Chapter 38: Just Quietly Watching You

Startled out of his daze, Mo Jiang was suddenly jolted awake, his eyes wide with a lingering fear. The three gifts from the world were, in truth, things he had once secretly wished for—never expecting the will of the main world to grant them so directly.

It took him quite some time to collect himself.

“Is she resurrected? Qingqing is resurrected?” Mo Jiang murmured. In his heart, he both wished for Mo Qingqing’s return and dreaded it, torn between conflicting emotions.

A chime sounded.

“She is not revived in her former state. In any world, there can only exist a single imprint of a living being. When that life ends, so too does its imprint. To truly resurrect, the world will not bear that same imprint again—unless it is in another world, only then can resurrection truly occur.” The Gate vibrated, imparting a fragment of knowledge to Mo Jiang, allowing him to understand Mo Qingqing’s current state.

Though she had been revived, the main world would no longer acknowledge Mo Qingqing’s life imprint; she could now exist only as a “phantom.”

This, in turn, set Mo Jiang’s mind wandering. He recalled the demonized Mandrake from the sacrificed Doll World, which had become an undying herb. According to the Gate, it had earned the right to leave the main world and travel to the world beyond the door.

“A door?”

He muttered the word, lowering his gaze to the stony door-shaped mark in his palm.

He asked no further questions—not only because he didn’t know if the will behind the Gate would answer, but also because he sensed that the consciousness of the main world had already departed…

As if, having eaten its fill, it was now drifting off to digest.

“Is the Gate unable to repair itself because of this? The Source of Sin—if the Gate continually ‘devours’ the illusory realms, then it truly is the Source of Sin. And as an executor like me, I am indeed its accomplice.” Mo Jiang brooded over this and then let the thought go, for resistance was beyond him; all he could do was wait for another opportunity.

For now, he still needed to greet Mo Qingqing.

His gaze swept the room, but he saw no sign of her. Just as he concluded she must not be there, a shadowy little girl suddenly leapt from the dressing mirror in the corner. Mo Jiang saw this dark silhouette, arms stretched as if seeking an embrace, her demeanor joyous.

Yet all he felt was a rush of wind passing through him. Then, glancing into the mirror, he saw that the blackened little girl had darted from before him to behind him.

“Qingqing?” Mo Jiang called tentatively.

The shadowy figure nodded, then crouched and hugged her head with both hands.

Mo Jiang was puzzled, about to speak, when the shadowy girl suddenly sprang up and, like a gust of wind, swept past him and vanished through the door.

“So this is the phantom state after resurrection?”

Mo Jiang suddenly felt he ought to have a serious talk with the Dragon of Eternity and Infinity—this kind of resurrection was worse than none at all!

She couldn’t speak, couldn’t be touched, couldn’t be seen with the naked eye—only through the aid of a mirror could he glimpse Mo Qingqing’s form, and even then, only as a murky blur…

A mosaic would be better than this.

Just then, another gust of wind brushed past, and in the dressing mirror he saw the black silhouette of the little girl once more, arms flailing with excitement as she gestured frantically at him.

Mo Jiang watched for a while, then nodded.

He still couldn’t make out what she was trying to say.

…

Over the course of a week, Mo Jiang at last managed to establish a form of communication with Mo Qingqing. He would write notes on paper and show them to her.

It turned out Mo Qingqing couldn’t hear his voice; she could only see him.

Then Mo Qingqing would use every gesture and movement she could manage, and Mo Jiang would guess at her meaning as best he could. The result, more often than not, was…

For example, if Mo Qingqing wanted a pet dog, Mo Jiang would present her with a large bowl of braised dog meat.

That was the general idea.

So far, they had clarified only two matters. The first was the death of Mo Suze. Perhaps because she had died and come back, Mo Qingqing seemed untroubled, merely telling Mo Jiang that he could revive Mo Suze in the future. This time, Mo Jiang instantly understood her meaning, quickly and accurately.

The second matter was Mo Jiang informing Mo Qingqing of his engagement to Su Nanzhou.

Mo Qingqing was firmly opposed.

Once again, Mo Jiang understood her meaning with remarkable speed and precision.

“With all those wild gestures, if that’s not opposition, I’ll eat my hat,” Mo Jiang muttered, debating whether to inform Wen Lanjing of Mo Qingqing’s resurrection.

But on second thought, he decided to wait.

After all, not everyone was as adaptable as he was—able to accept all manner of bizarre, absurd, and fantastical events without flinching.

Just then, his phone rang.

Mo Jiang answered, discovering the call was from a friend of his predecessor. Given his predecessor’s disagreeable temperament and background, these “friends” were really just familiar acquaintances.

This situation, in fact, had something to do with both Wen Lanjing and Mo Suze.

Mo Jiang found, in his predecessor’s memories, a childhood incident. Back in primary school, his predecessor and a few classmates had skipped lessons and incurred the wrath of their hot-tempered teacher, who scolded him to tears.

Upon hearing this, Wen Lanjing, who had the means—since it was a private school—simply bought the school outright and dismissed the teacher.

When a classmate struck him, Wen Lanjing went further, having the entire school cease enrollment so that all the teachers would teach only her son and Mo Qingqing.

The matter eventually escalated, drawing media outrage, and Mo Suze had to intervene.

“To be honest, my predecessor was just a pervert, not some rampant wastrel—must have been born with a good nature!” Mo Jiang smacked his lips, his morals as dubious as ever.

“But what’s this about a class reunion? Since Zhou Yanxin is organizing it, and her father owes me a favor, it’s hard to refuse. Besides, maybe I misunderstood her about that last incident.”

Muttering to himself, Mo Jiang suddenly saw, on his computer screen, the shadowy image of the little girl, flailing her arms with ferocious intensity.

“I’m just going for a meal, to meet someone… What? You say even a meal is out of the question? You think she has ulterior motives?” Mo Jiang realized, for the third time, that he had grasped Mo Qingqing’s meaning with remarkable speed and precision.

After all, the little shadow on the screen was now thrashing about with demonic fury.

“How could she possibly have bad intentions?” Mo Jiang muttered, unconvinced. His predecessor’s memories did not affect him, and he had no intention of indulging Mo Qingqing’s every whim.

Then Mo Jiang witnessed something truly strange.