment is complete.

Qin Yiguan looked at Shitian, "You have nothing, yet you insist on staying with me in this darkness. Aren't you just courting death?"

"Hey-hey."

The young monk glanced at the horizon and laughed, "Benefactor Qin, it's no use saying anything now. As the saying goes, 'When the sun sets, you might roll a pipe along the way,' but if only the tip of the sun remains, then darkness will be over in an instant. Hurry up and take off your pants, or you won't be able to see your wife's breasts!"

Qin Yiguan was taken aback. "Where did you learn that from?"

The young monk Shitian laughed heartily, "Guess? Of course, it was taught to me by my master!"

The words had barely left his mouth.

The sky above this Ghost City is as if a curtain has been drawn over it.

In an instant, it got dark!

An invisible fear began to spread from the bottom of his heart. Qin Yiguan's heart pounded like a war drum, and veins instantly appeared on his forehead!

"I bow in reverence to Susiddhi, and prostrate myself before the seven hundred million!"

But then the young Shitian chanted the Purification Mantra while facing the darkness, laughing loudly, "Come on, come on! What demons and monsters are you? I stand firm as a mountain, my heart is at peace!"