Daomu Biji: A Thousand Faces

Ah Tou instantly became confused. Although she didn’t see what had happened clearly, she could still recall things. She remembered all of the details and could recall every single frame of Liang Yanyan’s expression just like in a movie—Liang Yanyan was holding onto her flashlight tightly, and as the light beam swept around, there were several moments where the light illuminated her face, as well as the thing that was pulling her away. 

That face… Ah Tou was shocked to find that it wasn’t the face she had seen in Boss Xie’s house. She was very familiar with that thing’s facial features, so she was certain that they were definitely two different people. It was also impossible for it to be one person with a different face due to skull development.

According to anthropology and osteology, they were definitely two different human beings. Even their race was different.

Are there two Long Immortals?

When she came to her senses after making her deductions, she realized that she couldn't see anything. It was dark all around her and she didn’t have a flashlight or a cell phone to light her way.

She touched the damp tunnel wall, finding that it was completely covered in mud and there were roots coming out of it. She appeared to be right under a tree.

ShouldI head back out and ask the chauffeur for help? No, there’s no way he’s reliable—Wait, since it’s so dark, which way is the entrance and which way is the exit?

Is Liang Yanyan dead?

Ah Tou took a deep breath. Had her bodyguard—whom Xie Yuchen had sent over to help her—really just been captured by a monster?

Yes.

Her mind finally understood what had just happened.

So, just like what Liang Yanyan said, Long Immortal became a monster?

No. Ah Tou suddenly realized that the two-meter-tall person she had seen in Xie Yuchen’s house and the one who had captured Liang Yanyan just now were two different people. From the very first time she saw the dark shadow in this village, she had a clear feeling that it was taller than the person in Xie Yuchen’s house. But it had been too dark to determine its height at the time. Moreover, it seemed like the dark shadow in Xie Yuchen’s house could stretch itself out. That was why she hadn’t been able to tell if they were the same thing at the time. But now that she saw its face, she was certain that they were two completely different people. 

But the Long Immortal who had captured Liang Yan just now was the one who had just saved the chauffeur.

In Ah Tou’s photographic memory, she saw the jade bracelets on his wrist. It was normally hard to tell the difference between jade bracelets, but it was easy to remember the arrangement of this row of bracelets because they had different widths and patterns to them.

Did we offend him? Ah Tou had always thought that this person was a good man. Why would he suddenly capture Liang Yanyan? Was he offended?

Whatever the case, she at least knew that there wasn’t only one Long Immortal. Or should she say… there weren’t only two, but many Long Immortals here? Since there were so many statues in this village, did these monsters dig holes underground to live in? Had she invaded their nest?

Or maybe—

Ah Tou had seen a movie before that reminded her of this situation. Could it be that Long Immortal spread his disease to all of the villagers, causing them to suddenly start growing taller? And the villagers didn’t move away at all, but had become tall monsters that hid underground? Was Long Immortal crazy, so that was why he occasionally saved or killed people? But didn’t he lose his healing ability? Was there something missing in the chronicle?

Ah Tou was extremely confused, but at this time, she found a lighter in her pocket. As soon as she flicked it on, she had already made up her mind. 

She was going to save Liang Yanyan.

Ah Tou recalled everything clearly and said to herself, it’s a real entity, not a ghost. She also had a pencil and an art knife in her pocket, so she began sharpening the pencil with the knife.

She didn't know why she had made such a choice, but she suddenly thought of the time when she woke up after the surgery and saw her arms.

It was a moment she had long forgotten.

So ugly, was her first thought at the time. In the years that followed, she spent almost every day thinking about how to cover it up and how to make her arms invisible.

But when she was bullied by her classmates for the first time in her life—when they beat her, tore off her clothes, and tried to strip her naked to humiliate her—her flowery arms were finally revealed.

Ah Tou remembered that at that time, everyone suddenly stopped beating her. It was a dance class, so when she stood up in the middle of the dance studio and exposed her flowery arms out in the open, all of the mirrors around the studio showed her reflection.

As everyone backed away, she immediately realized something—someone was lending her strength.

She also understood that worldly prejudices and fear of individuality made everyone think that she was very powerful. So, from that moment on, she was enchanted by the concept of “being strong”. She really thought that she was so strong that when making choices, she would always choose the option that her “strength” would choose. 

It might be a kind of mental illness, Ah Tou thought to herself. Not like I can do anything about it, though. She took off all of her clothes except for her tank top, exposed her tattooed arms, looked at the art knife in her hand, and asked herself once more: Should I run away?

She could see the tunnels in front of her with her lighter and she could remember all of the details, so she definitely wouldn’t get lost.

She didn’t know why, but she wanted to save Liang Yanyan and she had a strong desire to do so. 

She used the lighter to illuminate the tunnel in front of her and confirmed the direction Liang Yanyan had disappeared to. She then estimated the distance and the number of steps, flicked off the lighter, and crawled forward into the darkness.