"October 9, 2016, cloudy."
"Today I accidentally sent fried tomatoes from table 3 to table 6... I'm so useless."
"Although the guest at table 6 didn't use his chopsticks, and later the third uncle also made a new one for the guest at table 3, I really shouldn't have made such a stupid mistake... The third uncle is already very busy, and I still... Cause trouble for him, ugh..."
"My third uncle's birthday is coming soon, but I haven't saved up enough money to buy him a gift. Although I've been secretly working part-time at a convenience store every night recently, I still feel a little short of it. I don't know if Meng Xiang is willing. Are you willing to lend me your money? Apart from him, I really have no other friends."
"Borrow money, borrow money...how should I ask?"
The tip of the pen gently touched the yellowed diary, and the ink stains slowly soaked into the page. A young man in an apron sat blankly at the table, looking out the window at the bare and dark alley. After a long time, he let out a long sigh,
"Why can't everything in this world be as simple as washing dishes?"
Jingle Bell-
While he was deep in thought, a loud alarm rang from his hand.
He came to his senses as if he had just woken up from a dream, quickly turned off the alarm clock, stood up, meticulously put the pen and diary back into their places, and then hurriedly pushed the door open and walked out.
This building has two floors. The upper part is where he and his third uncle usually live, and the lower part is the third uncle's local restaurant. It was now past ten o'clock in the evening, and the local restaurant had already closed. Only the third uncle was sitting in front of the electric fan, taking a nap with a newspaper.
Zhou Ping walked down the stairs quietly and saw that his third uncle was still downstairs, seeming a little distressed.
Third uncle hasn't gone back to bed at this time... It's probably not possible to go out through the main entrance.
After hesitating for a moment, he returned to the second floor, locked his door, turned off the lights, and skillfully opened the window in the dark...
Then he jumped down from the second floor.
In the darkness, his body was very light, floating through the deserted alley like a swallow, and landed steadily on the ground without making a sound.
He looked around to make sure no one saw him, then quickly walked towards the street in the distance.
Xijin is a city that is neither big nor small. Like other cities in the province, there is no such thing as "nightlife". It seems that as soon as it goes past eight-thirty, there will be something scary on the streets at night. … Coupled with the serious aging population, as soon as it’s past nine o’clock, the streets are almost empty.
Zhou Ping walked alone on the silent street, the street lights constantly lengthening and shortening his shadow. He frowned, as if he was still worried about how to borrow money from Meng Xiang...
If he had a choice, he would rather spend ten hours in a local restaurant washing dishes than engage in this kind of social interaction, not to mention borrowing money is still a difficult thing to do socially!
Just as Zhou Ping was thinking wildly, he had already arrived at the door of the convenience store. In the dark and deserted street, the only convenience store with lights on was as dazzling as a beacon, but at this moment, this light was like hell in Zhou Ping's eyes.
He stood in front of the convenience store, took a deep breath, as if he was going through a long psychological struggle, and then pushed the door open and entered.
"...Good morning, Meng Xiang."
In the huge convenience store, there was only one uniformed clerk behind the cashier. When he heard these words, he was slightly startled. He looked up and saw the figure walking into the convenience store, and his eyes were filled with surprise.
"Strictly speaking, it's already late at night..." Meng Xiang was about to continue, but when he saw Zhou Ping's gradually reddening cheeks, he immediately changed his tone and spoke gently,
"However, our work has just begun...and you came early again. There is still a full half hour before you go to work."
It has been a while since Zhou Ping came here to work, and Meng Xiang has not heard him take the initiative to talk to him once during this period... He stands behind the cashier in his uniform every day, wearing a dark green peaked cap with the convenience store logo printed on it. He covered most of his face, and when customers spoke to him, he cherished his words like gold, like an extremely cold cash register machine.
And every time after a customer paid and left, Meng Xiang could vaguely see... the green face under the peaked cap, which was already red to the roots of his ears.
This kid looks like a college student who couldn't be more youthful!
"… Feel sorry."
Zhou Ping lowered his head and said sincerely.
"?" Meng Xiang looked at Zhou Ping who was really apologizing in front of him, and helplessly held his forehead, "There is no need to apologize, you did nothing wrong... As a store manager, I wish there were more temporary workers like you. Let’s make an agreement first, the extra half hour will not be charged.”
After hearing the second half of the sentence, Zhou Ping's body trembled slightly, he opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, and his whole face turned red.
"But Xiao Zhou, to be honest, if you have a character like yours and join the society, you will have to suffer a lot." Meng Xiang didn't notice the change in Zhou Ping's expression at all. He held a purchase order in his hand and went to the shelf nearby. The superior started counting and said earnestly.
Hearing Meng Xiang start talking to himself again, Zhou Ping knew that he couldn't say anything about borrowing money.
He silently walked into the warehouse, locked the door with his backhand, and took off his black shirt. In the narrow dressing mirror in the corner of the warehouse, a body full of scars was exposed... Dark red scars were distributed between his arms and back. On the body, the shapes are all different, some look like cigarette butts burned, some look like blood scabs where a belt whips flesh and blood, some look like slender red lines when a paper knife cuts an arm...
Zhou Ping did not look at himself in the mirror, but carefully folded the shirt in his hand neatly and put it aside. He picked up the convenience store uniform that had been prepared on the other side and put it on. After confirming that he was dressed neatly, he pressed the peaked cap down hard. The lowest, open the door and go out.
"People, you still can't be too honest. People can be bullied... This is in a convenience store. If you go to those companies and factories and you don't know how to curry favor with people and don't know how to assess the situation, you will know how to work hard. Aren't you going to be eaten to death? It's a small thing to squeeze you out and make you work more. If you are stupid enough to be dragged over and used as a scapegoat, your life will be over...
Human nature is inherently evil. It is their instinct to be jealous and destroy beautiful things. If you want to get out cleanly after entering the big dye vat of society, you must be a saint... "
Meng Xiang's soliloquy lasted for half an hour. This was not because he talked too much, but because he had developed this habit from working late at night all year round. In the past countless long nights, he could only rely on this A way to drive away loneliness and sleepiness alone.
But since he recruited Zhou Ping, a model worker who volunteered to work the night shift, was quick with his hands and feet, and had extremely low salary requirements, he could finally go home and sleep with peace of mind in the middle of the night.
Meng Xiang looked up at the time, knocked on his aching waist, stood up from the ground, and handed the purchase order to Zhou Ping behind the cashier.
"Okay, I'm leaving. You can count the rest by yourself. Don't forget that there is still a pile of goods to be loaded in the warehouse."
Zhou Ping took the list and subconsciously said:
"oh."
Meng Xiang glanced at Zhou Ping, who was standing upright, and sighed helplessly, "Don't be so serious. Although we are a 24-hour convenience store, there are almost no customers coming in the middle of the night. Relax and find something you like to do. It's a long night." But it’s very difficult…”
After he finished speaking, he waved his hand and walked straight out of the convenience store, disappearing into the deep night.
When the automatic door slowly closed, Zhou Ping came back to his senses. He rubbed the corners of his eyes in confusion and bitterness, "I was distracted and forgot about my business again... I can only wait until tomorrow to speak again, alas."
The night falls,
On the dead, dark streets, only convenience stores still shine with the brilliance of civilization. The outlines of the continuous buildings look like countless creeping monsters in the night, staring through the glass of the automatic doors, the only remaining lighthouse in this dark world.
In the convenience store, the only sounds left were the low hum of the air conditioner and the ticking of the clock.
"A saint..."
For some reason, Meng Xiang's words reappeared in Zhou Ping's mind, and a hint of complexity appeared in his eyes.
Zhou Ping glanced at the clock on the wall. He still had to work in the convenience store for seven hours. After hesitating for a moment, he took out a small horse from the warehouse, and took out something from under the cashier, holding it in his hand. .
It was a book, and it was the only thing he could use to kill time during this long night.
- "The Third Young Master's Sword".
"A saint, is he similar to a hero?" Zhou Ping rubbed the book cover with his palm and muttered to himself,
"It would be great if there really were heroes in this world..."
…
Boom! ! !
The ferocious thunder pierced the mist, and above the roaring sea of blood, two huge giant shadows were fighting in the bloody rain!
A huge lizard-like creature was grabbed by the throat by a giant rock hand that looked like it was carved out of gold, and crashed into the turbulent sea. The blood-stained seawater broke out into huge waves hundreds of meters high, capsizing the sky like an annihilation!
The endless seawater flooded the giant beast's body. It screamed miserably, and its huge body twisted wildly, trying to break away from the giant golden hand, but the latter grabbed it tighter and tighter, almost crushing its head!
The giant beast's pupils shrank uncontrollably. At this moment, the flesh and blood on the waist and abdomen began to twist rapidly. The second lizard's head strangely broke out of the skin, and the huge bloody mouth suddenly opened. Countless thunders Gathered and compressed in it, the next moment a thick thunder pillar that destroyed the heaven and earth rose into the sky!
boom! !
The thunder pillar pierced through the sea water and shot straight up into the sky. A corner of the mist that diffused in the world was torn apart. As countless lightning flashes danced, the full picture of the giant golden hand finally emerged.
It was a golden giant standing tall on the sky and the earth, with its feet on the sea water and the sky above its head. The mighty and oppressive Buddha light almost tore the giant beast's breath to pieces. A pair of golden pupils that were burning like the scorching sun were indifferently overlooking the drowning people. A giant lizard in the sea.
The moment the thunder pillar broke through the sea, the golden giant's other hand suddenly made a fist and whizzed at the second lizard's head!
The golden giant fist directly crushed every inch of the surging lightning column with its devastating power, and then slammed into the second lizard head, smashing it into blood and mud. At the same time, the other hand also He crushed the lizard's head forcefully, and the shrill roar stopped abruptly!
Blood and flesh spread in the surging seawater. The huge beast's body instantly became limp and sank powerlessly to the bottom of the sea...
As the blood rain swayed, the golden giant standing tall on the sky gradually disappeared, turning into a figure standing on the sea.
He was a young man, tall and slender. Between the ragged clothes torn by the battle, his well-proportioned and strong body seemed to have been carefully carved. He had a very powerful but not rough beauty. At first glance, he looked like It is the young Buddha enshrined in an unknown ancient temple.
He looked down at the bloody sea, and the golden light in his pupils gradually dissipated. He slowly moved his body to pick up the dark red cloak floating on the sea, and put it casually on his shoulders.
After a while, he stepped on nothingness, turned around and walked towards the sea on the other side.
"Venerable Ye Fan... Are you the Venerable Ye Fan?!"
On the other side of the sea, a figure with blond hair and blue eyes seemed to have thought of something, and spoke in horror. His body was nailed to the surface of the floating shipwreck with a straight knife, and his face was extremely pale.
"The front is the territory of Daxia. It seems that your pursuit can only end here." Ye Fan said lightly, "In the whole journey of 1,430 kilometers, you all failed to kill me. Instead, I counterattacked one by one. Kill... It seems that your agents in Olympus are only as strong as this."
Upon hearing this, anger appeared on the blond figure's face, and he spoke fiercely,
"So what about in Daxia? You don't have gods in Daxia, so how long can you hold on with just those five humans?! Just wait, Lord Gaia will lead people to conquer Daxia soon. When the time comes, you… "
puff! !
The sword flashed, and the blond figure's head rolled down onto the deck.
Amidst the rain of blood, Ye Fan casually shook off the blood on the surface of the straight knife, put it into the sheath on his waist, and said expressionlessly, "The lackeys kept in captivity by the gods, what else can you do besides barking?"
Ye Fan held the scabbard in one hand and the dark red cloak on his shoulder in the other. He glanced at the fog in the distance and walked slowly in that direction.
After an unknown amount of time, a huge foggy border gradually appeared in his field of vision, like a giant upside-down bowl, isolating all the fog and war... The moment he saw this border, Ye Fan's tense expression The body finally relaxed slightly.
"Finally back..." he murmured to himself.
At this moment, he seemed to notice something, let out a light sigh, and turned his head to look not far away.
In the mist, a awning boat was slowly rowing across the turbulent sea, passing through the foggy wall from the border of Daxia, heading straight towards him.
The moment he saw the awning boat, Ye Fan's brows rose slightly, seeming a little surprised.
"Uncle Shang? Why are you here?"
Inside the awning boat, a somewhat elderly voice came out kindly:
"I checked the time today and happened to see you coming back from here. I thought I had nothing to do, so I came to pick you up... let's get on the boat."
While he was talking, the awning boat floated right in front of Ye Fan. The latter stepped directly onto it without hesitation and walked into the low awning.
This awning boat is no different from the awning boats that could be seen everywhere in the south of the Yangtze River in the past. The arched awning is placed on the hull, and a glass kerosene lamp hangs in front of the awning. The orange light dims the dim corner. Under the awning, an old man dressed as a fisherman was sitting at a small square table, looking at him with a smile.
"I don't have the convenience of Old Chentou. The place is a bit narrow, don't mind."
"I'm very grateful that Uncle Shang came to pick me up." Ye Fan sat down on the other side of the small table, took the hot tea from Uncle Shang, and drank it all in one gulp. The hot tea dispelled the fatigue and fatigue after the war. It was cold, and the whole person suddenly became more energetic.
Looking at the scarred Ye Fan in front of him, Uncle Shang's eyes flashed with complexity, and he couldn't help but say:
"That girl Wang Qing should feel distressed again when she sees you like this."
"Commander? She doesn't know how." Ye Fan said with a smile, "She has always believed that 'you can become stronger only by being beaten more', otherwise she wouldn't let me go to the fog to fight and practice alone... Before she left, she also said that when she comes back If there weren't a hundred more wounds on my body during that time, she would have patched them up for me with a whip herself."
"That's what I say, but it's not like you don't know her character..."
In the middle of speaking, Uncle Shang smiled helplessly and asked, "Did you gain anything from going to the fog this time?"
"have!"
Speaking of this, Ye Fan's expression immediately became serious, "This time I heard extremely important news in the fog... It is said that Zeus, the God King of Olympus, used secret methods to spy on destiny and saw that there would be an extremely powerful person in the future. The emergence of a new 'blasphemer' will threaten the foundation of the Kingdom of Gods."
"A blasphemer??" Uncle Shang's face also darkened, as if he thought of something and fell into deep thought...
Ye Fan did not notice the change in Uncle Shang's expression and continued,
"Several other divine kingdoms are skeptical of Zeus's prophecy, and they seem to be taking no action for the time being. However, the Olympus gods have completely entered a state of preparation for war, and they should take large-scale action against us in the near future.
But given the current situation in Daxia..."
Ye Fan looked at Uncle Shang in front of him, opened his mouth, and did not continue, but his expression was extremely solemn.
Daxia Wushen now only has five human ceilings, and among these five human ceilings, there is a ceiling existence like Uncle Shang who has almost no frontal combat power... Fighting against the Olympus gods with four human ceilings
It can be said that Daxia today is facing the most dangerous and severe situation in hundreds of years.
Ye Fan paused for a moment and spoke again with a hint of hope:
"Uncle Shang, you are the first person in human history to own a time-type forbidden ruin. In the future you have spied on... where is our way out?"
The swaying kerosene lamp illuminated the awning uncertainly. Uncle Shang's old face was slightly raised, and a glimmer of light flashed in his deep eyes.
"The blasphemer...could it be him?"
"Him?" Ye Fan was stunned, and then seemed to think of something, "Uncle Shang, did you see the blasphemer in time?"
Uncle Shang nodded slightly, "Not long ago, my eyes accidentally crossed the long river of time and saw a corner of the future... In the future time, I saw the gods fighting, I saw the evil spirits coming to the world, and I saw the human race... They can fight across the river of time... But in that vast time, only two stars shine the most.
Of these two stars, one rises four years later, and the other rises ten years later;
I have never seen such shining stars. Their existence illuminates the future of mankind, especially the one ten years from now. Even if I try my best, I can't see the slightest trace of him... His existence has transcended my understanding.
One of these two shining stars should be the blasphemer in your words, but I am not sure which one it is. "
"One in four years and one in ten years? That is, 2016 and 2022?" Ye Fan thought thoughtfully, "So... they are not born yet?"
"No, they should all have been born. The time when the stars rise is not the time when they were born, but the day when the gears of their destiny began to turn."
"So, maybe we can find them in our era and let them embark on this road in advance to help us overcome this difficulty?" Ye Fan's eyes suddenly lit up.
Uncle Shang frowned slightly, as if he was thinking seriously about something.
"Theoretically it seems possible, but..." After a long time, Uncle Shang smiled bitterly, "To be honest, I don't know if my Forbidden Ruins can do it. The [Eye of Time Sequence] is the first in human history. A forbidden ruin involving time, but its function seems to be limited to 'spying'...
If you use it to peek into the future and use this information to change the present, to a certain extent, you are tampering with history.
Whether tampering with history can succeed and at what cost is unclear. "
Ye Fan heard this and nodded silently.
He was about to say something when Uncle Shang's voice came again: "But, I can try."
Ye Fan was stunned, "Uncle Shang, since there are risks in tampering with history, why would you..."
"If everything is as you say, then Daxia will usher in a catastrophe soon... If my rotten shoulder doesn't even have this responsibility, how can I have the dignity to call myself the ceiling of mankind?" Uncle Shang stared at him. Looking at Ye Fan in front of him, he smiled with relief, the orange glimmer reflected in his turbid eyes,
"You have your battlefield, and I... also have mine."
Ye Fan stared blankly at the gray-haired figure. After a long time, he came back to his senses. A ray of light fell from outside the awning. At some point, the small boat had passed through the border waters, the end of the blue sea. A warship is sailing straight towards here.
"Okay... Uncle Shang, if you need any help from me, just contact me."
Ye Fan knew that it was time for him to leave. He also needed to pass the news to the night watchman as soon as possible. Uncle Shang on the opposite side smiled and nodded, and Ye Fan turned into a stream of light and quickly flew towards the warship.
On the vast sea, there was only a small awning boat, gently swaying with the waves.
"The range of vision of the mind eye is limited. The star ten years from now is too far away to see clearly... I can only try to see the star four years from now." Uncle Shang sat alone in the boat and murmured Talk to yourself.
He slowly raised his head, and in his eyes that reflected the orange fire, a strange silver light ignited out of thin air, and pressure as high as human ceiling suddenly descended on the sea!
Those mercury-like pupils stared into nothingness, as if they were about to burn through all time and space, and everything around him was unconsciously distorted... Two lines of black blood and tears flowed uncontrollably from the corners of his eyes.
"The bright star that belongs only to human beings... Just let me take a look, where are you?"
A blur of light and shadow emerged from the depths of his soul, and with that gaze that pierced time and space, it suddenly disappeared into nothingness!
…
Jingle Bell-
The dim light of dawn knocked on the door of the convenience store, and the pale golden morning light filtered through the glass doors and windows, casting slowly moving light and shadow on the white stone bricks.
Amidst a crisp and rapid ringtone, Zhou Ping, who was lying on the table, opened his eyes little by little...
Half asleep and half awake, he looked at the hazy pale gold ground and stayed there for a few seconds before he suddenly came back to his senses!
"Fell asleep?!"
Zhou Ping suddenly stood up from his seat. Under his messy hair, his eyes were full of shock and guilt, "It's over, it's over. I fell asleep in the last two hours... As expected, I shouldn't have sat on the stool. Sit down." It’s easy to feel sleepy when you eat... The inventory hasn’t been finished yet, and the new goods haven’t arrived yet... It’s too late!”
Zhou Ping hurriedly put away the "Third Young Master's Sword" that had been turned over on the table. Just as he was about to take the list and rush to order the goods, a wisp of breeze blew across his cheek.
Zhou Ping was stunned.
For some reason, an unprecedented sense of foreboding surged into his heart. He didn't even have time to think, so he instinctively turned to look at the closed glass door.
"Who? Who is looking at me?"
After saying this, he was stunned for a moment, and a look of confusion appeared in his eyes...
At the same time, a blur of light and shadow was outlined from nothingness. In the dim light of dawn, the appearance could not be seen clearly. Only the outline of a human figure could be vaguely seen... He just passed through the closed glass store door, even though It was an extremely sensitive automatic door, and it didn't seem to notice his presence.
He stood lightly in front of the store, facing the cashier where Zhou Ping was, and was also stunned when he heard Zhou Ping's voice.
"You...can see me?"
Uncle Shang was shocked. Under the blurry light and shadow, his face was completely filled with shock.
You know, he just put his spiritual power through the [Eye of Time] and came here across the long river of time. Strictly speaking, what came here was just a ray of his gaze, invisible and qualityless... And the young man in front of him People can actually see their own existence?
"I mean no harm..." Uncle Shang said subconsciously, but then he thought that with only the power of his mind, he had no body at all, and he could not make a sound when he spoke.
Just as he hesitated, the young man behind the cashier spoke again.
"No malice?" Zhou Ping frowned slightly, his eyes under the peaked cap carefully looking at the blur of light and shadow. In his field of vision, a figure with gray temples was gradually becoming clearer...
"So, who are you?" he asked.
He could still hear himself speaking?
Uncle Shang was completely shocked. He was stunned for a long time and then said:
"I... my name is Wang Shang." He paused for a moment and carefully looked at the unreasonable young man in front of him, "What about you? What's your name?"
The moment this sentence was asked, the entire convenience store fell into a dead silence. The pale golden morning sun filled the ground. The two figures stared at each other at the same time. At this moment, Zhou Ping had not yet realized that the gears of his destiny had begun to slow down. Turn…
He was silent for a while and then spoke:
"Zhou Ping."
…
…
Zhou Ping’s extra episode is here!
It is said to be a Zhou Ping extra, but it is actually a long story with Zhou Ping as the main line. The whole story is probably tens of thousands of words (in fact, I originally wanted to write it longer, but Tomato's extra can only write a maximum of 100,000 words), so I finally decided to use it as the main line. Serial format update~
The update time is uncertain, but I will probably update a chapter every few days (or more than ten days). Each chapter is much longer than the previous one. I will definitely finish it all before I open the new book at the end of September.
In addition, because the golden finger of the new book has not been decided yet, the sequel part (about Lin Qiye entering the real world + meeting Ji Qianming + commemorating his return home + spoilers for the next book of golden finger) will be released last, so please stay tuned~ ~