Once they reached the porridge shop, You Ziming ordered a steaming earthen pot porridge, two steamed dumplings, two pieces of rice noodle roll and a basket of soup dumplings. When the porridge was served, he first filled Wei Xunâs bowl. The small bowl was only as large as a palm, so he only filled it up a little. The portion he gave Wei Xun was only enough for him to taste the porridge. After he heard Wei Xun say that he had gone to Xiangxi, You Ziming was so shocked that he almost dropped the bowl on the ground.
âThere was an earthquake in Xiangxi! You, you, you, my God! You almost couldnât come back!â
You Ziming then heard that Wei Xun had gone to Xiangxi to tour around.
âIâm back, arenât I?â Wei Xun said casually and filled another half a bowl of porridge for himself.
His trouser pocket moved. It was the little fox who was attracted by the smell of food. Wei Xun pressed on the back of the little foxâs vulnerable neck with one hand. Then, he raised his eyes to meet You Zimingâs eyes. It was obvious that You Ziming disagreed with his decision. Wei Xun smiled and said, âIâm much better now. I could eat the meals that had been served when I was on the tour. There should be no problem for me to drink porridge.â
âFood in Xiangxi is oily and spicy. You really donât want to live, do you?â
This person, who always had a good temper, spoke with a rare stern expression, âIâll take you to the hospital to have a look at your stomach and have a check-up later.â
âI was very much inspired by this folk custom tour.â
Wei Xun knew how responsible You Ziming was regarding his health, so he kept certain matters from You Ziming. Fortunately, Wei Xunâs illness was different from ordinary people. Except for those precision instruments, it was difficult to judge how sick he was by his appearance.
Wei Xun didnât intend to go to the hospital with You Ziming and changed the topic, âI went on a folk custom tour this time. The tour was very interesting. We saw corpse driving, a washing on the third day custom ceremony, bamboo baskets, and a crying marriage.â
âIt sounds quite interesting.â
You Ziming gulped down his porridge and continued, âThen this tour really suits your tastes. Which Travel Services did you use to sign up for this tour?â
He could tell You Ziming about the attractions such as corpse driving, washing on the third day custom, and the crying marriage. However, he couldnât share with You Ziming the specific location and what had happened in the attractions.
âYesâŚButterfly Travel Services.â
Wei Xun stressed the word âButterfly.â Wei Xun was very cautious and he didnât directly say âInternational Thriller Travel Services,â but used âButterflyâ instead. You Ziming also knew that many people in the Wei family had gone missing. After becoming good friends with Wei Xun, he had investigated and helped Wei Xun out a lot. However, the only clue left after the disappearance of Wei Xunâs family was a small fragment of a butterfly wing.
Butterfly Travel Services was an unusual name for a travel services agency. You Ziming was a policeman. Given how sensitive they were to that word, he should be able to detect the subtle hint Wei Xun was implying.
âHmph, Iâd like to see how this Travel Service accepts seriously ill tourists,â You Ziming stated.
All he stated were his angry complaints. However, Wei Xun, who was constantly paying attention to his expression, felt his heart sink.
You Ziming didnât notice that there was a problem with the Travel Servicesâ name. This may be due to the influence of the Travel Services.
In other words, humans would not be aware of abnormalities even if the things he mentioned were related to supernatural events, such as driving corpses, crying marriage, etc.
Humans were unable to notice the abnormality. Even if they just connected the words âButterflyâ and âTravel Services,â the other party couldnât tell the abnormality.
âWhite hairâŚâ
âYou have a pair of blue eyes. Youâre so beautiful. Are you a foreigner?â
This old and established porridge shop was very famous. Although there were not many people eating porridge at night, there were still several people who had come to the shop to eat supper. Wei Xun and You Ziming were seated inside, and the place where they sat was supposed to be inconspicuous. However, Wei Xunâs appearance was too special and he looked too good. Therefore, he attracted a lot of attention. The customers in the porridge shop were secretly looking at them.
âThis lady, please donât take pictures.â
When Policeman You wore a stern expression, he looked very scary. He stared at several young girls as they deleted the photos they had just taken and told them to hurry home in an old fatherâs tone, warning that it was dangerous for them late at night. When he returned to his seat, You Ziming saw Wei Xun leaning against the back of the chair and smiling. His skin was so white it appeared almost transparent, his eyelashes were white, his eyes were light ice blue, and there was a faint tinge of purple at the edge of his pupils. He appeared beautiful yet disconnected from the world.
It was a kind of beauty unlike what a human would possess. He appeared like a sprite from the legends, or a precious statue carved from ice and snow. It was as if he wasnât someone of the mortal realm. When he picked up the white porcelain bowl and lowered his head to drink porridge, the bowl in his hand seemed expensive.
âYou⌠ReallyâŚâ
How could he be angry with such an ethereal Wei Xun? You Ziming reluctantly nodded towards him. He smiled and sighed.
âI havenât seen you act this way for a long time.â
Wei Xun had many genetic diseases. Albinism was one of them. He couldnât bear the sun, and in the past, he had to be fully clothed before he went out. His handsome face was hidden under his hat, sunglasses, and mask. Only in the early morning and midnight could he show his face wantonly, just like a vampire hidden in the dark night, filled with a mysterious charm that caused people to fall in love at first sight.
It was written in human nature for people to be attracted to beautiful things. Policeman You was a straight man and the men he usually appreciated were tall and large with wide shoulders and a thick waist, where one could tell that they would be able to fight very well at a glance. However, he couldnât deny that Wei Xun wasnât beautiful.
Things that were too beautiful were always short-lived and fragile, just like Wei Xun who had been weak and sick since he was a child.
Therefore, You Ziming was sincerely happy that Wei Xun seemed to be getting better.
âHave you finished eating? Itâs getting very late. You should have gone to sleep a long time ago.â
Both of them could still feel the lines of sight of people peeping. You Ziming was worried that Wei Xun would be uncomfortable, so he suggested this. Policemen usually had good appetites. With the exception of half a bowl of porridge that Wei Xun drank, most of the other food was consumed by You Ziming.
âLetâs go.â
Wei Xun found out all he wanted to know after sounding You Ziming out. You Ziming sent him back and before Wei Xun got off the car, Wei Xun said, âI may go out often in the future. Iâll have to trouble you to take care of Bingbing.â
âYouâll have to pay more attention to your safety.â
You Ziming was really worried. He also liked cats, and Bingbing was cute, lovely, lively, and obedient. Who wouldnât like it? He didnât like Wei Xunâs tone when Wei Xun âbeseechedâ him, but You Ziming also knew Wei Xunâs temper, so he had no choice but to worriedly instruct him again, âYou canât turn off your mobile phone this time, and tell me which Travel Services youâre going with in advance.â
âI got it,â Wei Xun said.
It was difficult for him to be patient. There were some things that You Ziming still didnât know, like the tour Wei Xun had gone on. To Wei Xun, the tour was exciting and exhilarating, but for the vast majority of ordinary people, it was probably an inescapable hell on earth.
In fact, Wei Xun had a hunch when he returned to reality and met You Ziming.
Humans who completed their tours could return to reality normally, regardless of them being tourists or tour guides.
Those who âdisappeared,â such as Yu Hehui, died during the tours.
In this way, Wei Xunâs missing parents and brother should also have died on a tour. Yet, there seemed to be a special exception.
âAn XuefengâŚâ
Sitting on the bed, Wei Xun took out a copper nameplate and â***âs climbing ropeâ he had obtained from Wang Pengpai. When he met You Ziming just now, Wei Xun secretly tried to touch him with the rope, but there was no response.
Props could not be used in the real world, or rather, they couldnât be used on ordinary humans.
It should be the latter, because Wei Xun realized that the scenic spots in the tours were probably also scenic spots in the real world.
An Xuefeng was the only person Wei Xun knew at present who was obviously missing in the real world, but still alive in the Travel Services.
Wei Xun was very curious about him.
âA month is too long.â
A tour guide couldnât pick up a new tour again until a month later, but Wei Xun couldnât wait. Everything about the Travel Services, even the people and the attractions, deeply attracted his interest. Wei Xun wants to go on more tours and become stronger.
He opened the Travel Services app again, clicked his own information column, and looked at the column of his title while deep in thought.
After this tour, he got two titles. One was a green title, [Empathy], and the other was a blue title, [A Wild Beastâs Psyche].
The Travel Services was extremely stingy and didnât give him any extra rewards except the basic salary. When Wei Xun got these two titles, he vaguely understood that [A Wild Beastâs Psyche] was a gift from the spiteful ghost Pingping.
Wei Xun had joked with her previously that he had killed the zombified flying fox king, protected the ghost baby, and done Yu Hehuiâs work, so the spiteful ghost Pingping should give him Yu Hehuiâs reward.
At that time, Wei Xun had just been joking. Unexpectedly, he really received a gift from Pingping.
[A Wild Beastâs Psyche (Blue Title)]: Your esteemed self has the extraordinary talent to become a wild animal. When your esteemed self becomes a wild animal, your esteemed self will get rid of all negative statuses associated with your esteemed selfâs human form]
Maybe Yu Hehui had thought that even if he could only live as a fox to stay with Yu Hean, he would feel happy and at ease. This title had two effects. The first was to become a wild animal, but Wei Xun had to find a corresponding item for the animal first. The second and most important effect was to get rid of any negative statuses he was afflicted with in his human form.
One should know that Wei Xunâs SAN value was still at a dangerous level and there was no way to recover it. If he really bound his tour guide identity, one was afraid he would have to find a way to deal with his mutation after his SAN value returned to zero in his next tour. Therefore, this title was very useful to him.
However, what Wei Xun cared about most was the green title, Empathy, because it was a reward given to him by ***.
[Your esteemed self has protected the tourists very well and performed better than I expected, so I will also give your esteemed self an extraordinary reward]
How can an extraordinary reward be a simple green title?
*** should not be lying to him. Wei Xun lost himself in his sea of thoughts and examined the description of the title, Empathy, again.
[Empathy (Green Title): Your esteemed self has extraordinary empathy for others and can think from the perspective of others. Your esteemed self can choose to empathize with someone to obtain their identity (only one identity)]
When Wei Xun chose an identity to empathize with, the title Empathy would become that identity. For example, if Wei Xun chose to empathize with someone with the identity of [Policeman], the title Empathy would become the title, [Policeman]. Wearing this title, Wei Xun would obtain the identity characteristics of a [Policeman].
It was limited to one identity. That was to say, Wei Xun could only choose one identity to empathize with. Afterwards, his identity could no longer be changed.
âCan I empathize with a special identity?â
Wei Xun believed that the title given to him by *** should not be too useless, even if it was only a green title.
Wei Xun suddenly thought of An Xuefeng. He must be very strong, but he didnât know what An Xuefengâs identity was at present, so he could only give up thinking about him temporarily.
Wei Xunâs next thought was âMaoshan Taoist.â
Miao Fangfeiâs title that was related to her identity was [Novice Gu Witch]. The mere thought of it made Wei Xun greedy. This special identity title should have been hard won. Wei Xun didnât have many titles now, and he had to take into consideration what title he should have for his next tour.
Although he and âMaoshan Taoistâ were netizens who had never met, thinking of the âsupernatural casesâ and âmetaphysical knowledgeâ revealed by Maoshan Taoist in the past, Wei Xun, who knew of the existence of the Travel Services and many supernatural mysteries in the world, immediately felt that the identity of âMaoshan Taoistâ was not simple.
But perhaps, he was really a Taoist of the Maoshan school.
Wei Xun opened their chat history and saw that in the past few days, after he disappeared, Maoshan Taoist still persistently urged him to upload more chapters every day and sent him stickers of âLittle Taoist Hugs Youâ and âLittle Taoist Is Looking At You.â Wei Xun clicked on his mobile phone screen, his eyes twirled around, and he suddenly got an idea.
It was better to let the other party discover him rather than him finding the other party.
At three oâclock in the morning, Wei Xun opened the writing software and began to write the first chapter of <<The Adventures of Maoshan Taoist Lost in Xiangxi>>
.
âUpdated, the author Iâm following has finally updated!â
At five oâclock in the morning, when Wei Xun had finished writing and went back to bed to sleep soundly, the lights in a villa in the suburbs of Beijing were brightly lit.
A young man wearing a black Taoist robe pointed and jabbed at his mobile phone as he stomped around the basement happily. His excitement was beyond what words could express. When he approached the living room, he coughed and wore a serious expression. He took out his whisk and straightened his back as he looked straight forward. With his solemn clothes and his expression, he looked as if he had become an immortal.
But as soon as he got to the living room, a big fat black figure rushed over like a wild boar.
âUgh! Whoâs the demon attacking me!â
It was unknown what he was doing, but the Taoist shook his whisk. When the black shadow approached him, the other party couldnât even touch the edge of his clothes. However, the shadow had a flexible, chubby body. The figure twisted and turned, and he grabbed the Taoistâs cuffs. In a very exaggerated manner, the figure got down on his knees. His round face was pitifully wrinkled and he cried as if he was a child bawling for his parents.
âLord Taoist, Lord Taoist, calculate for me. How long can I live?â
âLet me pinch my fingers to calculateââEh, Brother Wang, as long as the captain finds a wife, you should be able to live.â
The young Taoist shook his head with a serious expression. Hearing what he said, Fatty Wang howled even more desperately and miserably.