The face in front remained indifferent, but if you looked closely, you could see that the corners of her mouth were slightly upturned.
This is no longer a living person, it's a monster...
Julie was startled and took several steps back, while everyone else stared in astonishment.
Cheng Yungui was the first to notice the bald man's change; his face had begun to turn bluish.
"Quick, hang the painting up!"
Cheng Yungui shouted. Everyone else reacted a beat too late, but Lu Mingran rushed over immediately, quickly picked out the one without a bald man from the three paintings, and pressed it forcefully against the wall—
Finally, it's over.
After the painting was hung on the wall, the scene in the office changed, becoming exactly as depicted in the painting: neatly packed boxes, balloons, and a cake.
Just then, someone knocked on the door, and a worker poked his head in and said, "Hurry up, we're waiting to move things."
"Immediately," the count read out stiffly.
A wooden table appeared in the center, with a cake and the last magazine on it. He beckoned everyone to come over and gather around the table.
A final celebration. A farewell.
The Earl probably never dreamed that this raid would cost him so many members. Baldy and Yibo were dead, and Xiaoyun had become a monster he couldn't control.
What he hadn't anticipated was that something else was waiting for him.
Lu Mingran and Cheng Yungui walked to the table, their eyes darting back and forth between the Earl and the two-headed baby.
In a true ancient legend, the count and the baby's souls were swapped.
The heart that was dug out mistakenly remembered that its enemy was the Count, whose body contained the evil soul of a newborn baby.
The one trapped inside that two-headed baby is the count from long ago.
It was waiting for an opportunity, waiting to break free from this head and find the body of an adult foreign man.
That day will come soon.
Lu Mingran and Cheng Yungui composed themselves. At this moment, Julie picked up her camera and walked in front of everyone to take a group photo.
"eggplant!"
Everyone laughed and acted out the scene, and the photos were immediately developed, with each person receiving one.
Lu Mingran felt embarrassed after the photos came out because he and Cheng Yungui seemed to be smiling too sincerely, and they looked like the happiest ones.
On the right, the camera captured Xiaoyun's true appearance, and Lu Mingran quickly covered up the funny face.
Cheng Yungui, who was standing nearby, noticed his actions, took the photo, conjured a pair of scissors, snipped it up, and then handed the cut photo to Lu Mingran:
"That's good."
It's nice, but the count and the others on the right are gone; only he and Cheng Yungui are left in the photo. They're shoulder to shoulder, Cheng Yungui is grinning foolishly, and Lu Mingran is making a really corny "V" sign on his head.
——————
Before leaving the instance, Lu Mingran and Lin Han went into the tea room together and closed the door.
Lu Mingran told Cheng Yungui that Lin Han was an alternate account she had created, and that she needed to organize it before going back with him.
But this isn't really a disguise at all. The "Lu Mingran" who has been by his side all this time is actually his former friend, Lin Han is the real Lu Mingran.
"Let's continue to be friends with him."
Cheng Yungui has already thrown away that unnecessary die, and will not be used by anyone in the future. You will be together forever.
Lin Han looked at the person in front of him and smiled. Then, as if he had thought of something, he took out a photo from the other person's pocket and examined it carefully.
It's the photo that was cut out.
After looking at it for a long time, Lin Han thought about it and decided to put it back in the other person's pocket, pat it down, and put it away.
“Let’s go,” he said.
The door to the tea room opened, and "Lu Mingran" walked out.
Those inside listened to the laughter and conversations of those outside, and heard them walking further and further away side by side. Only after everything quieted down did the person standing in the tea room open the door.
Lu Mingran walked downstairs and saw his familiar bus once again.
This is an infinite flow world, and it's difficult to get out, so the bus took several detours. Lu Mingran was leaning against the window, resting with his eyes closed, when suddenly the system threw him a white cloak to put on.
This is definitely something we'll need in the next world.
As Lu Mingran put on the cloak, she asked herself what role she was supposed to play.
"The Bronze Gate. Guardian. The Ultimate. Secret."
"Well……"
Lu Mingran's hand paused involuntarily. This setting seemed familiar... somewhere... The Grave Robbers' Chronicles? Little Brother?
“System.” Lu Mingran raised her hand.
Are you sure we're not going to Changbai Mountain?
The system waited for him to continue.
Lu Mingran said, "This is too thin. I request to wear a thick cotton-padded coat."
Chapter 74 Want to study philosophy? No way (1)
The system instinctively wanted to reply with "Okay," but then quickly realized what it was doing and asked:
What do you need a big cotton-padded coat for?
"Mingran, we're not going to Changbai Mountain."
————————
Ultimate. Or rather... the Way of Heaven.
Perhaps because Chinese culture is so profound and rich in connotation, many Taoist supernatural tales explore philosophical questions, to the point that the "scope" becomes increasingly vast, eventually becoming so mysterious that readers are confused and bewildered.
The male protagonist in this story is named Tao Chen. In the early stages, he is decisive and ruthless, but later he asks himself three questions every day: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?
No, it's about what happens after people die. What was the contemptuous look in the eyes of the No. 1 villain before he died trying to tell me? Why did my master say that I was more suitable to be the sect leader than my brothers? Also, why doesn't the No. 3 villain's daughter let me see her father since she fell in love with me?
Every time the plot progresses a little, the male protagonist sees a newly discovered clue and shouts in his mind, "I get it!"
Then he falls into a mystery again, solves it, and continues to gain insight. Each chapter in the second half ends with the protagonist shouting, "I understand!"
Finally, after so many foreshadowings and clues, the text solemnly declares that the day when the ultimate truth will be revealed has arrived.
The world is saying, "I only have the North and South Poles, why do you all have to go to the ultimate?" Also, are bronze doors mass-produced, you idiot?!
After listening to the system's introduction, Lu Mingran naturally asked while putting on her cloak:
"What is the ultimate goal? Is it related to Buddhism or Taoism this time?"
After saying that, Lu Mingran thought for a moment and covered her mouth: "Let's pretend I didn't ask. I think the author probably doesn't know either."
The system denied this, saying, "No, he wrote it out."
"Not only was it written down, but the male protagonist also went back to become the ruler of all realms after he learned about the ultimate truth."
Lu Mingran: "...This isn't right. Shouldn't he be guarding the goal like Xiao Ge?"
The system then laughed and said, "No need, aren't you the gatekeeper?"
——————
On the way to that world, Lu Mingran asked the system what the ultimate goal was, and the system replied: "It cannot be said."
Even the male protagonist only knew a little bit about it.
It is said that after Bigan had his heart removed, he met a person selling heartless vegetables. Bigan asked the person if vegetables could live without a heart, and if people could live without a heart.
The woman, who had been waiting for him, replied maliciously, "A person cannot live without a heart."
Bi Gan died as a result.
And this world is like Bi Gan; for him, the ultimate goal is the saying, "A person cannot live without a heart."
Therefore, Lu Mingran, the gatekeeper, also doesn't know what the ultimate goal is. His task is to get there before the male protagonist seizes his brother's position as sect leader and stop him.
However, things took a turn for the worse.
After the bus stopped, Lu Mingran looked out the window and discovered that they were actually on the rooftop.
The system was also startled. At this moment, Lu Mingran jumped out of the car and looked up to see that in addition to the sun, there was a crescent moon in the sky. Besides that, a chilling wind was blowing all around.
Lu Mingran carefully took a few steps forward and saw that the place downstairs seemed to be a playground. In the center of the playground was a yin-yang symbol, and several people were forming a circle, trapping a man dressed in red inside.
Lu Mingran nodded knowingly: "Oh, ganging up on each other."
Before long, bright yellow flags flew out from the backs of those people. After landing nearby, these flags grew several times larger and stood there.
In addition, a large patch of soil behind each person suddenly loosened, and one after another, swaying and hideous monsters emerged. Behind the white-bearded old man was a row of white-clad female ghosts, while behind his companions were rows of "doctors" holding chainsaws, all in perfect unison.
Lu Mingran had never seen so many ghosts appear together, let alone ghosts that seemed to have undergone military training, floating around with a feeling of marching in formation.
Suddenly, a whole bunch of ghosts appeared on the playground, forming square formations, each surrounded by a ring of flags. Lu Mingran fell silent.
After a moment of silence, Lu Mingran said knowingly again:
"Oh, it's a sports meet."
Upon hearing this, the system, which was recalling the plot, roared, "What sports meet! This is a feast of a hundred demons!"
It turns out we're already in the later stages of the story.
The system says that the male protagonist "fakes his death" during this banquet of a hundred ghosts. What went wrong this time that he was parachuted into this specific point in time?
The system frantically searched for the problem, while Lu Mingran squatted on the rooftop watching the show. She quickly realized that the person surrounded in the middle was the male lead, and he wasn't wearing ordinary red clothes, but a wedding dress possessed by a vengeful ghost.
The people and ghosts all around were closing in. The moment the wedding dress was torn, the woman's shrill and angry cries made them take a step back. However, just as the book says, these people used dirty tricks.
"Tao Chen, don't expect Ji Huan to save you."
There's no need to elaborate on what was done; this one sentence suffices. The moon's red hue deepened, like the bloodshot eyes of a killer.
The wedding dress that had never left Tao Chen finally collapsed to the ground, and the person in the middle fell down as well. Just then, his good brother Ji Huan arrived.