Hidden moth

Chapter 58 The Way of Inheritance

Being a hidden moth is an identity that can be passed down.

The way each moth uses its abilities and the extent of its exploration of the moth space are different, and the experience gained from the previous generation of moths is also very important.

While in the detention center, Zhou Du passed the identity of Yin Mo to Huang Cankui, Huang Si's father. They were also childhood friends, growing up together, and their relationship was a bit like that of He Kao and Huang Xiaopang today.

Huang Xiaopang didn't know the specific process. What he knew was what his father told him.

At that time, Huang Cankui was not the director of the detention center, but just a staff member. It is said that Zhou Du seemed to know that his life was coming to an end and told him his biggest secret.

Zhou Du also asked Huang Cankui to take care of his family, especially his young son.

So later on, Huang Xiaopang's family took good care of He Kao, and even made a bunk bed in Xiaopang's bedroom, leaving a bed for He Kao.

Zhou Du was imprisoned when he died, and He Kao was only five years old. He definitely had no way of passing the identity of Yin E to his son, so he could only pass it on to his childhood friend Huang Cankui.

As for what else he told Huang Cankui, such as passing Yin Mo's identity to He Kao in the future, or letting Huang Cankui do something else, Director Huang did not tell Xiaopang later.

Maybe yes, maybe not. When Huang Xiaopang asked about it, Huang Cankui avoided the topic on the pretext of limited time.

In short, Huang Cankui told his son to protect He Kao in everything in the future, because their family owed a huge favor to He Kao's father.

The so-called favor does not only refer to the inheritance of Yin Mo's identity. Before this, Zhou Du had helped Huang Cankui a lot, even saving his life, but Huang Cankui did not elaborate on this.

As for the inheritance method of the hidden moth, it can also be said to be a kind of inheritance ceremony. Huang Xiaopang has experienced it personally. It has both formal requirements and necessary inheritance content.

Formally speaking, it has two steps:

First, put your own hidden moth thing together with the hidden moth thing selected by the inheritor. The specific method is to use a circle to trap it. It doesn’t matter who traps whose.

Second, the Hidden Moth inheritance ceremony must be carried out in the real world. The Hidden Moth must tell its successor that it has left the location of the Hidden Moth portal in the real world.

Once the hidden moth tells the recipient the location of the portal it left behind, it means that the inheritance ceremony is complete.

When the inheritor enters the Hidden Moth world through the portal left by the previous Hidden Moth, it will mark the birth of a new Hidden Moth.

As for the content, the Yin Moth must formally inform the recipient of its identity and the abilities that this identity possesses. This is necessary content, and from the perspective of completing the inheritance, only this much is needed.

If the two have a good relationship, Yin E can also introduce more information to the recipient of the inheritance, including various personal experiences, such as many of the words that Huang Xiaopang said to He Kao at this moment.

What happens if the Hidden Moth dies before passing on its identity to the next person? The Hidden Moth will not disappear; there will always be another person who automatically inherits the Hidden Moth's identity.

No one can explain the pattern. Maybe this person got something from the hidden moth left behind by the previous one, or maybe it was some inexplicable opportunity. In short, it was as if the hidden moth had a spirit and found a new host.

This is how Zhou Du became a hidden moth. Huang Cankui did not tell his son much about the specific process, perhaps Zhou Du did not tell him in detail.

Zhou Du just said that when he was a child, he picked up something on the river bank, and then he seemed to be called by something... Finally, he found the portal to the Hidden Moth Space in the depths of Baima Mountain, and thus became a Hidden Moth.

That's why Huang Xiaopang said that the things belonging to the Hidden Moth cannot be taken away, and it would be useless if someone else took them. If someone killed the Hidden Moth, more or less after a period of time, another Hidden Moth would appear in the world.

But one thing is certain: if you kill a Hidden Moth and take its belongings, you will not become a Hidden Moth. Perhaps this is because Hidden Moths are spiritual and will not choose their enemies.

Therefore, there are two ways of inheriting the Yin Mo: natural inheritance and designated inheritance. Zhou Du's becoming the Yin Mo was a natural inheritance. When he passed it on to Huang Cankui, it was a designated inheritance according to the ritual requirements.

There is also a small problem, that is, the designated inheritance ceremony may fail, which means that the inheritor will not be recognized by the Hidden Moth Space, but Huang Cankui and his son have not encountered this situation.

Zhou Du hadn't experienced the designated inheritance ceremony, so how did he know its form and content? According to him, the moment he became a Hidden Moth, he seemed to have experienced such a ceremony in his mind, a process that seemed both real and illusory.

Huang Cankui did not have the same experience as Zhou Du. The inheritance rituals he knew were taught by Zhou Du, and he also taught his son Huang Si the same way.

After the inheritance ceremony is completed, the original hidden moth will lose its ability to be a hidden moth, and all memories of being a hidden moth will disappear, and it will become an ordinary person in the world again.

After introducing this, Huang Xiaopang pointed in the direction of the secret room and said, "The portal to the Hidden Moth Space, I will stay in the secret room of your house. Now I will tell you that the ritual is complete."

He Kao stood up with his hands on the table. "What? I was halfway through my words, and the ceremony is already over! Is it so sloppy?"

Huang Xiaopang smiled bitterly and said, "Yes, I did it on purpose. Now you have received the inheritance. When you can enter the Hidden Moth Space, you will become a true Hidden Moth."

He Kao: “Why?”

Huang Xiaopang: "Don't you want to?"

He Kao: "You didn't even ask me if I was willing! I admit that if you had asked me in advance, I wouldn't have refused, but you have to make it clear, right?"

Huang Xiaopang: "If you don't want to, it's very simple to refuse this identity. After you officially become a Hidden Moth, find someone else and pass on the Hidden Moth identity to him, just like I did just now."

He Kao: "I just want to ask why—why me?"

Huang Xiaopang lowered his head and said, "I've always believed that your father should have asked my father to pass on the identity of Hidden Moth to you in the future.

I asked this question back then, asking my dad if it was true. My dad lowered his head and avoided looking at me. He didn't deny it, but repeatedly emphasized that time was limited and asked me not to ask any more questions.

He Kao: "Just like you are now?"

Huang Xiaopang: "So you have to call me godfather."

"You..." He Kao didn't know what to say and his words were choked back for a moment.

Huang Xiaopang lowered his head again and said, "I was already eighteen years old at the time, an adult. How could I not have guessed after seeing my dad's reaction?
But his condition was already very serious at that time. He told me all this while lying on the hospital bed. At this point, the ceremony was completed and he passed the identity of the Hidden Moth to me.

I thought, once I became a Hidden Moth, I'd find a chance to pass on the Hidden Moth identity to you. But once I actually became a Hidden Moth, it felt so wonderful, I was a little reluctant to give it up, and I kept wanting to play for a few more days. The longer I held the Hidden Moth identity, the more reluctant I became, and at the same time, the more afraid I became. All these years as a Hidden Moth, I didn't care about anything, I wasn't afraid of anything. Anyway, no matter what, I could live a happy life.

I can no longer imagine how I would live if I lost my ability as a moth and the memories associated with my moth identity, and became an ordinary person again."

He Kao: "So you changed your mind today?"

Huang Xiaopang raised his head, his voice trembling slightly: "Because if I don't do this, I'm afraid I will really die, and I don't want to die!
A while ago, I met an older sister on the street. She must be really capable. When she saw my bracelet at first sight, she said it was a blood-sucking evil object and that carrying it for a long time would be fatal.

I don't know if she could tell it was a Hidden Moth thing, but she definitely saw that my health was not good and that it was related to this thing."

He Kao: "Will using the power of the hidden moth harm the body?"

Zhou Du was only 32 years old when he died, which was considered a premature death. Huang Cankui lived to be 51 years old, which was not considered a long life.

In that recorded conversation, Peng Xian also speculated that using the hidden moth's ability would consume a person's qi, blood, and essence, that is, vitality, thus leading to a short life.

Huang Xiaopang: "Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to harm you. Using the hidden moth's ability does consume some energy. Although I don't know what it consumes, I have a feeling it. It might be the vitality mentioned in the novel.

My father has summed up his experience and said that one should not enter or exit the hidden moth space more than three times in a day.

If you enter and exit the Hidden Moth Space three times in one day, it is best not to use the Hidden Moth ability again within a month and try to replenish your body's energy.

People have the ability to recover, and even minor injuries can heal, but frequent injuries are bad. According to my father, he usually uses his ability at most once every two weeks, which should be based on his own physical experience.

As for entering and exiting the Hidden Moth Space three times in one day, that is for extremely extreme circumstances.

People say that drinking Coke is bad for your health, but drinking a bottle occasionally is okay. But if someone drinks boxes of Coke every day, there will definitely be problems... That's how I understand it.

I suspect my father had long intended to pass on the hidden moth to me, so he always told me since I was little that I should pay attention to nutrition, eat more nutritious food, and keep my body healthy..."

He Kao thought to himself that the experience summarized by Director Huang might make some sense and be useful, but it might not be accurate. As long as the ability of the hidden moth is used, there must be some consumption, otherwise he would not have died so early.

But he didn't say this out loud, he just said, "So you've been so fat since you were a kid!"

Huang Xiaopang: "After I became a hidden moth, I understood my father's intention, but I was also afraid. Regardless of whether it was useful or not, I still paid attention to supplementing my nutrition, so I seemed to be very greedy.

I've been using my stealth moth ability too many times lately, especially tonight. If there were a monitoring device that could show whether the number of uses exceeded the limit, then I'd definitely be maxed out by now.

I have a feeling that I can no longer use the power of the Hidden Moth, otherwise I will definitely die! But this is my personality. As long as I am still the Hidden Moth, I will always be unable to hold back. It is better to just..."

He Kao: "Why not just give yourself a knife and cut off the root of your troubles?"

Fatty Huang: "Don't say it so harshly... That's pretty much what I mean."

He Kao: "The ritual has been completed. According to you, you will forget the memories related to your identity as Hidden Moth, but I see that you still remember it very clearly now."

Huang Xiaopang: "It's not that I forget it all at once. I can still remember it now, but when I wake up, I'll have forgotten everything. My father was like that back then, and he passed away six months later.

Unless I never sleep again and never pass out, I'll forget a lot of things when I wake up tomorrow morning. And human consciousness is amazing; it'll automatically fill in a lot of gaps based on other memories.

If I wake up tomorrow, you'll know what happened... I hope I can wake up."

He Kao's tone became serious: "Are you scared now?"

Huang Xiaopang: "Yeah, I'm scared. The more I think about it, the more uneasy I feel. I'm afraid I won't wake up tomorrow, and even if I do, I might not live long! But I won't be scared tomorrow, because I've forgotten. So I better go to sleep quickly."

I couldn't see He Kao's expression in the darkness, but I heard him ask, "Do you have anything else to say before we go to bed?"

Huang Xiaopang: "From now on, you will be Yin Moth. Please take good care of my mother, take good care of Xiaoshan, and if possible, take good care of me too. I have always protected you. If I can survive, I have to..."

He Kao interrupted him and said, "Wait a minute! Who were you talking about just now? Whether you say it or not, I will definitely take good care of Mother Chen, but what's going on with Xiaoshan? Why did you mention her specifically?"

Huang Xiaopang's eyes dodged as he said, "I just thought of it and mentioned it casually. We grew up together... And, you have to take good care of President E too.

We are all sorry for what happened today... Never mind, I don't need to tell you this. You are the best at taking care of people. I think you have done your best to take good care of Ms. E."

He Kao: "Don't interrupt, there must be something you haven't told me! It's already this late, just tell me the truth, otherwise how can I protect you in the future?"

Huang Xiaopang seemed to grit his teeth and finally decided to confess: "Then I'll tell you. Anyway, I'll forget it tomorrow and won't remember it anymore. Guess what I did the first time I used the stealth moth ability?"

He Kao: "Did you peek at Xiaoshan taking a bath?"

Huang Xiaopang was surprised and said, "How did you guess it right so quickly?"

He Kao couldn't help but slap himself: "What a bad mouth I have!" He stared at Xiaopang, not knowing what to say. In this situation, he couldn't just beat him up.

Huang Xiaopang whispered, "I was young then, ignorant, and just curious... I always suspect she noticed me, but even if she did, she would definitely think it was an illusion."

He Kao: "How small?"

Huang Xiaopang: "I just told you, when I turned eighteen, I was a freshman in college."

"You're not young anymore, you're almost nineteen. You... never mind. I'll deal with you after today!"

He Kao hesitated for a moment before asking, "I have one last question. From what you just said, I'm only a reserve member of the Hidden Moth Corps right now?"

**
(End of this chapter)