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nOn the way home, I saw someone auctioning national paintings. I was curious and spectated for a while. It was already dark by the time the auction was over.

nAs I returned to my own neighborhood, I felt the surroundings was especially humid. I looked up and there were no less than 500 dragonflies gathered in the courtyard. Was this an illegal gathering of some sort, did they want to rebel against the government?

nThey left as quickly as they came. They scattered in the blink of an eye and only left deep suspicions in my mind.

nIt suddenly wasn’t hot anymore. The air had cooled down quite a bit and… there was even a breeze of cold air that would make you shiver.

nAt some point, the sky went completely dark. The stars were dull and the moonlight was faint as the curtain of night enshrouded Dong Shan City.

nI came to a halt. According to Chinese traditions, the ominous skies were telling me that if it wasn’t a Saint being born, then it was the arrival of a demon.

nIs… one of my neighbors going to give birth to the future president?

nThen, without any warning, an empty and mechanical voice drifted out from the shadows behind me.

n“Do… you want power?”

n“What?”

n“Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to be… truly alive?”

nGod damn, that scared me. Who’s that demon whispering tempting words? It looks like they watched one too many horror movies.

nBut the voice was actually terrifying. I had to leap out of the way before I had the guts to turn around and see who just spoke.

nAt first glance, I saw a floating head.

nIt almost scared me half to death, but after a closer look, I realized he was standing in a position where the lights and shadows overlapped. I could only see his head as everything under his neck was hidden in the shadows.

nI kind of had a feeling that this guy was blind.

nHis thin face gave the impression that he had no desires. His eyes were wide open and the color of his pupils were so faint they were translucent.

nIt must be a misconception.

n“Who are you? I think you’re mistaking me for someone else.”

n“I’m not mistaken.” He said slowly. He seemed to be blind, yet he locked onto my position quickly, “Ye Lin, I’m here to offer you a choice.”

n“Choice? What choice?”

nThis guys who seemed to have popped out of a horror movie had a spooky aura. Just the face he knew my name made me almost piss my pants.

nThe corners of his wilted lips mysteriously curled up slightly.

n“Yes or no.”

n“No, definitely no. A complete no. Hurry up and nope outta here.”

n“What?” He frowned slightly and said, “Someone will die…”

n“Who will die? Can you not jinx it? And you still haven’t told me who you are!”

nHe became absent-minded as if it took him a lot of effort to remember his own name.

n“My name in the current era should be Fang Xin.”

nSo his name is a homonym for ‘to feel reassured’. But he doesn’t make me feel at east at all as he almost made my Spartan heart jump out of my chest.

n“You don’t have to be afraid. Or should I say it’s useless even if you’re afraid. And you don’t need to look deeply into my identity. There are a lot things that should remain unknown in this world, or you would die.”

n“Hey, you said earlier someone would die, who exactly will die?”

n“The one you love the most.”

nI became enraged, “Are you cursing me. I’ll hit you.” I brandished my fists in a threatening manner.

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n“You won’t hit me.” Fang Xin said indifferently, “There’s nothing in the Akashic records that says you will hit me. Your fate is strange, but not strange to the point where you would hit a god…”

nDamn, even if there are some youths who have chuuni disease think they are a god, you look like you’re at least 30 or maybe even 40 years old. Do you still think you’re a god after having chuunibyou for this many years?

n“If you’re a god, why did you come to the mortal world to look for me?”

n“I didn’t come looking for you, you were the one who came looking for me.” Fang Xin raised his head and stared at the dark and gloomy moon, “Several eras ago, you unfortunately lost the one you loved the most and met me by chance. On a whim, I took you on a tour into the Akashic records of your own past and future lives. I wanted to show you everything was all an illusion and it’s not worth to be deeply hurt by what you have already lost.”

n“But you saw that a few periods into the future, which is now, you lost the one you loved the most again. Due to the tragedy of the double loss, you made an agreement with me to change the tragic future. In exchange the you from the previous era would end his life early. A part of your records are blurry because blood got on it and even I can’t see it clearly. But here I am due to our agreement. If you want to change your fate, you should listen to my advice.”

nMy jaws dropped to the point where it almost hit the ground.

nI can’t believe he actually fabricated such a complicated backstory. It looks like he’s not a chunnibyou, but a swindler!

nI decided to do the right thing and expose him.

n“Hmph, I should first say that regardless of what advice you give me, I’m not going to give you a penny.”

nFang Xin smiled faintly, “Money is worthless in front of the wheel of fate. Since you already paid the cost in a previous life, I won’t take anything from you.”

nIt looks like he was a professional, but I will definitely find a hole.

n“Okay, since you don’t want money, tell me who’s the one I love the most.”

n“That part on the Akashic records is too blurry, so I don’t know. But even if I did know, I can’t tell you.”

n“Then how will that person die?”

n“I don’t know for the time being, but you can avoid the tragedy if you listen to me.”

n“How? By donating my entire family’s assets to you?”

n“It looks like you still don’t believe me…”

n“No **. Would any person in their right mind believe you if you proclaim to be a god?”

n“It can’t be helped. I guess I have to prove to you that I’m a god.”

nOh my god, it’s coming. Are you going to split the seas or make frogs fall from the sky?

n“I will make a prophecy.”

nSo you’re still going to spout some nonsense. I thought you were going to use some high tech stuff to trick me.

n“Soon, your cellphone save your life.”

n“What?”

n“Your cellphone will soon malfunction, but don’t get it repaired, and don’t get a new phone. Your current phone will save your life.”

nThe prophecy sounds pretty cool, but it’s easy for it to come true. Nowadays, everyone uses smartphones and it’s common for it to malfunction in one way or the other. As for my life being saved, if I forget to bring to my wallet after eating at a restaurant and call my friend for help, does that count as being saved. What if I ran into a mugger and called the police and they saved me, does that count as being saved by my phone? This prophecy is essentially the same as saying ‘It will rain next month’.

n“Even if it does come true, it doesn’t prove that your a god. You might as well do something more obvious…” I pointed to a rock that was used to preserve vegetables in the garden, “I’ll believe you if you can turn that into gold.”

n“That’s not hard.” He said as he took a step forward.

nNot… hard. I have to calm down. Is he actually a master magician and can actually make gold appear? Don’t tell me he’s someone Ai ShuQiao hired to dupe me.

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nAs he stepped out from the shadows, I was able to get a clear view of his clothes and my expectations for the rock turning to gold dropped.

nHe was wearing a damn blue and white striped patient uniform! On his left chest was a patient card and there were clear and distinct words on it that read “Dong Shan Mental Hospital, Patient #113”.

nHoly **, he’s actually a psycho… I can’t believe I conversed so long with a crazy person. Is it because my intelligence dropped again. The side effect of berserk mode is a decrease of intelligence, I should try to limit the amount of times I use it as much as possible.

n“The main component of rocks is silicate, I only have to touch it…”

nFang Xin was still speaking in a profound and mysterious way, but he was no longer as persuasive due to his patient uniform.

nSuddenly, two muscular male nurses in white gowns ran up behind him by surprise.

n“So this is where lunatic Feng ran off to, hold him down.”

n“Don’t run, it’s time to take your meds.”

nFang Xin had a calm face and did not resist as he was held by the two male nurses and dragged to an ambulance at the entrance of our neighborhood.

n“Ye Lin, come find me if you want to change your fate. You know where I am, I’ll be waiting for you.”

nFang Xin said to me before he was locked in the ambulance.

nIf a normal person like me goes to a psychiatric hospital to discuss about my life, then the doctors will definitely lock me up too. I have to remember to keep my mouth shut, so no one finds out about this embarrassing incident.

nThat night, I had a strange dream. I dreamed Fang Xin gave me a pendant that brought me, Xiao Qin, the class leader, and the other students to an unimaginable world. We helped the monster empire fight against the evil gods. When we finally reached the final BOSS, we realized the leader of the evil gods was Fang Xin. In his ugly true form, his body was covered with barbs and tentacles. The radiation he emitted after he opened his mouth was enough to knock down Xiao Qin and the class leader.

nI woke up in a cold sweat and realized my window was still open. As I went to close the window, I inadvertently noticed the rock that was used to ferment vegetables had silently disappeared from the garden.

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