Monster Dismantling Company

Chapter 30 No Contention

Retreating to seclusion and avoiding the world can be either positive or negative.

Those who actively seek to withdraw from the world do not sever ties with the outside world and continue to try to gather information from it.

Li Lin belongs to the latter category—he genuinely doesn't want to cause trouble for himself. He is truly a "wild man from Nanyang, lazy by nature."

After discussion, the two decided to leave the matter alone for the time being. Since someone was burrowing, they wouldn't go near the burrowing area or fight with them, lest they get entangled with some troublesome members of their kind.

This is really difficult... If you weren't here, I would definitely have taken the bait.

"I think you're trying to stage an accident and cause him trouble—then you'll probably be unable to shake off the trouble."

So, how did you make this decision?

"It's very simple—I'm human, right? So I won't do things that are beyond my human capabilities. Based on this principle: you can't detect the difference between these potato chips with your human senses. Zhuangzi said, 'The skillful labor and the wise worry,' so I'll abandon skill and profit, and pretend I didn't see it. Misfortune will naturally stay away from me."

Teach me! How did you even come up with that?

"The quote I just mentioned from Zhuangzi is the source of this theory. I learned it in school: 'The skillful labor and the wise worry; they do not dream when they sleep, and they have no worries when they wake up.' This means that the more hardship you can endure, the more endless hardship you will have; if you don't overthink, you won't dream, and you will naturally sleep peacefully."

"Let me teach you another saying from Zhang Sanfeng—'Following the natural order is mortal, going against it is immortal, it's all in the middle, upside down.' I certainly won't be a true mortal, but I won't be an immortal either. I choose to be in the middle, amidst the light and dust. Since no one notices me, no one can choose me as a target."

"Do you want to learn?"

[Yes! That's exactly what I came here to learn!]

"So what are you now?"

Is it a Dragon Ball?

"Then try to play the Dragon Ball, play an object. Try to remain silent, pretend you didn't see anything. If I want to use your power, let me use it, don't hinder me. Because you are an object, and objects have no independent will. Understand?"

【…】

"Say something!"

You told me to keep quiet.

"I haven't said 'start' yet. Start with the next sentence. Understand?"

[...] This time, Aren didn't say anything either.

"Very good. I think you've also noticed that learning how to move is indeed difficult, but learning how not to move is not easy either. First, you need to endure the loneliness of things, and then it's about being a person—to keep you from getting bored, I'll give you some homework to ponder, it's also from Zhuangzi:"

"Once upon a time, Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly, fluttering about happily. He felt so content and unaware that he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he awoke, and there he was, Zhuangzi again. He didn't know whether he was Zhuangzi dreaming he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi. There must be a distinction between Zhuangzi and the butterfly. This is called the transformation of things—once you figure out what this 'transformation of things' is, you've almost mastered it."

[...] Aren remained silent, but she had already begun to ponder.

"Very good, then please continue to ponder it."

While eating potato chips with Lin Zhiqing, the car was almost there—these potato chips really tasted good, and they had already eaten two or three bags in a short time.

Thinking that there might be many people around who would make it inconvenient to talk after getting on the bus, Lin Zhiqing still asked:

"Li Lin, I have a question, but I'm not sure if I should ask it."

"Then it's time to ask—go ahead and ask. I ate your chips, so it's my turn to answer you."

"You...you actually like me too, don't you?"

"Yes," Li Lin said without hesitation, "I like you a lot. I like your appearance and your personality a lot."

"Then why...why didn't you say it?"

"Because... a life with you is not part of my life plan." That's why he pretended not to see it.

Hey, you're contradicting yourself.

"Weren't you going to stay silent?"

[Because I discovered a blind spot: you said that when you're playing a person, you use human senses. So let me ask you this: if you're acting from a human sense perspective, and you say you really like the personality and appearance of the person in front of you, then from a human standpoint, you should accept it.]

"How can these be the same?"

Sigh, I don't think you can achieve consistency between knowledge and action either. But at least you're better than me; I have no idea. Let's learn from each other.

"Then tell me, how can I 'grow'?"

As a human being, you should accept it. Constantly thinking about dragons—is that something a human should be thinking about? Alright, that's your prerogative. I'm going to go and figure out what 'objectification' really means.

The two used Dragon Language for a high-speed encrypted call, which did not delay his conversation with Lin Zhiqing.

"Ah... so I wasn't part of your life plan. Does that mean there are more important things in your life?"

"..." Li Lin fell silent. He hadn't wanted to speak, but after the "mutual learning" he had with A Ren, he hesitated about whether to say it or not.

"I understand." Lin Zhiqing covered her forehead. "I'm not in your life plan—so your life plan is to become a monk?"

"Pfft~~" Li Lin couldn't hold back anymore, "No, not a monk."

"Is that a Taoist priest?"

"It's somewhat similar..."

"So, some Taoist priests stay at home, right? I... I've passed the exam and gone to Shenhe Plain. I can support you. You can stay at home and be a Taoist priest. You can build as big a hermitage as you want at home."

"No...it's not like that." Li Lin said, both amused and exasperated. "But you're right, what I did before was indeed a bit unreasonable, and it really wasn't my intention."

"So what do you mean?" Lin Zhiqing looked into his eyes.

"I think we can start with mutually beneficial progress. For example, the roads aren't very safe right now. I'll get you safely to Jin Gang Zhou. After that, we can talk more. I often need to leave Ning Zhou for work, and you can come to Jin Gang Zhou too, right? We can meet up here occasionally and catch up on our lives?"

"Great! Thank you, thank you so much!" She grabbed Li Lin's hand. "Now I can happily go to Guanzhong too."

"Okay, you've accepted her advances. When you enter your heat cycle, it'll be my turn to court you."

"What am I doing..." Li Lin realized he seemed to have been caught in a terrible vortex. These two seemed difficult to deal with. Especially the second one; she was capable of eating people. It could be cannibalism in a mental sense, or it could be cannibalism in a physical sense.

"Can I have another bag of potato chips?" Li Lin asked. He was under a lot of pressure and needed pure joy to relieve it.

"Okay! I have a big bag of food here, eat slowly. When we get to Jin Gang Zhou, I'll buy you as much as you want."