Cyber Ghosts

Chapter 97 Soul Grafting
“Do you mean that someone in modern time has invented a way to cut off souls?” Hao Ning organized Zhang Quan’s words, “how does he do it?”

“How would I know?” Zhang Quan was stunned by Hao Ning’s question and replied snappily, “why don’t you ask a psychologist or a brain neuroscientist?”

“Err …” Hao Ning looked at Zhang Quan. What was going on today? First, the Great Saint Infant King said that the Wishing Sutra was hacked, and then, Master Yun Zhong told them to find a brain neuroscientist. Was this a world of theology or science?

“What’s wrong?” Zhang Quan looked at Hao Ning strangely, “you can’t be like those common people who believe that theology and science are contradictory, right? Liu Shuai’s friends should not have this kind of stupid idea. ”

“Well,” Hao Ning was just about to admit it when he heard the last sentence. He glanced at Liu Shuai, and forcefully held back his “yes” and asked humbly, “even if someone has some method to cut off Qili’s soul — the hand on his soul, what is his motive for doing this? Why did he change it to the soul of a book? ”

“That’s why I called you.” Liu Shuai answered as he heard Hao Ning mentioning this point, “Firstly, it’s simple to understand why he changed it to the soul of a book. If the physical body is still there, but a part of the soul was cut off, then the problem that we just talked about would appear.”

“The problem we talked about?” Hao Ning remembered Yan’s description back then when Zhou Yuan had only half of his soul left. “Are you saying that the lack of soul will cause Qili to become a vegetable?”

“Exactly,” Liu Shuai did not care about Qili’s widened eyes, and nodded in agreement, “so, he must make up for it, like to give him a prosthetic limb. The prosthetic limb doesn’t have to be very exquisite. It works if it can fill in the missing part and allow the soul to ‘think’ that he is complete.”

“Then why a book?” Hao Ning still didn’t understand.

“Hao Ning, do you still not understand?” Liu Shuai laughed and asked Hao Ning.

“Eh?”

“Qili made a wish that night, right?” Liu Shuai asked. Seeing Hao Ning nod, he continued, “then we saw Qili who was skilled at ‘kung fu’ in the restaurant, right?”

“I was dreaming!” Qili couldn’t help but interject when he was mentioned without waiting for Hao Ning to speak.

“You were dreaming?” Zhang Quan laughed coldly, and gently tapped at Qili’s right hand.

“Crackle!”

Qili’s body made a noise like fried beans. When Hao Ning turned his head to look, he found that Qili’s eyes were completely red, just like that night. There was even a “gulp, gulp” sound coming out of his mouth.

“Again?” Hao Ning subconsciously took a step back. Qili suddenly rushed towards Hao Ning. On the way, he bumped into a few chairs, and the chairs bounced like balls as they touched Qili’s body, and flew towards Zhang Quan. Zhang Quan waved his hand, then the chairs suddenly disappeared at half a meter away from him, and in the next moment, the chairs quietly appeared behind him. Liu Shuai was about to exclaim in admiration, but another chair suddenly flew towards him. Before he could cover his face, Zhang Quan extended his finger, and then the chair also disappeared and appeared quietly behind Liu Shuai.

Seeing that Qili was about to crash into him, Hao Ning glared at him and reached out his right hand to block Qili. Unexpectedly, Qili’s brutal, fearless move like “crashing a Buddha who was in the way” had utterly failed. His head seemed to be pressed against a transparent wall, moving towards Hao Ning’s position continuously, but he did not bounce Hao Ning away like how he did with the chairs just now.

“Good!” Zhang Quan clapped his hands and laughed, “the great Divine Power of the North against the Toad Technique!” He turned and said to Liu Shuai, “I did not believe you when you told me this earlier, but now it seems like your colleague is quite capable!”

“Gulp!” Qili realized that it was useless to press on Hao Ning, and his inner strength was leaking, so he turned around and rushed toward Zhang Quan, who smiled as he reached out his hand. At this time, Hao Ning shouted, “Qili!”, and extended a finger, aiming right at Qili’s forehead which just turned back. Qili’s eyes suddenly became clear, and he sat down on the ground, panting heavily.

“Hey, great god Zhang Quan,” Hao Ning wiped his sweat. He did not curse loudly for the sake of Liu Shuai, “if you want to do anything like that again, could you inform us in advance?”

“He-he,” Zhang Quan laughed out loud and patted Hao Ning’s shoulder. Hao Ning leaned his shoulder and tried to dodge him, but Zhang Quan still patted him. “I know it’s nothing big for you to deal with him, but you should let him know what happened to him, right?”

“Him?” Hao Ning looked at Qili, who was gasping for breath with a face full of suspicion.

“What happened to me just now?” Qili gasped for breath. He sat on the ground and raised his head to look at Zhang Quan and the rest.

“The book spirit in your soul just occupied your entire soul, so you have the power of the book.” Liu Shuai looked at Zhang Quan and said to Qili, “it’s just that the soul of the book and your soul are repelling each other. When the book spirit appears, you cannot control yourself, and you will think you’re dreaming.”

“No wonder the electrocardiograph showed a completely different curve when Xiao Wen connected the instrument to Qili’s right hand.” Hao Ning thought of something and whispered to Liu Shuai, “maybe Qili’s subconsciousness thought that he was some else at that time…”

“Xiao Wen…” A look of joy came over Liu Shuai’s face. However, he feigned seriousness again, shook his head and fulminated Hao Ning, “it’s not the time to talk about romantic things!”

“OK, forget it.” Hao Ning wiped off his cold sweat. It was not him who thought about romantic things. It was Liu Shuai who froze at Xiao Wen’s name. It seemed like this guy did not hear what he said at all.

Qili did not hear the secret conversation between Hao Ning and Liu Shuai. After careful consideration, his expression finally became severe, and a gurgling sound came from his throat. He asked with a trembling voice, “so, you’re saying that I wasn’t dreaming that night? And I…”

“You smashed a restaurant.” Liu Shuai nodded.

“What about the evil person I met who was even more powerful than me?”

“Damn!” Hao Ning could not help but frighten Qili. “Back then you were delirious, and you said that to everybody: ‘Do you always look down on customers and bully people? Come and hit me!’ ”

“Oh my God!” Qili covered his head immediately and said, “really? Is that the scene I always see in novels? ”

“Eh?” Hearing Qili’s explanation, Hao Ning completely understood what happened. He slapped his thigh and shouted, “so that’s how it is!”

“What?” Liu Shuai asked Hao Ning, “what do you think of?”

“Qili has been obsessed with novels for years and dreaming of having peerless kung fu,” Hao Ning thought as he spoke. Then he looked at Qili and asked, “you always want to do chivalrous things or pretend to be a pig to eat the tiger, don’t you?”

“No, not pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger,” Qili was a little embarrassed, “I just want to kick those people who show off and look down on others.”

“Don’t mind these details,” Hao Ning didn’t pay attention to Qili’s words and continued, “Someone felt the wish in Qili’s heart and used some method to intercept this wish so that the wish wouldn’t appear in Zhang Chi Hang’s Wishing Sutra. To satisfy Qili’s wish, he cut off a hand from Qili’s soul and changed it into the soul of a book. That’s why Qili got the skills he wanted.”

“Intercepting a wish? Also, it won’t show up in the Wishing Sutra? ” Zhang Quan’s face moved slightly, and he blurted out subconsciously. Then he discovered that he had lost control of himself and gestured for Hao Ning to continue.

“But after Qili got the ability, he became unconscious. Besides, there are not so many despicable waiters or restaurant managers who look down on people in the real world as in web novels. However, his desire must be satisfied,” Liu Shuai had also figured it out, and stood up suddenly to continue with Hao Ning’s words, “that’s why he smashed the restaurant and let them beat him! He did not want those people to beat him. He was fantasizing about the scenes in the novel and wanted to enjoy the feeling of being a hero! ”

“…” Hao Ning reasoned out the same reason and stared at Qili with contempt, “hey, are you poisoned by the novels?”

“Uh …” Qili’s face was full of shame, but he did not forget to ask, “I smashed the restaurant. Do I have to give them much money?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Liu Shuai clapped his breast magnanimously, “I’ve settled it down for you. Just don’t mess up like that again.”

It was shameless. Hao Ning ridiculed him in his mind. It was Zhang Da Long who helped settle the issue down, while Liu Shuai was kicked pitifully by the guards. However, he did not want to expose Liu Shuai’s lie, so he continued with his question, “but what’s his motive for doing so? Why did he fulfill Qili’s wish and give him martial arts?”

“There is no such altruistic person in the world.” Liu Shuai curled his lips, “They must have traded book spirit for human souls for a purpose, just like …”

Liu Shuai suddenly turned his head as he spoke, and Hao Ning also understood something. Then they both looked at Zhou Yuan!