A Manual for Surviving a Weird World

Chapter 401 The Human Instrumentality Project
Bai Zhi rested one hand on the windowsill, gazing out at the distant rice paddies where green and yellow met. The weather in Yundu was cold, and the rice was ripening later than in previous years.

A gentle breeze carried a sweet, refreshing scent through the air, ruffling the hair around the girl's ears. Bai Zhi was dozing off when suddenly the soft rustling of fabric came from inside the carriage—her mother had woken up.

"What happened again?" Bai Zhi turned around and asked.

"No, it's Ning Zhe who's come out." Feng Yushu pushed open the car door, switched to the driver's seat, started the car, and drove forward along the wall. After a while, two figures, one tall and one short, appeared in front of her.

The shorter one was Plumeria, dressed in a black dress, and the taller one was Ning Zhe, but he was also holding another person in his arms. The small one looked to be only eleven or twelve years old, and it was Yin Lishang, who had lost the [Plague God].

Feng Yushu stopped the car, and Plumeria opened the car door first so that Ning Zhe could put the unconscious Yin Lishang in the back seat next to Bai Zhi.

"Who is she...?" Bai Zhi looked puzzled.

“A very special guy, maybe he can solve some of my doubts, but that’s a matter for the future.” Ning Zhe also sat down in the back seat, sandwiching Yin Lishang between him and Bai Zhi. Plumeria reluctantly went to the passenger seat. Feng Yushu lightly stepped on the gas and began to return along the same route they had come from.

The vehicle drove smoothly. Bai Zhi closed the car window and looked at Yin Lishang's face with some curiosity. After a long time, she finally spoke and said, "This child is so strange."

"It is strange," Ning Zhe replied casually, without intending to say anything more.

"Did you come here just to bring her out of the quarantine area?" Bai Zhi asked again.

"I suppose so," Ning Zhe said casually.

His long journey to Yanglao Village was not merely to provide a new home for the young girl, but his true intentions were not something he could tell Bai Zhi, or rather, not something he could tell anyone.

Seeing Ning Zhe's perfunctory attitude, Bai Zhi didn't ask any more questions, but she was still quite curious about this sickly little girl. Even Bai Zhi herself didn't know where this inexplicable curiosity came from.

Perhaps in some ways, the two of them can be considered the same kind.

Ning Zhe leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes, and pondered the current situation:
"After losing the Plague God, Yin Lishang fell into an unconscious coma. Apart from her body's instinctive nerve reactions, she no longer responded to any external stimuli. I tried to use the power of the Great Evil to enter her mind, but it was empty, there was nothing there."

"Yin Lishang's current state is just like that of Plumeria when Fenwu erased her memories. Her self-awareness has been completely wiped out, turning her into an empty shell without a soul."

"Or it should be explained this way—her soul is the [Plague God]."

As Plumeria used the rules of the Gambler to extract the Plague God from Yin Lishang's body, her self-awareness and all her memories were also extracted along with it, leaving only a pale, unconscious body.

This was not the outcome Ning Zhe had hoped for, because it foreshadowed a cruel reality:

“A ghost fetus is not an innate ability that resides in a person.”

"Instead, it was a ghost that was born into this world using a human body."

At this point, even the last vestige of possibility that Lan Shiwen and Bai Zhi might be human had vanished. Ning Zhe personally verified this fact, proving that the ghost fetus was indeed a ghost in human skin, and absolutely could not be human.

Back in Yundu, Feng Yushu followed Ning Zhe's instructions and drove all the way to the embassy. This was the only consulate of Europe in Yunzhou and the safest place Ning Zhe could find at the moment.

Whether it's Van Dyke or Proumelia Fremmislet, the status of a Europa nobleman is very useful here.

Ning Zhe switched to the identity of Van Dyke and entered the consulate with Plumeria. He had a brief chat with the military attaché, who was also his cousin, Edie Dyke. Afterward, he left Bai Zhi, who was unable to move, and Yin Lishang, who was unconscious, there for the care of the consulate maids.

Leaving Plumeria downstairs to keep an eye on things, Ning Zhe led Feng Yushu to a guest room on the second floor of the embassy and locked the door from the inside.

"Ning Zhe?" Feng Yushu glanced back at the locked door, somewhat puzzled. "You...do you have something to say to me?"

“You could say that, but you’d better be mentally prepared.” Ning Zhe strolled over to the coffee table and sat down, saying calmly, “What I’m about to say is very important and revolutionary for you. If you’re not mentally prepared beforehand, I’m afraid you’ll overreact.”

"No, it won't happen." Feng Yushu shook her head with a wry smile, gathered her skirt and sat down opposite Ning Zhe. After experiencing so much during this time, there was very little that she couldn't accept.

"That would be best." Ning Zhe poured a glass of water for himself and his aunt, and said softly, "Do you remember how you got pregnant with Bai Zhi?"

"I..." Feng Yushu looked embarrassed. What happened back then was not very honorable, and she was ashamed to talk about it, especially in front of Ning Zhe.

However, Ning Zhe's voice seemed to possess a special magic, a kind of hidden power, which made Feng Yushu, who heard his words, involuntarily begin to recall her past experiences. Her life experiences were laid out in her mind one by one, without any detail.

As if a keyword had been entered to trigger associations, or as if a switch had been turned on, a long-standing fog in her mind was slowly dissipating, revealing the true nature of things.

"Do you remember how you got pregnant with Baizhi?"

Ning Zhe's voice still echoed in her skull. Feng Yushu trembled as she raised her hand to touch her cheek. Her palm was damp, and tears were streaming down her face without her realizing it.

“I…Azhi, she…” Feng Yushu cried as she wiped her eyes, trying to see Ning Zhe’s face clearly, but all she could see was a vision blurred by tears.

The reaction was smaller than expected. Ning Zhe picked up his water glass, took a sip, and thought to himself.

Based on his understanding of Feng Yushu, he knew that this woman was gentle and did not like to compete; she only appeared exceptionally strong because of her daughter.

Her daughter, Bai Zhi, can be said to be the spiritual pillar that Feng Yushu has been living to this day, and after nearly twenty years, she has formed a habit of thinking about the world.

Once a person's spiritual pillar is broken, they may become depressed, despondent, or even commit suicide. Throughout history, there have been many martyrs who committed suicide because of the collapse of their faith.

“Ning Zhe…A Zhi…” Feng Yushu’s voice trembled, she covered her face with her hands and sobbed uncontrollably.

(End of this chapter)