Chapter 1112: Chapter 156: An Absurd Story
“I want… to see the truth.”
Not a certain tone, but full of courage.
Like falling into a maze, cautiously exploring the dark corridor ahead.
Luo Qiu looked at him, silent for a moment… This gaze gave Mo Mo a feeling as if facing the sea—in Lv Village, he watched the sea, tides rising and falling, the sun rising and setting, perhaps it was this feeling.
“Is it really… not possible?” Mo Mo said, somewhat disappointed.
Luo Qiu shook his head, “Mr. Mo Mo, do you feel that what you see is not real?”
Mo Mo was startled, for most people, the truest thing is what they see with their own eyes… But even what you see with your own eyes can be blindfolded at times… Yet you often can’t discern it clearly.
Because you, are always in reality, or perhaps you don’t know whether you are in real or falsehood.
“No need to rush to make this decision.” Luo Qiu looked at Mo Mo, a thin smile on his face. This thinness was like the mist clinging to the full moon, “How about listening to a story first?”
Mo Mo nodded, “Senior, please speak.”
“Actually, it’s the content of a rather interesting short story.” Luo Qiu switched to another sitting posture, placing his hands on the table, with palms closed, body leaning slightly forward, and started the story, “One day, suddenly a scientist invented a magical cream. The story begins at a press conference. At this time, on stage, there’s a woman with scars on her face. After applying this cream, she restored to her original appearance in just a few minutes.”
Mo Mo was stunned but did not interrupt, instead seriously listening further.
“Actually, it’s not just that, the magical properties of this cream include more. For example, it can make severed limbs grow back. And it can be ingested, a person on the brink of death will e back to life after taking it. It can also be injected, a child with intellectual disabilities will instantly bee clever after being injected.”
“Senior… Are you kidding? A cream?” Mo Mo couldn’t help but frown.
Luo Qiu didn’t mind, continuing to say: “The development of the cream is still ongoing, more functions are being developed. For example, it can turn wasteland into fertile soil, transform ruins into forests, it can rejuvenate, also create wealth, it can make broken machinery brand new and even upgrade them. Since its emergence, environmental issues have started resolving, war-torn countries have weled peace, disease, and hunger have bee a thing of the past. Finally, this scientist even solved the production issue of the cream… It has bee capable of infinite reproduction, inexhaustible.”
Mo Mo opened his mouth, thinking, is this senior sure he’s not making fun of me… This is still a cream, why not say it’s a wish machine?
Luo Qiu took a sip of water to moisten his throat, then said: “People’s lives began to be inseparable from this cream. But just at this moment, the state and the financial cliques started getting restless. Because the appearance of the cream made aggressive military actions impossible to continue, all online goods production had to stop, stock prices began to plummet, the economy was on the brink of collapse.”
Mo Mo was stunned, eyebrows suddenly rising.
“And then one day, there was such a report on the news—this magical cream’s raw materials were made from dead infants, with many unethical materials added. After this, similar reports began to dominate all news channels. Suddenly people found out that almost all visible news was negative about the cream. Someone claimed they contracted an incurable disease soon after using it, someone said the cream was actually a virus, speaking from experience. Countries erupted into war over the contention for this cream. Interestingly, countries began banning the sale of this cream, all merchants selling it were arrested, all cream production factories were dismantled. Cream on the market was destroyed pletely. Once private possession was discovered, it was illegal… People started avoiding the cream like the plague after initially chasing it.”
“Senior, this…” Mo Mo listened to this absurd story, dumbfounded.
But the story continued.
Luo Qiu’s voice was so calm, calm like a pool that’s lost its spring source and can only wait to dry up, “Later, this scientist was captured, convicted, and never allowed to step into the lab again for life. The world started returning to its original state. War and famine returned to some countries, wasteland and ruins reappeared. People were no longer affluent, those who were affluent remained the same, smart ones returned to their original state… Amputees could only wear prosthetics.”
“At the end of the story, we returned to the stage of a press conference. But it’s for a different product. A new cream is launched. This cream isn’t magical, has none of those chaotic functions, can’t revive the dead, can’t make people smart. It has only one function, to restore facial scars… But requires continuous use, one course of treatment, two courses, a month, two months, can only change slowly… But it’s effective, the press conference was very successful, people began to pursue it.”
“Story… over.”
This story had a huge impact on Mo Mo, countless chaotic thoughts flashed in his mind… He even turned pale, his slowly honed Dao heart seemed to face instant shattering.
His voice trembled, “Senior… This cream is… is that the truth?”
Luo Qiu said calmly, “This is just a story.”
“Senior, I…”
“No need to hurry to make a choice.” Luo Qiu waved his hand, letting the surrounding darkness recede.
Everything returned to the previous state, the Maid and Nero were still beside him, Nero imitating the Maid’s submissive look but occasionally reaching to scratch an itchy spot on the back, occasionally yawning.
In Mo Mo’s plex gaze, Luo Qiu stood up, “If you want to e, you can always e, no one can stop you. But I hope, next time you e, you already know what you want to buy.”
Mo Mo was just sitting, but felt everything was far from him—he was clearly just sitting, but the chair seemed to move infinitely away his distance from Luo Qiu, away his distance from the Maid and Nero.
He began to lose sight of them, pulled to a far-off place, the surroundings once again turned into endless darkness.
Mo Mo suddenly opened his eyes, surrounded by a vast expanse of whiteness, he returned to the thick fog, just near Wolong Mountain Villa.
…
…
During the day, Ren Ziling was awakened by a rapid knocking at the door.
She had drunk quite a lot last night, then happily drank more upon reuniting with Leng Feng, so when woken up, Ren Ziling felt unbearable headache, her stomach like flipping rivers, and her mouth dry as a desert.
Feels like dying…
Ren Ziling opened the door while grabbing her hair like chicken feathers and saw it was Lizi, then yawned, leaning against the door frame, “Unless you give me a good reason, I’ll stew you with rock sugar.”
“Oh, as expected of the goddess of our editorial department! So beautiful even without makeup!!” Lizi’s eyes sparkling with the gaze of survival.
“It’s said that lotus seeds and rock sugar pear pair better, right?” Ren Ziling pinched Lizi’s cheeks.
“It’s not like that! Sister Ren, look outside!!”
“Outside?” Ren Ziling was stunned.
Frowning, she walked to the window, pulled the curtain open, and saw that the outside was already a vast expanse of whiteness. The entire town had, unbeknownst to her, been pletely blanketed by thick fog.
Lizi was in the doorway flipping the room’s light switch back and forth, but the room remained in darkness, “See, there’s a power outage, and there’s no cell signal either. We’re truly getting to experience life in a disaster area.”
Ren Ziling quickly ran her fingers through her messy hair, astonished, “What’s going on? Weren’t we told the thick fog wouldn’t spread here for another two or three days? How did it envelop this place overnight?”
Lizi shook her head, pondered for a moment, then said, “Maybe this fog took some drugs and suddenly expanded?”
Ren Ziling rolled her eyes, then frowned, “Akiko?”
“She’s packing her luggage,” Lizi quickly replied, “Didn’t they say that Major Leng Feng would send someone to get us out later this morning? That’s why she’s been packing since early morning… But given this situation, do we have to leave on foot? Something doesn’t add up, will Leng Feng’s people really e back? It’s probably chaotic outside, they might not manage it!”
Ren Ziling shook her head and said, “No, Leng Feng is a man of his word… Don’t be lazy, tidy up your things quickly, we’ll meet downstairs in ten minutes!”
…
This is a woman who can leave the house five minutes after waking up—so ten minutes is more than enough time.
When Lizi and Akiko arrived at the hotel’s first floor with their luggage, Ren Ziling was already there, smoking a cigarette, gazing out at the street through the glass window.
The hotel lobby was incredibly quiet at this time, not even a single staff member could be seen, dim and dark all around. Ren Ziling directly lit some scented candles on the table.
Day and night blend together, probably this is the feeling.
At this moment, the hotel door swung open suddenly, and following this, a team of soldiers jogged in. They lined up in two rows, leaving a path in the middle.
Leng Feng, dressed in military uniform, entered quickly with a stern face.
Akiko instinctively tensed at the sight of the soldiers… Leng Feng quickly walked up to Ren Ziling.
“Really, Simpleton, you’ve started using spectacle to press me?” Ren Ziling frowned. “I said I’d leave, and I will, no need to scare me like this, right?”
Seeing Ren Ziling was still good here, Leng Feng seemed relieved as he gestured for her to sit down, then turned to the soldiers behind him, saying sternly, “Search!”
The two rows of soldiers swarmed into the hotel’s rooms.
After a while, the team of soldiers returned.
“Report, sir, nothing was found!”
Leng Feng nodded, “Understood. You guys head out first, stand guard outside.”
Once the soldiers left the door, Ren Ziling realized something was amiss, frowning she said, “Leng Feng, what happened?”
“I’m not sure, this town has suddenly bee very dangerous.” Leng Feng said gravely, “I can’t reveal too much, but the original plan to send you away is temporarily postponed. I’ll first take you to our current base for protection.”
“We can’t leave here?” Akiko asked in surprise… but seemed to realize her question was inappropriate, so she quickly pressed her lips together, nervous.
Seeing Akiko was Ren Ziling’s panion, Leng Feng didn’t get angry, “Depending on the situation. If possible, I’ll evacuate you immediately. But right now, evacuation might be more dangerous.”
Ren Ziling pulled Leng Feng aside, asking in a low voice, “Simpleton, what happened? I can discern what can be written and what can’t… but I don’t like being clueless.”
Leng Feng hesitated for a moment, then pulled Ren Ziling even further away, finally saying, “There’s something here, starting to attack people. This morning, we discovered a large number of corpses. Their blood was drained, the bodies were like ice blocks.”
“What?!”
Leng Feng nodded, “The fog suddenly intensified at dawn. The initial evacuation team was trapped, and when our people arrived, almost everyone was dead. Only one barely survived, but went insane, just saying he saw man-eating monsters.”
“There really are monsters?” Ren Ziling bit her thumbnail in shock—Leng Feng isn’t the joking type, but this is too unbelievable.
“We can’t confirm, only assume it’s something.” Leng Feng said, incredibly serious, “Actually, last night we discovered some things… I rushed off last night because I received reports. Behind the bar where you had a drink, several bodies were found in the alley. Their deaths were identical to those of both soldiers and civilians of our first evacuation team.”
“From morning until now… are more bodies being found?” Ren Ziling asked uncertainly.
Leng Feng took a deep breath and nodded, “They’re being discovered one after another… Now even we don’t dare act recklessly, much less leave casually.”
Ren Ziling frowned, looking at Leng Feng, “You brought just one team… Forget everything else?”
“Our troops are getting the people out of the town, before ing here, I’ve already rescued dozens of civilians. What are you thinking?”
“Alright.” Ren Ziling nodded, “We’ll do it your way, I’ll head back to your base with you now.”
…
Akiko didn’t look at the two but tried hard to listen… Lizi glanced, and didn’t reveal it.
Carefree as ever, she munched on snacks snatched from the hotel reception but clearly heard Ren Ziling and Leng Feng’s conversation.
What’s going on… wasn’t the druggie slapped to death by Wang Hu?
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