Chapter 46: Pitiful Bug [4K]
“The first time I fell into a seizure was probably around the time of the May Day holiday in 2001, after that monster took control of my body. It must have done something terrible to my only friend at school.
“What did it do?” Jiang Li interrupted.
“I’m not very clear on the specifics,” Tan Qiuming frowned. “I only know that the classmate who used to be very close to me suddenly became extremely afraid of me. My classmates started to distance themselves from me, which made me feel very low for a while.”
“Oh, by the way, ever since that incident, I’ve experienced some special changes.”
“Special changes?” Jiang Li tilted her head. “Like what?”
“For example, I really like being in dark places, and even in completely lightless areas, my vision is very good,” Tan Qiuming said. “Also, I can occasionally see things that others can’t.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Li and Zhong Hui exchanged glances and nodded to each other.
From Tan Qiuming’s description, the changes he underwent seemed very much like developing spiritual awareness after a high potential for spiritual energy had been reached without awareness.
[2001-4-12
That pitiful bug actually had a friend? How interesting!
But I believe that a vessel does not need friends.
My people, offer your wisdom and help that pitiful bug, shall we?]
This was the second post of those logged screenshots. In addition to the main content of the logs, there were also comments attached below.
[Anonymous User]: “Dear Lord, if you want to ruin their relationship, I think a simple way is through life and d*ath.
You could tie them up and keep them in an enclosed space, giving them just enough water and food to barely survive. After some time, the outcome will be clear.
[Anonymous User]: “The method above is good, but there’s an even simpler and quicker way: after locking them away, tell them that only one can survive, and they must make a choice within a set time, or else both will d*e.
Then, place a kn*fe in that enclosed space.
By the way, if the Lord truly intends to execute this plan, I am willing to help.”
The sound of a child’s cries is the most wonderful sound in the world, truly!”
[Anonymous User]: “A bunch of idiots! Your plan might attract the attention of the Siye Society and bring trouble to the Lord, so the scheme must be more secretive!
I know there’s an entrance near their school that connects to the underground air raid shelter network; perhaps it can be utilized.”
Browsing through those comments, Luxianbei felt a chill in her heart.
Anonymous comments, anonymous posts, anonymous discussions can amplify people’s goodness but also foster their evil.
Even without urban legends manipulating them from behind, there are often incidents of online bullying. Not to mention handing the fates of two little children over to a group of people who have concealed their real names and identities?
Looking at those comments, Luxianbei suddenly remembered Marina Abramović, known as the “Mother of Performance Art” in the former Soviet Union.
She once performed a performance art piece called “Rhythm 0,” where she anesthetized herself and stood in front of the audience by a table.
On the table were seventy-two props, including everyday items like lipstick, paintbrushes, and scissors, as well as dangerous items like guns, chains, and whips. The audience could use any of these items to do anything they wanted to her.
At first, the audience only used harmless items like lipstick to draw on her, or used scissors to cut her clothes. Gradually, when the audience realized she was completely defenseless, they began to indulge, using knives, nails, and whips.
Until someone pressed a loaded g*n against her forehead.
Most of the audience at Marina Abramović’s performance were ordinary people with sound minds, yet they could commit such extreme acts; let alone a crowd gathered because of the Children of Haze God who would never reveal their real names and appearances.
This was simply a d*ath livestream!
A d*ath livestream prepared for its followers, to satisfy their twisted tastes!
Beside her, Jumeng, after finishing the two screenshots with Luxianbei, withdrew her gaze and assessed Luxianbei, disdainfully saying, “How come you suddenly turned weird after a few hours? You even looked at this kind of stuff?”
Luxianbei glanced at Jumeng, expressionless, “Probably scared into psychological issues by adult toys…”
Upon returning to the Peach Blossom Inn, Luxianbei found Stinky Sister had already dealt with those strange items and was acting as if nothing had happened last night, quickly returning to her usual reckless self.
Jumeng rolled her eyes and said with conviction, “We’re all adults now; if we don’t play with adult toys, should we play with children’s toys?”
“Well, that’s not impossible.” Luxianbei shrugged, “How about, for the time I’ll accompany you tonight, we set it in my room and play with Thomas the Tank Engine together?”
“Playing with trains?” Jumeng lifted an eyebrow at Luxianbei, her expression mysterious, “You mean that… dirty, dirty, dirty train? Then Sister I can accept that.”
Luxianbei,
Even though she wasn’t clear on what Jumeng was referring to, she felt something was off and dared not to respond.
Seeing Luxianbei silent, Jumeng pouted, leaned on Luxianbei’s shoulder, stretched her neck slightly, and refocused on her mobile phone screen.
“So what exactly is this?”
“It’s the logs of the Children of Haze God,” Luxianbei said candidly.
With Jumeng around, she felt bolder, directly calling out the name of the Haze God.
The master of the Peach Spring, whether in terms of spiritual energy fluctuation level, combat power, or strength of influence, surpassed the Haze God by a notch, so even if the Haze God noticed, she was not afraid at all.
That’s right, just like a dog, fearless!
If the Haze God truly came knocking, it would need to see the misdeeds committed by its offspring, and then hurry up and go home to discipline it.
“Oh, that guy’s offspring?” Jumeng nodded, “What’s the point of doing such ghostly things?”
“I guess it’s to attract as many followers as possible?” Luxianbei said. “Through this method, even if they initially have no faith in it, they will gather due to the sheer evil pleasure of being able to control others’ lives.
In this world, there are quite a few who harbor demons within; they just lack the opportunity to release them. If there’s an opportunity to release their inner demons without too greatly impacting their original lives, attaching themselves to an evil god might not matter at all.
The ugliness that lurks deep inside a person’s heart will spread rapidly once it has soil to grow in. Once that ugliness takes root, it becomes difficult to sever ties with the soil it has grown in.
“But isn’t faith gathered in such a manner both weak and filled with negative energy? Isn’t it afraid of falling into corruption?” Luxianbei asked Jumeng.
In terms of using faith to enhance spiritual energy fluctuations, Jumeng held absolute authority.
“It has no other choice!” Jumeng pouted. “It seems that pitiful bug is the vessel it chose for descending. If it can completely break that pitiful bug’s will, the process of its descent will be much smoother.”
“Moreover, Little Haze’s spiritual energy fluctuation level is decent, and its abilities are good. To gain a power that can contend with it in a short period, this extreme way is likely the only option. This is a common tactic used by many cult organizations, in a way driving their followers to sacrifice for it.”
“At worst, after achieving its goal, it can k*ll off those psychopathic individuals in batches to purify the faith! Once the birds are gone, it’s reasonable, isn’t it?”
Listening to Jumeng’s slightly inflated tone, Luxianbei was momentarily speechless, “…”
What is this strange title?
It feels like the originally eerie and fearful Haze God, in my mind, is starting to coincide with a certain COS hamster beautiful girl?
Speaking of which, if all the followers believe that a certain urban legend is a beautiful girl, over time, it should really turn into a beautiful girl, right?
Luxianbei thought, pulling back her thoughts to continue browsing the remaining log screenshots with Jumeng. The further down she looked, the more comments accumulated beneath the logs, growing from dozens to thousands over the years, and the content of the comments became increasingly twisted.
Just like the audience at Marina Abramović’s performance, the comments at the beginning contained a certain exploratory aspect, merely expressing shock at that pitiful bug mentioned in the logs, but later they gradually evolved into a level of tormenting its mentality.
Such as destroying its dreams, making its lover “disappear without a trace,” and turning it into someone shunned by everyone.
“Although I’ve probably read half of it,” Luxianbei put down her phone and complained, “It’s been more than ten years, and it hasn’t driven anyone crazy. That’s really not impressive.”
“I think it’s pretty perverted!” Jumeng mumbled. “Can’t it be that the person has a resilient mind?”
“It really doesn’t pass!” Luxianbei pointed at the screenshot on the phone, “For instance, this, where its pet unexpectedly dies.”
“Isn’t that okay?” Jumeng looked at Luxianbei, “If you died, I would be very sad. Surely if its dog died, it would be sad too.”
“Get one thing straight, who’s the pet here?” Luxianbei shot Jumeng an eye roll, “Who’s living in my house, waiting for feeding every day, playing after eating, and wanting cuddles during free time?”
“Oh, by the way! It even wants me to take her to Shancheng for a walk.”
“Dumb dog!” Jumeng couldn’t argue back against Luxianbei, she muttered a curse under her breath and then changed the topic. “So what do you think they should do?”
“I think…” Luxianbei thought for a moment, “If it were me, I would probably create an event first to enable that pitiful bug to establish a bond with its pet, then suddenly take it away one day, locking it somewhere and making it see through surveillance that its pet is waiting at home for it to return, until it starves to d*ath.”
Upon hearing this, Jumeng silently moved away from Luxianbei, looking at her with a weird gaze, remaining speechless for a long time.
“Why look at me like that?” Luxianbei asked in confusion.
“I realize your mindset is really twisted,” Jumeng said, “Scary!”
“What are you afraid of? Afraid I’ll starve you to d*ath?”
“Shut up, dumb dog!”
Fortunately, ever since I started organizing the activities of the Anti-Cancer Home, that guy has rarely caused me trouble, which can be considered a bit of relief, right? So I’ve been serious in helping those patients.”
When mentioning those patients, Tan Qiuming seemed to recall some beautiful things, a faint smile unconsciously appearing on his lips.
Hearing him say that, Jiang Li frowned, opened her mouth, and hesitated to speak.
In Tan Qiuming’s description, the Anti-Cancer Home he organized was a place filled with hope and warmth, where everyone was fighting hard to live on.
It sounded like he was completely unaware that the Haze God’s offspring used his Anti-Cancer Home to inexplicably cause healthy individuals to suffer from malignant tumors.
He probably didn’t understand why the He Laoye family, who had always been somewhat close to him, suddenly severed all contact with him.
As for the buyers who purchased his artworks, he knew less about their backgrounds.
From a certain perspective, he was a pitiful bug sacrificed to an evil god by his own mother, losing out on a complete life.
After a brief pause, Jiang Li changed the subject, “Alright, we’ve understood your past well enough; you can talk about those three paintings now.”
She felt it wasn’t the right time to tell Tan Qiuming the truth.
If Tan Qiuming knew that the good deeds he thought he was doing to help patients were actually spreading corruption for the Haze God’s offspring, he might break down emotionally on the spot.
So even though she was eager to find out about her mother’s whereabouts, she didn’t press further but instead brought the topic back on track.
“About those three paintings,” Tan Qiuming pondered, “I named them ‘The Hidden Place,’ ‘The Moment of Birth,’ and ‘The Final Drawing.’
‘The Hidden Place’ depicts the place where I vaguely glimpsed that monster lying dormant and sleeping. I’m not very clear on the specifics, but it should exist in some corner of Shancheng.”
‘”The Moment of Birth” depicts what that monster believes is its appearance before the public. I think it could serve as important information in finding it.’
“‘The Final Drawing’ is what I saw—the aftermath of that monster destroying the city. I don’t know if this is useful, but I found it terrifying, so I drew it down.”
After briefly introducing the three paintings, Tan Qiuming paused and looked at Jiang Li. “Just talking about it might not be very clear. How about you bring the paintings over, and I’ll explain them in detail to you?”
Bring them over? It would be nice if they could bring them out. Jiang Li thought and gently shook her head, “No need, let’s stop here for today, okay? If there are any further queries, we will come back to find you.”
Saying that, she stood up with Zhong Hui and left the registration room.
