A Manual for Surviving a Weird World

Chapter 382 The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, Part Three
The captain of the law enforcement team awoke from his slumber, the music no longer echoing in his ears; the last two requiems in the music box had finished playing.

He suddenly opened his eyes, sat up, and a simple, unpretentious single hospital room came into view. The soldier guarding the bed saw that he had woken up and got up to say, "Captain, you're awake?"

"How's the coward?" The enforcement captain threw back the covers, got up, and asked, "Has it been contained? Or..."

Or did it fail?
"Don't worry, Captain. The city's public security bureau has sent people over, and the coward has been taken into custody."

The soldier beside the bed handed him a coat and continued, "It is said that the person sent by the Administration underwent minimally invasive neurosurgery, removing part of the brain tissue related to the emotion of 'fear'. His damaged brain will never produce any fear, making him a person without fear."

The enforcement captain took the coat and nodded thoughtfully: "Only someone like this can successfully contain the [Coward]. This decision was correct."

After dressing neatly and packing their belongings, the law enforcement captain asked again, "What's the situation in Yundu City right now? Which area is most in need of manpower?"

“We’re short-handed everywhere, Captain,” the soldier replied. “There are ghost stories everywhere, and rumors are flying all over the internet. We can’t keep up with them. The whole city is in a panic.”

"As expected." The enforcement captain nodded, took out his work-use machine, logged into the upgraded network, and checked the current situation in Yundu:

A "ghost alley" has appeared in a village within the new urban district, with no way out; law enforcement officers who went in to investigate have now disappeared without a trace.

Several unexplained deaths of employees have occurred in an office building in the old city area. Their deaths appear to be completely random, with no discernible pattern found.

A large amount of paper money inexplicably appeared in the mall, and anyone who picked it up out of curiosity began to age prematurely, the degree of aging seemingly related to the face value of the paper money...

One after another, these were all bizarre events that suddenly appeared in Yundu City today. He had never seen anything like this since joining the law enforcement team.

These assassins, trained specifically to contain the supernatural, used to encounter a real ghost once every few months or even years. Now, however, more than a dozen incidents have occurred in a single day, making the entire city of Yundu feel eerily ghostly, resembling a ghost town.

If even Yundu and Lanshiwendu are like this, what about the other cities in Kyushu?
The enforcement captain dared not think too much about it; the so-called "parade of a hundred ghosts at night" was nothing more than this.

"What exactly happened today..." The law enforcement captain turned off his phone, put it in his pocket, and stepped out of the ward: "Let's go, let's go check out that office building where we can't find a pattern to the deaths."

The two men's movements were quickly uploaded to the cloud via the upgraded network, becoming an insignificant piece of data that Lan Shiwen could only watch calmly.

The red death toll and the black emergency alert flickered slightly on the screen. Lan Shiwen was neither happy nor sad, just somewhat surprised.

“That office building… there shouldn’t have been any strange incidents before.” Lan Shiwen’s eyes flickered slightly, as if he was deep in thought.

If Ning Zhe were here, he would immediately understand that when Lan Shiwen said "before," he was not referring to yesterday, but rather to "the last cycle of reincarnation."

The office building hadn't experienced any strange events in the previous cycle, but now it was haunted. This was something Lan Shiwen hadn't anticipated; it was an uncontrollable variable in what should have been a predetermined historical process.

"Fortunately, it's still under control." Lan Shiwen nodded slightly and dispatched another team of assassins to the office building to investigate the situation. The one leading the team was the fearless ascendant who had just mastered the [Coward].

As an ascendant possessing the [Death Return] ability, no one understands the butterfly effect better than Lan Shiwen. Therefore, he always leaves ample redundancy in his actions and plans, making it easy for him to deal with one or two variables.

“In this turbid and evil world, a hundred ghosts roam at night, and the wrathful creatures launch a counterattack before death. The number of people who have died because of this is probably countless.” A thin, withered old man with white hair, wearing a scholar’s ​​robe, came to the side. It was Ji Bochang.

"Given your personality, how could you just sit by and watch something like this happen?" Ji Bochang asked, somewhat surprised.

Lan Shiwen shook his head: "This is already the best possible outcome."

The current abyss-like situation was the result of countless attempts he had made to exhaustively describe the scenario with the least impact and the fewest deaths.

"If even you say so, then it's probably true." Ji Bochang shook his head slightly, not saying anything more about it, and changed the subject: "But that Ning Zhe... is that his name? I never thought he could actually push Fenwu to this extent. Is he some old monster who has survived from ancient times?"

"Who knows?" Lan Shiwen shrugged. "Besides, you're wrong about one thing. The current situation of a hundred ghosts walking at night might not be Fenwu's last stand. It could be a smokescreen for him to escape." "What!?" Ji Bochang's face darkened. "How is that possible?! I admit that Fenwu is indeed very strong, strong enough to make people despair, but even the most despairing Ascended One is still just an Ascended One, not a god."

As long as one is an ascendant, one cannot escape the constraints of the core rules. Once the core rules are deciphered, all that is left for that ascendant is death.

This is the inescapable fate of all ascendants who control demons.

"What if I told you that Fenwu has already escaped?" Lan Shiwen said softly, with a half-smile.

"What did you say?!" Ji Bochang was even more shocked: "How could he? This doesn't make sense, there's simply no such possibility..."

Lan Shiwen ignored the old man and continued, “Everyone says that Fenwu has gone the furthest on the road to promotion, that he is the closest to the end of this thorny path… You’ve been saying that for decades.”

"After decades, is it possible that he is not 'closest' to the finish line, but has already reached it?"

Upon hearing this, it was clear that he was not speaking without reason. Ji Bochang composed himself, his eyes becoming deep and serene, and asked softly, "What is the end of the path to promotion?"

“It’s a closed loop,” Lan Shiwen said. “A closed loop of rules.”

“Every strange rule has its unique function and flaws, as you and I both know.”

“Mastering new mysteries to make up for old flaws, then new mysteries come with new flaws, so there is a need to master even newer mysteries to make up for them. This cycle repeats itself, spiraling upwards, which is what we call the ‘Path of Ascension’.”

"So, does this spiraling, thorny path ever end?"

“Fenwu answered me with his actions—yes.”

That end is called the "closed loop".

Lan Shiwen put down the mouse, sat down in his chair, stretched, and a dangerous smile curled at the corner of his mouth. He said:

"Let's assume an absolutely ideal situation:"

There is a ghost named A whose ability is to conjure up an unlimited supply of Coca-Cola out of thin air. The side effect is that he must drink a bottle of Fanta every day or he will die.

There is another ghost, designated B, whose ability is to conjure up an unlimited supply of Fanta out of thin air. The side effect is that he must drink a can of Mirinda every day, or he will die.

There's another ghost, designated C. Its ability is to conjure an infinite amount of Mirinda out of thin air, but the side effect is that it must drink a can of Coca-Cola every day, or it will die.

"—When an Ascended One simultaneously controls the three demons, A, B, and C, what side effects will he suffer? What flaws will he bear?"

Lan Shiwen said quietly, "The answer is that there are no flaws. The three rules have formed a closed loop. The flaw of A is made up for by B, the flaw of B is made up for by C, and the flaw of C is made up for by A. They are interlocked and form a tight closed loop system. There are no flaws at all."

"Of course, the reality is far more complicated than I described. There is no such thing as an ideal, perfect situation in the world. It is by no means easy to form this closed loop and achieve its own completion. The number of ghosts that form the closed loop is not necessarily 3. It could be 4? 5? Or simply only 2? Anything is possible."

"But in short, Fenwu has likely already completed his own closed loop. Even if Ning Zhe sees through his core rules, he may not necessarily face any life-or-death crisis..."

"A perfect ascendant who has completed his own closed loop can use all the rules he controls without restraint and without bearing any side effects. He truly holds the authority of a god without any risk of falling. What difference is there between such a person and a god?"

"So I gave such a perfect person a code name—[Ouroboros]."

Fenwu is an ouroboros, a snake that hides in the shadows and silently devours its own tail.

(End of this chapter)