The Underworld.
In the advanced cultivation chamber.
Because he was still serving as the captain of the Eighteenth Team, Jiang Lin had already left the cultivation chamber early.
As soon as he emerged, the Seven-Colored Egg, which had been waiting eagerly at the door all night, immediately pounced.
It was as if it couldn't wait to share this mission with its master.
'Master, Master, I'm back!'
As it spoke, it had the paper effigy step forward and take out the burlap sack, 'The troublesome ghost has also been captured.'
Jiang Lin nodded, 'Very good, no accidents, right?'
While speaking, he noticed that the live stream comments seemed a bit unusual.
According to human time, it was only five in the morning.
Yet, there were still a large number of viewers in the live stream.
Seeing him appear, they became exceptionally active.
"Streamer, streamer, you've finally appeared, sob sob..."
"Streamer, help!"
The vast majority of viewers in the live stream were on the verge of tears (๑′°︿°๑).
They had finally waited for the streamer.
Yesterday's stream was confusing.
Even when they lay in bed, they tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
Dark circles had appeared under their eyes.
"Confusing, I can't sleep qa q"
"Streamer, what happened yesterday? What did Master Egg talk about with them?"
Why did the Xu family trio react like that?
What could an infant do?
The viewers had thought of a hundred possibilities all night.
Sacrifice, having their luck tampered with...
But it all felt a bit too unreal, and if it were true, it would be too terrifying.
Wouldn't they also have to be careful?
Newborns, whether from a national perspective or a human perspective,
are the flowers of the future, the hope of humanity.
If the process of an infant's birth could be affected...
Further down, the viewers dared not think.
They were afraid that if they kept thinking, all of humanity would perish.
"Finally, I understand what it feels like to have one head and two big ones..."
"When my dad found out, he got up in the middle of the night and told me to stay by the live stream and wait for the answer."
...
Jiang Lin glanced at the barrage of comments and then at the seemingly agitated Seven-Colored Egg.
How did it cause such panic?
"What happened?" Jiang Lin asked.
The Seven-Colored Egg had been waiting for this question!
As soon as it returned to the Eighteenth Hall, it eagerly shared the entire mission process.
It still used the method of sharing through consciousness.
[System Prompt: Detectable information can be synchronized. Synchronization will occur in three seconds.
Note: The host can verbally cancel synchronization.]
Jiang Lin did not speak.
Now, the viewers who had been agonizing and unable to sleep could finally get their questions answered.
Half an hour later—
It was past five in the morning in the human world.
Amidst the crisp and melodious birdsong, another sound emerged.
—Viewers everywhere were crying like dogs.
Some, concerned about their families, cried only under their blankets.
Others, however, were completely unrestrained...
Or rather, they couldn't even bother to be considerate, and couldn't help but cry out to the heavens.
Tears pattered down.
"Wuwuwuwu, what a peerless good brother!"
"Nan Nan is my brother, no arguments accepted, wuwuwu..."
"Oh my god, it's too heartbreaking o(╥﹏╥)o"
They were wrong.
They shouldn't have come to gossip, shouldn't have guessed blindly.
Now, they had stayed up all night only to be fed a mouthful of broken glass.
It was too sharp!
Those with children or siblings at home hugged them even tighter.
Hugging them, they began to wail:
"Baby—"
"Brother, brother, wuwuwu—"
"Sister—"
...
The awakened child looked at their father, "Dad, what's wrong?"
The child's father continued to wail, "Baby, I'm so sad—"
The child glanced at the phone his father had placed aside and instantly understood.
Then, he raised his hand and slapped his own thigh, his eyes immediately welling up with tears.
"Dad, I'm sad too, wuwuwu..."
"Baby—"
"Dad—"
...
For a moment, the comment section was filled with weeping.
Some even called their good friends.
To share the experience.
"Streamer, we were wrong, wuwuwu, Master Egg, I misunderstood you."
"I never thought I'd have a day where I'd seek out suffering myself, ahhhh!"
...
Inside the Eighteenth Hall.
After sharing what he had seen and heard, the Seven-Colored Egg immediately asked, 'Master, Master, what do you think?'
Jiang Lin looked at it. What did he think?
He was thinking about Xu Nan's constitution.
To be able to reside in the bodies of twin brothers for over a decade in the form of a newborn spirit without disappearing was rare.
Although it was related to them being twins and the spirit and body being compatible,
it was also inseparable from Xu Nan's spiritual body's uniqueness.
Moreover,
Xu Nan had awakened his consciousness in the womb and could understand what people outside were saying.
He likely possessed innate wisdom.
But...
Jiang Lin looked at the ghost child brought back by the paper effigy.
What a pity.
...
In the live stream, after crying for a long time, some viewers finally recovered.
They began to analyze the whole incident.
Soon, they found the suspicious points.
"What was that voice all about? Was a ghost involved?"
"Yeah, yeah, brother is so good, why did it turn out like this? I don't believe it, wuwuwu (rivers of tears jpg.)"
"Streamer, streamer, why did Nan Nan become like this? Was there any external factor?"
It was not their fault for thinking this way.
Because in previous streams, they had seen similar things.
Evil spirits interfering was not a rare occurrence.
Seeing this question, Xu's father and son also held their breath, watching intently.
That's right, they were also watching.
After comforting Xu's mother to sleep, they had been watching the live stream.
They just wanted to know what would happen to their child/brother later.
Master Egg had left too quickly yesterday, and they hadn't had a chance to ask.
...
Jiang Lin finished looking at the ghost child and put it back.
He said to the Seven-Colored Egg, "You did very well. Its consciousness is affected now, so it's no longer Xu Nan."
The Seven-Colored Egg immediately glowed gold.
It happily spun around.
Beside it, the robot disguised as a ball also started spinning.
Paper effigy: ...?
There seemed to be no relevant command in its system.
After speaking to the Seven-Colored Egg, Jiang Lin looked at the live stream.
As expected, the comment section was filled with questions.
It is said that human progress lies in continuous questioning.
Therefore, after one question is resolved, another will arise.
To avoid causing widespread panic, Jiang Lin explained a little.
"There are many kinds of obsessions, there is hatred, there is love..."
"The desire to 'live' is also a form of obsession."
Didn't Xu Nan want to survive?
No, he did.
Throughout the entire process, although he never said he didn't want to die,
but he had to carefully time even the exchange of bodies with Ran Ran, which was also a way of suppressing his own greed?
Why not eat meat?
There was no meat to eat.
He knew very well that it was Ran Ran's body, and he was afraid that his use of it would cause any problems with Ran Ran's body.
Why not eat meat? There was no meat to eat.
Even with others' meat in front of him, he dared not touch it.
He had always exercised restraint.
Why did he want to live?
Because he had also envied.
"The connection between Xu Nan and Xu Ran weakened over time, not only because Xu Ran's yang energy increased with age.
But more importantly, Xu Nan's spiritual body was getting weaker and weaker."
Jiang Lin said slowly.
Without any cultivation or replenishment, this was an inevitable outcome.
Perhaps when Xu Nan's spiritual body was strong, he could still restrain himself, think of beautiful things.
Think of family, think of this beautiful world.
But,
when the spiritual body becomes too weak, it will instinctively crave strength, crave the hope of living.
And at this time,
Xu Nan's more than ten years of accumulated caution was enough to support his obsession with wanting to 'live'.
Thus, he transformed from a spiritual body into a ghost body.
Moreover, due to extreme weakness, his self-awareness could not occupy the dominant position at all.
Therefore, it evolved into its current state.
Perhaps, Xu Nan had struggled.
But he did not succeed.
...
(ps: The 'mouthful of broken glass' mentioned in this chapter is a metaphor, not literal. Do not imitate~❀)