novelraw Chapter 63 : The Past
Chapter 63 : The Past
Chapter 63: The Past
Having bid farewell to his past self, Zhang Wenda turned around and walked toward his companions.
For some reason, he felt much better, as if his body had become lighter all of a sudden, as if the rules were no longer something so difficult to accept.
Just as he returned, Zhang Wenda said to Aunt Flo, “Is your information even accurate? I saved my past self and didn’t cause any time paradox.”
“Go, go, go.” Aunt Flo couldn’t be bothered with Zhang Wenda and instead placed her hand gently on Song Jianguo’s shoulder, quietly comforting her.
Zhang Wenda looked over and saw that the usually carefree Song Jianguo was shedding tiny pearl-like tears.
“What’s wrong? You’re actually sad? That’s rare.”
“My cat died! Several of them!” When Song Jianguo choked out the words, Zhang Wenda finally noticed the black smoke rising from the corpses of several black cats on the ground.
Clearly, given the intensity of the earlier battle, the black cats hadn’t been able to withstand it.
Zhang Wenda gently patted Song Jianguo on the shoulder. “Alright, alright, don’t cry.”
Seeing that she still looked low-spirited, Zhang Wenda thought for a moment and shoved the crushed enamel jar into her arms. “Didn’t you want this? Here, take it.”
“I don’t want this!”
Before, Zhang Wenda wouldn’t have tolerated that nasty attitude of hers, but just for her coming out to help him earlier, she’d earned the right to shed her “brat” label—for now she was a loyal brat worth coaxing.
After spending quite a while comforting her and helping Song Jianguo calm down, Zhang Wenda got ready to tidy up and go home.
He had spent the whole day here, physically and mentally drained. No matter what came next, he needed to recharge before making any plans.
Anyway, today or tomorrow, he needed to get some proper rest first.
But just as Zhang Wenda was about to head toward the far end of the flea market, he suddenly saw two figures emerge from the cracked body of Yang Yongxin.
Zhang Wenda suddenly remembered the wriggling thing he had seen in Yang Yongxin’s wound earlier—there was something inside the corpse!
In just a few breaths’ time, the two figures grew larger and larger, eventually standing before Zhang Wenda like towering walls.
These two were covered in black holes, their joints twisted, a deformed chunk of flesh connecting them at the back like conjoined twins.
Their features were hollow, their limbs adorned with blood-dripping scythes, towering above like door guardians glaring down at the group.
The moment Zhang Wenda recognized them, it felt like his breath stopped. He knew these scythe imposters—everything he had suffered along the way was because of them!
Before, there had only been one scythe imposter—but now there were two.
When he saw the two emerge from Yang Yongxin’s body, Zhang Wenda suddenly understood a few things.
Why they helped Yang Yongxin in the Adult World, why the rules clung to him like shadows, why they always followed him.
“Meow!” At the appearance of another threat, a loud meow was followed by a giant black cat shield swiftly rising in front of Zhang Wenda.
At that moment, Song Jianguo pushed her sorrow aside, and she and Aunt Flo both quickly took defensive positions.
The atmosphere, which had only just begun to relax, suddenly became tense again.
Just as Song Jianguo was bracing for another intense battle, under everyone’s gaze, the two tall, grotesque imposters began to fade rapidly, turning transparent until they vanished completely, as if they had never existed.
Seeing this, Song Jianguo immediately let out a sigh of relief. “I told you the Network World is dangerous. Anything can happen. Let’s go! I’m never coming back here.”
But Zhang Wenda didn’t move. He looked distracted and, after a moment of silence, said again, “Um… you and Aunt Flo go back first. I still have something I need to confirm.”
“You? Now?” Song Jianguo frowned, staring at the various wounds on Zhang Wenda’s body. “You should go back and heal first. You can barely walk.”
Zhang Wenda shook his head and looked at the yellow core on his arm. “Just go. You two go first.”
After saying this, Zhang Wenda didn’t care whether they agreed or not. He pressed down hard on the yellow core, and the scene before his eyes shifted instantly.
What unfolded before Zhang Wenda now was a clean, tidy internet café.
Everyone around him had their heads buried in ultra-thin screens. The entire café was unusually quiet.
Right in front of him, a machine happened to be available—it was on, but nothing was on the screen.
Zhang Wenda looked down and saw that all his wounds had instantly vanished without a trace. But what replaced them was a deep emotional heaviness.
He took a cigarette out of his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag. The numbness in his lungs slightly eased the pressure inside him.
Zhang Wenda glanced around, then quickly walked out.
Outside, the world was still grotesque—bizarre people, strange surroundings, and all sorts of bizarre events happening in sync.
But right now, he had no time to care about any of that. He had begun searching through the city.
A little over ten minutes ago, after yelling that phrase in the flea market, Zhang Wenda’s yellow core had suddenly tripled in power, giving him 30 more minutes to stay in the Adult World.
That should’ve been great news—but Zhang Wenda wasn’t particularly happy about it.
He carefully compared details of this world to those of the past. Gradually, he began to find a pattern—this world seemed to be the same as the one from before, only the people and surroundings had changed.
Twenty minutes later, Zhang Wenda stood in front of a tube-shaped apartment building—his old home.
Compared to before, the building looked even more dilapidated. Green ivy covered everything, and a giant red “demolition” character on the wall looked as though it might crush the entire structure.
Looking at it all, Zhang Wenda took a deep breath and trudged forward.
He finally stopped in front of his old home on the fourth floor.
With a creak, he pushed the door open and once again saw those two conjoined monsters, their bodies riddled with holes.
At this moment, their heads were tilted, curled up in the confined room, roaring madly.
They were attacking each other, dark red blood streaming across the floor to Zhang Wenda’s feet.
Zhang Wenda’s face showed no surprise.
He walked into the room and gently closed the door behind him.
With the light from outside completely cut off, the entire room became even more eerie and terrifying.
In the dim space, he looked up at the two giant imposter monsters before him and, calm but earnest, called out the two words he hadn’t spoken in a long time.
“Dad… Mom.”