The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 132 Glass Beads

In the 4K high-definition picture, the sparkling glass beads were so clear and definite that he could almost see his own reflection.

Glass beads, glass beads!
The vague childhood memories kept repeating in his mind, mixed with his mother's face, the lush vegetation of Nanling, the moss covering the ancient stone statues, the serene faces of gods and Buddhas eroded by wind, and the Yuan crocodile carrying a broken stone tablet in the ancient doorway.

Everything came out like a tide.

"The marble rolls, rolls into the hole,

One, two, three, count clearly,

Four, five, six, chasing quickly,
Seven, eight, nine, win it!"

The childish voice repeated.

The mother leaned over to him with her young and gentle face and said, "One for you, and one for you too."

"You too." He murmured, "Too..." Everything seemed to be soaked in yellow water waves, so distorted and blurred that it was suffocating.

The tender hand reached out from his side and caught the marble from his mother.

It’s the marbles in the hand of the person in the camera!
Although the man was wearing a mask, this marble was enough to make Qi Fei certain that they had seen it before, on the edge of distant memory, in the early enlightenment era of mankind, they had seen it before!

The nursery rhyme rang in his ears again, but it was not the little boy singing alone, but two people singing back and forth!
Almost neurotically, he rushed to Liu Tong's office and stopped Liu Tong who was about to get off work.

"Captain Liu! Why did you ask me to investigate Zhang Juying's case?!" Qi Fei stared at Liu Tong with red eyes, his throat almost hoarse.

Liu Tong blinked innocently at him. "I just think that what Zhang Juying said is unreasonable in many ways and is different from the usual doctor-patient conflicts. What's wrong?"

"I..." Qi Fei felt like there was something stuck in his throat. He didn't know why, but the surveillance footage was like a seal branded in his mind, repeatedly warning him not to say it.

"I…" He tried to break through his words again, but failed.

Liu Tong noticed Qi Fei's abnormality and asked with concern, "What's wrong with you?"

Qi Fei rubbed his hair irritably, and finally said, "Forget it! Let me find out first!"

It seems that Liu Tong doesn't know about this.

However, someone sent Zhang Juying to the police station, the person in that camera.

He knew that the person he could ask for help was not Liu Tong.

There were sounds of footsteps in the corridor of Guiyue Apartment. Qi Fei didn't need to knock on the door, as Grandma Meng was already waiting for him through the security door with a vigilant look on her face.

"I want to see Zhong Kui." Qi Fei's attitude was tougher than ever. Looking at the indifferent Granny Meng, he showed his laptop and said, "Don't worry, I'm here for work!"

"Grandma." Zhong Kui's charming voice sounded behind Grandma Meng.

Under the dim light, her porcelain doll-like face was bright yet gloomy. She waved her hand lightly: "Let him in."

Grandma Meng didn't dare to disobey Zhong Kui's order.

Rakshasa had been taken over and was curled up by the stove, making gurgling sounds.

"I want to show you something!" Qi Fei said impatiently and opened his laptop in no time.

As the screen lit up, Qi Fei's fingers moved excitedly on the touchpad. Because he was shaking all the time, it took him several tries before he clicked on the video.

"23 minutes 54 seconds, 23 minutes 54 seconds..." He muttered as he finally scrolled to the picture. The moment the picture appeared, he was suddenly reminded of Zhong Kui's collapse in the Cloud Deep Secret Realm. At the last moment, he covered the screen with his hand and turned to face Zhong Kui, who was still leisurely watching his frantic work.

"Are you ready?" Qi Fei said seriously, "I think I found the monster."

When she heard the word "monster," her unrealistically beautiful face finally showed some human emotion, and she frowned slightly: "Today? Everything is not going well. It seems like the day was not calculated right."

"Your superstition is a setting given to you by Zhong Xiaoyu, don't believe it!" Qi Fei slowly stretched out his hand.

He stared at Zhong Kui's face nervously, fearing that she would have a personality breakdown the moment she saw that man.

However, when his hand completely left the screen, the room was unusually quiet and nothing happened.

Qi Fei stared at Zhong Kui's face, and Zhong Kui's ethereal big eyes looked at the screen for a long time, and suddenly, without warning, her eyes moved and looked at Qi Fei.

This expression was so weird that Qi Fei panicked for a moment.

"How, how is it?" He approached cautiously, "Are you Zhong Kui or Zhong Xiaoyu now?"

Zhong Kui looked at him expressionlessly and did not answer.

Qi Fei stretched out his hand and waved it in front of her, but Zhong Kui grabbed it immediately and smiled charmingly: "How is it? Are you scared to death?"

After hearing this, Qi Fei breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the person in front of him was still Zhong Kui.

"Have you seen this person?" Qi Fei was surprised by this overly normal reaction, which made him feel uneasy.

"I don't know him. Isn't he just an ordinary doctor?" Zhong Kui's answer surprised him.

"No, don't you think this person looks a lot like me?" Qi Fei asked unwillingly.

Zhong Kui shrugged: "No, it's completely different."

Qi Fei was so moved by Zhong Kui's words that he began to doubt his life, and had no choice but to find Grandma Meng.

"Grandma, look, doesn't this person look like me?" Qi Fei said.

The drooping corners of Grandma Meng's mouth have never relaxed since Qi Fei came in.

Her triangular eyes glanced at the screen, then at Qi Fei, and two words popped out of her mouth stiffly: "Not like."

"Zhong Kui, I remember you told me that you knew something about marbles. Do you remember? You must know something. How do you know about my childhood?" Qi Fei asked Zhong Kui for confirmation again.

Zhong Kui looked at him with a hint of confusion: "Did I say that?"

"Yes, you are right. It's just like the glass marbles you got when you were a child." Qi Fei repeated what Zhong Kui said at that time in a serious manner.

Zhong Kui seemed to be lost in thought, then a faint, cold smile appeared on the corner of her mouth. "I believe you. It seems my friend has been playing tricks on my memory again. The more something is erased, the more important it is. Now that we've come to this, tell me, what special meaning do marbles hold for you?"

This voice was different from when Qi Fei first came in. It was deeper and colder. The strong and confident Zhong Kui was back.

Zhong Kui lit the sweet incense, and the smoke swirled like little snakes slowly entangled in the air.

Qi Fei took a deep breath and tried to find the logic to narrate in the blurry picture.

"I vaguely remember that before I started kindergarten, my mom would take me to Nanling to play. There were usually very few people there, and we would often be alone there for half a day. I don't know why she didn't like taking me to parks or amusement parks, places with a lot of children. As a result, I didn't have any playmates since I was a child. It was just my mom and I playing in Nanling."

(End of this chapter)