"I want to eat tofu balls."
"I think you're like a tofu ball."
"I want to eat braised pork rice."
"I think you're like braised pork rice."
"How about a bowl of spicy fried noodles for me."
"I think you're like spicy fried noodles!"
"Then what should I eat?"
Looking at the old ghost's expectant face, I sighed, "Let's try a century egg and lean meat congee today."
Seeing the old ghost blissfully eating the congee, I couldn't help but sigh, feeling that he had finally regained a bit of his human appearance. No longer like a starved ghost, gaunt and ferocious. As he ate, he asked me, "How did Qianqian arrange it?"
"I asked the copper shopkeeper, and she gave him a condom in Zhang Si's name."
The old ghost nodded, "Psychological suggestion, a common tactic of Qianqian's. And then?"
"I bought some white wine, and she tampered with the coffee."
"Eavesdropping, also a common tactic. She knew you were going to drink, so she went back to set things up."
After hearing the old ghost's analysis, I was a little confused, "Wasn't it the day she took the room card from me?"
"No, she wouldn't steal the room card from you. With Qianqian's skills, she could have written her magnetic card onto the host machine without anyone noticing. Stealing from you would only make you suspicious, wouldn't it?"
Hearing the old ghost say this, I slumped my shoulders. It seemed my analysis was still flawed, and I had been too presumptuous about some things. The old ghost finished his congee with gusto and grinned at me, "Buy me some more, with extra meat."
"No, you can only have one bowl a day."
"Please!"
"Are you being difficult? I'm telling you, old ghost, if you keep pestering me, I'll send you millet congee."
Hearing me say this, the old ghost's face instantly turned green. "Millet congee, forget it, I'm done!"
"Why did Senior Sister… with me?"
"With you?"
"Are you asking what you already know?"
"Oh, that! What's the big deal? Your Senior Sister isn't the type you imagine. She doesn't care about that. Abortion, one-night stands, she's very open. Don't take it to heart. If anything, you're the one who lost out. A lesson learned is a lesson learned. You'll gain experience slowly."
"Will she have a child with me?"
"Probably not. She's completed her mission and shouldn't interact with you much for a while. Although she has a history of using pregnancy to manipulate people, I don't think, given the current situation, she'll use a child to threaten you."
"Really?" I asked, half-believing.
"Of course. Who am I? I am the one and only schemer in this world."
Hearing the old ghost say this, I chuckled unabashedly. The old ghost seemed a bit embarrassed and said, "Have you ever played the game of combat chess? Animals at the bottom of the food chain are the nemesis of animals at the top of the food chain. This is a truth. When I was learning from Teacher Wende, he never talked about martial arts. Moreover, in all my years of wandering the jianghu, I've never heard of martial arts being used for real fighting; it's all performance."
Twisted logic!
"Have you heard about your Senior Brother Zhang Si's multiple personality disorder?"
I was just chatting with the old ghost to pass the time, but he suddenly became serious. He recalled his past experiences with Teacher Wende. The old ghost was an imaginative person, and despite being in his thirties, he was still melancholic, the type to cry watching movies. Perhaps because of this, the old ghost, still in his thirties, could listen to Teacher Wende tell stories. At first, the old ghost treated these stories like spoken drama, just for entertainment since he had nothing else to do.
The stories initially were about spirits. Humans conceive and give birth to babies after ten months. Spirits also have a gestation period. In Teacher Wende's understanding, it wasn't that spirits didn't exist, but that humans had never encountered them.
From ancient times to the present, humanity has been divided into two parts: the body and the soul.
What is born after ten months of pregnancy is a body, which has no soul and is not considered a true human. If the fetus must be classified, it can only be considered a parasite in the womb. The newborn infant, through the struggle for survival, begins to grow a soul, slowly becoming a real human.
The way human souls grow is the same. If a soul grows very quickly, then that person is not human, but a spirit.
I rolled my eyes at the old ghost, "Your esteemed Teacher Wende told you such nonsense. Do you believe it?"
"I do. After listening to my master, I went to a mental hospital. There was a patient there who believed he was a tree. He was famous in the hospital, often standing in one position for an entire day. I asked him why he thought he was a tree. He said he wanted to slow himself down and turn his life into the wind."
I frowned, "That person is genuinely mentally ill."
"In that mentally ill person's perception, a tree is also a living being. In the world of trees, they are also moving. They walk their entire lives, yet to us, they appear motionless, so we consider trees to be static. Suppose we change the frame of reference. The wind blows past us, and in a few days, it has traveled hundreds of thousands of miles. If the wind had intelligence, it would see something far more advanced than us. Our reproduction, in their eyes, is just blooming and bearing fruit. Our walking and running, in their eyes, are they not also called stillness?"
"Stop talking. I'm actually starting to think it makes sense. I'm perfectly fine, don't turn me into a mental patient."
The old ghost laughed heartily, "It's just a difference in the frame of reference. Therefore, when I say spirits, I mean beings mentally more advanced than humans."
I understood, "You mean Zhang Si is a spirit?"
"I don't know that Zhang Si's main personality has the ability to devour others. I naively thought he just naturally developed multiple personalities. However, Zhang Si's ability is actually quite ordinary. He can only cultivate another personality through specific mental strength. And this person must be someone he is familiar with. Moreover, his schemes rely on his sub-personalities, and his combat relies on his sub-personalities. He captured Senior Sister, and without the power of his sub-personality, the literati, he's also in a difficult situation. He can't handle it. If he had the knowledge of the literati, you wouldn't have been able to save Senior Sister."
"Is that true? When he devoured the cook and the literati, he didn't have the literati's knowledge either."
"When he devoured the cook and the literati, they were still young. And although the cook and the literati were personalities derived from Zhang Si killing others, they all believed they were Zhang Si. It was different with Zhu Guang. The old lecher felt he was Zhu Guang being devoured. To put it bluntly, Zhang Si is just a highly intelligent, ordinary schizophrenic patient. Although he was defeated by you, he was actually terminally ill and killed himself. Can a Weng Liangyu Guiterra destroy personalities? Pure nonsense, it's just a mental crutch, euphemistically called 'metaphysics'!"
I snorted, "We were having a good chat, and now you're spouting nonsense again. If we're talking about spirits, let's talk about spirits. Don't ruin my achievements."
"No rush on spirits. Do you understand the relationship between trees, humans, and wind as frames of reference? Let's go a level deeper. Do you know about ants? They are two-dimensional beings. If you draw a circle with a pen, they can't get out. However, the basic social structure of these low-level two-dimensional beings is survival and reproduction. All ants cooperate to complete this basic structure. Worker ants are responsible for nutrient supply, soldier ants are responsible for defense, and the queen is responsible for reproduction and command. Collectively, they are the same as the human survival model. We understand these things because we are more advanced beings, we are three-dimensional. Do you remember the issue of frames of reference?"
I felt a chill run down my spine. The old ghost's state worried me. "Are you starving yourself silly? Is your brain malfunctioning?"
"Probably. Actually, I didn't think much about it before. But when I was trapped, the frame of reference I thought about most was how we gather together, build houses, maintain civilization, resist external enemies, and obey the leader's instructions. Come to think of it, what's the difference between us and ants?"
I sighed, "Tell me, do you want tofu balls or braised pork rice? If the doctor dares to stop you from eating today, I'll beat him up. If you don't let me eat, you'll become mentally ill."
The old ghost laughed heartily, "I won't eat. I'll ask you, am I a worker ant or a soldier ant?"
"A worker ant, probably." After answering, I slapped my own mouth.
"Then what if I picked up a gun?"
"..." Me!
"Then what if I became the leader of society? Do you think my duty would be that of an ant queen?"
I started to get scared. Had the old ghost been imprisoned in the dungeon for too long, seeing no one, and developed some issues?
"You can't distinguish my role, and neither can I. But we can distinguish ants, right? We know worker ants and soldier ants, and we can recognize the queen at a glance. So, analyzing from the perspective of trees, humans, and wind as frames of reference, could there be a being more advanced than us, who directly recognizes our abilities, just as we recognize ants?"
"Are you talking about God?"
"No, Teacher Wende said such beings are called spirits. I call them four-dimensional spirits!"
My brow furrowed, and I shook my head as I walked out. The old ghost called out to me, "If you don't understand, I'll explain it to you again."
"I'll go ask the doctor, and then we'll talk."
I went to find the doctor to inquire about his condition. The doctor repeatedly assured me that the old ghost had no mental problems. I glared at the doctor, "Are you a psychiatrist?"
"I'm an internist."
"Then why are you pretending to be an expert? Hurry up and find me the chief psychiatrist."
After waiting for a long time, the chief psychiatrist returned. I asked him, "Cao Shi, is your brain okay?"
"No problem." The doctor replied hazily. I felt the doctor had a problem and quickly asked, "Doctor, are you alright?"
The doctor asked me, "If ants are two-dimensional beings and we are three-dimensional beings, then could there really be a four-dimensional spirit in this world that we cannot perceive?"
I was stunned speechless by this question. "Grass~"
"What are you cursing at?"
"No, I'm not cursing. He's got a problem with his brain, you can't be led astray by him!"
"Are you implying my brain has a problem? You don't understand such a simple frame of reference. Do you want me to examine you to see if your brain has a problem?"
"Get lost, as far as possible."
The doctor's face turned red. "This is my office!"
...
I was forced to return to the ward. The old ghost looked at me, "That doctor just now was quite smart. He could understand what I was saying? Do you think he's suitable to be a schemer?"
"Old ghost, don't beat around the bush. Just tell me the result directly. What do you want to say? Maybe I can prevent your mind from completely breaking down."
The old ghost actually thought for a moment, "Actually, I want to tell you that the moment I first saw Qianqian, I felt she had the potential to be a spirit. That's why I knew she wasn't a good person, yet I spared no effort in teaching her."
"Who? Cao Qianqian is a spirit? Old ghost, clarify what you're saying. If you can't, I'll send you back to the dungeon. The treatment will remain the same: one bowl of millet congee every three days."