This pen, held in the hand, was so light that even the exaggerated metaphor "as light as a feather" wasn't quite accurate. If he couldn't actually touch and feel it, Zhou Ze might have mistaken what he was holding for a wisp of air.

The shadow seemed to be getting restless, spinning and jumping around Zhou Ze.

"Stop spinning, I'm getting dizzy."

The shadow ignored Zhou Ze's warning,

and even intensified its antics,

leaping over now,

leaping away then,

"I jumped out,

I jumped back in,

Come hit me,

Dummy!"

The owner of the Late Night Bookstore rubbed his forehead.

This thing was definitely being a jerk,

but its tone and voice were exactly the same as his own.

It felt as if he was being a jerk in front of a mirror.

"So, this is a story, a world inside a book?"

Zhou Ze asked.

"So, in your opinion, this world is just a pancake?

The front of the pancake is the yang world,

and the back of the pancake with sesame seeds is the yin world?" the shadow retorted.

Zhou Ze didn't answer.

"The ancients believed that ‘heaven is round and earth is square’ was absolutely correct. That's why many wealthy officials and rich men in the late Qing Dynasty bought Western telescopes and, after seeing the vastness of the universe, had their worldviews collapse and chose to commit suicide;

Bruno proposed the heliocentric theory and was burned at the stake as a heretic."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean this world isn't as simple as you think. Yin and yang are two paths, but there are countless side paths next to these two paths. Because few people venture there, few know about them, and even fewer dare to walk them.

This world isn't a pancake.

Not everything that deviates from reality is an illusion.

Not everything that isn't real is fake;

It's like watching TV shows where the characters are either labeled 'good' or 'bad'.

No matter where you are, no matter what level, black and white are always just a small part; gray is the majority."

"Oh."

Zhou Ze nodded.

Then,

he continued to look at the pen in his hand.

"Is this a pen for writing stories?"

"The so-called stories in books are just a side path on the road of yin and yang, and this pen is the signpost to find that side path.

The pen is in your hand, so you can naturally look at the signpost and find your way. Of course, this pen can only help you find a direction; you won't be able to come in again next time."

"Why?"

"Because this pen is from the book. It's a pen left behind because this story, this book, was abandoned halfway. But it's not a real pen. Do you understand what I mean?"

Zhou Ze shook his head.

"It means the real pen isn't here, but you can use this fake pen to find your way out now."

The shadow sighed.

"Don't mind me rambling; I've just been too bored these years.

A few years ago, a woman came with two kids to play with me for a while,

but then they couldn't stand this torment of blurring reality and illusion,

and couldn't think straight,

so the mother killed herself along with her two kids."

When the shadow said these words, it seemed a little lonely and regretful, as if it wasn't the murderer.

Of course,

Zhang Tianquan and her two children were not killed by it; they committed suicide by taking poison. Moreover, from an outside perspective, Zhang Tianquan could kill herself, but taking her two children with her was a great sin. As a parent, she had no right to decide to deprive her two children of their lives.

But putting himself in their shoes,

even Boss Zhou was disoriented by the stories in this villa.

How could ordinary people withstand it?

If the mother collapsed,

the two children would only be worse off,

so Zhang Tianquan simply poisoned herself and her two children. It's definitely wrong in terms of law and reason, but it's understandable in terms of emotions.

She freed herself, and as a mother, she couldn't leave her two children to continue suffering in this illusory world.

In the end, it harmed her husband, who is still in prison.

"How should I write?"

Zhou Ze hesitated again and asked.

The shadow smiled. "Writing compositions, you know how, right?"

"Yes."

"Then write in that way. It's not like I'm asking you to write a book or a biography. Besides, no fourth pair of eyes can see it besides you and me."

"Fourth pair?"

Did I count wrong?

"Nonsense, what do you think we were doing before when we were fast-forwarding so fast that we were dizzy?

There's a jiangshi (Chinese hopping vampire) happily reading a book and tearing it apart at the same time, and tearing it so fast, so fiercely!"

Oh,

Yingying is here too.

"Is she outside?"

"She's also in the story."

Zhou Ze understood. He went to the coffee table, found a magazine, opened it, and prepared to write.

He originally wanted to find a blank notebook, but he couldn't find one in this villa.

He put pen to paper,

but no words appeared.

"Out of ink?"

Zhou Ze said.

The shadow didn't speak, just kept shaking next to him, as if it were dancing to a specific rhythm.

"Hey, out of ink," Zhou Ze called out.

But the shadow was still continuing its dance.

Zhou Ze put down the pen and looked at it.

After dancing for a long time,

the shadow finally stopped.

"Look at me, am I beautiful?"

"............" Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze roughly guessed what the shadow was. It should be similar to the black cat in the Yin Yang Manual, belonging to the category of a spirit.

But obviously, this shadow was much smarter than the black cat. Because it was smarter, it knew how to be a jerk, and could provoke people to want to slap it.

"Write, keep writing," the shadow urged.

It had spoken frankly before, saying everything, putting on a frank and magnanimous front, but in reality, it was deliberately setting the stage for its jerk behavior now.

Zhou Ze thought for a while, picked up the pen, and started writing on his palm.

A stinging pain came from the palm, like being pricked by needles, but the skin didn't break, and no blood flowed out. Even if Zhou Ze deliberately tried to break the skin to write a blood letter, it still didn't work.

Words,

still couldn't be written.

There was something wrong with this pen, or, there was something wrong with the medium for writing.

The shadow kept drifting around, saying, "Actually, there's another way, which is to slowly wait, wait for time to pass, wait for the time limit to expire, and you'll be able to get out."

"How long will it take?" Zhou Ze asked.

"Very soon, maybe sixty years, maybe a hundred and twenty years."

"If that's the case, how could that mother return to reality and commit suicide with her children?"

"Did you even see who wrote the story?"

"Oh."

Zhou Ze stood up, walked to the wall, and tried to write with the pen, but still couldn't write.

Moreover, because it was so light, so unbelievably light, it was impossible to force it down and slide it to create traces and forcibly "write" words.

Zhou Ze had done experiments on his palm before, and it didn't work.

The pen was fake,

but it should be able to write,

The shadow shouldn't have lied to him about this.

Since the pen could write before but couldn't write now, according to the process of elimination, it should be a problem with the medium.

It could only be written in specific places.

For example,

the Yin Yang Manual?

Zhou Ze thought of the black-covered notebook in the bookstore that he had given to the monkey to keep.

But then another problem arose,

the Yin Yang Manual probably could be written on,

but Zhou Ze couldn't open the Yin Yang Manual,

If he opened it, he would go inside,

then what was the point of writing?

So, it didn't matter whether he brought the Yin Yang Manual or not. In this environment, opening the Yin Yang Manual might lead him into the most awkward situation of a "dream within a dream" or a "game within a game," and who knew what the consequences would be.

Zhou Ze tried writing in many other places, but couldn't write anywhere.

In the end,

Zhou Ze sat back on the sofa.

The shadow was still drifting around, comforting Zhou Ze at the same time, "What's wrong with staying here and keeping me company?"

"You're really narcissistic."

"If that jiangshi hadn't foolishly torn up the hundreds of thousands of words of love and hate, and skipped everything, I believe the relationship between the two of us wouldn't be so bland.

It should be a relationship of mutual love and killing, mutual appreciation, mutual admiration, etc.

Some things can be seen at the beginning, skipped over, and then see the ending,

but some things, the most important thing is actually the process. If the process is gone, there's no point."

"So, can you change your voice and appearance?" Zhou Ze suggested.

Looking at his own shadow, listening to his own voice,

Zhou Ze really couldn't appreciate it.

"What kind do you like?" the shadow asked.

"Change to a Joey Wong type?"

"Unfortunately, in this book, I'm your shadow," the shadow shrugged. "I can't turn into your favorite Joey Wong."

Zhou Ze put his hand into his pocket and took out a small notebook.

"Not many people like to carry a notebook with them these days." The shadow came closer to take a look, and found that it wasn't a small notebook. "This is a driver's license? Oh no, that's not right, it's... a ghost officer certificate?"

Zhou Ze opened his certificate.

The performance points above showed 300 out of 100.

"Ghost officer certificate, it's useless," the shadow laughed.

Zhou Ze put pen to paper,

words appeared,

black font, clearly appeared on the blank page of the ghost officer certificate.

"............" The shadow.

A smile appeared on the corner of Zhou Ze's mouth,

He wrote:

"A door appeared in front of me. After the door was opened, Bai Yingying walked out."

Then,

a door appeared in front of Zhou Ze.

"Bang!"

The door was kicked over.

"Scared the hell out of me,

suddenly a door appeared in front of me,

Which bastard is playing tricks on me!"

Bai Yingying made a domineering appearance,

still holding the book that had been torn very thin in her hand.

Then she saw Zhou Ze,

saw the pen in Zhou Ze's hand,

and immediately seemed to understand something,

immediately reached out and wiped the corner of her eye, stomped her feet,

and cried:

"Wuwuwu,

Boss,

this place really scared Yingying to death,

It's a good thing Boss, you came to rescue, saving Yingying from hanging upside down,

otherwise Yingying really couldn't live on,

Yingying is, after all, a weak woman..."