Chapter 7 Deductions
"Then I'll go back first. Remember to call me if you have any problems, don't be so stubborn!" Jin Yang sat astride the car, and before leaving, he still reminded her worriedly, "Remember to eat. The medicine is on the table, don't forget to take it!"
Rong Yuan looked impatient: "I know. Why are you becoming more and more nagging? Aunt Jin!"
Jin Yang rolled his eyes and said unhappily, "Who am I doing this for?" He waved his hand and said, "Let's go!"
The words "be careful on the road" rolled around on the tip of his tongue and he swallowed them. Rong Yuan didn't say goodbye either. He put his hands in his pockets and watched the boy with short curly hair ride away on his bicycle.
…There’s a feeling of coldness and loneliness as if all the heat has been taken away.
Rong Yuan looked around and saw that noon had already passed. The sun was setting in the west and the sky was dim. The ground, which had been scorched by the scorching sun all day, was slowly emitting heat, and there was a feeling of sultry heat as if the temperature was rising instead of falling. But for Rong Yuan, who had just recovered from a serious illness, this temperature was just right, and the coldness in his limbs seemed to be gradually dispelled by the heat.
Before Jin Yang left, Rong Yuan had already pressed the "Book of Merits" under the "English Vocabulary" for more than 50 minutes, and then deliberately placed it where Jin Yang could see it. In Rong Yuan's eyes, it was still an ancient thread-bound book, but Jin Yang smiled at one glance and said, "You still remember to memorize words when you are sick? How come I didn't know you were so diligent normally?"
It must be said that even though Jin Yang was Rong Yuan's best friend, Rong Yuan still took a big risk by placing the "Book of Merits" that was at stake in front of him. Before that moment, Rong Yuan clenched his hands into fists, and had already made the worst plan in his mind - but what the worst plan was, in fact, he had no clear concept at the time. After hearing Jin Yang's words, Rong Yuan let out a long breath, and for a moment he even felt sweaty. He smiled vaguely, and his eyes looked at the "Book of Merits" more and more deeply.
After waking up from his illness, Rong Yuan's enthusiasm and excitement for the "Book of Merits" had eased a lot. No matter how good the "Book of Merits" was, it was not as important as his own life. If he easily gave up his life for this book of unknown origin, then everything would be in vain.
But this mysterious existence that goes beyond the scope of all scientific knowledge is still full of charm for Rong Yuan. With more than ten days of life in hand, he no longer has an urgent need to accumulate merits. Instead, he has a stronger desire to explore the rules of the "Merit Book", what it can do, what its origins and purpose are.
In any case, he is now tied to this booklet. Before using it, it is necessary to have a full understanding and mastery.
There were obviously many more rules in the Merit Book, and only the most basic and simple ones were shown to him. And it was obvious that this thing would not be kind enough to give him a beginner's guide for reference, and the remaining rules would only be displayed on the page when he touched upon them.
Therefore, after Jin Yang left, Rong Yuan took the "Book of Merits" and wallet and followed him out.
The streets were full of lights and people, the sounds of cars and people were mixed together, the music played in the shops and the hawkers pushing carts were heard one after another, people were laughing, arguing, making phone calls, and walking by in a hurry with blank expressions... Everything he saw was noisy and ordinary, nothing was different from yesterday, and nothing was different from every day in the past month, year, and three years. But Rong Yuan felt as if he had been reborn. The world was still the same world, but in his eyes, it was completely different. The scenery he saw and the future he could have were something that these people who hurried by in front of him might never be able to imagine in their entire lives. He even had a feeling that he and these blurred, numb were fundamentally different, as if they were no longer the same species.
There are still old people who hesitate at the traffic lights, children who cry for unknown reasons, beggars who kneel on the street with sad faces, and women who look distressed with hunched backs and shoulders... But Rong Yuan is no longer interested in these merits that are time-consuming and laborious and have little return. Compared with humans who are always full of paranoia, the return rate of merit from small animals is much higher. Rong Yuan changed a pet store and bought a few bags of pet food. He came to the small woods before. When a few stray cats and dogs wandering here saw him, they came over docilely, turned around at his feet, and made flattering calls from time to time.
Rong Yuan wiped the bench clean and sat down. He tore open a pack of pet biscuits while thinking about where to start exploring the "Book of Merits".
"Hey, look at those puppies, they are so cute." A childish girl's voice came. Rong Yuan looked up and saw a little girl with a schoolbag hiding behind a thin tree trunk not far away. She stared at the stray dogs around him with her big eyes without blinking, as if she wanted to come over but didn't dare to.
"If you like, I'll call them over to play with you!" A fat little boy next to her patted his chest and made a bold statement, as if he would not hesitate to go through fire and water for the beautiful little sister.
The little girl seemed a little unconvinced and asked, biting her lip, "Really? I'm afraid the dog will bite me. My mom said that if you get bit by a dog you will die."
"No way! Don't worry." The fat boy patted his chest, tightened the straps of his schoolbag and walked forward, looking reckless like a newborn calf who is not afraid of a tiger. He stopped only two or three steps away from the nearest yellow puppy and waved: "Hush! Hush! Stupid dog, come here!"
Most of the stray cats and dogs just moved their ears, but the little yellow dog heard the sound, turned around to look at him, then took two steps to the side and turned its butt towards him.
The fat boy didn't understand the contempt, but he could see that the dog didn't want to pay attention to him. He was stunned for a moment, then clapped his hands vigorously and imitated the sound of a dog barking: "Woof woof! Woof woof! Come here!"
Still no dog paid any attention to him.
Rong Yuan coldly watched the fat boy try to tease a few dirty puppies for a long time. When he was about to kick them in anger, he suddenly said, "If you want to get close to them, shouting is useless. How about feeding them a biscuit and try it?"
The boy looked at him and then at the stray cats and dogs surrounding his feet. He seemed to weigh the pros and cons for a second, then nodded readily and said, "Yes!"
Rong Yuan threw him a pack of pet food, and he tore it open with some effort, then called out "Woof woof, meow meow" to invite the little animals to gather around him. After such a long time, the pack of biscuits that Rong Yuan had just opened had been eaten up, and although the little animals were a little reluctant and wary, they still hesitantly came to the boy. The fat boy happily scattered the whole pack of pet food on the ground and watched them eat, and called the little girl over to watch together, and soon the two children's happy laughter could be heard.
Rong Yuan opened the "Book of Merits" and, as expected, saw lines of words emerging from the black flames:
[Feed the hungry Husky through Wu Shuai, merit +0.5 ]
[Feeding the hungry Doberman hybrid by Wu Shuai, merit +0.5]...
——It turns out that the merit gained by doing good deeds indirectly through other people is half of the normal value?
——Also, decimals also appear in the merit record? Previously, in the Merit Mall, the lowest merit exchange value Rong Yuan saw was 1, and the lowest merit value obtained was also 1, so the value of a bowl of ramen and a carat of diamonds were the same in the Merit Mall, both requiring one merit value, and there was never a situation where they could be split and exchanged.
Although the merit points obtained were only half, if you think about it carefully, there is actually a lot that can be done. After all, a person's energy is limited. If you can use the help of others to obtain merit points... Rong Yuan immediately had countless plans in his mind: for example, setting up pet shelters across the country, setting up charities to adopt orphans and take care of the elderly, and donating money to support border education... Although all of these require a lot of money, there is always a way to get money, such as charity fundraising...
"Wow! I'm going to die! Wow wow wow..." The little girl suddenly screamed. It turned out that a Chihuahua was impatient with her caressing and bit her finger with its milk teeth. Although her oily skin was not scratched at all, the little girl, who was frightened by her mother's teaching, immediately burst into tears.
The fat boy immediately helped the little girl stand up, and at the same time, he kicked the Chihuahua hard in revenge, cursing, "Bad dog! I'll beat you to death!"
"Woo woo..." The puppy fell to the ground and struggled for a few times but couldn't stand up, as if its internal organs were injured. The other stray cats and dogs stopped eating the food spilled on the ground and all crouched down to stare at the two, making threatening snoring sounds in their throats.
Seeing these cats and dogs that seemed to be ready to pounce on him and bite him to death at any time, the boy was also frightened. He took a step back, his legs went weak and he almost fell down. Looking at the dirty stray cats and dogs slowly approaching step by step, the boy curled his lips and tears welled up.
"Mom - help me -" the boy ran away crying, and while running he did not forget to pull the sobbing little girl with him.
The cats and dogs, who had formed a comradeship, gathered in a circle, licking the Chihuahua lying on the ground, trying to lift it up with their heads, and making sad low moans.
Rong Yuan was so stiff that he almost deformed the Merit Book in his hand, but this did not stop the unscientific book from heating up . He knew with his toes that the words that appeared on it were definitely not what he wanted to see.
After the heat of the "Book of Merits" died down, Rong Yuan hesitantly turned the pages, praying in his heart that his merit points would not be deducted too much.
[Due to the contractor's actions, Chihuahua was indirectly seriously injured, merit -15]
[Due to the contractor's behavior, Wu Shuai and Li Lingling were indirectly frightened, merit -6]
[The contractor watched a fatally wounded Chihuahua die without rescuing her, merit -10]
And, the new rules appear on the title page:
[Rule 7: When the contractor's behavior directly causes others to do good, the contractor and the executor will each share 50% of the merit points; when the contractor's behavior directly causes others to do evil, the contractor will deduct three times the merit points of the executor; when there is no direct connection between the contractor and the behavior of others, no matter what the other person does, the contractor will not gain or lose any merit points. ]
[Rule 8: In a matter of life and death, if the contractor has the ability to rescue but chooses not to, then 10-∞ merit points will be deducted; if the contractor does not intend to survive but intentionally causes the death of other life forms indirectly, then 50-∞ merit points will be deducted; if the contractor does not intend to survive but intentionally causes the death of other life forms directly, then 100-∞ merit points will be deducted.]
