From the end of the world

Chapter 50 Friends 1
Chang'an has never been someone who is good at disguising himself, and as his friend, I also think I have a deep understanding of his character.

He has a stubborn side, or an awkward side. If you ask him to do something directly, he might do it; but if you forbid him to do something, he might rebel and insist on doing the forbidden thing, and even make a big show of it, for fear that no one would know that he had done it.

So I know very well that if I suddenly stay away from him without saying anything, or tell him directly here that we are breaking up, he will definitely not accept it. Not only that, he might come to bother me every day. That is something I don't want to see. I don't want to pass on the troubles that Ma Zao passed on to me to him.

I already had a concrete plan in my mind to stay away from Chang'an and other normal interpersonal relationships. This distance was not achieved overnight, but gradually.

However, I had already prepared my own speech, but when I saw Chang'an's face, I suddenly didn't know what to say, and the speech I had prepared with great difficulty disappeared.

I can only try hard to get back to the state I should be in.

Maybe these are all excuses, I just want to talk more with my good friend in the last moments.

Changan and I sat at the long table in the fried chicken shop. He smiled and pulled at his collar, and talked to me about his past two days: "I have been staying at the military hospital before. The food there is healthy, but it tastes terrible. And there is no one to talk to me, and my mother can't speak either."

I replied dryly: "How is Auntie now?"

"Still the same as always, lying in bed with no response," he said.

Changan and Zhu Shi's mother was in a vegetative state. According to Changan, one day, she suddenly fell into a coma mysteriously and never regained consciousness again. Although according to medical examinations, all her physical test data showed a healthy state, she just couldn't wake up. If it weren't for the fact that her physiological activities were still continuing, she could basically be considered a corpse.

Chang'an naturally couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried, but Zhu Shi was definitely clear about it, and now I also understand it.

This is "soul loss syndrome".

The source of transmission is unknown, the mode of transmission is unknown, and the treatment is unknown... This is not even a disease that conforms to the normal medical definition, but is more like a curse caused by a weird thing. Those who are infected have lost their souls. This is a weird phenomenon that is prevalent all over the world.

Ma is already the only awakened person in the world, and this is also the fundamental motivation for Luo Shan to search the entire country to find her.

If Ma Zao is really a doomsday time traveler, then according to common sense, her awakening has nothing to do with amnesia, and studying her will not yield any clues, let alone helping Chang'an's mother.

But I have other ideas. Why did she happen to travel through time and space to a person with amnesia, and why did this person have a body that was almost identical to her original body? Was her traveling through time and space really unrelated to amnesia?
From my perspective, if she refuses to continue the relationship with me, I can only choose to imprison her and hide her in a place where no one can reach her. On the other hand, as long as I can guarantee to continue the relationship with her and she is willing, then even if Luo Shan wants to find a way to cure amnesia through her, it is not impossible. This must be something that Chang'an will be happy to see happen.

But there is a key issue here, that is, some forces in Luoshan showed disregard for Ma Zao's basic rights during the search for Ma Zao, which made me vaguely smell the smell of not taking the right path. I myself have no right to say that they disregarded the basic rights of others, but it does not prevent me from being cautious and vigilant towards people who do similar things.

Changan continued to complain: "My sister is so good. She usually goes to visit mom. When I go, she disappears and leaves me there alone. Don't you think it's weird?"

I knew Zhu Shi was busy with the Fallen Demon Hunter incident at the time, so I couldn't talk to Chang An about this topic, so I could only reply blandly, "Maybe you don't behave properly and she hates you."

He turned a deaf ear to this and just sighed: "She was obviously a lovely girl who loved music when she was a child. She also liked to play with a guitar. Look, she is walking around with a guitar case on her back now. She is probably playing in a band somewhere. But since she changed her name several years ago, she has been very cold to me for some reason..."

What’s in Zhu Shi’s guitar case now may not be a guitar, but most likely the sword she held in front of me last time.

While thinking this, I noticed the key information in Changan's words: "Changed the name?"

Changan seemed to have mentioned a similar topic to me before, but at that time I didn’t know Zhu Shi’s true identity, and I had no interest in Zhu Shi, so I missed that topic.

"Yes, isn't her name 'Zhu Shi' now? Don't you think this name doesn't sound very girly?" Chang'an asked back.

"The name Zhu Shi sounds quite neutral, but it's not so strange to give a girl a neutral name."

"Let me tell you, this '拾' is not the '拾' of '挑起', but the '拾' of the capital number '十'." Changan gave me the answer from an unexpected angle, "Our Zhu family is a family with some strange traditions. For some reason, we always give our descendants numerical names. For example, my mother's name is '朱九', and the ones before her were '朱八', '朱七', '朱陆'..."

This is a rather mysterious tradition.

The Zhu family is a local invisible wealthy family. I have never associated it with weirdness in the past. Before, when I saw Zhu Shi hiding the fact that he was a demon hunter from Chang An, I thought that Zhu Shi was a single-handed demon hunter and his family was unaware of it. Now it seems that maybe the Zhu family itself has some secrets, but Chang An himself doesn't know?

"What if there are other brothers and sisters?" I asked.

"Generally, all children are given non-numeric names first, and then the heir is chosen from among the children and the name is changed individually," he said. "For example, my sister used to be called 'Zhu Jiuxing', but after entering junior high school, she started to be called 'Zhu Shi'."

"Your name is Chang'an and her name is Jiuxing. They are indeed a good name for brother and sister." I commented.

"Although we are not biological siblings." He said sadly, "You also know that I am just an illegitimate child born by my bastard father from another woman, and the one lying in the hospital now is not my biological mother. Although in my mind she is my real mother, and she is very good to me, but..."

"Is this the reason why you haven't visited your aunt?"

"I know I'm just being upset, but... you said Zhu Shi is distancing himself from me now, could it be because of this..." He said in a hollow tone, "My dad hasn't come to see me, could it be because of..."

He always acts like a tough guy in front of other people, but now he shows his weak side in front of me.

Because he is my friend, I have asked about him before. His father is a high-ranking official of the government, and his whereabouts have been unknown for many years.

It's not that Chang'an's father died somewhere, but he seems to be doing secret activities that are not convenient to disclose to the public. Maybe it's related to some confidential government projects. He has always been in the official position, but he is not at his post. And he seems to be paying attention to Chang'an in secret. Whenever Chang'an does something bad that he needs to clean up, he will send someone to deal with it.

He is the son-in-law of the Zhu family, and his position is not very solid. As his illegitimate son, Changan naturally cannot feel the normal family warmth in the Zhu family. I used to suspect that the reason why Changan always makes trouble outside, in addition to venting his negative emotions, is there a hidden motive of wanting to attract his father's attention.

"He probably cares about you in his own way, but due to work reasons, it is not convenient for him to show up in public," I comforted him.

"I hope so." He ended the topic hastily and turned his attention to another matter. "By the way, Ah Cheng, about that cave... the cave in the room on the fifteenth floor, do you remember it?"

"Of course I won't forget it."

"I actually... regret it a little. I didn't become interested in strange things until I met you. I've always wanted to prove the existence of strange things. But I... I ran away from that cave and didn't even dare to go in." He gritted his teeth, "I've had nightmares in the past two days. I dreamed that a big hand stretched out from the cave and grabbed me into the dark cave. Then the entrance disappeared, and I couldn't find a way out... I think instead of being so scared all the time, it's better..."

At the end of the conversation, he suddenly became frustrated and said self-deprecatingly: "I'm sorry... what nonsense was I talking about? I'd better forget what I just said. No matter how you think about it, it's too crazy..."

"I'm sorry, but you may be disappointed to hear the following news," I said. "As for the cave you mentioned, it will no longer appear."

"...Ah?" He opened his eyes wide, "What!"

"In fact, I asked you out to tell you this." I was determined, "I have already explored the cave. Due to some process that is inconvenient to explain, the cave has now completely disappeared."

"Wait! Don't just gloss over it. What is the process that is difficult to explain clearly?" he asked.

I took a breath, steeled my resolve, and began to weave a lie: "The problem isn't there, it's after."

He stared at me. "After?"

"Perhaps I was cursed by that cave. The reason why I can't tell you the whole process is because I don't know whether the information I tell you will cause harm to you. You should know this, right? Just knowing about strange things can be dangerous." I used a serious tone.

"Ah, well, some new ghost stories have such settings, like memes or something..." He nodded half-knowingly at first, and then was shocked, "So you are entangled by that kind of thing!?"

"Yes. Just telling you over the phone may not make you feel real, so I'm telling you in person now." I said solemnly, "It's better for us not to continue to interact for a while."

(End of this chapter)