CH 157

Chapter 157 – 1992-2020

Just in case, Lian Qiao stole the Gu Long novel before leaving the detention center.

When he came out, he realized that the outside had changed. In addition to the original block, a whole new street appeared out of thin air.

In the new block, there were hospitals, game halls, Internet cafes, hair salons and other facilities. There was also a primary school called OO Primary School. But looking at the decoration of the school gate, it seems that it was a bad school that was not popular.

The most obvious sign was that the gate of OO Primary School was always open, and students gp in and out at any time. The security guards smoked and played cards in the sentry box, not caring about their jobs. 

On the way to the hospital, Lian Qiao observed the surrounding environment along the way. Doubts popped up one after another.

Was it because RenDong was expelled from XX primary school, so a new primary school was unlocked? Does he have to go to school? How about not going to school?

Also, as for the most critical elevator and button, so far there was no clue. What is the meaning of this instance? It can’t really be set up for RenDong to experience a happy childhood, right?

The hospital was located at the end of the new block. It was a small community hospital with extremely poor medical resources. When Lian Qiao walked into the hospital, he happened to see the Monk bargaining with the staff at the toll office.

“This monk doesn’t lie. If I say I have no money, I really have no money… No, no, I intend to renege on my debts but I just want to have a discussion with you, can I just delay for two more days?”

Lian Qiao went over and patted him. Pleasantly surprised, the Monk said: “Yo, you were released.”

“En, where is he?” Lian Qiao asked.

The Monk showed him the way. Lian Qiao walked to the front of the ward and wanted to knock on the door but his outstretched hand stopped in mid-air.

While he was hesitating, the door of the ward was pulled open. Little RenDong stood behind the door and smiled at him.

“You have finally been released after serving your sentence.”

Little RenDong has grown up by another year and the features on his face are longer than before. He looks more like an adult. Lian Qiao’s heart softened and sour emotions filled his chest. He really wanted to hug RenDong but his body was stiff, as if he had been poured lead water.

RenDong said: “Come in, why are you standing there?” He stretched out her hand to pull him.

The soft little hands felt slightly cold. Lian Qiao was dragged to the front of the hospital bed  and he was still a little dazed. Lian Qiao didn’t sit down obediently until RenDong pulled a stool over and ordered him to sit down.

Little RenDong climbed onto the bed, wrapped himself in a quilt, and rubbed his little hands to keep warm. Only then did Lian Qiao come back to his senses and realize that it was winter again. RenDong didn’t have enough clothes and had crawled out of the bed to open the door for him, so he must be freezing.

Lian Qiao subconsciously held his hand, put it to his lips and breathed lightly into his hand.

“…” Little RenDong’s eyes were shining while looking at him, a touch of tenderness that gradually faded away.

Lian Qiao met his eyes and immediately panicked. His face blushed inexplicably and he quickly lowered his head.

“…I’m sorry.” He bowed his head deeply, with a look of pleading guilty, “I…”

“I understand.” RenDong interrupted him, put his small face in front of him, and said softly, “Hug me and I’ll forgive you.”

Lian Qiao was taken aback. Immediately, he hugged him into his arms.

“RenDong…” Lian Qiao almost wanted to crush him into his body but was afraid of hurting him. He was only nine years old, a child. The feeling of holding him was so strange, but still… this is his RenDong.

RenDong also stretched out his short hands, hugging his waist with difficulty.

Alas, this body is really inconvenient, even if you want to hug someone, your hands are too short.

In fact, he originally wanted to say “kiss me and I will forgive you”, but in this body… not only Lian Qiao, he himself also felt awkward.

It would be great if he could grow up quicker, he really wants to get close to Lian Qiao.

The two hugged each other for a while and suddenly a bald man appeared outside the ward. The Monk saw these two people from a long distance, embracing each other tightly like a father and son reunited after a long absence. The scene was very moving. But knowing the true relationship between the two, he couldn’t help but think viciously: I want to see if you can stick to the bottom line of morality!

As a result, after peeping for a long time, the two of them just hugged each other, without any movement below the neck.

The Monk left, disappointed.

The two of them were not aware of this at all. After hugging for an unknown amount of time, Little RenDong finally struggled.

“… my back hurts.” He blushed and whispered.

Lian Qiao hurriedly put him back on the bed, covered him with a quilt and said with a blushing face: “I’m sorry.”

RenDong laughed, “Stop apologizing, let’s just move on from this. That’s right,” he changed the subject and asked: “Did you find anything in the detention center?”

“Oh, yes!” Lian Qiao immediately took out the Gu Long novel he had brought along from his pocket, “I found a policeman who likes to read novels.”

” …?” Little RenDong raised his eyebrows in surprise, “A novel? Is it a clue?”

Lian Qiao: “I don’t know.”

RenDong said: “Let me take a look.”

He took the novel and studied it carefully.

The cover of the novel has a sense of age, which is the kind often seen in XinHua Bookstore when they were children. There is no problem with the content layout and printing batches. The feel to the touch is also normal, and it was made of paper that was common in that era.

RenDong studied for a while but didn’t see anything special, and said in confusion: “What did you see?”

Lian Qiao: “I didn’t see anything either. I think this book is very ordinary.”

Little RenDong: “… …?” Why does he feel that Lian Qiao is a little weird today, as if his brain circuit is not normal?

Wait, is he out of order, or am I too stupid to follow his train of thought?

Judging from the painful experience of RenDong’s multiple rebirths, there was no doubt that Lian Qiao was a big boss and that he (RenDong) was the one who was a rookie. So at this time RenDong had to give in to the boss and asked expectantly: “So?”

Lian Qiao still said: “I don’t know. I don’t think there are any clues in this book.”

Xu RenDong was now really dazed: “Didn’t you steal this book yourself? Why did you steal it if there’s no clue?”

Or did you just want to read a novel to relax after raising a baby?!

RenDong had a weird expression and a subtle complex emotion arose in his heart. Lian Qiao didn’t notice this, just touched the cover of the novel, and said thoughtfully: “When I was in the detention room, the policeman kept holding the novel in front of me. According to the nature of previous instances, there must be some clue in this novel. But… I can’t find anything special about this book.”

Lian Qiao paused, then continued: “My dad also liked to read Gu Long back then, and there were several sets of Gu Long’s complete works on the bookshelf at home. I have seen this version of the book before and it is exactly the same as the one on my bookshelf in terms of content and style, without any difference.”

RenDong looked down at the book, lost in thought.

“So…” RenDong said slowly, “What do you want to say?”

Lian Qiao didn’t speak.

Little RenDong raised his head, staring at him with dark eyes: “If you think of something, just say it. There is nothing to hide.”

“I’m not hiding anything. It’s just a vague feeling.” Lian Qiao smiled and reached out to rub his hair, “The reason why this book appears here may be because, in reality, it really exists.”

“…” RenDong’s eyes twitched slightly, “You mean, this is reality…”

Lian Qiao: “It’s a refraction of reality.”

RenDong froze.

Refraction? Why refraction?

Lian Qiao played with his hair with his fingertips. At this time, Little RenDong was only nine years old, with soft and short hair. Lian Qiao easily messed up his hair.

“When light passes from one medium to another, refraction occurs. The path of light is changed.” Lian Qiao’s voice was soft and slow, like a patient teacher, “But light is still light and is a  medium…”

RenDong pushed his hand away impatiently and interrupted: “Speaking in human language. I don’t understand.”

“…” Only then did Lian Qiao realize that he had accidentally pretended to be academic. In fact, he didn’t mean to show off his knowledge. He was a science student and subconsciously regarded knowledge of physics as common sense. He didn’t take into account that RenDong’s field of knowledge did not overlap with his.

He coughed with some embarrassment: “Well, to put it simply, most of the things in this instance are the same as in reality. It feels like splicing your memory and cognition then piecing it together… or condensing it all together and boiling it down to parts…”

Is this any more understandable than refraction!?

Little RenDong curled his lips but the unhappiness in his heart gradually dissipated.

“Because I am the key player this time, the world is centered on me?” Little RenDong touched his chin, lost in thought, “But isn’t this obvious? Every morning the subtitles follow my growth, so it’s only logical that the world revolves around me.”

Lian Qiao: “No, that’s not the point. I think one difference between this dungeon and the previous ones is that the ghosts this time can be defeated and are easier to fight. Especially after meeting the Peking Opera Monk, we are no longer threatened by ghosts.”

“That’s true.” RenDong nodded, and was about to say that this is a good thing, but a flash of lightning suddenly flashed in his mind.

—No, this may not be a good thing.

Thinking back carefully, none of his several deaths so far was caused by a ghost.

The first time, he was directly frozen to death in front of the orphanage as a baby, the second time was due to pneumonia, the third time was an allergic reaction to shrimp crackers, and the fourth time he was abducted and sold to a beggar group before being mutilated to death…

It can be said that these methods of death make sense even in reality!

Is this the so-called “refraction of reality”?

In other words, the danger of this instance was not ghosts, but reasonable deaths based on reality.

But what does this mean… Why is this dungeon so different from the past ones? Just because he was a key player?

No, that’s not right. In “Lock Without a Key”, Shi JianChuan was also the key player. But that dungeon was weird and bizarre, not only all kinds of incredible monsters and curses appeared, even the weather became extremely abnormal. A heavy rain can submerge the entire tulou within a few hours. How can this be possible in reality?

So, why is this instance so special?

…Could this be the key to solving the puzzle?

At this time, RenDong also had the same thought as Lian Qiao: a very important link was missing in the reasoning, so that it was impossible to integrate the fragments in front of him into a complete puzzle.

Little RenDong held his chin, with a solemn expression, lost in thought. Lian Qiao looked at him and burst out laughing.

RenDong raised his eyes: “What are you laughing at?”

Lian Qiao: “It’s nothing, I just looked at you and remembered a Japanese anime. ”     

RenDong: “What??”     

Lian Qiao: “Hahaha, it feels like a flag has been set up. Fortunately, you have dropped out of school and you are now a primary school dropout. ”  

RenDong: “??????” What are you talking about?

Just when the two were laughing and laughing, the door of the ward was pushed open. A shining bald head poked in, squinted and asked with a smile, “Are you all done?”

… It’s as if we were doing something shady.

Little RenDong frowned. Lian Qiao was not very happy when he heard this and said coldly: “Why? Do you have some more bad news for me?” 

The Monk walked in, took out a piece of paper from his pocket and said, “There is a piece of news. But I don’t know if it’s good or bad. See for yourself.”

He held the paper up in front of the two of them. When the two looked at it, they saw that it was written on the top: “Admission Notice.” The signature was OO Elementary School.

RenDong took the admission notice and said in surprise: “Didn’t I just get dropped out of XX elementary school? Why did another OO elementary school pop up?”

Lian Qiao supported his forehead.

It’s over, it’s over, I really became a pupil of the Death God {Shinigami} Primary School.

However, there is at least one advantage of the Death God Primary School and that is that the primary school student himself will not die.

That was enough.

***

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Note: Shinigami Primary School student: Refers to Conan.