In the morning, honking cars, crowded buses, office workers in a hurry, and students jogging with schoolbags on their backs, these scenes are intertwined, and a new day of intense and busy life officially begins.
There is still time, Wang Xuan found a small restaurant on the roadside, a pancake, a cup of sweet soy milk, and a bowl of salty tofu brain. He thinks that the dispute between the sweet and salty in the north and the south can be put to rest.
"Are you here early?" He found that he was the first to arrive at the office. Liu Xue, who loves to dress up, arrived more than ten minutes later, and others appeared half an hour later.
There was nothing to do in the morning. Wang Xuan sent and received several emails, processed two drawings simply, and then began to study the Taoist canon in a low-key manner.
Of course, he was also paying attention to the old colleague Chen Yongjie who loved to call people to go fishing when he had nothing to do.
Sure enough, there was a problem, and Wang Xuan's heart was pounding.
In the morning, the old colleague made several calls in succession, such as fishing, heavy rain last night, and sunny this morning.
In his opinion, the old colleague was full of jargon!
Let's not talk about fishing. He experienced it personally in Daxing'anling. The storm last night must be about the eradication of the Gray Blood Organization. As for the sunny weather today, it should be about all forces keeping a low profile.
Then… Wang Xuan felt that there was something wrong with everyone he saw!
For example, the guy with black-framed glasses was talking to someone on the phone and said that he had been killing people all night and was still sleepy.
The two big sisters who loved playing mahjong were also talking in a low voice, saying that feng shui takes turns to sit, and luck is not a matter of time. They will fight again next time they sit in the bank.
And the colleague who was a little sentimental and loved to write poems when he had nothing to do, wrote a poem early in the morning: "I used the sky as a curtain, hung a string of fireworks, and with a bang, it exploded so brilliantly, stunning the world."
Wang Xuan was terrified. Who are these people? !
Did they all participate in the operation last night and drive battleships to kill a group of hostile spacecraft?
Finally, Wang Xuan felt something was wrong when he saw the little girl Liu Xue applying lipstick in front of a small mirror. She said that the color of this lipstick was not right. She liked the sad red, which was bloody and sad, so that it had a kind of quiet and otherworldly beauty.
Listening to the room full of people talking in jargon, Wang Xuan suddenly felt a little overwhelmed. He sat there calmly, forcing himself to concentrate and study the Taoist scriptures.
Finally, it was time for lunch. The colleagues were in a good mood and took Wang Xuan, a newcomer, to a newly opened restaurant outside the design institute to try something new.
Wang Xuan ate without any appetite and was absent-minded. He wanted to ask them, but was afraid of being too abrupt and direct.
After dinner, the old colleague was more stable and took the initiative to find Wang Xuan privately, but a sentence almost made him turn around and leave, because the old colleague asked him if he wanted to go fishing.
After a dangerous experience in Daxing'anling, where he was almost locked by the space battleship of the Gray Blood Organization, Wang Xuan never wanted to wade into similar muddy water again.
"Young man, you are still young, passionate, and youthful, so you should cherish it."
Wang Xuan asked him with a wooden face, did he want him to be bait again?
"What are you thinking about? I just invite you to go fishing in the abandoned machinery factory behind the design institute. There is a lake that is not too big or too small. Now there are reeds and wild fish are fat."
Wang Xuan looked at him suspiciously. Did the old colleague vaguely admit that he was the old senior executive of the expedition organization?
"It's me." As if knowing what he was thinking, the old colleague admitted directly, "Let's go. We just had lunch. Let's go fishing while walking and chatting." He was fully prepared. In the trunk of his old Red Sun car, there were all kinds of fishing gear.
On the way, Wang Xuan couldn't help asking, what are the identities of those colleagues in the office?
Old colleague Chen Yongjie was dazed at first, then he couldn't help laughing and said, "What are you thinking? Do you really think that our retirement office is full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, and all of them are abnormal humans? They are just a group of normal men and women who love playing games, playing mahjong, reciting sad poems, dressing up and watching horror movies. The only abnormal ones are you and me."
Wang Xuan was speechless and didn't come back to his senses for a long time. Finally, he said, "You are abnormal, I am normal!"
Chen Yongjie looked at him in surprise and said, "Is it normal? I heard that you slapped a beautiful woman's face and killed five people in a few days."
"This is a rumor and slander. I have never killed anyone!" Wang Xuan quickly corrected him. He abided by the law and only injured five people in self-defense.
"It's almost the same." The old colleague nodded.
Wang Xuan didn't want him to explain, so he wanted to ask him what his identity was and why he worked in such an inconspicuous place.
The old colleague took him to the lake in the abandoned machinery factory, spread out the fishing rod, and said: "I am Qingmu's master. I travel between the new star and the old land. No matter where I go, I have to have a leisurely job to cover it up. Don't you like it here too?"
Wang Xuan understood immediately. Qingmu had been prepared and prepared. When he just graduated, he had put him next to his master.
Even if Wang Xuan did not choose to join the expedition organization at the beginning, with such an old colleague in front of him, he would probably be fooled into it sooner or later.
"You are premeditated!" Wang Xuan sighed, but what else can he say, the old colleague has revealed his identity and shown his sincerity.
"Don't have any knots in your heart. After careful calculation and arrangement last time, the spacecraft of the Gray Blood Organization can't threaten you at all. If you dare to show your head, you will be shot down. Forget it, let's not talk about this. I heard that you practiced the Golden Body Technique, so I'll give you a gift."
The old colleague handed over a book, which looked a bit old and had a sense of oldness left by the years.
Wang Xuan took it and opened it, reading it again and again, showing a surprised look. The book records all kinds of plants, minerals, strange creatures, etc.
"Is this reliable?" He flipped through a few pages and suddenly felt like he had opened up a new world.
For example, the moonlight silver recorded in the book is an extremely rare and special mineral. When the ore is cracked, silver liquid will flow out. It needs to be taken immediately, otherwise it will evaporate quickly and dissipate like the bright moonlight.
If ordinary people can drink some, it can activate blood and flesh, and it is most effective for people who practice golden body skills and iron cloth shirts. It is a great tonic that can accelerate physical fitness.
There is also a kind of golden mushroom. Grinding powder and boiling soup can increase bone density, especially nourishing bone marrow, and the new blood produced is more active, thereby gradually improving the whole body.
The more Wang Xuan read, the more outrageous he felt. He had never heard of these things. He felt that he couldn't find the real thing even if he compared it with the encyclopedia atlas.
For example, it also mentioned a certain kind of mountain snail that grows in the rocks and is a rare mountain treasure. If you catch it, dry it and grind it, take one penny a day for half a month, and it can extend your life by five years.
The more Wang Xuan read, the more he didn't believe it. He had read the Compendium of Materia Medica in his spare time, but he had never seen these strange things.
Old colleague Chen Yongjie said, "Don't disbelieve it. These things are recorded in the Taoist ancestral temple and the ancient Buddhist temples. This book is just a summary, and some strange things mentioned in the pre-Qin bamboo slips are added."
Wang Xuan was startled and said, "But, after so many years, who has seen it? It has been extinct for many years."
"It can't be seen in the old land now, but it doesn't mean it's not in the deep sky." The old colleague smiled.
Wang Xuan keenly noticed that he mentioned the deep sky, not the new star, and felt the subtlety.
The old colleague lifted the fishing rod vigorously and shook his head regretfully. The fish ran away and was not caught. He continued: "These strange things have been obtained by some people in the past ten years. Although the quantity is not large, it has also caused a lot of trouble. Well, some people even found the earth fairy grass, but unfortunately they can't pick it."
Wang Xuan quickly flipped through the book and found the page about the earth fairy grass. The description of it was simply fascinating. Taking one plant can extend life for 200 years.
"So, someone in Xinxing is going crazy. Extending life for 200 years is equivalent to two rebirths for ordinary people. The old guys in the chaebol, the head of the Life Research Institute, etc., are all going crazy and taking action."
Wang Xuan's mood was indeed up and down, but he soon became alert again. This old man loves "fishing" the most. Could he have come up with a good idea now?
"It sounds like it's quite lively over there. You gave me such a book and told me these things to keep me in suspense. What do you want to do? Tell me!"
"Young people nowadays have many ideas. They are not like our generation, when we were all innocent and good young men. You are overthinking again." The old colleague shook his head, then suddenly pulled the fishing rod and finally caught a turtle.
"Go, why are you getting involved? I'm fishing!" The old man took off the turtle and threw it away. In his words, this thing looked like it had just been released not long ago, it was half dead, and it was not a supplement.
"The quota to go to Xinxing is very tight, young man, you have to work hard." The old colleague said this before leaving.
However, since listening to what he said, Wang Xuan has been a little wary of him and has a little doubt. Even if he wants to go to Xinxing, it is better to bypass the old colleague.
When he returned home at night, he practiced the old skills and pondered the feather fossils. He also thought of the exotic flowers and plants and various minerals mentioned in the book.
"Studying the Daoist scriptures during the day and practicing the old arts at night, this kind of life is not bad. I will consider going to Xinxing in a while. Let's see if I can find feather fossils recently."
There is a thousand-year-old temple outside this city, and Wang Xuan will go there to take a look recently.
Tomorrow, Saturday, he will go home to see his parents early in the morning. They are not far away, and he goes back almost once every two weeks.
"There is a mountain near my home. There seems to be some legends, which seems to be related to some fairy." Wang Xuan's heart moved. Although he couldn't go to the thousand-year-old temple for the time being, he could go to the mountain when he went home.
Plans can't keep up with changes. On this night, Wang Xuan had a nightmare. He dreamed of a woman in white clothes and red shoes, with long hair and two lines of blood on her beautiful face. She kept approaching him and almost touched his face, which woke him up.
Since practicing the old arts, he has been sleeping soundly and has never had a nightmare, but today is a bit weird.
Wang Xuan adjusted his breathing and calmed himself. He fell asleep again soon after. However, he woke up again an hour later, feeling the cold wind blowing on his face. He dreamed of the female Taoist priest with two lines of blood and tears on her face again.
He realized that something had happened and he was in big trouble. He never believed in these things, but the reality was that he would dream of that woman once he fell asleep.
"It seems that I can't go home tomorrow." He himself couldn't figure out what was going on. He didn't want to go back rashly. It seemed that he was contaminated with something bad.
That night, Wang Xuan fell asleep again and again, and woke up again and again until dawn. He immediately contacted his old colleague Chen Yongjie. He felt that Qingmu couldn't help.
"Is there such a thing?" The old colleague was very serious, but he didn't disbelieve it, because as a senior explorer, he had personally experienced some abnormal events, which he still couldn't explain.
"Don't worry, I'll have someone send you a piece of talisman paper later. It was drawn by an old Taoist priest who lived for more than a hundred years. It's very useful."
The old colleague kept his word and sent it to him in the afternoon.
However, late at night, the disturbing strange phenomenon appeared again, and the so-called Taoist talisman paper burned directly, almost setting Wang Xuan's bedding and his hair on fire, leaving him staring helplessly.
The situation got worse in the second half of the night. After finally falling asleep, he was awakened by a cold chill and felt something in his arms. It was covered with hair and a pair of terrifying eyes were open, staring at him!