005/Qiliu
Yingzhou feels that many times, it seems that destiny can be chosen, but in fact it never is.
For example, he is very clear about his plans for the future: get into a good university, get a bachelor's degree in mathematics, go abroad for a master's degree, study finance or computer science; after graduation, he will work in an investment bank or a large factory, and work until he retires with financial freedom.
He would not choose to start a business because he hates it and cannot bear the risk.
This is the best shortcut that Yingzhou can think of; but even so, in the future, he probably won't be able to give his children thirty thousand pocket money a week.
But Zhou Mingzhe’s father can.
Another example is now.
Yuan Wenxin obviously has reservations and may not have good intentions, but Yingzhou has no other way.
He had witnessed the death of his head teacher with his own eyes. It was a despair that ordinary people could not expect and could not contend with.
While growing up, Yingzhou fantasized about death many times.
He thought about death while using tweezers to pick out the glass shards on his knees late at night. The window was open, the wind was blowing in, and freedom seemed within reach.
He thought about dying when he greeted his deskmate as usual, because the classmate who was the monitor took a step back hesitantly and turned his head, unwilling to look at him. And he turned his head and saw Zhou Mingzhe sitting on his desk with a provocative and annoying smile.
Although Yingzhou would soon feel ashamed and angry at such thoughts, and disgusted with his own weakness and incompetence, he did have such a moment.
And sometimes, life ends in such a moment.
He had lived strong until now, not just to be killed so casually and cruelly by a monster at this moment.
Yingzhou barely paused and asked, "How to do it?"
The squad leader, who was listening attentively, hesitated to speak. Finally, the shoulders just slumped helplessly.
The blood on Yuan Wenxin's fingertips dripped on the ground, and the smile on his face gradually widened.
He came to the corridor and waved to Yingzhou: "Go upstairs, we are in a hurry."
Then, his eyes glanced over and landed on the remaining two people: "Come here too. Help me."
Yuan Wenxin walked at the front without saying a word, and the four of them reached the sixth floor of the teaching building, and further up was the rooftop.
He stopped here, pointed to the wall and said, "Stand there."
The place where Yuan Wen was pointing was the white wall that is very common in teaching buildings.
There are famous quotes for decoration on the wall, which read: "One cannot step into the same river twice." Yingzhou knows that it was said by a philosopher named Heraclitus. In a political textbook.
Ying Zhou chose science and stopped studying politics and history since his second year of high school, but he liked reading the liberal arts textbooks handed out to him. This was almost the only entertainment in his high school career.
Outside the corridor, the lights were equally dim. At Yuan Wenxin's signal, the squad leader and Lin Xinrui both raised their phones and turned on their flashlights.
The light sources were staggered, and three shadows appeared on the wall behind Yingzhou.
"Are you sure this method will work?"
Facing the dazzling light, Yingzhou squinted his eyes in discomfort.
Yuan Wenxin crossed his arms: "Of course. This is the triggering mechanism of this strange realm."
At first, there was no change, but soon, the shadows on both sides started to move.
Three shadows stood on the wall holding hands. These black figures have no eyes, but anyone can feel that they are looking down at Yingzhou, like hunters excitedly paying attention to their prey.
Lin Xinrui controlled the urge to scream and throw away her phone, but her hands couldn't help but tremble.
The monitor watched the shadow's every move with an equally nervous expression: "Ying Zhou, do you have to do this? Have you really seen the harm? Why did he want to kill you?"
"I saw it, it was on Zhou Mingzhe. I'm pretty sure it wanted to kill me."
Yingzhou's expression was quite calm.
Zhou Mingzhe's malice turned into an obvious murderous intention on the disaster.
What's more, it wouldn't be any difficult for Shadow to deal with an ordinary person. Just like seeing a mosquito lying on the back of your hand, most people's instinctive reaction is to slap it.
Yuan Wenxin stood behind the two of them, playing with the fruit knife in his hand. Bringing controlled knives to school would result in a big deduction, but no one cared at this time.
The fruit knife was spinning around on his fingertips, and his expression seemed to be in a trance.
The temperature in the corridor was extremely cold, and there was a layer of frost on the glass windows. The wall skin peeled off abnormally, and black spots appeared one by one like a return of moisture.
Three black shadows joined together behind him. They were larger than any shadow that had appeared before. Half the wall was covered in this black shadow.
Yingzhou didn't look back, but he could feel the cold breath coming from behind him. Almost every nerve was urging him to escape. Adrenaline was secreted crazily, and his heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably.
The shadow stretched out his hand.
The dark, almost solid shadow rubbed Yingzhou's fair neck, and after a moment, he pinched it.
Almost instantly, five particularly obvious bloody bruises appeared on Yingzhou's neck. His toes gradually left the ground and he was lifted high by the shadow.
It is said that when people are about to die, they will watch their whole life in a hurry.
Yingzhou didn't see any scenes from his life, only a pair of deep red eyes.
He read two completely opposite emotions in it.
One side is indifferent, the other side is compassionate.
But after a long time, Yingzhou will understand that indifference is also a kind of compassion.
There are many things in the world that are more painful than death.
Yuan Wenxin admitted that for a moment, he wanted to watch Yingzhou die.
At this time, Yingzhou is still an ordinary person, and his death will not have any impact.
However, Yingzhou died. Will the future be better? Can the big ship carrying hope sail towards the light?
It's just another kind of darkness.
He opened his hand again. There was a long vertical wound, from the palm of the hand to the elbow.
One horizontally and one vertically, like overlapping crosses.
What was cut was the artery, and fresh blood spurted out. They rolled to the ground, and then flowed towards Ying Zhou as if they were alive.
The eggs in the blood are quickly activated, completing metamorphosis almost in the blink of an eye.
A butterfly with blood-red wings fluttered on the shadow behind Yingzhou. Soon it was the second and the third.
Butterflies were flying all over the sky, their blood-red wings emitting an ominous phosphorescence, forming a wall covered with butterflies.
Butterflies are wilting on the wall.
The shadow behind him turned an extraordinarily dull red, and the force holding Yingzhou on became smaller and smaller.
Yingzhou fell back to the ground, covered his neck, and let out a hoarse cough. His throat was filled with the smell of rust and a subtle sweetness.
"Yingzhou," Yuan Wenxin's face was extremely pale, and his already dull face was filled with a bluish-white death air, "Control it."
How can one control one's own shadow?
Yingzhou doesn’t know.
He turned around, but the shadow on the wall did not move, quiet and docile, like a heretic being nailed to the wall for trial.
Yingzhou's hand touched the wall, and he had an illusion in his mind that he was connected by blood to his own shadow.
Heavy breathing sounded in Yingzhou's ears.
The huge dark red shadow was continuously compressed, and finally there was only a human figure about the same size as Ying Zhou.
Where Yingzhou touched was Shadow's hand.
There was still a strange cold feeling coming from the place of contact, but it no longer stung.
Shadow curled his fingers, turned back his hand, and held his hand.
The slender blood-red fingers crossed the wall and interlocked with Ying Zhou at this moment.
The feeling that the shadow was alive only appeared for a moment.
The red blood shadow merged into Yingzhou's body.
It hurts. The severe pain made Yingzhou's face look particularly ugly. His whole body was shaking and he couldn't straighten his back.
The squad leader took a step forward, wanting to express some concern. But Yingzhou just whispered: "Don't touch me."
Yuan Wenxin began to play with the knife in his hand unconsciously again.
He now has an urge to touch his neck. Excessive blood loss made his thinking confused.
There is a strange aroma in the air, very light.
Yuan Wenxin suddenly realized something. He looked at Ying Zhou and the obvious pinch marks on his neck. He felt particularly nauseous at this moment.
Some people are gifted and can awaken themselves without resorting to the source of evolution.
But this is definitely not a blessing, it may also be a curse.
Yuan Wenxin arched his back, held his knees, and coughed violently, but he was unable to vomit out the eggs. This was a sign of extreme physical weakness.
When Yingzhou saw it, Yuan Wenxin covered his mouth inexplicably and laughed out loud. Like a psycho.
After laughing, he wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and whispered: "The shadow needs to possess you. You and Zhou Mingzhe, two shadows... Zhou Mingzhe's self-awareness is definitely not dominant. But his shadow, It showed up earlier than yours and absorbed a lot of energy.”
energy. A cold, emotionless term.
Behind it is a collection of daughters, grandchildren, mothers, and husbands. Lifelines that stop forever.
Yuan Wenxin put the knife in his pocket, wiped the remaining blood on his arm with his school uniform, and said expressionlessly: "You can go to the rooftop. I overestimated myself. I am weaker than I thought."
He originally wanted to say "I can't help you," but these four words swirled around in his mouth and were swallowed back.
"Don't involve me." Yuan Wenxin said coldly.
*
Rooftop.
The hunting wind blows. The surroundings were still shrouded in dark fog, but Ying Zhou's sight was not blocked in any way.
He saw the slender black shadows wandering around the campus, some thick, some light. At this moment, everyone is gathering in the direction of the teaching building.
He also heard footsteps getting closer. Although he couldn't see it, Yingzhou could feel the approaching fear.
This feeling made his body tremble involuntarily.
Yingzhou is actually not very good at fighting.
His only experience of fighting with someone was before he entered elementary school. A kid from the same old neighborhood got on top of him and called his mother a coquettish fox. The son he gave birth to was also a little vixen. So Yingzhou bit the other man's ear viciously until He didn't stop even when he saw blood.
These words were obviously said by adults. Children do not even know what an animal like a fox looks like.
At least Yingzhou didn't know what a fox was like, but he understood that this was not a nice thing to say.
So he beat up everyone present.
The result was that Xu Wenling led him and apologized door to door.
Yingzhou didn't understand why he had to apologize. It was obviously someone else who made the move first.
Later he understood. Even children were bullied. In that backward town, Xu Wenling suffered even more pain and pressure.
Civilization is the result of domestication and can only be born in a rich and gentle environment; in areas where resources are extremely scarce, others are hell, and everyone wants to get greater benefits from others. Yingzhou bit off other people's ears without blood, and more people bit off their bones and flesh without blood.
After that, Yingzhou never fought with anyone again; it wasn't that he couldn't win, he just didn't want to see his mother crying quietly against the wall again.
Yingzhou thought for a moment, took off his school uniform, folded it, and put it aside.
The uniforms of Heying Middle School were very expensive. Yingzhou had worn them for three years. If they broke at this time, he would not be able to bear the money to buy another set of clothes.
Yingzhou rolled up his sleeves, folded them, and buckled them at his elbow joints.
In fact, this white shirt is also a uniform issued by the school, but if you take it off, you will lose your clothes, which is indecent.
The temperature that was originally quite suitable is dropping, and a large cloud of cold air is coming.
Goosebumps appeared on Yingzhou's skin exposed to the air.
Zhou Mingzhe finally appeared at the only entrance to the rooftop.
There were no pupils in his eye sockets, only the whites of his eyes were pale and bloodshot. His chest rose and fell, as if he was still breathing.
When Zhou Mingzhe breathed, black air constantly emerged from his seven orifices and flowed back, like an endless cycle.
"Win...Zhou." Zhou Mingzhe's shadow said hoarsely, "Why are you not dead yet?"
Black shadows overflowed from his feet, like water spreading on the flat ground.
They rushed towards the position of Yingzhou, turbulent and surging.
The black shadow came to Yingzhou in the blink of an eye.
Yingzhou failed to respond. In other words, the speed at which the black shadows are coming has exceeded human limits.
A sharp stinging sensation shot through his heart.
If he were an ordinary person, he would have died at this moment.
But Yingzhou has just completed a round of evolution.
Therefore, he just felt the pain of having a sharp weapon penetrate his heart.
In the shadows of the sky, a ray of crimson blood appeared.
It's very thin, like a red line drawn on black A4 paper, but this point of red is too obvious to ignore.
Ying Zhou had the illusion that his body had been drained dry.
All his flesh and blood flowed out along with this red line, leaving only an empty skin.
The shadow let out a wail, but it wasn't his shadow.
A corner of the black shadow was viciously torn open.
Zhou Mingzhe suddenly screamed at this moment. Continuous wailing.
More black mist poured out of his body, and his body moved, attacking Ying Zhou in an extremely twisted posture.
Human ancestors did not have protective fur and did not have teeth strong enough to crush other predators. So how did you face the beasts in the early days before tools were invented?
The answer is an elbow strike. Standing up, Homo erectus is taller than most animals, so an elbow strike is the best way to attack.
But it was not Yingzhou who delivered the blow.
There was an obvious depression in Zhou Mingzhe's chest, and he was knocked several meters away. The black blood he vomited contained a broken spleen.
But Xun Yu didn't stop. He jumped in front of Zhou Mingzhe and slammed his head on the ground.
The host's physical weakness obviously affected the shadow, and the color of the black shadow became a little lighter.
The thin crimson thread split into three at this moment, tightly entangling the black shadow on the ground.
The shadow howled and was dragged out of Zhou Mingzhe's body. The red thread is getting tighter and tighter, and the shadow is getting smaller and smaller.
The shadow immediately split and fled.
Red Line tried to stop it, but a small group still flew straight out.
The shadow left on the rooftop was torn into pieces, like pieces of shredded paper.
The darkness that shrouded the school was fading away, revealing what it should have been like.
The sky is clearing.
Yingzhou turned his head and looked at the person who suddenly appeared.
They had met just a few hours ago, in the cafeteria.
He originally thought that the other party was looking for Zhou Mingzhe.
Yingzhou still remembered that he seemed to have heard something else...whose name the other party called. Unfortunately, there was too much noise in the cafeteria and he was too far away. Didn't hear clearly.
Xun Yu's state is very strange. He was already tall, but now his body was slightly inflated as if inflated, and his exposed skin was covered in purple-red bloodstains. Yingzhou suspected that he might be 2.5 meters tall when he stood up.
Moreover, his posture is also strange.
Xun Yu squatted on the ground, pressing Zhou Mingzhe's back with one hand, but buried his head very low, looking like he could bite Zhou Mingzhe's neck off at any time.
Yingzhou reacted quickly.
The person in front of him is the same person as Yuan Wenxin whom he saw before.
stranger? Evolver?
Anyway, not a normal person.
The red thin line was slowly retreating from Yingzhou's body, the effect of adrenaline weakened, and the pain and weakness emerged after a while.
A sweet smell of blood clogged his throat.
Ying Zhou couldn't speak, and he didn't know Xun Yu's purpose, so he had to step back cautiously. He also put his hands on the railing of the rooftop to prevent himself from falling.
Xun Yu raised his head slightly and said calmly: "Do you want me to kill him?"
What he was talking about was as ordinary as going to the wet market to buy vegetables, but this food referred to Zhou Mingzhe, who was unconscious on the ground.
Yingzhou's expression was stunned.
*
This is a chain hotel less than one kilometer away from Heying Middle School.
The young man in the penthouse suite opened the window.
A black shadow as big as a fist rushed into the room, letting out a low wail as it flew.
The man scratched the feathers on the back of his hand. They had just grown out and were very itchy.
He sniffed hard: "This smell... the famous soul shadow has been swallowed up to only this little bit."
You know, the extremely wide coverage area and the lack of physical shadows were once one of the most troublesome scourges for the Superpower Bureau.
He held the shadow in his hand and mocked: "It's so pathetic, just follow me from now on."
