Chapter 16 Let’s Talk

The matter of weapons will have to wait. Right now, Su Zhou couldn't exactly ride his bike down the street and order stuff off Taobao—he did have a very old-fashioned and daring idea, and he intended to head over to Shao Qiming's place so they could discuss it together.

To be clear, he absolutely wasn't trying to get his friend to pay for it. He just wanted his bro to take a look and maybe offer some support!

He sped along the road, and the ten kilometers weren't far. He soon arrived at Shao Qiming's residential area.

Shao Qiming's Huanghu Sen residential area was located between Huanghu Lake and the Gan River. It consisted of detached villas along the river. It wasn't exactly luxurious, but it was certainly quiet and peaceful. Normally, Su Zhou would have to register to enter, but he had a magnetic card, and the security guard recognized him, so they opened the gate and let him through.

"Little Zhou, when are you going to show off your skills at the gym again?"

This high-end residential area's security guard was also someone Su Zhou knew… Well, Su Zhou didn't know him, but he knew Su Zhou and even greeted him excitedly, "Some new people have come to the circle recently, and they haven't seen you. They're not convinced!"

"Next time, next time. I'll go when I have time."

Su Zhou initially just gave a perfunctory reply, but after thinking about it, he realized it was necessary. "That's right. I haven't had a chance to test my current level of physical fitness after obtaining the Perfect Body… Before a fight, you have to know yourself. It seems necessary to go to the gym and test my limits."

"Uh, Yala, why are you staring at me?"

"…You really are a popular guy. I didn't expect you to be famous in the gym circle." The serpent spirit, wearing a strange expression, turned its head and stopped staring at Su Zhou. It muttered, "Unexpectedly, your charm is quite high… It feels like you could run into seven or eight acquaintances just by going out."

"Of course." Su Zhou shrugged. "I'm handsome, strong, have a good personality, I'm funny, and I help others. It's normal for everyone to like me—look, didn't you abandon that cult leader and choose me?"

"Are you trying to indirectly compliment my ability to choose?"

Hearing this, Yala laughed. It also said without any shame, "But that's also a fact. My judgment of people is the best in all the realms. You don't need to beat around the bush."

"Isn't that right? We're a good match, aren't we!"

"Of course!"

While the two confident people (and serpent) were chatting, they arrived at their destination.

Standing in front of the three-story detached villa surrounded by a wall of trees, Su Zhou pressed the doorbell and waited for the door to open.

Before that, as he approached the villa, Su Zhou's keen hearing could faintly hear a crosstalk performance inside.

"—You know, this world is really not right. " This was the voice of a middle-aged woman with a rather loud voice.

"That's right." This was a lower, softer female voice.

"Recently, the price of vegetables has been getting more and more expensive. Back in the day, how much did a bunch of bok choy cost? Now, they slap a green food label on it, and boom, the price doubles!"

"Green organic food is a new concept, you know."

"Right? Back in Hong City, fried noodles with canned soup at the old shops cost less than five yuan. Now, good lord, it's almost ten yuan, and that's doubled too!"

"You know, this world, sigh!"

"Oh! The doorbell rang. It should be Little Zhou! That young man is so solid! Honest! He eats more in one meal than your whole family!"

"Yes, I watched him grow up. He's amazing!"

Then Su Zhou heard footsteps approaching. Not long after, the door opened. It was Shao Qiming's caretaker, Aunt He, who was burly, strong enough to stand someone on her fist, and ride a horse on her shoulder, almost like a Russian woman from the north.

"Little Zhou, you're here!" As soon as Aunt He saw Su Zhou, she revealed a big smile. "The food is ready. I'll go heat it up!"

"Aunt He, hello." Su Zhou greeted politely and then entered the house. "You've gotten even more fit recently."

"Oh, you have such a sweet mouth, but your Aunt He knows herself. You go sit down first, and I'll go heat up the food."

—No, that's not the kind of 'fit' I meant.

The young man looked at her bulging trapezius and deltoid muscles, revealing an admiring gaze.

Aunt He closed the door and turned to go to the kitchen. At this time, Su Zhou heard the crosstalk performance inside the house—Shao Qiming's mother, Wen Yuefeng, loved listening to Tianjin crosstalk. Even the caretaker had picked up a Tianjin accent. Heaven have mercy, whether it was Aunt He or the Shao Qiming family, they were all authentic southerners, but after listening to crosstalk for so many years, they spoke with a northern flavor.

"A’Zhou, you’re here? Qiming, come down."

Through the wall, Wen Yuefeng's gentle greeting could be heard, and Su Zhou responded energetically, "Hello, Aunt Wen!"

"Eh, so energetic!"

Both Wen Yuefeng and Shao Qiming didn't have great health. Shao Qiming had pneumonia as a child, which left him with sequelae, while Wen Yuefeng had muscular atrophy in her legs. After giving birth to her daughter, Shao Shuangyue, she was unable to walk and could only use a wheelchair to get around, staying at home to take care of the children.

"My parents once said that Aunt Wen was the most energetic and vibrant girl in the academy. Her hobbies were mountain climbing, picnics, and stand-up comedy. She was the mascot and the source of joy for the entire academy."

"But somehow, the muscles in her legs suddenly atrophied, and she couldn't walk anymore. All her hobbies were gone, and she could only listen to crosstalk."

Su Zhou thought to himself, feeling a little somber. His own parents were extremely busy with work, and Shao Qiming's father, Shao Nantian, was also a busy man, flying all over the country. Only Aunt Wen and Aunt He were always there to take care of them.

If he could, he really wanted to help Aunt Wen stand up again.

If hunting demons and obtaining extraordinary power could help the people around him, then Su Zhou would do it without hesitation. It didn't need any grand principles—because he 'wanted' to.

"Coming, coming, wait a minute." Shao Qiming was coming downstairs. He looked like he had been working on a test paper. He was holding a pen in his hand as he came downstairs. When he saw Su Zhou, he revealed a sincere smile. "I've been waiting for you forever. Finally, you're here—come, come to my room first."

Su Zhou didn't immediately agree. He closed his eyes, directly made a mudra, self-hypnotized, and then opened his eyes.

Instantly, he saw the world of 'spirits'.

Before him, there were no wandering souls in Shao Qiming's house… After all, this place used to be just a riverside wasteland, and there weren't many people living here now. Whether it was the resurrected ancient souls or the recently born ones, there weren't many… Of course, that wasn't to say there were none. Su Zhou could see a few white, bloated doughy figures that were so swollen he couldn't make out their faces, only their general human shapes, crouching in the corner of the living room, constantly trembling along with the clapper sounds from the TV.

"Unlike heroic spirits, wandering souls are aggregations of spiritual energy, remnants of human souls, illusions of spiritual energy left in the mortal realm. The 'true spirit,' the essence of the human soul, is no longer within them. All that remains are fragments of obsession."

The serpent spirit didn't know if it was talking to itself or explaining to its contractor. At the same time, Su Zhou raised his head and looked at the somewhat puzzled center of Shao Qiming's chest.

And he did see it. There was a black shadow gathering in his friend's body.

It was a black, shadow-like vessel, with a core congealed in Shao Qiming’s chest, under his left lung, close to his heart. Taking that spot as its origin, it used the blood vessels as a pathway, spreading towards his whole body, slowly consuming Shao Qiming’s life force…While they were still young, it wouldn’t be too bad, but once Shao Qiming’s body started to decline, the consequences wouldn’t be occasional coughing, or physical weakness. Instead, all his organs would fail, leading to a sudden death.

"Damn it!"

Unable to resist cursing softly in his heart, Su Zhou's expression didn't change. He looked like he had just spaced out for a moment, and then he normally joked with Shao Qiming, "Let's go."

"Yeah."

After all these years, Shao Qiming could tell that something was off with Su Zhou. He was a little puzzled, but he knew when the time was right to speak. At this moment, accompanied by the sound of a wheelchair rolling, a gentle female voice came, "What's wrong, A'Zhou? Are you just leaving like that? You came back from danger abroad, and you're not even willing to see Aunt Wen?"

Malice.

Intense malice.

In that instant, Su Zhou's spiritual sense felt an unprecedented malice.

Shao Qiming saw his friend turn his head with a speed that made him wonder if he would break his neck, rapidly turning to look at the corner of the corridor. And there, his mother was slowly pushing the wheels of her wheelchair, smiling as she slowly approached.

She was a slightly thin, elegant woman with hair that reached her waist. Her face was inevitably a bit gaunt due to her weak body, but it was clear that she looked very similar to Shao Qiming, and anyone could tell that they were mother and son.

Wen Yuefeng's eyes were very bright. Even though she couldn't move her legs and had lost most of her hobbies, she was still full of enthusiasm for the future.

"Why do you look a little gloomy?"

The woman in the wheelchair joked with a smile, "Didn't you eat? Are you hungry? We ate earlier, but Aunt He left some food for you. You talk to Qiming first, and it'll be heated up soon. I'll add an extra dish for you too!"

"Yeah, thank you, Aunt Wen."

Su Zhou responded simply. His gaze gradually deepened, his pupils focused, staring ahead.

Just like that, staring at Wen Yuefeng's legs.

They were a pair of shriveled and withered legs, all the muscles having atrophied, shrouded in a long skirt, practically just bones—in the material world, that was indeed the case.

However, in the world of spiritual matter, it was different.

They were wailing wandering souls.

In his spiritual vision, the interior of the brightly lit villa, at the instant Wen Yuefeng appeared, dimmed down. The entire house transformed into a ghost realm of shadows at this moment—and dense, swarming black shadows wailed, cursed, and transformed into blurry outlines, using themselves as materials to forge a twisted chain.

Su Zhou could sense that within this chain, it was as if some annoying existence cast a glance from the depths of the darkness, its sinister gaze filled with malice and mockery… That was a truly meaningful gaze from a 'demon' of the underworld hell.

—And this chain, forged by demons and numerous shadows, was wrapped around the legs of the woman sitting in the wheelchair, rooted deep within her flesh and blood.

"What's wrong, A'Zhou?"

The woman in the wheelchair, Shao Qiming's mother, Wen Yuefeng, asked with some confusion, "Why are you spacing out?"

"…Nothing."

And Su Zhou slowly raised his head. He revealed a perfectly normal smile and said calmly, "Don't worry, Aunt Wen."

"There won't be any problems."