Passerby: Secret Image of Ancient Scrolls

The middle-aged man on the bed started coughing. It sounded like he was coughing up his lungs.

Ye Zhuo's eyes reddened. He floored the accelerator, the tires slipped on the snow, and the pickup truck was desperately pulling backward.

The beast froze, sawing with the pika, sawing with the net, sawing with itself.

"You are the guardian of the forest." The old man's voice was soft, as soft as snow falling on snow. He lay on the bed, motionless. He was simply saying, "I don't know why you became like this, but you are the guardian. You have the ability and the responsibility to protect this forest."

The beast did not stop. It kept walking. It did not look back. It simply stared at the white deer with its burning eyes.

Pikachu pulled back an inch. The beast was dragged back a step. It paused. Just a moment. Then it took another step forward. One step pulled, one step taken.

It finally released its antlers; the precision machinery of the Industrial Revolution, representing human power, was ultimately pulled away by humanity itself. Those humans who had believed in themselves since ancient times.

The man sat up. His hands braced against the bed, he gasped, coughed, and his lips turned purple. He stood up. His whole body trembled. He didn't stop. Step by step, he walked towards the beast.

The shamanic bell in Aoluya's hand was still ringing, making a crisp sound. Ye Zhuo and Gu Tou called to him, but he didn't hear. He walked up to the beast, brought his mouth close to its ears, close to its two rows of white teeth, and close to the still-burning fire.

He stared at the ball of fire for a long time.

"You are the guardian angel," he said, his voice as soft as snowflakes falling on snow. "Never forget. People move away; that's their mission. But we, people like you and me, must stay. To protect this land."

Pikachu pulled back an inch. The beast was dragged back a step. It stood there, one paw still prying at the antlers, but didn't move forward.

It just stood there. The fire was trembling, as if something was fighting inside it.

The sound of the copper bell and the words of the forest farm uncle touched something deep within its soul.

A growling sound came from the beast's gleaming white teeth, like something crying. Then flames exploded. The fire burst from its eyes, illuminating the entire room.

"You are all liars!" A roar came from the beast's throat, the oldest syllables of nature, the sound of the first flame. Words that burst forth from that fire.

"Humans are all liars! They promised to protect, promised to remember, promised to come back. No one came back. No one remembered. No one protected!"

The wheels spun in place, violently rubbing against the snow and emitting white smoke. The beast lunged forward and pounced, grabbing at the man.

It was so fast that Ye Zhuo didn't have time to shout, Old Gu didn't have time to pull, and Ao Luya didn't have time to ring the bell. The uncle didn't move.

He stood there, looking at the fire, at the mouth that stretched to its ears, at the two rows of gleaming white teeth. He didn't move.

His legs were shaking, his hands were shaking, his whole body was shaking. He didn't back down.

Like everyone else, I will not back down.

"You are the guardian angel!" The man stopped coughing and roared. It was a roar forced from the deepest part of his chest, impossible to suppress. "Never forget! People moved away; it was their mission. But we must stay. To protect this land!"

The beast's claws stopped. They hovered in mid-air, only a foot from the man's face. It didn't retract, nor did it strike. It simply remained there. The fire trembled. Not burning, but trembling. Like something fighting within the fire, like something trying to emerge, like something weeping.

Ao Luya's bell was ringing. Not urgently, not sharply, but a deep, muffled sound, like something knocking on a door beneath layers of ice. She was shaking it desperately.

Her hands trembled, the bell rang, and tears fell. She didn't stop. She couldn't stop. If she stopped, the old man would be gone. If she stopped, the wild beasts would never return. If she stopped, this forest would be without its guardian spirit. She couldn't stop.

A putrid stench suddenly filled the air, exactly like the smell of the evil creature at the bottom of the river. Black vapors, thicker than ink, emanated from the beast. This was the evil energy of Su Jin that had invaded its body.

The evil energy began to stir. A sticky, shiny black substance dripped from its body, from its wounds, from the gaps in its scales, and from the edge of the fire in its eyes. It coalesced into a stream, burrowing towards Aoluya's bronze bell.

The copper bell is ringing; it's not Aoluya shaking it, it's ringing on its own.

The beast's throat was still gurgling, but its steps stopped.

It stood there, its paws trembling violently, inching forward inch by inch, its sharp claws just a centimeter in front of the old man's eyes. It continued to tremble as it stretched forward.

The fire was still burning, but it wasn't burning the fire itself; it was burning away the evil energy. The evil energy was drawn out of the fire, absorbed by the copper bell, and dispersed by the sound of the bell.

The beast's claws trembled even more violently. It wanted to tear apart the eyes of the person before it. Those evil spirits wouldn't easily leave its soul.

"You are the guardian spirit!" The old man stared intently at the ball of fire, motionless. He didn't even blink. The beast's claws trembled even more violently. It wasn't an attack; it was controlling itself. Those evil energies wouldn't easily leave its soul.

The claws were trembling, the body was trembling, and the flames were trembling.

The claws suddenly stopped trembling, stunned by the roar.

The fire dimmed for a moment. Just for a moment. Then it lit up again.

It gradually regained consciousness. It remembered the forest, the white deer, and the people dancing around the campfire. It remembered who it was.

Its claws fell from mid-air, hanging limply at its sides. It stood there, looking at the old man, at the white deer, at Aoluya, at the still-ringing bronze bell. It didn't pounce. It didn't scratch. It just stood there.

The copper bells rang, growing more urgent and shrill, like someone shouting. Evil energy surged from the beasts' bodies, growing ever more abundant, denser, and darker.

They burrowed into the copper bell, scattered by the sound, swallowed by the light. The copper bell trembled; it wasn't Aoluya shaking it, it was shaking itself. It had absorbed too much, far too much.

Ao Luya could no longer hold it. The copper bell slipped from her hand, hanging in mid-air, shaking, ringing, and trembling on its own.

The evil energy was still surging, still seeping, still being swallowed up. The copper bell trembled more and more violently, and the sound of the bell was no longer that of a bell, but a scream.

It was the evil spirits that were howling, the things that had been devoured for a hundred years that were howling, the wild beasts that were howling. It felt no pain. It didn't know what it was howling about. It just howled.

With a crisp "clang!", the copper bells exploded one by one. The copper bells also gained their own scales, which flew through the air, filled the room, landed on the scales of wild beasts, on nets, on animal traps, and in the blood on the neck of the white deer.

The copper bells fell silent. The evil auras ceased to surge. The black mist on the beast dissipated, the light on its scales went out, and the fire in its eyes died down.

It stood there, its paws hanging at its sides, looking at the uncle, at the white deer, and at Aoluya.

It took a step back. Then another step back. It turned around and left.

Step by step, he walked into the woods. The animal trap was still on his leg, the net was still on his body, and blood was still flowing.

It didn't stop. It didn't look back. It was afraid that if it looked back, it wouldn't be able to let go.

The white deer suddenly let out a cry, chased after the beast, and stood in front of it, staring straight at it.

Ao Luya understood instantly, and the wild beast also understood what the white deer meant.

But it continued forward, and the white deer blocked its path again. Aoluya also made up her mind and joined the white deer in blocking the beast, saying, "I believe you can do it."

Then it slowly stepped forward and embraced the beast. The scales were so soft and smooth, like silk, and it had become a guardian once more.

It can do it, Bai Lu knows it, and Ao Lu Ya knows it too.

Lin Jian held up his camera, snapping photos in quick succession, the flash exploding every few seconds in the darkness, the white light cutting into the faces of the laughing team members. Their laughter paused for a moment.

Just once. That's enough. Lu Ye shone his flashlight, then his teammates' flashlights, the beams striking those still-smiling faces. The evil tide was forced back from them, billowing black smoke, evaporating in the light.

They stopped laughing. They collapsed to the ground, panting.

Laughter broke out again. It wasn't the same group from before, but several other people.

Hehe, hehe, hehehehe. Lu Ye gripped his flashlight tightly, the beam cutting through the air and pulling the team members who had just started laughing out of the evil tide. But then two more collapsed, clutching their heads, their shoulders convulsing. They held one down, and another exploded. They held the other down, and this side collapsed.

Shen Xun leaned against the car door, his peach wood cane resting on the snow, the cane already dark.

He watched the rising and falling laughter, watched the team members who had just been rescued collapse again, watched Lin Jian's flashes slow down. He realized that they weren't trying to overwhelm them, but to wear them down.

Mr. Li was still paralyzed inside the golden light shield. The Saturn rings were broken up round after round, but every time they were broken up, a wisp of black energy would always sneak in from outside the shield and wrap around his arm again.

No. It didn't crawl in, it was connected. Connected to something outside. Shen Xun took off his sunglasses, his golden pupils flashing in the darkness. He saw it.

A red thread was wrapped around Mr. Li's body, not on his arm, but growing from his chest. That thread passed through the still surging evil tides, across the open space in front of the building, and stretched into the distance.

He followed the red line. His gaze went over the tall building that had trapped them all night, over the flattened wasteland behind it, over the withered shrubs and cracked clods of earth.

The red line disappeared at the edge of the wasteland. There was nothing there, everything was covered in snow, flat and clean. But the red line just seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, as if it had grown from the heart of something.

He saw it again, not just one, but countless red threads, densely packed, emerging from the snow, from beneath the frozen earth, from things buried for who knows how many years. A single red thread connected to an empty face.

A red thread connects to a devoured soul. The thickest thread stretches across the wasteland, through the building, and connects to President Li's chest.

The source is there. It has always been there. It has always been producing. It has always been waiting.

"Lu Ye," Shen Xun spoke, his voice soft, as soft as snow falling on snow. "Get everyone in the car." Lu Ye turned to look at him. Shen Xun didn't look at him, staring at the barren snowfield at the edge of the wasteland. "The source is over there in the wasteland. If we don't deal with it, we'll never finish fighting."

He stood up, using his peach wood cane for support. His back was still straight. His hands were still steady.

"Get in!" Lu Ye shouted. The team members scrambled to their feet, dragging their still-shaking comrades into the bread cart. The small cart was crammed with so many people. One squeezed into another. The door barely closed.

Lu Ye got into the driver's seat, turned the key, and started the engine. He glanced at the rearview mirror; the evil tide was still chasing him, its faceless form pressed against the rear window glass, one image after another.

"Call the guy next to Xiao Bu. Have Xiao Bu operate the drone to fly in front of the car, providing cross-cover with the car lights," Lu Ye said to his teammate.

The team member took out his phone and communicated Lu Ye's request to Xiao Bu.

Xiao Bu stared at the screen, gripping the remote control even tighter. He lowered the drone, bringing it within the range of the car headlights. The drone, with two broken propellers and its fuselage askew, wobbled in front of the bread truck, its lights still on, flickering.

The beam of light pierced the darkness, drones flew within the light, and the evil tide chased after it from the outside. They dared not enter. They feared the light.

The van sped across the snow, kicking up clouds of snow. The headlights and drone lights provided crisscrossing cover, doing their utmost to prevent the evil tide from breaking through. Flashlights swung wildly through the windows, sending out thin beams of light that shone onto the pursuing empty faces.

Lin Jian huddled in the back seat, pressing the shutter every few seconds. The flashes exploded out of the car windows, forcing the nearest empty faces to take a step back. Shen Xun sat in the passenger seat, his peach wood cane resting on his knees.

He was watching. Watching those red lines. Getting denser and denser. The further he drove, the denser they became.

The car stopped. We've arrived at the wasteland.

The snow covered everything, except for a small area where there was nothing but soil, blending seamlessly with the surrounding snow. The snow that fell on it vanished instantly, as if someone had just swept it.

The group got out of the car and stood between the drone and the car lights, using flashlights to provide cover.

Shen Xun walked to the center of the barren land where there was nothing, stood there, and took off his sunglasses.

He saw it. Not an evil tide, but red threads. Countless red threads, rising from beneath this clearing, from the depths of the frozen earth, from things buried for who knows how many years. A red thread connected to an empty face. A red thread connected to a soul that had been devoured.

They are underground, in the darkness, in places no one remembers. They are being sucked, drained, and drained dry. They are the source of the evil tide.

Beside the bread truck, Lu Ye held up a flashlight, its beam still shining. Xiao Bu was maneuvering the drone, its two propellers broken, suspended on the roof of the truck, swaying precariously, its lights flickering on and off.

The team members stood beside the vehicle, flashlights piercing the darkness and illuminating the now barren wasteland. Lin Jian, camera in hand, stood in the snow, watching Shen Xun's retreating figure. He didn't speak. She didn't speak either.

The drone was still circling erratically in the sky, its propellers humming in the wind. The light was still flashing. It hadn't gone out. It wouldn't go out.