The first thing Zhao Pengcheng did after being released from prison was to go to Liuying Lane.
Liuying Lane is no longer as bustling as it used to be. The shops along the street look dilapidated, many of their doors are broken, and the signs above the doors are covered in dust. There are few pedestrians on the street, and the garbage everywhere is left unattended. Only the row of old willow trees still sway in the wind as before, unmoved by the changes in the world.
In the years of humanity's struggle against Parasitic Consciousness, people have continued to die from the Gray Brain Virus. Although medical organizations have developed a vaccine, its distribution has encountered difficulties. Parasitic Consciousness controls most of society's resources, and in the face of money and power, all ideals are nonsense.
The United Nations Space Management Committee and the Dream Society, an organization of Parasitic Consciousness, held talks and recognized the legitimacy of extraterrestrial consciousness entities. Since they inherit human memories, for an individual, being parasitized is no different from not being parasitized, except perhaps for potential disharmony in marital relations.
The Dream Society also agreed with the Earth scientists' statement, acknowledging the rationality of the methods for the continuation of the human race, and guaranteeing that it would not destroy the existing achievements of human civilization and would continue human civilization as much as possible.
In reality, these so-called inter-species agreements are nonsense. Not to mention scientists, even ordinary people know that those Parasitic Consciousness cannot abide by these agreements. In a few hundred years, or perhaps just a few decades, there will be no humans left on Earth. When resources are exhausted, they will leave Earth, and at that time, even the human body will not be able to be preserved.
A small group of scientists, Mei Yiqiu, continues the fight. They have established an underground resistance organization and gone into hiding. The United Nations and governments around the world are now searching for members of this underground organization.
Zhao Pengcheng walked along Liuying Lane for a while, enjoying the comfortable feeling of the warm and gentle breeze on his face at the turn of spring and summer. You could never smell such comfortable air in the prison.
Over the past decade, his Mental Power has improved significantly, reaching a level that even he finds hard to believe. He longs to spar with Qingmu again to see if he is still as vulnerable as he once was.
The powerful strike he delivered in his dream, where he gathered his Mental Power with a scalpel, was still vivid in his mind, but his memory of Qingmu's power was quite vague; however, he could not forget his unique image.
Zhao Pengcheng stopped and carefully checked the address.
Before you is a spacious storefront with three interconnected rooms. The original exquisite decorations on the exterior walls have gradually eroded and peeled off due to wind and rain, but the mottled marks only make it look more artistic. The sign above the door is incomplete, but you can still make out the four big characters " Ruhua Bar ".
A huge hornet's nest hung from the eaves of the second-floor window, and some hornets, just awakened by the warm breeze, flew around in front of the window. The glass was gray, and traces of words that had been pasted on it were faintly visible. Zhao Pengcheng looked carefully for a while and could only recognize the two characters "dog" and "name".
Zhao Pengcheng walked to the front door and tried knocking.
The banging sound was like striking a broken gong. There was no response from inside the door. Instead, a lot of dust fell from somewhere and landed on Zhao Pengcheng's head, turning his hair, which had already turned gray in prison, even whiter.
This bar looks like it hasn't been open for many years.
Zhao Pengcheng took out his phone, opened the notes app, and checked the address number again. The number was correct; this was indeed the place. He wondered if the information provided by the organization had been wrong.
The sound of footsteps rang out, and a middle-aged woman, probably in her thirties, walked towards the street corner. She was wearing a dark gray sports sweatshirt and had short, neat hair. If it weren't for the small women's handbag she was carrying and a net bag of vegetables in her hand, Zhao Pengcheng would have almost thought she was a man.
The woman stopped at the bar entrance, looked Zhao Pengcheng up and down a few times, then glanced at the handprint on the door, and asked, "Who are you looking for?"
Zhao Pengcheng seemed to see a glimmer of hope and said, "I'll look for Qingmu."
"Who are you, and what do you want with him?" The woman looked very wary.
Zhao Pengcheng said, "I... am his friend, I came to see him."
The woman looked at Zhao Pengcheng, seemingly searching for a flaw. After a long while, she turned and walked towards a side alley, saying, "Come with me."
Zhao Pengcheng was certain that this woman knew Qingmu, so he followed her and tentatively asked, "May I ask who you are...?"
" Bi Shenghua." The woman showed no impatience, but her voice was indifferent, as if she didn't care about anything.
Zhao Pengcheng followed the woman to a path behind the house. The bluestone slabs on the path looked quite old. Several potted succulents were placed on the steps of the back door. Bi Sheng bent down and moved a potted Beauty, not caring about Zhao Pengcheng's presence, and took out a key from under the pot to open the back door.
Zhao Pengcheng didn't ask, so Bi Shenghua remained silent. Zhao Pengcheng could only follow silently, watching as Bi Shenghua went into the kitchen first, sorting the vegetables and fruits, some into the refrigerator, others soaking in water with disinfectant. Then Bi Shenghua took a towel and a basin, picked up a kettle, and went upstairs.
Zhao Pengcheng followed him upstairs. The corridor on the second floor was piled with all sorts of odds and ends. There was a row of old chairs by the window, like the kind you see in a hospital waiting room. They were very old, but clean, and it was clear that someone cleaned them regularly.
After walking a few steps along the corridor, you'll see a door with a sign that reads " Divine Crow Studio " above it, and couplets pasted on either side.
Only Qingmu
Auspicious Crows
The couplets were written with a brush on red paper, and the color has faded quite a bit, indicating that they were pasted up a long time ago.
The room inside the door was small and square, with various books neatly arranged on shelves against the wall. There was a desk in the middle, and a sofa and coffee table to the left. Magazines were scattered seemingly randomly on the desk, sofa, and floor.
As a surgeon so busy he had no time to tidy up but had to read numerous professional journals every day, Zhao Pengcheng's home used to be littered with magazines. So he immediately noticed that the magazines were deliberately placed there, and they were quite new, some even just published this month. This was completely different from what he saw when he entered the house.
He guessed that the woman in front of him had done this on purpose to commemorate something, probably due to some kind of human emotion.
Upon seeing the couplet at the entrance, Zhao Pengcheng was certain he had found the right place. This was Qingmu's former studio.
There was another door inside the studio. Bi Shenghua didn't use a key; she just pushed it gently, and the door opened.
The room was very simple, with almost no furnishings. There were four white walls and a bed in the middle. There was a small cabinet on one side of the bed with a lamp on it. On the other side was a bird stand with a black Crow on it.
To Zhao Pengcheng's surprise, the room was almost excessively clean, with hardly a speck of dust. As a surgeon, he was extremely sensitive to clean environments, and this room seemed even cleaner than a hospital operating room.
Of course, what was attracting Zhao Pengcheng's full attention at this moment was Qingmu lying on the bed.
Qingmu was still wearing the same clothes—a close-fitting cotton t-shirt underneath, an old gray trench coat on top, and cropped mesh flared pants; his slippers were neatly placed in front of the bed.
His hair was still messy, and his face looked a little pale, but not as pale as jade.
When they reached the bedside, the Crow on the bird stand remained motionless.
Zhao Pengcheng then realized that the Crow was not alive, but rather a specimen, only it was so meticulously crafted that there was no trace of a specimen at all.
When he looked back at Qingmu on the bed, he had a strange feeling, as if the man was no longer alive, but a living specimen.