Dow and Carbon-Based Monkey Breeding Guidelines

Chapter 999: Great Joy (Part )

Li Li really found him a happy person.

Perhaps it was in the spirit of God that all prayers are granted, or perhaps it was to play the role of an evil spirit to mock his frivolous words and deeds. This time, the person she chose was the opposite of the last one in every way: no name, no origin, no isolated residence, and a skinny man. When Luo Binhan found him with great difficulty, "Screw" was lying at the junction of the row of workshops and the farmland surrounded by fences, using the willow shade by the ditch to shade him. In broad daylight, the man lay in the grass covered with snakeskin bags, napping in only boxer shorts. Luo Binhan didn't know how he was not bothered by mosquitoes and ants for the time being, maybe he had gotten used to the feeling of being bitten. Judging from the appearance alone, he estimated that the man's blood would not be very tasty.

Li Li had already briefly described the situation of the "screw" to him. She estimated that this person was about 35 years old, had no ID card, and had not yet found a candidate who fully matched the information through the facial database. First, this person might not be in the existing database at all, and second, she had not yet obtained a clear and identifiable frontal image. In this way, Luo Binhan could finally make a practical contribution to their search: he could bring his mobile phone close to this person so that Li Li could accurately collect his appearance and voice information, and then search for his real name in the endless network data.

"I really need to do this?" Robinson asked, "Does this guy never use a cell phone or go online?"

"He has used three mobile phones in the past two years, two of which have been sold. One is still with him, and he usually uses it to watch movies and novels, using an anonymous SIM card."

"Then why don't you just..."

"He would cover the front-facing camera with tape. He did that with every phone he got."

Luo Binhan half opened his mouth, then smiled after a while. "Habitual thief?"

"By the standards of a professional thief, he's not efficient enough to make a living. I'd say he just doesn't have the habit of returning lost items, and he's not that good at dealing with anti-theft systems."

"Then the one he's wearing wasn't bought by him?"

"The device belonged to a college student three years ago. It must have been accidentally lost by the owner when he came out of a bar in New Town."

"Could this guy of ours have done something more exciting? For example, is he also a fugitive?"

"I tend to think no."

“Is it from the browser records again?”

"Yes, because you rarely have the opportunity to see a fugitive with such a long-term stable and relaxed mental state. He may not be a person worthy of your respect, but he is not a person with a big secret, unless all his network data in the past two years is fake - if you can prove this, he is very likely Feng Chuxing."

Her last words only surprised Luo Binhan. At this point, Li Li was still so dignified and thorough, trying to inject hope into him without making a sound. But in fact, both of them should know very well that this person could not be Feng Chuxing. It had nothing to do with these ridiculous misdeeds or details like browser records, but followed the simplest and most powerful logical principle: Li Li didn't want him to find Feng Chuxing first. Anyone she pointed to him or hinted him to visit must be the least suspicious, or even someone she had already ruled out as a suspect. The entire "suspect list" in his hand might be a special edition after screening, and the guy named Radumos was running around the streets with the real list at this time.

He couldn't blame Li Li for doing this, after all, she was right too many times. However, when it comes to learning from mistakes, he didn't forget how foolishly he had been running around in circles with the pheasants in the reeds yesterday afternoon. He had now fully understood the skills of the kindergarten teacher in dealing with crying ghosts, and it was inevitable that he would find an opportunity to show her his skills.

Cid and Azmao followed him at a distance. When he drove, they drove too, and when he walked, they walked. When he saw the "screw" and stopped suddenly, the sound of his footsteps also stopped a little hastily. He turned around to speak, and saw Cid put his hand in his pocket. On such a warm and sunny day, the man was wearing a wide and thick coat.

"I found it." He ignored the reactions of the two men. "This time you just wait here, I'll go talk to him alone, how about that? If too many people suddenly appear in front of him, he will definitely be suspicious."

Both of them were very hesitant, but their opinions were not the key. After a while, Xide adjusted his headphones and nodded in agreement. Luo Binhan put his hands in his pockets and walked leisurely towards the shade of the willow tree. When he swaggered over the ditch and crushed a bunch of wild bushes that rustled, he turned over on the "screw" on the woven bag, raised a straw-like arm to block the sunlight, and squinted at him in a daze.

"Screw?" Robinson asked, and the word he pronounced in his mouth made him feel strange. "Is it you?"

"Screw" turned over and turned his face to the side that was not in the sun, with a sleepy and lazy look on his face. It seemed that what Li Li said was right. As a semi-vagrant who ate beans and drank water and made a living by odd jobs, this guy had a surprisingly good mentality and didn't even care about the strangers who jumped out of nowhere. He squinted his eyes and looked at Luo Binhan as if he was half awake, yawned again, and stretched out his hand to scratch his calves with protruding veins and blood spots. Luo Binhan once thought that he got the nickname "Screw" purely because he was too thin, but when he saw the purple-black blood vessels twisting and winding on his legs, he suddenly felt unsure.

"What is it?" asked the man, whose real name is unknown.

The man spoke with a heavy accent, but Luo Binhan could not recognize where he was from. He wanted to make up a few lies, but he was speechless, as if he had never dealt with such a situation and such a person in his life.

Has it really never happened? He must have seen people in poverty before, but he didn't have to bother to guess. Everyone in the world only needs to perform according to roles and identities: rich and poor, elders and juniors, noble and dependent... But who is he now? What identity is he speaking with? If he continues on this path, what kind of person will he become in the future? His life - if he is stripped of his name and life experience like the person in front of him, what kind of voice and attitude will he use to treat others? What is really left in this life, what can a person call his own essence?
"I have a few questions for you," he said.

The "screw" didn't react at first, until Luo Binhan pulled out a stack of brand new banknotes from his backpack, and he finally lifted himself up from the woven bag. Luo Binhan raised his phone again and pretended to check messages, letting the camera complete the task assigned by Li Li. "I'm looking for someone who you may have seen, so I have to ask about your recent whereabouts. Where were you yesterday afternoon?"

Screw stared at the money in his hand for a while, and finally decided that even if it was a scam, there was nothing to lose. "I'm nearby."

"What were you doing?"

"I have nothing to do, so I just play by myself."

"Didn't you see any strangers passing by?"

"It seems to have."

"Describe the person."

This fictitious stranger was regarded as the key. "Screw" stammered about the various people who passed by here yesterday. Among them happened to be men, women, old and young, all of whom were suspicious strangers, but he couldn't remember them very clearly. The storyteller secretly observed him while talking, trying to get a glimpse of the truth from his expression. Luo Binhan also deliberately indulged him, guiding and encouraging him with his eyes and words, and finally he really made up a young man in a white shirt who passed by here yesterday evening. "Screw" swore that this person had a friendly smile, carried a musical instrument behind his back, and asked him where there was a cheap accommodation nearby.

Instead of paying full attention to the other person's performance, Luo Binhan put away his phone and took out the notepad and pen he had bought earlier from his backpack. He turned his back to the direction of the workshop to ensure that the two people in the distance could not see his movements. "Did he say anything else?"

The "screw" stared at the empty field in front of him. He was racking his brains to make up something new that would not be easily exposed. "It seems that he said something... I didn't hear it clearly..."

He gradually ran out of words, and was a little discouraged about earning this windfall. But at this time, Luo Binhan finished writing the first note and quietly handed it to the other party. "Screw" stared at him blankly and opened his mouth to ask what he meant. Luo Binhan smiled and gently kicked his leg, making him swallow his words in time.

"If you can't remember, forget it." Luo Binhan said as he crumpled the note in his hand and threw it into the dark ditch at his feet. He then took out a third of the banknotes from the stack and threw it to the other party. The banknotes fell into the grass. The "screw" looked quite hesitant, but his hand did not stop picking up the money.

Robinson began writing the second note. "That's it for that man. Now let's talk about you."

"I?"

"Yes, you. I can't help but be a little curious about you. Seeing you lying alone in a place like this, with nothing but a duffel bag with you. Can't you rent a house?"

"I have no money."

"Why not find a job? I saw job advertisements everywhere on the way here, and many of them provide food and accommodation."

"Screw" just grinned, put his arm holding the banknotes behind his head, and lay down like a "big" character written with a fine pen. Then he lifted up one of his dirty, naked legs and shook it for fun, but he didn't answer Luo Binhan's question. Luo Binhan let him go, finished writing the second note, and then sat down on the pile of woven bags. He hadn't seen this kind of bag for some years, and it felt like rotten, dry and hard snake skin.

He took advantage of the cover of the bushes to throw the second note to "Screw". "You don't have any family?" he asked casually, "Have you not considered the future? Don't you plan to start a family?"

"Screw" laughed. His carefree smile had a dullness that was common among people with intellectual disabilities, but his eyes were shrewd and cunning as he read the note. The request of this note was more excessive than the previous one, and he was obviously not willing to comply.

Luo Binhan looked down at his right fingers. His fingers could only be curled up loosely, unable to hold the handle of a knife or a gun. In every sense, he needed help.

"Would you rather live in this muddy pit for the rest of your life?" he asked the other person in a gentle voice, "Would you rather lie here and wait for death than work hard to earn a meager salary and live a slightly more decent life than you have now?"

"Screw" may feel offended, or he may not care at all. His grinning appearance strangely reminds people of an orangutan with flaring nostrils, scratching his buttocks in front of many onlookers in the cage, and then picking his nose. He held Luo Binhan's note in his hand, without showing cooperation or rejection, but just smiled and said: "It's boring to work without making much money. Now I'm comfortable doing this."

"You want to make a lot of money?" Robinson said. "That's not easy. People who make a lot of money have to be capable."

"You don't need any skills, it all depends on luck. If you are lucky, you will have money. If you are not lucky, everything will be in vain. If you follow those small bosses, they are very bad and you can't make any money."

Robin Han couldn't help laughing. This was the biggest and most sincere laugh he had had in three days. The two people standing on the street in the distance stretched their necks, as if to know why he was sitting there and rocking back and forth.

"You're right." He finally stopped laughing. "You're absolutely right. You're not inferior to those rich people in any way. You're just unlucky. If there's a favorable wind someday, you can ride on it and enjoy wealth and glory, which is a thousand times better than the stupid people who work hard... It would be enough if there was a windfall."

He stared into the other's eyes. The second note was placed between them. This was the obedience test he proposed to this person. "But how can there be so many lucky windfalls in the world?" He said frivolously, "In my opinion, you should work hard and save some money before you get old and sick, and then find a way to marry a wife and have a child, so that you won't be drowned in your own feces and urine in the future, right? How are you better than those people who work like slaves in the workshop behind? At least they are willing to accept their fate, but you are only worthy of daydreaming here. Why should the luck of getting rich favor you?"

The note had been held in the hand of the "screw", and he repeatedly kneaded it into a small ball the size of a soybean. The lazy, confused and comfortable look on his face was also dispelled by this vicious temptation. Luo Binhan made a signal with his eyes, and he loosened his hand, letting the second paper ball roll into the black ditch. Then the "screw" sat up slowly, pretending to get up and leave.

Luo Binhan stopped him. "I might consider finding you a job," he said. "One that pays well and requires little work. How about that? Just give me your phone number and I'll contact you later."

"Screw" pulled out a cell phone with a slightly damaged screen from the bottom of the woven bag. Luo Binhan estimated that it was a model from five or six years ago, and it would not fetch much money if sold. Its current owner cherished it very much, staring at it reluctantly for a while, then turned it off and passed it to Luo Binhan's legs under the cover of the grass. Luo Binhan nodded and smiled at him, casually stuffed the phone with the anonymous phone card into his backpack, and then lowered his head to write the third note.

"I can see that you don't really want my help." He said as he wrote, "Why? Do you think I'm bragging? Or are you unhappy with the attitude I just spoke? Sorry - but I'm just speaking the truth. People living in this world must know themselves. People with your background are destined to have no chance of success. No matter how harsh it sounds, it's true. It has been like this since ancient times."

"Screw" sat next to him and watched him write, with a strange expression on his face and a snort of laughter through his nose.

"Psychopath." He read the first line of the note, and his tone sounded quite decent.

"You don't want to cherish the opportunity to make progress." Luo Binhan wrote the last word, "That's up to you. Just continue to stink in this mud pit."

He threw the third note and the remaining half of the banknotes on the ground, then stood up and left without looking back. Before he even got close to the street, he was already furious, and waved to Cid and Azmao from a distance, indicating that he was done here, and then took out his mobile phone from his pocket.

"It seems that I am meddling in other people's business." He said coldly to the phone, "Your kindness is taken for granted." "I don't think you think he is Feng Chuxing either."

"Of course not. This guy is just a rotten turtle in the ground."

"You don't seem to like him very much, but you spend a lot of time on him."

"This guy is new to me," Robinson said. "I've never talked to a guy like him before! He does have the good attitude you mentioned, but he just doesn't want to get down to earth and still fantasizes about winning the lottery. He looks so disgusting that I can't help but want to make fun of him."

"But you claim to be giving him a job."

"I want to arrange a handyman, what's so difficult about that? If he really wants it, I'll give it to him. Isn't this the joy of alms and charity? Since you can enjoy the feeling of being God, I can come once in a while - it's a pity that he doesn't appreciate it, so let him go and dream."

Li Li didn't say anything else. She should have thought that such words were nothing but nonsense when he was mentally disturbed. She gave him a new goal, and this meaningless game of coaxing children had to continue.

Luo Binhan was tired of harmless people, and said openly that he wanted to see a fugitive with his own eyes, or at least a more presentable and slightly more threatening target. Li Li turned a deaf ear to him and continued to push one person after another who could never be Feng Chuxing to him. Under her guidance, he met a scavenger who never interacted with outsiders. It was said that he had left Wojiao City on a tricycle yesterday; then there was an idiot who couldn't even speak clearly and would ask people for money to buy soda, just because he was always locked up at home by his parents, and he looked a bit like Feng Chuxing; the fifth person was out of place because he was ordinary. He had a decent job in a restaurant, and he also had a very clear identity and background, but he liked to collect strange stories around the local area in secret, and he had searched online for questions such as "Is it feasible to hide corpses in large and medium-sized wetlands?"

They are not Feng Chuxing. They are just some lonely, stupid, or guys who are tired of the boring and tiring modern life and have to seek excitement and peace from horror stories. As for why someone would search for a topic like "corpse hidden in the wetland", Luo Binhan didn't even bother to ask. As long as people are dissatisfied with their current lives, all kinds of strange questions will naturally pop up in their minds. It is simply untenable to use this kind of browser record to prove that a person is suspicious. He believes that Li Li knows this better than him: you can dig out something from almost anyone's private information to prove that this person has a mean personality, low taste, suspicious resume or psychological abnormality. It's hard for her to find so many seemingly weird but actually harmless people and push them in front of him, which can make him suspicious, but it is difficult to take advantage of the opportunity to do anything. He almost suspected that they were all professional actors arranged by Li Li in advance - there is such a possibility, but the probability is not high, and Li Li may not have so much energy and resources to accompany him to perform "The Truman Show". She really needs to find Feng Chuxing as soon as possible.

After dinner, he did not mention meeting the next person. It was getting dark, and Li Li calmly suggested that she could book a hotel for him nearby. Luo Binhan readily agreed, not caring much whether she had any intention of using a micro camera. At that time, he was parked at the intersection leading into the city, and saw the setting sun like a blood hole in the sky, gradually retreating behind the evening clouds. The red lights were also flashing glaringly. He rested his head on the cushion thoughtfully.

"One day," he said.

There was no sound in the car. He threw a sentence to Li Li that was difficult to continue, but she must have understood it. He tapped the steering wheel lightly and calculated: It is said that Jesus took three days, and Zhou Wenxing took two days. Regardless of whether it was true or false, they both contributed a wonderful play to the world. Unfortunately, not everyone can play this play. This time, the things he buried with his own hands will not suddenly jump back in front of him again, because - this is the real reason he believes - fate is not on their side. Now he finally understands, or thinks he understands the curse, the will that does not want certain living dead to disappear from the world. Once they become an obstacle to this will, any turnaround will slip through their fingers in vain, and any effort will be wasted due to a small mistake; they can burn a molten steel fire that never stops day and night, and they can create steel monsters with thousands of hands and feet, but these cannot resist the invisible will - unless he can eliminate it first.

As they entered the hotel, Li Li suddenly apologized to him. "We have two groups of temporary personnel who need to stay," she said. "I hope you don't mind sharing the same room with Xi De."

Luo Binhan didn't see any signs that the hotel was full, but if he checked the booking website on his phone right now, the result would definitely be the same as what Li Li said. He could also argue with her for a few more rounds, or suggest changing to other hotels where he could have a say, but there was always a strong cloud of doubt in Azmao's eyes and eyebrows, and he felt that he should be more straightforward at the moment: "Okay. As long as you don't ask us to sleep in the same bed."

Li Li finally didn't do that, and instead gave them a very decent suite. He didn't get to see the ID of his companions at the front desk, because Xide came quietly half an hour after he entered the room and sat down on the bed near the exit to rest. This man was as silent as a ghost, and it was difficult to find that he was still breathing in this room. He had no interest in the furnishings or his roommates. Luo Binhan tried to talk to him with a somewhat amusing attitude, but the responses he received were all cold and perfunctory. This man was very alert and did not accept the water or cigarettes handed to him by Luo Binhan. He didn't even take off his coat when he lay down to sleep.

Luo Binhan guessed that this person must be a light sleeper, and perhaps there was a camera and an electric shock device somewhere under his coat, which could wake the wearer up when danger approached. It didn't matter whether this guess was right or wrong. He didn't plan to provoke this personal bodyguard, but went to the bathroom to wash up and check the bone brace on his body. He never tried to untie them to clean the wound in the past few days, because it was inconvenient to disassemble and wear such a complicated device with one hand, but now was a rare opportunity. If he messed up, he could ask Li Li to send someone to fix it.

He removed the brace according to Li Li's instructions. His left knee seemed to have recovered well, and he could walk a few steps without the brace despite the pain. His right hand's reaction was not as good. He looked in the mirror again. From the outside, nothing could be seen in his left eye, except that he could not see things clearly. He had no complaints about these. Li Li advised him not to over-exercise during the recovery period, and he agreed. He put the brace back on and lay down on the luxurious and comfortable big bed.

"Good night." He threw his phone on the bedside table and put his backpack under his head. "Don't steal things from my car while I'm asleep, okay? It will make me sleepless every night in the future."

"You worry too much. But I can give you some sleeping pills if you need them tonight."

"That's not necessary. This bed is pretty good, much better than the wild ground. I think I can sleep well tonight."

Li Li did not comment on his point of view. But Luo Binhan still kept his eyes open, always feeling that she would say something else. He himself also had some words on his chest, which he did not need to express, but he had no place to throw them away, just like the box of business cards in his office drawer.

"Li Li," he said in the darkness, "you are a very good friend."

"I hope this compliment is not a prelude to some unwelcome request on your part."

"You're the only one who likes to do that. I've always been very demanding of you."

"Then I'll take it as your compliment."

"Don't you have anything you want to tell me?"

"I don't think you want comfort now." Robin thought she was done, but after a while she said, "We will get through this."

"I find your name interesting, too." Robinson asked as if talking to himself, "You are always the most rational one among us. Don't you ever get crazy?"

Cid was like a beam accidentally placed in the room, without any response to their gossip before bed. Robin Han finally closed his eyes and let himself sink into the bizarre dream. He struggled forward in the broken, dismembered and remixed memories, like a worm crawling in the quagmire of fantasy, struggling to find a way out. When he woke up the next morning, his throat was dry and painful, emitting a bitter and choking taste like coke. Now he was no longer unfamiliar with this feeling, and he had learned how to empty his mind and control the shock in his mind. But Cid was already sitting by the bed, always keeping an eye on him out of the corner of his eye, which made him feel deeply annoyed.

"Did I talk in my sleep?" he asked casually. Xide got up and went to the bathroom. He asked Li Li about this again, and the latter just said that he didn't sleep well last night. Luo Binhan was not too worried about revealing secrets in his dreams. At this point, he couldn't think of anything else he could say in his sleep.

At eight in the morning, they met Azmao in the restaurant. The two probably had their own secret way of communicating. They just nodded to each other when they met, and then sat quietly to eat. Luo Binhan sat alone at the table two tables away from them, looking at Li Li's map and list. In the past night, she had reduced the map to two-thirds of the original size, and only half of the list was not grayed out. Luo Binhan crossed out the names of those who were excluded, and the five people he met yesterday were all on the list.

"That's good progress," he asked. "Do you think we can gain anything today?"

"I can not guarantee."

"Is there any news about Chilabin? What do you think the chances are of finding him first?"

"I'm afraid it's not optimistic. According to preliminary estimates, even if we successfully find him, it will take more than two weeks."

Luo Binhan nodded. "It has to be Feng Chuxing."

He closed the list and took a look at the messages he had missed yesterday during his breakfast break. Many people had called him, and the number of unread messages had reached three digits. He picked out the most important ones and replied, claiming that he was helping Zhou Yu with an urgent matter. When he answered Nan Mingguang's question in this way, the send button mysteriously failed for a while, but he persisted and pressed it more than a dozen times, and finally sent the message intact. The phone was in silent mode, but he could hear Li Li sighing in his heart.

"Excuse me," Li Li said, "you'd better go back today."

"What are you going to do when you go back?"

"Many people who care about you have doubts about your whereabouts in recent days. I think you should spend at least a day to comfort them before considering when to return to our mission."

"It's not like you can't help me deal with it."

"That's like saying I can manipulate a puppet to live your life. Do you think anyone who really cares about you will be satisfied with such a perfunctory response for long without suspecting anything?"

Robin Han lowered his head and stirred the sugar in his coffee. "Wait one more day," he said calmly, "They can always wait that long."

After breakfast, they left the hotel and began to look for new targets on the list. Luo Binhan was a little tired of this meaningless game, but he knew that the decision was not his, or even necessarily Li Li's. He picked and chose from the rest of the list, and finally returned to the line he was more familiar with. "You haven't ruled out our six-year-old prodigy yet? Then I'll go see her now."

"She's a little far away from you."

"I'd rather take the long way around. This is a precocious kid who loves astronomy. She's definitely more fun than those depressed adults yesterday."

The expressions of Xide and Azmao were intriguing. Luo Binhan didn't know what they had secretly communicated during breakfast, but the past two days of getting along were obviously a failure. They didn't have any good feelings for him, or at least let down their guard. How did Li Li introduce him to them in the first place? Anyway, they never treated him as a colleague, but more like a wild brown bear that was said to be close to humans. He also gave up trying to build a better relationship with them, because no one would be happy to see a wild brown bear approaching them and pretending to be attentive. At this stage, he had to continue to be a mentally ill bastard.

Before leaving, he checked the trunk of the car again. Except for the backpack he brought with him, all his things were in their original places. It didn't matter if there were any extra things. He closed the trunk with satisfaction and drove out of the city. The first stop today was to go to the suburbs where workshops were lined up.

The car was moving slowly and bumpily along the suburban road. The pine forests spread out on both sides of the road, stretching towards the stream and the hills. The green mist floating from the forest was filled with the fragrance of pine leaves and wood, making people feel that the air here was enough to purify the lungs and even help people achieve immortality. People who have such wishes can try to go into the mountains, find a cave or dig a cave, live on the simplest food, and completely isolate themselves from the disturbances and temptations of the outside world. In this way, the perception and spirit can be preserved like a baby, free from the wear and tear of the world. However, this ascetic method is the path of those who are naturally open-minded or indifferent. Even if he is willing to believe in it now, he is no longer able to implement it. He does not need any elixir of immortality, but only a poison as strong as strong liquor.

The journey was long and boring, and he and Li Li were both in low spirits today. When the fog and clouds dissipated and the sun was high in the sky, another village and town finally appeared behind the endless green forest. There were countless private workshops with brick walls and wooden windows in this area, most of which were made of pine materials. The genius kid he was looking for was the adopted daughter of one of the families.

He didn't believe that this girl was Feng Chuxing in disguise. But at the same time, he was curious whether she was really precocious and far superior to ordinary people. He had met many smart people in the past, but he had never had the opportunity to see how they behaved when they were six years old. If she was still innocent and romantic, maybe he could use her to do something under Li Li's nose.

The last section of the road leading to the workshop is a very simple thin wooden bridge, without handrails or fences, standing alone above the stream. Luo Binhan parked the car beside the weeds and stepped onto the creaking bridge with a little joy. Cid's eyes were fixed on him, but he didn't dare to follow him immediately. The condition of the bridge was really bad. The wooden planks were loose and damaged everywhere. It was quite risky for two adults to walk on it. Luo Binhan reached the other side first, then turned around and watched Cid stepping across the bridge step by step. Although his face was calm, he walked very hard. He had to observe the situation at the landing point and kept an eye on Luo Binhan's movements. His hands were deeply inserted into the spacious pockets of his coat, and he never took them out before crossing the bridge.

With a slightly malicious teasing intention, Luo Binhan stood at the bridge head with a smile, blocking his last step to the muddy bank. Xide did not even tell him to get out, nor did he try to run into a wild brown bear. Instead, he stood on the bridge cautiously and waited, his eyes on Luo Binhan's feet.

"What's wrong?" Luo Binhan tapped the wooden planks on the edge with his heel. "Are you afraid that I will overturn the bridge?"

Xide frowned and said nothing. This guy must have some kind of life motto like "talk less and do more", not as easily provoked as Cai Ji. Of course, what kind of boss you have will cultivate what kind of confidants you have - just as he thought this, a loud laugh came from behind him. In the alley between the workshops, six or seven children were playing under the trees, seemingly trying to catch a cicada or bird from the branches.

He turned his head and looked at them. These children were all around ten years old, and he didn't think they were the ones he was looking for. Two of the boys were wearing similar clothes, so they might be brothers. The taller one was climbing a tree, and the other one was standing at the bottom, looking up and looking back from time to time to see if there were any adults in the alley. Luo Binhan stared at them blankly, not noticing that Xi De had crossed the bridge behind him.

The child who tried to climb the tree slipped down halfway, stumbled to the ground, and almost fell on the tree roots, but fortunately he finally stood firm. The children below were shouting loudly, until an angry and scolding head appeared in the window of the neighboring house, and the group of little ghosts dispersed and ran deep into the alley.

Robinson walked toward the tall old tree. The muddy path was covered with sawdust, pine needles, and broken branches, and was filled with the bitter aroma of pine trees. But the tree at the end of the alley was not a pine tree, nor a linden tree or a bodhi tree. He vaguely felt that it was probably a yew tree, at least fifty years old. It must have seen life, old age, sickness, and death here, and someone would try to climb it or rest under it. He walked under the tree and stroked the hard bark with his hand, but it didn't feel comfortable. The tree was tall and thin, with a sparse canopy of leaves, and it was not competent for the job of keeping out rain and sun.

He leaned against the tree trunk wearily. The bark was as rough and prickly as rock, and the sunlight made his left eye ache. Running among the crowd could not calm him, and the tree could not help him either... It is said that Siddhartha Gautama sat under the Bodhi tree for seven days and seven nights, and finally achieved enlightenment; but he learned nothing here, realized nothing, and was only heartbroken and desolate. He could pray, make wishes, and even offer sacrifices to those things that claimed to have transcended life and death, if there was anything that could answer him. But now the door of miracles was closed to him, and he was not the one who was destined to get the magic lamp. Therefore, at this point, he only had one thing left to pursue, and that was to satisfy himself.

The gnarled roots of the yew tree were full of knots and small debris. He leaned over and pulled it out from the gap covered with fallen leaves, and found that it was a small and exquisite bird skull. The feathers and skin had already melted away, leaving only a smooth and white skull. When Luo Binhan held it between his fingertips and observed it carefully, a very young girl walked out from the side road of the alley.

(End of this chapter)