From the end of the world

Chapter 315 Jiu Xing
Neat and clean black medium-length hair, fair and delicate skin, and a lovely face... The little girl who appeared in the room of the villa and was practicing sword hard looked the same age as Xiaowan in the photo, both of them were about ten years old, and even their appearance was exactly the same.

Ma Zao and I have speculated about Xiao Wan's true identity. Xiao Wan might be a relative of Zhu Shi, or Zhu Jiu's illegitimate daughter, or a daughter born to Zhu Shi in the apocalyptic era. Ma Zao even suspected that Xiao Wan's father might be me...

I have also thought about whether Xiaowan is Zhu Shi himself. Although it is not right for Zhu Shi to "rejuvenate" and become a little girl in the future, I have seen so many things that go against common sense, so one more thing is not surprising. The doomsday era itself is a world with disordered time and space order. Besides, I have the ability to "rejuvenate", so it is natural to imagine whether the same thing may happen to other people.

However, I didn't expect it to be this similar.

This level of similarity can no longer be explained by relatives or daughters. Even if they are biological daughters, their appearance is at most 70%, 80%, and 90% similar, not exactly the same. Of course, there may really be people in this world who look so similar to their mothers or female relatives that they can't be distinguished, but I can't use "this is just a coincidence" to conclude that my surprise is just a coincidence.

"Does your family have other relatives who look similar to Zhu Shi?" I asked first.

"Relatives? No, I don't know... I've never heard my grandparents talk about relatives."

Little Chang'an first shook his head, then looked at little Zhu Shi who was practicing sword with a guilty look.

It can be seen that little Zhu Shi was so tired and in so much pain that he wanted to give up, but he still forced himself to move with tears in his eyes under the scolding of old Mr. Zhu.

"Jiu Xing... No, Zhu Shi!"

Mr. Zhu had a stern expression, and he addressed Xiao Zhu Shi by his full name, and said in a cold voice, "We can no longer rely on that kid Chang'an, the future of the Zhu family can only rely on you.

"Because you were not the heir in the past, I listened to Ajiu and let you live a lazy life, playing house with your rag dolls all day long. But from now on, you must pick up all the lessons you missed in the past and double your training!"

Xiao Zhu Shi panted and said, "Grandpa... I'm really tired, my arms hurt so much, I can't practice anymore..."

"Sweat more in peacetime so that you can bleed less in battle! How many times do you need me to tell you this?" Mr. Zhu scolded, "Now you say you can't practice anymore, I can let you rest. But when those monsters and demons press their claws and teeth on your throat in the future, will you also tell them that you can't fight anymore and ask them to spare your life!?"

“But…but aren’t we demon hunters? Why are there so many…so many killing moves in the things my grandfather asked me to practice…” Xiao Zhu Shi said painfully.

"Because you will have to kill people in the future." Mr. Zhu said coldly, "Among the enemies you will face in the future, there will not only be strange creatures, but also fallen demon hunters. The latter are sometimes more dangerous than inhuman monsters. You can only avoid being killed by them if you learn how to kill people."

"I...I don't want to kill anyone..." Xiao Zhu Shi shed tears.

Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhu showed a look of anger.

"I didn't ask you if you want to or not. You don't need to have your own ideas. Just do what I say! Do you understand? If you understand, keep practicing!"

Under the thunderous scolding, little Zhu Shi trembled all over, and was frightened so much that his hands loosened and the sword fell to the ground. Mr. Zhu became even more angry when he saw this, and took a step forward, raising his right hand as if to slap. Little Zhu Shi screamed in fear, and fell backwards involuntarily, holding his head and curled up on the ground.

Seeing this scene, Mr. Zhu was stunned, and his raised hand stopped in mid-air. Memories appeared in his eyes, and then his expression became relaxed, and he slowly put his hand down.

As if realizing that the pain he imagined had not come for a long time, little Zhu Shi carefully opened his arm and peeked into Mr. Zhu's face.

After a while, she timidly asked, "...Grandpa?"

Mr. Zhu looked at little Zhu Shi silently. After a long while, he said, "I'm sorry, little Shi... it was grandpa's fault. Grandpa shouldn't have yelled at you... Please forgive grandpa, okay?
"Let's stop here for today's lesson, but... we will continue tomorrow and continue to practice the killing moves. There are many bad people in this world. Learning how to deal with them is to save more good people and to protect yourself...

"Your brother is no longer able to do so. Your mother and grandmother are not strong enough to support the family. Your father... let's not talk about him, and your grandfather can't always be your umbrella of protection... You have to be strong on your own."

As he spoke, he showed a dejected look. Xiao Zhu Shi stared blankly, then whispered: "I... I know, I will continue to practice... I will continue to practice swordsmanship and magic, grandpa, don't be sad..."

Looking at Zhu Shi like this, I recalled how I had seen her kill enemies gracefully on the battlefield. I also recalled how she calmly chopped off the head of a fallen demon hunter whose life or death she didn't know was dead or alive to ensure the death of the enemy... She was not born with the courage to join the battle, nor was she born with the heart to take the life of others.

How much blood, sweat and tears did she put in to become who she is now.

Little Chang'an was also standing nearby, looking at the things in the room through the window. After a moment, he said, "Originally, I should have been the one practicing swordsmanship there. Although Grandpa always hated me, he also admitted that I was born to be a demon hunter. I have demon blood flowing in my body, and I only need simple training to burst out extraordinary power... But...

"I lost my talent to become a demon hunter, and even forgot all the knowledge and skills I learned in the past..."

He revealed a very uncomfortable expression, and his hands hanging on both sides of his body were clenched into fists unwillingly. He whispered: "It's all because of my fault that Jiuxing has to suffer so much..."

Changan, you are actually a "fallen genius"... I couldn't help but have this thought, and then said: "The training you and Zhu Shi received should be for dealing with strange things, and there should be some magic training among them."

He answered vaguely: "Well, it's more or less like this..."

"But you said before that you couldn't prove the existence of strange things and demon hunters to others in school, nor could you find them? It's obvious that you yourself have the elements of strange things?"

In order to make him realize that this was a false dream and help him wake up, I deliberately pointed out the contradictions in his previous and subsequent words.

But he nodded as if it was a matter of course, and said, "Yes, because I can't remember these things anymore... I even forgot that I had received training. I don't know that I am a descendant of a demon, I don't know that I was born in a demon hunter family, and I don't know who is shedding blood and sweat for me..."

He seemed unable to realize his own contradictions, and sighed unconsciously from an angle beyond the background of the dream. At this point, I felt that logic and reason might not be able to make him truly sober.

After saying that, he walked forward again, and I continued to follow him. The surrounding scene changed unconsciously, and we came to the interior of the Zhu family villa. The time and space of the dream were disordered. I was not surprised by this, but just tried to figure out the deep meaning behind the change.

Although the scene was changing, Little Chang'an was still walking in front of me. The change seemed to be centered around him. Sure enough, hidden under the appearance of Little Chang'an was probably Chang'an himself. This was his spiritual world.

I made a judgment while continuing to observe the surroundings. We are now in the corridor. There is a half-open door on one side of the corridor, and you can see directly into the room. It seems to be Xiao Zhushi's room, with many delicate and soft decorations and furnishings, and some dolls scattered here and there.

Xiao Zhushi was also in the room at the moment. With tears in her eyes, she silently picked up the rag dolls in the room, looked at them with care for a long time, and then put them into a large, crude sack. Then she picked up another rag doll, looked at it with care for a long time, and put it into the sack again...

"Zhu Shi?" I asked.

She seemed to be unable to hear my call, as if she was in a world away from us, and just repeated the same action without saying a word. It seemed that except for Xiao Chang'an, the other characters in this dream were just "NPCs" and I could not interact with them normally.

Originally, I was thinking whether I could talk to Zhu Shi and Mr. Zhu in the dream and get clues related to the small bowl from them - when I thought of this, I felt an indescribable sense of disobedience in my heart.

At the same time, watching Xiao Zhu Shi's actions, I somehow thought of another thing.

At the end of the last virtual meeting, in order to facilitate locking down Xiaowan's true identity in the real world, I asked Xiaowan for clues about her past, and she said those words.

——"When I was a child, I seemed to have a lot of dolls, but then something happened and I decided to abandon all the dolls..."

——"And my mother picked up all the dolls I had abandoned and carefully stored them in a white box."

Could it be that what Xiaowan said is what Xiaozhu Shi is doing now?

(End of this chapter)