Immortal I Speedrun Supernatural Game

The Four Noble Truths.

"These are the four truths: the truth of suffering, the truth of the origin of suffering, the truth of the cessation of suffering, and the truth of the path to the cessation of suffering."

"They are used to explain the origins of the cycle of birth and death and the path to liberation for all beings, thereby inspiring beings to resolve to renounce suffering and cultivate the path."

The fortress explained the concept of the Four Noble Truths to others.

Looking at Wu Xiaoyou, who was still standing there, with a complicated expression, he continued:

"Among them, the Truth of Suffering is a value judgment made about society, life, and the natural environment, which holds that the nature of everything in the secular world is 'suffering'."

All the suffering of the world...

He had no idea what Wu Xiaoyou was feeling at that moment.

All I know is that it must have been unpleasant.

Click—

Just then, Wu Xiaoyou's body swayed slightly.

Crystals resembling those of a Buddha statue began to appear on her body.

Upon seeing this, Hei Yan Huiming clasped his hands together and said, "Amitabha..."

It seemed that all of this was within his expectations, and the other party was being assimilated by the Buddha statue of the "Truth of Suffering" little by little.

Ultimately, she too will become the figure struggling in agony within the belly of the Buddha statue of the Truth of Suffering.

Only Wu Wang, who had just said he believed in his second sister, remained calm and composed even when he saw this scene.

He admitted that things now seemed to be going badly.

But this is only temporary.

Only I know how gentle and strong my second sister is inside, even... in some ways stronger than myself.

-----

At that moment, Wu Xiaoyou was naturally unaware of her companions' worries and the situation inside the secret room.

What lies before her is no longer just her own memories.

Even more familiar yet never-before-seen memories began to surface.

That was a familiar street.

It's a vegetable market not far from my home in Mingyang City.

The market was still dark in the early morning, with dim yellow lights illuminating the wet ground.

A woman squatted behind a stall, her hands red with cold as she looked at the vegetables laid out in front of her.

Those fingers had large knuckles and cracks at the joints.

Wu Xiaoyou knew her—she was the auntie who always set up her stall earliest in the vegetable market.

Her surname is Li, but we don't know her exact name. Everyone just calls her Aunt Li. Her hair is almost completely white, so she's quite old.

Sometimes Wu Xiaoyou would buy vegetables from Aunt Li, and she basically didn't haggle with Aunt Li. This was not only because Aunt Li's prices were already low, but also because she wanted to take care of the elderly.

Aunt Li was peeling scallions. She would peel one, put it in the scale pan, and then look up to see if anyone was coming.

When no one was around, she continued peeling, endlessly repeating this tedious process.

Her back was hunched over like a boiled shrimp.

"If we don't sell them all today, they'll rot tomorrow." She muttered to herself.

Aunt Li has a scar on the back of her hand, which extends from her wrist to the base of her thumb. The scar seems to speak volumes, reflecting Aunt Li's inner thoughts to Wu Xiaoyou.

"I was chopping vegetables back then, when my husband was still alive."

“I was chopping vegetables at home while he was out drinking. I cut my hand and the bleeding wouldn’t stop. I called him, but he didn’t answer. I’m heartbroken about my marriage.”

"But no matter what, he's still here."

"Now that he's gone, my heart aches even more."

Aunt Li is still peeling onions.

Her back became more and more hunched and lower, until it was almost buried in the two baskets of vegetables in front of her.

Wu Xiaoyou instinctively reached out to help her up.

The image changed halfway through the hand's reach.

This is one of the better hospitals in Mingyang City. Wu Xiaoyou once brought Wu Wang here for psychological counseling.

In the same consultation room, she saw a familiar figure.

That's Uncle Zhang from downstairs.

He was an ordinary office worker, living a life of working from 8 am to 1 pm, and because he often worked overtime, his home time was uncertain, but it was always very late.

He and his elderly mother lived alone at home.

Uncle Zhang sat in front of the doctor, looking tired that Wu Xiaoyou had never seen before.

He covered his head with his hands and remained silent.

Only when tears fall drop by drop, this silent sobbing is more painful than crying out loud.

On the table is a medical report.

Wu Xiaoyou couldn't see the words clearly, but she noticed that Uncle Zhang had a bald patch on his head, about the size of a coin, with a bluish-white scalp.

The bald patches, like Aunt Li's wounds, reflect her inner world.

"My hair fell out overnight. The doctor said it's nothing serious, just stress, and it will grow back."

"But it's been three months and it hasn't grown."

“My mother is seventy years old this year, and I haven’t been able to give her a grandson yet. I can’t have children.”

"Mom, our family line is over..."

brush--

My memories have changed again.

This was a place Wu Xiaoyou had never seen before: an extremely small rented room, only about ten square meters.

At first glance, the room only contained a bed, a table, and an induction cooker on top; there was very little furniture.

Wu Xiaoyou did have some recollection of the young girl lying on the bed.

This appears to be one of the employees at the escape room shop where Ah-di used to work.

The other person was facing the wall with their head covered by the blanket, and their phone was on the pillow with the screen unlocked.

At this moment, in the WeChat chat window, the pinned contact name is an extremely affectionate nickname.

The last message was sent yesterday; it was a message from the girl to the other person:
"I'm pregnant."

A whole day has passed.

There was no reply from the other end.

The girl lay face down without moving, but the pillow was soaked and was slowly spreading.

Before the phone went dark, Wu Xiaoyou saw the girl's phone lock screen wallpaper—a photo of the girl and a boy.

She was smiling brightly at that time, with the beautiful seaside scenery in the background.

The rented room grew darker and darker.

The sky outside the window, however, grew brighter and brighter.

It wasn't until the midday sun was high in the sky that Wu Xiaoyou realized she was outside.

This is a scene from a nearby construction site, where a man is squatting beside a pile of steel bars, eating a boxed lunch while sweating profusely.

Although they had only met a few times, Wu Xiaoyou still remembered the other person.

He was a migrant worker who lived near the orphanage where I used to live. I didn't know his name, but he would occasionally give candy to the children at the orphanage.

At this moment, the rice in the other person's hand was topped with two slices of meat and three slices of green vegetables.

He ate very slowly, chewing for a long time, each bite as if he were counting.

There was a mineral water bottle at my feet, but it didn't contain water. Instead, it contained some kind of dark brown liquid that gave off a strong bitter smell.

He took a sip and frowned, clearly indicating that the taste was not very good.

The mineral water bottle is reflecting—

"The Chinese medicine I was decocting damaged my liver."

"The doctor said I can't do it anymore."

"But how will we buy medicine? How will we send our children to school? How will we pay the rent? How will we eat?"

The migrant worker looked up at the tall buildings in the distance.

It's over thirty stories high and still hasn't been topped out.

He had laid bricks and mortar in that building, and walked on its scaffolding countless times. But there would never be a window in that building that belonged to him.

He lowered his head and continued eating, still very slowly.

It's so slow, like counting down the last days of your life.

The images began to flash like a carousel, seemingly without end.

In the subway, a man was sleeping while standing, his head nodding slightly, drool still hanging from the corner of his mouth, and a briefcase clutched in his hand.
There was a food stall at 3 a.m., where the owner was frying skewers while looking at her phone. On the phone was a video of her child saying, "Mom, I miss you. Will you come back for Chinese New Year?"

In the corridor of the nursing home, an elderly man walked slowly while holding onto the wall. Every step seemed to take all his strength, but he still did not stop because the nurse said that walking more was good for his health and that not getting sick was the best help he could give to his children.

There were also pregnant women in the delivery room, covered in sweat, their fingernails digging into the sheets, biting their lips until they bled, as they strained desperately to hear that first cry.

The screen flashed faster and faster.

The sounds of crying, sighing, and silence blended into a buzzing roar.

Wu Xiaoyou stood in the middle of all this, surrounded and overwhelmed by the pain of countless people.

Even if she closes her eyes and covers her ears.

Those images and sounds did not disappear.

They burrow into ears, burrow into skin, burrow into bones.

Wu Xiaoyou could feel the cracked hands, the bald head, the soaked pillow, and the food that had been chewed for a long time.

She could sense how exhausted the man, who was always tired and wanted to rest, was; how weak the knees of the elderly man, who was leaning against the wall and walking unsteadily, were; and how terrified the woman in the delivery room was, biting her lip until it bled from the effort...

She is enduring all of this.

To bear all the suffering in the world.

After an unknown amount of time, Wu Xiaoyou slowly opened her eyes.

He then forced himself to continue forward despite the pain in his body.

Seeing Aunt Li peeling scallions, Wu Xiaoyou squatted down and peeled them with her; seeing Uncle Zhang sitting in the counseling room, Wu Xiaoyou sat down next to him without saying a word, leaving a pack of cigarettes on the table when she left; seeing the young girl lying on the bed, Wu Xiaoyou reached out and touched her hair, then braided it into a pretty braid...

Wu Xiaoyou's figure appeared in one scene after another.

She doesn't save anyone.

She just stayed with her.

It's not the Buddha's lofty compassion, but the silent companionship of people.

Wu Xiaoyou knew that she was not a so-called god or a Buddha who looked down on the world, and she could not eliminate everyone's suffering.

But she can stand with everyone on the opposite side of suffering, facing it with the brilliance of her life.

Being there for someone is the most silent form of tenderness and strength.

The scene started to slow down.

Although the crying still lingered, it was no longer the tide that overwhelmed her, but had become a river.

Wu Xiaoyou stood in the middle of the river.

Water flowed past her, wetting the hem of her clothes and melting the crystals on her body, yet she still did not collapse.

Countless figures stood on the opposite bank of the river. Besides myself, who was of various ages standing at the front, there were many people behind me.

Everyone was looking at Wu Xiaoyou in the middle of the river.

She lowered her head and put her crystallized finger in her mouth, taking a sip.

It's very salty, so salty it's almost bitter, so bitter it almost makes you lose your sense of taste.

It's like yourself on the other side of the river, and those unfortunate people asking—

"You saw us, and then what?"

"You see us in pain, and then what?"

"You see we're tired, and then what?"

"You see we're afraid, and then what?"

Wu Xiaoyou remained silent for a long time.

Suddenly, she smiled.

It wasn't a forced, bitter smile, nor a helpless, miserable one.

It was a very light and gentle laugh, like the gentle way a mother would brush her hair when she was a child.

Wu Xiaoyou said, "I'm sorry, I can't make you feel pain and suffering."

"I've also experienced pain and suffering; I understand that feeling."

"But I'm still standing."

After saying that, she endured the excruciating pain all over her body and moved from the river to the bank.

He approached Wu Qing, who stood in the corner of the hospital corridor in his six-year-old memory, squatted down, and hugged her.

He said, "It's okay, I will survive."

He walked up to his fourteen-year-old self, who was standing on the empty playground, and patted her on the shoulder.

He said, "It's alright, there are many more people we will meet in the future."

He came up behind his twenty-year-old self, who was lying on the freezer, bent down, and held her hand tightly.

He said, "It's alright, they will always live in our hearts."

Now at twenty-two, sitting across from myself in the dorm, I move my instant noodle bowl aside and look directly into each other's red, stressed eyes.

She said, "It's okay, you'll get through this. Your brother is very capable, so don't worry about him. We will all live well in the future."

After doing all this, Wu Xiaoyou looked up at everyone.

With a firm gaze, he said, "I'm standing here not because I'm not afraid of pain or hardship, but because I know—after the pain and hardship are over, I still have to live."

"Living is the most powerful word in the world. Its power does not come from shouting or attacking, but from enduring, enduring everything that living brings."

"The greatest resistance to suffering is not to erupt, but to live earnestly."

"I will live on strongly, and I hope you will too."

There were no demands, no pity, and no helplessness.

There is only hope.

Gradually, the faces of the people behind him changed one by one.

Aunt Li, who was peeling onions, straightened up. Uncle Zhang, who had been holding his head, let go of his hand. The young girl on the bed turned over and looked out at the dawn. The man squatting on the pile of steel bars swallowed the last bite of food, stood up, and continued walking towards the thirty-story building.

The man who was asleep on the subway woke up a second before the train arrived at the station; the owner of the fried food stall booked a ticket back to her hometown on her phone; the elderly man who was walking with his arms around the wall received a caring phone call from his children; and the pregnant woman in the delivery room finally heard the cry that signified the arrival of a new life.

The different versions of themselves around Wu Xiaoyou raised their hands and gently patted away the crystals on her body.

It revealed normal, perfect skin beneath the crystallization.

She was like a lotus flower emerging from the bitter salt crystals.

Get out of the mud without dyeing, licking and not demon.

In the secret chamber of the scripture pavilion, everyone also saw that the Buddha statue of the "Suffering Truth" in front of Wu Xiaoyou had changed.

The Buddha statue's eyes were slightly open, letting out a sliver of bright light.

The figure struggling and wailing in agony in its abdomen has also vanished without a trace.

brush--

In an instant, all the abnormalities on Wu Xiaoyou's body surface fell off.

She took a deep breath and asked the dark-eyed Huiming, "May I ask, am I qualified to see the Buddha?"

The other person looked at the crystal heart, about the size of a bottle cap, that Wu Xiaoyou was holding in her hand.

This is the core of the Truth of Suffering.

He said with a slightly wistful tone, "Such Buddha-nature is something I have never seen before in my life; she is certainly worthy of it."

Upon hearing this, the other players nearby couldn't help but twitch their lips.

Byd, that's not what you were saying just now. Before he came out, he was trapped in the world and couldn't get out. Now that he has broken through the [Truth of Suffering] and come out, he has seen his Buddha-nature for the first time in his life.

This bald monk is full of nonsense, he just spouts off whatever comes to mind!
Hei Yan Huiming watched Wu Xiaoyou turn and walk back to the player team.

Unable to resist asking, "May I ask, female benefactor, since all beings suffer, what is the purpose of living?"

Without turning her head or stopping, Wu Xiaoyou said, "People live for the sake of living itself, not for anything beyond living."

Then, her voice was full of doubt as she said, "Hmm? Brother, why are you putting this kind of thing under your feet? You're not planning to embed the same pattern on that monk's bald head, are you? Are you practicing with some pebbles first?"

The players nearby: "..."

Holy crap! Sis, don't you know this guy a little too well?! (End of Chapter)