Chapter 255: Back To That Key Moment ⑩

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Chapter 255: Back To That Key Moment ⑩

His consciousness gradually emerged from its muddled state. When light appeared before his eyes, Shang Ke knew he had completed another return.

He found himself lying inside a display case, rows of unusually shaped smartpens neatly arranged on either side of him. Clearly, he was one of them.

【The Host’s original pen body was destroyed, and the thousand years of baleful energy accumulated within it were purified by Heroic Value. The System has reconstructed a new pen body for the Host. Spiritual power has been reset to zero.】

So for the moment, he could only be a pen sitting there as quietly as a chicken?

【Correction: although the Host is presently as quiet as a chicken, the Host is a pen spirit, not an ordinary pen.】

His spiritual power was zero, he could not take human form, and his baleful energy was gone. How was he any different from an ordinary pen?

【The difference is that the Host possesses independent consciousness and may cultivate again.】

How long would he have to cultivate before he could take human form?

【Based on the concentration of spiritual energy in this world, the estimated time required to reach the transformation stage is three hundred years.】

Shang Ke: And the point in time I returned to this world is…

【The fifth year after the Host turned into pen ash.】

Shang Ke: The average human lifespan in this world is one hundred and twenty years. By the time I finish cultivating for three hundred years, Wen Jingrong will be three hundred and thirty-six.

【Correct b(=^_^=)d】

Shang Ke flipped the table: Then what is the point of sending me back?! Am I supposed to lie in a display case and wait for my husband to die of old age?!

【Wen Jingrong’s aura of fortune can assist the Host’s cultivation and accelerate transformation—provided that he finds the correct you at the correct time.】

Shang Ke swept his awareness around him. The mall was crowded and lively, but the smartpen counter where he lay had very few customers and was tucked away in an inconspicuous location. Of course, that was not the real problem. The real problem was this: in a sea of people, just how lucky would he have to be for Wen Jingrong to walk into this particular mall, find this particular counter, pick him out from an ocean of smartpens, and then spend roughly ¥3,000 to take him home?!

That was right. His price tag read ¥2,969—round it up and that was ¥3,000.

Fuck. He was way too cheap!

With Wen Jingrong’s wealth, if he bought a pen at all, it would be some luxury custom model! Anything under ¥100,000 probably would not even enter his consideration!

System, is there any way to lure him here? Send him a dream or something?

【No such method is available.】

So he could do absolutely nothing except sit here like an idiot and wait?

“Miss, could you take that pen out and let me have a look?” Just then, an unfamiliar voice sounded from above him.

Shang Ke looked toward the voice and saw a middle-aged man in a suit standing at the counter, his finger pointed directly toward Shang Ke’s position.

Could you not point randomly, uncle?!

“Of course.” The saleswoman gave him a sweet smile.

A moment later, Shang Ke felt himself being moved and placed on the glass counter. The middle-aged man picked him up and turned him over and over, examining him carefully.

The hell are you touching?! Put me down! Shang Ke “glared” furiously at the customer trying him out.

“Hm? Why won’t it write?” The customer drew several strokes across the paper, but not a single mark appeared.

Shang Ke (╰_╯): No one except my man is getting a drop of ink out of me!

The saleswoman took the pen back and checked it, then said awkwardly, “This one may not have been calibrated properly yet. Would you like to look at another model, sir?”

“Forget it. Maybe next time.” The customer seemed to have developed doubts about the brand’s quality and left without hesitation.

The saleswoman was utterly depressed. She returned Shang Ke to his place, then called the maintenance department and asked someone to come inspect him.

Maintenance sent someone over quickly. After checking him, the technician found absolutely nothing wrong and complained, “Isn’t it working perfectly? What exactly am I supposed to repair? Everyone in maintenance is already worked like a dog. Could you not call us down here for nothing?”

The saleswoman looked as though she wanted to cry.

Shang Ke could only apologize silently to the innocent bystander caught in the crossfire. Then he suddenly realized a serious problem: right now, he was merchandise. Any random stranger could buy him at any moment. Even if he pretended to be defective, if it happened too often he would eventually be sent away for repairs—and then he would have even less chance of ever seeing Wen Jingrong.

What was he supposed to do? This was maddening!

While Shang Ke remained trapped at the mall counter, Wen Jingrong also “awoke” from sleep. The memories of this lifetime flashed through his mind like scenes from a revolving lantern—joy, grief, waiting, persistence, exhaustion… Countless emotions surged through him.

It took him half an hour to accept the reality that he had been reborn.

Wen Jingrong stared fixedly at the date on his computer, endless grief and fury rising in his chest. If he had been given a chance to live again, why had he not been sent back to before Keke disappeared?!

Five years. Keke had already been gone for five years!

Was he supposed to live through another lifetime without Keke?

“Bastard!” Wen Jingrong swept everything on his desk to the floor.

“President Wen, are you all right?” Hearing the crash, his secretary hurried inside.

“Get out! Get out!” Wen Jingrong’s eyes were bloodshot, his expression savage as a ghost’s. The secretary immediately fled.

Wen Jingrong collapsed into his chair and pressed a hand to his aching forehead, murmuring again and again, “Keke… Keke…”

After a while, he took a small box from inside his clothes and gently opened it. His expression changed instantly. It was empty! The pen ash Keke had left behind was gone!

Wen Jingrong slowly raised his head, a spark appearing in his eyes. If he could be reborn, why could Keke not be reborn as well? If the pen ash had vanished, did that mean Keke had also returned?

He shot to his feet and began searching everywhere. He pulled out every smartpen he owned, but none of them was his Keke.

He snatched up his keys, rushed out of the office, and went straight to the parking garage. After driving home, he turned the entire house upside down and did not stop until he had confirmed that there was no trace of Keke anywhere.

Wen Jingrong stood on the balcony overlooking the prosperous city and screamed silently in his heart: Keke, where are you?

After three days of experimentation, Shang Ke finally found a good way to summon his husband: he could send him a message through email or a mobile phone!

He still could not take human form or move on his own, but he could use his consciousness to exert simple control over nearby electronic devices. He could not sustain it for long, however, and the device had to be close.

His first target was the saleswoman’s phone. After several attempts, he finally managed to type out a message: XX Mall, fourth floor, counter 19. Keke.

Entering that short message took Shang Ke nearly half an hour. Fortunately, the saleswoman did not look at her phone during that time, or she probably would have thought the place was haunted.

He had to admire his own ridiculous memory. After living through several centuries, he still remembered Wen Jingrong’s private contact number. As long as Wen Jingrong had not changed it, the message would reach him.

Ding!

A text notification sounded from Wen Jingrong’s phone. He had not intended to check it, but only family and close friends knew this private number, so in the end he took out his phone.

The instant he opened the message, his expression froze.

【XX Mall, fourth floor, counter 19. Keke!】

Keke!

Wen Jingrong’s fingers began to tremble. It took several attempts before he managed to call the number that had sent the message. When the call connected, a pleasant female voice answered, “Hello? Who is this?”

“Did you just send me a text?” Wen Jingrong asked urgently.

“A text? What text?”

From her tone, it clearly had not been sent by her personally.

Wen Jingrong forced himself to control his emotions. “Excuse me, miss. Are you at XX Mall right now?”

“Yes. I work at XX Mall.”

Wen Jingrong immediately lied that one of his friends had gone missing in the mall. He described Shang Ke’s appearance and asked whether she had seen a young man like that.

Although the saleswoman found the question strange, she still answered politely, “I’m sorry, I haven’t seen anyone like that.”

Wen Jingrong was not discouraged. Now that he had a clue, sooner or later he would find Keke.

Before ending the call, he casually asked, “What do you sell at your counter?”

“All-purpose smartpens. If you’re interested, sir, we can—”

Before she could begin her sales pitch, Wen Jingrong hung up, tore downstairs, and drove toward the mall at top speed.

Smartpens! He should have realized immediately!

Shang Ke had heard the entire conversation between Wen Jingrong and the saleswoman and was delighted. The text-message strategy had worked! All that remained was to wait for his darling to come buy him and take him home.

Just as he was thinking this, several customers arrived at the counter to browse. Shang Ke felt several gazes sweep over him and prayed that no one would choose him. Naturally, things refused to go his way. Some blind fool just had to take a liking to his understated “beauty.”

“This pen is pretty.” The man seemed very satisfied with his appearance.

Pretty, my ass. I’m all looks and no function. I can’t write a damn thing. Go on, try me if you don’t believe it!

Under Shang Ke’s deliberate control, the man predictably failed to write with him and put him back in the display case.

The saleswoman looked at Shang Ke as though flames were about to shoot from her eyes. He was obviously defective, so why could those bastards in maintenance never find anything wrong with him?!

Shang Ke did not care in the slightest. His mood was soaring.

He had no idea how much time passed before the customers finally left the counter—and then, at last, the person he had been waiting for appeared!

At thirty-six, Wen Jingrong was still as tall, handsome, and hard-edged as Shang Ke remembered, though there was now a trace of weariness between his brows. Bathed in the dazzling aura of fortune around him, he looked like a walking arhat or living Buddha.

But this time, Shang Ke no longer feared that aura of fortune.

Come on, my dearest! Shine that holy light even brighter!

Wen Jingrong reached the counter, his eager gaze sweeping across row after row of smartpens.

Here! Over here! Shang Ke waved his imaginary arms with all his might.

Unfortunately, unable to transform, he was nothing more than one perfectly still pen buried in an ocean of other pens.

Shang Ke focused his consciousness and tried desperately to make his pen body glow. Unfortunately, beneath the display-case lighting, his firefly-like shimmer was nowhere near dramatic enough to make him stand out.

Darling! I! Am! Right! Here! Shang Ke screamed himself hoarse inside his own mind, one step away from reaching out with a melodramatic Erkang hand.

Watching Wen Jingrong circle the counter again and again, Shang Ke felt ready to explode on the spot.

Just as he was racking his brain for another way to attract the man’s attention, Wen Jingrong suddenly spoke—and Shang Ke instantly bloomed with joy.

“I’ll take every smartpen in this display.”

Now that was domineering!

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