QT- I’m Almost Died
Chapter 264. The Caged Bird
Fan Jialuo looked down at Zhang Wencheng, who was in a terrible state but still exuded a brilliant and dazzling charm. His dark eyes were as calm and serene as a deep, still sea.
Zhang Wencheng felt daunted by that gaze, yet he couldn’t help but chuckle softly. After a century, the man hadn’t changed a bit, when he looked at you, his eyes held such tender, soulful depth, yet just as you found yourself hopelessly captivated, you realized you would never receive even a sliver of his attention. Only then would you realize that he had merely been looking at you, without ever truly seeing you, let alone holding you in his heart.
He has always been out of place in this world.
Zhang Wencheng held the twisted and deformed gold-wired birdcage, laughing louder and louder.
Fan Jialuo bowed slightly, his voice low and gentle, “Young Master Zhang, it’s been a long time.”
After all these years, he remained as calm and composed as ever, showing neither raging fury nor murderous intent, as if the person standing before him, the one who had betrayed and killed him and stripped him of everything, were not Zhang Wencheng.
The more he acted this way, the colder Zhang Wencheng’s heart became. His scarlet eyes gradually lost focus, and his voice trailed off, hollow, as if he had fallen into another dimension, “Fan Jialuo, long time no see. Ha, I knew you wouldn’t die. Even if Song Enci pierced your heart and threw you into that formation that’s said to suppress souls for ten thousand years, I still knew you wouldn’t die. How could Song Enci possibly kill you, hahahaha……”
Fan Jialuo looked down at him, silent and still, his expression and even his gaze were calm and undisturbed.
Zhang Wencheng, however, seemed lost in memory, he patted the birdcage and gave a bitter, wretched smile, “Do you remember that bird that was carried off in its mouth by a stray cat? You gently stroked it, and its stiff, cold body fluttered back to life. You held it up, letting it take flight again. I’ll never forget that miraculous scene. At the time, I was terminally ill and couldn’t even stand up. I was truly envious of that bird! I thought you could save me the way you saved it, but you cruelly refused. You could have done it, but you just wouldn’t. Why?”
His bloodshot eyes blazed with endless hatred, “You said you couldn’t easily use the power of the jade pendant, but why did you save a bird right in front of me, making me crave it so desperately? When the bird came back to you after flying away at night, you crushed it to death with your fingers. Song Enci and I were hiding in the shadows watching you, and we were really terrified.”
“Back then, I really didn’t understand the point of what you did. But after a century of wandering, and becoming this inhuman, ghostly state, I finally understand. You did it on purpose so we could see it, didn’t you? You deliberately saved that bird in front of us, and then deliberately crushed it to death in front of us. You gave us hope, and then you made us despair. You knew perfectly well that my greatest wish was to live, yet you placed this readily available wish where I could see it, but you never let me have it.”
“You were tempting me and Song Enci, weren’t you? You did it on purpose! You’ve placed delicious pastries on top of an abyss from which there will never be light.”
“You have constructed a monstrous deception! You told us that obtaining the jade pendant would grant us immortality, but you didn’t tell us that the price of immortality would be living like this! Was all the suffering we’ve endured over the years within your expectations? You released this caged bird with your own hands, and then killed it with your own hands. The cage was empty, which seemed wasteful, so you put me and Song Enci inside, turning us into new caged birds.”
“It took me over a hundred years to understand this, but unfortunately Song Enci doesn’t. She simply doesn’t believe that all of this was your arrangement! Fan Jialuo, you did it on purpose, didn’t you? You arranged my fate, you arranged Song Enci’s fate, and even your own death and resurrection. You know everything, you definitely know everything! Tell me, why did you do this? Why did you use such absurd methods to toy with us, plunging us into such prolonged suffering? Let me die knowing why!”
Fan Jialuo squatted down, tracing the ghost pipe on his chest with his slender fingertips, and calmly asked, “Stealing the jade pendant, killing to cover it up, betraying the sect, was it all forced upon you by me?”
Zhang Wencheng opened his mouth, but only spat out a mouthful of bloody foam. He couldn’t find the words to refute those words.
“Song Enci wants the position of sect master of the Tianshui Sect, Shifu’s favor, fame and fortune, and godhood, while you want to live, to live forever, and to reign supreme over this entire world. You want too much. But do you know what I want?”
Fan Jialuo withdrew his fingertips and slowly stood up.
Zhang Wencheng asked in a trembling voice, “What do you want?”
Fan Jialuo curled his lips into a smile and said softly, “I want to destroy all people like you.”
Zhang Wenxiang froze on the spot like an ice sculpture, his blood-red eyes wide open, as if he had seen the most terrifying demon in the world.
In a daze, he recalled his first meeting with this person.
Wearing a faded Taoist robe, tilting his head, squinting his eyes, and looking over with a smile. His face, illuminated by the blazing sun, shone brightly. His red lips were slightly parted, but his voice was as clear and melodious as melting snow in early spring, “Young Master Zhang, would it be alright to borrow your residence for a few days?”
Zhang Wencheng was already terminally ill, yet upon seeing this person, he seemed to find a renewed sense of life. Why then did he later want to kill him? Why did he join forces with Song Enci, embarking on this path of no return?
It was because of desire! The desire to live ultimately triumphed over emotion, leading him to bewitch Song Enci and join forces with her to commit such a heinous act. But if it weren’t for Fan Jialuo’s every move and word that fueled this desire, they wouldn’t have taken that step.
But what did they ultimately gain? They did live, for a very long time, but their bodies grew weaker and weaker each day, aging more and more with each passing day. Only then did they realize with horror that immortality did not equate to eternal youth, and that their wish had been a curse from the very beginning.
To break the curse, he and Song Enci parted ways. She went on to be a Holy Maiden, and he was left to be a monster…
Recalling this, Zhang Wencheng laughed again, one laugh after another, as if he were extremely happy. After laughing, he tilted his head back and asked, “Were the two paths that Song Enci and I chose wrong from the very beginning?”
Fan Jialuom replied in a low voice, “Different paths, but the same destination.”
“Different paths, same destination, so my current fate will be Song Enci’s fate in the future? Hahaha…… This is truly ridiculous, hahaha…… Fan Jialuo, you really do know everything. None of us can escape your grasp. Poor Song Enci still thinks she’s won, hahaha……”
Zhang Wencheng nearly choked with laughter, coughing up blood repeatedly. He finally let out a long sigh, “Fan Jialuo, I really want to know what Song Enci’s expression would be if she saw you still alive. It’s just a pity she hid too well. Fan Jialuo, I thought that if we met again, we would have a battle…”
“Fighting you would only dirty my hands.” Fan Jialuo took two steps back to avoid the blood that the other man spat out while speaking splashing onto his shoes and trousers.
Zhang Wencheng：……
His resentment and anger were ultimately shattered by those words.
“So, you’ve already planned my final fate, haven’t you? I was wrong. I should have known I couldn’t beat you.” Zhang Wencheng said, tears of blood streaming from his eyes, his voice filled with endless desolation, “If time could turn back, I wish I had never met you. I wish I could die peacefully and quietly. I wish I could be a human being.”
With his last ounce of strength, he turned his heavy head to the side, coughed up a mouthful of blood, and then, with his eyes bulging open, died suddenly. Since Fan Jialuo found him filthy, he would leave him with the last bit of purity, this mouthful of blood stained with sin ultimately did not splatter on him.
Zhang Wencheng was immortal, yet he ultimately couldn’t escape the sins he himself had committed. No matter how strong his regenerative abilities were, those mud dolls could devour his internal organs much faster. Can a person survive without internal organs, just an empty shell?
He was naturally doomed, and Zhang Wencheng’s unparalleled physical form slowly deflated. Before he could completely turn into blood along with the dozens of mud dolls, Fan Jialuo unleashed his magnetic field, probing into his chest cavity, attempting to summon the jade pendant.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, dozens of green vines pierced Zhang Wencheng’s chest, first enveloping the shimmering jade pendant, then piercing Zhang Wencheng’s skin, dragging him into the interior of the mountain made of piled-up bones.
The vines, sharp as swords, sliced through the skeletons and pierced the foul-smelling soil, dragging Zhang Wencheng into the endless depths. Fan Jialuo immediately leaped into the cave created by the vines, but ultimately did not pursue them any deeper.
He could sense that the vines contained immense power, something he couldn’t handle in his current state.
Standing inside this mountain made of piled-up bones, he discovered that it was hollow. The outer layer was covered with bones, while the inner layer was filled with black ashes, and cylindrical objects had drilled holes resembling wormholes into it.
If one had to find a similar thing to describe it, Fan Jialuo felt that the mountain was more like an anthill, but what eroded and devoured these bones bit by bit, was not ants, but the root system. A root system as flexible as vines.
Zhang Wencheng piled these bones here not for decoration, but to cultivate a plant. Like him, Su Fengxi’s urns of ashes and glass jar filled with blood stored in the villa likely served the same purpose.
Thinking of this, Fan Jialuo clutched his abdomen, reinforcing the space enveloping the seed, he also thought of the blue fruit Zhang Wencheng had swallowed when he regained his human form, the secret that had kept Su Fengxi young and beautiful all these years, the cosmetics that had made Jian Ya and the others look neither human nor ghost, and the blue drug that could stimulate human potential and even cultivate spirits.
These strange events, numerous doubts, and hidden secrets finally began to unfold. Everything was caused by this plant. It seemed capable of absorbing all sins, evil deeds, vitality, and death, then bearing fruit that granted those who consumed it eternal youth or immense power.
Its fruit is remarkably similar to the jade pendant that can grant any wish.
Fan Jialuo looked up at the cave entrance and couldn’t help but sigh. All the demons lurking in the shadows seemed to have awakened, and were more powerful than he had anticipated.
As he strained to sense the future, an anxious voice came from above, “Teacher Fan, are you alright?”
“I’m here.” Fan Jialuo replied immediately.
“Are you injured?” Chief Yan’s head appeared at the cave entrance, followed by several beams of bright light shining down.
Fan Jialuo’s eyes met the bright light directly, yet not even his eyelashes trembled, “I’m fine.”
“Wait here, we’ll pull you up right away.” Upon discovering that only Teacher Fan was below, and a black hole leading straight to the ground, Chief Yan immediately lowered a rope down.
A few minutes later, Fan Jialuo reached the top of the mountain, picked up the ghost pipe that was as clear and dazzling as frost, looked down at it closely, and found that it had not been stained. Only then did he throw it into the dark bone cave.
“Teacher Fan, what about the monster? Is it dead? Why were vines growing from its chest?”
Chief Yan asked with great concern.
“Logically speaking, being entangled in the blood curse, he should have died without a doubt. But the vine that took him away is very strange, and I can’t be 100% sure he will die. By the way, aren’t you looking for the raw materials to make those blue drug? I guess that vine is it, its roots used to be all over this place.”
Fan Jialuo pointed to the cave in the mountain made of piled-up bones and guessed, “This is probably where Zhang Wencheng cultivated those fruits.”
Chief Yan said with lingering fear, “Those vines seemed to be alive!”
“It’s not just a feeling, it is definitely alive. It has intelligence.” Fan Jialuo slowly walked down the mountain.
“What do you mean by that? Are you saying it has awakened a spirit?” Chief Yan asked, staggering as he chased after him.
“Yes.”
Upon hearing this answer, Chief Yan tripped and fell on the spot.
“Is it harmful? What does it want to do?” Chief Yan asked hastily, ignoring the mud all over his mouth.
“Haven’t you realized it yet?” Fan Jialuo stood at the foot of the towering mountain made of piled-up bones, tracing the misty, wrecked valley with his fingertips, and said, “It uses human bones, flesh, and blood as fertilizer. If it wants to continue growing, it will kill people, kill many people.”
Chief Yan turned to look at the countless skeletons, his voice trembling uncontrollably, “Kill many people…… but just how many is ‘many’?”
“Probably until there is no one left to kill.” Fan Jialuo said in a calm tone, giving an incredibly terrifying answer.
Chief Yan’s head buzzed, and he collapsed onto the pile of bones.
Immediately afterward, a technician climbed out of the mountain and shouted, “Chief, there are traces of plant roots here. We deduce that the plant was enormous, but it disappeared, as if it grew legs and slipped away underground! Chief Yan, I’m really not lying to you!”
“I know!” Chief Yan shouted, then slumped down completely.
“Why is it so hard for me? Just my luck. I take over the Special Defense Bureau, and suddenly every freaky, unnatural case under the sun breaks out. The previous Special Defense Bureau could only catch a few ghosts at most, but now it’s all monsters! Teacher Fan, how do we solve this case? Where are we going to catch that plant? It slipped out of the ground, and we can’t burrow underground!” Chief Yan pounded his forehead in frustration.
“It’s already escaped and we can’t catch it for now. Let’s find the mastermind behind the switch of those national treasures first.” Fan Jialuo said calmly.
Chief Yan, still grappling with a major unsolved case, collapsed to the ground, utterly disgraceful, feeling utterly hopeless. ——
Fan Jialuo returned to the old residence under cover of night, went into the basement, and hugged Xu Yiyang, who was still fast asleep, as if he had never left.
Meanwhile, Song Rui, who got up in the early morning to drink water, found an unread message in his WeChat, sent by Fan Jialuo. He immediately opened it, then spat out a mouthful of water, coughing and choking, before bursting into uncontrollable laughter.
He propped his forehead up with his hand, but it couldn’t hide the endless happiness and joy flowing from his bright eyes.
He tapped his finger and quickly replied with an okay.
Above this message, Fan Jialuo asked in a calm tone: 【Would it be alright if you moved in with me?】
The next day, Song Rui and Fan Jialuo had arranged to move together, but on the way, they were abruptly stopped by Chief Yan and taken to port city to meet with four renowned collectors and have their treasures appraised.
The four collectors were very cooperative, bringing all the antiques they had collected over the years.
Fan Jialuo sensed each of them, repeatedly shaking his head in denial, “Fake, fake, fake……”
The four collectors turned pale, as if they couldn’t believe it or felt like they’d been ripped off, and were heartbroken.
Finally, Fan Jialuo’s palm hovered before a lotus flower carved from pink Dushan jade, reflecting the sun. He shook his head and said, “It’s still fake.” Yet he didn’t move for a long time, as if he had discovered some major problem.
Chief Yan, who was frightened by him, reflexively became nervous.
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