Chapter 44: The Primordial Cosmos Beneath the Black Umbrella

One grain of sand contains a world, which means that even a single speck of dust holds within it an entire universe.

And a bowl can cover a corner of heaven and earth. This was why Liu Sui had been able to capture Ren Yunwen and that telephone ghost using just a bowl.

Now, I was holding an umbrella. Beneath this umbrella, another world was contained.

The reason I was carrying an umbrella was due to Liu Sui's explicit instructions. He had instructed me to put on Ren Yunwen's clothes and hold a black umbrella. Thus, a living Ren Yunwen came into existence.

Of course, this living Ren Yunwen was none other than me.

After getting fully dressed in this attire, it was already ten-thirty in the evening. Holding the black umbrella, I stood quietly in front of the bus stop, gazing at the empty street before me while rapidly calculating how to handle whatever was coming.

It was fortunate that there was hardly anyone on the street at this hour. If anyone had seen me looking like this, they would have taken me for a madman. Just imagine: late at night, under a clear sky dotted with brilliant stars, I was standing at a bus stop waiting for a bus while holding an open black umbrella. Anyone would think I was out of my mind.

However, Liu Sui had insisted that the umbrella must be used, so I had no choice.

And there was a reason why Liu Sui wanted me to hold it.

The umbrella had to be black. Black represents darkness, chaos, and obscurity. Black can absorb sunlight and block out the heavens. The world beneath a black umbrella is a chaotic and murky realm.

A ghost's eye is different from a human's naked eye. The naked eye perceives light rather than dark, the near rather than the far, and remains hazy and indistinct. Yet the chaotic world beneath the black umbrella is equally invisible to the naked eye, meaning the human eye remains unaffected by the umbrella.

A ghost's eye is different. Compared to human eyes, ghost eyes can perceive much more. The chaotic world beneath the black umbrella is fully visible to them.

At that moment, wearing Ren Yunwen's clothes and standing beneath the black umbrella, I would likewise appear chaotic, murky, and indistinct to a ghost's eye. When Qiu Xiaoli's primary soul laid eyes on me, she would perceive only a blurred, indistinct figure of Ren Yunwen.

Hiss.

The pneumatic sound of the bus brakes interrupted my contemplation. I raised my head, and the 202 bus had already stopped before me. Holding the black umbrella, I slowly walked toward the bus doors, greeted the driver, and found a seat.

Today, I had boarded the bus one stop earlier than the day before. When I got on, the vehicle was completely empty, devoid of a single soul. Of course, Qiu Xiaoli was not on board either.

The bus soon started moving again, and within a short while, it reached the bus stop where I had boarded yesterday. Gazing anxiously out the passenger window, I saw Qiu Xiaoli, dressed in her white skirt, standing desolately in front of the bus stop.

The bus pulled up to the stop, kicking up a gust of wind that whipped Qiu Xiaoli's hair into a frenzy, revealing and concealing her pale face in turns. At the same time, the advertisement boards at the bus stop rattled noisily in the wind.

Qiu Xiaoli's spirit slowly approached the bus doors, her movements and actions indistinguishable from those of a living person. Only her head was lowered, with her hair completely veiling her face, a sight chilling enough to make one's hair stand on end.

After boarding, Qiu Xiaoli headed toward the back of the bus with her head down, just as she always did.

As she passed by me, I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead, gritted my teeth, and called out, "Xiaoli."

Qiu Xiaoli truly came to a halt. She slowly turned her head and looked toward me. Through the gaps in her hair, a single eye was revealed. When she laid eyes on me, that eye suddenly widened, making her appearance all the more terrifying.

I felt nervous, my heart continuously beating a retreat. After all, the face Qiu Xiaoli wore right then was truly not a pleasant sight—it was enough to scare someone to death. The fact that I hadn't taken a single step backward by that point was already my absolute limit.

After that, my consciousness grew hazy. In a trance, I felt as though Qiu Xiaoli had walked over to me and was shaking my body violently. Inside the bus, an eerie wind began to blow, and the lights flickered erratically.

When I finally regained my senses, it was already the following morning. I opened my eyes in a hospital bed, and sitting beside it were three people: the bus driver, the office worker, and the female owner of the convenience store.

Seeing me wake up, the three of them quickly stood. Feeling somewhat dazed, I looked at them in bewilderment. At that moment, the bus driver spoke: "Young man, we want to thank you. Thank you for resolving our troubles."

Puzzled, I asked, "What happened to me last night?"

The three of them looked at me with smiles on their faces. Then, the bus driver, the office worker, and the convenience store owner took turns recounting the events, piece by piece.

It turned out that after I shouted Qiu Xiaoli's name the previous night, she had walked straight toward me. She grabbed my shoulders and shook them hard while loudly crying out something.

At that time, the office worker had not yet boarded, and the driver was the only person on the bus. An eerie wind had begun to howl inside the vehicle, and the lights flickered on and off, so the driver hadn't listened closely to what Qiu Xiaoli was shouting.

However, he had vaguely heard her weeping bitterly.

I do not know how much time passed, but the bus driver had been frightened out of his wits. Although he gritted his teeth and kept driving, he had nearly crashed several times; fortunately, they made it through the journey without mishap.

The eerie wind inside the bus gradually subsided, and the lights stopped flickering. Summoning his courage, the driver glanced back toward the rear of the bus, only to discover that I was now sitting side by side with Qiu Xiaoli on the very last row of seats. Furthermore, Qiu Xiaoli's head was resting on my shoulder, and our hands were tightly clasped together.

Hearing this, I sat in a daze. Why couldn't I remember any of this?

At this point, the office worker chimed in.

By the time she boarded the bus, Qiu Xiaoli and I were already leaning against each other on the back row. As soon as she got on, the driver stopped her and told her everything that had happened. Nothing unusual occurred during the rest of the ride, except that whenever the office worker glanced back at us, she saw Qiu Xiaoli and me whispering to each other, acting precisely like a pair of lovers.

Next, the bus arrived at the convenience store. It was then the store owner's turn to speak.

After the bus reached the stop, both the driver and the office worker got off. Likewise, Qiu Xiaoli and I, hand in hand, stepped down from the vehicle as well. Upon alighting, the two of us walked straight into the convenience store.

Inside, the owner had watched us with terror written all over her face. After a moment, Qiu Xiaoli and I selected two lollipops and walked out of the store hand in hand.

Finally, the two of us went to the bus stop outside the convenience store. A bench stood before the stop, and there we sat down. For a long, long time, there was not a single sound or movement.

Yet suddenly, they heard me weeping, accompanied by muffled sobs.

"Xiaoli, let's go back."

In response, Qiu Xiaoli shook her head vehemently at me. Then I spoke again: "Didn't you promise me? You must live well. Even if one day, I am no longer by your side."

Abruptly, Qiu Xiaoli began to weep as well, letting out a piercing and sharp cry.

At that moment, Qiu Xiaoli and I stood up together, walked toward the bus driver, the store owner, and the office worker, and bowed our heads to them in unison, saying, "Thank you. Thank you for your help. Also, please thank Li Xi on our behalf, and tell him we are sorry for disrupting his life."

At this point, all three of them said with confusion, "We just don't know who this person named Li Xi is."

When I heard that name, the hairs all over my body suddenly stood on end. Li Xi—was that not me?

Why would I thank myself? And why would I apologize to myself?