"Not good." The old man sighed. "You can't even die peacefully. You're really annoying."
"I don't want to either. If you'd just let me go, there wouldn't be any trouble, right?" Huai Shi's breathing became raspy.
"See, it's all shattered, all shattered!" The elder wiped sweat from his brow with his wrist and threw the thing into the trash can. "It's all gone. How can you be so annoying?"
"Even Bi Gan could live for half an hour without his heart. Half an hour is good enough."
"Nag, nag!"
"At noon, a Second fifth friend treated me to lunch; we ate hotpot..."
Huai Shi had even lost the ability to gasp for air, but incredibly, he could still make a sound. Perhaps the terror of impending death had broken through the façade he wore. He'd never felt so alone and sad. He didn't want to die, and he desperately wanted to talk to someone, so he rambled on, "Have you ever had hotpot? You look like a foreigner. Hotpot is a specialty of China. Let me tell you, although Old Yang is tricky and troublesome, his hotpot is truly second to none..."
"..."
The old man stopped talking.
He came into this world bare and was about to leave it just as bare, stripped of his mortal coil, yet this guy still hadn't died?! And somehow, he just kept spouting garbage!!!
"We've come to this point, why won't you just hurry up and die?!"
"Who the hell knows, you son of a bitch, nutcase, creepy old pervert..."
A dull, raspy voice came from the Skeleton. "I say, can you help me, please? I'll sell myself to you. As long as you're not into that gay stuff, I'll do whatever you say... Wait, even that gay stuff is fine..."
The elder's white hair stood on end from anger, revealing stitched scars on his face. He slammed the table almost violently. "Death is destined!"
"Even if it's destined, I still don't want it..."
Huai Shi hesitated for a moment, trying to bargain with him. "Can't I just wait until I've lived enough before dying?"
"..."
The elder fell silent, frantically scratching his hair and letting out an irritable roar, as if his fighting spirit had been utterly crushed. He bent down and methodically packed away his knife, file, and scissors, organizing them back into the toolbox. He took off his apron, pulled out a comb, and neatly groomed his disheveled hair.
"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!!!!!"
He suddenly roared in fury, angrily flung the toolbox onto the ground, and stomped on it again and again. He picked up the Axe from the corner and smashed the cabinet to pieces, venting the nameless rage in his heart.
"Damn it, what the hell is this!"
He yelled at the ceiling, as if glaring at something. "See that? He won! Take your test subject away from here! Now! I don't want to see him ever again!"
At that moment, time seemed to stop; everything froze.
Within the void, it seemed a door opened. A beam of light shone through it, descending like a rope, pulling him slowly upward.
Huai Shi looked around blankly, not knowing what was happening.
He didn't even know if he should follow the example of his predecessors and flip the bird on his way out.
The next moment, he was engulfed by the light.
Or rather, 'drowned'; a sea of silver-gray light engulfed him. He was pulled by an invisible force, upward, as if traveling through the depths of the sea, feeling the terrifying pressure from all sides. Yet, what terrified him even more was that in this sea of silver light, every drop was Source Substance, so dense it had almost condensed into liquid.
As far as the eye could see, it was almost boundless, beyond human sight and perception, as if it encompassed the entire world.
The Sea of Silver.
The void ocean that gathers all human Source Substance, the wellsprings of all intelligence, a grand existence that reigns above Miracles... Raven's description once again surfaced in his consciousness.
In that instant, he broke through the surface of the sea and was cast into the air.
Drifting aimlessly between the void sea and sky, he looked at the Sky Dome, pure darkness without any impurities, and the silver ocean surging with endless streams of light below his feet.
In the distance, he seemed to see two vague shadows seated upon the sea surface.
"You know, after seeing your photo last time, my daughter cried and threw a tantrum, demanding a raven just like Big Sister's... I was out of options. I was in a hurry to leave, so I just grabbed a pigeon for her. Then she asked why it wasn't the same color, and I could only say: 'It was black originally, but its mother ran out of ink when giving birth to it'... Sigh, it's been seven years since I last saw her. I don't know if she's doing well, or how her studies are going."
The middle-aged man with a goatee sat cross-legged on the sea surface, smoking a cigarette and holding a can of beer, complaining to his 'drinking buddy' beside him.
Nonchalantly, he flicked his cigarette ashes into the miraculous sea beneath his feet.
"Don't worry, don't worry. I just saw her before I came. She's grown quite a bit, already a tall and slender young lady."
Raven, holding a cigarette and a beer of the same brand in its wings, patted the middle-aged man's shoulder, saying, "Although that pigeon you saddled her with seems to have caused some minor problems… Ah, my Contractor is here."
The bearded man raised an eyebrow and glanced over. "He looks pretty average. Is there anything special about him?"
"Does playing the cello well count? The kind that earns extra points on college entrance exams."
"That good? Any tricks to it?" The bearded man's eyes lit up.
"Ah, that's probably natural talent. Not something others can learn."
Raven flapped its wings, tilted its head back to finish the last of the beer in the can, and stood up to say goodbye. "It's getting late, I'll take my leave... But come to think of it, as a Guardian of the Sea of Silver, one of only seven Natural Enemies in the world, is it really okay for you to let a fugitive like me stroll away so openly?"
The bearded middle-aged man pondered for a moment, scratched his face gloomily, and sighed. "Forget it. I'm off work in two days. I've been slacking off here for seven years; can't you let me relax a bit more at the end?"
"Then I truly appreciate it."
Raven smiled gratefully, spread its wings, and flew into the distance.
Its agile shadow, reflected on the silver-lit surface of the sea, gradually elongated, dancing like a flame, transforming, until at last, it became a slender figure.
The black skirt, rippling like water, spread out on the ground, unblemished by dust. Its simple design was edged with delicate dark gold embroidery, like thorns stretching up along the hem of the long dress.
When Huai Shi blankly looked up, all he saw were the slender, dazzlingly pale legs revealed beneath the hem of the dress.
The back of the long dress was an openwork design, revealing a smooth back and an elaborate pattern that nearly covered it entirely.
Numerous interwoven crimson hues formed a bizarre and dignified pattern that seemed to be constantly changing, making it indistinct.
Soon, the strange tattoo was concealed by cascading black hair.
As Huai Shi gaped, she raised her head, revealing a mature and exquisite profile.
"Let's go, my Contractor."
Holding a familiar-looking box, she beckoned to the young man with a finger and smiled triumphantly. "I'll take you home."
In that instant, in Huai Shi's bedroom in the Suburban of Xinhai City, terrifying Source Fluctuations suddenly erupted!
A burning light ignited.
—The Book of Fate!
As if lifted by an invisible force, countless pages turned frantically, from which an abundance of Source Substance emerged, forming burning flames.
This was the Source Substance it had been incessantly drawing from Huai Shi's body over a long period. Now, in the blink of an eye, it burned out, creating endless illusions and transformations.
One by one, the pages burned into nothingness within the fire, until at last, only the title page bearing his name remained...
On the title page, the incomplete moon began to grow once more.
The final gap… closed!
After absorbing countless deaths, it had finally pieced together its own demise. The endless record of death turned into pure black ink, surging within the moon's phantom image, circling the very center, and beginning to swirl violently.
Countless deaths clashed furiously.
Finally, they broke the confines of the moon, tearing away its restraints and revealing their majestic contours—numerous dark deaths spun, forming a massive vortex, supporting a wild, perfect circle from which sharp flames jutted, forming its corona.
It was a fierce, dark solar disc!
DRIP!
Like an illusion, a faint ripple appeared on the cardiogram in the emergency room.
Life was renewed.