The Gentleman at the End-Chapter 239 - 238 Death Q&A

Chapter 239: Chapter 238 Death Q&A

Yi Chen didn’t hesitate to offer up the large bag of graveyard tea he had just received,

Although tea is nice to have, it’s not essential, and he could always buy more directly from the organization later. There was no need to start by drinking the highest-grade graveyard tea.

As all the tea disappeared into the old lady’s mouth, a look of satisfaction immediately appeared on her face.

“The young people nowadays really do understand, our conversation will still last an hour, but I’ll give you something extra…”

The old lady stretched out her dry, tree-like fingers, touching her cheek.

“Your ‘Dead Man Makeup’ is just for disguise, it’s far from enough. I will teach you some more effective and deadly ‘makeup techniques’ that will be of great help to you now.

...

Come find me at 12:00 every Saturday night, and learn for an hour.”

“Thank you, Granny Tang.”

“No need to thank me, after all, you are only the second ‘Undying’ I’ve met in my long life, the first being myself, of course.

Ask whatever you want, just remember to leave the room before this candle burns out, otherwise I might lose control of my deteriorating psychic urges and do something too good to you.”

The old lady’s blackened and pockmarked tongue flickered swiftly in the air, twisting and tumbling, making strange flesh-slapping sounds.

It seemed that Yi Chen would face punishment from this tongue if he failed to leave on time.

Yi Chen, however, was not at all put off by Granny Tang’s peculiar behavior and quickly asked the key question:

“I want to know why we can continue to live after we die instead of quietly passing away like most people.”

Granny Tang took a piece of sandpaper from a drawer and began to sand the wrinkles on her face, answering while she worked:

“I searched for an answer to this question for a long time. Initially, I thought it had something to do with zombies, until a Taoist plastered all his talismans on me and yet I still managed to break his neck, then I dismissed that idea.

At one point, I thought it was because King Yama disliked me for some reason, and didn’t send anyone to claim my soul when I died, so my spirit remained in my body and lived on.

But all these years, I’ve never seen anything like ox-headed or horse-faced envoys, and with the development of society and technology, I no longer believe in such things.

Latterly, I ended up in a mental asylum, and through my daily conversations with Dr. Lu Xin, I gradually came to notice something.

I had been dead for exactly 471 years, and many things have been discarded and forgotten. However, there are some things that I always remember, and every time I think about them, I tremble with hatred.

Combining this with the research in the mental asylum, I conjectured that it has to do with the strong obsessions I had in life, and no matter how much time passes, the intensity of those obsessions does not fade in the slightest.

It is this intense obsession that keeps me ‘alive.’

When this obsession begins to fade, perhaps I will truly die like a normal person… Young man, surely you also harbor some strong obsession deep inside? I can see the unwillingness and hatred in your eyes.”

“Yes.”

“Then there is no mistake, we are indeed of the same kind, belonging to the [Abnormalities] related to death.”

Granny Tang’s last words made Yi Chen pause,

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During his two years of life as a ‘temporary worker’, through his encounters with various abnormalities and the slaughter, Yi Chen also began to question whether his own state as a deceased could also be considered as one of the abnormalities.

Granny Tang continued, “The world we live in seems stable and calm, but in reality, it is in utter chaos… [Humans], creatures who have accidentally developed consciousness, are full of uncertainties and unpredictability.

Within the vast population, there are always some who are antisocial, extreme, brutal, and paranoid.

Their thought processes become increasingly distorted as they grow, and this distortion slowly affects the very essence of their souls, leading them to become what is called [Abnormalities] from the root.

However, we are not entirely the same as those folks; we can control ourselves fully, it’s just that when it comes to matters of our obsession, it’s hard to keep our emotions in check.

Unlike other abnormalities, who have to look for opportunities to vent every day, even taking pleasure in torment, creating fear, or slaughter.

I’ve killed people too, but that was four hundred years ago.”

“I see…”

With the answer in hand, Yi Chen nodded, finding it reasonable,

he was fully prepared to accept a future where, after the orphanage was razed and he killed Director Cao, resolving his inner conflict and letting go of his obsession, he would die.

At this moment,

Granny Tang, who had sanded half her face to look like a forty-year-old, used her tongue to lick up the dead skin powder from the sanding, chewed it, swallowed, and continued speaking:

“The above is just the subjective guess of an old lady like me, and perhaps there are deeper, more important reasons that remain unknown. As kindred spirits, we can slowly explore this matter in the future.

Remember our weekly meeting on Saturday, I’ll light a candle and wait for your arrival.”

Yi Chen glanced at the red candle burning on the dressing table, with about 1/6 of its length remaining, and hurried to ask his final question.

He raised his hand and touched a drop of black liquid from the center of his brow.

“What is this?”

“What exactly black liquid is, and why it is produced within us, I do not know myself.

I only know that black liquid increases with our time of death, usage, and certain specific factors. Now, it is spread all over my body.

The blood flowing in my veins, the fluid sticking to the surface of my organs, and even the sweat oozing out of my pores are all this substance.

Do not reject ‘it’,

Black liquid is unique to us, an important part of our bodies, and might even be a gift bestowed upon us by death.

Try to connect with it, try to control it; it will become our most effective defensive tool when we are in danger. Of course, if you wish to kill, it will assist you, and with great efficiency.

You should leave now, young man… otherwise I really won’t be able to control myself.”

The candle flickered,

Yi Chen felt an odd sensation from below his feet, and looking down, he saw the black liquid on the ground had transformed into entities with small arms as tongues, climbing his sneakers, licking the laces and logos.

“Mrs. Tang, see you next time!”

He hurriedly bid farewell and exited the room.

Yi Chen managed to close the door just as the red candle went out…

Slap! Slap! Slap! The intense sound of lashing tongues came from inside, and more than ten tongues even stretched out from the door’s window, extending a different kind of invitation to Yi Chen.

In that moment, Mrs. Tang seemed to have transformed into someone else, as if whispering in his ear:

§Come in and play, young man§

Yi Chen, who came from an orphanage, was not frightened but merely bowed slightly towards the iron door before turning to leave.

On his way back to the doctor’s office, many ‘peculiarities’ imprisoned along the corridor extended their ‘invitations’ to the young Yi Chen,

either reaching out hands and feet,

or with verbal taunts and enticements,

and some even sprayed liquid through the door’s window.

But when they saw what the young man was doing, they immediately withdrew their invitations.

Along the way,

the young man pushed his index finger entirely into his forehead hole, even gently twisting it.

Touching and prodding the prefrontal cortex area with his index finger to enhance his own concentration and thinking abilities, he reflected on the previous conversation comprehensively, undisturbed by the harassment encountered en route.

For the particularly excessive ones, Yi Chen would even give a terrifying look of the dead, as if wanting to smash the other party to pieces.

Reaching the office door of the head doctor, Lu Xin,

Yi Chen slowly withdrew his finger from his brain, then sucked off the black liquid on it and wiped it clean with a tissue.

A quick touch-up of makeup to cover the hole in his forehead, he adjusted his clothes and entered the office with a smile.

After a brief exchange, Yi Chen, as ‘Lonely Wolf’, received his first hunting mission.

A certain arts school had recently experienced a large number of suicides, with a suicide rate over the past month being more than twenty times the average for the district, all choosing to die by hanging.

A week ago, a team of temporary workers had investigated without finding anything, suspecting that a peculiar creature hiding within the school possessed extremely high anti-investigation capabilities and targeted individuals one by one.

This task fell to the newly promoted official employee, Yi Chen, whose age made it possible for him to disguise himself as a new student.