"Is that what you call a return gift?"

Xi Gu sat behind the counter and looked at the two girls in front of him with a smile.

Mana Mizuhara bowed her head in shame.

Still, he whispered like a mosquito:

"I'm sorry to disturb the store manager so late...... However, Mio Ito's injuries on her body were severe, so I wanted to ......"

"I see, is it called Mio Ito?"

Xi Gu turned his gaze to the other girl who was silent.

A girl whose face is covered with birthmarks, her gaze is detached, and she does not show a trace of pain.

Of course, through the "Perception Pendant", he already knew exactly what was going on.

It's just that Minami Mizuhara can't know that the pendant on his chest is actually made of a branch of Xiya's "Shenmu clone", and he will provide the information he feels to Xiya without interruption.

So Xi Gu didn't make it clear, in fact, he already knew everything.

"Let's sit down here."

Xi Gu led the two to the back of the bookstore and sat on a chair there. Then he returned to the counter, took out a small medicine box and walked over.

"Stretch your arms out a little."

Xi Gu said lightly, wiping the injured limb of Mio Ito with alcohol, and tied the strap in a circle.

Arms, legs, and neck to chest.

During this process, Xiya commanded Mio Ito to move her limbs from time to time to better bandage her wounds. The girl obediently listened to his instructions, and was silently at his mercy like a puppet.

However, there was no skin contact between the two people.

At the same time, Manami Mizuhara was also telling the story of meeting Mio Ito, although this was something that Xigu already knew, but she still let her talk in a somewhat frightened tone.

“…… That's it, I came here with Mio and asked the store manager for help - whew, it's great to meet the store manager. ”

Mio Ito listened quietly, and the expression on her face did not change at all, as if Manami Mizuhara was talking about something that just happened to someone else.

But her gaze wandered over Xi Gu's face, and a rare curiosity arose in her eyes.

"Don't you hate me?"

Mio Ito asked, her voice was nice, but it had a feeling like it was coming from a secluded cave.

"Why do you ask?"

Xi Gu looked her straight in the eye.

"Because...... My face. ”

The girl's voice was emotionless, neither enlightened nor desperate, as if she was simply stating the facts.

However, staring at her, a faint smile appeared on Xi Gu's face.

"Do you feel inferior to this face?"

He asked directly.

Manami next to her held her breath for a moment, a worried look flashed in her eyes, but she didn't know who she was worried about.

But hearing Xi Gu's words, Mio Ito showed a thoughtful expression, nodded first, and then shook his head:

"Maybe there is. But...... It's nothing. ”

The conversation in the clouds and fog, Manami was confused. But Xi Gu nodded knowingly.

"I see. But for me, it's like that. ”

He casually picked up a book from the bookshelf next to him, and Manami Mizuhara saw that the cover of the book was prominently marked "World Torture Encyclopedia".

Saiya opened the book, casually turned to a page of the book, and showed it in front of Manami and Mio Ito-

At the top of that page was a scene of a blonde woman with a contorted face as if she were being burned at the stake.

Showing the picture of this page, Xi Gu's faint voice sounded:

"See? Isn't her face terrifying? It's even more horrible and ugly than your face, right?

But even before she was burned at the stake, she might have been a noble woman, a beautiful woman—in a minute, maybe even a few tens of seconds, for a man's countenance to change from an angel to a ghost, from a very beautiful to an extremely ugly. However, both faces belong to the same person, and when is a person in such a different state at different moments in such a different state as true and when is false?

"In the future, in Buddhism, there is also a saying of 'nine phases', which correspond to the nine states after death, among which - the first phase is the new phase of death, which looks like a person; The second phase is the fat expansion phase, and the corpse is swollen; The third phase is the blood smear phase, and the pus and blood flow horizontally; The fourth phase is the fat disorder phase, and the carrion is like a fly; The fifth phase is the food phase, where wild dogs peck at food; The sixth phase is the green stasis phase, and the muscles and muscles are consumed; The seventh phase is the bone conjunction, leaving empty white bones; The eighth phase is the scattered phase of bones, and the white bones are scattered; The ninth phase is the ancient burial mound phase, and the dust is empty. After death, people change according to the nine phases, and no matter how beautiful or ugly they become empty talk, what's the point?

Therefore, everything is just a dream in the blink of an eye, and even life and death are our illusions.

"In a way, humans are no different from this book. It is only the existence of microscopic particles, but the physical system composed of particles emerges chemical reactions, the chemical system emerges the life of living beings, and the biological system emerges the existence of consciousness, so human beings will draw on the illusion of beauty and ugliness, and freeze the world on the superficial surface. ”

Manami Mizuhara felt as if she was listening to some kind of extraterrestrial transmission, and Xi Gu's calm narration pulled her into a wonderful illusion - there was no beauty or ugliness, no life or death, no high or low, everything was just a composition of particles, a temporary release of fate......

Ah, no, no, no, no!

Manami Mizuhara immediately shook her head and drove the illusion out of her mind.

Looking at Xi Gu, the image of this young man in her eyes became a little more mysterious.

She patted her chest with palpitations, and said to Xi Gu:

"Huh...... Store manager, what you just said casually is so contagious, I was almost completely overwhelmed by the world you narrated-if you want to do evil, such as starting a sect or something, it must be more terrifying than O Hara Okara! ”

"Oh, is that so?"

Xi Gu just smiled and tilted his head.

"Just trying to comfort Miss Mio, then...... What does Mio think? ”

Hearing his question, Minami Mizuhara also looked over to Mio Ito.

And yet—

To her surprise, Mio Ito's face showed neither shock nor confusion.

On the contrary, for the first time, there was a wavering look in her eyes.

"Huh?"

Mana Mizuhara made a shocked voice in his heart.

However, in the next second, the words that came out of Mio Ito's mouth made her fall into deeper confusion.

“…… You...... Can you see it? ”

Mio Ito stared at Xiya with incredible eyes.

The latter, however, only smiled calmly.

"I'm just explaining something from my point of view, and Miss Mio's view may be different from mine."

"Is that ......?"

Mio Ito muttered, a look of confusion in her eyes, and then slowly calmed down.

"-Thank you, I feel good enough to go home."

She gathered all her expressions, and her eyes returned to the state of Gujing without waves again. Standing up, he bowed with difficulty to Manami Mizuhara, who was still in a state of bewilderment.

"Oh—I won't keep it, but before you leave, please take these two things."

Xi Gu smiled, placed a wooden pendant on top of the book "World Torture" on the table, and pushed it in front of Mio Ito.

Seeing that the gift he gave to himself just now has now added a new one to another girl, Manami Mizuhara himself can't tell what kind of mood he feels.

She just sat in her seat, her brain pounding into confusion, and it wasn't until Mio Ito took the book and pendant and left the store that she finally regained consciousness:

"Wait...... And so on and so forth! What just happened? Is it that the drama of this world was suddenly serialized beyond twenty words, and I just watched ten words less?

“…… Why would the store manager say something like that? Why does Mio-san ask, 'Can you see it?'? Why did the store manager give such an answer? Why give—"

almost said the most sour thing in his heart, and Manami Mizuhara immediately tightened his words.

"Well...... this"

Xi Gu was in front of her, picked up the teacup, and said neatly:

"Manami-san, do you know the cold reading technique and the hot reading technique?"

The girl was confused.

"Know...... Know? Cold reading is a technique of figuring out the psychology of the opposite side through various temptations in the case of the first understanding; Thermal reading is to obtain part of the other party's information through surveys and other methods before the first meeting, and then throw out this information at the first meeting to make the other party mistakenly think that he has successfully interpreted the other party's technique. But what does this have to do with what just happened......

"Well, what happened just now is actually a small use of the cold reading technique - it's just that I use it better, so you can't see through Manai.

"Well, it's not too early. Manami, go home first, my shop is going to close. ”

……

sent away the girl who was complacent and suspicious, and was still confused, and Xi Gu was the only one left in the "Suyu Bookstore".

Looking at the deep dark night outside the glass window, Xi Gu had a faint smile on the corner of his mouth.

"Minami Mana...... In fact, what I just said is not at all false.

"If something like cold reading is used by ordinary humans, it is natural that you can only get some superficial information through testing and interrogation - but if you can see through the other person's brain waves, see the activity of the other person's blood, and see the changes in the hormone molecules in the other person's body...... So, no matter how subtle the change of mind is, it is as if it has been seen through by mind reading......

"However, Manami-san, I have to thank you - after all, not only do you have the 'qualifications' of the second transcendent yourself, but you are also ...... Even the third transcendent in the next one helped me find it by the way! ”