The stone was brought to the studio by Song Rui, so the frog inside it naturally also belonged to him.

The staff member reluctantly passed the glass box over, still completely awed by this miracle. They had originally thought that the mystery box test was just a hunt for novelty, but the whole test turned into a discussion about perceiving life, as well as the scrutiny and judgement of the human heart.

All these unforeseen events happened only due to Fan Jialuo's participation.

Perhaps this world looked different when viewed by different people, just like this stone. The stone was just a stone in the eyes of ordinary people, but in Fan Jialuo's eyes, it became a miracle of life.

Song Rui aimed the transparent glass box toward the light and carefully examined the creature that had been sleeping for more than one hundred years.

It was small in size, about half the length of an adult thumb, and its eyes were tightly closed. The surface of its body was covered with a parched yellow film. Perhaps, it was the protection and isolation of this filmy layer that allowed it to continue breathing for more than 30,000 days and nights in that dark, narrow and enclosed space.

Had it not been for today's fortuitous meeting, it would have continued to sleep for a longer time, until the day finally merged with the stone and became a lifeless fossil.

Song Rui stared at the creature for a long time but couldn't sense any joy or any of those heart-moving emotions emerge within himself, unlike Song Wennuan, Dr. Qian and others. It seemed that his dark heart could only see that glimmer of light for a short time, and that too only under Fan Jialuo's guidance.

Song Wennuan had been eyeing the frog for a long time; she was afraid that if she snatched the box using force, she might hurt it. Hence, she could only restrain herself.

Today, she had encountered too many bad things, and even the happiness and joy she had built up through half of her life had been destroyed. She had thought that it would take at least three to five years for her to adjust and resemble the person she was before the events of today.

But when Fan Jialuo began to sense those small, but magnificent lives, and then finally saved the creature that had been imprisoned for a hundred years, the haze that had formed in her heart had miraculously disappeared.

She thought—What are my filthy and ridiculous troubles worth in front of life's greatness and the world's vastness?

When one started to think about the vast number of beings in the world or the boundlessness of the universe, they would discover that the problem that had originally weighed heavily on their shoulders was nothing but some insubstantial dust. The so-called pain, sadness, and nostalgia they experienced because of this issue would just scatter like clouds.

As time goes by, everything will be fine.

Song Wennuan looked at the sleeping frog with tears in her eyes. "Brother, how did you know that it was in the stone? You are not a psychic."

Song Rui put the glass box into a wooden box padded with soft cloth and answered slowly, "Seven years ago, I participated in an earthquake rescue operation. In that operation, our rescue team used the most advanced life detector in the world.

"By chance, the instrument caught a breath of life from this stone, but it then disappeared in an instant.

"They thought that there was an issue with the instrument's sensitivity, but I didn't think so. I decided to keep it. In the end, it became an item in my collection for many years."

Song Rui closed the lid and smiled at Dr. Qian and the others who were listening.

His rich life experience, described in a gentle and affectionate tone, and further imbued with joy and adoration seemed to resemble the layers of a halo, where the discovery of each new layer made him appear all the more sentimental and handsome.

Compared to Yu Yuntian's human-faced yet beast-hearted self, Song Rui was simply a model for all.

Dr. Qian and Ya Ya were so fascinated by him, and even Song Wennuan, who knew his true nature, felt her views on him changing.

Father must have misunderstood Cousin. He is not heartless, he's just not good at expressing himself.

Who would take a stone home and treasure it just because life was possibly detected from it for an instant, and then keep it for seven years at that?

Who would believe that a stone could contain a life? Most people who heard such a thing would mock and deny it.

But her cousin was an exception. He would not do so. He always believed and persisted in that weak signal of life that might have been wrong.

This showed how brilliant his thoughts were, and how kind- hearted his heart was.

He is not a cold person at all.

Song Wennuan was so moved by her own thoughts that the gaze she cast towards her cousin was now filled with eager light and tears.

Song Rui had guessed the path her thought had taken from her smile, and then he arbitrarily ended the recording just like the last time.

He found Fan Jialuo in the lounge, sitting with his eyes closed.

He handed the box over to him. "This is for you."

"Huh?" Fan Jialuo opened his eyes and hugged the box.

"Open it and take a look?" Song Rui urged.

Fan Jialuo put his palm on the lid of the box and slowly traced its surface.

He shook his head in response. "No, it's used to the darkness. It's not good for its health to receive too much light at once. I'll just look at it this way.

"It's still sleeping, but it will soon wake up. After more than a hundred years of waiting, it has finally found hope. That's great."

The words 'That's great' carried too much emotion, so much that it caused Song Rui's eyes to tremble slightly.

Fan Jialuo was very good at digging into a person's heart and understanding every tiny detail, so the simple words 'That's great' convinced him even more about a certain part of Fan Jialuo's experience that he had hypothesized.

He and the frog seemed to have something in common. The longing for life; the pursuit of life; they were beings who had become so used to the darkness that it had become forever a custom for them— These were aspects that revealed the tip of the iceberg he had encountered once in the past.

It seemed that Fan Jialuo had waited in the darkness for a long time. So long a period of time that a slight fluctuation of life could turn into a miracle in his eyes.

Was he imprisoned? Who did it? Why?

Song Rui's mood suddenly turned very dull and he avoided Fan Jialuo's bright eyes. He had to stop this train of thought before it went too far.

He pointed to the box and said again, "This is for you."

"This gift is too precious,'' Fan Jialuo clutched the box and smiled as he replied, "But I have to accept it. Dr. Song, thank you for your generosity."

When Song Rui heard the first half of the answer, he thought that Fan Jialuo would refuse. His already dull mood took on a little anxiousness. But after listening to the second half, he couldn't restrain the impulse that sprang up when he realized that he found it both funny and annoying.

He questioned, "If it's too precious, shouldn't it be rejected? Fan Jialuo, I thought you were very courteous?"

"It is precisely because it is too precious that I have to accept it. Giving it up will be like committing a sin. It's probably because there is no one else but me who can raise it. In this brand new, unfamiliar and filthy world, it's impossible for it to live alone." Fan Jialuo sighed as he stroked the box.

Song Rui nodded. "You're right. In fact, creatures entombed in stones have been discovered in other parts of the world as well, but after the stones were cut open, they all died, without any exception. No scientist knows how to keep such a creature alive. I hope you can."

Having said that, Song Rui knew that Fan Jialuo would be able to do so. He never agreed easily to things that he couldn't do, especially when it concerned a life.

Song Rui paused for a moment and laughed at himself. "Do you know why I treasured that stone in the first place?"

Fan Jialuo turned his head to look at him with a meaningful smile.

Song Rui was no longer annoyed and panicked by the prospect of being seen through, rather, he spoke frankly. In front of Fan Jialuo, he could show his truest self, without having to consider the consequences.

"It's not because of respect or the desire to cherish life, not at all. In my eyes, that stone that possibly sealed a living creature was like a dark prison—the best interpretation of desperate waiting, the beginning of a chaotic world, and endless malice.

"Looking at it and thinking to myself that there is a living being eternally imprisoned in it allowed me to gain happiness from those extremely negative emotions."

Song Rui approached the youth and said slowly, "You're right, I'm not someone staring into the abyss, I myself am an abyss."

Fan Jialuo stretched his slender fingers towards the other's chin and pulled the cold but handsome face closer.

He said indifferently, "No matter what you think in your heart, it's true that you kept that stone, and it's a fact that you give it a chance to be reborn. You like to find pleasure in crime, but it's also true that you have helped the police arrest a lot of ferocious criminals.

"In any case, your final actions are the basis of how one should judge whether you are good or evil. Therefore, even if I know that Dr. Song's heart is dark, I won't hate you for it."

Fan Jialuo stood up while holding the box, and showed a sincere smile. "Dr. Song, I also want to overturn my evaluation of you. In fact, sometimes you're really likable. Thank you for the gift."

Fan Jialuo walked away unhurriedly. Song Rui stared at his back for a long time, then raised his hands to his face, concealing the smile that had risen on his lips.

***

Fan Jialuo walked along the long corridor with the box in his hand. A human-shaped fog materialized from an unknown space and followed behind him step by step.

He stopped and looked back. His eyes showed a mix of struggle and hesitation. The human-shaped fog began to panic, its two little hands and thin legs moving uneasily.

After a few moments of hesitation, he finally squatted down. "Come here."

The human-shaped fog hurriedly ran up to him with small steps and stopped half a meter away from him.

Fan Jialuo stretched out his hands and brought the human-shaped fog into his arms, then gently pressed the back of its head to let it rest comfortably on his shoulder.

The sudden embrace greatly exceeded the expectations of the human-shaped fog. It began to distort and change into various shapes, before finally solidifying into a thin, delicate child.

The child turned his head, looked at this big brother quietly, then closed his wet eyes as he smiled.

Those terrible memories and that cruel abuse quietly smoothed out and faded away as he lay in this person's embrace.

A sudden gasp echoed in the quiet corridor, interrupting this warm moment. Fan Jialuo released the child and turned in the direction of the sound.

Chongming, who was hidden in a dark corner, was staring at them with a pair or scarlet eyes. He had witnessed the whole process of the ghost's transformation, from being an invisible non-existent form to its current state of a manifested entity.

"You can also control ghosts? Did you steal my little ghost?"

"After your ability weakened, you could no longer fully control it, so it ran away. What does this have to do with me?" Fan Jialuo explained patiently.

"Why do you say my ability has weakened? You're the one who did it, huh? You sucked my energy away! You thief!"

Chongming was so angry with everything that had happened that he had almost lost his mind by now. Otherwise, he would have known that when facing Fan Jialuo, rather than stepping forward and interrogating aggressively, the best course of action was to run away.

Fan Jialuo smiled and whispered, "Between you and me, who is the thief? I heard that you were sent to Yundou Temple to practice when you were 5 years old. The little ghost seems to be 5 or 6 years old, and he's wearing a Taoist robe from Yundou Temple.

"Judging from the intensity of ghostly energy he possessed, he should have been dead for 15 or 16 years. In other words, he was your apprentice brother and died the year you started to practice. So, can you tell me who killed him and why he was being controlled by you?"

Chongming kept moving back, but his path was suddenly blocked by a cold wall.

He was trembling. "I don't understand what you are talking about."

"Don't understand? Your ability, isn't it to draw out and control the soul? A slight pull can make the soul of any creature become a plaything in your hands, a mere tap can make a person become a dog or let a dog become a human being.

"With just this ability, do you really think that you are an existence that is superior to all living beings, a god who rules over all things?"

Chongming never expected his deepest secret to be unveiled by a stranger whom he had only met a few times.

He had thought that even the strongest psychic in the world wouldn't be able to see through his ability, because in his eyes, these people were just ants.

When he wanted them to die, they must die. There was no room for any resistance!

But now, looking at his own embarrassed appearance, who was the one who couldn't resist?

"You, don't come here! My ability is invincible! Don't come any closer to me!"

Chongming felt a great sense of crisis, but he could only shiver in the corner like a trapped animal. All his roads had been blocked by Fan Jialuo, and the pale faced kid had even jumped on him, and was holding onto his leg firmly, making him unable to move at all.

"Have you ever read a book?" Fan Jialuo suddenly asked.

Chongming who was trembling all over: "..."

Fan Jialuo continued to ask, "Do you know about the law of conservation of energy?"

Chongming who began to feel an inexplicable emotion: "..."

Fan Jialuo sighed. "If you had read more books instead of studying these heresies, you would have understood that there is no power in the world that is invincible. In other words, every ability, no matter how powerful it is, will be restricted. This is an eternal law."

Chongming sneered, "Restricted? How will you restrict me? Kill me? Then you'd better look up at those surveillance cameras, they are recording you while you're committing a crime!"

Fan Jialuo placed his palm in front of Chongming's face, and slowly said, "Unfortunately, this ability doesn't belong to you. So now, I will take it back." He didn't care about the surveillance cameras in the least.

It's not a restriction, but a removal!

Now aware of the gravity of the situation, Chongming began to struggle madly. The little kid was very thin, but he possessed an unimaginable strength, and was able to keep Chongming nailed firmly in place.

He had no choice but to hit the wall with the back of his head, hoping on the chance that the sound of the collision would lead a staff member to investigate it.

This time, however, it seemed that his luck had run out. The lights in the corridor flickered wildly and made a prickling sound, but he failed to attract any attention.

Fan Jialuo's consciousness invaded his body, searched every drop of his blood and every inch of his meridians, then drew something out of his brain, slowly pulling it out.

A ball of grey-black light emerged from between Chongming's eyebrows. It wriggled about in mid-air, as if it wanted to run, but was caught firmly by Fan Jialuo.

After losing this ball of light, Chongming collapsed to the ground in an instant. White vapor emanated from the surface of his body due to his profuse sweating. He cut a sorry figure, looking as if he had just been fished out of a stinky ditch.

Despite this, he still persistently raised his hand, which was shaking as if it had just been ravaged by a ferocious wind, and shouted, "Give it back to me!"

On the day before he had started practicing in the temple, his grandfather had handed this thing to him and had cautiously warned, "Even if you lose your life, you mustn't lose this! After you are successful in your cultivation, you must pass it on to the next generation, understand?"

Young Chongming had asked, "Grandpa, what is this?"

The white-haired old man, who was nearly 90 years old but still had a rosy complexion, sighed and spoke, "I don't know what it is, but I know that it can make all your wishes come true."

Then, after entering the Taoist monastery, he found that his junior-apprentice brother was better than him. This junior-apprentice brother was praised and loved by the teacher because of his outstanding talent.

Young Chongming couldn't accept this, and started to insist on the idea of 'I can only be seen if you die', wishing for his soul to be taken away.

Soon, his wish was granted. He finally understood just how precious the thing his grandfather gave him was.

However, the thing that he thought had integrated into his body and was firmly bound to his soul, the treasure that no one could take away, had just been taken by Fan Jialuo so easily!

***