Do you need to buy a coffin

Chapter 15

Jiang Nan recalled her conversation with Mu Yan and suddenly realized, "No, um, listen to me, things aren't what you think."

Judging from Chu Fan's muttering expression, he definitely wasn't listening.

"You approached me with an ulterior motive, and your concern for me was all an act to achieve your goals. I was so naive to think of you as an older brother, to respect you, to be close to you, and to admire you."

Jiang Nan was annoyed. He had just seen her sleeping like a log, how could she have overheard all that irrelevant talk? "Wait, what did you just say?"

Chu Fan glared at him with wide eyes, "What are you pretending to be deaf for?"

"You mean you see me as your older brother?"

"I won't do it anymore."

"So what do you take me for now?"

"Whether you're a passerby, a bad person, or a villain, or an unrelated person, even a tree or a blade of grass, they will no longer consider you a good person."

"..." Jiangnan couldn't hold back any longer and rushed forward to grab, uh, hug him.

Chu Fan's timing was absolutely perfect; just as Jiang Nan put his arm around Chu Fan's arm, Chu Fan fell forward.

"Hey, Xiao Fan..." In his haste, Jiang Nan called Chu Fan's name for the first time. (Audience: What did you call him before? Bing: Hey, you, kid, cough cough, servant, etc...>_-

go home

"I can walk by myself." Chu Fan bypassed Jiang Nan's outstretched hand and attempted to get out of bed on his own.

Jiangnan stopped him without saying a word and carried him to a rattan chair in the yard. "The sun is nice today."

"I'm not crippled." Chu Fan stubbornly stood up, but the large movement aggravated the injury on his back.

Jiangnan's heart tightened, and she angrily pressed the person back into the chair, wanting to scold them, but the words turned into a silent sigh.

Fujihime returned from outside and gave her a look, signaling that she wanted to speak privately.

That time, Yi Xuan and Yuan Cuiwei failed to catch anyone. Because Mu Yan was elusive and his whereabouts were unpredictable, they had no other option but to wait for him to come to them.

Teng Ji was sent to guard the Jiangnan family. She has now transferred to Yi Xuan's command, which is to be expected. Even if it's just to save her own life, she needs to find a backer who is comparable to Mu Yan.

"Those three people have been found," Fujihime said calmly.

Fujihime was present at the time, and she was the only one who could recognize the three people who insulted Chu Fan.

Although the three were merely acting on orders, given Jiang Nan's temperament, he wouldn't let them off easily. His eyes sharpened. "I'll be right back. Keep an eye on Xiao Fan for me."

"If he appeared here, would you kill him for Chu Fan?" The "he" that Teng Ji was referring to was naturally Mu Yan.

"Even if I had the will, I wouldn't have the power." Jiang Nan's lips curled up. "However, if the opportunity arises, I won't let it pass."

"Even if you knew his past, how Ji Yu hurt him, wouldn't you show him any mercy?"

“That’s his business. Since he already killed Ji Yu to avenge himself, he shouldn’t transfer that hatred to Xiao Fan.”

Fujihime lowered her eyes. "He can't forgive Jiyu for deceiving him."

Although he had some doubts, Jiangnan didn't waste any more time paying attention to her sadness. He strode away and quickly found the hiding place of the three people.

One of them was beaten and yelled, "Using vigilante justice is against the law!" Jiang Nan sneered, "What do you care about justice or the law at this point? Did these people think about justice or the law when they did those things?"

Before meeting Chu Fan, Jiang Nan was a ruthless person who would do anything to achieve his goals, and those who messed with him would not have a good ending.

If you're lucky, you'll be left with a complete body; if you're unlucky, death won't be the only way out.

They will repay you in kind.

The three were beaten black and blue and were taken back to the Six Doors by Jiangnan, where they were arbitrarily charged with a crime and thrown into prison to await trial.

You can probably guess what kind of torture awaited these three in that prison.

A moment later, pitiful screams came from inside the cell.

The members of the Six Doors were busy with their own affairs. Anyway, this kind of torture was unavoidable in every dynasty, so it was nothing special.

“Even if you don’t eat, at least drink some water. I don’t want to come back from Jiangnan and see you looking so haggard, which will make me get scolded by him.”

Fujihime handed the bowl over, but Chu Fan didn't take it.

"Haven't you always wanted to go home? With your current physical condition, how could you possibly withstand the conflict of spiritual forces between the two worlds when you return? You don't want to die halfway there, do you?" Fujihime used a postmodern term.

Chu Fan felt a strong sense of familiarity, and a wave of homesickness surged into his heart. Combined with the suppressed emotions he had been experiencing recently, a few tears fell onto his clothes.

Fujihime secretly breathed a sigh of relief; it was better to cry than to hold it in. "Do you hate him?"

"Does he hate Ji Yu?" Chu Fan asked unexpectedly.

"Nonsense, looking at what you're going through now, of course he'd want to skin you alive and tear your tendons out."

"Should I hate him?" Chu Fan murmured. "When I was little, my dad told me that to understand the cruelty of life, you have to put yourself in others' shoes. I'm conflicted. I know I hate him, but he hates me just as much as I hate him, maybe even more. But don't you think he's pitiful? I was hurt, but I had you, Jiangnan, and friends I met here; but back then, the only person by his side was Ji Yu. Ji Yu betrayed him, and he had nothing left. All this time, all he's been striving for is revenge. Isn't that tragic?"

Fujihime affectionately stroked Chu Fan's head, her bright eyes sparkling with an unusual light, showing that she was not someone who could be easily broken by a single injury.

"Did you hear that?" Fujihime slowly stood up. "What other outrageous things do you intend to do to this child?"

Chu Fan had only just noticed Mu Yan approaching, and his gaze towards Mu Yan still carried the sympathy he had shown earlier.

"I don't need your pity."

Mu Yan's icy gaze frightened Chu Fan, forcing him to suppress his expression. The memory of the last incident was still fresh, and his fear of Mu Yan was self-evident. He shifted his body in the chair and hid behind Teng Ji.

"Stop," Fujihime advised kindly. "You've already taken enough revenge; there's no need to keep going through this cycle."

"A traitor has no right to say these things to me." Mu Yan gritted his teeth; the word 'traitor' was so hateful in his eyes.

“I have never betrayed you. After all, I have followed you for thousands and thousands of reincarnations, and you are the one who gave me a place to exist. I just don’t want you to make the same mistake again and again and sink deeper and deeper. If you continue like this, you will only suffer. If you can’t let go of your hatred, revenge will be meaningless to you.”

"Are you saying all this to buy time for the people from the Underworld to come here?"

“I won’t notify them. After all, even if you’re no longer my boss, you’re still my creator. I’ll repay that debt today. I know you were injured in the last battle. Although your recovery ability is amazing, they will definitely take all necessary measures to capture you this time. Go, don’t come here again. Once the people from the Underworld send Chu Fan back, everything will be over.”

"You finally got the chance to bring him back, do you think I'd let them send him away so easily?"

"So how much power do you think you have to stop it?" Yi Xuan's voice pierced the sky.

The situation took a sharp turn for the worse. This time, the Underworld had brought its full force and firepower; the dark, imposing array in the sky clearly indicated they wouldn't give up until they captured their target. It was a fight to the death.

An unprecedented, inhuman battle unfolded in the sky. Forgive the sun for being in such a good mood today, it came to watch; Chu Fan's eyesight was limited, and he couldn't see how those clumps of things gathered together, then scattered with a 'whoosh,' then gathered together again with a 'bang,' and then scattered again with a 'bang'... >__

Home → Hell → ?

Upon regaining consciousness, Chu Fan saw the long-lost steel and concrete structures, but felt no joy whatsoever.

What exactly does Jiangnan mean to him?

They supported each other, pretended and deceived each other, and even had physical intimacy.

Can this be considered love?

Chu Fan didn't want to think about this problem at all; he just wanted to go back to that place.

He wanted to confirm whether Jiangnan was alive or dead; he wanted to confirm his own feelings.

Jiangnan took that blow for him. Even if there was no hope of survival, even if it was just out of friendship, he only hoped to see him one more time, even if it was the last time.

He admitted he was greedy; he also wanted to know how Mu Yan had fared after that incident.

His mind was completely focused on that place; he didn't want this agonizing feeling, he didn't want this empty illusion.

Chu Fan, absorbed in his own world, did not notice the changes in the original world.

Chu Fan tried hard to recall the street names, but what was going on with this desolate city?

Could it be that Mu Yan's bringing him to that world really broke the balance between the two worlds?

That is clearly not the case.

Chu Fan wandered around the ruins, a far cry from the prosperous city of a year ago. A desperate thought popped into his mind: could they have sent him to the wrong place?

Finally, he found a living person to question.

"What... happened here?"

The other person seemed somewhat surprised, "Didn't you read the news or newspapers?"

"Um..." Chu Fan was a little embarrassed, "I just got back."

The other person dismissively said "Oh," picked up a tattered newspaper from the ground, and tossed it to him.

Chu Fan wondered when the newspaper had appeared at the scene, as he hadn't seen it earlier.

"So many things happened while I was gone..." Chu Fan suddenly looked up at the person in front of him, "Could this be talking about you?"

His eyes lit up, like a serf who had been liberated seeing Chairman Mao, a lost person spotting the North Star, or a hungry dog stumbling upon a steamed bun...

At this moment, the person standing in front of Chu Fan with an indifferent and leisurely expression was none other than Ding Mo, the alien human whom the people in the newspapers were calling for to be killed and captured.

Fujihime told Chu Fan many things, such as the demons and the Eye of the Demon that existed in his original world.

"If you have the ability to see ghosts, could you please take me to find someone?"

"Although my previous firm handled many lost and found cases, now that it's closed, you'll have to go find your own people for this. But these days, they might not even have time for you," Ding Mo said coldly. Faced with the ruthlessness of humans, he truly saw no need to care about them anymore.

“But only you can help me with this.” Chu Fan pondered for a long time. “I’m talking about the person I’m looking for—no, perhaps another name would be more accurate.”

Ding Mo looked at him with a mocking expression. Strange, this person knew what had happened in the city but showed no concern at all, and instead asked him for help.

"I want to see Hades," Chu Fan said, then introduced himself, "Hello, my name is Chu Fan."

An unknown light flickered in his eyes.

At that moment, Ding Mo could roughly understand why Chu Fan could be indifferent to this city.

If a person lives in this world with only one goal, then everything else is, in his eyes, merely an ornament.

Ding Mo confessed honestly that he couldn't just see Hades whenever he wanted, nor could he simply choose to see him whenever he wanted. He didn't even want to see those guys who acted without any regard for others' feelings.

Chu Fan persisted, determined to meet with the King of the Underworld. He truly had something very important to do and needed to return there.

Where is that? Ding Mo was puzzled.

Seeing his determined yet restless expression, Ding Mo could only sigh in despair. "I really can't help you. If you want to go into the Demon Realm to see the scenery, then I'll take you there right away without hesitation."

"Does the Demon Realm really exist here?" Even after reading the newspaper, Chu Fan initially couldn't fully believe it. After all, such stories had only appeared in the comics he'd read. (Ahem, actually, his own experiences were pretty much only found in comics too.)

It took Chu Fan a whole night to digest this legend of demons, humans, and the ancient Chinese mythology of Yanhuang and Chiyou. This wasn't his fault; logical reasoning wasn't exactly his forte. (Actually, it also took me an hour to figure out that ancient legend…>__)

Butterfly → Coffin → ?

Author's Note: First, I want to apologize to those who read this chapter and the previous one. I wrote those two chapters in a bit of a rush, so they're completely different now. The story for the new "Part Two" is now finalized, so I hope everyone can forget about those two messy chapters from before. ^_^