Wait, why did I use "also"?
Chen Muyu is Chen Muyu, not something else wearing his skin. Chen Yifei can confirm this.
Since the same Gray Realm descent occurred, and since the "audience" could merge with himself... why couldn't the other descending calamity merge with humans?
But all of this was just Chen Yifei's speculation... What the truth is, maybe only by asking him directly will we know.
Just when Chen Yifei was hesitating about whether to knock on the door, the door opened from the inside.
"Brother," Chen Muyu rubbed his eyes, "what are you doing?"
"...I have something I want to ask you."
Chen Muyu was about to say something, but after glancing at Chu Muyun's room opposite, he pulled Chen Yifei into the room and closed the door.
"Muyu, I'll just ask directly," Chen Yifei looked at his eyes seriously, "was it you who massacred Ice Spring Street?"
Chen Muyu's body trembled. Seeing the fragments of the safety amulet in Chen Yifei's hand, he silently lowered his head.
"...Yes."
Seeing Chen Muyu admit so straightforwardly, Chen Yifei, who was preparing to continue persuading him, was taken aback.
"Really you?" Chen Yifei asked again, "So, you also merged with the calamity?"
"...I don't know. When I woke up, I was already standing there."
"Did you also lose a segment of your memory?"
"Yes."
Chen Yifei's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
He believed that Chen Muyu wouldn't lie to him, and even he himself was in this situation... mysteriously transported, mysteriously with an "audience" in his mind, and when he woke up, he was already back home.
"But the intersection point of the Gray Realm was in the back mountain, right? You should still be in surgery at that time... Why were you affected?"
"I don't know," Chen Muyu shook his head again, "I just remember the doctor giving me anesthesia, and when I woke up, I was on Ice Spring Street... I was very scared, so I hid in the back mountain. When I came out again, I saw Brother crawling out of that monster's body..."
Hearing this, Chen Yifei pieced together the cause and effect.
But why Chen Muyu was affected by the Gray Realm intersection was still a question... Could it be that when that calamity invaded District 2, it happened to encounter Chen Muyu on the operating table? And then merged?
Chen Yifei didn't understand this "merging" process, and couldn't think of anything else.
"I understand."
Chen Yifei nodded, "You just stay home these few days, don't go anywhere, understand? I'll handle the rest."
Chen Muyu hesitated.
"What's the matter?"
"I... I originally wanted to see Mom and Dad..."
Chen Yifei was taken aback. After a long silence, he spoke softly, "Let Brother clear your suspicion first. When everything is calm, I'll take you to see them, okay?"
"Okay." Chen Muyu nodded obediently.
"Stay away from that Chu Muyun these few days, don't let him touch you, and talk to him less."
"Okay."
"If Han Meng comes to see you again and asks you some questions, just answer like this..."
"Okay."
After giving his instructions, Chen Yifei turned and left.
Chen Muyu gently locked the door and lay down on the hard plank bed...
He turned his head to look out the window. In his chestnut-colored pupils, was the reflection of the blue aurora borealis covering the sky.
Suddenly, at the end of the aurora sky, a faint red light glimmered, resembling a cinnabar-like star.
"It's happening again," Chen Muyu murmured.
As the cinnabar-like star became brighter, a dreamlike path extended from nothingness, connecting directly to Chen Muyu's bedside... The path hovered and swayed between the star and him, like a gentle ribbon.
Lying on the bed, Chen Muyu calmly gazed at this divine path, an olive branch offered to him by a deity.
After a moment, he slowly raised his hand and grasped the fluctuating ribbon...
Then,
He squeezed it forcefully!
Bang——
A barely perceptible sound lingered in Chen Muyu's ears.
The divine path was crushed by his single hand, turning into scattered fragments that dissipated into nothingness. At the same time, the cinnabar-like star on the horizon also quickly dimmed.
He rejected the divine favor.
Chen Muyu opened his palm, and a fragment of the divine path, about the size of a thumbnail, lay quietly in his hand, resembling cinnabar glass.
He casually opened the drawer by his bedside, threw this cinnabar glass inside, then closed and locked it.
Inside the dark drawer,
More than thirty identical cinnabar glass fragments glimmered slightly.
...
Morning.
Chen Yifei woke up early to wash and get dressed.
There was no "kind person" to reimburse his transportation expenses today, so he had to walk to Ice Spring Street, which would take over four hours just for the round trip. Therefore, he had to wake up earlier and return later than the other reserve bench enforcers.
Unexpectedly, Chu Muyun seemed to have woken up even earlier than him.
As Chen Yifei entered the living room, he saw Chu Muyun sitting sideways at the table, wearing a casual shirt and knitted waistcoat, holding an ancient medical book as if studying something intently, occasionally pushing up his glasses.
It was as if he was not sitting in a leaky, old living room, but in some elegant café in Aurora City.
Seeing Chen Yifei up, he smiled and put down the book.
"Good morning."
"Morning."
Chen Yifei replied casually and then hurriedly left to eat breakfast at the Zhao's Breakfast Shop across the street.
Since the last time he "informed" Uncle Zhao, he felt a bit guilty, so he would visit their shop every morning to give Uncle Zhao more business... As for Zhao Yi, he was grounded by Uncle Zhao for a week and hadn't left the house yet.
After Chen Yifei left, Chu Muyun slowly put down the book.
He stood up and walked directly towards Chen Yifei's room, his feet stepping on the old floor without making any sound... Like a ghost.
Chu Muyun walked to Chen Yifei's bedside, and his eyes narrowed slightly behind his glasses.
He put on white gloves, took out a pair of forceps from his pocket, and collected several hairs and tiny skin flakes scattered on the pillow, putting them into an empty brown bottle.
After finishing this, he quietly exited the room, waved his hand, and a gentle breeze swept across the floor, completely erasing the footprints he left.
Instead of returning to his own room, he walked straight out of the house, crossed several streets, and arrived at the entrance of a run-down grocery store.
Ding Ling——
As he pushed open the shop door, a crisp bell sound rang out.
"What do you want to buy?" A woman sitting at the counter lazily yawned and asked casually.
"I want to buy a glimmer of hope."
Upon hearing this response, the woman's gaze instantly froze.
Her laziness and casualness completely vanished, replaced by cold and sharp eyes. She looked at Chu Muyun before her and slowly said,
"Show me your identity."
Chu Muyun lightly lifted his fingertips, and a white playing card magically appeared in his hand, which he placed face down on the table.
The woman flipped the card over——
[Spade 7]
"The password," she said again.
Chu Muyun calmly replied,
"Human civilization..."
"...Will never fade away."