Night’s Nomenclature

Chapter 927: Inner Demons and Guardians, Farewell

The countdown: 168:00:00. Qing Chen! Wake up! Qing Chen, what’s wrong with you?

Don’t scare me, Little Seven. Let Dayu come and save him! Zhong Yang’s anxious voice came, even she, usually so lively and carefree, was frightened by Qing Chen’s state. Qing Chen lay in bed, unconscious, coughing up blood, his chest stained crimson. Yang Yang couldn’t see the ghosts Qing Chen had brought back from the amusement park that filled the room.

But she could see the spiritual force field in Qing Chen’s body, which had multiplied from one to over seven hundred, and was still increasing, one every ten seconds. Moreover, when she touched Qing Chen just now, she felt his shattered shoulder and arm. It was heartbreaking; Yang Yang couldn’t even imagine what Qing Chen had gone through to sustain such severe injuries. Qing Chen stood in the room, watching Yang Yang call out to him.

He looked at the Silver Duke beside him: “When the number of fragmented personalities reached six hundred and sixty, the mental pollution reached a higher level. Because the mental will was too scattered, we all lost control of that body, including Qing Chen himself.”

Then, the speaker looked at the mirror, only to find that the person in the mirror was not Qing Chen, but Shendai Yunhe.

Whether it was Shendai Yunhe or the Silver Duke, they were merely figments of Qing Chen’s imagination, inner demons conjured up by Qing Chen himself under the influence of mental pollution. Among the crowd were soldiers from the Roosevelt Kingdom, members of Northern city gangs, Qing Huai, and his past enemies. Veterans kill enemies on the battlefield, but even after returning home, they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and eventually succumb to depression.

Qing Chen had killed no fewer enemies than any veteran. The reason why he hadn’t shown any signs of trauma was that his battles hadn’t ended, and his mental strength was strong enough to suppress this trauma.

But suppression didn’t mean it wasn’t there. Hence, the origin of the ghosts:

The first batch, the water ghosts, were the ghosts implied by the amusement park. The second batch, the ghost children, were his childhood trauma. The third batch, Shendai Yunhe, Cao Wei, and others, were his post-traumatic stress disorder.

These ghosts were not real ghosts, but inner demons, the heart demons lurking in Qing Chen’s heart, conjured up by Li Shentan. At this time, Black Knights Old Six shouted in the room, “Take this opportunity, let’s seize his body together! We’ll decide on a schedule, one person for a day!” Old Two yelled, “That’ll take forever! Why don’t we just fight, decide the winner, and have one person remain?” Silver Duke sneered, “You think you’re qualified?” Old Six said, “One day is better than none at all!”

With that, the evil spirits were about to rush into Qing Chen’s mind.

But at this moment, Kunlun Dianfu, Wrench, and others who had fought alongside him appeared. This was the fourth batch in Qing Chen’s mind; unlike the pale, hollow-eyed ghosts, they retained their human appearance. Dianfu and others stood before the evil spirits, sneering, “You dare to covet his spiritual will and body?” Silver Duke sent Kunlun Dianfu and others flying against the wall, sneering, “You want to stop me too?”

But when he sent Kunlun Dianfu and others flying, he suddenly saw the sword immortal He Jinqiu sitting by Qing Chen’s bed, nineteen flying swords swirling around him like planets, captivating and awe-inspiring. Boss He softly said, “Qing Chen is very tired, don’t make noise. I’ll guard him, whoever comes, I’ll kill them.” For a moment, the room fell completely silent.

No one dared to provoke this sword immortal, even though this Boss He was merely a split spiritual will of Qing Chen. Dianfu and others stood before the evil spirits, sneering, “You dare to covet his spiritual will and body?” Silver Duke sent Kunlun Dianfu and others flying against the wall, sneering, “You want to stop me too?”

But when he kicked Kunlun Dianfu and others away, he suddenly saw the sword immortal He Jinqiu sitting by Qing Chen’s bed, nineteen flying swords swirling around him like planets, captivating and awe-inspiring. Boss He softly said, “Qing Chen is very tired, don’t make noise. I’ll guard him, whoever comes, I’ll kill them.” For a moment, the room fell completely silent.

No one dared to provoke this sword immortal, even though this Boss He was merely a split spiritual will of Qing Chen. This last batch of illusions were not evil spirits, but people who guarded Qing Chen, his comrades, friends, and relatives. Unlike Chen Yu, Qing Chen had traveled through many stages in this world and made many friends. If Li Shentan were here, he might even be amazed that Qing Chen’s heart was already guarded.

At this time, only one person in the room was different. He hadn’t argued with anyone, just smiled at Qing Chen on the bed, waiting silently. Qing Chen clearly knew that he was different, Qing Zhun. In the room, all the ghosts crowded together. At this moment, the ghost child crouched by the bedside: “Brother, wake up, let’s go find Mom.”

Silver Duke said, “He’s dying. Our number has reached 960. In a few minutes, his spiritual will will be completely scattered, becoming a being neither human nor ghost. He has a syringe; that Forbidden Artifact can help him.”

But he couldn’t speak of the syringe’s function. Cao Wei said, “If he doesn’t say it, others won’t know the syringe can save him. This syringe is very rare; it’s not even listed in the Hu Family Intelligence Agency’s Forbidden Artifact catalog. When that girl figures out how to use this Forbidden Artifact, she’ll discover that the way to save her lover was always at hand, but she missed the best chance.” Silver Duke: “The most painful thing in the world is this; she will spend the rest of her life immersed in regret and pain.”

But at this moment, Shendai Yunhe suddenly laughed: “You died too quickly under his hand, so you don’t have a clear understanding of him.” In an instant, everyone turned to look at him.

The room was so crowded that the ghosts’ bodies were gradually deformed, only their faces remained clearly visible.

Shendai Yunhe said with a smile, “I caught him in the wilderness, and then wanted to bring him back to the family to seize his body. I don’t know how many days it took, and we both schemed against each other, killing each other. He always seemed to have trump cards, always prepared, and eventually I lost my arm. In fact, if someone hadn’t helped secretly in that encirclement, I might not have been able to catch him. I was already A-Class at that time, and he was only C-Class.” “You mean…?”

Shendai Yunhe: “He must have foreseen this moment and left a contingency plan.” “Where’s the contingency plan?”

“I’m not him, how would I know? Let’s wait and see.”

At this moment, Dayu had already been brought by Kunlun through the Key Gate. Yang Yang took a pair of scissors and cut off all of Qing Chen’s clothes, trying to see if he had any other injuries and to check if Qing Chen had left any clues in his clothes. There were none in the clothes, only Qing Chen’s Forbidden Artifacts.

These Forbidden Artifacts were no different from before, except for an additional syringe, but no one present knew what it was for, so they threw it aside. However, the next moment, Yang Yang suddenly saw the scars on Qing Chen’s arm. It was the wound Qing Chen had made with his own nails in the dark slide.

The wound was blurred by blood, and Yang Yang thought of something, immediately took a wet towel to wipe away the blood, revealing...

Shendai Yunhe smiled: “I’ve been working hard for more than thirty years, climbing from the bottom to the top. I despise those big shots because they are complacent and have long lost their wisdom and sense of crisis. If I lose to such people, I would be unwilling. But if I lose to Qing Chen, I admit it.”

When Qing Chen was still in the dark slide, he had realized that the ghost children were actually existences split from his subconscious mind, as were the water ghosts. So, when the gecko wanted to swallow the ghost child, he stopped it. So when the ghost child fell behind, he turned back to pull the ghost child up.

At that moment, he didn’t know what the future would hold, but he thought about what would happen if he returned to the past and fell into a coma, unable to use the syringe. Therefore, he left a message for Yang Yang. Next moment.

“Don’t use the Restorative Shroud yet! I need to draw blood first!” Yangshui quickly picked up the syringe and accurately inserted it into Qing Chen’s temporal artery. This syringe could only draw 100ml of blood, and Yangshui twisted it 8 times before completing Qing Chen’s instructions.

In this process, for every tube of blood she drew, the invisible inner demons in the room would decrease by one-eighth.

She squeezed the drawn blood into the water basin, but the dark, ink-like blood was like a dark abyss; dark hands occasionally stretched out from the surface of the blood, extremely eerie. The inner demons in the room became fewer and fewer, turning into gray shadows and flying back into Qing Chen’s mind.

Shendai Yunhe watched all this silently, and he suddenly smiled at the other inner demons: “It’s been an unexpectedly interesting meeting with everyone. There should be no more chances to meet in the future; farewell.”

Having said that, he also turned into a gray shadow and flew into Qing Chen’s mind, losing his self-awareness and becoming Qing Chen’s spiritual will again. Finally, Boss He and others glanced at Qing Chen with a smile and returned to Qing Chen’s consciousness. When the eight tubes of blood were drawn, the room was finally empty and quiet.

Only Qing Zhun was leaning against the wall, smiling at Qing Chen: “You’re really my brother.” His figure dissipated into a white light, but it didn’t fly into Qing Chen’s mind. He wasn’t an inner demon, nor a negative state.

Qing Chen opened his eyes, weakly looking at the syringe in Yang Yang’s hand: “I knew you’d find it.”

Yang Yang was stunned: “You knew I would take off your clothes?”

Qing Chen chuckled wryly: “You’re making my emotions incoherent.”

The two looked at each other and smiled. Yang Yang bent down and rested her head next to his: “I was scared to death just now! Don’t do this again in the future.” Dayu looked at the two, then at Zard beside her. Everyone else had a girl by their side, only she had a fool. Zard was alert: “What are you looking at?”

“Stop flirting, there are outsiders here,” Dayu said expressionlessly. “Put Qing Chen into the Restorative Shroud. It’s good enough that he’s alive.” Everyone carefully lifted Qing Chen into the Restorative Shroud and enclosed him in the darkness to sleep.

They didn’t open the Restorative Shroud according to the one-hour rule, but waited for eight hours, letting Qing Chen sleep enough. In the morning, Yang Yang lifted the Restorative Shroud and pinched Qing Chen’s nose: “Wake up, breakfast is ready.” Qing Chen opened his eyes and suddenly opened his arms, hugging Yang Yang: “I almost thought I wouldn’t be able to come back.”

Yang Yang originally wanted to struggle instinctively, but after hearing his words, she obediently stopped moving: “Let’s go, everyone’s waiting for you in the restaurant. The helicopter is ready, we can start new training anytime.” Qing Chen went to the restaurant.

Dayu frowned and asked: “What happened? Why are you so badly injured, and why were you unconscious earlier?”

Qing Chen thought for a moment and said: “I met Chen Yu, he hunted me down with eight paintings, six scrolls, and two tattoos on his arms. By the way, you should also have a similar natal painting, used for last resort self-preservation. What did you paint? Let’s have a look.”

Dayu became alert: “What are you doing? Don’t even think about it. The natal painting cannot be shown to others, nor used unless it's a life-or-death situation. What did you paint? Let’s have a look.” Zard: “He’s got the Fire God Zhu Rong on his left and the Water God Gonggong on his right. I asked him to tattoo me on his chest, but he refused and even cursed me, Dayu, you…”

Yang Yang: “A normal person would curse you.”

Qing Chen thoughtfully: “Then it seems that Chen Yu has gone mad, or he wouldn’t use his trump cards to kill me. Those two Water Gods Gonggong are clearly much more ferocious than other paintings, and should be his life-saving ones, yet he went crazy killing me.”

Dayu was puzzled: “You met Chen Yu and you actually survived? I thought you would be promoted to Demi-God when you returned last time, and then kill him, but you’re still A-Class now, how can you survive Chen Yu?” Qing Chen explained: “It was by using the rules of the amusement park.”

If it were outside, a hundred Qing Chens encountering those eight paintings of gods and Buddhas would probably all be dead. Demi-Gods are Demi-Gods after all. The reason why they are called gods is that mortals cannot challenge them.

Qing Chen ate a serious breakfast, no fish or meat, only Little Seven’s white porridge. He hadn’t eaten for too long and couldn’t replenish himself all at once. Qing Chen looked at Dayu: “What Forbidden Artifacts does Chen Yu have?”

Dayu thought for a moment and said: “That green ox is actually a Forbidden Artifact, very powerful. Many people think it’s a painting, but it isn’t; it’s a deception he uses. Chen Yu also has a green bamboo branch separated from the Black Tortoise, which can enhance memory and increase the efficiency of Chen Family painters. What else?” Qing Chen asked.

Dayu said, “The Chen Family forces have been exploring the Forbidden Zone for years. Years ago, it was rumored that the Chen Family forces found a jade ring-shaped Forbidden Artifact, which was taken by Chen Yu, but no one knows what it does. But I know he always wears it on his right thumb. I don’t know about other Forbidden Artifacts.”

“He has quite a few life-saving things,” Qing Chen got up and walked outside: “Let’s start training.”

“By the way, Dayu, how’s the Chen Family takeover going?”

“Grandpa is already purging Chen Yu’s forces. He took away many experts; it’s a good opportunity to eliminate the remaining forces,” Dayu said: “Thank you.”

Qing Chen smiled: “I helped you seize power, not for you, but for the day when the Roosevelt Kingdom’s fleet reaches the Federation, the Chen Family can stand up and fight for this land.”

Dayu said seriously: “We will.”

“Let’s go! Training!” Qing Chen got on the helicopter as if nothing had happened, as if the man who had almost been beaten to the point of paralysis a few hours ago wasn’t him. He changed into his flying squirrel suit in the cabin and watched the helicopter slowly take off. For some reason, he felt particularly calm at this moment. The illusions had disappeared, but he remembered everything in the illusions.

Qing Chen felt as if he had had an absurd dream, or as if he had gone through the Trial of Heart again. There were more than six days left, and he had to fight for a way to survive.