Chapter 91 A Book
"Because of the Merit Book, I lost everything. How could I still want it?" Xiao Xiao said with a wry smile, her tone filled with indescribable desolation, "I once thought I couldn't live without the Merit Book, but after really letting it go, I found that it wasn't as difficult as I thought. I should say that the days without the Merit Book were the most relaxing times in my life."
"I don't want to own it, I just want to destroy it. Things like the Book of Merits should not exist in this world." Xiao Xiao said.
Rong Yuan said: "Although I don't have many experimental methods, I speculate that there should be no means to completely destroy the "Book of Merits" at present."
"It doesn't exist, but it can be prevented from controlling anyone." Xiao Xiao said, "I have a satellite launch base in the Bubble Islands. I can use the satellite to send the Merit Book to the sun. The possibility of it returning to human hands is infinitely close to zero."
If the Merit Book was just a dead object that couldn't move on its own, then this method could be said to be a permanent solution. Rong Yuan lowered his head and asked himself - considering that there was not a single lie in what she said, could he let it go?
If he leaves the Book of Merits behind, he will be in trouble and Jin Yang will be in danger, which is something Rong Yuan does not want to see. But what if he gives it up? Without Pea, without the optical brain, without the rain shuttle, will he be trapped on Earth for the rest of his life?
Which choice... Which choice will make him regret when he looks back on it ten or a hundred years from now?
Memories of the time after he got the Merit Book flashed through his mind. Everything he had done, everything he had experienced, the changes he had brought to himself and others... the message in the cave on the back of the moon: "Don't be like me, with all my parents dead, my wife dead, my children scattered, my old friends all gone, the whole world an enemy, the whole world betraying me"... On the screen of the optical computer, thousands of matching results flashed by like a waterfall... car accidents, blood, gunshots, death... the silly look of the short-armed pea being held in the cup by him... the smile and trust of his best friend... the vast starry sky, the shock and yearning when he first saw the photo of the Pillar of All Life in his childhood...
Without the Book of Merits, can a person live a peaceful, happy and joyful life?
In fact, it is not.
Human beings are such fragile creatures! Luck is often the factor that allows you to live in this world. Car accidents, plane crashes, natural disasters, diseases, mobs, wars... There are too many factors that can easily take away a person's life and future. Many people have experienced the crisis of "hanging on a thread". Those who can finally live to old age in health and safety can only be said to be "lucky ". But if you have enough power, you will be able to turn "lucky coincidence" into "the necessity of strength", be able to overcome most dangers by yourself, and have the qualification to ask for protection. Without power, you can only go with the flow and struggle on the network line of the goddess of fate, Norns.
After having glimpsed better and more beautiful scenery, could he still endure that kind of life?
No, never!
Rong Yuan made up his mind and asked, "Is there no way to avoid this side effect of the Merit Book?"
When Xiaoxiao saw his expression, she knew what decision he had made. This was also within her expectations - after all, if she had just obtained the "Book of Merits", she would not be able to let go of this magical artifact. Only after experiencing a lot and losing everything she had ever cherished, was she finally able to give it up.
But this result still made Xiao Xiao feel sad. She seemed to see the tragedy that happened to her repeating itself to the proud and confident boy in front of her. History always repeats itself in a surprising way. When she was young, she was also so confident that she was different and could definitely avoid the mistakes made by her predecessors. She ignored the warnings of her elders and insisted on keeping the "Book of Merits" with her.
"There is a way... " Rong Yuan just showed a trace of relief, and then he heard Xiao Xiao say: "There was a way a long time ago... but it can't be done now."
"What is it?" Rong Yuan asked.
But Xiao Xiao felt bored and had lost interest in continuing the conversation. She knew that unless Rong Yuan also suffered a lot, he would not take her advice to heart. She took out a USB flash drive and handed it to Rong Yuan, saying: "Inside is the story of the contractors of the past generations that my Xiao family has collected over the past few hundred years. Some are hearsay, and some are personal experiences. The answers to the questions you want to know are all in it. As for the reason why you lost your memory, it is because your body could not withstand the side effects of the first exchange. If I tell you what happened in those three days, you will not believe it all, right? When you remember it yourself, you will know all the truth, and the method to regain your memory is also in these stories. And... after reading it, if you change your mind, you are welcome to come to me at any time."
…
Sitting on a chair, with his elbows on his knees, the young man looked a little listless, and he looked cold and difficult to get along with. His hair was not very black, he had fox eyes, a slightly pointed chin, and he always liked to wear light sportswear, like a college student. But after a few days, Shu Qi had fully realized that this guy was not as harmless as he looked, he was a demon!
Shu Qi had intended to hold out to the end. Even for the sake of his wife and children at home, he could not reveal a single detail about the person behind the scenes. He was too familiar with the police's interrogation methods, and even some unspeakable forced confession methods were clear to him. He thought that no matter what kind of interrogation, he could hold out.
However, he was not physically hurt by the young man called "Xixin", but his defenses were completely destroyed. When he realized it, he found that he had said everything he should and shouldn't have said. According to the information he provided, the two bribed insiders of the Sugar Country's top brass had also been arrested.
"So, you went through all this trouble just to find a book? What kind of book?" Xixin asked.
"I don't know." Shu Qi didn't remember how many times he repeated this sentence, "I really don't know."
"The title of a book? A picture? A special note or symbol? There must be something, right?"
"No, nothing. I only know it's a book." Shu Qi said frantically.
"If you know nothing, how do you know that you have found the book you are supposed to be looking for?"
Shu Qi was silent for a moment.
"Hmm?" Xixin made a threatening nasal sound.
Shu Qi said hesitantly, "You may not believe it, but the characteristics of that book... are said to be... a strange book that cannot be soaked in water, burned by fire, torn or finished."
Xixin was silent too. He could see that Shu Qi himself didn't believe in such a thing, and when he spoke, he unconsciously looked a little embarrassed. But at the same time, he didn't lie.
"So..." Xi Xin asked, "You are determined to find the Crow by any means necessary, just because this...strange book is in his hands?"
"It's just that I have doubts..."
Looking at the scene in the interrogation room through the one-way glass window, Qing Meng asked: "Boss, do you think this is credible?"
Jin Nan said: "Whether it is credible or not, only the crow can answer us."
…
On the holographic screen of the optical computer, the data read from the USB flash drive were displayed line by line. They were all scanned electronic images. The ink marks, written notes, and wrinkles on the pages were all clearly visible. Wandou quickly sorted them into books and placed them on the electronic bookshelf. The titles of the books were all the same - "Merit Record Notes". A line of small characters next to the title indicated the time of the records, which could be traced back to a thousand years ago and the latest to two hundred and thirty years ago. In other words, at least Xiaoxiao's own story was not included.
Rong Yuan clicked on the first one and started reading.
…
There is a saying in the Sugar Country that has been passed down for a long time : "Books contain a thousand bushels of grain, books contain a golden house, and books contain a beautiful woman."
This was once a saying by an emperor to encourage people to read and study, but to very few people, the "book" here has a different meaning.
A book that can truly make thousands of bushels of grain, a golden house, and a beautiful wife become reality.
No one knows how this book came to be, and no one knows who was the first person to own it. After repeated investigations and verifications, the contractors who came later were able to confirm that a thousand years before Rong Yuan's time, a group of tomb robbers dug up a thousand-year-old tomb. The owner of the tomb had turned into bones, and the brocade and silk had turned into mud. There were countless gold, silver and jewelry among the burial objects, but the most special thing was that the owner of the tomb was still holding a blank book tightly in his arms after his death.
After thousands of years, the paper is still white and soft, without any stain, just as if it had just been put in.
The tomb robbers were amazed and took the book out. Then, someone accidentally discovered that after signing a contract with the book, words appeared on the pages, and that they could exchange anything with the book by doing good deeds.
The first person who discovered this incident had no sense of secrecy and soon told the story to his relatives and neighbors, and even the local officials heard about it. People just thought he was a whim and laughed at him. In order to prove himself, he exchanged a bag of rice from the book out of thin air.
Everybody went crazy.
It was an ignorant era filled with famine, war, natural disasters and man-made calamities. In order to survive, people could trample on any conscience, morality and emotion, and even eat their own children driven by hunger.
The country fell into disputes and chaos, but no one could preserve the "Book of Merits" for long.
Some people had positive merit when they signed the contract, but in order to resist those who rushed to rob them, their hands were soon stained with blood and they were killed because of negative merit; some people had negative merit from the beginning, and because they did not understand the difference, they rashly signed the contract, and died because they did not accumulate 10 merits to exchange for life one day; some people revealed the existence of the "Merit Book" to those close to them, such as their wives, children, and close friends, and eventually died at the hands of the people they trusted the most; some people lost themselves in the illusion of powerful power and omnipotence, killed as they pleased, and were eventually struck to death by a thunderbolt; some people concealed it well at the beginning, but because of their unrestrained exchange, they were eventually discovered and fell into endless pursuit; in addition, some people coveted powerful power and practiced skills with conflicting attributes and died; some people exchanged countless beauties, indulged in the land of tenderness and died of exhaustion (it was the first time that Rong Yuan knew that living things could be exchanged in the Merit Mall); some people were burned to death by panicked people because they exchanged non-human blood...
The rapidly updated contractors usually died before they had a chance to explore more functions of the "Book of Merits", which simply refreshed the list of a thousand ways to die. It was not until a man appeared that this bloody struggle ended.
That person's name is Xiao Yifei.
