"To think there are so many Resentful Souls, and one Evil Spirit on the verge of forming!"
In the spiritual world, even Yara was surprised. 'This woman's mind is incredibly tough. You have to understand, a normal human possessed by just a single Resentful Soul would be drained of their positive emotions and become gloomy and withdrawn.'
'If it were an Evil Spirit, they'd likely fall directly into depression, unable to feel any happiness at all. It wouldn't take long for them to have a mental breakdown and commit suicide from the depression.'
'And now there are so many Resentful Souls and an Evil Spirit forming a Curse... The enemy of your friend's family is definitely not someone with a personal grudge. Without a large organization working in the shadows, it would be absolutely impossible to create a Curse of this level before the Spiritual Energy Revival!'
Su Zhou didn't reply to the Snake Spirit. He smiled and chatted with Wen Yuefeng for a bit, flexing his muscles to show her how healthy he was—healthy enough to eat a whole pot of rice. Then, he helped push her wheelchair to the front of the TV, where she went back to cheerfully watching her crosstalk show.
'Crosstalk... it actually has such power? This endless stream of positive emotion...'
Su Zhou and Shao Qiming went upstairs together toward the latter's room. The Snake Spirit poked its head out from the hair on the back of Su Zhou's neck and looked at Wen Yuefeng, who was still humming a little tune while watching the show. It was deeply moved. 'No, maybe that's part of it, but the fundamental factor is that this woman's heart is abnormally strong!'
'Humans truly are interesting. These unexpected events, these Miracles that shine in the darkness... This is why I've never grown tired of it, even if the price is...'
Meanwhile, Su Zhou, who showed no outward signs of anything unusual, had arrived at the door to Shao Qiming's room with him.
Across from Shao Qiming's room was another room with a black skull sign hanging on the door. Su Zhou knew it was the room of the Shao Family's youngest daughter, Shao Shuangyue. From inside, he could hear the CLACK-CLACK-CLACK of a keyboard and mouse, as well as a girl's voice that was full of vigor, yet still sounded a bit childish.
"Come mid! Mid is getting ganked! Hurry, Teleport!"
"Help help help help help help help!!!!"
"What the fuck are you guys doing?! Do you even know how to play? No wards, not protecting the carry, no one's coming to help... Your dad here is gonna die of anger from you useless brats!"
"Block, report, mute, ****!"
Hearing this, Shao Qiming couldn't help but sigh. He was about to say something when, with a THUMP-THUMP-THUMP of footsteps, the door with the black skull sign opened. A girl with long, straight black hair, who looked quiet and well-behaved—a complete mismatch for the voice from before—emerged from the room, puffing her cheeks out angrily and holding a water cup.
At first, the girl still looked furious, but her eyes lit up when she saw Su Zhou. Waving her cup, she said in pleasant surprise, "Yo, Brother Zhou, you're here?! Quick, quick, party up with me and let's stomp those noobs!"
"...I'm about to be a high school senior. I'm quitting computer games for a year, for now."
Su Zhou dodged a bit of water that splashed from her cup. He stared at her intently, making the girl a little uncomfortable, before his expression softened. He then said righteously, "Shuangyue, you too. You're about to be in your last year of middle school, so you should be preparing for the high school entrance exams. Study hard and get better every day!"
"Tch, fine, don't play with me then. Watch me carry and beat all nine of them by myself!" Hearing his words, the girl named Shao Shuangyue's expression instantly turned cold. She shook her head, waved her cup, and started mumbling as she headed downstairs. "Forget it, I'll just play a single-player game. Lately, my solo queue has felt jinxed. I'm just losing rank like crazy..."
However, before going down the stairs, she turned back and said softly, "It's good that you both came back safe. The day we got the news, Mom and Dad were super worried... Um, me too."
Without waiting for a reply, she continued down the stairs with a THUMP-THUMP-THUMP to get her water.
"She's hit her rebellious phase."
Shao Qiming watched his sister's retreating back and sighed softly. "Oh well. Her grades haven't dropped, anyway. Might as well let her play more before she starts high school... Come on, Azhou, let's go into my room."
After closing the door, Shao Qiming was about to get some files he had recently collected on suspected Extraordinary Anomalies to show Su Zhou, but he noticed his friend's expression had suddenly turned grim. "What's wrong, Azhou?"
"Something big. You should sit down first."
The two of them sat down at the desk by the window. After making sure no one was around, Su Zhou shrugged, and the small, blood-colored snake emerged from his hair. "Let's not waste any time. This is the Snake Spirit that guided you to save me. It calls itself Yara."
"Ah, hello. Thank you for your guidance in saving Su Zhou."
Before Yara could reply, Shao Qiming had already thanked it with a serious expression. His tone was so sincere that even the Snake Spirit felt a bit awkward. "Alright, alright. You saved yourselves. If it weren't for that group of people with my Holy Prayer Book, you might not have been in danger in the first place. You can thank me, but there's no need."
After this introduction to the not-so-nice Snake Spirit, Su Zhou and Shao Qiming's relationship was such that no pleasantries were needed. Su Zhou directly recounted the series of actions and battles he'd gone through after realizing there was something wrong with the tour guide.
Aside from a brief moment of surprise when he heard that Su Zhou had killed someone so ruthlessly right from the start, Shao Qiming spent the rest of the time looking thoughtful, or at times, as if he thought the killing was justified. He held a pencil and a sketchpad, but he didn't write down a single word. Instead, he just hastily sketched a few pictures, as if he were vaguely recreating the scenes Su Zhou was describing.