Reborn in 1993, Dark Sea

Early the next morning, Xu Tianyou rushed to An Xiaohai's wooden house to see what was going on, but what he saw was quite strange:

On the living room floor, about a dozen talismans were pasted into a circle, and Su Pan, the youngest and most beautiful woman, was lying in the very center of the circle in a somewhat awkward position.

She must have been like this for quite some time now, to the point that her thin clothes were sticking to her body with sweat, while An Xiaohai was leisurely making tea by the sofa, not even glancing at the woman.

Xu Tianyou ruthlessly avoided the woman's pleading gaze and pulled An Xiaohai out of the wooden house.

"Hehehe..." Xu Tianyou couldn't help but laugh as he changed An Xiaohai's dressing.

"What are you laughing at?!" An Xiaohai asked with a straight face, but as soon as he finished asking, he couldn't help but laugh himself.

"Are you kidding me?! If you don't want her to serve you, just tell her to get lost. Why put her through all this trouble?"

"Why wouldn't it be that bad? Just because her man wants to mess with me, doesn't mean I can't mess with her? Have you ever thought about why Suban likes doing this kind of thing?"

"He's a pervert! A voyeur, or maybe... he's impotent, and since he can't use the three beautiful women he's keeping, he uses this method to satisfy his perverted psychology."

"It's not that simple..." An Xiaohai sighed softly, "This is a test."

"A test? What kind of test? What can it possibly reveal? Does it test whether a man is still virile?"

"No, he's testing our psychology."

Just as some people like to test someone's obedience by getting them drunk, Su Pan wanted to use women to probe what we were thinking.

"Is it really that amazing? I think you're overthinking it!"

"It's better to think more than less!" An Xiaohai took a deep breath. "Do you know why people like to pray to gods and Buddhas?"

"I haven't thought about this. Tell me about it."

"There are only a few reasons: faith, laziness, seeking comfort, and despair."

I won't go into details about faith; people with faith deserve respect, but this group is often the smallest.

Laziness is simply that I don't want to make things difficult for myself, so I might as well make things difficult for the gods and Buddhas. After all, incense and candles aren't expensive. I'll buy some and offer a prayer. If it works, I'll respect your boundless power; if it doesn't, then it's because you're ineffective, and it has nothing to do with me.

However, most people who pray to gods and Buddhas are seeking comfort.

Life is full of uncertainties, and uncertainty is a very unpleasant thing that makes our decisions risky.

For example, people are unsure whether studying hard will give them a bright future; they are unsure whether the person of the opposite sex in front of them is worth entrusting their life to; they are unsure whether today's investment will yield a sufficient return; they are unsure whether this step will lead to promotion and wealth, and so on.

Uncertainty is risk, and people inherently dislike risk.

Therefore, when people face uncertainty, they tend to try to find certainty in it, and praying to gods and Buddhas is a way of seeking certainty.

People believe that with the protection of gods and Buddhas, certainty can be increased, and things will be more likely to reach a definite outcome.

This is precisely why people who face more uncertainty in their daily lives are more likely to seek divine intervention, such as businesspeople and bureaucrats.

"You seem to have gone off-topic."

"Yes, it sounds like we've gone off on a tangent, but it's essentially the same thing."

Su Pan faces far more uncertainty every day than the average person. For him, the most uncertain thing is probably the human heart.

It's not his fault; living in such an environment, too many people have designs on him.

"I understand, so he wanted to use this method to probe people's hearts... but it seems a bit difficult."

"It is indeed difficult, but not as difficult as you might imagine. He doesn't actually need to know what the test subject is thinking. He only needs to know roughly what kind of person the test subject is."

If someone is immediately overcome with passion and rushes forward recklessly when faced with beautiful women, completely losing their ability to think, then they are likely a reckless person who is relatively easy to control and easy to see through.

If the test subject can remain rational and completely unmoved, it indicates that this person is likely to have a strong will and will be relatively difficult to control.

"Wouldn't that be too hasty? And isn't he afraid of being outmaneuvered?"

"Do you think Suban would care whether he was being arbitrary? What's wrong with playing along? Those women are just tools for him to test people's hearts. He won't take them seriously, otherwise he wouldn't have made them do such a thing."

Moreover, God, we often overestimate ourselves and always think we're hiding our true selves well.

But in reality, we've likely already been seen through, especially by women with whom we've had intimate contact; the chances of them seeing through us are even greater.

"You mean to say that the women around him are spies he deliberately cultivated?"

"Of course, what do you think?"

There's a saying in psychology that clothes not only cover the body, but also the soul. The less clothing you wear, the more likely your soul is to be exposed.

Therefore, business people often prefer to talk business in saunas, where everyone is completely open and honest, naturally leading to greater frankness than usual.

"Aren't you afraid of hiding weapons when you go to a sauna to discuss business?"

"That's part of the reason, but it's mostly psychological, which is just something many people overlook."

"Haha, you rascal, I still think you're overthinking it. You're exhausting yourself!"

"Yes, it's tiring, but being tired is better than dying without knowing why."

"That's true... I'm very curious, how did you get that beautiful woman to cooperate with your ritual?"

"I first showed her a strong interest, then made an excuse that I saw something unclean on her body, and then I had her lie there and drew a circle of talismans to help suppress the evil spirits on her body."

"And you just let her lie there in that position all night? And you? You slept in the room?"

"What else can we do? Are we supposed to just pose with her?"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Xu Tianyou laughed so hard he almost fell over: "I really can't outsmart you. I bet Su Pan is almost depressed by now. Not only did he not figure out what kind of person you are, but he also got himself into a mess."

This guy is probably wondering if what you said is true. If it is, then he's in trouble. He's definitely been messing around with that woman a lot, and now he's doomed. That woman is possessed by evil spirits! Haha…”

"Yes, he would rather believe it exists. I think he believes in these things. His piety towards that golden Buddha yesterday wasn't entirely feigned."

"Then wouldn't you have ruined that woman's life?"

"How so?"

"What if he kills that woman?"

"That's your idea. If it were Su Pan, he would only keep that woman well to use her to trick people, or find a way to give her to his enemy."

"That just ruined her life."

"I'm sorry, I was just trying to protect myself. What I did won't change her current situation."

"I was just kidding, why are you taking it so seriously..."

"Because I don't want you to think I'm a bad person."

"What do I care whether you're a good person or a bad person? I don't care."

"Aren't you afraid I'll get you?"

"Tch~ By the way, your talisman drawing skills are pretty good. They look decent. Where did you learn them?"

"My mom asks me for a lot of these things every year. If I look at them, I can learn to draw them."

"Oh, it's that simple!" Xu Tianyou rolled his eyes. "You actually opened the talisman your mother got for you? That's outrageous!"

"Hey, are you done yet? Why did it take you so long today?"

"I have to clean you up! You can leave it open at sea, but it's humid and hot here, and the sweat will ruin the medicine. You can't take a shower!"

Honestly, I don't mind that you smell bad, and you complain that I'm too slow! Why don't I call over that woman with the evil spirit attached to her and have her help you?

"Get lost, hurry up and finish it, then we'll leave today."

"So urgent?"

"I've seen everything I need to see here. I'm not looking for anything or anyone. I'm not going to waste my time here."

"Okay... why didn't you explain the principle behind desperate people praying to gods and Buddhas? Were you afraid it would trigger bad memories for me?"

You don't need to do this, I'm not that fragile.

I did pray to all the gods and Buddhas, begging them to return my mother to me, but it was no use, absolutely no use. However, I later realized that she had never actually left me; she must have been hiding somewhere, secretly watching over me and guiding me.

So what you just said is all true, even though I don't want to admit it.

"It's not that I'm afraid of touching your memories; I'd rather keep touching those memories so that you'll get used to the pain and become stronger."

The more you avoid touching it, the more it indicates that the wound has not yet healed.

"Oh, so that's what you were thinking. No wonder you always seem to be intentionally or unintentionally rubbing salt in my wounds. You cruel person!"

……

Xu Tianyou finally finished changing An Xiaohai's dressing. While packing up his things, he leaned closer to observe An Xiaohai's expression: "Since you don't say you're desperate not because you're afraid of touching me, then you're afraid of touching others."

But there's no one else here besides you and me. Does that mean you also have moments of despair? ...That shouldn't be the case. What you've been through shouldn't have made you despair.

You're definitely hiding something from me. Come on, let's gossip. I really want to know what could possibly make our Hai-ge feel so hopeless.

"Okay, come closer, I'll whisper it to you."

"Give me a break! You want me to get closer so you can punch me, right? I'm not stupid!"

"Hmm, you're such a clever little devil!"

-------

After lunch, Xu Tianyou took his leave. Su Pan didn't make things difficult for him at all, and his attitude towards An Xiaohai was even more respectful than yesterday.

Su Pan certainly wouldn't personally accompany An Xiaohai and the others to Manchester; instead, he sent them a ten-person team.

Su Pan gave a brief introduction to the ten people, and An Xiaohai was quite satisfied, especially their leader, a guy named Ban Kun, who was obviously not simple.

To make An Xiaohai feel that the two million US dollars hadn't been wasted, Su Pan arranged for a helicopter to take them there.

Originally, they were supposed to fly directly to Parthia, but Lai Donglin and Kunji were still in Manchester, and Yeren and the others were also heading to Manchester, so their first stop was still Manchester.

Su Pan escorted them onto the helicopter, and even after the helicopter had flown far away, An Xiaohai's slightly furrowed brows remained furrowed.

"What's wrong with me? I feel like I've forgotten something... Is it because I'm overusing my brain?... "

Inside the cabin, the beautiful woman adorned with spider lily ornaments was on the verge of tears. She seemed to have been forgotten: Could she still move?