"Hmm, yes."

Professor Zhu slapped his forehead, "That's right, that's right. I did mention it a while ago, the school accepted a genius early on, is that you, Xiao Yuan?"

Li Zhiyuan: "It might not necessarily be me."

"Was it the top scorer in the college entrance exam?"

"That should be me then."

"Hehe." Professor Zhu laughed, "I thought you were the child of a faculty member who liked my class, didn't expect you to actually be a student at our school."

Grandma Zhu reached out to touch Li Zhiyuan's face again, "Oh my, turns out you are our top scorer, no wonder you're so impressive."

After bidding farewell to the two elders, Li Zhiyuan left the neighborhood and took a taxi to Zhengyang Street.

If Grandma Zhu had physical issues due to some malevolent forces, I would have helped to dispel them, but she didn't.

She truly has nearly reached her end, and only dark magic could extend her life.

Such dark magic was harshly and thoroughly criticized by Wei Zhengdao, and Li Zhiyuan inherited this critique, having learned it in detail.

But there's really no need to use it; throughout history, those who attempted to extend their lives with dark magic never met a favorable outcome as expected.

The two elders have come to terms with it, able to calmly face this temporary separation that is to come.

The only thing I can do is probably to bring Run Sheng and Binbin to help during the funeral since they have no descendants.

This counts as a very peaceful transition of clues; the only lead from Professor Zhu's house is that photography studio.

However, here arises an issue with the timeline.

It's because I voluntarily took many of Professor Zhu's classes that caught his attention, and he mentioned it to his wife when he got home, which piqued Grandma Zhu's curiosity to meet me, and her deteriorating health sped up this process.

If I were to stretch it further, it should have been me discovering the peculiarity of the funeral photo at Grandma Zhu's funeral, then the timeline could comfortably extend backward.

But this logic doesn't hold.

It's because I attended Professor Zhu's classes that led to the subsequent invitation to visit, if I hadn't attended his classes... there's probably never would have been any intersection between us, and it wouldn't be possible for me to attend Grandma Zhu's future funeral.

So, if it turns out that the message from Langhua is real, then this time, I don't have the same good fortune as during the Yu Xuzi Big Fish incident to address the problem so early.

This means I don't have the first-mover advantage this time.

Li Zhiyuan turned his head to look at the scenery outside the car window rushing past.

Could it be because my previous exaggerated action of entering the exam too early... that the Heavenly Dao patched this loophole targeting me?

If that's really the case, I need to consider revising the "River Crossing code of conduct."

Because with the new version, the code might face adaptability issues.

Secondly, I should seriously consider controlling my points.

Otherwise, if I research ways to exploit the rules at the front foot, only for the Heavenly Dao to swiftly follow up and patch the rules, wouldn't I be building a wall to block my own future path?

"We're at Zhengyang Street, where should I drop you?"

"Driver, at the intersection up ahead."

"Alright."

The taxi pulled over, and Li Zhiyuan got out of the car, turned around, and saw the Pingju Photography Studio.

The studio wasn't large, with a very cozy decor setup, Li Zhiyuan saw the young store owner sweeping the floor as he walked in.

The owner was quite young, under thirty, not tall, wearing a light windbreaker, with a brown beret, looking very spry.

"Are you here for a photo shoot or to pick up photos?"

"Photo shoot."

"ID photo?"

"Yes."

"What size?"

"Two-inch."

"Alright, follow me upstairs."

Li Zhiyuan followed the owner up the stairs, which were narrow with many turns.

After reaching the second floor, the space became a lot more spacious, and Li Zhiyuan sat down in front of a blue backdrop.

The owner didn't rush to adjust the camera, but instead, took a comb in his right hand, came over, and first combed through with the comb, then ran his hand through to fluff and part the hair.

"You're going to grow up to be a handsome guy, well, you actually already are, little handsome guy."

Li Zhiyuan responded with a shy smile.

The owner went behind the camera, "Alright, we're ready, just like that, don't move, one, two, three!"

"Click!"

At the moment the shutter clicked, Li Zhiyuan only felt his vision black out, hearing a "gurgling" sound all around.

The young man maintained his original seated posture, not moving an inch, not even a flutter of his eyelids, yet at the same time, he initiated the walking yin.

In the walking yin perspective, the camera transformed into a gigantic eyeball.

The eyeball was covered in a dense network of blood vessels, endlessly shifting, scrutinizing him up, down, left, and right.

Gradually, on the large eyeball, Li Zhiyuan saw his own face, from blurred to clear, and even displayed a bit of three-dimensionality.

It saw me, it remembered me.

"All done."

The owner's voice sounded, the large eyeball retracted back into the camera, Li Zhiyuan also ended the walking yin state, and everything returned to normal.

"Do you want them now or come back tomorrow to pick them up?"

"I want them now."

"Then please wait a moment, I'll go develop them for you."

"Thank you, sorry for the trouble."

"You're welcome."

The owner descended the stairs, Li Zhiyuan stood up and followed him out but glanced back at the camera mounted there as he passed by it.

An off-white pus seemed to remain on the camera's lens, accumulating to a certain extent.

"Plop!"

It dripped onto the ground.

Li Zhiyuan went downstairs.

"Take a seat first, there are candies there, have some candy."

"Okay, thank you, boss."

The owner lifted the curtain, opened the door inside, and walked in.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.