Ji Minghuan asked, "Why did the director confess?"
The ntor said, "Either the girl is about to die and needs urgent dical help, which panicked your old director...or he suddenly repented at the edge of a cliff, feeling guilty for his actions over the years and hung himself, or perhaps both."
Ji Minghuan was silent for a mont: "Xu Keyin was a friend of mine when I was young. At that ti, everyone said she disappeared. I asked the director many tis where she went, but each ti he was dismissive. Later, everyone forgot about her, and I didn’t feel right bringing her up again."
He paused for a mont, his tone turning cold: "I used to think the director was dumb, not evil, but now I know I was wrong...he’s just a beast."
"What a pity..." The ntor looked at Ji Minghuan’s expression, and whispered, "We didn’t discover this when we went to the Welfare Institute to find you; otherwise, we would have saved that girl and spared her from more than a month of tornt."
"It’s funny, how would you have discovered these things when you only ever focused on from the start."
"That’s true."
Unexpectedly, the ntor did not refute his claim.
"Forget it...I’m not interested in these matters; it doesn’t matter to if that old director dies a thousand or ten thousand tis."
Speaking, Ji Minghuan got out of bed and sat across from the ntor, "...Why don’t we talk about the Exorcist stuff, didn’t you say you wanted to tell ?"
The ntor took a sip of tea from his thermos, took a breath, and then screwed the lid back on the thermos bottle.
Later, he talked with Ji Minghuan about topics like the definition of ’Celestial Driver’ and ’Exorcist.’ Ji Minghuan had long known all this, so he pretended to be unclear and appeared curious, letting the information go in one ear and out the other.
"How co I’ve never seen a demon all my life?" Ji Minghuan asked. "I haven’t even heard any related news."
The ntor slowly explained: "China has a team recognized as the world’s strongest exorcists, nad ’Lake Hunting.’ This team is so powerful, to an unbelievable extent, that it makes all demons in the country fearful of their existence, thereby retreating to deep mountains and forests, not entering the human world."
"Is it that exaggerated?"
"Yes, it’s that exaggerated. Each class of ’Lake Hunting’ is comprised of four people. Behind each of them stands an ancient and imnsely wealthy family... and every mber of this team is selected as the strongest exorcist from among the current descendants by the heads of the four great families."
"Who is in the current class of ’Lake Hunting’?"
"The leader of this generation of ’Lake Hunting’ is nad ’Lin Xingshi,’ who cos from the Hubei Lion Dancer family. In the exorcist world, he is also coded as ’Lion Dancer,’ a title passed down through generations."
"So, isn’t he the world’s number one exorcist?"
"That’s right, at least that’s how it appears on the surface."
"What’s his Celestial Driver?"
"His Celestial Driver is ’Southern Nether Fire Qilin Head,’ reportedly forged from the dragon bones of a sunken South Sea ship and volcano glass, housing seventy-two Fire-Washing Cloth Talismans within."
"Sounds like it has more prestige than ’glasses’ or ’caras’ as Celestial Drivers. No wonder he’s the leader of the world’s top exorcist team," Ji Minghuan said, "So, who else is in Lake Hunting?"
The ntor chuckled: "Another well-known figure is Zhuge Hui, a descendant of the Zhuge Family. In the exorcist realm, he is coded as ’Celestial Secret Daoist.’ The Zhuge Family has always been a powerful exorcist family, and their exorcism practices have been passed down to this day."
Ji Minghuan raised his eyebrows: "Are you going to say that the historical Zhuge Liang was actually an exorcist too?"
"In ancient tis, exorcists weren’t called ’exorcists,’" the ntor slowly said, "but indeed, the historical Zhuge Liang was once a holder of Celestial Driver. His Celestial Driver is the well-known ’Seven-Star Lamp’... it’s worth ntioning that, unlike superpower users, exorcists do not appear in the open world. They hide their abilities and are aloof from worldly matters, only acting against demons appearing in the human world or reprimanding rogue exorcists, a rule that has persisted among them for many generations without change."
"So China, because of its extrely powerful native exorcist families, has such a broad area of influence that demons can’t be seen?"
"Correct." The ntor nodded, "If there is still controversy over the human breeds like Anecdote Envoy and Superpower User, then China is undeniably world-first in the ’Exorcist’ field."
Ji Minghuan thought about it: "Actually, I’m a bit curious, theoretically speaking, among ’Exorcists,’ ’Superpower Users,’ and ’Anecdote Envoys,’ which superhuman breed has the strongest potential?"
The ntor replied without hesitation: "If it were the past, we would answer you with ’Anecdote Envoy’."
He clasped his ten fingers together, "Because theoretically speaking: if any Anecdote Envoy has the fortune to be chosen by a ’Mythical Anecdote,’ he would possess a portion of a deity’s power... this is certainly an upper limit the other two superhuman breeds can’t remotely compare to."
"What about now?" Ji Minghuan asked.
"Now...because of your existence, the answer to this question has beco ambiguous," the ntor said, "If you were an ’exorcist,’ then the highest upper limit superhuman breed among humans would be ’exorcist’; if you were an ’anecdote envoy,’ then the highest upper limit would be ’anecdote envoy’; similarly... if, as predicted, you are a ’superpower user,’ then the highest upper limit superhuman breed so far would be superpower users."
He adjusted his glasses, "Simply put... your existence defines the most powerful superhuman breed in the world."
"You really think highly of ."
Ji Minghuan hung his head, about to cry, but inwardly thought: But I am both a superpower user, an exorcist, and can be an anecdote envoy. When you all find out, how will you define ?
The ntor took a sip of the bitter tea.
"If I really were an exorcist, what could my ’Celestial Driver’ be?" Ji Minghuan asked.
"As I said before, the form of Celestial Driver is determined by the shape inside an exorcist’s heart... For example, the current world’s top exorcist ’Lin Xingshi,’ who from a young age learned China’s Lion Dance Skill with family elders, the kind of day-by-day, year-by-year focus, with nothing else in his eyes, made the prototype of his Celestial Driver naturally take the form of a ’lion head’ since in his subconscious...putting on the lion head makes him his true self."
"What about my Celestial Driver?" Ji Minghuan tilted his head, "A dog’s head?"
"A mask."
Ji Minghuan feels slightly mocked but has no evidence, so he silently stares at him.
"Soone who knows how to disguise themselves from a young age, their heart gradually becos the shape of a mask."
"Do you think you’re funny?"
The ntor smiled and screwed the lid on the thermos, "That’s all for today. In a few days, I’ll arrange for you to et Kong Youling and the other children."
"Really?"
"Really."
[Have obtained a series of key information about the ’Exorcist world view.’]
[Current world view developnt progress in the ’Exorcist’ branch changes: 30% → 55%]
[Received world view developnt reward: 1 Split Point (Current Split new character progress: 3/9 Split Points)]
"Developing the world view also gives Split Points, I have to seize the opportunity to learn more about the remaining parts." Ji Minghuan thought.
"Get a good sleep." With that, the ntor stood up from the table, turned, and left.
The lights gradually went out, and the confinent room was once again shrouded in darkness.
He lay back on the bed nonchalantly, closed his eyes, and his consciousness was instantly beyond the cold confinent room.
At the sa ti, in China Li Jing, Gu Yima District.
Ji Minghuan opened his eyes and glanced at the ti on the wall, it was now half-past three in the afternoon, and the heavy rain had stopped.
When he left ho this morning, Gu Qiye was still saying in the family group chat that he would co ho to make lunch today, but by this point, he still hadn’t shown up, probably because Blue Arc was still busy handling a series of aftermath issues related to the Welfare Institute incident.
After all, the director was considered "highly respected" locally, and the impact of this matter was naturally significant.
Ji Minghuan reached for his phone from beside his pillow, powered it on, and a WeChat ssage popped up on the lock screen page.
[Li Qingping: Do you want to hang out? What’s up with you these days, only giving your good buddy the cold shoulder.]
"Right on ti, I was just thinking of checking out what kind of demon or ghost you are."
Ji Minghuan murmured to himself, called up the main storyline panel, and took a look.
[Main Task 4: Investigate the secret your buddy ’Li Qingping’ is hiding. ]
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