Girl, There's Something Wrong With You - Chapter 46

“You… have you ever heard of ‘Yin-Yang Reincarnation’?”

“People live in the Yang world in their daily lives. After death, their souls are sent to the Yin world, then reincarnated back to the Yang world after their memories are wiped. This cycle is known as reincarnation.”

“For demons, reality is the Yang world, and the dream world is the Yin world. When we die in reality, our souls return to the dream world. After a long period, they return to reality again.”

“The ruins of Songjiang are a ‘Yellow Springs Road’ we set up, specifically to accommodate the souls of human women who died from contamination in reality—they are the puppet-like creatures you see here.”

Ye Ru chuckled, with a hint of inexplicable mockery, “You’ve seen many here, haven’t you?”

“In the thousands,” Cheng Jinyang said honestly after a moment of silence.

“The demon race can’t reproduce on its own, so we can only expand our numbers by contaminating and assimilating human women,” Ye Ru continued in his ear. “Once they become puppet-like creatures in reality, if killed, their souls are sent to the nearest ‘Yellow Springs Road’ station.”

“They wander here for about nine days for screening. Most puppet-like creatures can’t pass and will die after nine days, then resurrect in reality. The cycle repeats each time they are killed and sent back to the Yellow Springs Road.”

“So,” Cheng Jinyang pondered, “if I kill the puppets here…”

“It speeds up their return to reality,” Ye Ru replied. “Of course, if you do nothing, they’ll revive after about nine days anyway.”

“Most puppet demons are stuck in this endless cycle of dual reincarnation between reality and the Yellow Springs Road. The only way to break this cycle is to gain spirituality, or in your terms, to eat humans.”

“In reality, consuming humans allows the demon to imprison the human’s consciousness within their body. Most consciousnesses can’t withstand death and will collapse shortly after being devoured. Only a few can survive within the demon’s body and become polluted by the demon’s nature.”

“When these demons die and return to the dream world, they grow claws and other weapons, thus evolving into ‘Monstrosities’.”

“So, Monstrosities are demons that have eaten humans in reality?” Cheng Jinyang mused.

“Yes,” Ye Ru said. “The standard for demons is different from yours. For us, soulless puppet-like creatures aren’t considered demons, only a nursery for demons. Monstrosities are the newborns of our race, though their souls are heavily polluted by demonic instincts, leaving them with no intelligence but for killing.”

“To continue evolving, Monstrosities must keep eating humans, devouring more consciousnesses. Ghosts and Asuras are different evolutionary paths, with Demon Gods above them. The higher they evolve, the more intelligent they become, their personality and thinking resembling humans.”

“Great Demons are at the pinnacle of Demon Gods, marked by having a complete human soul that survived demonic pollution. In other words, Great Demons are just like you, except more beautiful and powerful,” Ye Ru concluded.

Cheng Jinyang: ……….

He understood what she was implying.

“Where’s Lili?”

“She’s upgrading.”

“Upgrading?”

“You rely on killing to plunder bloodlines, which is how we upgrade too,” Ye Ru answered. “Except you kill puppet-like creatures, we kill Demon Gods.”

“Demon Gods? You mean in the dream world?”

“Puppet-like creatures revive after nine days in the dream world. Demon Gods also revive, but they lose most of their memories and take longer to resurrect.”

“So… if you and Lili die in reality…”

“We’ll also revive,” Ye Ru said. “However, if Su Lili dies, she probably won’t be the same Lili you know upon revival. Her situation is different from mine; countless other consciousnesses are waiting to devour her.”

Cheng Jinyang fell silent again.

“What’s wrong, suddenly feeling sorry for her?” Ye Ru sneered coldly.

“Is she upgrading to stop the demons from advancing south?” Cheng Jinyang hesitantly asked.

“In this world, anyone wanting to do something always needs sufficient power first,” Ye Ru remained silent for a while before slowly speaking. “You… should hurry. If you want to speed up the upgrade, you could go check out Changxing Island.”

“Changxing Island? Where exactly is that?”

After waiting for a few minutes without hearing the voice again, it seemed Ye Ru had finished their conversation.

Cheng Jinyang sighed and heard Xing Yuanzhi urging ahead, “Jinyang, what are you doing back there? Hurry up!”

“I’m coming.” Cheng Jinyang hurried to catch up. “Did you scout ahead?”

“It’s all puppets,” Yang Wangshu said beside him. “No high-level demons around.”

“Then let’s get to work,” Wang Wanrou said calmly. “Lure out and eliminate the puppets in the surrounding buildings.”

Thus, Miss Qingqing began setting up the metal blade grinder, Li Qingwan went to clear out scattered puppets nearby, and Cheng Jinyang started daydreaming again, thinking about what Ye Ru had said earlier.

“Jinyang?” Cui Jinqi noticed his distraction and asked with concern, leaning closer. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Ah, nothing,” Cheng Jinyang smiled and said. “Probably just didn’t sleep well.”

“Aren’t we technically sleeping right now?” Cui Xiaoniang asked, puzzled.

“Yeah, I must be a bit groggy,” Cheng Jinyang rubbed his head, already planning something.

He approached Wang Wanrou and said, “Doing it one block at a time like this, with thorough reconnaissance and cleanup, is too slow. How about I fly around the perimeter roughly to check for any issues? What do you think?”

“Have you forgotten getting knocked down last time you flew up?” Wang Wanrou looked at him with an almost incredulous expression.

“Cough, well, didn’t Ye Ru say earlier that there are no high-level demons near Songjiang anymore?” Cheng Jinyang chuckled.

“Even if what she said was true then, it doesn’t mean there aren’t any tonight,” Wang Wanrou said calmly. “Unless she found you again just now and told you there are no high-level demons tonight at the ruins of Songjiang.”

Cheng Jinyang: …………

“So, she came to see you again?” Wang Wanrou raised an eyebrow.

“Uh,” Cheng Jinyang inwardly cursed. He hadn’t revealed any flaws, had he? Was it his expression when Ye Ru was mentioned just now?

“Repeat every word she said to you, without skipping a single one,” Wang Wanrou crossed her arms, saying coldly. “Before your underdeveloped brain forgets.”

“Um, can we not do this?”

“Of course not. Or did she tell you not to tell me?” Wang Wanrou’s eyes flashed dangerously.

“Well, she just suggested…” Cheng Jinyang hesitated.

“Then you could have chosen not to listen to her,” Miss Wang’s eyes flashed with a dangerous light. “Unless you don’t trust me.”