"Leave here!" The bookstore owner's face flushed red, both shocked and furious, not just because Ma En's pressure had hurt his pride, but also due to a sense of inexplicable fear. He didn't find the person before him terrifying, but felt that this person would bring something terrifying.
This young man is like a jinx, the bookstore owner thought. For so many years, he had only heard from others that there was such a type of person, recognizable at a glance as an ominous bringer of disaster. He hadn't believed it originally; who could have such good judgment? But now, he was experiencing it firsthand, experiencing deeply, that aura that made one's hair stand on end.
Clearly, it was his own familiar territory, yet because of the young man before him, a strange sense of unfamiliarity arose. The shadows, the sound of rain, the smell of mold and decay emanating from the wood and brick walls, the dark stains and damp moss on the ground, all became distinct, became vivid, became different from usual, and the unfamiliarity he felt came from within them.
"Don't be afraid... I won't hurt you." The sound of rain was clearly noisy, yet it further highlighted this young man's voice... that voice made the bookstore owner's heart clench. The bookstore owner felt he must be hallucinating, otherwise why, precisely on this day, with this particular young man, would such an unusual feeling arise?
He didn't know, and felt it was precisely because he didn't know that he was afraid. In an instant, he thought of many things, a deep train of thought like a drill, fiercely boring into the bottom of his heart.
Looking again at this young man, that ordinary appearance seemed no longer ordinary; some details he hadn't noticed before all revealed a peculiar taste – even that neat suit and hair, ah, why so neat? So neat it was simply bizarre, simply not like the actions of a normal person, nor definitely the actions of someone mentally sound. He suddenly remembered things mentioned in some detective novels: some perverted lunatics dressed just like this.
Rainy day, large black umbrella, straight posture, meticulously dressed... a psychological defect, yes, the young man before him was very dangerous, he had a psychological defect, he was mentally ill.
The bookstore owner suddenly realized that in just a few short sentences, he had thought about more things than he had in the past month, so much that his head felt like it was swelling.
"Get out..." His voice was hoarse; he felt he had used all his strength, yet still couldn't expel the other party. "I'm not the criminal! You're not the police either! You have no right to interrogate me!"
Although he said this, he didn't feel at all like this was the feeling of police interrogating a criminal in a movie, even if the scene and the other party's aura were very similar.
Ma En found this bookstore owner's reaction strange, because he usually interacted with other strangers, whether for work or in his private life, and had never seen someone react so strongly. He didn't quite understand why such deep fear flowed from this bookstore owner's eyes; his pupils were somewhat unfocused. He was clearly looking this way, yet it didn't make Ma En feel he was looking at him, but rather as if seeing behind him, or deep inside him, or perhaps some non-existent monster in the same position as him.
Does this owner use drugs? He couldn't help but think this.
He also considered the possibility that there was some criminal connection between the owner and that criminal, causing such a strong reaction when he mentioned the criminal, but, seriously speaking, it didn't seem like it.
He still found it very difficult to understand why this bookstore owner had such a reaction and expression.
However, this bookstore owner's reaction was truly too intense; he himself seemed unable to breathe, his throat making "heh heh" sounds, as if he could pass out at any moment. Thus, he retracted his work ID, went around the counter, opened the canteen beside the bookstore owner, and poured it into his mouth.
The bookstore owner struggled violently, like being violated by a villain, but his movements didn't remain intense for long before he slackened like a puppet with cut strings, his whole body slumping瘫软 in the chair, thankfully still breathing. However, no matter how Ma En called out, the bookstore owner seemed unable to hear.
If it were someone else, they would probably be somewhat panicked, but Ma En just adjusted the bookstore owner into a slightly more comfortable sitting position, without much emotion. Since the bookstore owner was unwilling to talk no matter what, and his attitude was so agitated, he didn't want to make things difficult for him. Now the bookstore owner couldn't possibly chase him away, which made it convenient for him to search in the bookstore.
The bookstore wasn't large, but there were quite a few books. Many books were stacked together, not neatly arranged on shelves, nor did they have clear labels like in a library, nor had they been sorted according to content. Novels, comics, tool books, classics, dictionaries, etc., were all mixed together. There was simply no need to consider where to start looking – just begin from nearby. Anyway, if one was unlucky, it would be hard to find it even after rummaging through the entire bookstore.
In such a messy environment, finding a book whose name even he didn't know was truly vexing.
However, contrary to Ma En's expectations, as he glanced around left and right, he actually spotted a book in the pile to his right that seemed like his target – just a feeling. He pulled out the book. The cover was old blue, like a manuscript from the early years of this century. The pages were almost falling apart, held together with string and staples.
Ma En wasn't certain this was the book the criminal mentioned, but among so many books, seeing this one instantly generated a strong feeling that this was the book he was looking for. And this strong feeling was also different from what is commonly called intuition; he usually had intuitions about things, so he could clearly distinguish. This feeling was novel, abnormal, even making one feel a bit mysterious, like a summons, a response, a resonance. This was also the first time Ma En had experienced such a special feeling in his many years of searching for peculiar things.
He immediately decided he had to buy this book. He touched the book's cover with his hand, and more sensations arose from the touch, as if the cover wasn't paper, but some kind of leather, delicately cold in a somewhat nauseating way, like making someone who detests snakes touch a snake's body. However, looking closely, it was indeed the texture of paper, and after careful observation, the leathery feeling transmitted from his hand also disappeared, without a trace, as if the previous tactile sensation was just an illusion. A fantasy generated based on his search for peculiar things, occurring in a specific scene. Even that strong feeling before was also his own fantasy.
Nothing abnormal remained, Ma En thought, but for someone seeking peculiar things, it was hard to deny the feeling that previously seemed like an illusion, hallucination, fantasy. He still decided to buy this book.
The book cover had neither the title nor the author's name printed on it; it was just a bare cover. He opened the book, wanting to seriously check for a table of contents and preface, as well as a brief introduction summarizing the book's content. However, the moment he looked, he fell into a trance. He felt as though he hadn't clearly seen the words inside, yet had a sense of fulfillment as if he had already read the book. The more detailed situation was so complex that his brain couldn't process it at all: what exactly had he seen?
However, his brain had already begun to swell, even making him feel dizzy and nauseous. A force, seemingly like instinctive self-preservation, had already made his hands close the book before he became fully conscious. Then, abruptly, in his mind, the title of this book emerged, or perhaps, a name he himself gave the book, a strange, fabricated-feeling title: "Seven Revolutions Cave Profound Secret Record" .
Next, his brain couldn't help but start fabricating a past full of mystique for this book: a cultivator from the Wei-Jin period accidentally obtained a fragment of an ancient immortal's compiled secret manual, the "Profound Lord Seven Chapters Secret Scripture" .
Based on this fragment, he created his own secret method for immortal cultivation, eventually ascending after cultivating for three hundred years. The name of this cultivator could no longer be verified, and the secret cultivation method he created was precisely this "Seven Revolutions Cave Profound Secret Record" in his hands.
Ma En came back to his senses, couldn't help but be dumbfounded by his own delusions; he didn't think he was such a sentimental person. He had collected quite a few unknown books, but never before had it been like today, experiencing hallucinations and delusions immediately upon getting his hands on one. Even so, since he had always believed "books" were filled with dangerous power, he maintained an extraordinary vigilance towards any lapse he experienced when contacting books.
He knew very clearly that his current lapse was precisely the first time in his life.
In his trance, Ma En wondered if he had truly touched upon something genuinely peculiar. He knew he had read a bit of this book, yet couldn't remember any of its content. He glanced at his watch and was startled to realize that half an hour had passed since he entered the bookstore. And beside him, the bookstore owner who had suddenly become agitated was still gasping weakly like a fish washed ashore, slumped in his chair.
Ma En felt he was truly dazed, mentally not quite right, to actually think that this bookstore owner had a fish head on his shoulders.
Regardless, he still wanted to buy the book, but the bookstore owner didn't seem capable of continuing business. So, he took out his wallet, pulled out a hundred-yuan bill, and placed it on the counter. Then, he picked up the large black umbrella resting by the door, walked out into the pouring rain, his figure quickly obscured by the torrential lines of rain.
Only then did the bookstore owner recover from that near-suffocating state. Without thinking about anything, he glanced at the rain screen where no pedestrian figures remained, abruptly shut the shop door, didn't even bother with rain gear, and just ran frantically towards home. He never wanted to see that young man again, nor did he want to serve any customers today. This bizarre encounter was simply the nightmare of his life, and he prayed it would be the only one.