mijobooks Chapter 204 The Crow's Cry Shatters the Illusion, the Branch Spirit Transmits a Message
Chapter 204 The Crow's Cry Shatters the Illusion, the Branch Spirit Transmits a Message
Darkness, utter darkness.
Lu Yan felt himself falling, falling continuously.
He lost.
They lost everything.
The Black Lotus Zen Master and the First Squad Leader were all just a dream.
Now that he's woken up from his dream, he's still that good-for-nothing rotting in his rented room.
……
"Lu Yan! How long are you going to sleep?! Get up!"
A shrill female voice woke him up.
He opened his eyes, and the ceiling was still that familiar color, yellowish from dampness.
Li Qian stood by the bed with her arms crossed, looking at him with disgust as if she were looking at some disgusting insect.
"How did the logistics company interview you had yesterday go?"
Lu Yan sat up silently, his head throbbing from a hangover.
"Didn't go?" Li Qian's voice rose eight octaves. "Why wouldn't you go! Are you looking down on them because they're just warehouse managers? Look at yourself now! You're lucky they even have a job!"
Lu Yan opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't utter a single word.
He wanted to say that it wasn't true.
He wanted to say that he was an S-class Awakened One and the captain of a top-tier team in China.
But these words just wouldn't come out.
His body was out of control, his memory was fading, and all that remained was the musty smell of the room and Li Qian's cursing, which felt terrifyingly real.
Days passed by one after another.
The flow of time in the illusion seems to be different from that outside.
Li Qian forced him to go out and look for work every day.
When he went to the electronics factory, they complained that he was too slow and obviously had no work experience.
"Young people these days are all talk and no action." The interviewer shook his head and threw his resume into the trash can.
On my first day as a food delivery driver, I was late for seven or eight orders because I didn't know the way well, and the customers yelled at me for half an hour.
"If you can't do it, then don't do it! You're useless!" The station manager threw a crumpled twenty-yuan note in his face.
He applied for a job as an internet cafe manager, only to find that the internet cafe owner was his former "apprentice" who played games with him.
The boy looked at him with pity in his eyes, and a hint of undisguised superiority.
"Brother Yan, what happened to you... How about I lend you some money?"
Repeated failures wore away his pitiful self-esteem completely.
Every time he returned to that "home," he was met with even harsher humiliations from Li Qian.
"You're a hopeless case!"
"I must have been blind to have fallen for you!"
"You'll die here for the rest of your life!"
He began to feel numb.
I'm not angry anymore, and I don't want to argue anymore.
Li Qian's insults and the glares from passersby seemed to be behind a pane of glass; the noise was loud, but it couldn't hurt him anymore.
Or rather, he's completely rotten.
He even began to doubt whether the Lu Yan who held the black lotus and trampled gods and demons was really himself.
That might just be a dream, something conjured up to escape reality.
The person in front of me, overwhelmed by life and too afraid to even resist, is his true self.
He seemed to have resigned himself to his fate.
That evening, he failed his job interview once again.
He didn't go home; he sat alone on a park bench.
The setting sun bathed everything in an unreal golden hue.
In the distance, children are laughing and playing, couples are whispering sweet nothings, and elderly people are taking a walk.
The whole world is full of energy.
He alone stood out from the bustling surroundings.
A crow landed on the open ground in front of him.
The crow's black feathers shimmered with a metallic sheen in the setting sun.
Unlike other birds that search for food or hop around, it just tilted its head and stared at him with its big black eyes, not blinking.
That look in their eyes doesn't resemble a bird's.
It's like a real person.
A very insightful person, yet somewhat anxious.
Lu Yan didn't pay any attention.
He's too lazy to even care about himself, let alone a bird.
He just sat quietly, watching the sun slowly sink, waiting for darkness to engulf him completely.
Just as he was feeling drowsy and preparing to get up and return to that "cage".
"Croak—!"
The crow suddenly cawed.
Then, a clear and urgent voice rang directly in his mind!
"You big idiot! What are you staring at?! This is fake! It's all fake!"
"boom!"
Lu Yan's mind went blank for a moment!
He looked up, staring at the black crow in front of him, his face full of astonishment.
He wasn't hallucinating!
That sound...
He remembered that voice!
"Who are you……"
"I'm Xiao Qi! The Seven-Colored Branch Spirit!"
The children's voices in my head were like machine guns, making me feel both relieved and anxious.
"You finally answered me! I was so scared!"
"I've called you for three days! And you haven't answered me!"
"The rules of this godforsaken place are too strict; my true self can't get in, so I can only speak to you through this stupid bird's beak!"
"Wake up! Have you forgotten what the Goddess Houtu said?!"
"This is a trial illusion! It perfectly replicates your past life, but it's ultimately an illusion!"
Little Seven!
Seven-Colored Branch Spirit!
Trial!
Empress Houtu!
One by one, the words he had forgotten were jumbled up in his mind.
All those memories that had been suppressed by this godforsaken place suddenly came rushing back!
Ten thousand meters in the air, they bravely confronted the angel legion!
At the summit of Kunlun, advance to the Black Lotus Zen Master!
On the rooftop of Jincheng, the Mountain of Flesh and Evil God were instantly annihilated!
And my comrades from the first squad...
Zhao Leiguang's goofy smile, Xiao Qianyu's icy gaze, Wen Yue's terrifying firepower, Lin Chuxue's bloody romance, Su Yunqing's inexhaustible healing abilities, Shen Xinglin's silent protection...
Scene after scene, event after event, are so clear they seem to have happened just yesterday!
"I……"
Lu Yan's lips trembled. He tried to stand up, but his legs were too weak from his emotions.
He's not a loser!
He is not!
The suppressed humiliation, anger, and resentment suddenly transformed into murderous intent!
This murderous intent wasn't directed at Li Qian.
It was the "rule" that created this illusion, intending to wear down his will!
"Little Seven!"
Lu Yan shouted in his heart.
"How am I supposed to get out of here?!"
"Find the king in the secret realm, defeat him! Then you can clear the level!" The crow jumped up and down twice in a hurry, its voice almost crying.
"But... the king of the secret realm doesn't necessarily have to be defeated through combat! Idiot! Think of something! She's at it again..."
Xiaoqi suddenly stopped talking.
The sound was sharp and harsh, like a rusty piece of iron scraping against glass.
Lu Yan slowly raised his head.
The park benches, the afterglow of the setting sun, the chattering crows—everything still feels so real.
In the distance, the woman he knew best was walking toward him with her hands on her hips and a furious expression on her face.
Li Qian.
"Are you still sitting? Are you deaf?" She rushed to Lu Yan in a few steps, looking down at him with undisguised disgust in her eyes.
"I told you to go back and cook! Can't you understand human language?"
As she spoke, she habitually raised her hand, ready to slap him as she had done countless times before.