Chapter 7: Metamorphosis

  I opened the door of my shop in the past, and the delivery girl was still there. She stood in front of my shop, with an electric bike behind her. Judging from her figure, she should be a woman. Her back was facing me, and she was shivering in the cold wind at night. I felt a bit embarrassed, but because of my pride, I maintained that icy demeanor and said faintly: "How much?"

  That person trembled and turned around, and I suddenly saw clearly that it was Ali! From her eyes, I saw many things - surprise, excitement, happiness, etc. After a long time, Ali reacted and took my hot pot from the car, walked to me with a sincere service attitude and said: "58 yuan, sir, do you want to send it in or take it yourself?" My face still didn't change as I said: "Hmm... this is 100 yuan, no need for change, I'll take it myself, and I'll have someone return the pot to you tomorrow." After finishing speaking, I took the hot pot from Ali's hand and turned around to leave. Just as I was about to push open the door, Ali hesitated and said: "Then... then I'll come over tomorrow to get it."

  After finishing speaking, he rode the electric car and left. I didn't pay attention to it, closed the door and returned to the first floor of the shop. Hei Zi was still sleeping on the sofa, I turned on the light and put the hot pot that I brought back on the electromagnetic stove for heating. After doing this, I walked to Hei Zi's side and stretched my icy hand into his clothes. What's going on? Why doesn't Hei Zi have any body temperature at all? It's even colder than my hand!

  I felt something was off, so I flipped Hei Zi over and took a look. How could this be?! Hei Zi's face was even whiter than a dead person's! I put my hand in front of his nose and found that he was exhaling more than inhaling - anyone with common sense knows that this is a sign of declining life force. What's going on?! Ah, the stone! That strange stone was still on Hei Zi's body, I hadn't taken it back yet! I quickly felt around his clothes and in the pocket, I found something hard and bulging. As soon as I touched the stone, my whole body felt like it had been electrified by a tiny current - it was numb and tingling, but not painful, like countless ants biting all over my skin. Then, a stream of air rushed into my body from the palm of my hand, and the whole process was like scratching an itch - it hurt at first, but then felt comfortable afterwards. It lasted for about two minutes, and everything returned to normal. I looked at the white stone in my hand, and somehow its middle part had gained a lot of black spots. Hei Zi's complexion also improved, his face slowly recovering, and soon he woke up with a start, looking at me with embarrassment and saying: "Cough... Ji Zu, don't look at me with eyes full of male hormones, it's dazzling".

  It seems that Hei Zi has recovered a lot. At least now he can joke with me and asked, "Don't you know what happened just now?"

  "What's wrong?" Kuroko said in puzzlement.

  "You almost died, don't you feel anything?" I said

  Heizi looked at me with an incredulous face and said, "Descendant, look at my physique! This body is still in good shape and will last for at least another 30 or 40 years. How can I possibly go see the ancestors? Besides, what are they like? I don't understand anything about them. It's better not to go and fight with him right away!"

  "You really didn't feel anything at all"! I asked again.

  Hei Zi saw my serious expression, swallowed his saliva and said: "Oh! Speaking of feelings, it was when I came back from Pingpo Village, the whole person felt very tired, as if something had sucked away all the energy in my body".

  Why do I feel different from Hei Zi? According to him, he was sucked dry of energy, but I'm not the same. It's as if this stone is cleansing me. I have an inexplicable feeling towards the stone, like seeing a family member, it feels especially intimate. I can confirm that Liu Lao Tou deliberately set up a trap for me in Pingpo Village, possibly to make me find this stone. Of course, there's also a possibility that he wants to silence me, and do it quietly. But no matter what his purpose is, or what kind of trap he sets, he has already touched the bottom line of what I can tolerate.

  "Ji Zu! What are you thinking about? There's still half a fish left in the hot pot, leave it for you." Hei Zi burped contentedly, using a toothpick to pick his teeth as he walked upstairs. I came back to my senses and went over to take a look, what?! The fish was already gone, all that was left was the broth! This guy... I let out a sigh, adding some noodles to the remaining broth to cook.

  (Note: Ji Zu is a term of endearment, similar to "young master" or "young lord")

  After eating, I returned to my room and carefully examined the stone from my pocket. The stone didn't pump air into my body again. I'm not a stone expert, so after looking at it for a while, I felt dizzy. There is a hidden compartment on my bed that even Hei Zi doesn't know about. My bed doesn't have a bottom board, and no matter how you knock or look at it, the bedboard seems solid. Of course, it's indeed solid, but I had opened a small hidden compartment in the bed, like a ping-pong paddle, very inconspicuous, just under my pillow, because there are usually foam pads inside, so no matter how you knock, it won't sound hollow.

  I put the white stone in the dark grid, filled the empty space on top of the stone with foam, and after doing all this, I covered myself with a quilt and fell asleep dazedly.

  I haven't had a dream in three or four years, but tonight I had a strange dream. In the dream, I was standing on a massive snow mountain, and I slowly started peeling off my skin, layer by layer, until I became smaller and smaller, eventually turning into a five or six-year-old child covered in blood. I could clearly see my brain shaking, my intestines wriggling, and my heart beating. Finally, I took out a white stone and held it in my hand, and the stone started beating like my heart. At the same time, my body slowly grew back its skin, a process that was as quick as putting on clothes from top to bottom. Soon, my whole body had regrown its skin. I saw the five or six-year-old version of myself smiling eerily at me. Can you imagine another you smiling eerily at you? I immediately woke up from my dream and looked at the time - it was already past 10 am! How could I have slept for so long? As soon as I lifted my hand, my entire arm felt sore. What's going on? I took off my clothes, and as I did, not only did my whole body feel sore, but also pieces of skin fell off. How is this possible?! I couldn't believe what was happening, so I stripped down to just my underwear and examined myself carefully. Everywhere I looked, I saw that a layer of skin had fallen off, revealing a new, tender red layer underneath - like the skin of a newborn baby. The first thing I thought of was the stone, but when I opened the secret compartment under my bed, there was nothing there.

  Impossible! I endured the pain in my body and got out of bed to check, looking around it was still the same as last night. The room I lived in was at the innermost part of the house, and the window wasn't facing outside, the only window was the one on the door with a anti-theft net. I walked over to take a closer look, but there were no signs or marks on the window that could prove someone had been there. Was it possible that I really absorbed the stone? I shook my head vigorously! Impossible, this isn't some mythical world where you can just absorb huge stones without even getting choked by them! But why was I shedding skin?! My brain was a mess, first it was Old Liu taking away the guns from the store, then there was the thing at Pingpo Village, meeting Xi Bi Shi and almost dying, then getting that mysterious stone, and after that my body started shedding skin for no reason! No! It can't be! There must be some connection between these events! And the key to solving this mystery lies with Old Liu, I'm certain he's the one who set up this trap for me. As long as I find him, everything will be fine!

  The process of shedding is quite simple, it's just slowly peeling off the dead skin on your body piece by piece. This disgusting feeling is something that few people can understand, slowly tearing off layer after layer of dead skin from yourself, this isn't pulling out thorns, it's human skin!

  After about half an hour, I peeled off all the dead skin from my body one by one, and stood up with a red complexion like a newborn baby. Heizi came in to call me out for dinner, and I made an excuse to ask him to go out himself.

  I sent Blackie away, and now there's no one left in my shop. To find Old Liu, I must borrow the power of Lao Zhou's police force. After thinking for a moment, I dialed Lao Zhou's number. The phone rang several times before Lao Zhou's voice came through: "Lu brother, it's been a long time since we last met!" Lao Zhou's Mandarin was mixed with a strong Zhuang accent, making it difficult for me to understand.

  "Brother Zhou, little brother has run into a very tricky situation and needs your help!" I changed my usual cold face to a flattering and obsequious one. This society indeed requires you to speak differently to different people. If Hei Zi saw this side of me, he would definitely be surprised!

  "Oh?... Brother Lu has something on his mind, just say it, as long as brother can help, don't be polite" said Old Zhou.

  I don't want to waste words, let's get straight to the point: "It's like this, my store's accountant took all of our savings and ran away. Brother Zhou, you know how hard it is when there's no money!!! It's tough!!!" Old Zhou didn't refuse, saying: "Younger brother, your matter is my matter. I'll take care of this for you, but handling things does require some expenses. You also know that it's not easy for me to do things."