Chapter 29: debug (1)
29 – debug (1)
“Who taught you that dead rabbit to be so stubborn?” Lin Xun said, “Rabbits are soft, it’s ducks that are stubborn.”
Zhao Jiagou turned back: “If you want to be a duck, I have no objections.”
Lin Xun: “Then a rabbit it is.”
At least rabbits are mammals.
Wang Anquan also left indifferently, telling him once more before leaving: “Tomorrow you won’t be able to step out the door.”
Lin Xun: “…Alright.”
Wang Anquan closed the door behind him.
Lin Xun faced the unresponsive Goddess of the Luo River.
Suddenly, the darkened screen lit up slightly—a message.
This was someone he hadn’t expected.
It was Chang Ji, the disciple of Master Wan Chan, the one pursuing his doctorate in the capital.
Chang Ji: Are you in the capital? Chaoyang District?
Lin Xun: Yes.
Chang Ji: Good.
Lin Xun: What’s up?
Chang Ji sent a picture.
It was taken from an airplane window, looking down at the capital.
The clouds above the capital were deep gray, a shade of gray-black different from smog.
Lin Xun: What is this?
Chang Ji: Demonic Qi.
Chang Ji: I have no fellow disciples in the capital. Will you join me tonight to eliminate demons?
Lin Xun thought about his daily task of “eliminating demonic creatures” and replied: Sure, where?
Chang Ji: Eleven o’clock, Chaoyang District.
Lin Xun: Huh?
Chang Ji: The demonic Qi is strongest here. I suspect one of the rifts between the human and demon realms is in this area.
Lin Xun: Alright, I’ll come out to meet you then.
Chang Ji: Meet at the west gate.
So, at eleven o’clock, Lin Xun picked up his keyboard, tucked away his phone, pressed his ear against the door to confirm no one was in the living room and that the two had returned to their rooms to play games, then gently opened the door and slipped out.
He felt like a student sneaking out of the dorm to an internet cafe in the middle of the night, not daring to make a single footstep, using the Light Body Technique to float to the entrance.
Just as he placed his hand on the doorknob, he suddenly heard a voice from Wang Anquan’s room: “Where the hell are you going?”
His heart skipped a beat, wondering when this guy’s hearing had become so sharp.
Fortunately, the next second, Zhao Jiagou said: “Fuck, I’m lagging.”
He breathed a sigh of relief and was about to push the door open when his gaze was drawn to the yellow talisman paper on the door. This was the charm left by Old Man Huo, but for some reason, it wasn’t sticking firmly to the door panel and seemed on the verge of falling off.
He frowned, found a tube of glue, firmly reattached the talisman, and only then stepped out.
At eleven o’clock, Chaoyang District had only scattered lights still on.
Under the dim streetlights, Lin Xun looked up at the surrounding buildings. He hadn’t paid much attention to them before, but now, whether due to psychological effect or something else, the neighborhood at night felt quite eerie, especially with only a few windows lit in the buildings.
Five minutes later, he saw Chang Ji at the neighborhood entrance.
He himself was wearing the same black jacket from daytime, holding his keyboard, thinking he already stood out enough. But Chang Ji was even more extreme—dressed in white athletic wear from head to toe like a normal person, yet holding a nearly two-meter-long golden staff in his right hand, as if ready to embark on a journey to the Western Heaven at any moment.
—Though there was no need to worry about suspicion. If they drew attention from passersby, they could simply show their student IDs. People would see they were doctoral students in religious studies from a top university and know that any eccentric behavior wasn’t surprising—perhaps the staff was for researching Buddhist culture.
He greeted Chang Ji, who nodded in return.
The two walked side by side into the neighborhood.
Lin Xun: “Can you sense the heavy demonic Qi here?”
Chang Ji: “There’s a trace to follow, you can’t?”
Lin Xun: “I can’t.”
Chang Ji: “Then can you fight?”
Lin Xun: “Probably?”
Chang Ji: “Good.”
Then he fell silent, appearing to be a man of few words, this great monk.
Lin Xun followed him forward, arriving in front of the tallest building, but Chang Ji suddenly flipped up onto… the building, his whole body like an agile white ape, swiftly climbing upward along window ledges, security grilles, and water pipes!
Lin Xun followed, using the Light Body Technique to push off from others’ windowsills, lightly leaping up as well.
On the rooftop, the night breeze was gentle.
He heard Chang Ji say: “Demon seeds are the easiest demonic creatures to detect because they haven’t yet merged with human consciousness. Before more advanced demonic creatures appear, we must kill as many demon seeds as possible.”
Lin Xun: “What’s the benefit of killing demon seeds?”
Chang Ji said succinctly: “They are evolution.”
Lin Xun: “Understood.”
Demon seeds—they are still seeds of demons, not yet grown into powerful demonic creatures, so of course they must be nipped in the bud.
“People’s hearts are empty,” he saw Chang Ji close his eyes, speaking coldly and calmly: “The six senses are impure, the five aggregates are not empty—once greed, anger, delusion, and falsehood arise, demon seeds can take advantage. Especially at midnight.”
As soon as he finished speaking, from the northwest corner of the residential area came the sound of a bottle breaking and a burst of laughter.
Chang Ji’s eyes snapped open!
The next moment, he dashed away, scaling walls and running along eaves, his white robes conspicuous in the night. Lin Xun followed.
The source of the sound was the eleventh floor of a building, where it seemed a group of young people were having a party. Even through the door, the loud, frenzied music could be heard.
Standing outside the door, Chang Ji glanced at Lin Xun. This man was expressionless, his eyes dark, his gaze fixed straight ahead.
Lin Xun: “Should I knock?”
Chang Ji: “I don’t know how to communicate with normal people.”
Lin Xun: “But you even studied for a Ph.D.”
Chang Ji: “Ph.D. students aren’t normal people.”
Lin Xun laughed.
He stepped forward and knocked on the door.
No response.
He increased his force, knocking for another half minute.
A faint, drifting female voice came through: “Who is it?”
Lin Xun: “Checking the water meter.”
Laughter came from inside the door: “Isn’t it on the app…”
The voice grew weaker and weaker. As the word “app” trailed off, a sound like a forehead hitting the door seemed to come from inside.
“Mental state seems off,” Lin Xun muttered, glancing at the staff in Chang Ji’s hand.
And Chang Ji actually understood, swinging his staff. The heavy golden staff, made of unknown material, struck around the door handle. Within two or three hits, the lock loosened. Lin Xun reached out, twisted it, and the door opened.
Pushing the door inward, a human body fell to the ground with a “thud”—a scantily clad girl. Lin Xun half-knelt to check her breathing—alive.
He stood up and looked toward the living room.
The smell of alcohol and smoke permeated the air, with broken beer bottle fragments on the floor. The lighting was dim, the coffee table piled with plastic packaging, and several people slumped haphazardly on the sofa.
“On drugs?” Lin Xun said.
“They’re about to wake up,” he heard Chang Ji say calmly.
Half a minute later, blank program frames on these people’s bodies first swarmed with garbled code, then virus programs appeared!
Lin Xun spoke quickly: “It’s starting.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the people on the sofa almost simultaneously opened their eyes.
—Eyes utterly devoid of spirit, pupils dilated, identical to Jiang Lian and the neighbor who had been possessed a few days earlier.
Chang Ji said, “Protect yourself. I will deliver them.”
Lin Xun stepped back, holding his keyboard.
He could fight too, but he wanted to see how the master would exorcise the demon seeds.
In the blink of an eye, the person on top bent at an unnatural angle, rose from the sofa, and lunged toward them!
Chang Ji stepped forward, his stance solid and unwavering, and swung his staff.
First, the tip of the staff struck the person squarely in the chest, causing them to stagger backward. Then, with a twist of his right arm, the staff traced a brilliant golden arc, its head carrying an invisible surge of Qi to strike their right shoulder. The person’s entire body was knocked sideways, and in the next moment, the shaft of the staff accurately struck the back of their head.
Just like that, one person was down.
A gust of wind brushed past Lin Xun’s ear as a pale, ghostly woman’s claw swiped toward him…
He seemed to have anticipated it, releasing his hands as the Cherry keyboard floated beneath them as if alive.
He pressed F11, deploying the virus he had prepared earlier, then scooped up the keyboard in his hand, using its metal base to block the woman’s hand before slapping it against the side of her head!
—I can perform physical exorcism too.
Everyone in the room was now fully awake, and a chaotic battle began.
Chang Ji’s staff was too long; after taking down the third person, its end accidentally shattered the ceiling light bulb. Shards of the lampshade rained down, plunging the room into darkness.
—But the Buddha Eye Stone, awarded to him by Master Wan Chan at the Dharma Discussion Assembly, came into play, emitting a solemn golden glow in the darkness. Lin Xun simultaneously turned on the backlight keys, causing the Cherry to emit a deep red light.
Chang Ji: “Your magical tool is impressive.”
Lin Xun: “You flatter me.”
In the darkness, golden and red lights danced as the dull, crisp sound of metal striking flesh echoed.
Lin Xun flashed away to avoid the range of Chang Ji’s staff, then slammed his keyboard onto a young man’s skull. He thought to himself that during his school days, he had always obeyed the rules and never fought—turns out he had saved the opportunity for now.
The chaotic battle ended quickly. Ten minutes later, aside from the two of them, no one in the living room was left standing.
The unconscious individuals, having lost all ability to resist, naturally granted Lin Xun access to their programs. Lin Xun typed on his keyboard, ruthlessly deleting all program files within them without hesitation. Perhaps this was equivalent to the demon seeds disappearing from their bodies.
Chang Ji: “You’re very skilled.”
Lin Xun: “You’re quite skilled yourself.”
He added, “You could have defeated them even without me.”
A mechanical voice sounded in his mind: today’s daily task completed, Spiritual Power +5, bringing him one step closer to unlocking a new language.
Then, he heard Chang Ji say, “I didn’t seek you out to be my assistant.”
The intense exertion left Lin Xun slightly breathless. He steadied his breathing and asked, “Then why did you seek me out?”
Chang Ji uttered something astonishing: “To delete surveillance footage.”
Lin Xun: “…”
“Senior brother,” he leaned against the wall and said to Chang Ji sincerely, “You’ve definitely found the right person.”
Chang Ji: “I saw your photo in the group chat and casually searched for your papers.”
Lin Xun: “As expected of you.”
After saying this, he turned on his flashlight and walked toward the table and sofa, adding, “But there’s no need to delete surveillance footage today.”
Chang Ji: “Hmm?”
“You mentioned earlier that people with inner emptiness are easily invaded by demon seeds, meaning demon seeds might appear alongside illegal activities?” Lin Xun rummaged through various plastic packaging bags while making a phone call.
“Hello, this is Building C8 in Chaoyang District. We suspect someone is using drugs.”
The Capital Police Department responded swiftly. Twenty minutes later, Lin Xun shook hands with the lead officer.
The officer said sincerely, “Hello, I’m Officer Zhou. On behalf of the Third Armed Police Unit of Chaoyang District, I thank you both for your civic-mindedness.”
Lin Xun replied with equal sincerity, “We’ll keep doing our best.”
Officer Zhou added, “I’ll nominate you for this year’s Top Ten Outstanding Citizens Award.”
Lin Xun declined, “No… that won’t be necessary.”
Just then, a mechanical voice unexpectedly echoed in his mind.
“Achievement triggered: ‘Officer Zhou’s Praise.’ Favorability with the Third Armed Police Unit of Chaoyang District increased by 10. Maximum: 100. Please continue your efforts.”
Lin Xun: “…”