The rooms inside the rental house have not changed much from the last time Zhou Yu left. The exposed dirt floor is about twenty centimeters lower than the outside, forming a natural staircase. The three crystallized chairs have disappeared and must have been cleaned up.
The grid on the side of the wall has also become an exquisite and clear crystalline object since the last time. Perhaps because it has no impact on its function, it still stays in place. On the bottom shelf was a water bowl with a small white lotus floating in it. The size and color of the flower looked exactly the same as the crushed red leaves the day before.
Just when Zhou Yu was paying attention to the lotus in the water, the black curtain opposite was opened. Sang Lian walked out of it. His clothes were the same as the day before, and there was no visible change. That white T-shirt, which was easily stained no matter how you looked at it, was spotless as if it had just been taken off the shelf.
He came to Zhou Yu gracefully and stood speechless, as if waiting for Zhou Yu to speak first. So Zhou Yu took out the piccolo that was stuck sideways in his pocket.
"Is this flute yours?"
After hearing Zhou Yu's question, Sang Lian just stood there quietly. Just when Zhou Yu thought he wouldn't give any reaction, he nodded and said, "Yes."
That calm and gentle voice almost made Zhou Yu think it was his auditory hallucination. However, in the entire sealed room, apart from him and Sang Lian, only Boss Yu was sitting silently in the corner, and no one else would respond. To make sure he heard correctly, he asked again: "Did you throw this flute into that deep hole?"
"yes."
This time, there was no possibility of misunderstanding, and an affirmative reply came from Sang Lian's mouth.
"Have you seen me before? Before the last time I came here with Hongye?"
When asked about this sentence, Zhou Yu held his breath unconsciously.
The young man with the red bead on his forehead looked at him with eyes like a deep pool. After a long time, he said: "I have seen this body before, but I have never seen this soul."
Zhou Yu understood what he meant. He tightened his grip on the bamboo flute in his hand, and the red eyes of a skull appeared in front of his eyes.
"So, what happened when you first encountered this body?"
Sang Lian said calmly: "This body wants to get rid of me, but it can't be done."
"Why did she want to kill you?"
"I don't know."
"Did you win?"
"The winner is still undecided."
"Did you hurt her?"
"none."
Zhou Yu stopped asking. His mind was already at a loss. Every answer from Sang Lian was beyond his expectation, making it impossible for him to think smoothly. After a long while, he said, "Why did you throw the flute into that hole?"
"This flute has been destroyed and is useless."
Zhou Yu looked at the flute in his hand and found no signs of damage on the surface. Before he could continue to ask questions, Sang Lian came over from the opposite side and took the bamboo flute from his hand.
"you……"
The bamboo flute split on its own in Sang Lian's hands. It turns into two semicircular bamboo slips. The exposed interior of the bamboo tube is packed with tiny, glittering crystal grains. It was not stuffed into the tube, but seemed to grow from the inner wall of the bamboo tube.
"Red leaves?" Zhou Yu blurted out immediately after seeing the familiar appearance of the crystal grains.
However, Sang Lian shook her head slightly and stretched out a finger towards Zhou Yu.
"Are you saying that the thing inside this flute was caused by me?"
"It's not this soul, it's this body."
Zhou Yu stared into the other party's unruffled eyes. After Hongye and Ao'er, Sang Lian was the third person who could directly tell the difference between him and Zhou Yu. He didn't think the other party had such ability, and would confuse himself with Hongye.
"So, did you see what I...the person who controlled this body at that time threw into that hole?"
Sang Lian shook her head and said, "No."
Zhou Yu completely lost his clue.
Before facing Sang Lian, he always thought that Motian's words were not credible. Whether it was the broken pages of the diary or the bamboo flute that had crystallized inside, it might have been with Osl from the beginning. So after Auster's death, his inheritance was naturally acquired by Ferris. Although he didn't know Humpty Dumpty's purpose, there was no doubt that this person was targeting Sang Lian. So he would throw the diary pages and the bamboo flute into the hole, and then lure Zhou Yu there to frame her. This was what the other party could do.
This was his original idea, so he came to Sang Lian specifically for confirmation. Even though he and Motian seemed to be Hongye's enemies, Zhou Yu somehow trusted the boy with the beady forehead more. No matter how much he hates the red forehead bead, the person who gave birth to it will never lie to him. This is an intuitive certainty.
However, Sang Lian personally denied his idea with a conclusive reply.
Looking at the red bead on the other person's forehead, Zhou Yu felt that disgusting feeling of wanting to vomit again. Perhaps because of his previous experience, he quickly controlled himself this time.
"You know that short fat guy named Ferris, right?"
"yes."
Sang Lian's response was as concise as a machine. His calm appearance even made people doubt whether he was really a living creature.
"Do you know that he wants to kill you?"
"I know."
Zhou Yu remembered the words shouted from the green-haired girl when she came here last time.
"Do you have any grudge against him?"
This time, Sang Lian didn't even utter a single word. He just looked at Zhou Yu silently, as if he didn't understand the meaning of "gratitude" at all. Seeing his attitude, Zhou Yu had to change the way he asked questions.
"Do you know the reason why he wanted to kill you?"
This time, Sang Lian nodded. He said: "To defend this city."
His answer was completely consistent with Motian's words, making Zhou Yu unable to react for a moment.
"In other words, you're really threatening the city, right?"
With disbelief, Zhou Yu asked: "Are you really planning to...eat this city?"
"yes."
As if stating a very obvious fact, Sang Lian nodded in affirmation without hesitation.
Frankly speaking, by the time the conversation reached this point, Zhou Yu was completely confused. He very much hoped that Hongye could be by his side at this moment. Regardless of whether he could understand it or not, he could at least get a more detailed explanation. The way Sang Lian speaks is simply not understandable to normal people.
That's right, he and Sang Lian couldn't communicate at all. It's not because the other party's meaning is too vague. In terms of the clarity of the answer, there are no clearer options than "yes" and "no". However, when facing Sang Lian alone, Zhou Yu discovered that this person had "no sense of reality".
It was an experience that cannot be expressed in words. The boy with the red bead on his forehead was indeed standing in front of him. His breathing, blinking, and natural movement of facial muscles were all normal. The only thing lacking is the impression of being a living person. Everything he says and does is like a projector that has already been recorded. When a specific switch is pressed, it will give corresponding responses.
Behind those words, there seemed to be only residual sounds, but no conveyed thoughts.
Even when Zhou Yu fell into a long silence because of his thoughts, the other party still stared at him without any feedback. There was neither the impatience of waiting nor any curiosity or speculation in his eyes. Seen from such a close distance, he looks like a highly simulated robot.
The more he thought like this, the more false the person in front of him seemed. This was something he had not noticed when he came with Hongye before. Staring at this "empty body", he instinctively asked one last question.
"Why?"
Why devour cities? Why tell the truth? Why is it so empty? Even Zhou Yu couldn't figure out what he wanted to ask.
After hearing this question, Sang Lian finally smiled gently, as if with joy. At the end of the brief meeting, he spoke the only answer that made Zhou Yu feel "real".
"To achieve the state of truth."
