Chapter 36: Illusion

After Cao Meng left, Li Si began preparing the things he needed for entering the mountain.

Actually, the main things to prepare for entering the mountain were dry food and rice, as well as clothes, fire starters, and so on.

According to Luo Ye, the place where Cao Qing’s body was hanging was at least a day’s journey away. This meant that for the next period of time, he would definitely have to stay in the mountains for a while, so naturally he needed to be well-prepared.

After packing clothes and rice, Li Si still felt something was missing. After thinking for a moment, he went out directly. He still needed to buy a set of straw rain capes and ropes, so he wouldn’t be in such a mess if he encountered heavy rain. These things weren’t available at home, so he had to go out to buy them.

After Li Si had been out for a while, a man wearing a red leather jacket suddenly appeared on the roof. His eyes revealed a puzzled expression as he listened on the roof for a while, then he floated down from the roof, landing in the courtyard of the house.

He hunched his thin body, looked around, and seeing no one around, began to sneak around the courtyard, stopping occasionally to twitch his ears.

When he heard no sound, he started wandering again. After wandering through the backyard, he paused, tilted his ears towards the main hall, and hearing no sound, slowly walked into the main hall. In the hall, he saw a bag of rice and packed clothes, which immediately piqued his curiosity.

He brought his nose close, sniffed, and then walked away somewhat disappointedly, turning towards Li Si’s bedroom.

Entering the bedroom, he wandered around for a bit, then as if discovering something interesting, he pulled back the bedsheet and carefully crawled under the bed.

After entering the space under the bed, the bedsheet fell back down, leaving it pitch black underneath. He seemed pleased, his deathly green face breaking into a grin, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth. His eyes stared fixedly at the bedsheet, as if trying to see through it.

He remained motionless like this, but after about half an hour, his smile gradually relaxed. He crawled out from under the bed and walked out of the bedroom.

He passed through the main hall and entered the study. Upon entering the study, the man in the red leather jacket swept his gaze around.

His eyes fell on the bookshelf. He walked over, flipped through some books on the shelf, and his deathly green face revealed a trace of disgust.

He reached out to tear up these books, but then seemed to think of something. His movement paused, and he carefully wiped the dust off the books and put them back.

Then he started walking out of this room again. His eyes revealed an impatient expression, and saliva began to drip from the corners of his mouth.

Finally, he searched through the kitchen as well, but seemingly unable to find what he was looking for, his eyes began to turn somewhat red. His deathly green face started to contort, drool flowing freely.

Suddenly, he opened his mouth full of sharp teeth and said loudly: “It is said that Zhao Wuqi, the son of the Northwestern Marquis, competed in poetry when the envoy from the Yao Dynasty came to the Wei Dynasty. With one poem ‘Long Yearning of Qingqiu’, he defeated the Yao Dynasty’s talented scholar Qian Shaoqing, making him arrogant and self-satisfied.”

“Once, when he couldn’t win a game of chess against the Crown Prince, he became so angry that he picked up the chessboard and smashed it on the Crown Prince’s head. This one smash cost the Northwestern Marquis his title…”

The man in the red leather jacket began speaking in the room, but the voice was Li Si’s voice, exactly the same, as if Li Si himself was speaking in the room.

The man in the red leather jacket spoke for about half an hour, then seemed to sense something. He suddenly stopped speaking and lightly floated up to the roof.

After a while, Li Si returned. He opened the door and put the straw rain cape, ropes, and some miscellaneous items he had bought on the table.

This shopping trip had taken quite a long time. Things like vegetables, straw rain capes, and ropes were easy enough to buy.

But he also wanted to buy a good fire striker, as his previous one was too ordinary, and the tinder paper inside was almost used up. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to start a fire in the mountains, which would be troublesome.

It took him a long time to find a shop selling this fire striker, which is why it took so much time.

Li Si sat down by the table, poured a cup of water, took a sip, and thought about today’s events.

Going to bring back Cao Qing’s body – he had already made this decision and didn’t plan to change it. Although there might be danger, he was prepared.

He was still within the protective charm’s time limit. If he was still timid at this point, he would surely die even faster in the future.

The Zhang mansion incident had taught him that even if he didn’t cause trouble, trouble might find him.

People need to learn to fulfill themselves.

He only had a little over a year of life left, with nowhere to retreat. Not only did he have to bring back Cao Qing’s body, but if he had the chance, he also wanted to kill that monster tiger.

Thinking of this, Li Si couldn’t help but mentally check the system store. The Flame Yang Peach Wood Heart Sword, Eight Trigrams Purple Yang Mirror, and 1 Year Lifespan were always listed there. The items in this store were all very useful, and he had been eyeing them these days, very much coveting them.

But he couldn’t afford any of these. Of course, even if he had 200 soul points now, he wouldn’t exchange for the 1 Year Lifespan.

These few items had been hanging in the store for days without change, the only change being the refresh time at the bottom.

Li Si looked at the last line of text in the store.

Next product refresh time: 2 days 23 hours 09 minutes 11 seconds.

“Three more days,” Li Si muttered. In just three days, the store would refresh. He felt both nervous and excited.

He was nervous because he only had 113 soul points, and he was afraid that when the store refreshed, it would all be items he couldn’t afford, like the Flame Yang Peach Wood Sword.

He was excited in hopes of useful and affordable items appearing, giving him more confidence to survive in this world. If there was a protective charm, that would be even better.

Thinking of the protective charm, he immediately checked its status.

Protective Charm: A protective charm written with unknown red liquid, preventing ghost creatures below high-level from directly harming the wearer.

Expires 30 days after wearing. Current remaining time: 9 days 7 hours 10 minutes 23 seconds.

Li Si felt complicated. This protective charm had helped him so much. Whether it was the fox spirit or the Dismembering Ghost, he had turned danger into safety thanks to this charm.

Unfortunately, this protective charm would expire in 9 days.

Thinking of this, Li Si no longer had the heart to look at the store. He walked towards the bedroom.

What’s meant to come will come, there’s no need to think too much. Thinking too much would only make himself more troubled, what’s the point?

After entering the bedroom, Li Si lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.

After a while, his eyes suddenly opened. He rolled over, half-crouched on the ground, and quickly pulled back the bedsheet. His left hand held the Eight Trigrams mirror, shining it under the bed.

At the same time, a boy in plain clothes appeared beside Li Si, his tongue extended, ready to attack at any moment.

However, when he looked into the Eight Trigrams mirror, he found nothing.

“An illusion?” Li Si exhaled deeply, stood up, put away the Eight Trigrams mirror and Xiao Duan, and lay back on the bed.



He had just had that feeling of difficulty sleeping again, as if there was a ghost creature under the bed. But obviously, this time it was his illusion.