Manual of the Monster in City

62 The Choice

Stealth Pavilion is a shop that fulfills your wishes, any wish... as long as you can afford it.

    The wish can be fulfilled here, because the shop owner Bai Ling, the legendary old woman who ate the meat of the beast Bai Ze and immortalized (Ahhhhhhhhh-Jia Qingming's screams with his ears twisted), has a magic spell. However, there are three laws of exchange.

    First, the thing you want must be the thing that is hidden deep in your heart, under the chaos and noise, and what you want most. Otherwise, it will not be possible.

    Second, the thing used as a price must be the most important thing in the body at this moment, as an important piece in the heart. Otherwise, you will be deprived of the unknown price by the destiny of heaven, in order to make up for it, maybe even the body, life, and soul.

    Third, the transaction is concluded and cannot be reversed.

    ————

    There is darkness all around.

    The street light on Shell Road behind him gradually turned into a small spot of light as the distance stretched, and was finally swallowed by darkness. On both sides of the narrow alley are high walls formed by buildings, but there is no window or small door, and both sides are straight upward walls.

    When Jia Qingming entered the shops on this street just now, he didn't feel how deep the storefronts were, but the walls of these buildings seemed to be endless, stretching into the unknown distance in the dark.

    Every time I walk in this alley, whether it is night or day, I feel that this is a very strange road.

    It seems to be a road crossing this shore and the other shore.

    However, in various folklore, such a road should be called Huangquan, right? ! Jia Qingming frightened away the countless terrifying thoughts in his heart with a roar.

    After all, it is his feminine physique, and it can always attract the ghosts to gather. If you have this kind of thinking that is full of demons and ghosts, you don't encounter any monsters and ghosts, right?

    At this moment, he seemed to suddenly hear the sound of footsteps coming from the endless darkness in front of him.

    And the footsteps were approaching him.

    Constantly, little by little, footsteps slowly walking in his direction.

    Suddenly, the silhouette of the person in the dark appeared, and Jia Qingming jumped.

    It is undeniable that she is indeed a good-looking girl, just her looks and temperament give people a very calm and beautiful feeling, but her cheeks look very pale, and her facial features are exhausted and haggard. phase.

    Such a face suddenly appeared in front of him from the dark narrow alley, which naturally frightened Jia Qingming.

    Especially between her eyebrows, there seems to be a black aura...

    Jia Qingming relied on his heavenly eyes to recognize all spirits to see that those black auras belonged to the aura of the spirit, like a vicious snake lingering there.

    And this girl who came to face her was exactly--

    Miss Zhuang Yan-senpai!

    The narrow alley was very narrow, Jia Qingming had to quickly evade to one side and let her senior sister Zhuang Yan pass first. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he was able to look at the worried face.

    She looked pale and haggard, like a flower that might die at any time. But in the midst of this heavy depression, he seemed to see some hidden joy again.

    But that kind of joy seemed a little strange, and he couldn't say anything strange.

    These black spirits are new, appearing during this period of time after disappearing...

    Senior Sister Zhuang Yan didn't look at him and walked over directly. The feeling was like a body without a soul, like a walking dead, exuding a chill.

    Jia Qingming continued to walk along this road, heading for the Stealing Pavilion, feeling increasingly depressed.

    It turned out that the things that Senior Sister Zhuang Yan had been looking for, but sometimes could not find, changed Senior Sister Zhuang Yan’s things, and it was this shop——

    Stealing Pavilion...

    ————

    "I'm back..." Jia Qingming entered the door, making a worried voice.

    And Bai Ling was already waiting for him at the entrance of the door as if he knew he would come back at this time, or maybe he just sent away the guests and didn't return to the room. He couldn't help thinking.

    On the Hanfu she was wearing, the gorgeous peonies were in full bloom as if a vain fragrance that didn't exist in the world radiated from it.

    "Welcome back." She welcomed.

    "By the way... just now..." Jia Qingming looked at Bai Ling.

    "Huh? Does Mr. Qingming know her? Mr. is not an outsider. If you have something, it doesn't matter what you say." Bai Ling smiled slightly.

    "On the way here, I saw Senior Sister Zhuang Yan. She came out of the store."

    "Indeed, she is my guest tonight." Bai Ling said.

    "She... what kind of wish did she make?"

    "Excuse me for not knowing Mr. Yu Qingming. After all, I must keep the information about the guests confidential. The desire of mankind may be parasitic in a dark corner of the deepest heart, and it is often unknown. Therefore, confidentiality measures are taken. , It's also a necessary service for the Stealing Heaven Pavilion." Bai Ling said with a faint smile, refusing to answer his question just now.

    "But...but..." Jia Qingming still wanted to try to ask the answer.

    "The only thing I can tell Mr. Qingming is that this guest... has already got the wish he wants to exchange and left. That's it." Bai Ling gave him such a... vague answer.

    Have you got your wish?

    In this case, according to the rules of Stealing Heaven Pavilion, it is irreversible.

    Maybe it's a good wish...

    Jia Qingming can only comfort herself like this.

    "Mr. Qingming doesn't have to worry about her. That guest is just one of many mortals. She has her own wishes and worries, but her desires have become very strong. That allowed her to step into the Stealing Heaven Pavilion. All this is an arrangement of fate." Bai Ling said, "Rather than worry about others, Mr. Qingming should pay more attention to his own destiny."

    Jia Qingming looked at Bai Ling but stopped talking.

    "Anything is a choice made by everyone. No matter what the customer thinks he needs most, as long as she has the ability to exchange it, I will certainly not block it. These are all choices. There are also choices in human life. With countless choices, Mr. Qingming must not be willing to be the kind of person who will interfere with others' choices everywhere?" Bai Ling replied with a rhetorical question.

    Indeed, if you blindly want to interfere with other people's hearts... and deliberate choices, what is the difference between the teachers and schools that students hate?

    Thinking of this, Jia Qingming had to announce his surrender, and his shoulders collapsed.

    "Then, good night, Mr. Qingming. I have burned the soothing fragrance where I stayed to protect Mr. Qingming from being disturbed by nightmares tonight." Bai Ling looked at him, raised his hand to cover his mouth.

    "In addition, the things in dreams are born in the mind, so they are all vain. May Mr. Qingming not be blind and make wrong judgments."

    The last half of her words sounded a little cold, as if the big opposition said to the protagonist in the movie, "Why can't you understand my career and make the right choice?" Jia Qingming trembles after hearing it.

    Because of this moment, Jia Qingming felt that he was seen through.

    It seems that from the very beginning, Miss Bai Ling had seen his dreams in his concealment, and also saw his guess about that broken memory...because that guess was about Miss Bai Ling...

    Regarding the store that fulfills the wish...

    ————

    Jia Qingming slept very well that night and was dead.

    The air was filled with the smell of incense, there were no nightmares and no dreams.

    After a full sleep, I went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for a few people. Energetic, thoughts seem to flow in an optimistic direction.

    I hope that Senior Sister Zhuang Yan has really found what she needs from the Stealing Heaven Pavilion and can get rid of the shadow of the past.

    Whether it is a decline in academic performance or a breakup with a boyfriend, as long as it is resolved, the matter will be solved.

    In short, her wish is nothing more than this, one of the two, or hope that life will return to normal, this should be regarded as a wish.

    When a person is in trouble, his most urgent desire is naturally to get rid of this trouble. The same goes for Senior Sister Zhuang Yan.

    Thinking optimistically, Jia Qingming cooked the sun eggs for several people. He used a simple trick, which is to first cut out a whole onion ring and put it in a flat-bottomed frying pan. It will be confined to the area enclosed by the onion ring so that the regular-shaped sun egg will be fried.

    As for the onion ring, although it is necessary to destroy a whole onion, the onion itself is just the side dish to be prepared for the fried steak...Although Xiaobai definitely doesn't like it.

    Although Jia Qingming had a hundred unwillingness in his heart when Xiao Shanshan complained, in front of these people, he always felt like a mother: cooking and cleaning, and educating children. A guy like Bai...he needs more vegetables to be healthy.

    Although he doesn't know how to raise dogs, things like vitamins and cellulose, Xiaobai's body should naturally need it too, right?

    Only balanced nutrition can grow into that kind of bright white dog...

    Jia Qingming thought unreliably in his heart.

    "Very energetic." He suddenly heard Bai Ling say this. She seemed to have just gotten up and didn't wash her immediately. Her hair was still a little messed up, and she appeared at the kitchen door wearing only silk pajamas.

    The silhouette of the figure faintly exposed under the thin pajamas made Jia Qingming feel a little embarrassed and blush.

    "Well, thank you... I slept well yesterday." He said stiffly.

    "Mr. Qingming is satisfied. Remember to give five-star praise." Bai Ling said with a smile.

    "Why use such a commercial term?! Wait...wait! Is this a charge?!" He suddenly thought of something.

    "Of course." Bai Ling smiled, covering his mouth, "including the cost of accommodation here for Mr. Seimei, it costs money. Of course, this time Mr. Seimei can settle with currency. One hundred and ninety per day. Eight yuan, the price is fair, just the price of an ordinary standard room, but it can make guests feel the warmth of home."

    "Hey! Isn't it too expensive? And obviously, I sleep on the sofa! What kind of standard room is this?!" Jia Qingming wanted to cry without tears.

    "Ah. So I said, Mr. Qingming can feel the warmth of home here. Apart from home, do you sleep on the sofa?" Bai Ling showed a full smile on the profiteer.

    "Hey……"

    ————

    In the afternoon, Jia Qingming held his chin boredly and sat in the classroom for self-study.

    He had already done half of the class on the Chinese workbook on the desk in front of him, and he was too tired to read it anymore.

    Yesterday afternoon was the school’s time for club activities, so Xiao Shanshan was able to look for him unscrupulously. Normally, it’s not impossible, but since he accidentally became the "hunting target" of squad leader Su Qiang, he must be careful. .

    As soon as the bell rang after class, I saw Xiao Shanshan appear outside the door.

    The reason for saying "Sure enough" is because Jia Qing judged it early, because the next class, the second class is physical education, the physical education class of Shenting Middle School is basically equivalent to free activities, after all, the college entrance examination has no physical test content. So the school naturally doesn't pay much attention to it.

    So on the first day of school, Xiao Shanshan instigated him to escape a physical education class very casually, and would often come to him in subsequent physical education classes to discuss some major issues concerning the development of the club...

    However, it's probably not serious.

    But today everything seemed normal, but a scene like a Shura field suddenly broke out.

    "I said no, I just can't!" Su Qian stopped at the door, completely unreasonable.

    "It's a personal matter. Don't be so fierce, Senior Sister." Xiao Shanshan said with a pitifully lowered head and her mouth narrowed. This "I feel pity" immediately gained a lot of sympathy from boys.

    But Su Qiang was not a boy, as if the principle of same-s*x repulsion made her completely avoid Xiao Shanshan's set, and stood at the door of the classroom without giving in.

    "You are a high school student, I suggest you don't run around to other grades. It affects school management." She said coldly and then glanced at Jia Qingming.

    At that moment, layers of coolness couldn't help rising in his heart.

    "And I have something to ask Jia Qingming. I'm sorry." Su Qiang said.