2019

  Chengzhou swore he wasn't saved by a doctor.

  He absolutely, absolutely deserved to be beaten by that little bastard!

  As for why he was so sure - just look at his face and you'll know.

  As soon as he woke up in the morning, the doctor confirmed that he was out of danger. The little brat climbed onto the bed and kept flattering him, saying how hard he had worked to pull him back from the brink of death.

  Cheng Zhou had indeed felt a little bit of gratitude towards Xiao Mao Tou, regardless of whether he had saved his life or not. According to the nurse's words, it seemed that he had scared away the murderer. However, when he saw his own face in the mirror in the bathroom, all his gratitude turned into anger!

  I said how can my face hurt so much! …… It's swollen like this and it doesn't hurt?

  His face was swollen like a steamed bun, his voice was hoarse like Donald Duck's, and he could only drink porridge. When Cheng Zhang learned that his hospital stay would be extended for two more days, Brother Cheng let out a long sigh. No matter what, this business trip to Japan had been a complete disaster.

  As soon as the TV was turned on, it seemed like every channel was reporting the same news.

  Needless to say, this is big news.

  Each station has a reporter standing in front of a high-rise luxury apartment building that is mostly mosaiced, giving a mouthful of reports.

  Regardless of whether it can be linked to the murder case that occurred recently, just the fact that the deceased is the daughter of a county councilor is enough to attract a swarm of flies and mosquitoes. Moreover, the husband of the deceased was also the son of Toshihiko Azuma, who committed suicide two days ago, and now this son has gone missing, leaving behind only a messy room with signs of a struggle.

  Is Kawahito Kazuhiko dead or alive, who killed Kawahito Haruka, is this case related to the previous two murder cases, and why do the bodies of these three cases all have traces of being bitten by wild animals...

  No matter what issue it is, it can greatly increase ratings, and for this reason, the J-country reporting circle was boiling.

  "May I come in?" A cautious voice came from the doorway.

  "Ah, Xiū Míng, is that you? Come in quickly, I was still worried about you. Didn't you go to Yǎn's house yesterday?" Cheng Zhōu saw it was Xiū Míng and hastily sat up to invite him to sit down beside the bed.

  "Yes. That's why I came here. I'm representing Hiro and Sachiko to thank you." Saying that, Hidemasa bowed deeply.

  Huh? Cheng Zhou's face was bewildered.

  "I heard you were rescued and I don't know how happy I am. I thought you were already..." Xiū Míng's eyes welled up with tears.

  "Thank you. I'm fine, very good. Who did you say you were representing just now?"

  The little boy sat quietly on one side, gnawing an apple, without saying a word.

  "Kazuhiko and Sachiko. Don't you remember? Sachiko was the one you asked for help to save Kazuhiko."

  "......? ? ?" Chen Zhou began to suspect that Xiū Míng's proficiency in Chinese characters had regressed, or perhaps his hearing was the problem.

  "Could you please explain to me in simple, clear and easy-to-understand Chinese what has happened from yesterday to now? You know, I just woke up not long ago and many things haven't had time to come back to me yet."

  The child gnawed on an apple with a "crunch crunch" sound, with a naive and innocent look.

  "Hehe, of course. I'll start from the beginning, if it's convenient for you now."

  "Of course it's convenient, speak up. Little devil, pour your uncle a glass of water."

  The child glanced at the big man lying in bed, and someone who was slightly guilty did not resist, obediently got out of bed to pour a glass of water for Xiū Míng, and then climbed back up to sit in his original position.

  Considering the delicious food last night, let him go wild for once.

  "Do you know that I and Kawai Kazuhiko are real brothers?" Shumei said with a wry smile.

  Cheng Zhou was shocked; although he knew they were relatives, he never thought they would be biological brothers.

  "We are half-brothers. My father betrayed Hikaru's mother when he was very young and separated from her, but it wasn't until recently that he divorced Chiyoko Aunt. Hikaru has always known about our existence, of course, and Chiyoko Aunt has harbored deep resentment and hatred towards me and my mother."

  "When I first tried to get in touch with Hiro, he completely rejected me at the beginning, but as time went by... haha, that person looks cold on the surface, but is actually soft-hearted and sentimental. I've been clinging to him since junior high school, all the way until his university graduation. At our high school graduation ceremony, he hugged me tightly like a brother, which was probably one of the reasons why Aunt Chiyako dislikes me."

  Cheng Zhou handed a tissue to Xiu Ming.

  Xiǔ Míng said thanks with embarrassment and wiped away his tears that had welled up with a tissue.

  And what made that stubborn Hiroshi willing to open up and accept me was... he had fallen in love, back in his high school days.

  His girlfriend was called Sachiko, a good girl who could feel warmth just by standing next to her. You don't know how happy Yoshihiko was at that time, they graduated from high school together, went to the same university, and came and went together every day. At that time, I often heard them plan for the future, and Yoshihiko always said that he would marry Sachiko as soon as he graduated from university. When Yoshihiko was in his third year of university, I also took the entrance examination for that school, and it is said that many excellent students entered that year.

  Throwing away the tissue paper, pinching the disposable paper cup in his hand, Xiū Míng let out a vague sigh and continued:

  "Setagawa Haruka, the only daughter of Setagawa councilor, a beautiful and intelligent girl who is proud to the point of not being able to accept any failure also entered in the same year. Not long after entering school, she was attracted to her senior in the tennis club, Akihiko, even though she knew he had a girlfriend..."

  Kazuhiko is annoyed with her, often dragging me out as a shield and then quickly leaving with Sachiko. But for some reason, people tend to want what they can't have, and despite being rejected multiple times, Sekikawa Haruka's feelings only grew stronger. She even went so far as to visit Kazuhiko's house and try to win over Chiyoko.

  She often gave Chiyoko Aunt some famous brand clothing, handbags and so on. As time went by, Chiyoko Aunt completely regarded her as the future daughter-in-law. Naturally, Sachi, who was not in a good family situation, began to be excluded by Chiyoko Aunt. Gradually, Hiroshi also stopped bringing Sachi back home. I heard Hiroshi tell me that he planned to move out of the old house and find a new place with Sachi after work. Half a year before graduation, they started looking for a suitable new home. But...

  Xiū Míng squeezed a paper cup with one hand, his voice filled with sorrow and endless regret.

  "But just before their graduation, a tragedy that could not be reversed suddenly occurred! During the last joint training camp of the tennis club in Kawabe, Sachi suddenly set herself on fire and left no suicide note. No one knew why she suddenly took her own life. The police investigation concluded hastily with the reason being too much pressure from studies and life, and despair."

  Xiu Ming burst into tears, wiping away his tears as he said:

  "If I hadn't gone to see Wataru last night, and if you hadn't invited Kōko to help with the memorial service for Wataru, I wouldn't have known the truth about this matter from them. At first, after the tragedy occurred, both Wataru and I suspected Sekikawa Haruka, but since there was no evidence, we had to let it go. Later, Wataru even married Haruka, so nobody brought up the matter again."

  But I didn't know at the time that Hiro and Saki were dating just to investigate Yuko's suicide case, and after he got to the bottom of it, he started his revenge plan. Do you remember what you told me last night, that Hiro had already died six and a half years ago?

  "What did I say to you?" Cheng Zhou thought desperately.

  Xiu Ming nodded, "Don't you remember? No wonder, at that time you should have been in a state of separation from your soul. I've heard that some heavenly masters help lost souls ascend to the afterlife in this way. Hmm, I've also heard that these heavenly masters sometimes forget the process of helping other souls when they return to their own bodies. Maybe you're like that too?"

  "Lost soul? Me? Uh, you continue talking, see if I can recall something." Cheng Zhou held his head. Why did Xiu Ming say these things that he had no impression of?

  Kazuhiko told me that six and a half years ago, on the day he learned of Sachiko's death, he couldn't accept the result and didn't believe that Sachiko would suddenly take her own life, so he vowed to get to the bottom of it even if he became a ghost. Then, in extreme grief, he took his own life by overdosing on medication. After dying, he met Sachiko, who told him everything she knew.

  Xiǔ Míng wiped away his tears, and the sorrowful and indignant expression on his face became even more pronounced.

  Sachiko said that on the day Hiro went to the training camp, his mother, Azusa Tōjō, suddenly asked her to meet at a certain place. When she arrived there, it was Hiro's uncle, Osamu Kawakiri, who had been waiting for her. The despicable man assaulted and videotaped her, saying he would sell the tape to an underground company that specialized in adult videos.

  That night, Chiyako Tōjō came to see her with a tape that was unbearable to watch, saying she didn't want to see such a shameless and despicable woman having any contact with her son. Yuko was heartbroken, but she loved life and loved Hiroshi, so she didn't want to leave him just yet. She decided to wait for his return, tell him all the facts, and then go report Kōji Kawakiri.

  Sachiko said that at the time she thought that if Hiro and others would ostracize her because of her, then they were not worth loving anymore.

  Kokoro gathered her courage and went to school the next day, only to find a stack of photos cut from videotapes in her locker.

  After she got home from school, there were also some suspicious people standing at the door. They approached her with a stack of photos and asked if she was interested in continuing to shoot some videos. They threatened that if she didn't agree, they would send the tapes to her parents, friends, and everyone she knew. They also said that even if she disagreed, they had ways to film what they wanted.

  On the third day, Sachiko left for school and was dragged into a car by two big men in an alley...

  Xiǔ Míng slammed his fist onto his own thigh in anger.

  "One blow after another thoroughly destroyed Kōko's hope and courage for life. That night, when Kōko returned home, she was like a walking corpse, she had no strength to live on, nor any face to meet the people she loved, she chose self-immolation, thinking that only this way could she wash away the impurities from her body."

  Cheng Zhou was silent. He thought such things only happened in stories and didn't expect the same tragedy to unfold in the real world.

  The child's expression was very bored. He leaned against Cheng Zhou's body and let out a big yawn.

  Perhaps because he was just a kid, no one thought his reaction was out of line, and the adults were even worried that discussing this kind of thing in front of him might not be good.

  Xiù Míng spent a long time calming down her emotions before continuing:

  Kazuhiko's soul suddenly left Yuko after learning the truth from her, but his soul returned again. According to Kazuhiko's recollection after the incident, he said that he also did not know how he came back to life, no one found him when he attempted suicide, and at that time, he did not even know that he had died, thinking that his attempt was unsuccessful.

  At that time, he could walk and run, eat and drink just like a normal person, until he found the underground company specializing in erotic films. In the struggle, Hiro discovered that he couldn't die no matter what, at which point he remembered the vow he made before attempting to take his own life with poison, believing it was the god of hell fulfilling their contract, allowing him to return to the world of the living with an immortal body to exact revenge.

  After that, he vowed to avenge everyone who wronged Sachiko. For six years, he had been investigating and eventually discovered that the mastermind behind this was Sekikawa Haruka, the woman who tried every means to get close to him after Sachiko's death. In those six years, he almost killed everyone related to this matter. Finally, it was his relatives' turn, as well as his wife whom he married for revenge purposes.

  Kazuhiko said that after marriage, he managed to donate most of the property under Sekikawa Haruka's name, and also collected unfavorable evidence of his father's political career, but the Sekikawa family did not notice at all. Sekikawa Haruka is dead, and the Sekikawa family will soon be finished too. Kazuhiko has already sent the collected evidence to the police station and newspaper company. If Sekikawa Haruka didn't rely on her father's power and family wealth from the beginning, how could she have achieved all those things?

  Hidaka's face twisted into a cold smile, but the sadness on his face couldn't be hidden. "For six years, he has been consumed by revenge, and Yoshihiko has almost lost all of his humanity. During this time, Sachiko tried every way to get close to him, but it was as if something was blocking her, and she could never get near him. She could only watch as Yoshihiko became a monster for her sake... until last night..."

  "I feel like I'm listening to a myth, are all Japanese people so superstitious?" Cheng Zhou didn't have any memories of being possessed by a spirit, and naturally had some doubts about Xiu Ming's words.

  I want to go back home, this place is too abnormal! Since coming here, he has been seeing some inexplicable things and hearing strange sounds. It must be because of the unfamiliar environment, absolutely!

  "Chengzhou, I know it's hard for you to believe this, but last night was real. For a period of time, your soul really did leave your body. I don't know what method you used to summon Xingzi, but because of you, Yan and Xingzi were able to transcend together and finally attain liberation." Xiuying didn't understand how Chengzhou, as a powerful Tian Shi, could forget something so important. Was it that Chengzhou hadn't been cultivating for long?

  The child licked his lips, savoring the lingering essence of Cheng Chou's vital energy that he had absorbed from Kawahito last night. That annoying female ghost, Sachi, was a nuisance; ever since Cheng Chou and Kawahito met, she kept running into Cheng Chou's dreams to bother him.

  Last night, he originally wanted to eat the soul of that corpse ghost clean, but the female ghost cried and shouted, making him restless. He had intended to eat the woman as well, but when he heard the woman's plea, Cheng You suddenly ordered him to find a way to help them ascend, and for some reason, perhaps his hand was soft on eating people? He actually guided the woman out of the mirror into the mortal world.

  Having absorbed the essence of Cheng Chou, he regained some of his divine consciousness, but unfortunately, he was sucked out again by him and became temporarily weak. The corpse ghost, who had recovered its so-called humanity after seeing the woman, hugged her head and cried together, and rushed to the Yellow Spring together.

  As for that idiot Cheng Chou's memories from last night... doesn't anyone forget what happened in that world? Even if they remember someday, it would just be thought of as a ridiculous dream.

  The kid picked up another apple, and he was determined not to admit that he had tampered with "his dad's" memory.