The North American Gourmet Demon Handbook

"Well, yes! The old man looks so pitiful! Does Li Shanze want Ella to help heal him?" Ella asked generously, with a little pride on her face.

"Wait, you can heal the wounds of the soul? Why didn't you tell me before?" Li Shanze was shocked. "Why couldn't you do anything when Xia Li was injured before?"

288 Treatment and Cost

Li Shanze was referring to the time when he accidentally said the word "China" on the plane, causing Xia Li to suffer mental trauma and even lose her memory for a day.

"Because this kind of repair is not without cost. Charlie's spirit was protected by Buchaska's divine fragments before, and she was not seriously injured." The elf Ella's answer was exactly the same as before.

"Price?" Li Shanze muttered noncommittally.

Then, Li Shanze turned his gaze to the corner and looked at the weak and dull Chinese old man.

He curled up there, like a candle in the wind, which could go out at any time.

Even his whimpering had become barely audible, and only an occasional tremor proved that he was still alive.

"What about him?" Li Shanze pointed at the old man and said in a low voice, "In his current state, is there any hope? Can the repair you mentioned restore him to normal? At what cost?"

Ella's little face became a little solemn. She flew to the old man and brushed her small palm over him in the air, as if feeling something.

After a moment, the elf became dejected: "Ah, this won't do. It seems his life and soul can no longer afford the price. Even if he can regain his sanity, I'm afraid he won't live for a few days..."

At this moment, the old Chinese man who was originally curled up in a ball and lifeless suddenly trembled slightly.

His cloudy eyes slowly and with difficulty opened a crack, and although they were still blurred, they seemed to catch Ella's words. His cracked lips moved, and he uttered a few unclear syllables, like the rustling of dead leaves in the wind.

The old man used all his strength, raised a skinny hand, and pointed tremblingly at Ella, then at himself. Miraculously, a faint light flashed in his cloudy eyes. It was the desire to survive and the obsession with staying awake.

"I... I..." A hoarse, grinding sound came from his throat, and every word seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of his life, "I... want to... wake up..."

He struggled, using up his last bit of strength. Although his voice was weak, it was filled with an unquestionable firmness.

"I've been confused for decades... I can hardly remember anything..." The old man gasped, a turbid tear sliding down the corner of his eye. That was the last clarity and sorrow in his life. "I want to be clear-headed for one last time before I die..."

The old Chinese man suddenly spoke, which stunned Li Shanze and Ella.

Neither of them expected that this confused-looking old Chinese man could actually see Ella and hear the conversation between Li Shanze and Ella.

"Old man, can you see me?" Ella flapped her wings curiously and asked softly.

Her little face was full of surprise, and her ruby ​​eyes were wide open.

However, the old man did not answer Ella's question. He first stared at Ella, then, as if he understood who was in charge here, turned his head and stared at Li Shanze.

In those cloudy eyes, a near-mad obsession burned at this moment. He seemed to be unable to hear other voices, all his consciousness focused on that single wish.

"Please... please..." He spoke again, his voice even hoarser than before, each word seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of his throat, "Let me... die... soberly..."

His body was shaking violently, and his skinny arms were raised again, pointing to his head, and then dropped weakly.

It was a desperate plea. He didn't want to reach the end in chaos. He wanted to find himself in the last moment of his life, even if it was only for a moment of clarity.

"I... I don't want to... just go away... without knowing anything..." The old man spoke intermittently, tears mixed with saliva flowing down his shriveled cheeks.

"Let me... let me know... who I am... what I have done... even... even for just one minute..."

His breathing became rapid and weak, and every gasp was like a countdown to his death. He used up all his strength to express this one and last wish.

He would rather use his remaining life in exchange for that brief but precious lucidity to face the forgotten and devastated past, and then greet death soberly.

Since the old man asked for it, Li Shanze nodded slowly under Ella's inquiring gaze.

"Okay, Ella, you come and heal him. At least we can write his name on the monument when we erect it."

As soon as Li Shanze finished speaking, an unprecedented determination appeared on Ella's little face.

Her red eyes looked at Li Shanze, then at the dying old man. Her small body seemed to be brewing a huge determination. She took a deep breath, her small chest rising and falling slightly, as if she was accumulating all her strength.

"Okay... Ella will do her best!" She responded softly, but her voice was filled with unquestionable firmness.

She flew in front of the old man, her small body paused in the air, and then she closed her eyes.

A soft yet extremely powerful emerald green light began to emanate from her petite body. Although the light was strong, it was extremely soft and not dazzling at all. Instead, it carried a kind of most primitive warmth and healing of life.

The light grew brighter and brighter, almost enveloping her completely, making her look like a beating emerald heart.

Ella stretched out her slender little hand, gently and tremblingly, and pressed it on the old man's withered forehead. At that moment, it seemed as if something invisible was connected.

Emerald green light, like a lively stream, flowed out from Ella's fingertips and quickly spread along the wrinkles on the old man's forehead.

Wherever the light reached, the old man's originally lifeless skin miraculously showed a faint trace of life. Although it was fleeting, it was clearly visible.

Ella's little face turned pale, and even fine beads of sweat oozed out of her forehead. The sweat beads sparkled in the emerald green light, as if they were the crystallization of her vitality.

The old man's body also began to change.

His originally curled up posture slowly stretched out under the emerald green light.

Under the cleansing of the light, his cloudy eyes gradually lost their dullness and emptiness. Although he was still tired, he gradually regained a bit of clarity.

He looked around blankly, and his eyes finally fell on Ella, who was unconscious in Li Shanze's arms, and his own skinny hands.

At this moment, a cold and sharp torrent, carrying decades of darkness and fear, suddenly broke through the dam of his consciousness.

Memories came flooding back like a tide, no longer scattered fragments, but a complete, cruel picture.

The sound of chased footsteps echoed in my ears, bullets whizzed past my ears, the burning house, the wife and children lying in a pool of blood, the cold and damp cell, the glaring lights in the interrogation room and the excruciating pain of the whip, the gnawing of hunger and despair, and those unforgettable betrayals and deceptions.

Every frame was filled with vivid pain, every scene was accompanied by piercing screams and desperate wails, which rushed into his mind and drowned him.

His body suddenly stiffened, his limbs tensing instantly, his fingertips unconsciously digging into the ground beneath him. A low, hoarse sound came from his throat, as if his neck was being strangled, and his breathing became unusually rapid and difficult.

The muscles on his withered face began to twitch uncontrollably, his eyeballs trembled violently in their sockets, and his pupils suddenly contracted, as if he had witnessed the most horrific sight. Pain, fear, anger, despair, all kinds of emotions intertwined, twisting his face into a ball, threatening to drag him back into the abyss of chaos.

However, just when he was on the verge of collapse, a strong willpower, like a dying flame, burned tenaciously deep in his soul.

He clenched his teeth tightly, the muscles in his jaw tensed and veins bulging. He used all his strength to suppress the screams that threatened to burst through his throat, suppressing the urge to tear him apart.

Fortunately, that ray of emerald green light seeped into his heart and protected his spirit that was about to be shattered again.

His breathing gradually calmed down, although there was still a slight, barely noticeable tremor.

His eyes, which had just regained clarity, now became deep and complex, as if carrying the sorrow of the entire world.

The muscles on his face stopped twitching, replaced by a nearly rigid calm. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the turmoil in his eyes had been forcibly suppressed, leaving only endless fatigue and a desolate feeling of seeing through the world.

"Hey, Li Shanze, Ella is exhausted. Let her get some more sleep."

With a chuckle that seemed to have exhausted all her strength, Ella suddenly withdrew her hand.

Her small body swayed a few times in the air, and the emerald green light became extremely dim. She fell weakly to the ground like a leaf blown down by the wind.

Li Shanze was quick to catch Ella. Ella's face was as pale as paper, her green eyes were tightly closed, and she was snoring softly.

Li Shanze put Ella on his shoulder with some heartache, in Ella's favorite sitting position. Ella's frown relaxed a little, she turned over and fell into a deeper sleep.

At this moment, the old man, who had calmed down, opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't squeeze out any syllables.

After another moment of silence, his cracked lips opened slightly, and he finally let out an inaudible sigh, as long as the release of chaos that had been suppressed for decades.

"Oh, I finally know why I have been in a muddle for decades. This is really not a pleasant memory." The old man sighed.

Then he laughed crazily: "My life is just like a big dream, hahahaha, hahahahahaha!"

Li Shanze waited quietly for the old man to finish venting his anger.

When the laughter gradually died down, Li Shanze said seriously: "Anyway, I think we can have a good chat. I have a lot of questions I want to clarify, sir."

Author's Note: Thanks to Qianxiao Anran, ultimatun, and Xiaopingguo112633 for their recommendations.

I worked overtime until very late tonight and managed to code out one chapter. There is only one update today, please forgive me...

289 Bai Ligen

The old man, whose mind had returned to clarity, sighed deeply.

"Don't call me sir. I'm just a loser who has escaped all his life. My name is Bai Ligen."

Li Shanze thought the old man's name was Bai Ligen and almost spit out tears. Fortunately, he restrained himself from making such a disrespectful gesture.

The old man continued to sigh, "Li on top and Gen on the bottom, like fire rising from the mountain, a fire burning in the mountain, burning without stopping, the fire keeps spreading forward, like a traveler on the road, anxious to get on with his journey. Hence it is called the Lu hexagram."

Li Shanze then understood that the Li Gen in the old man's name refers to the Li and Gen in the Eight Diagrams, not Bai Li Gen.

"The journey is difficult and uncertain; small hopes can be achieved, but great ambitions are hard to achieve. Those who receive this hexagram will face many changes, as if in a foreign land. Small things can be achieved, but great things are hard to achieve. It is best to stick to the rules..."

Bai Ligen repeatedly pondered the hexagram in his name, feeling filled with emotion.

"The journey is poor and uncertain; small hopes can be achieved, but great ambitions are hard to achieve." The old man smiled bitterly, and there was endless desolation in that smile.

"It's more than 'things are changing so much, like being in a foreign country'..." He slowly raised his weather-beaten eyes and looked into the void, as if he could see the bloody storm of thirty years ago through the air in front of him.

"Back then, my father asked a fortune teller to give me a divination and named me based on the divination. I never took it seriously and even felt deeply ashamed of it."

Bai Ligen's gaze became a little vague, as if he had returned to that era of high spirits.

"At that time, I was young and full of energy, and my head was full of Western ideas and Western witchcraft."

"I studied Western philosophy, advanced Western witchcraft, and so-called 'science,' and I didn't care about Eastern witchcraft, which had been outdated since 1840."

Li Shanze nodded secretly. It seemed that the progress of this world with supernatural powers had not changed much. China was still temporarily behind in 1840.

"At the time, I thought that the so-called 'I Ching Bagua' and 'Yin Yang and the Five Elements' were nothing but the dregs of an ignorant age, decadent ideas that hindered the country's progress."

He snorted contemptuously, a hint of his old arrogance in the air: "What 'heavenly connection', what 'destiny'? It's simply ridiculous!"

"Man can conquer nature, and learning from the West is the truth! I firmly believe that as long as I work hard, I can change my destiny."

"So, when my father told me in all seriousness that my name was derived from the Lu Gua (travel hexagram), I just found it ridiculous and even a little irritating."

"Isn't this just dragging me into the quagmire of feudal superstition? I even considered changing my name to something more fashionable and Western, to completely break free from this fate."

"So when I arrived in the United States, I gave myself an English name, Reagan, as if that would separate me from my homeland and my past."

So your real name is Bai Ligen?

Li Shanze's facial expression looked particularly ferocious because he was trying hard to hold back his laughter, and his expression management was almost out of control.

"But as the centenary approaches, I suddenly look back and realize that this 'Lu Gua' was tailor-made for me, Bai Ligen."

Bai Ligen shook his head in self-mockery.

"'There's a fire on the mountain,' the fire keeps spreading, burning not only the mountain but also me. From my homeland to a foreign land, from one hiding place to another, I am always 'in a hurry to get going,' always a 'traveler on the road.'"

He sighed softly, with a hint of indescribable fatigue in his voice.

"Can a small hope be fulfilled? Yes, lingering on, in a daze, surviving in a state of confusion, this is the greatest 'small hope'."

"As for that elusive ambition... ah, the endless injustice, the lack of white people's recognition of my witchcraft research, the house in flames, and my wife and children lying in a pool of blood, which one of these isn't the 'ambition' I've been pursuing but can't achieve in this life?"

Bai Ligen's mockery of himself became louder and louder.

Wait, this old guy is a wizard? A Runren wizard who abandoned the Eastern mystical system and wanted to integrate into the Western...

Li Shanze no longer smiled. He touched his chin playfully and listened quietly to Bai Ligen's venting self-analysis.

The old man had been confused for more than thirty years, and at this moment he had a strong desire to talk and vent.

"I thought that as long as I worked hard enough and was smart enough, I could take control of my own life and escape the turmoil and wandering that those hexagrams foretold."

"I look down on those who cling to their old ways and indulge in old culture. I think they are the outcasts of the times and stumbling blocks to progress."

"I even feel that it is these mysterious things that have made our nation weak and superstitious, and ultimately led to its backwardness."

Then you abandoned the backward and mysterious things and ran to the West to engage in "advanced" and mysterious witchcraft?

Li Shanze didn't know how to evaluate Bai Ligen for a moment.

Wait, there aren’t charlatans everywhere in China in this world, right?

Considering the Chinese people's consistent pragmatism, if idealism could play a role in this world, there must be a lot of charlatans in China...

Thinking of this, Li Shanze suddenly didn't want to go back to China in this world.

At this time, Bai Ligen smiled bitterly again, and that smile was full of irony and helplessness.

"It's ridiculous, really ridiculous. The 'fate' I tried so hard to escape has finally come true on me in the cruelest way."

"I've been running and hiding my whole life, but in the end, I became a living footnote to this 'travel hexagram'."

"Looking back now, wasn't my disdain for traditional culture back then just a manifestation of ignorance and arrogance? Fate, sometimes, is much more profound and cruel than you imagine."

"'Lizhen'? It's beneficial to uphold the righteous path, but in my life, I've almost lost track of what the 'righteous path' is. To survive, to escape, I've gone against my will countless times, compromised countless times, and in the end, I've become insane, now homeless and dependent on others."