Chapter 247
The night is already deep.

A sharp scream tore through the silence of the night and reached his ears. Ke Youqing suddenly woke up, opened his bloodshot eyes alertly, and then stood up from the bed.

He looked around. The bedroom was completely silent. The crow's scream just now came from nowhere.

Looking down, his lower body was still wrapped in the quilt. For some reason, his legs felt heavy, as if they were pressed by a stone.

So Ke Youqing reached out and slightly lifted the quilt, looking towards his legs, and could see a crow's head lying on his thigh. Blood was flowing, staining his trouser legs and heels red.

He turned his head and looked expressionless. Bai Wenna was sleeping soundly. The years had not left too many traces on her beautiful face. The wrinkles at the corners of her eyes looked like the tide in the moonlight.

At this moment, a hoarse and sharp cry suddenly came from the front.

Following the source of the sound, Ke Youqing looked towards the bathroom connected to the master bedroom - the bathroom door was closed, but through the light and darkness of the glass sand door he could see the flickering lights in the bathroom.

The crows are screaming.

Ke Youqing tried his best not to make any noise, and with his bloodstained trouser legs, he got out of bed gently and walked towards the strange bathroom. Blood dripped onto the ground, staining every inch of land he walked on.

He stopped in front of the bathroom.

He adjusted his breathing, his chest rising and falling, and reached out to press on the door handle, and it turned with a "click".

Then he pushed the door open.

Behind the door was a deep red world, which made Ke Youqing's face turn red and his eyes narrowed slightly.

A crow was perched on the shelf above the bathtub, and the cry just now seemed to come from it. It said: "Hallucinations make you think you are crazy, giving you an excuse not to admit some things. Open your eyes and look at the details."

As it spoke, the crow raised its wings and pointed at the bathing pool.

Ke Youqing looked down and saw an egg of an unknown creature inside the bathtub. It was throbbing slightly, with blue veins and bloody stripes appearing and disappearing, revealing a disgusting and strange vitality. Through the light, he could see the vague shadow inside the egg. Sometimes it was a young dragon with folded wings, sometimes it was a ghost with protruding fangs, and sometimes it was a crow cub.

The shadow kept changing.

"What is this?" he asked.

"I should be asking you," said the crow.

"This is... an illusion."

Ke Youqing spoke slowly.

He stopped at the entrance of the bathroom, indifferent to all the strange scenes before him.

"No, it's not an illusion. It's a microcosm of something that really exists." Crow said, "Have you ever thought that you have never been crazy? You are not crazy, but your ability has evolved to a bottleneck and is slowly evolving into a completely new form, but you are unwilling to accept it."

"so what?"

The crow said: "Your subconscious, your special ability, the sense of danger you have cultivated over the years, and the pressure in your heart, they are all helping you to recognize some facts."

"What kind of facts?"

"You have to ask your own heart, only you know the answer." The crow said, "But you just keep denying them, so they become illusions, the hurdle you can't overcome."

It paused, and said hoarsely: "You could have been the strongest mutant, you could have."

Suddenly, countless metal pipes spread in from the window and approached Ke Youqing slowly like countless snakes.

Then the pipes climbed upwards and connected Ke Youqing's entire body, as if turning him into a controllable puppet.

Ke Youqing still had no expression on his face. He raised his eyes and looked towards the source of these metal pipes - that was the air conditioner outdoor unit hanging on the iron railings.

At this time, the air conditioner outdoor unit turned into a complex machine that looked like alien technology, emitting deep blue light.

"Is this an illusion?"

The crow tilted its head.

"This is an illusion." Ke Youqing looked up at the strange technological product and said to himself, "If there is something here, I will know it."

"Is it possible that this is not an illusion?" said the crow, "but some kind of hint."

"It's an illusion."

Ke Youqing repeated it again in a firm tone, as if talking to himself.

He knew very well in his heart that if he took these illusions as reality one day, that might be the beginning of his complete madness.

"No, you should accept it."

“It’s an illusion.”

"This will only make you sicker and sicker! And you think you are protecting yourself!" the crow roared.

"I accepted the hallucinations and couldn't distinguish between reality and illusion, which made me even sicker."

Ke Youqing said this expressionlessly.

"You are too stubborn, your will is too strong, you blindly believe in past experience, and you are unwilling to accept some strange phenomena that have already appeared around you. This is why you can never recognize what these illusions want to tell you: because you just reject them blindly and put them behind your mind."

The crow narrowed its scarlet eyes, as if it wanted to crush the man reflected in its pupils.

"So many years of experience have taught me that my spirit will not collapse, never. Nothing can affect me. Those lunatics, those monks, those believers, they all wanted to tame me through their own thoughts, but they failed. I can't lose to myself, never."

Hearing this, the crow looked at him with pity and said, "But I never wanted to defeat you. You thought what I showed you was an illusion, but in fact it was reality."

"You're lying to me."

"I never lied to you, ever..."

As the crow spoke angrily, the number of crows on the shelf began to increase. One split into two, two split into four, and it kept splitting, splitting, and splitting. The crow feathers covered Ke Youqing's face like a tide.

Finally, the crows surrounded his body like a dark cloud, as if gnawing at his torso, from his head to his chest, to his heels, and finally dissecting out his soul for interrogation.

“The illusions you see are protecting you and reminding you, but you are fighting with your subconscious mind because there are things you don’t want to believe and you have been avoiding them. Therefore, the tearing in your heart drives you towards madness and destruction.”

Millions of crows were preaching in unison, their red eyes looking down from above. Their faces were glued to Ke Yuqing, who was surrounded by the center of the storm.

But there was no expression on Ke Youqing's face. Rather, it was an expression that was almost numb, stable, and cold as iron.

“I’m not running away from anything,” he said quietly.

"You are running away. You are running away." The crow said, "You think that if you accept these illusions, you will become a paranoid patient. You are afraid that you will doubt the people around you and become a lunatic, but the facts are contrary to your imagination. You think you are very smart, blue crow, but you are blinded by your own intelligence. Sometimes it's not bad to be a little dull. Accept me, accept all the hints, and see the world clearly."

"You can't defeat me."

"You are still deceiving yourself, you still think you are crazy. Is it so difficult to face the facts? There are so many signs, so many clues, and the things you are unwilling to accept have all become illusions."

"I never deceived myself..."

Ke Youqing spoke in a cold and hoarse voice, lowering his gloomy face slightly, and the leading crow was reflected in his narrowed pupils.

"never."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and grabbed the crow's neck.

Then, it was torn apart in an instant.

The crow's head fell to the ground, its beak tilted at a strange angle. Dirty blood flowed and splashed on the man's cheek.

Ke Youqing tilted his head back with a calm expression, standing motionless in the bedroom like a blood-stained statue.

Once again, he overcame his hallucinations.

Again…

Protect the people around you.

Ke Youqing recalled that he didn't know since when, his hallucinations had gradually begun to lead him to question and hurt the people around him.

The more this happened, the more tense his spirit became. He had to make sure that he would never be taken advantage of by those illusions, otherwise even his closest family members would die because of him sooner or later.

After a long silence, Ke Youqing slowly turned around from the pool of blood and looked at Bai Wenna who was sleeping soundly on the bed.

He walked slowly out of the bathroom.

The egg in the bathroom disappeared;

The blood on the ground also disappeared;

The air conditioning case, which seemed like some kind of alien technology, also returned to normal.

After closing the bathroom door, the light behind the door no longer flickered, no longer showing a strange bloody color. The night was still quiet, the cicadas chirping in my ears, and the moonlight was clear.

"I should be able to sleep well tonight."

Ke Youqing thought to himself.

He took a pack of cheap cigarettes from the bedside table and walked out of the bedroom.

I closed the door and went to the balcony on the second floor. Suddenly I saw a figure leaning on the railing, quietly looking at the city in the distance. The evening breeze blew his hair.

"Mingye, you haven't slept yet?" he asked. "Dad?" Ke Mingye looked up from his phone and said in surprise, "I can't sleep, so I came out to get some fresh air."

"Don't drink too much before going to bed, so you won't suffer from insomnia."

"Okay, I won't drink milk tea next time." Ke Mingye rolled his eyes and said.

"Are you worried about anything lately? Your mother said your grades have declined a lot."

Ke Youqing lit a cigarette, put it between his lips, leaned his arms on the railing, and looked down at the brightly lit city with his head down.

"It's okay. I just played around a bit last semester, so I didn't do well on the final exam." Ke Mingye said calmly, "I will definitely bring my grades back after school starts. Don't worry."

"There is no need to be too obsessed with grades. The society is not stable enough now, and people are in a state of panic. The higher you go, the more you have to bear. I have seen many people who seem to be successful, but sometimes their lives are not as good as you think. Most successes require countless costs. Only those who stand in the spotlight know how long and deep their shadows will be stretched by the light."

Ke Youqing said, taking a puff of cigarette, "I just hope you grow up safely and find an ordinary job. Don't look at your mother like that, she actually understands the truth and won't make it too difficult for you."

Ke Mingye was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Dad, actually..."

"Actually what?"

"Actually, I really want to be a...superhero."

"…superhero?"

Ke Youqing had a cigarette in his mouth and turned his head slightly to the side, staring at Ke Mingye with a strange look in his eyes.

"Yeah, but unfortunately I don't have the qualifications. I'm just an ordinary person." Ke Mingye said, "So I was thinking, since I can't become a superhero, why not try hard to get into Commander University, so that I can be closer to the world I want."

"Do you know Che Zhengchen, the golden commander? The news reports every day that he was arrested and seriously injured. Do you think being a commander is safer than being a superhero?"

I definitely know him. His arrest was either caused by me or caused by me...

Ke Mingye rolled his eyes in his heart and raised his eyebrows to look at the viaduct in the distance. The light rail rumbled past, and the evening breeze blew his hair.

He sighed, "Of course I know."

"How could you have such an idea?"

"Yes."

Hearing this, Ke Youqing took a puff of his cigarette and said slowly, "Children of your generation are influenced by the Internet and always think that the world of superheroes is cool and that being in the spotlight is wonderful. But the reality is much crueler than you think. It's only because you don't understand that you have such yearning."

"You make it sound like you know a lot about superheroes, Dad."

"I... have a friend who's a superhero."

The friend you are talking about is not you, right? Ke Mingye complained in his heart.

"After telling you so much, do you still want to be the commander?"

"Maybe, but not necessarily. I told you this just to see your reaction." Ke Mingye shrugged. "In fact, I have long guessed that you and mom would not agree. But next year will be your third year of high school. If you don't work hard towards Commander University, you probably won't have any chance in the future. That's why I wanted to mention it to you."

Ke Youqing remained silent.

He said, "I have another friend who is a commander."

"Why do you have so many friends?" Ke Mingye asked in a strange tone.

"What I mean is, if you want to be a commander in the future, maybe I can contact that friend and let him take you in for a while."

"Really?"

"Really." Ke Youqing said softly, "In fact, I have thought about it for a long time. Maybe one of our children will take this path in the future, but their personalities are not suitable."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Yinzhi is too frivolous. He seems humble on the surface, but he is arrogant because of his intelligence. Xiaomo is too stubborn and rigid, and tends to stick to the old ways. I won't talk about Yongzhu, because he is still young, and his temper..." Ke Youqing paused, "You know that too."

"what about me?"

Ke Mingye pointed at himself, curious about how his father would evaluate him.

"I'm quite confident in you." Ke Youqing paused, but didn't elaborate on the reason. "It's hard to say whether you're a superhero, but maybe... you're really suitable to be a commander."

"So you support me?" Ke Mingye asked.

Hearing this, Ke Youqing looked into the distance, his deep eyes were a little tired, and wrinkles appeared slightly at the corners of his eyes. He suddenly said something that seemed insignificant.

"There are some things I have never told anyone. If you become the commander, maybe I will tell you."

"What's the matter?" Ke Mingye asked.

"After you graduate from college, some of the elderly people in this city will retire. I believe they will solve some problems before they leave. By then, the society will be much more stable, and the risk of becoming a commander will not be as great as it is now. The commander's salary and benefits are not bad, and his social status is also high. Mom will be proud of you."

Ke Mingye thought for a moment and asked, "The 'old man' you mentioned...isn't it Qing Ya?"

"Who knows?" Ke Youqing took a puff of cigarette and changed the subject. "Anyway, when the time comes, I will introduce some experienced friends to you."

"Like the commander you mentioned?"

"Yes... He is probably the best commander I have ever seen."

"Oh, I'm looking forward to it."

"besides……"

"What else?"

Ke Youqing put out his cigarette and replied, "The commander has a lot of things to do. If you get into the habit of staying up late, you might not be able to hold on after a few days."

"I told you, I just have insomnia, I don't usually stay up late."

"Anyway, go to bed early."

"Okay, you too, Dad," said Ke Mingye.

Ke Youqing waved his hand, walked out of the balcony and returned to his bedroom.

Ke Mingye curled his lips and silently watched his back as he left.

I went to the bathroom and then returned to the bedroom. I stretched my body, did some stretching, and then lay down on the bed.

He put his arms behind his head and thought.

"Dad, don't worry about it. In a year, I will wipe out all the superhumans in this world. By then, it will be hard for society to be unstable. After all, the superhumans will disappear, and the combat power of the world's major powers will directly regress to a century ago. Without those superhuman criminals who do evil and superhuman detectives who abuse their powers, society will not be so turbulent."

Ke Mingye raised his hand to support his chin, stared at the ceiling, and continued to think in his heart.

"By the way, how can I get in touch with the people of the Watchmakers' Union?"

"To be honest, the attention paid to the Dice Monster in the Beijing area is already high enough, and I have even been focusing on the Blue Owl... If the Watch Man has already started paying attention to the Blue Owl, then he should have also paid attention to the weird things, but his people still haven't shown up."

Thinking of this, he sighed: "Wait a minute, this yandere boy will not do something like 'Qing Ya and his apprentice are my toys, you are not worthy of competing with me' and then crush our weird thing to pieces, right?"

"Forget it, sleep."

Ke Mingye closed his eyes and turned off the light.

A night of silence.

When I opened my eyes again, it was already nine o'clock in the morning of August 8, and there was only one day left before the Bedlam Asylum plan proposed by the intellectuals.

He got up, closed the cumbersome daily notification panels, and turned on his spare phone.

I received a QQ message with the following content.

[Not Ashes: Come to Yandai Primary School and bring Shi Naian with you. ]

Ke Mingye rubbed his eyes and typed a reply.

[Little Red Riding Hood: Senior, I just got up and I’m very sleepy. What’s the matter? ]

[Not Ashes: Didn't you say before that four more magical girls would come to our side as reinforcements? One of them has already come, so we have to pretend to welcome her.]

[Not Ashes: I suggest you go straight to Shi Naian's house, lest she hides in the hotel and sleeps in and stands us up again. This is not the first or second time she has skipped meetings, and Teacher Xi Ziyue said that we should keep a close eye on her in the future.]

[Little Red Riding Hood: Oh, I will catch Schneian, don't worry. ]

[Little Red Riding Hood: Actually, I have something to ask you, Senior.]

[Not Ashes: Why are you looking for me? ]

【Little Red Riding Hood: Last night, I was chased by a witch. 】

[Not Ashes: ...Huh?]

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(End of this chapter)