An Unusual Life Beginning with Evil Spirits-Chapter 159 : The Old Man

Volume 4: High School Arc – “I” Come to Find You~
"Unless... it was done by someone?"
However, even with that inference, there were still many doubts that couldn’t be explained.
First of all, the reversal of time couldn’t be explained by simply saying it was "man-made."
Hanging a person from the ceiling using intestines—even if a person could do that—would still require certain equipment, and there was no way to do it without leaving a single trace.
But let’s put aside Zhang Yang’s death scene.
At the very least, I had personally confirmed Bai Yao’s post-death condition, and that was definitely not something achievable by human means.
If someone really had been there at the time, they couldn’t have escaped the Evil Spirit Form’s sense of smell.
Therefore, from any perspective, this couldn’t have been done by an ordinary person.
But since when did monsters have such a sense of ritual?
Previously, no matter which monster I encountered, none of them had this kind of ritualistic behavior.
The Goat-headed Monster was the first I encountered.
Although it killed people, the methods varied.
It didn’t consume human flesh; it consumed souls.
But this time, the monster clearly ate human flesh.
What’s more, the APP shouldn’t simply issue threats about human crimes.
That is to say, up to now, there were still far too many unsolved puzzles.
The clues were too few, and even though I faintly felt that some key points were connected, I couldn’t link them together at all.
"If this is just the APP’s forced killing method, then what is hidden within that method? The APP shouldn't exist just to kill people at midnight, right?"
The more I tried to solve the confusion, the more confusion emerged.
And even though there seemed to be connections, they all appeared completely unrelated.
"Hiss..."
At that thought, my mind became tangled.
I scratched my long hair in frustration.
Regardless, another person would die tonight.
After midnight, only two people would remain before my final death deadline.
"Is the APP’s task this time centered around me? If that’s the case, could it be that this game’s release is also partially related to me?"
With no clues, all I could do was make wild guesses.
Now, the only thing that could prove anything would be the remaining three dead, excluding myself.
If none of the three had any memories related to players, then it would be enough to prove that this game was entirely centered around me.
It’s also possible that I’m the second-to-last one.
But no matter what, the clues were too few.
It was really hard to keep reasoning.
Just as I was weighed down by worry, time kept passing relentlessly.
One drop.
Another drop.
Tonight, I still didn’t sleep early.
Instead, I lay on the bed.
Since I knew I couldn’t escape, there was no need to hide.
It would be better to face it head-on.
While playing F-something-O, I occasionally checked the time.
Just like that, I played from nine o’clock to around eleven thirty.
As eleven thirty approached, I put down the tablet, stretched hard, closed my eyes to rest, and waited for that moment to arrive.
At the moment it happened, I once again felt that eerie sensation.
The entire world seemed to freeze for an instant.
Then, my vision blurred.
---
In a daze, the scene in front of me suddenly brightened, and my sight gradually became clearer.
Hmm... why was my vision so blurry?
Oh, right, I had presbyopia.
"Sigh..."
My body felt a strong sense of exhaustion.
"Old now, can’t compare to the young anymore..."
Muttering, I hunched over, looking aged and feeble, and arrived at the entrance of the bun shop.
Come to think of it, my wife had been gone for many years.
Looking left and right, although blurry, I could still roughly make out human figures.
"Grandpa Zhang, give me a basket of buns."
"Eh, sure... just a moment."
As I spoke, I reached out to take the top basket from the steamer, then grabbed a bag and packed the buns.
"Junjun is helping her mom again today? You're really amazing."
Looking at the little girl in front of me, about ten years old, I remembered that her home was just across from my bun shop.
Her mother was just an ordinary office worker.
The child had lost her father from a young age and was very sensible.
Isn’t that why they say, "Poor children take charge early"?
"Here you go."
A deep and hoarse voice came from my aged and weak throat.
"Thank you, Grandpa Zhang."
Even though my vision was blurry, the smile on Junjun’s little face still lifted my mood quite a bit.
I took the money, gave her change, and watched the little girl walk away.
On my face, a smile appeared unconsciously.
Just like that, I kept selling buns while looking around the familiar street that hadn’t changed for so many years.
This little shop of mine was open every day.
I was getting old and couldn’t work as hard anymore.
I couldn’t stay up late.
But for the past few nights, someone had been calling me every single night.
Now that I think about it, it had already been three nights, right?
Sigh... young people these days really had no manners at all.
Who would prank an old man like this?
But I seemed to have forgotten something.
What was it?
Ah, forget it.
Getting old comes with poor memory.
It’s normal not to remember.
"Looks like this little shop won’t be open much longer."
"Uncle Zhang, give me two baskets of buns."
Suddenly, a young man’s voice came through.
Hmm, calling him young might not be quite right.
When I heard the voice, I knew who it was.
After all, this old man had run this bun shop here for over twenty years.
"Xiao Wang, you're off work pretty early today, huh?"
I looked up at the clock. It was just after four o’clock.
That was fairly early.
"Ah, mm, something came up at the company, so I got off work early today."
"Oh? What happened?"
I asked in my aged voice.
After all, at this age, other than watching a bit of drama and hearing stories, there wasn’t much else to do.
"It’s... it’s nothing really."
Hmm.
It looked like Xiao Wang didn’t want to talk about it, so I let it go.
"Oh, here you go, all packed."
As I spoke, I handed it over, then took Xiao Wang’s money, gave him change, and watched him walk away.
There was nothing I could do.
My legs and feet weren’t what they used to be.
Other than sitting here and waiting for customers, all I could do was watch the people passing by.
Xiao Wang was a pitiful one too.
His father ran off when he was young, leaving behind a pile of gambling debts.
His mother hanged herself.
Back then, the debt collectors almost took away their house.
Come to think of it, not to boast, it was this old man who stepped in and protected that child.
But even now, I often regret it.
Why didn’t I see their trouble earlier?
If I’d stepped in sooner, maybe his mother wouldn’t have hanged herself.
Sigh.
People, huh.
Thinking while selling, basket after basket of buns quickly sold out.
This old man didn’t have many skills, but when it came to making buns, in these few streets, everyone knew they were good.
No one ever said this old man's buns were bad.
The people who often came to buy were mostly regulars too.
I calculated the number of buns in advance each day.
Unless something unusual happened, there were basically never any leftovers.