Passerby: Secret Image of Ancient Scrolls

The evil tide was dissipating, and they scattered and fled, but they still couldn't escape. The shadows were everywhere, and all those empty faces were filled with the shadows of the White Impermanence. They were pulled and attracted, and involuntarily drifted towards the gaping maw of the shadows.

The shadowy figure of Bai Wuchang, obscuring the sky and shimmering with white light, swept over, and the evil tide vanished. Wave after wave, and yet another. The shadow grew larger, thicker, and denser.

It is growing, recovering, becoming what it was meant to be. It has swallowed too much, far too much. It is no longer hungry. It is just still swallowing.

Shen Xun stared at the dark figure without speaking. "Do you believe me?" he seemed to hear the shadowy figure from beyond the boundary asking him again.

For thousands of years, I have been the only companion on my lonely journey of protection.

Xie Bi'an.

The red threads connecting the dolls trembled wildly, like countless taut strings, desperately trying to pull the empty faces back into their bodies. But the empty faces were firmly enveloped by the shadowy form of Bai Wuchang, and none could escape.

Shen Xun watched the taut lines snap one by one. He already knew the ending.

The evil tide has vanished, and the red threads that once connected the dolls to their empty faces now drift aimlessly in the dark night sky, tangled into a mess.

The doll's empty face has now returned to calm.

Of the void faces it produced over the past thirty years, none survived. Except for a few that were scattered by the light, most were swallowed up by the shadow bodies.

Shen Xun looked down at the doll in his palm. Its blank face still held lingering grievances and resentment. His fingertips brushed over the faded cotton wool, his movements as gentle as if afraid of shattering a thirty-year-old dream.

He looked up at Bai Wuchang standing beside him. Her pigtails still swayed gently in the night breeze, but her figure had indeed grown taller. The contours of her face, which had originally been chubby, were now more defined. The turmoil in her almond-shaped eyes had mostly faded, leaving only a clear and bright look, like the sky after a snowfall.

"Are you full?" Shen Xun asked, his voice still flat. The image of her nearly losing control and disintegrating after consuming too much evil tide tainted with red talismans was still etched into his bones.

She stuck out her tongue, twirling her fingertip around the tip of her ponytail, her tone tinged with a hint of pride and certainty: "No way. I can control it now. In the Void Realm, I gave what I couldn't eat to other shadow bodies. Now I've learned how to control it."

Shen Xun looked into the light in her eyes, a gentleness never before seen in the Chaotic Realm, a tenderness belonging to the human world. "This doll is for you; you'll need it later. It's also a kind of liberation for it."

He flicked his finger lightly, and the teddy bear floated down into the palm of the White Impermanence.

The moment the doll landed in her hand, the taut red threads, which had been severed, suddenly softened, as if all their strength had been drained away. A faint ripple appeared on its blank face, as if it were about to cry, or perhaps it had finally found its home.

Shen Xun looked at the doll without turning around: "Lin Jian, take a picture of it. Show everyone its story." His golden eyes had already seen through the doll's cause and effect. But he didn't tell everyone. He wanted Lin Jian to tell it. To let the successor of this guardian of reincarnation tell it.

Lin Jian was still panting heavily. Her fingers were numb from pressing the shutter button repeatedly, and she walked step by step to the edge of the deep pit. Her eyes, however, were unusually determined.

The team members also arrived at the edge of the pit and stood next to Lin Jian. As Lin Jian took a picture, the doll moved slightly the instant the flash went off. No one noticed, but Lin Jian saw it.

The photographic paper slowly emerged. Lin Jian took it, shook it a few times, and then held it in his hand. The image on the photographic paper began to flow.

Upon seeing the images, tears welled up uncontrollably, but she no longer panicked as before. Looking at the images moving across the screen, she finally spoke, her voice hoarse from crying, yet unusually firm. Each word was like a belated pronouncement on behalf of the tragically deceased family of three, and on the 30-year-long obsession.

"Those skeletons, they were buried alive by the unscrupulous developers of this high-rise building." Lin Jian's gaze swept over the three skeletons at the bottom of the pit, but the white shoes and skeletons had now become phantoms. He swept over the developer with a face full of scars on the photograph paper, and over the little bear in the palm of the White Impermanence.

"They wanted a home, a house where they could live in peace, and justice, but they lost their lives here. This family was chosen by the homebuyers as their negotiating representatives. They were tricked into coming here and being buried alive by the developer. The little bear watched as the bodies of its entire family were taken away by the police. It was left behind. It remembered for thirty years, hated for thirty years, and waited for thirty years."

The team members gathered around the pit, watching the images moving on the photographic paper and listening to Lin Jian's words. They gritted their teeth and clenched their fists so tightly they cracked.

Some people muttered "beast" under their breath, while others turned their heads away, unable to bear looking at the picture of the little girl hugging a teddy bear and nestled in her parents' arms.

Lu Ye stood at the bottom of the pit, gripping the wooden handle of the shovel tightly as if he wanted to crush it. He had heard that the developer here had killed a homeowner and been arrested, but he didn't know that the beast had buried this entire family of three alive, not even sparing the child. He reached out to the doll floating in the air, looked at Shen Xun, and Shen Xun nodded. He finally touched it.

He couldn't see the White Impermanence. He only saw a floating doll. But he wanted to touch it, the protagonist of this sad story, to offer it some comfort.

The drone was still hovering precariously in the sky, its fuselage, with two broken propellers, steadily shining its lights downwards. Xiao Bu and his team had already arrived at the edge of the pit. They had seen the situation there through the drone.

Bai Wuchang looked down at the little bear in her palm, her fingertips gently tracing its blank face. A faint, soft white light emanated from her, like a thin veil, gently enveloping the doll.

Where the white light swept across, wisps of residual black energy emanated from the doll, gently enveloped by the light, merging into it without the slightest struggle. Faint features slowly emerged on the doll's blank face.

It's a little girl's smiling face, with eyes that are curved like crescent moons, exactly the same as the girl holding the teddy bear in the photograph.

"Don't be afraid," Bai Wuchang said softly, his voice gentle, like soothing a child to sleep. "We'll go find your mom and dad, and we'll never be separated again."

The teddy bear's smiling face lit up for a moment, then transformed into tiny specks of light, slowly merging into the body of the White Impermanence along with the white light. There was no earth-shattering surge, no chaotic explosion of tremors, only a very light sound, like the wind blowing through the treetops, and then everything settled down.

Bai Wuchang patted his belly, let out a soft burp, swayed his twin ponytails, and smiled at Shen Xun with his eyes crinkling: "Alright. He's being very good now, with the little girl."

Just then, the white bones that had been illusory at the bottom of the pit completely dissipated, melting into the black mud beneath their feet, merging into the land where their lives began and ended. The broken red threads that had been floating in mid-air also transformed into specks of red starlight, scattering in the wind.

The chilling, eerie atmosphere that permeated the entire wasteland vanished instantly, like fog blown away by the wind.

Lin Jian stood at the edge of the pit, watching all of this. The photograph in his hand slowly stopped moving, and the image froze on the little girl hugging a teddy bear, standing in the sunlight with her parents.

She raised her hand to wipe away her tears, and a slow smile appeared on her lips.

She finally understood what her grandfather meant by "the camera captures reality and also transforms illusion," and she also understood what Shen Xun meant by "the inheritor of reincarnation" and what she had to shoulder.

Shen Xun looked up at her, his sunglasses back on. He didn't offer any further praise, only nodding slightly, as if to say, "You did very well."

Wuchang skipped back to Shen Xun's side, skillfully climbing onto his shoulder, but because she had grown taller, she almost lost her balance and burst out laughing. She sat down, clinging to Shen Xun's shoulder, and reached out to touch his face, frowning: "Shen Xun, your face is so pale, you've almost bled to death."

As she spoke, she raised her hand, intending to transfer the spiritual energy she had just swallowed to him; she had learned to control it in the Void Realm.

She can share her spiritual power with Shen Xun, instead of simply demanding his golden blood.

Shen Xun pressed her hand down: "No need. You're fine now. Take care of yourself first. You just ate, don't waste your spiritual energy."

Finally, a trace of warmth appeared in the depleted meridians.

Lu Ye and Shen Xun climbed up using the ropes thrown down by their teammates, brushed the mud off their clothes, and walked up to Shen Xun. He didn't say many words of thanks, but only said in a deep voice, "Brother Shen, it's dawn. My men will take care of this area. Just leave the follow-up work to them."

Shen Xun looked up at the horizon. The pitch-black night had faded, and a faint pale light appeared in the east. The snow had stopped sometime earlier, and the first rays of dawn pierced through the clouds, falling on the wasteland, on the ruins of the unfinished building, and on everyone.

After a night of fierce fighting, dawn finally broke.

Lin Jian, carrying his camera, walked to Shen Xun's side, looked at the morning light on the horizon, and said softly, "Shall we go find Ao Luya and the others now?"

Shen Xun's gaze swept across the wasteland, over the distant mountains and forests, and toward the riverbank. Sunglasses concealed the emotions in his eyes, leaving only a calm yet resolute statement, as if speaking to Lin Jian, to the White Impermanence on his shoulder, and to himself through hundreds of years of reincarnation:

"Go find Ao Luya and the others, go find Su Jin. Go find your grandfather. Go and settle all the unresolved karmic debts."

Bai Wuchang nodded vigorously, her twin ponytails swaying with the movement. Her small figure radiated an undeniable confidence.

"I'll go with you."

Ao Luya stopped dancing. Her feet were stuck in the snow, her ankles ached so much she could barely stand, and her voice was hoarse and she couldn't make a sound, but her eyes were fixed on the white deer in the center of the field and the empty shell lying limp on the ground.

The black halo that had been tainted by evil energy on the white deer's pure white fur had long since vanished. Now, its fur was whiter and shinier than snow, as if it had been washed countless times by moonlight, with each hair tip gleaming with a soft light.

Its head drooped, and its body, which had been trembling violently, gradually calmed down. Its limbs were firmly planted in the snow, as if they had taken root.

Then, it opened its eyes.

Everyone held their breath.

Everyone saw it.

Those weren't the white deer's original clear amber eyes; they were a fiery red. It was the flame that had burned for tens of thousands of years in the eyes of a wild beast, never extinguished, now quietly residing in the white deer's eye sockets, containing only the composure and gentleness accumulated over tens of thousands of years.

The body on the ground completely softened in the snow, its scales turning into tiny fragments of light, which, carried by the wind, gradually melted into the white deer's fur.

The remaining evil energy hidden in its body, which even the copper bell couldn't expel, was enveloped by the light surrounding the white deer as soon as it surfaced, and instantly vanished without a trace.

It became part of the white deer.

The companions who had guarded this forest together since before humans learned to speak have ultimately remained together forever in this way.

Ao Luya ran over quickly, opened her arms, and hugged the white deer tightly around the neck.

She knew it was the trust of humanity: Old Gu, Ye Zhuo, Lin Jian, Xiao Yuan, and the forest farm uncle.

These ordinary people, dancing the shamanic steps that were out of sync with the rhythm, gathered around the campfire, choosing to believe. Believing in her, believing in the forest, believing in the guardian spirit.

They believed that there was a guardian spirit in this forest, and that was enough. Whether their dancing was right or wrong, good or bad, as long as they believed, that was enough.

Ao Luye touched the white deer's fur, which was still soft, but the moment she touched it, she felt something hard and slightly cool to the touch.

She paused slightly, then reached out and gently parted the long fur on the side of the white deer's neck. Beneath the pure white fur were fine, smooth scales, gleaming with a cold light like moonlight, as hard as quenched steel—the scales of that wild beast.

They spread evenly under the skin along the white deer's back, neck, and limbs, like an invisible layer of armor.

The white deer lowered its head and gently nuzzled Ao Luya's head with its antlers, which were harder than before. It let out a low hiss, as if comforting her, or telling her: I'm alright, we're all alright. We'll still guard this forest.

Her shamanic bell shattered, but she gained a white deer.

A new white deer, a new guardian deity.

Xiao Yuan stood up and walked to the assassin's disguise.

He lay face down, buried in the snow. He didn't know his name, whether they had wives, children, or anyone waiting for them to return. These assassins never spoke of their past.

All he knew was that they could never go back.

He knelt down, took off his coat, and put it on him. He was simply dressing him. In doing so, he was also dressing himself.

"I'm going to dig a hole and bury them all; they were all my comrades." Ye Zhuo untied the entrenching tool from his waist and handed it to him. He took the tool, walked to the edge of the forest, chose an open space, and began to dig.

After a long time, the pit was dug.

Xiao Yuan put him in the pit.

"I'm going to find the other two bodies and bury them together."

"We'll help you find it," Ao Luya and Gu Lin said in unison.

"I know where it is. Help the old man to bed to rest for a while. After we bury the assassin, we'll take him to the hospital."

Ye Zhuo spoke, then turned and walked towards the woods, with Xiao Yuan following behind.

Ao Luya and Lao Gu helped the uncle into the wooden cabin to rest on the bed. The uncle's breathing was still very weak.

Not long after, Ye Zhuo and Xiao Yuan brought back the other two corpses and put them into the pit.

Xiao Yuan took an entrenching tool and carefully filled the hole with soil, shoveling it over his three companions.

His companions, one day in the future, will turn into three skeletons, sleeping eternally in this deep pit, sleeping eternally on this earth, undisturbed by anyone.

Even Su Jin couldn't.

Just then, a series of rapid coughs came from behind.

"Uncle!" Ye Zhuo's voice tightened instantly.