Chapter 1 The Book Room

In the study, Wang Ke changed into a new formal suit, something he felt was necessary.

The white coats worn in normal hospitals may have initially been for cleanliness, but over time, they had become a bond of reliance between doctors and patients. When patients see doctors in white coats, they often feel a sense of reassurance.

Otherwise, if you went to see a doctor who was giving you treatment while sporting a spiky, bleached-blond hairstyle, ripped jeans, and an ear piercing, would you still feel comfortable letting him treat you?

Psychologists need to pay even more attention to these details. Their treatment of clients often begins the moment they first meet.

Half a Face sat in the seat that the Mansion Master had previously occupied, legs crossed, playing with the pen Wang Ke had placed on his desk.

After Wang Ke sat down, he reached out and adjusted his glasses, and said:

"Let's begin. Can you tell me about the problems you've been experiencing lately?"

"I'm a bit lost."

Heh, there seem to be a lot of lost people lately...

"Can you be more specific? What area are you feeling lost in?"

"I just don't know what I should be doing. Tomorrow, the day after, the day after that, what should I be doing then? I have no feeling about it at all."

"Do you feel lonely?"

"I think I should be used to being alone by now."

"Many people feel that way, but in fact, it's just a form of self-hypnosis."

"Is that so?"

"In most cases, that's how it is, and this situation is even more common among prisoners.

Because they are confined to a small area, both their physical space and their access to external information are greatly restricted.

This is a feeling of oppression that normal people find hard to bear, but reason tells them that they can't escape this situation in the short term, so, emotionally, they start to hypnotize themselves.

This is actually a physical and mental self-protection measure. You should know that humans are actually one of the most adaptable species in the world."

"Prisoners? Can you tell that I've been locked up for a long time?"

Half a Face asked with interest.

"I've been in contact with many people who are in custody, as well as those who have been released. I've received similar feedback from you regarding some of their characteristics."

"Are their situations the same as mine?"

"Prisoners often exhibit a very strong sense of maladjustment, and their emotions tend to become extremely sensitive. People who have finished serving their sentences, after spending a long time finally forming a pattern of being able to live in prison and a self-protection mechanism, suddenly leave that environment again, naturally causing a great deal of internal uncertainty about social life, which is what you call being lost."

"Oh."

"Have you seen *The Shawshank Redemption*? Old Brooks chose to commit suicide in a small hotel after being released from prison. This is an extreme expression of being extremely unaccustomed to and rejecting the outside 'pond'.

Of course, you don't have to worry about this problem, after all, Old Brooks stayed in prison for fifty years, and it can be said that prison life has been most of his life.

He doesn't think he's been living in prison all along; on the contrary, being released is a real — imprisonment for him."

Wang Ke subconsciously reached for his pen, but realized it was in Half a Face's hand. Wang Ke could only pick up a ballpoint pen on the table and asked:

"May I ask, how long did your imprisonment last?"

"I can't remember exactly, a millennium or two maybe."

"........" Wang Ke.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just a little long."

"It's okay, just as you said earlier, maybe once I got used to it, I wouldn't think about how painful that time was."

Wang Ke took out a tissue and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Sorry, let me turn on the air conditioner. It's still too hot in the summer."

Wang Ke got up and turned on the air conditioner, then walked out and poured two cups of tea, handing one to Half a Face.

"So, you want to solve this state of confusion now, right?"

Half a Face shook his head, "I'm really not that concerned about being confused, or rather, I'm not really nervous about how to live next."

"Hmm?"

"For thousands of years, I have been thinking about one question, and that is, why do I exist."

"That's more like a philosophical question."

"No, some people think about this as a pointless exercise, but I'm different, I've really felt it firsthand."

"I'm all ears."

"How were you born?" Half a Face asked Wang Ke.

"You were born to your parents, right? Your parents will always be with you..."

"I'm an orphan."

"Oh, out of politeness, should I apologize to you now?"

"Yes."

"You're welcome."

"Thank you."

"Most people live their entire lives following only one line, but there are some exceptions, like me. I have two lines, and the latter is much, much heavier than the former.

As I slowly became stronger, I realized more and more that my existence was just a puppet.

Do you understand this feeling?"

Wang Ke closed his eyes, thought for a while, and said:

"Split personality?"

Half a Face smiled and said, "You are indeed a good doctor."

Wang Ke smiled.

The two clients he received today were both extremely distinguished, but unfortunately, he couldn't use them for promotion, otherwise he would be forced to see a psychologist.

"My existence is very much like a dog. The master sleeps in the house, and I lie on the steps behind the gate. When someone comes, I bark a few times. If a thief climbs over the wall at night to steal something, I have to be the one to deal with it.

Roughly,

that's what it means."

"Hmm."

"But I really hate that kind of life, that kind of state of — existence.

I really want to live for myself, I really want to live out a true self."

"Did you succeed?"

"I guess you could say I succeeded. I not only left that house, but I also ran off with all the wealth that sleeping master had accumulated over the millennia."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you."

What followed was a long silence.

Wang Ke took a sip of his tea, while thinking that he could contact a few colleagues after dawn and chat with them.

Half a Face continued:

"But when I left that house and breathed in the fresh air, I felt a little lost again.

I felt that the outside world was certainly big, but it was more like a bigger house, a bigger cage."

"You haven't gotten used to it yet. Actually, you just need to be alone for a while, or communicate with more people and try to integrate into a popular life, and this mentality can be effectively alleviated."

"Unfortunately, you weren't born back then."

"I'm very sorry."

"It's okay."

"Please continue."

"Next, I had to find something to do. I had been living in that person's shadow, so I wanted to prove myself.

I went to settle accounts one by one with his enemies back then, and those things that remained in the heavens and on earth."

"In fact, you want to solidify the value of your existence through this comparison, because you originally depended on him. Now, you can only demonstrate your sense of value by proving that you are stronger than him."

"It sounds a bit convoluted, but that's roughly what it is."

"And then?"

"Then, I settled a lot of accounts, and destroyed a lot of old things. Back then, it wasn't like now, where there were only a few Xian slaves left. Back then, there were still deeply hidden xian."

"........" Wang Ke.

"It's just that, later, I was too confident. To be precise, I never understood the word 'fear'. It seems like I was born without that trait.

I was trapped by their scheme. Although I killed many of them, and the rest were badly injured by me, I was still suppressed and sealed.

Just like this..."

Half a Face took the pen and cut down on his face.

"Click!"

The original complete face was cut in half, and the split lips were still talking.

"........" Wang Ke.

"I don't have a name, but I know that salted fish has always called me Half a Face, because the reason is that I existed in the place of the seal in the form of only half a face for thousands of years."

"That must be, painful?"

"It's okay once you get used to it. It was during that time that I learned to talk to myself."

"Hmm."

"Actually, I've lived long enough, because after that person, he raised a lot of dogs. I'm considered the most dazzling one in the history of the dog village, because I did something that made them look up to me."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you."

"Actually, you have achieved self-realization, although, it was a bit bumpy."

"I know what you mean. In that environment and under those conditions, I lived out my true self. It's really worth it, really worth it.

I've always thought so, I've always felt that I lived a wonderful and inspiring life, and it's quite flavorful to look back on it occasionally.

But until, this time I was resurrected, I suddenly thought of a detail, a detail that I had never noticed before.

This detail made me fall into... deep confusion again."

"What detail?"

"Does your child run away from home?"

Wang Ke looked up at the ceiling above and said:

"Occasionally."

"When she runs away from home, does she take all your family property with her?"

"How is that possible? At most, she takes away the pocket money she saved."

Half a Face grabbed his face with both hands,

With a "snap",

He pinched the face that had just been cut open back together.

"........" Wang Ke.

Immediately afterwards,

Half a Face got up,

Walked to the desk,

Threw the pen on the table,

And said:

"Things are just like;

That night,

When I wanted to run away from home,

I suddenly saw,

The key to the vault,

Was thrown in front of me."