A single divination predicts life and death; the entire internet begs me to start a live stream.

The air in the sealed room seemed to freeze.

The yellowed old photo was held between Chen Bufan's fingers.

The edges of the photo are already brittle.

The paper bears the mottled marks left by time.

But the face of the young man in the middle of the photo is so clear it's almost blinding.

White long gown.

His eyebrows and eyes were gentle.

A faint smile played on his lips.

He stood in the middle of a group of people, composed, as if he were born to be surrounded by people.

Behind him was an old-style Western-style building.

A plaque hangs at the entrance.

Jiren Nursing Home

The back of the photo reads:

[A group photo taken on the opening day of the Jiren Nursing Home in 1923.]

[Left by Lu Changsheng.]

Lin Wanqing stared at the photo with one hand and took out her phone with the other, pulling up photos of Lu Changsheng at public events of the Changsheng Foundation.

On the screen, Lu Changsheng, dressed in a dark suit, stood on the charity gala stage.

mild.

Calm.

Clean.

He looks almost exactly like that young man from the Republican era in the old photos.

It's not similar.

It's the same person.

Even the curve of her eyebrows, the smile at the corner of her lips, and even the unhurried look in her eyes when she looks at people, all seem to be copied from the same face.

Lin Wanqing whispered:

"impossible."

Several police officers in the locked room also came over to take a look.

Some people couldn't help but gasp.

"Is this photo real?"

The technician immediately put on gloves and carefully took the photograph.

"It needs to be taken back for paper, imaging process, and ink stain analysis."

"But based on the initial condition, it doesn't look like a modern forgery."

Lin Wanqing frowned.

"The twelfth year of the Republic of China."

"1923."

"It has been more than a hundred years now."

She looked at Chen Bufan.

"If the photo is real, then he..."

She didn't finish her sentence.

Because it's too absurd.

A person who looked like this more than a hundred years ago still looks like this now.

This doesn't make sense.

Chen Bufan did not answer immediately.

He looked at the people in the photo.

Lu Changsheng was also looking at the camera.

Those eyes, separated by more than a hundred years, still seem to be able to see them standing in the secret room today.

Not surprised.

Fearless.

Not old.

It was as if time had bypassed him.

Lin Wanqing asked:

"Did he really live for over a hundred years?"

Chen Bufan's voice was very low:

"uncertain."

Lin Wanqing frowned.

"uncertain?"

Chen Bufan retrieved the photos.

His gaze fell on Lu Changsheng in the photo.

Then he looked at the people around the photo.

Lu Changsheng was not the only Xuanmen figure in the group photo.

There was an old man wearing a black Taoist robe.

A middle-aged man carrying a wooden box on his back.

There were also two men with embroidered symbols on their sleeves.

These people are very particular about their positioning.

On the surface, it's just a group photo for the hospital's opening ceremony.

Judging from the rules of the Xuanmen sect, it is more like a kind of witnessing ceremony.

Lu Changsheng stood in the very center.

It's not because he's the oldest.

It was because everyone's energy was focused on him.

It was as if they were protecting him.

It's like they're worshipping him.

Chen Bufan suddenly picked up a magnifying glass and pointed it at Lu Changsheng's feet.

The photo is old, and many details have become blurred.

But he still noticed something unusual.

Beside Lu Changsheng's feet was a black wooden box.

The wooden box has very faint patterns.

really.

Black life mark.

Lin Wanqing noticed his expression.

"What did you figure out?"

Chen Bufan did not answer.

He opened another old booklet next to him.

The booklet's cover was worn, but inside were early donation records for the Jiren Nursing Home.

The first page reads:

Ji Ren Compassionate Nursing Home takes in orphans and children, provides relief to the sick and weak, offers medical treatment and medicine, and continues the spirit of compassion.

The handwriting is very good.

It looks like a charitable charter.

Chen Bufan continued flipping through the pages.

The records contain many children's names.

age.

Place of origin.

Physical condition.

Admission time.

There are a few special notes at the end.

[Light life]

【Shoubo】

[Excessive Yang Fire]

[Suitable for keeping]

[Can be included in the Book of Longevity]

Lin Wanqing felt increasingly uneasy upon seeing these words.

"This is not the first time Changsheng Health and Wellness Hospital has done something like this."

Chen Bufan:

"Obviously not."

"Only the name has changed."

During the Republic of China era, it was called Jiren Ciyangyuan (济仁慈养院).

Now it's called Changsheng Kangyang Hospital.

They used to take in orphans, the sick, and disaster victims.

We are now accepting homeless people, elderly people living alone, seriously ill children, and people in debt.

The outer casing keeps getting replaced.

The method of cannibalism, however, remains unchanged.

Lin Wanqing pressed on, asking:

"So who exactly is Lu Changsheng?"

Chen Bufan looked at the photo.

There are two possibilities.

Lin Wanqing immediately asked:

Which two?

"The first type."

Chen Bufan said.

"He really lived from the Republic of China era to the present day."

"By constantly borrowing lifespan, extending life, and changing lifespan, one can maintain a youthful body."

Lin Wanqing's expression was solemn.

"This is outrageous enough."

Chen Bufan shook his head.

"But that's actually the relatively simple possibility."

Lin Wanqing looked at him.

"Is there anything even more complicated?"

"have."

Chen Bufan placed the photo on the table and pressed his fingertips against Lu Changsheng's face.

"The second type."

"Lu Changsheng may not be the same body."

"It's the same destiny."

The room fell silent.

Lin Wanqing frowned:

"What do you mean?"

Chen Bufan slowly said:

For ordinary people, life and body are one.

"A person is born with a destiny bestowed upon them."

"When the body dies, life also ends."

"Therefore, when we look at a person, we look at their destiny, cause and effect, lifespan, and calamities."

"But what if someone uses evil magic to extract one's destiny from their body?"

The technicians standing nearby trembled with fear.

Chen Bufan continued:

"The body will age."

"It will make you sick."

"I will die."

"But if one's destiny is extracted and then placed into a new body..."

"From the outside, this person looks like they've changed bodies."

"But inside lives the same life."

The technician shuddered, as if listening to a horror story, and when he came to his senses, his back was already soaked with sweat.

"Possession?"

Chen Bufan shook his head.

"Possession is merely the soul taking over the body."

"This one is even more evil."

"It's not simply about stealing a body."

"It erases the original owner's destiny."

"Then implant your own destiny into it."

"Change your body like changing clothes."

A young police officer turned pale.

"What happened to the original owner of this body?"

Chen Bufan glanced at him.

"He's dead."

"Is the person still alive?"

"The shell is there."

Chen Bufan said.

"But the person is no longer the same."

No one spoke in the secret room.

Lin Wanqing looked down at the photo.

If Chen Bufan's judgment is correct, then the Lu Changsheng in the photo and the current Lu Changsheng may not be the same body.

But they are the same "Lu Changsheng".

Same destiny.

The same thing that is constantly being continued.

This is more terrifying than living for over a hundred years.

Because if you live a long time, at least you'll still be alone.

The fact that his destiny has shifted means that Lu Changsheng has deviated from the normal laws of life and death.

He is not trying to prolong his life.

He is trading his life for his life.

"So, the reason his destiny is blank is because the destiny within him isn't his own?"

Chen Bufan nodded.

"right."

"When I first saw him at the Nameless Club, I couldn't see his destiny."

"At that time, I thought he had used a life-concealing technique, or that his destiny had been hidden by a life-altering method."

"Now it seems, it's more than that."

"His life and body may not be compatible at all."

Lin Wanqing asked:

"So you can't see it?"

"It's not that we can't see it."

Chen Bufan continued his speculation.

"It doesn't match up."

"Looking at this body, its original life force may have ended long ago."

"Looking at Lu Changsheng's destiny, it's not entirely tied to this body."

"Life and body are not in harmony."

"So what appears to be presented is a blank page."

Lin Wanqing fell silent.

She suddenly remembered Gu Huai'an's words.

Mr. Lu is not extending someone else's life.

He was prolonging his own life.

There was also the half-sentence Xuan Qingzi uttered before his death.

Lu Changsheng is not the young master, he is...

What is he?

A monster that has lived for a hundred years?

A destiny that constantly changes fate?

A "longevity body" nourished by altering one's life force?

Or is it the real core experiment for changing one's fate?

Chen Bufan continued rummaging through the contents of the wooden box.

Besides the photos, there were also several pieces of yellowed paper.

It contained some incomplete terminology.

[Changing life but not soul]

Life and body can be separated.

Nourish the root of life with childlike longevity

[Using illness to compensate for a lack of life]

[Using a life of wealth and privilege as a protective shell]

[All lives return to one, immortality is achieved]

Lin Wanqing felt nauseous.

"Are these all things that can change one's fate?"

Chen Bufan said:

"It should be an early record."

"During the Republican era, they were already experimenting with methods to prolong life."

Lin Wanqing looked at the photo.

"Was the Jiren Nursing Home the experimental site at that time?"

"Very likely."

Chen Bufan said.

"orphan."

"Sickly."

"Disaster victims".

"A person with no relatives or friends."

"Most likely to be used as raw material."

Lin Wanqing took a deep breath:

"So they've been doing this for over a hundred years."

"Um."

Chen Bufan nodded.

"It's just that times have changed."

"The nursing home has been transformed into a health and wellness hospital."

"Charity organizations have been transformed into foundations."

"Mystical arts disguised as medicine."

"But the essence hasn't changed."

"They prey on the weak to cultivate a so-called immortality."

Lin Wanqing clenched her fist.

"Can this photograph and these old files be used as evidence?"

The technician, who had been standing nearby for a moment, realized he was being addressed and slowly began to speak:

"It needs to be identified."

"If we can prove that the photo is from a real period, it will at least prove that the name Lu Changsheng existed a hundred years ago."

"But proving that the current Lu Changsheng is the same person as the one in the photo is very difficult under conventional legal means."

Lin Wanqing nodded.

Of course she knew it would be difficult.

The law judges based on actual evidence.

Just because someone looks the same doesn't mean they've lived for over a hundred years.

"Swapping a life" cannot be used as a fact in court.

But the significance of this photo does not lie in directly convicting someone.

Instead, they were told that the foundation behind the Longevity Foundation was older than they thought.

Chen Bufan picked up the photo and flipped it over to the back again.

They only noticed the signature at the end of the group photo.

[A group photo taken on the opening day of the Jiren Nursing Home in 1923.]

[Left by Lu Changsheng.]

But at that moment, Chen Bufan noticed a line of even smaller text on the bottom right corner of the back of the photo.

The handwriting is very faint.

It looks like someone added it later with an extremely fine pen.

Because of its age, it has almost blended into the color of the paper.

Chen Bufan placed the photo under the lamp.

Lin Wanqing leaned closer.

The technician also turned up the light source.

The small print finally appeared slowly.

This is not an ordinary record.

Like a warning.

It's like a reminder someone left before they died.

Vague and distant.

Lin Wanqing read it out slowly and deliberately:

"Immortality does not belong to humans."

"Life and body are separated."

In the sealed room, everyone fell silent.

Chen Bufan stared at those eight characters, his gaze extremely deep.

Immortality is not for humans.

Life and body are separated.

This is not speculation.

A hundred years ago, people already knew about Lu Changsheng's problem.

Some people also tried to leave clues.

Chen Bufan handed the photo to Lin Wanqing and put it into the evidence bag.

"Lu Changsheng".

"I know what you are now."