From the end of the world

Chapter 284: Winter Car Unpredictable 2
The winter car, which was originally at a train station hundreds of kilometers away, was unexpectedly caught in Yueyin Mountain by the sudden appearance of white fog - it seems that this strange fog phenomenon that seems to be just lurking in Yueyin Mountain is more powerful than I imagined.

It is clear whether Dongche has successfully found the young traveler who acted on his own. Since he is acting alone now, it means he is still on the way to find him. I can't help but sigh that he is still worried about the young traveler he met by chance.

I don't know if he realized that if he was not a top-level demon hunter, but just a skinny boy like his appearance, the nature of the matter would be different - as an adult young traveler, after realizing that he could finally escape, he actually abandoned a thirteen or fourteen-year-old child who shared the same plight as him in a strange mountain village with poor mountains and bad waters, and ran away. From an ordinary moral standpoint, this is really hard to commend.

I myself am not a person with universal moral values, and I have no position to criticize the young passenger, but Dongche is different. He can scold the other party and leave it alone. I want to know how Dongche views this matter, so I specifically pointed this out.

"I forgive him." Dong Che said calmly.

"Forgive?" I asked.

"Because I am very strong, even if he forgets me, it won't cause much loss to me. Instead, he will have to bear the unknown risks of facing the fog alone." Dong Che said as a matter of course, "Just like a healthy spirit needs to be housed in a healthy body, a strong mind also needs a strong power to support it. If I am very weak and see him abandon me, I will definitely hate him uncontrollably and have many weak and dark emotions. The same is true for him.

"Because he was very weak, he could not bear the consequences of failure. Just getting lost in the mountains would make him feel the shadow of death; when he saw strange mountain people, he would also wonder if they had evil intentions. After finally finding a way to survive, his heart was naturally filled with the joy of being saved, and it was natural that he accidentally forgot about me, his companion.

"The hearts of the weak are weak, and in weakness will arise selfishness and darkness. After all, he is just a mortal, and I am a strong man... Maybe in your eyes, Senior Zhuang Cheng, I may seem shameless, but at least compared to him, I am indeed a strong man. So I must tolerate him, instead of retaliating if he does something bad to me... That would be too immature."

If I were in Dongche's shoes, I would definitely forget about the safety of the young passenger, just as he forgot about me. This may be what Dongche calls an immature "retaliatory" behavior.

But I don't think my judgment is wrong. I treat others the way they treat me. Although I am a superpower with great power, at least I am equal to others in spirit.

In a sense, I may also lack the awareness of being a strong person. If you ask me what a truly strong person is like, I can't give a clear answer, but at least I understand that being vindictive and calculating is not dignified for a strong person.

Maybe Dongche is closer to a truly strong person in terms of thinking than I am. On the other hand, I also feel that Dongche does not regard the young traveler as a human being equal to himself.

It was just the cats and dogs on the roadside baring their teeth at him - he seemed to be expressing this thought.

Although his actions were clearly implementing the policy of hegemony, he seemed to reveal a background of transcendence.

"Unfortunately, I didn't find him afterwards, and then I met you..." Dong Che looked at me and Ma Zao in confusion, "Excuse me... Senior Zhuang Cheng, what are you doing here?"

"I have got clues about Yin Yue's whereabouts. Yin Yue is very likely in Yueyin Mountain. My trip is also related to this." I decided to reveal some information.

“Silver Moon!?” His expression changed drastically. “Then, could this mist be…”

"It may also be related to Silver Moon, but let's not talk about that for now. Can you lead us to Guyue Village?" I asked.

"Guyue Village?" he asked in confusion.

"It's Hujia Village," I said.

"Of course I can, but I still have to go find that traveler. Maybe he's in danger somewhere..." he said worriedly.

If nothing unexpected happens, I think the young traveler he mentioned should be the body that Ma and I found earlier.

Although in terms of time, the young traveler that Dongche was looking for should have been alive not long ago and could not have decayed to that extent, but in this fog, time was likely to be in a state of disorder. When a person who was alive just now was found again, he had decayed as if he had been dead for several days - this kind of thing was completely possible here.

Not to mention something of this magnitude, even if the long-rotten corpse suddenly came back to life and came over to chat with us as if nothing had happened, I would still be able to accept it now.

"Is that passenger wearing a black and green jacket?"

I first confirmed this information, and as expected, Dong Che nodded, and then I continued: "We found his body before." Hearing this, Dong Che was just stunned for a moment, and then tried to confirm other characteristics of the other party, such as the color of his pants and shoes. I didn't observe carefully at the time, but as long as I retrieved the relevant information from my mind, I could answer freely.

After several questions and answers, Dong Che confirmed the other party's death. Without saying much, he just sighed with great regret.

"I will help you lead the way, but..." He showed an embarrassed expression, "I may not know how to return to Hujia Village... No, I remember the route, but you may have discovered the nature of this fog. Even if you follow the route you came from meticulously, you may not be able to return to the original place."

"No problem, you just need to go." Ma Zao suddenly took the initiative to speak, "As long as you walk with us and have a strong desire to return to that place in your heart, I can try to help you get back to where you were."

Ma Zao can actually help others return to the starting point? She really gave me another surprise.

Although Dong Che was confused, he did not ask any more questions. Perhaps he understood that it was Ma Zao's unique ability, so he followed the tacit agreement among demon hunters not to actively inquire about each other's abilities. He just nodded, then walked ahead obediently and led the way for us.

Ma Zao and I followed behind. Ma Zao stared at Dong Che's back closely, and I didn't take Dong Che lightly either.

Just like last time, Dong Che still gave me a feeling of being neither human nor inhuman. I even suspected that he was Yin Yue in disguise, although the possibility was very low. Firstly, Yin Yue had no reason to pretend to be Dong Che to approach me; secondly, if it was really Yin Yue, it was hard to believe that he would reveal his true colors so easily in front of me. But maybe Dong Che's true form was some other strange creature.

Considering that this Dongche has been friendly to me so far, I will not destroy him as long as he does not harm us. So, I must at least see what his true attitude is. According to my previous thoughts, the real Dongche may have died, and he is a weird thing that replaced it, and it is even possible that he thinks he is the real Dongche.

So, if I expose it to his face, how will he react?
"Dongche." I called him.

"What's wrong, Senior Zhuang Cheng?" Dong Che turned around in confusion.

I said bluntly: "You may be a fake winter car."

"Ah?" He was even more confused. "Senior Zhuang Cheng...what are you talking about?"

"I saw your obituary down the hill."

I started with this sentence and told him all my doubts about him. He stopped involuntarily and listened to my words with a surprised expression.

In some ghost stories, once the ghosts disguised as living people are exposed, they will no longer be able to maintain the appearance of living people. Even in the Romance of the Gods, which was circulated in the Ming Dynasty, there is an allusion that Bi Gan, whose heart was dug out, died after being pointed out by a vegetable seller that "vegetables can live without hearts, and people will die without hearts." Whether it is a demon hunter or a strange thing, their self-awareness is powerful. Once that awareness is lost, the incredible power of disguise will disappear.

However, I know that my words may have power. Now I am gradually approaching the realm of great impermanence, and the words I say may contain mystery. In order to prevent this power from affecting the real result, I try to choose some words that leave room for maneuver. What I have to do now is not to force my own ideas into Dongche, but to encourage Dongche to think about the truth himself.

My moral judgment is relatively lenient. Even if he killed the real Dong Che, as long as he does not revert to his self-perception as a weird thing and still regards himself as the real Dong Che, or at least intends to continue to be a good person, then I don't mind continuing to be friends with him.

As for the real Dongche whom I have never met, although I feel somewhat sorry for him, that is no reason for me to be hostile to the Dongche in front of me. Of course, if this Dongche is attacked by the demon hunters because of what he has done, I will not help him. This is his own debt of life, and he has to pay it back himself.

After hearing what I said, Dong Che stood there in disbelief. While he was still digesting the information, Ma Zao slowly circled behind him.

Ma Zao raised her left hand, and on her left middle finger was a black rope lock heart ring. The ring was still in a state of being burned and damaged, but the power of return emerged, and the ring was restored to its intact state as if time had gone back.

Her left hand transformed into a phantom and penetrated into Dong Che's back.

She should have grasped Dong Che's heart by now.

"Dongche, answer me--" I said, "Are you Dongche?"

(End of this chapter)