boyutpedia Chapter 173 Li Jiuhe and Li Yi
Chapter 173 Li Jiuhe and Li Yi
Chapter 173 Li Jiuhe and Li Yi
To be honest, for a moment, Li Jiuhe even felt a little guilty about the Joker card.
I had dealt with these black and white playing cards once before the mission was reset, but I never expected that this second time I would be given an "impossible mission".
It's obvious even to a fool that Little Joker has no chance of surviving and will most likely be torn to shreds by that terrifying giant hand.
The moment Li Jiuhe carried Tong Cheng out of the passage, the passage was immediately and quickly closed by the Death Pass.
[Alright, the passage is closed, you're safe now. However, I must remind you that your friend was originally shrouded in cursed power, but it was removed by my death power when he came out. Consider this a bonus.]
After closing the passage, the pass holders didn't forget to claim credit.
It's clear that since the two reached a limited cooperation agreement, it has indeed been doing its best to help Li Jiuhe.
Li Jiuhe's face was pale, and he was panting heavily. He looked back and, after confirming that everything was alright, he put Tong Cheng down from his back.
He wasn't actually tired; his current state was caused by the fear in his heart.
After all, he wasn't protected by the mission definition ability at that moment. If it weren't for rescuing Tong Cheng and having the Joker card as a backup, he wouldn't have dared to take such a risk.
According to his estimation, the power of that black hand had exceeded the levels he knew. He wondered what the owner of the hand was.
Are there other, even more terrifying creatures in this world?
They quickly checked Tong Cheng's injuries and found that he had fallen into a coma, but was still breathing and had a pulse.
Li Jiuhe immediately got up and called Song Zhixing and the others into the entrance of the haunted house. Upon hearing that the injured person was Tong Cheng, a special investigator from the General Bureau, Song Zhixing immediately ordered the medical staff outside to come in.
After quickly stopping the bleeding for Tong Cheng, they carried him out on a stretcher, preparing to take him to the hospital for treatment.
The boy in the haunted house stood silently deep in the passageway, watching everything unfold.
Li Jiuhe turned around and asked, "You probably can't leave this White Stone Park, right?"
The boy shook his head.
"You're growing very fast, and we'll continue to seal off the area. For now, no one will threaten your survival."
After saying these words, Li Jiuhe quickly left the haunted house.
Meanwhile, Ma Li and Li Yi had already returned to their official car, both of them waiting anxiously.
Li Yi was worried about her father's safety, while Ma Li was worried about her own.
After seeing Tong Cheng, who was in a deep coma, being carried out on a stretcher, Ma Li sat in the car and stared intently at Tong Cheng as he was being taken into the ambulance through the car window.
She only breathed a long sigh of relief after the ambulance drove away.
Ma Li quickly opened the car door, let Li Yi sit inside, and then jumped out herself. She asked one of the investigators following behind, "Investigator Tong—how are your injuries?"
"The injury is serious and he needs to be taken to the hospital immediately," the investigator replied, then got into the driver's seat of a nearby government vehicle and started the engine.
More people are gradually emerging from the haunted house.
"Ah, since he can be saved, he probably won't die." Ma Li felt even more uneasy.
Before long, most people returned to the outside of the haunted house, leaving only a few investigators to clean up the area around the haunted house.
However, Li Jiuhe had already warned them not to enter the haunted house and to keep a certain distance from it.
When Li Jiuhe returned to the official car he had come in, he found only Li Yi sitting inside, her face still wet with tears, but Ma Li was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's your Aunt Ma Li?" Li Jiuhe asked.
Li Yi blinked and looked around: "She got off the bus just now when Uncle Tong was brought out by the doctor."
Li Jiuhe looked around but didn't see Ma Li. He took out his phone and dialed, but the phone was switched off.
"Did she get into the ambulance?" he wondered.
Li Yi shook her head again. With so many people suddenly appearing and the surroundings in such a mess, she really didn't see them.
After searching around again and not finding Ma Li, Li Jiuhe got into the car and said to Li Yi, "Let's go back to the hotel first, take a shower and rest, then change our clothes before going to the hospital to visit Uncle Tong."
He suspected that Ma Li might have gone to the hospital with the ambulance, since she had finally seen Tong Cheng again and should have shown concern at that time.
He had just examined Tong Cheng's injuries. Although they were serious, the special investigator's strength had indeed been greatly enhanced.
Given enough time, he can still recover slowly from this severe injury and his life will not be in danger.
"Okay." Li Yi nodded, then touched her stomach. "Dad, I'm a little hungry."
She has always loved cleanliness since she was a child, and she has lost count of how long she has spent in the abandoned wooden house. Since then, she has become increasingly dirty.
At first, Li Yi felt very uncomfortable, but she got used to it later, and with her attention diverted, she stopped thinking about it so much.
However, she didn't feel hungry in the cabin, since it was a very strange space where there was no concept of time like in the real world.
But now that I'm back in the real world, I immediately feel hungry.
"Then let's go back to the hotel to eat." Li Jiuhe sat down next to his daughter and gently rubbed her almost tangled hair.
The father and daughter returned to the hotel, where Luo Shuo, who had woken up and was staying at the Municipal Investigation Bureau, called to tell Li Jiuhe that he had gone to the hospital to see Tong Cheng and that they should not worry.
Luo Shuo had probably already heard about what happened in the haunted house.
Currently, Li Jiuhe has not only rescued Li Yi using the haunted house, but also Tong Cheng.
This ending delighted Luo Shuo.
Back in the hotel room, Li Jiuhe called the hotel restaurant and ordered a sumptuous meal, and then prepared hot water for Li Yi in advance.
While Li Yi was taking a shower, the hotel delivered children's bathrobes and a hot meal.
At the same time, Li Jiuhe placed an order online to buy several sets of new clothes and underwear for Li Yi to change into.
After Li Yi came out of the shower, her face was a little rosier. However, in Li Jiuhe's opinion, the little girl seemed to have a caution and composure that did not belong to her age, like a little adult.
It seems that Li Yi's mental strength has been tempered a lot during this time in the deserted wooden house, making her seem to have grown up suddenly.
After taking a bath, the little guy dried his hair by himself without any help, while Li Jiuhe set out the bowls and chopsticks.
"Come and eat! We have your favorite scrambled eggs with tomatoes, braised pork ribs, and stewed beef."
"it is good."
Li Yi swallowed hard, sat down, picked up her chopsticks and began to wolf down her food, while Li Jiuhe ate very slowly and kept putting food on her plate.
As she was eating, Li Yi suddenly looked up at Li Jiuhe, who was eating stewed beef, with a curious gaze.
Li Jiuhe noticed something unusual in her gaze and asked with a smile, "What's wrong?"
Li Yi said, "Dad, I remember you don't like cilantro. This beef has cilantro in it, so why did you eat so much?"
Li Jiuhe looked at the cilantro leaves in her bowl with a puzzled expression: "I don't like cilantro?"
"Mmm." Li Yi nodded. "I'm the same as you, I don't like cilantro either. The smell makes me uncomfortable. Why don't you—"
"—Has it changed?"
Li Jiuhe smiled and shook his head: "I think I've always liked to eat."
Li Yi looked at him with suspicion.
But eventually, she couldn't resist the hunger and the irresistible aroma of the food, so she stopped thinking about it and continued to work.
"By the way, Xiaoyi, do you remember how you got to that wooden house?" Li Jiuhe asked while eating.
Li Yi shook her head: "I remember that after school that day, when I got home, you were still at work and hadn't come back yet. Later, someone knocked on the door, and for some reason I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in that wooden house."
After careful analysis, Li Jiuhe concluded that the person knocking on the door must have been Yu Minmin.
After entering the house, she actually strangled Li Yi to death, but because of the abilities of her wife Lin Fengya, who for some reason did not appear, Li Yi had two possible outcomes at that moment.
One outcome is death, the other is entering an abandoned wooden hut.
Just like Lin Fengya herself back then, there were two possible outcomes: either she fell into the pond and died, or she safely returned home to do her homework.
And naturally, it eventually transitioned to a relatively safe outcome.
That's why Li Yi appeared in the deserted wooden house.
"I saw my mother in the cabin," Li Yi said. "She told me that you were trying to save me, and that I shouldn't worry or be afraid, but wait for you to come and rescue me."
Li Jiuhe was taken aback: "Where is she?"
'
Li Yi said, "My mother's body was blurry and I couldn't see clearly. She said a couple of words to me and then disappeared. I don't know where she went."
"Did she show up again later?" Li Jiuhe asked.
Li Yi shook her head.
"And then you met Uncle Tong?"
"Yes." Li Yi nodded. "Uncle Tong said he's your friend and will protect me when I leave the cabin. He also wants to find his teacher, Grandpa Xu. Later, Grandpa Zhou came in too—"
"Zhou Yiwen?" Li Jiuhe asked in surprise.
He never expected that Zhou Yiwen, the old sorcerer, would actually enter the deserted wooden house after his death.
However, it seems that only a Sequencer with the abilities of a Great Sorcerer would have a certain probability of entering the wooden house; most others would not be able to do so.
"Yes, later, Grandpa Zhou's health deteriorated as he tried to find a way for us to escape the darkness. He told us to leave, and I never saw him again." Li Yi's eyes were already slightly red as she said this.
She then put down her chopsticks. "Later, Grandpa Xu died. Before he died, he gave me a gift."
"What gift?" Li Jiuhe turned around and glanced at the tattered and dirty clothes that Li Yi had just changed out of.
The little guy only had those few clothes and didn't bring anything else with him.
Li Yi said, "It was a face mask, like the kind my mom left at home. I touched it, and then I was completely awakened—"
"Wait," Li Jiuhe interrupted her, "You've fully awakened?"
Li Yi nodded obediently.
"So what is your sequence ability?" Li Jiuhe was both excited and curious.
"I didn't know at first either," Li Yi replied. "Grandpa Xu told me. He said I was an Onmyoji."
""
"Onmyoji?!" Li Jiuhe exclaimed in surprise. "What kind of sequence line is that?"
"I don't know what a sequence line is," Li Yi said honestly.
She really didn't understand what sequence lines meant.
Li Jiuhe realized that in the environment of the wooden house, Xu Huaiyuan could not possibly tell Li Yi more about the sequence lines, and besides, Li Yi might not be able to remember it immediately.
"So—what effects will occur when you use your ability?" he asked in a different way.
Li Yi looked at him blankly, then shook her head: "I can see the ghost in the wooden house, very clearly, even more clearly than Uncle Tong and Grandpa Xu."
"That's it?"
"I don't know anything else." Li Yi picked up her bowl again and started eating, then drank half a bowl of soup.
"Oh, right, I also know what they want to do, and I can sense their presence." She added, "For example, when we entered the first floor of the hotel just now, I could feel that there had been ghosts there."
"What?!" Li Jiuhe exclaimed in surprise. "Did you see it?"
"I didn't see it," Li Yi said. "But it should have just left when we arrived."
Now Li Jiuhe no longer doubts the existence of "ghosts" in this world, because according to the Death Pass, ghosts come from the "Abyss," and people enter the "Abyss" after they die.
This can actually be considered another kind of "life" in another world space.
As for why the Order Rectifiers previously released information saying that "ghosts" do not exist in this world, the reason remains unknown.
Li Jiuhe guessed that it was probably because they knew that the creatures in the "Abyss" could not enter this world.
But now the situation seems to have changed. The "Abyss" has already eroded the place where Yin and Yang meet, so it cannot be ruled out that more creatures from the Abyss have entered this world.
These creatures from the Abyss, whose strength is not too great, might be able to spill out and enter their world.
However, if one's strength is too great, they will be subject to certain restrictions and it will not be so easy for them to enter.
However, these things seem to be invisible or imperceptible to ordinary people, and even Sequencers cannot detect them, unless they are Sequencers with exclusive abilities like Li Yi.
It gives the impression that although they have entered this world, they seem to still exist in another dimension.
That's why Li Yi was able to sense that a ghost had lingered in the hotel lobby, but Li Jiuhe was completely unaware of it.
Watching Li Yi eat heartily, Li Jiuhe stopped talking to her and instead began to question the Death Pass in his mind.
Have you ever heard of a type of practitioner called an Onmyoji?
Death Pass paused for a moment before answering.
[I've heard of it. Onmyoji can communicate with the Yin and Yang realms. No wonder your daughter entered the abandoned wooden house; her abilities must be very compatible with these places where Yin and Yang intersect.]
"Where does an Onmyoji belong?" Li Jiuhe asked again.
【Uh, Gold Thread. However, Onmyoji are also rare in the Gold Thread. As far as I know, besides your daughter, there is only one Onmyoji in the entire Tian Shu Kingdom.】
After a pause, Death Pass added another sentence.
[However, an Onmyoji's awakening should be innate, meaning it begins from the moment she is born. I've never seen one like your daughter who awakened it halfway through life.]
Li Jiuhe frowned, and after a moment asked, "The giant black hand I saw in the abandoned wooden hut earlier, when facing its attack, was filled with the word 'withering.' Do you know who its owner is? Why did I think of the word 'withering'?"
This time, Death Pass did not answer; instead, it remained silent.
"Do you not know, or are you unwilling to say, or afraid to say?"
There was still no response regarding the pass.
"Is our cooperation still ongoing? If you want to terminate the cooperation, just tell me directly." Li Jiuhe was completely open about the matter.
This time, the pass could no longer remain silent, and it quickly provided an answer.
That being is beyond your or your friend's ability to contend with. You'd better stop inquiring about him and avoid him for the rest of your life. Fortunately, his true form is still in the "Abyss" and cannot enter our world for the time being; otherwise, you and your friend would definitely be killed by him—easily wiped out.
"Thank you for your warning." Li Jiuhe nodded. "Is he a taboo subject? In other words, can you tell me his name?"
[A taboo is a rule of the entire sequence diagram, but he is not a taboo.]
"So who is he?" Li Jiuhe pressed.
If I'm not mistaken, that should be—the Withering Lord, an existence capable of destroying the world.
When the word "Destroy the World" appeared on the pass, Li Jiuhe roughly knew the terrifying strength of this "Withering Lord".
By this time, Li Yi had finished her meal and climbed onto the big bed, covering herself with the blanket.
While living in the deserted cabin, she was constantly on guard, never able to let her guard down, and never before had she felt as safe as she does now.
With her father by her side to protect her, Li Yi didn't have to think about anything and quickly fell asleep.
Li Jiuhe didn't talk to the pass again. Instead, he quietly cleared away the leftover food on the table, put it on a trolley, pushed it into the corridor outside the door, and then called a waiter to pick it up.
He then called Luo Shuo.
Luo Shuo had arrived at the hospital and was waiting outside the operating room for Tong Cheng, who was undergoing surgery. However, he told Li Jiuhe that he did not see Ma Li at the hospital.
Luo Shuo also called Ma Li, but her phone was still switched off.
Luo Shuo quickly voiced his guess: "I suspect that Ma Li may have left, because Boss Tong has already come out of the wooden house, and she may be worried that she will be locked up in the shelter."
"Could it be that the mask on her face has come off?" Li Jiuhe wondered.
"When she was with you, did she consume any other Sequencers or Sequence Objects?" Luo Shuo asked.
Li Jiuhe nodded: "I swallowed some, especially—"
At this point, he thought of Guo Fan.
"Yes, she's been keeping it from us. After consuming these Sequencers, her abilities must have evolved very quickly, causing her mask to fall off."
"Actually, Boss Tong might not necessarily punish her, especially knowing how much she has helped us," Luo Shuo sighed.
"Try to track down her whereabouts. After Tong Cheng wakes up, I'll talk to him. He shouldn't make things difficult for Ma Li anymore," Li Jiuhe said. "After all, there's no rule that says non-human beings can't be investigators or integrate into human society."
"That's true." Luo Shuo nodded. "However, I don't have any items to track Ma Li right now. I'll start tracking her after I get back from the hospital."
Li Jiuhe held the phone in his hand and looked up at the room next door where Ma Li used to live.
There are two room cards for Ma Li's room, one for Ma Li and one for him.
After hanging up the phone, he took out Ma Li's room key from his pocket and then opened the door.
If Ma Li wants to hide, she definitely won't return to the hotel room.
However, after Li Jiuhe entered the room, he found that Ma Li had not returned. Her usual clothes and some decorations were still in the room, untouched.
The queen ant was still simple-minded and dared not tell Li Jiuhe and the others about her worries. Instead, she always believed that she would definitely suffer after Tong Cheng came out.
Now, the only thing to do is wait for Luo Shuo to track her down and bring her back.
After checking everything, Li Jiuhe returned to his room next door.
He moved a chair and sat down by the bed, looking lovingly at his sleeping daughter.
The sight of that beautiful face he had longed for so long finally appearing before him made him feel as if it were a dream.
After a long while, Li Jiuhe subconsciously pinched his thigh; it hurt a lot.
When he looked at his sleeping daughter again, he suddenly felt a sense of unfamiliarity.
Not only was her daughter's appearance unfamiliar, but she even felt a strange sense of unfamiliarity with the concept of "daughter".
This feeling made him uneasy.
With sweaty palms and a slightly racing heart, Li Jiuhe breathed heavily and quickly moved closer to Li Yi's flushed face to take a closer look, listening to the heavy breathing coming from Li Yi.
Before long, the familiar feeling of knowing her daughter welled up again, and the unease in her heart slowly subsided.