Chapter 84: Tingting's Request

  Back at my place, it was already late afternoon. Tingting, who had been frightened out of her wits, wasn't feeling well and went to rest as soon as she got in the house, much to the dismay of Wu Qing, who had been looking forward to a free dinner.

  Without responding to the loud and clear unreasonable demands, I did a check on Zhang Feng myself. He was calm and sat expressionless on the sofa, not moving at all, letting me do whatever I wanted.

  Zhang Feng has recovered to his normal appearance, and the wounds on his body have mostly healed, except for a few more serious injuries. The rest of the minor wounds have all scabbed over, leaving only faint scars behind. The powerful self-healing ability of someone who has entered madness is truly astonishing.

  However, I didn't come to admire the self-healing abilities of the possessed. I performed a physical examination on Zhang Kuang, just wanting to understand whether he could recover and whether his right hand could be reattached. As the examination progressed, my expression also became increasingly solemn, and after a moment, I ended the examination and stood up.

  "How's it going?" The indifferent onlooker who had been watching the commotion walked over, handed me a bottle of juice, and then looked at Zhang Feng with great interest, who was sitting on the sofa with a wooden expression.

  "Not good." I shook my head helplessly and extended my index finger to swipe the glass bottle cap, which fell to the ground with a light "ding" sound.

  "I took a look, and his body was already filled with the dark energy of demons. This dark energy had taken root within him, and it would be impossible to completely eliminate it now." I slowly said as I drank a mouthful of juice, but when I turned my head, I saw Wu Qing's confused expression, and only then did I remember that Wu Qing was a half-baked cultivator who had left his sect halfway through his training. He probably didn't even know what demons were.

  I couldn't help but laugh, yet I still patiently explained to Wu Qing: "What is known as possession, simply put, is using one's own power to occupy another person's body, thereby achieving control. A simpler form of possession can directly control the body, while the person involved remains clear-headed and awake; a more complex form erases the person's consciousness entirely, replacing it with one's own."

  I raised a finger, with a white light flashing at the tip, and casually pointed it at Wu Qing. A white light shot out from my fingertip and entered Wu Qing's right arm, after which he found that his right arm had begun to move uncontrollably.

  "See, this is an example. Using one's own strength to control another person's body, but the prerequisite is that the difference in power between the controller and the controlled is vast." I said indifferently while watching my right hand fighting with itself in a flurry of activity.

  "Hey, big brother, just stop talking nonsense and let me recover first." Wu Qing's face twisted in pain as he shouted loudly, I don't know if it was intentional or his body's reaction being manipulated. His right hand flew up and down, searching for the fleshy parts of my body to pinch, causing me to jump around in agony, wailing pitifully.

  "This is the simplest method of possession." I waved my hand, withdrawing my power, and continued: "However, demonic possession is much more complicated than this. It's not an exaggeration to say that it's the most complex form of possession."

  I pondered for a moment, then explained: "To put it simply, demons are born from the yin energy of heaven and earth. They are an existence without form, possessing extremely high intelligence just like humans. However, due to their lack of physical bodies, they are very fragile and can be harmed by intense energy impacts. Therefore, except for some old demons, young demons will basically find a human host to possess in order to obtain a flesh body.

  The demon's possession is peculiar, they don't use their own power to manipulate the host's body, but instead use their consciousness that is far stronger than ordinary people to influence the host's consciousness, and slowly devour the host's consciousness, finally completely fusing with the host's consciousness, ultimately replacing it.

  "So, Zhang Feng's original consciousness has disappeared? Then how can he still remember Tingting?" Wu Qing listened and forgot himself, even forgetting the pain on his body, and couldn't help but interrupt to ask.

  "No, logically speaking, Zhang Feng's consciousness should have disappeared." I shook my head and looked at Zhang Feng who was still sitting on the sofa with a wooden expression: "But when I checked just now, the demon attached to his body seems to be without its own consciousness. To put it simply, normal demons are like human brains, they think, but the demon attached to Zhang Feng is like a computer, only acting according to program."

  It's because of this, plus Tingting's provocation, that he can retain a lot of his own consciousness. Maybe now he is still struggling between the computer-like demon consciousness and his own consciousness. "I looked at Zhang Chu with a disappointed face, shook my head, and sighed again.

  "So you're saying it's unlikely he'll recover?" asked Wu Qing with a hint of caution.

  "It's not that it's difficult, but we can't intervene at all. The demon is now one with him, and the only way to restore his original consciousness is for him to do it himself." I sighed, my gaze drifting towards the guest room next door, "Perhaps Tingting can also lend a hand."

  It's been several days since the Eastern family has toned down significantly after their master and several elders were severely injured. The members of the Eastern family, who had been causing trouble for Wu Qing by spreading out and creating violent incidents, have all been called back, which made Wu Qing breathe a sigh of relief, no longer having to clean up after these lawless guys.

  Murong Yu, who had been recuperating at my home, was also taken back by his family. At that time, when his family came to pick him up, he was reluctant to leave, because in the past few days of staying with me, he would ask me for advice whenever he had any doubts, and many problems that had troubled him for a long time were easily solved by me. How could he bear to leave such a good thing? However, I didn't let Wu Qing know about this matter.

  Murong Yu and the people sent by the Murong family to pick him up were arguing at my house about whether he should go back or not, their faces red and necks thick, it also made me furious - can't they see this is not a vegetable market?

  If it weren't for the fact that they are the descendants of the Murong family, I would have given each of them a slap and thrown them out long ago.

  Watching Murong Yu and the family members get more and more heated, with a hint of wanting to start a big fight, I had to step in to mediate for the sake of my own family's furniture. I promised Murong Yu that he could come ask questions anytime, which finally sent them off and brought a moment of peace.

  After seeing off Murong Yu and the people who came to pick him up, I was left alone in the house. Tingting and Zhang Kuang had long gone out for a stroll hand in hand, supposedly to help Zhang Kuang recover as soon as possible. Wuchenzu also followed them out after getting my nod, this was to prevent Zhang Kuang from suddenly going crazy halfway.

  Heartless also has things to do, the recent government came out to find people when they had a big or small conflict with the Xiu Zhen Alliance, and he still needs to go to mediate - gather the media to unify their propaganda tone, comfort the witnesses and eliminate all evidence that can prove the existence of Xiu Zhen practitioners, all of which are enough to keep him busy.

  Used to Mu Rongyu's noise, I suddenly had nothing to do and stood in the living room for a long time, considering what to do, before deciding to meditate for a while.

  Returned to his own room, he casually set up a defensive spell array to prevent anyone from disturbing him, and soon entered a meditative state.

  Time passed minute by minute, and when I woke up from my meditation, it was already sunset. Wu Qing had returned and was in the living room, looking worried and troubled as he rummaged through a few packets of instant noodles. It seemed that Tingting hadn't returned yet after going out with her boyfriend, otherwise he wouldn't have continued to eat these unappetizing fast foods.

  "How was it? Was today's event a lot?" I walked out of the room and sat down across from Wu Qing, who was eating with his head down, and asked lightly.

  In fact, a few hours of time is not enough to cultivate my Wu Wei Fa Jue, and I just concentrated my divine consciousness and a little bit of yuan qi on the boundary infant.

  "Never mind, I'm busy to death. Today I just gathered the people in charge of several major newspapers nearby and unified their tone, not allowing them to report on the conflict between the Dongfang family and the demons. Tomorrow I still have to go see a few eyewitnesses and help them forget all this." The ruthless person said indifferently without lifting his head, munching on instant noodles and speaking vaguely.

  I also stayed at Longteng College for a period of time and naturally know about Longteng College's consistent attitude towards this kind of incident.

  As usual, the media would naturally be covered with a big hat of "government needs", and these newspapers would very cooperatively unify their tone, without mentioning the strange events that occurred earlier.

  As for the eyewitnesses, it was much more troublesome. The Longteng Academy is an official institution and not a gang of robbers who kill people, let alone the principal of the Longteng Academy being the ancient divine beast Qinglong. Naturally, they couldn't resort to methods like killing people to silence them as in movies. Therefore, non-lethal hypnosis became the best choice.

  Some psychological suggestion, combined with appropriate light hypnosis, is enough to make the witness think that they were just seeing things at the time. This effect can usually last for decades and does not harm the human body. Even if the witness recovers from hypnosis in the future, it doesn't matter, after all, who would care about a strange thing that happened decades ago?

  Longteng College has been hiding the existence of demons so painstakingly, for fear that ordinary people will know and cause panic, leading to social unrest and even mortal chaos. However, Longteng College also knows that the demon clan has long been integrated into human society, and what is lacking now is just an opportunity to make them openly expose themselves.

  As I was lost in thought, the door was pushed open and Tingting and Zhang Yu walked in hand in hand, carrying large and small bags. Following closely behind them, Wuchengzi also swaggered in.

  "Brother Long, Brother Wuqing..." Tingting saw me and Wuqing and sweetly called out, but when she saw the instant noodles in front of Wuqing, her little face turned red, and she quietly stuck out her tongue before obediently slipping into the kitchen.

  After Zhang Feng went mad, no one could guarantee that he wouldn't relapse, so letting him return to his residence was obviously a foolish choice. If one day his demonic nature erupted and he started killing, with the terrifying strength of someone who had gone mad, wiping out a city would be absolutely effortless.

  So I kept Zhang Yue with me, living together, and if anything happened, I could also intervene in time.

  Of course, the ruthless and cunning also took advantage of the opportunity to ask for benefits, using the excuse that taking care of Zhang Furen was very dangerous to obtain a guarantee from Tingting to come here every day to be responsible for everyone's three meals.

  Tingting, having witnessed the recent series of battles, naturally knew that his words were not empty. Moreover, being in charge of three meals a day was not a difficult task, so she readily agreed to it. This is also why she blushed when she saw Wu Qing eating instant noodles. After all, having promised to take care of three meals, but then forgetting to come back and cook because of going shopping, and letting someone eat instant noodles wasn't exactly a glorious thing.

  After the busiest time, Wu Qing finally put down the unpalatable instant noodles and had a satisfying meal. Although I don't like greasy food, Tingting's cooking skills are indeed excellent, and the tempting aroma made me also break the rule and taste a few dishes.

  After having enough wine and food, Tingting picked up the messy tableware, Wu Qingren and others were satisfied with their burps, Wuchenzi continued to play his game console as usual, while using his sonic weapon to attack everyone in the room.

  I was thinking for a moment, just about to go back to my room and sit down for a while to recover the energy I had lost over the past few days. At this time, Tingting came over and whispered: "Brother Long, there's something I want to trouble you with, do you have some time?"

  I looked at her in surprise. Tingting had always given him the feeling of being shy and timid, usually even greeting herself would make her blush, let alone taking the initiative to ask for help.

  Seeing my strange face, Tingting's heart became even more tense, and she lowered her head in embarrassment, constantly fidgeting with the hem of her clothes. Fortunately, I also reacted at this time and hurriedly smiled: "I'm not busy now, if there's anything you need help with, just speak up."

  Tingting raised her head, with a look of wanting to say something but hesitating. I was taken aback for a moment, then reacted quickly and smiled: "Let's go talk in my room."

  After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked towards his own room, while Tingting quietly followed behind him.

  After Tingting entered the house, I closed the door and casually cast a soundproofing spell. The people sitting in the living room outside were all cultivators, and even the worst of them had at least reached the Out-of-Body stage. To put it bluntly, if I didn't add a soundproofing spell, even if a needle dropped inside the house, they would still be able to hear it outside.

  "Now we can talk without being overheard. Feel free to ask me anything." I said with a smile, turning to Tingting.

  "Brother Long..." Tingting wanted to say something but stopped herself. After a while, she said: "You think Zhang Chu is beyond salvation now?"

  I was stunned, and my mind was racing. He had only told the emotionless person about Zhang Fēng's chances of recovery, so why would Tingting ask this? Had she overheard something?

  Jian Tingting was still looking at me with an anxious face, I immediately put on my most sincere smile and said: "Who told you? Don't think wildly, he will be fine."

  I've been in this world for a while now, and I'm no longer as naive as when I first started. I've learned quite a bit about human relationships and worldly affairs, which is why I'm responding like this. If it were the me from when I first entered this world, I would have said with conviction: "That's right, he's definitely going to die, might as well prepare for his funeral." And then coldly watch as Tingting struggles to survive.

  "My intuition is telling me so." Tingting lowered her head and said in a low voice, "Today when I was out with him, I felt uncomfortable in my heart. I kept feeling that he would just leave me like this and become a ruthless devil who kills without blinking an eye."

  "Heh heh, intuition is like that, when it's not real." I forced a smile and comforted her, "Don't think too much about it, you're just worrying about him too much, so you're being suspicious of everything. If you calm down, these illusions will naturally disappear."

  "But... but... Zhang Feng has become really scary now, he used to have a good temper, no matter how others provoked him, he would just laugh it off. Today, someone just bumped into me and if I hadn't held him back with all my might, he would have definitely killed that person." Tingting retorted, her eyes flashing with fear as she obviously still felt some lingering terror from the incident earlier in the day.

  I remain silent, with a heart that wants to comfort, but doesn't know how. Zhang Yue's situation is like this because the bloodthirsty demon is slowly devouring his will, every move he makes is under the influence of the demon, so he becomes easily irritated, violent and aggressive.

  "Listen to me." I grasped Tingting's shoulders with both hands, looking straight into her eyes, trying to make my tone as persuasive as possible: "He's been possessed, and we're already powerless to stop it. But at least we can support him, encourage him from the side, so he won't degenerate into a bloodthirsty monster. The fact that he can still maintain a shred of humanity in front of us is extremely rare, which shows that there's something very important occupying his heart. Now you're afraid of him, thinking he's become terrifying and making people not dare to get close, but have you ever thought that the one who's actually most afraid is himself? And at the moment when he needs it most, because of fear, we're distancing ourselves from him - how great a blow will this be to him?"

  Seeing Tingting's embarrassed expression, I softened my tone and said: "What we need to do now is just treat him as usual, gently encourage him. Although I don't know if this will help him, at least it's better than being afraid of him coming, right?"

  "Brother Long, you're right, it's my fault." Tingting said with shame: "Zhang suddenly became like this, he must be very scared too. At this time, if I didn't encourage him and instead was afraid of him, that would be too cruel to him."

  I nodded in approval, delighted that she could think this way.

  "I think I understand now." Tingting lifted her face, took a deep breath, and revealed a big smile. "He's my boyfriend, I believe he loves me, no matter what he becomes, I believe he won't hurt me. If so, what do I have to be afraid of?"

  "Thank you, Brother Long!" Tingting stood up and bowed deeply to me, "Thank you for reminding me in time, I didn't do something that would make me regret later."

  I smiled and nodded: "Since I've already understood, then I shouldn't just stand by and do nothing. Let me think of a way, even if I can't make him normal again, I should at least be able to provide some help."

  "Thank you, thank you..." Tingting choked again and bowed deeply once more, finally bursting into tears.