Manual of the Monster in City

83 Zhuang Yan's...wish?

In reality, such a thing would never happen.

    Zhuang Yan thought. She still remembers that she used to skip self-study classes and come to the playground to watch Zhou Ming's training, watch his posture running in the sun, and watch the sun and air pass over his young body. However, the physical education teacher who served as the instructor severely criticized her, saying that Zhou Ming would be distracted in training because of her, which would affect his future, and that if this was the case, he would contact her head teacher.

    So later, Zhuang Yan only dared to calculate the interval between Zhou Ming's training and send him a bottle of mineral water. She also sought an angle to avoid the attention of the physical education teacher in charge of his training...for fear of being blamed again.

    It affects the future of another person...

    Such a statement is like a heavy mountain in high school, which can overwhelm a person, as if it were the most despicable and selfish behavior.

    But her love is selfish. She thinks so. However, she is always alive carefully, always afraid of anyone's opinions and gaze from the bottom of her heart.

    This is the first time she has experienced such a feeling that her little selfishness will not be criticized by others, because in this dream world...and only in this world, she can be the master of everything.

    Zhuang Yan started to try and missed a lot of classes, but no teacher would criticize her. Even after the teacher found out, she told everyone in class that classmate Zhuang Yan's excellent grades didn't matter if she didn't attend class.

    It really doesn't matter.

    On occasional quizzes, she found that she could answer the questions smoothly, as if there were no questions she would not answer. When she saw the questions, those answers seemed to pop out of her mind naturally.

    On weekends, she began to ask Zhou Ming to go out more to enjoy the two-person world.

    Her mother won't stop her, she won't be like in reality, even if it took a lot of talking before, she won the opportunity from her mother.

    And at a fixed time, wherever you go, you must report everything about appointments, and you will call home to report your location every hour...

    Even under such harsh conditions, there are only more than four hours on weekends, which is the whole time she can go out with Zhou Ming, but since entering the third year of high school, every time she goes out, she will see her mother look very unhappy. My mother would even persuade her that it is best to focus on studying on weekends, and not to delay her career because of love.

    But this is obviously what she had worked hard to achieve before, right?

    Adults will never keep their promises.

    From childhood to adulthood, she worked hard to accomplish the goals set by her parents one after another, only to gain a higher and higher benchmark. Like a cliff that stretches upwards endlessly, she doesn't know what the end of the cliff that climbs up infinitely is, but she knows that if one day she stumbles and falls, she will fall to pieces.

    Yes, from a very young age, she was forced to do everything according to her parents' ideas, like a little beast allowed to reward and punishment by the trainer. Everything must be done in the same way as he was taught, not to go beyond the thunder pond.

    That's why she has been working hard to play the role of pleasing others...

    So she has always been kind to others, even for those classmates who make her hate. Those girls would say, "You don't usually work hard, but you have good grades" to balance the girls who are undergraduate... She has always swallowed it, kept a polite smile, and talked to them.

    During the self-study time in the afternoon, she always has to help many classmates to explain problems. Those classmates will kidnap very morally and say to her: "Anyway, your grades are already so good. Everyone is a classmate, so help me. La."

    When they said something like this easily, she blocked the retreat that she refused.

    As long as she explained to them patiently, sometimes she felt a little dissatisfied with their slowness, and she would be rejected and said: "Of course, you are a super good student, I am a poor student, of course it doesn't feel simple."

    Words like this always hurt her deeply. They seem to be using her through their own kindness, but they don't listen carefully to the fruits of her labor in exchange for their time, and instead treat her as a strange existence...

    But is she used to it?

    She has become accustomed to relying on giving in exchange for the friendly return of the other party. Even if it is... even if it is the relationship with boyfriend Zhou Ming...

    Zhou Ming doesn't like getting up early, nor does she like her calling him in the morning to wake him up. So Zhuang Yan worried that he would not eat breakfast and hurt his stomach and intestines, so she brought milk and bread to him every day and put them on the desk in his classroom. For several years like a day, although there are also elements of selfishness, she can only work hard to get the treatment she wants.

    However, once, she accidentally discovered that Zhou Ming sometimes shared the bread and milk she prepared with other students.

    Zhuang Yan had trouble with him about this, but Zhou Ming just treated it as a normal thing, and said nonchalantly, "It's nothing. He's hungry, so I just give it to him. I don't eat it in the morning. Feel hungry."

    Then he smiled happily, comparing the muscles of his arms, as if not paying attention to her opinion.

    Although in the end, the incident was ended with Zhou Ming's sincere apology from her class, but she always felt that the incident had formed a knot in her heart.

    She has been working hard to please others, it seems that only then will someone recognize and praise herself.

    Even for people she likes, for boys who have been with her for a few years, do we have to interact in such a weird way?

    Zhuang Yan has read this statement on the Internet: that any relationship is actually the same. The more the party pays, the less reward it will get. Maybe the other party will accept your contribution with gratitude at first... But...

    But time is a terrible thing, time will be shaped into habit, and habit into nature. People will become more and more accustomed to everything you give, even if you have delayed your time and did it with your heart, it will gradually be taken as a natural thing.

    On the contrary, if you are unable to give the same thing for some reason one day, they will feel that you have changed and that you have treated them badly, so they will stay away from you and turn to new friends.

    In this case, it's like talking about Zhuang Yan herself.

    However, she was not sure whether that kind of self, the self who showed her true thoughts, would still be welcomed, if she refused, would she be slurred behind her? Some things are called hard to return.

    Only in this dream, she can live as she wants.

    The dream suddenly became distorted, and the park scene where she was dating Zhou Ming seemed to be a distorted lens pulled by high speed, and it quickly became blurred.

    Zhuang Yan knew that the dream was about to end.

    She smelled that the incense had become thinner, and she didn't want to wake up yet.

    At this time, she suddenly understood what she wanted.

    "I... I know... I think... I want this incense. Can you?"

    After Zhuang Yan woke up, the first thing she said to Bai Ling, the owner of the shop, was hesitating but a firm breath penetrated her voice.

    As if this was a very important thing, she worried that it would quickly fade away like the memory of the dream itself after waking up.

    After saying this, she slowly sat up from the chaise couch in the stealing tower, her body becoming a little stiff from sleep. After all, Chinese-style furniture made of pure wood like chaise couches is actually lacking in comfort.

    "Ah. This is a very special wish." Bai Ling said slowly.

    "Can you?" she asked urgently.

    "This incense was originally just a gift. Since it is what the guests want, I naturally wouldn't refuse it." Bai Ling's words seemed to open a door to a beautiful paradise for her.

    "Then... what's the price?" Zhuang Yan asked.

    Yes, Miss Bai Ling explained the rules for her right from the beginning.

    In addition to knowing what you want most in your heart, you also need the "price" for exchange, which must be the most precious possession before it can become something that can pay the price. So the price will also be very expensive.

    But compared to what she wanted...

    "No need." Bai Ling's long and narrow eyes stared at her, and the black pupils seemed to flash with mysterious purple light. "In other words, the incense itself is the price."

    "Really..." She hesitated again when she heard such words.

    "Yeah. Because it will gradually replace the guest's life, like a ghost, you can't get rid of it. I said, maybe the guest won't believe it. Because the dream is like another world. The longer the guest stays there, the harder it is to return to this world. But..." She slowed down.

    "But what?" she asked.

    "However, this incense, I will not give you too much every time. I only use this amount each time. If the customer still believes that he needs this incense after using it, he will come here again to find me, I will naturally Give the guests an equal portion...until..." Her voice stretched slightly, her beautiful eyes seemed to be watching Zhuang Yan's reaction, "Until the critical moment, I will tell you about the guest. It’s this shore...or the other shore."

    When she said these words, her voice was so cold that Zhuang Yan could not help but shiver. The description of this shore and the other shore... sounds like the difference between the underworld and the sun.

    "Okay." Zhuang Yan said, her eyes solemn, with a little hesitation.

    "Please wait a moment." The owner Bai Ling finished speaking, got up and left. It should be as before and went to the second floor. Zhuang Yan stayed in this reception room alone, quietly recalling everything in her dream...

    All of that is much better than the reality of her life carefully... Life that is terribly worse than it is now is much better. Stress, sadness, pain... everything seems to be nonexistent...

    Only heaven in the myth can have such a beautiful situation, right?

    But that is just an excuse to persuade people to be kind, and there is no way to prove it. Only the dream that I saw in that incense just now was the "paradise" that she could really see and touch.

    Not long after, Miss Bai Ling returned to the room and handed the incense stick contained in the cloth bag to her hand.

    "Just light it in the incense burner. After using it, if you still need it, you can come to my place again, and I will hand the next copy to the customer." Bai Ling said, nodding slightly at her.

    "Then I...how can I find here?" Zhuang Yan asked. She didn't remember the way she came. This store seemed to be... the mysterious place she was brought to by her feet in a trance.

    Whether it's the interior furnishings, the shop owner, or the strange existence of the shop itself... none of them seem to exist in the real world.

    "No. 221 Shell Road." Bai Ling smiled gracefully and said, "This is the address. However, it is of no use. As long as the customer's inner obsession with the object of desire is strong enough, he will definitely be guided here. Otherwise, even if you deliberately look for it, it’s hard to come here... A strong obsession is my ticket to this place."

    Zhuang Yan left Stealing Heaven Pavilion seemingly and knowingly, and on the way home, she still recalled the feelings just now... it was incredible...

    She wanted to enter that kind of dream immediately again, and she wanted to restrain herself a little, and wanted to save the beautiful things for the next day. She always felt that the things that were brewed by the emotions of anticipation would taste better, right?

    Zhuang Yan left the long dark narrow road and returned to the shell road where the streetlights were dim at night. The merchants began to close their doors to get off work. She looked back at the way she came out, as if she was "aspiring everywhere" after she came out of Peach Blossom Spring. Fisherman.

    She found herself between the two buildings, and in front of her was a narrow alleyway that could only accommodate one person.

    That was the way she came out.

    The nameplates of the buildings on both sides read "No. 220 Shell Road" and "No. 222 Shell Road". Judging from the label, one room is strangely missing, as if it is an address that has disappeared from this world. Only then did she understand the meaning of the address left by the owner Bai Ling...

    221 Shell Road.

Stealing the Heaven Pavilion.