A Hundred Years of Solitude

Chapter 1

A Hundred Years of Solitude

As usual, Zhu Bing parked his red Santana taxi on the side of the road in Taoyuan Residential Area. He checked his watch; it was only 6:20, ten minutes early. Knowing Zhou Ying's punctuality, he turned on the radio and waited patiently. Sure enough, at 6:30 sharp, Zhou Ying emerged from a building.

Zhu Bing has always hoped to own a taxi, but for now he can only work for others. The owner of the taxi, Zhou Ying, hired him to take turns driving the taxi with him.

Normally, if a taxi owner hires a driver to take turns driving, unless they have other work during the day, they'll have the driver work the more strenuous night shift while they drive during the day. Zhou Ying, however, was different. He handed the car over to Zhu Bing during the day and drove it himself at night. This made Zhu Bing's job much easier than other hired drivers. Moreover, Zhou Ying's salary was indeed very generous, and he never haggled over repairs or fuel costs, so Zhu Bing cherished the job. He never tried to rip off his employers about fares like other hired drivers did, and he deeply respected Zhou Ying.

Seeing Zhou Ying get out of the car, Zhu Bing quickly jumped out and said, "Brother Zhou, you've had dinner."

“Hmm,” Zhou Ying, who was usually a woman of few words, said as she took the keys and money from Zhu Bing, “You can go back and rest now.”

Just then, a news report was playing on the radio. Zhu Bing frowned as he listened and said, "Brother Zhou, another taxi robbery and murder case! This is the eleventh one! These robbers are rampant lately, and our car doesn't have a security screen. Maybe I should get one installed tomorrow?"

"Alright."

Zhu Bing said goodbye to Zhou Ying, but after taking a few steps, he turned back and said, "Now everyone goes out in pairs at night. Zhou, are you still going out alone? It's too unsafe! How about I come with you tonight?"

"Ah," Zhou Ying hesitated slightly, "Is everyone in pairs?"

Zhu Bing gave a wry smile: "Although the robbers have guns, even if there are two of us, we'd probably both die. But at least one of us can keep you company for courage. It's not easy being in this line of work!"

"I understand. Since everyone is going out in pairs, I'll find a friend to go with me. You should go home and get some rest."

"Alright, Brother Zhou, I'm leaving."

On the dark streets, neon lights and streetlights shone brightly. A red Santana taxi slowly drove along the road, and the radio was broadcasting the news again about the "robbery and murder of a taxi driver".

"Ah..." Liu Di yawned and slumped back in his seat, groaning, "Just because of this, you dragged me along on your trip?"

"Um."

"Are you out of your mind? There are nearly ten thousand taxis in the city, why did those robbers have to target you? They can't be that unlucky! I haven't slept since yesterday, please let me go home..."

“It’s not because of the robbers,” Zhou Ying said, “it’s because everyone was traveling in pairs at night.”

So you're going to be like everyone else?

"..."

"Please, when learning to be a 'human being,' don't just learn to follow the crowd. Humanity now values the pursuit of 'individuality'! Individuality!"

"You're the only one pursuing that kind of thing, aren't you?" Zhou Ying scrutinized Liu Di's appearance: long, dyed blonde hair, a tight-fitting T-shirt, a strangely styled necklace and ring... Lately, this "Earth Wolf" has been getting more and more outrageous.

Liu Di sighed resignedly, giving up the fight. Zhou Ying's mind was sometimes completely inflexible and stubborn; it was difficult to change his mind. Liu Di began to look around, hoping his car could pick up young, beautiful female passengers to soothe his wounded heart.

A middle-aged man so drunk he couldn't even give his own address; a couple kissing in their car, their relationship questionable; a young man swearing and acting like a slut; a woman with heavy makeup and a affected, high-pitched voice...

"Ahhhhhhh! I want to get off the bus! I want to go home!" Liu Di finally couldn't help but shout.

Zhou Ying rolled her eyes at him, assuming he was having an intermittent bout of neuroticism, and ignored him completely, parking her car in front of the waving customers on the roadside.

Four young men flagged down the car. They glanced at Liu Di sitting in the car through the window, and one of them said to Zhou Ying, "Master, please ask this guy to move aside. There's not enough room for all of us."

Zhou Ying looked at Liu Di with a hint of apology.

Liu Di stepped back, glancing sideways as he asked, "What are you looking at? You're not that kind of person, are you?"

"I'll come back to pick you up right away."

Liu Di glanced outside at the deserted road without even streetlights, crossed his arms, and said, "Fine, you forced me to come work with you, and now you're going to throw me away after you've used me. You're really loyal!"

Zhou Ying said apologetically, "I really will be back right away."

His sincere apology only made Liu Di feel embarrassed. He pushed open the car door and said, "Alright, alright, I'll get out. You don't need to come pick me up anymore. I'm going to find some pretty girls to drink with. And..." He looked at the four stern-faced young men who didn't seem like good people, and whispered in Zhou Ying's ear, "If these are the robbers, you can't keep them all to yourself. You have to leave half for me!"

"Go away, go away, go away! If that's true, there's no way you'll get any. I don't even have enough for myself!" Huo'er, who had been dozing off on the back of the seat, immediately opened her eyes when the topic of food came up.

Liu Di shrugged, got out of the car, gestured for the four young men to leave, and stood by the roadside watching the red taxi drive away. He began to whistle leisurely, while planning which nightclub to go to for an all-nighter.

The road he was on was on the edge of the city. On one side were newly built residential buildings, their lights twinkling in the distance, yet they seemed to stand in a very distant place. On the other side was an undeveloped, abandoned field, overgrown with wheat and weeds, a desolate early autumn scene. Under a half-moon, Liu Di casually walked in, looked down, and realized that he hadn't seen a starry sky without neon lights in a long time. "Maybe I should go to the mountains for a few days to clear my head?" Liu Di suddenly had this thought, and began to consider what food, cigarettes, and alcohol to bring, which woman he could bring along, the TV series he hadn't finished watching, the games he hadn't played, and whether he should bring the TV and computer too... "Sigh... never mind, I'm more suited to living in the city." Liu Di sighed with self-awareness, put his hands in his pockets, and strolled back.

Suddenly, a figure came running from the road in the distance, leaping a few times before disappearing into the grass. Although it was just a fleeting glimpse, Liu Di could still make out that it was a small fox with snow-white fur and nine tails. "Hmm, a nine-tailed fox," Liu Di said to himself, "There has never been such a spirit in this city before. This fills a gap in our knowledge. How wonderful!" He followed the fox in the direction it had disappeared, wanting to see for himself.

The original home of the nine-tailed fox is the Qingqiu Kingdom, north of Chaoyang Valley, a kingdom located in another dimension, far removed from the human world. The nine-tailed fox race is extremely attached to their homeland and rarely appears outside of it. Since the ancient Emperor Zhuanxu severed the connection between the human world and other realms, nine-tailed foxes have become even rarer in the human world. While there are many legends about fox demons since ancient times, they are all about ordinary wild foxes that have become demons; even demons rarely witness the true form of the real nine-tailed fox race.

When Liu Di was young, he had met one of his maternal grandfather's nine-tailed fox friends. The old man was quite kind to Liu Di and had even personally instructed him in illusion magic, so Liu Di had always had a good impression of this race. He knew that nine-tailed foxes always lived in family units, and these spirits with such strong family values would never let a small child run around alone. He guessed that there must be another large family somewhere nearby. With this thought in mind, Liu Di excitedly wanted to go and greet them, perhaps even awarding them a "filling the gap in the monster species list in Lixin City" or something like that.

Zhou Ying was always a man of few words and had no habit of chatting with passengers, so the carriage was silent. Even the four men didn't speak to each other. The man sitting next to Zhou Ying smoked one cigarette after another, filling the carriage with smoke. Through the rearview mirror, the other three men could be seen with grim faces, staring intently at the road ahead. Their clothes were bulging, clearly concealing some kind of knife.

“Wait a minute,” the man in the front seat suddenly said as they approached their destination, “We’re not going to ‘Meifan’ anymore, go to No. 72 Guimin Road.” “Guimin Road…” That was the most deserted street in Lixin City. Zhou Ying repeated the address he gave her, and without saying anything else, she turned the car around.

"Hey, this driver's got some nerve today! I thought after all that trouble, no taxi would dare go to places like that anymore!" a man suddenly said, but after being glared at by his companions, he obediently shut his mouth.

Zhou Ying sighed inwardly. Had Liu Di's jinx really come true? Could it really be "them"? They were incredibly unlucky to have their eyes on his car. He glanced at Huo'er, who had long since forgotten her sleepiness and was standing on the back of the seat, scrutinizing the man in front of her, occasionally gesturing with her mouth as if considering how to make a move. Seeing Zhou Ying looking at him, the man cursed, "What are you looking at! Don't you have enough eyes?!" Even Zhou Ying couldn't help but roll his eyes and turn his gaze to the window.

When the car arrived at its destination, the men slammed the car door shut and got out, but did not do anything else that Huo'er had expected.

"Hey, the fare is forty-nine yuan, thank you," Zhou Ying reminded them of what they had "forgotten."

"You really have guts!" The man who had just "praised" Zhou Ying in the car turned around, glaring at her fiercely. He suddenly pulled out a machete from his waist and pounded on the car window. "We never pay for our rides! Didn't you know that?"

"Shadow, can we handle it the old way?" Fire, who was initially a little disappointed, immediately perked up and asked with eagerness—the biggest drawback of living in the city is that there are too few opportunities to show off one's skills, which often makes it feel like a hero with no place to use his talents.

"Sixth Brother, don't mess things up!" The man who looked like the leader shouted at the man with the knife, pulled out a hundred-yuan bill, stuffed it through the window, and said, "Keep the change, get out of here!" After saying that, the four of them walked away.

Zhou Ying shook the banknote, looked at the extremely disappointed Huo'er, and asked thoughtfully, "This kind of person shouldn't give money, right?"

Huo'er said angrily, "That's right! Why should they give us money? Why should they give us money?!"

Zhou Ying stared in the direction they had disappeared and murmured, "What could be so important that they'd rather pay than delay?"

Liu Di wandered around for a while but completely lost track of the Nine-Tailed Fox. He scratched his head, "I lost her too? Have my tracking skills deteriorated? Oh well, we'll run into her again in this city." He immediately gave up, waving his hand and saying, "Let's go back, let's find a place to drink." He hadn't walked far when a few sounds carried on the night wind. Liu Di looked up alertly, not only hearing the screams in the wind, but also faintly smelling blood. Liu Di bent down, disappearing into the ground, and ran against the wind.

Under the moonlight, in the overgrown weeds, two strange creatures were locked in combat. One was a massive, fox-like monster, possessing nine tails like a nine-tailed fox, but also nine on its head. Its tiger-like claws roared and pounced on its opponent, the little nine-tailed fox Liu Di had just seen struggling beneath its claws. This little fox was no match for its enemy, who was many times its size; it was covered in blood and barely holding on. The great monster showed no mercy to its weak opponent, lashing out with its claws, sending the little fox flying, before leaping down upon it again.

Suddenly, a hand rose from the ground, steadily catching the sharp claws that were about to strike the little fox. The great demon took a few steps back, watching as the hand with sharp claws slowly rose from the ground: long hair, pointed ears, fangs, black claws…

"Earth Wolf".

“蠪侄”.

The two great demons looked at each other and called out each other's names.

Liu Di picked up the little nine-tailed fox and threw it far away. He pressed his knuckles and said to Longzhi, "Want to fight? Then don't bully the little one. I'll handle it! I'm bored out of my mind."

Longzhi scrutinized the earth wolf before him. In his mind, earth wolves weren't powerful monsters; he generally looked down on such clandestine, underground creatures. But this earth wolf was different. Its composed demeanor, and the way it had easily caught his attack despite him not using his full strength—"I...don't fight battles I'm not sure I can win," Longzhi said, his nine heads laughing together, his eyes fixed intently on Liu Di.

"So all you do is bully the weak!" Liu Di continued to provoke—he really was a "punchable" guy.

Surprisingly, Longzhi wasn't angry. He just smiled and said, "That's one of my strengths."

"Haha..." Liu Di laughed loudly, "I like you, you have the same good qualities as a human. Let's go have a drink together."

"Another day," Longzhi nodded slightly to Liu Di. "Since we both live in this city, we won't have trouble seeing each other." After saying that, he disappeared into the bushes and quickly vanished.

Liu Di watched him leave with his arms crossed, muttering to himself, "Another troublesome fellow in this city. Now I've got something to do." He knew that Longzhi must have gone back to chasing the little nine-tailed fox. He reached into the grass and pulled the little fox he had hidden there out, asking, "Why did he attack you?"

The little nine-tailed fox looked like she was on her last breath. She barely opened her eyes to look at him before closing them again.

It turned out its injuries were more serious than Liu Di had imagined. He quickly put it down and checked its wounds. As soon as the little nine-tailed fox touched the ground, it suddenly bit Liu Di's finger and then nimbly darted into the bushes and escaped. "Ouch!" Liu Di shook his bitten finger. "No wonder it's a fox. So cunning at such a young age."

Although the dragon-like creature resembles a fox, it is the fox's nemesis. Now, both the dragon-like creature and the nine-tailed fox have appeared in this city at the same time. What's going on? It doesn't seem like a simple coincidence. Liu Di shook his head in confusion, then licked his injured finger and thought, "How did that little fox's parents raise their child? How could they treat their savior like this! When I see them, I'll have to have a good talk with them about their child's upbringing."

Zhou Ying stopped the car and looked into the distance at the place where the four men walked in. The white paint had peeled off quite a bit, and the sign on the door read "Lixin Biological Research Institute".

"What does the biological research institute do?" Huo'er asked, puzzled.

"I study biology," Zhou Ying replied.

“…I know that too…” Huo’er was very dissatisfied with his answer and asked again, “I don’t know what kind of creature Bifang is?”

"In the human classification of living beings, we monsters simply don't exist," Zhou Ying answered truthfully. When he first arrived in the city, he had considered studying biology at a human school, but after reading some biology books, he gave up the idea: he already knew most of what was in the books, and what he wanted to know was not in the books.

"Does that mean we wouldn't exist if they didn't categorize us?!" Huo'er shouted indignantly after hearing Zhou Ying's words. "I'll put Bifang in the highest category and humans in the lowest!"

“Humans only acknowledge what they can explain. What they can’t explain, even if they see, hear, or experience, they still believe doesn’t exist,” Zhou Ying said thoughtfully. “But it’s precisely because of this habit that we can live so comfortably in their society.”

Inside this biological research institute, a middle-aged woman was quietly tidying up. She placed stacks of documents into cardboard boxes, and when she picked up a family photo of the three of them on the table, tears finally streamed down her face. A boy of about ten years old, who had been sitting quietly beside her, tying bundles of books together with a string, rushed over when he saw her crying, wiping her tears with his hand: "Mommy, don't cry, Xiao Rui will keep Mommy company for Daddy, Mommy, don't cry..." The child himself was shedding large tears while trying his best to comfort his mother. "Xiao Rui!" The woman hugged her son tightly, sobbing. The documents and books she was holding scattered all over the floor.

This research institute was founded by her and her husband, embodying countless hours of hard work and dedication. But today, it all has to come to an end. She hugged her son even tighter, her heart filled with a mixture of sorrow and bewilderment.

The woman's name is Lin Qingping. In the photo next to her, a refined, fair-skinned man is smiling and embracing her and their child. That is her husband, Lin Hai. The child crying in her arms is her son, Lin Rui.

As if being tormented by the god of misfortune, bad luck seemed to always follow this family.

Lin Qingping and Lin Hai first met in college and fell in love at first sight. However, they almost broke up because Lin Hai's parents opposed marriage between people with the same surname. These traditional and superstitious rural elders could accept marriage between cousins, but they couldn't accept their son falling in love with someone with the same surname who was not related by blood. Lin Qingping and Lin Hai went through many trials and tribulations before finally getting married. Soon after their marriage, they poured all their resources into establishing the biological research institute, wanting to maximize the effectiveness of their professional knowledge. After more than two years of hard work, the institute's research projects and various operations gradually got on track, and their son, Lin Rui, was born. During this time, the family reached the pinnacle of their happiness. But all of this was merely a calm before a storm was about to break out over them.

In March of this year, Lin Hai suddenly passed away in a car accident. All the happiness that this family had was completely destroyed by the slightest wave of fate. Moreover, it was a very delicate car accident. Although Lin Hai died, he was identified as the party at fault and had to pay the other party a huge sum of money in compensation.

Lin Qingping endured the grief of losing her husband and the unreasonable accusations from her in-laws. To pay for the compensation after her husband's death, she gritted her teeth and considered mortgaging her research institute to a bank, only to discover to her astonishment that her husband had already mortgaged the institute and borrowed a large sum of money from the bank before his death. When was this money borrowed? What was it used for? Lin Qingping had no idea. At this time, a loan company with ties to organized crime approached her—Lin Hai, while mortgaging his loan from the bank, had also borrowed a large sum from this underground money lender.

How many of her husband's actions were she unaware of? Lin Qingping couldn't help but wonder. And why had he hidden such a huge thing from her? Between the pain of losing her husband and his dishonesty, it was hard to say which was a greater blow to her.

But constant crying and grief were of no use. She first used all her savings, then sold her house to pay off the compensation. She could use the research institute to repay the bank loan, but she was powerless to pay the money from underground money lenders. She could only beg them to let her repay in installments. However, these people with underworld connections were different from banks. The price of getting an extension from them was a much higher interest rate, which was something Lin Qingping could not afford.

Lin Qingping kissed her son's face, wiped away his tears, and hugged him tightly. Now, her only treasure was Lin Rui. For her son's sake, she had to be brave and strong to face all this misfortune.

"Whoosh!" The door was kicked open suddenly, and four fierce-looking young men rushed in.

Lin Qingping hurriedly shielded her son and asked, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Pay back your debts! Stop talking nonsense!" The leader kicked over a chair. "We heard you have money to pay the bank, but not our boss? You're really looking down on us!"

They were from the loan company. Lin Qingping immediately understood. Somewhat flustered, she said, "I didn't repay the bank! I just mortgaged the research to them! Please rest assured, I will repay you as soon as possible!"

"Collateral!" the man sneered, shoving a row of test tubes to the ground. The glass tubes shattered with a crash, startling Lin Rui, who buried his face in his mother's arms. The man's gaze fell on him, and he said with ill intent, "Then it's reasonable for us to ask for some collateral too!"

Lin Qingping shielded her son with both hands: "Don't do anything reckless!"

"Don't worry, leave your son with us, and we promise to feed him well, without hitting or scolding him. At most, if you delay paying back the money for too long, we'll cut off one of his fingers and give it to you. Little brother, what do you say?" He stretched out his hand and lifted Lin Rui's chin, scaring Lin Rui into crying.

"Don't touch my child!" Lin Qingping screamed, slapping his hand away. "I'll do everything I can to pay you back!"

“But speaking of which…” another young man looked Lin Qingping up and down, licking his lips, and said, “This lady is a bit older, but she’s quite ‘appetizing.’ If you’re willing, there are plenty of ways to make money. Want me to teach you?”

Lin Qingping picked up a stack of books and threw them at them, then pulled Lin Rui and ran outside. The four men followed confidently, not in a hurry to chase after them. Anyway, there was no one around, and at night, even taxis were hard to find. Where could a woman with a child go? But when they reached the door, they clearly saw Lin Qingping and her child get into a taxi and speed away.

"It's the car we came in! That kid didn't leave!"

"Pah!" the leader cursed. "Do you guys remember where that woman lives? Go to her house! I bet she'll come home! Damn it, that brat driving the car, I hope I never run into him again!"

Sitting in the car, Lin Qingping kept looking back, still shaken. Only after confirming that they hadn't followed did she feel relieved and thank Zhou Ying.

"It's nothing," Zhou Ying said, explaining that he hadn't saved the mother and child unintentionally. If it weren't for the fact that he wanted to stop Huo'er from burning down the biological research institute that "didn't classify Bifang as the highest level," he would have gone back to pick up Liu Di long ago.

“Mr. Zhou…” Lin Qingping studied him for a while, then suddenly asked, “Are you Mr. Zhou who lives upstairs?”