"Bet?" I asked.

"Well, if you don't do something under the circumstances, the Monster Court will definitely be entangled with Yingyu and Shang Yang again, if they cooperate well, if they don't cooperate, or even resist the court, then the court is likely to force you to use your own power and send them to the third space, that is, no man's land. Zong An said, "So, I can only bet on you, bet that you will break my seal and protect the winning fish." ”

Zong An's words surprised me.

"What's that expression on your face?" Zong An still looked tired when he spoke, and it seemed that the impact of the waves had not completely eased up.

"No," I said, "I just didn't expect you to do such a thing." ”

"Also, I didn't think I'd let the winning fish go. ”

"I don't mean that," I smiled, "I didn't expect you to make a decision without being sure." ”

Zong An snorted lightly, "I also want to be sure every time, but it's impossible, there are always times when I can't be sure." ”

"What if," I said, "I was just standing there watching and didn't react in any way?"

"Find a way to seal it first and then release it," Zong An said, "However, there will be no such eventuality, and it is the instinct of the ghostwriter to save the monster." ”

“... Am I glad you trust me so much?" I grumbled.

"It's not that I trust you, it's that I trust my own judgment, and I didn't expect that you would really connect with Yingyu in the first place. Zong An said, "You don't look like you're using a connection for the first time. ”

"Well, I've used it before, but..."I wondered if I shouldn't tell Zong An about the paper spirit space.

"Ha, are you still so defensive about me?" Zong An's tone turned out to be very... Just relax?

"Each other, each other. I said, "Lu Ke said that you handed over the sealed wooden box to the monster court, according to you, the box should be empty, so you are not afraid of the court finding out?"

"The boxes weren't empty, they just didn't have what they wanted. Zong An said, "I sealed the scales of the winning fish in the box, and there was some residual demonic power of the winning fish, and the monsters were originally afraid of the seal, so they would only put this box in a guarded place and they would not care about it anymore, let alone open it to find out." ”

"I don't want to admit it," I said, "you're so good that you can't see any flaws." ”

"It's just that everyone didn't pay attention to me," Zong An said, "Have you seen Winning Fish in your paper spirit space?"

... So, he still knows everything.

"See. ”

"It—" Zong An hesitated, "Did you say anything?"

"Didn't say anything," I remembered what Win Fish had said about the light, "I just saw the memories of it." ”

"You," Zong An looked at me, "you still don't know how to control your power, do you?

I'm speechless.

"That's not a good thing," said Zong'an after getting my acquiescence, "If you can't accurately distinguish perception, connection, peeping, and control, it's easy to make mistakes in protection and punishment." ”

"Protect... It's similar to what I brought to the paper spirit space just now, the punishment, it should be what you said to send it to no man's land?"

"Well, the more demonic power you use in the connection, the deeper the connection will be, and with the degree of depth, you can gradually realize the perception of the existence of the monster, peep into the mind of the monster, and control the behavior of the monster, if you don't stop at this time but continue to connect, you will enter the stage of protection and punishment, protection is a high-level control, you can summon it at any time, or let it stay safely in the paper spirit space. ”

"What about punishment?" I asked, "under what circumstances does it become a punishment?"

"When you know the most important memories of the youkai and write them down, the handwriting recorded is the key to open the no-man's land, once you use your strength to cut off your connection with the youkai, it is equivalent to cutting off the fate of the youkai and the human world, this is the punishment. Zong An said.

“... "If I accidentally use it wrong one day, it will be bad.

"When you cut it off, all the handwriting written with the Calling Pen will come back to you from the paper spirit, and according to the book, the Calling Pen will become a sharp blade at that time. Of course, I haven't seen it either. ”

"Then I should... I won't do it easily. I said, "But you have a point, I really need to figure out how it feels to connect the different stages, so that it doesn't happen again..."

"Today's situation?"

"Originally, I just wanted to simply connect with the winning fish, and I thought that if I connected to its demonic power, you would stop, because you wouldn't harm humans," I said, "but I accidentally entered the protection phase..."

"It's good," said Zong'an, "I think it's the best outcome." ”

"But it's always wanted to follow you the most," I remembered the way Win Fish remembered Zong'an, "no matter which one you are." ”

"I'm no longer qualified to sign a contract with a pure-hearted monster like Yingyu, let alone that I didn't expect to see it again in today's situation," Zong An said, "It's better to follow you than to follow me." ”

"Actually, you like youkai very much," I asked, "Youkai the size of Yingyu begged you to sign a contract, and you can refuse, which doesn't match the Zong'an who tried his best to control the youkai." ”

"Evil youkai, either get rid of it or use it," said Zongan, "but for harmless youkai, signing a contract will only pollute their hearts, and there is no point." ”

"You didn't answer my question. ”

"Liking yokai has long been Zong'an's history," Zongan said, "The reason why I didn't seal to win fish is that this kind of seal is meaningless, even if I don't seal it, they will take the initiative to bear their own guilt, but that doesn't mean I don't hate youkai." ”

He paused for a long time.

"In other words, I don't like yokai as much as you do. He took out a simple charm from his pocket, "I am the head of the Zong family, and the Zong family has a large family waiting to eat, drink, and protect, if I have feelings for the monster, it is easy to affect my judgment, and maybe it will cause irreparable mistakes, and," he held the charm's hand tightened a little, "The monster will always leave this world one day, who knows which day." ”

“... What do you mean?"

"It's not a thing for youkai and humans to live in the same world in the first place," said Zongan, "If one day, youkai will all return to their own world, will you still value youkai as much as you do now?"

Youkai return to their own world... No man's land.

"I don't know, I never thought about it. I said.

"The Seven Day Feather has been activated, and the power of humans and youkai has begun to tilt, and the youkai will leave the human world one day," Zong An looked at me, "It is the duty of the ghostwriter to close the door to the monster world." ”

... It's all what and what.

"But then again, who knows if you like the youkai or not, and when the youkai will leave. Zong An stood up, "It's rare to say so much, let's take it as a thank you for protecting the winning fish." ”

"Wait," I called to Zong'an, "Win Yu said something to me at that moment. ”

"What?" he stopped.

"Win the fish and say that you are its light. And Luke is your light. ”

Zong An stood still and did not move, his eyes looked at Lu Ke who was resting under the big tree not far away, and spoke for a long time.

"Coco," he said, "Actually, I felt the magic power of Winfish before he came to the courtroom, and fortunately there was Coco." ”

After that, he went back to the car, and on the rest of the road, we didn't speak again.

Zong An also knew Lu Ke's worries, if it weren't for Lu Ke, he might really attack Yingyu and Shang Yang.

When I returned to Tianbei groceries, I didn't see Tsubaki, I don't know where she ran to play again, I felt very tired, and after a while, I fell asleep on the table.

"Gram, Gram. "It's Luke's voice again, I'm afraid I'm dreaming... Didn't she just leave in the car with Zong An.

"Xiao Ke?" Lu Ke's voice was still calling me, "Ye Ke!" A roar of rage completely woke me up.

"You—" I looked at the face I had seen half an hour ago, "aren't you going home?"

"I have something to ask you," said Luke, "do you have water to drink?

"You're here from a drink, aren't you?" I said, looking at her.

"So what," she rolled her eyes, "is there any water?"

"Yes, you wait. "When I came out with the water glass, Lu Ke was looking out the window, not knowing what he was thinking.

I put the cup in front of her, "What do you want to ask me?"

Lu Ke picked up the cup in both hands but didn't drink it, "You know Xiao Ke," she tilted her head to look at the water in the cup, "Today, Zong An didn't plan to seal the winning fish from the beginning." ”

"Well, I talked to him about it just now... Wait, you say from the beginning?" I recalled, "Didn't you stop him in the first place?"

"At first, it was indeed I who took the initiative to rush up and hold down his hand," Lu Ke said, "but it was just a moment, because after that, although Zong An acted as if he wanted to seal the winning fish, it was actually his hand that kept tightly controlling my hand, and I knew that he was acting from that time, so I cooperated until the end." ”

... Should I say, are two strange people really coming together...

"There is one more thing," said Lu Ke, "that Yingyu and I actually know each other. ”

"Huh?" I felt like my brain wasn't running out.

"I met Winning Fish when Zong An and I were investigating the flash flood separately, and at that time my concept of Winning Fish only existed in Zong An's memories," Lu Ke said, "It could only come to me for help because it promised Zong An not to meet again, and when I learned that it was the culprit of the flash flood, and Shang Yang was just defending it, I promised it that I would definitely rescue Shang Yang, and Zong An would also help," she said and sighed, "Actually, I wasn't sure at that time." ”

Both of them are gambling...

"However, I put forward a condition for Yingyu," Lu Ke said, "I can rescue Shang Yang, but I need it to help me put on a play, I want to see if Zong An is really as hard-hearted as he shows now." ”

"You let the Winning Fish come to the Monster Court?"

"Well, that's a quid pro quo. Lu Ke said, "If the arrival of Yingyu can bring back a little bit of Zong An, who used to love monsters, and can also rescue Shang Yang, and can also deter the court, so that the monster court can understand his incompetence, wouldn't it kill three birds with one stone." ”

"That's right, how can Ying Yu not know you," I said, "You and Zong An are childhood sweethearts, and Ying Yu is such an important monster, he must have mentioned it to you!" I patted my head, "Wow, I'm really tricked by your acting skills." ”

"But it doesn't matter, after all, the result is good. Lu Ke said, "Zong'an is the light of winning fish, and winning fish is not Zong'an's light." I'm here to ask you, did Ying Yu tell you?"

Deer Ke said this, but I didn't know how to answer.

"Why don't you speak?" she asked.

"I have a question, too," I said, "how can you be sure that Win Fish is okay today, in case I didn't do anything, in case Jong An's fake seal is discovered?"

"Because you're a ghostwriter, it's impossible to sit still," Luke said, "it's the nature of a ghostwriter." So I believe that as long as you are on the spot, the final result will not be too bad no matter what. ”

"It's going to stress me out a lot if you give me that kind of evaluation," I said, "and it doesn't seem like yours to think the same thing about the light. ”

"How?"

"Ying Yu thinks," I looked at Lu Ke and said word by word, "You are, Zong'an's light." ”

Lu Ke's expression changed from surprise to confusion, and finally to relief.

"Yes," she said to me, as if to herself, "it thinks so." ”

"Well, that's all it said to me," I said, "Winning Fish still retains its original trust in Zong An, and it believes that Zong An's heart is still the same as before, and the one who can lead him out is not him, but you." ”

"Well, I see. After a long time, Lu Kecai said, "Xiao Ke, thank you." in every sense of the word. ”

After finishing speaking, Lu Ke left Tianbei Groceries, and she didn't drink the water in the cup from beginning to end.

I looked at Lu Ke's back, and suddenly understood one thing, what Zong An said earlier thanked Lu Ke, not because she stopped him who wanted to attack the monsters in time, but because he understood everything Lu Ke did the moment he felt the power of winning the fish demon.

Because it is impossible for Yingyu to break his oath with Zong'an, there is only one exception.

That is, what Win Fish did was for Zong'an.

And the only person who knows about his past is Lu Ke.

And Zong An's thank you to Lu Ke was not to thank her for letting herself stop the precipice, but to thank her for warming her memories and making him recall what he had said to Yingyu.

Don't think about it so much, you just have to be yourself.

(End of chapter)