From the end of the world

Chapter 21 Zhu Shi 2
Let’s continue talking about Zhuang Cheng, but this topic still has to start with his brother’s story.

Although our family originally planned to pass on the family magic weapon to my brother, he is actually not welcome at home.

In other words, it was because he was not welcomed that he was appointed as the successor in the beginning.

The level of the demon hunters in the Zhu family has been gradually declining. By the time of my grandfather's generation, they had already planned to withdraw from the demon hunter world.

Even if I wanted to quit, I couldn't do it overnight. The Zhu family still had some grievances and favors in the demon hunter world, so one of my brother and I had to take up the banner as a transition. My grandfather was tired of and tabooed the demon hunter world, so he was prepared to put this dangerous responsibility on my brother.

My brother was in an awkward position in the family. Our father was a son-in-law, and my brother was his illegitimate son. My mother was very much loved by my grandfather, who naturally hated my father's affair and could not give my brother a good look.

Logically speaking, since my brother would become the family demon hunter, the family must need him, so he shouldn't be so rude. Besides, every wrong has its perpetrator, and it's my father who should be despised. But thinking clearly rationally doesn't mean that I can handle it well emotionally. My grandfather is not good at hiding his likes and dislikes. And my father has been missing for many years, and he can't be found even if he wants to settle the score. My grandfather has no place to vent his accumulated anger.

My brother was naturally extremely depressed in this environment. Since high school, he had developed the bad habit of doing evil things outside with his bad friends. As a result, I gradually drifted away from him, and his behavior became even worse after he entered university.

Since his reckless behavior became worse, the troubles he got into outside were naturally worse. I also heard about what happened later. It seems that he was kidnapped by hired thugs and taken to the wild, where he was severely beaten.

The beating did not break any of his bones, not because he had thick skin or because the other party showed mercy, but because when he was halfway through the beating, someone saw the injustice and rescued him.

The man who came to help was Zhuang Cheng, who was investigating clues to strange events in the wild at the time.

The two of them didn't really know each other until then. Before that, it was the elder brother who knew the other party unilaterally. The elder brother was of course grateful to the person he had been paying close attention to for a long time, and took the initiative to make friends with the other party. The relationship between the two of them was probably quite good during this period.

The good times didn't last long. Not long after, Zhuang Cheng heard about his brother's bad deeds and even caught him doing it. This time, Zhuang Cheng came to the rescue of the victim, beat him up, and cut off all ties with him on the spot.

This incident dealt a heavy blow to my brother. Later, he learned from his mistakes, changed himself little by little, and finally re-established his friendship with Zhuang Cheng.

The two of them have a very good relationship now, at least that's what my brother boasted to me, I don't know if it's true or not.

I am very happy about my brother's transformation, and I am also extremely grateful to Zhuang Cheng.

At the same time, I also began to worry.

Zhuang Cheng is very likely to encounter real weird things in the future. If he is a normal person who lives an honest life, he will not encounter them casually, but a "dishonest person" like Zhuang Cheng may have already encountered such things... Not only in the past two or three years when weird things have occurred frequently, but he may have already come into contact with weird things in his childhood. Otherwise, how could he be so determined to track down clues to weird things?

His junior high school classmates mentioned that he used to stare at candles frequently and obsessively, as if he was possessed by some dirty thing... Could this eccentric behavior be a manifestation of the influence of some external supernatural force?
More importantly, will he bring danger to those around him in the future?
To confirm this, I went to meet him in person through my brother's relationship.

It was the winter solstice of 2002. I was still in my third year of high school and planned to enter Xianshui University where my brother and Zhuang Cheng were studying. The meeting place was also set in the commercial center near Xianshui University. The reason used at that time was "Let's go to the newly opened hot pot restaurant nearby", and I met him and my brother at the steaming hot pot table.

Seeing is believing. Just by looking at his appearance, others would certainly not be able to imagine that he was a madman with a head full of magical ideas.

He was wearing a black turtleneck sweater and a down jacket hung on the back of a chair. He was not playing with his phone, but concentrating on the hot pot soup base that was being heated, seemingly in a daze. At first glance, he looked and dressed like an ordinary college student on the street.

If we have to find something special about them, it is that they seem very independent and don't care about the realistic things around them. Most of them are the kind of people who can easily immerse themselves in their own inner world.

But is this really special? In fact, many young people are like this.

When I walked over, he just glanced at me and immediately returned his attention to the hot pot. I understand, I also want to eat hot pot, and when eating hot pot with friends, I want to eat more than chatting.

"My sister is here." My brother, who was sitting opposite me, introduced me. "Sister, he is Zhuang Cheng. Ah Cheng, she is my sister, Zhu Shi."

Seeing Zhuang Cheng looking at me again, many of his previous "unromantic" actions came to my mind. I felt awe and respect for him, and wanted to keep my distance. I couldn't help but call him, "Brother Zhuang, hello, I'm Zhu Shi."

He was stunned at first, then said, "Junior Sister Zhu... No, Zhu Shi, you can just call me Zhuang Cheng."

"OK……"

Unless the other person is an elder, I prefer to call him or her by name most of the time.

It's just that in my daily life, I play the role of an ordinary person. The problem is that I don't know what I would be like as an ordinary person when I grew up. I forgot who said it before, but when a person imitates a character that he is not familiar with, he often reflects the stereotype of the character. My role-playing of my daily self is based on the weak women in the online novels I read before, and sometimes I overdo it.

In other words, uh, how to explain it, anyway, someone in class would say that I have some tea. Unlike when I was working as a demon hunter, my voice is more shrill when I speak in daily life. When I realized that this was not working, it was too late to change. Those who are consistent in their appearance and heart may not understand that it is actually a big psychological difficulty for a person to go against the "personality" that he has already made.

"Brother Zhuang, have you ever seen a ghost, or a monster, or something like that before?" During the meal, I found an opportunity to ask the question that was the purpose of this trip.

Zhuang Cheng did not correct me again, but just shook his head regretfully: "No, not once."

"Really?" I wondered.

"I hope it's fake." He pulled the corner of his mouth helplessly. This expression of returning empty-handed didn't seem fake.

I still can't believe it.

Although I am not as enthusiastic as my brother, I have also continued to follow up on the investigation of Zhuang Cheng, and the results are suspicious. In this era when the weird is becoming more and more active, Zhuang Cheng seems to have gained nothing on the road of ghost story investigation.

I have also been to the places he has investigated before. Those places are not 100% free of abnormalities. Some places are even entrenched with demons that are wreaking havoc openly. And he always manages to get by them, as if... as if the strange events themselves are afraid of him.

Is such a thing possible?

Or is it that the reason why he has been safe and sound until today is simply because of good luck?

I would rather believe that he was hiding what he saw and heard.

However, after repeated attempts, my heart was increasingly inclined to the conclusion that "everything he said was true."

I then tried to persuade him to give up investigating ghost stories. Obviously, my persuasion could not shake his determination that he had persisted for many years. Similarly, I could not persuade my brother to cut off contact with him. My brother was actually his die-hard fan in private.

I had no choice but to exchange contact information with him, chat with him online under the pretext of learning about his brother's recent situation, inquire about his personal activities, and closely follow his movements. Although we didn't meet many times offline, we communicated a lot online.

Unconsciously, I myself developed a great affinity for him.

Contrary to rumors, he is not a madman with no taboos. Instead, he is a man with sufficient reason and conscience. He is just a young man who likes ghost stories more than anyone else and will do brave things from time to time.

At least that's what I believe.

That's why I think even more that he shouldn't be involved in the weirdness...in the dangers of our world.

As a demon hunter, he is also someone I must protect.

Then, the night before yesterday, my brother told me about the "cave".

It was not until then that I found out that he had recently moved into the house where the fallen witcher had committed a crime, but since I couldn't reveal my identity as a witcher in front of him, I had to ask Agent Kong to investigate the truth of the matter first.

What I didn’t expect was that Agent Kong not only confirmed the existence of the cave and the ritual array, but also brought me another shocking news - my brother actually took Zhuang Cheng to see the cave and the ritual array with his own eyes.

The unexpected development almost made me black out.

It turned out that it was not Zhuang Cheng who brought the strange events to his brother, but his brother who brought the strange events to Zhuang Cheng?
Brother, what are you doing, brother?

With my brother's timid personality, he probably wouldn't approach the cave on his own initiative, but what about Zhuang Cheng? He must have thought about investigating the cave. It's impossible for someone like him to turn a blind eye to such a clear strange incident.

Although he heard that the cave had disappeared temporarily, since it had appeared for the second time, it would definitely appear for the third and fourth time soon... What if he chose to take the risk and enter the cave in person to investigate...

No, no, no, this is indeed impossible.

Even for someone as obsessed as him, there was no way he would personally enter that unknown area and risk not being able to return, knowing that the entrance and exit could disappear at any time.

Just in case, when the other demon hunters come to relieve me at daybreak, I will immediately deal with the strange incident in the cave.

I am Luo Shan's demon hunter, and Zhuang Cheng is also my friend now. Even if it is out of personal feelings, I must protect his life and save him from potential weird risks.

(End of this chapter)