Chapter 047 Alien Aesthetics
It suddenly dawned on me that the second volume of the Yin-wen book that Wang Yue had been hiding was in the ceiling of the warehouse.
Wang Yue looked at the ghostly symbols on the wall and said, "If you really want to help me, bring me the book and we can study it together to see if we can decipher it."
I nodded, feeling a little anxious, knowing that it was useless to stay here any longer, so I simply said a few words of comfort and then with a thought, I left the bardo. I opened my eyes and returned to the bedroom. Li Daming was sitting next to me, staring at me. When he saw me back, he asked me what was going on.
I looked at him and told him the situation, but I didn't mention the secret book. This matter is too secret. I didn't mean to hide it from him. Wang Yue said that once this kind of book is published, it will attract the attention of many people and cause them to fight for it, which will cause a lot of trouble. I am thinking about Li Daming. Some things are better left unknown than known.
Li Daming had no doubts and was extremely interested in Wang Yue's bardo realm, especially the huge palace, the long pillars on all four sides, and the maze-like screens... These strange environmental elements made Li Daming extremely confused. He said to me: "Lin Cong, I really envy you for being able to enter and exit those realms freely. I am also fascinated by it. I am itching to hear this."
I smiled bitterly: "What's there to be fascinated about?"
"A world that is different from the human world, isn't that fascinating?" Li Daming said yearningly: "My favorite movie is Alien. In fact, I started studying alien aesthetics when I was in junior high school."
"What the hell? Alien aesthetics? What is that?" I asked curiously.
Li Daming said: "You have seen Alien, right? Many elements and designs in it are different from Earth civilization , and already look like extraterrestrial civilization. The main reason why this work has been passed down through the ages is that it did not simply design a terrifying creature, but set up the entire ecological environment, birth history, related civilization and artistic characteristics of the alien. In short, it did not fall from the sky out of thin air, but was born and nurtured in a system."
“What does this have to do with the bardo state we’re facing?” I asked.
Li Daming sat opposite, his eyes shining, and talked eloquently: "Since I encountered this incident, I began to think that the bardo realm is actually a world, a large system civilization. Its position in human life, the role it plays, the relationship with other intelligent life, and how other life understands it... The more detailed we consider these settings, the more we can touch its deepest essence. It is not just a scene, nor can it be described simply as "weird". It must be expanded in depth and breadth. This is what I call alien aesthetics. Alien aesthetics, to put it simply, is that all civilizations other than human civilization, including alien planets, or what we think of as the underworld and the world of immortals, have an aesthetic tone."
"Do you believe in aliens?" I asked.
Li Daming smiled, quite like a master, and tapped his temple with his hand: "I only believe in logic. If it makes sense, and the theory has no flaws or contradictions, I would believe you if you said that humans evolved from crickets."
"What's the point of studying this?" I sneered, thinking that he was taking an unconventional approach and thinking too far-fetched.
"What's the use?!" Li Daming snorted twice. "Let me give you an example. For example, Japan's cultural aesthetics not only includes Bushido, but also covers many things, including Shintoism, emperor worship, samurai, chrysanthemum and sword, ancient myths such as Myoken God and Abe Seimei, and even Go, music, garden style, temples, etc. You see, we can now deduce its aesthetic tone from the bardo environment we have mastered, and then use theory to guide practice, fill in the gaps in our cognition, and find the rules."
I was a little stunned, and couldn't help but admire it: "The methodology you mentioned is actually very scientific."
"Of course." Li Daming said, "And have you noticed, Lin Cong, that you have been to the bardo realm several times and have seen and heard things in it? Don't you have this intuition that when you enter a strange place, you will immediately feel that this is not the world of the living, but the bardo realm?"
I recalled carefully and nodded slowly: "It's true."
"Why is that?" he asked.
“Intuition?” I said, “The scenes are so weird and unreasonable.”
"Think about it." Li Daming's eyes sparkled. "If you were an alien, and it was your first time traveling to Earth, no matter which country or city you went to, no matter how the buildings changed, you would still have a feeling that this was Earth, and you were not on another planet. Right?"
"Maybe." I nodded.
Li Daming said: "This is because, no matter which country or ethnic group, fundamentally speaking, they are all citizens of the earth, and they are all born in this environment. No matter how strange or unpopular they are, they are still individuals and cannot escape the aesthetic tone of the entire earth. Therefore, if we find the tone of the bardo realm, we can find the laws and secrets of its formation."
I sat there without saying a word, extremely shocked by Li Daming's remarks. There were many things that needed to be carefully pondered.
I seemed to have a vague idea of how to wake up Liu Yang in the void.
The bardo realm, the underworld, and the so-called void realm are actually all parallel worlds. The reason they are called "worlds" is that they all have a unified tone that runs through every detail of the world...
Neither Li Daming nor I spoke; we were both thinking quietly.
For the first time, I realized that my previous way of understanding the world was too naive, that my worldview was quietly changing, and I realized how to see the essence from the phenomenon.
I came to my senses and remembered that the second volume of the Yinwen book was still hidden in the warehouse. I felt a little uneasy. Should I tell Li Daming about this? He and I are so close, I have no chance to do anything.
Li Daming asked, "Are you going to work tomorrow?"
I just remembered that I still had to go to work. The two-day weekend passed by in the blink of an eye. After going through so many things, I am getting more and more tired of working from nine to five. I feel that staying in the company is a waste of time and life except for making some money. Li Daming is talking, we have all come into contact with the civilization of another world.
After seeing the wider world, it would be torture for us to go back to work, waste our time, and look at the same faces every day.
But then again, is it possible not to work? Not to mention other things, my mother is still in the hospital. Without this income, I won’t be able to pay the monthly medical expenses.
I sighed and said, how can I not go to work? I would like to be comfortable.
Li Daming touched his chin for a long time, then sighed and said there was nothing he could do.
Suddenly, an idea came to my mind. I would find an excuse to sneak out after work tomorrow and take the book out of the warehouse without anyone noticing.
At that time, Li Daming and I had dinner together. He kept talking about his own ideas and I listened with great interest.
In the evening, the boy bought a box of wine and we drank together. When we were drunk, Li Daming rubbed his hands and laughed: "Lin Cong, how about lending me your bracelet?"
I suddenly came to my senses: "What?"
"I don't mean anything else." Li Daming said, "The bardo you described is so interesting. I want to go in and see what it's like. I'm itching to go in."
"Well..." I was really in a dilemma. I didn't want to lend it to him, but Li Daming had been helping me from the beginning to the end, running around all the time. Even if he didn't make any contributions, he had worked hard. It seemed a bit awkward to refuse him outright.
Li Daming took advantage of the alcohol and said coquettishly: "I'll try it once. It's just this once. Please."
It was the first time I saw a man acting like a spoiled child. I got goosebumps all over my body. "Damin, you're really bold."
Li Daming laughed out loud: "Will you lend it to me?"
"Okay." I said, "Then you can try it." I pressed the hidden button, and the bracelet fell off with a "snap". I handed the bracelet to him and said, "Try it."
Li Daming couldn't wait to put it on his wrist and threw the bottle away: "Let's go! Go into the inner room, I will use my power on Wang Yue and learn from you to see if I can enter her bardo realm."
I started to find it interesting, so I decided to give it a try. I personally felt that the chance of success was low. I had already reached some kind of agreement with the psychic bracelet, and I could use it to communicate with the psychic. This might be unique . If it only recognized me as its master, it was not impossible.
When we came to the bedroom, Li Daming sat in front of Wang Yue with a serious face. I could smell a strong smell of alcohol coming from him. He must have drunk a lot of alcohol just now. I said hesitantly, "Is it okay to drink?"
"It's okay, I'm very sober." said Li Daming.
Li Daming closed his eyes and concentrated. I whispered to him, "Now focus all your attention on the bracelet. Keep your mind on it."
"Yeah." Li Daming said with his eyes closed.
Suddenly, I found that his aura had changed. It was hard to describe, as if a senior monk who had attained enlightenment many years ago was sitting in front of me.
