Just a few days after the weather cleared up, the rain came annoyingly close again.

A rainy day in midwinter could be considered a kind of punishment. If you're outside, raindrops will seep into every crevice of your clothes. If you're inside, the damp coldness permeating the air can give you the illusion of having moved into a coffin early.

Karun sat at the door of the living room, holding a book and flipping through it. It was a book that Unis had given him, called "The Diary of a Madman."

The author's name was "Robert," and the protagonist was also named Robert.

In the book, Robert was a guy with an exhibitionist tendency who liked to run naked at night. He was the kind of person who was completely naked because the author mentioned several times that the protagonist felt like he was being whipped when he swung his thighs on either side.

The story was divided into volumes in the form of a diary, recording the bizarre stories the protagonist experienced while running at night over many days.

For example, one day when he was running at night, he passed by a night market stall and saw an old couple putting their heads in a pot to cook. The pot was bubbling and the voices of the couple invited him to taste the new flavor of their stall.

One day, when he was running at night, he passed by a small bridge. The west side of the bridge was rolling magma, while the east side was a frozen river surface.

One day, when he was running at night, he passed by a post office and saw a group of mailmen stuffing piles of letters into their mouths like crazy. Their stomachs bulged out like small hills, and then, with the help of other postal workers, they were forcibly stuffed into mailboxes.

...

The last diary entry in this book was when Robert encountered many pedestrians on the roadside at night. When those pedestrians saw him naked, they screamed and quickly took off their own clothes, as if wearing clothes outside was an extremely immoral and uncivilized thing to do, and they needed to sneak around and hide when wearing clothes.

After this diary entry, the book ended with these words:

After that day, I suddenly felt bored. I don't know if night running became boring or being naked outside became boring.

When Karun first read this book, he felt a bit like Dante's "Divine Comedy" because many of the scenes in the book were not like earthly scenes.

But there were indeed many metaphors in it, whether it was intentional allusion by the author Robert or forced interpretation by the reader, was unknown.

Because a year after the author Robert released this book and it became popular, he chose to hang himself, adding a lot of mystery to the book and even more books analyzing "The Diary of a Madman."At this moment, Mina, Rent, and Chris came back with three umbrellas.

They had finished their final exams yesterday and went to the school to collect their results at noon today. It must be said that the teachers at their school were really fast at grading papers.

From their expressions, Mina looked calm as usual. Her academic performance had always been good, so the final exam was just a formality for her.

Chris had a smile on her face, indicating that her grades were probably good.

Rent, on the other hand, seemed a bit down. Among the children of the Inmorales family, girls generally performed better than boys in academics. The previous "Karun" didn't do very well in school, but now that Karun didn't have to go to school anymore, Rent lost his comrade in the same trench and had to face the concentrated firepower alone.

"Did you do badly?" Karun asked Rent.

Rent nodded.

"Then go tell your mom about your grades quickly. Promise her that you'll work hard next semester while she's in a good mood these days."

Upon hearing his brother's reminder, Rent's eyes lit up and he immediately ran to the basement to find Aunt Mary.

Not long after, Rent came back with a smile on his face. Obviously, he had passed the final exam. His mother didn't scold him or hit him, nor did she confiscate his card collection. Instead, she really did tell him to work hard next semester, just as his brother had said.

"Hehe, bro."

Rent, who had completed his tribulation, finally entered a happy state during winter break.

"Rent, come mop the floor!" Mina shouted at her younger brother on the second floor.

"Coming, sis!"

Karun knew that Aunt Mary was in a good mood these days. It was her birthday the day before yesterday, and Karun had prepared a sumptuous birthday dinner for her. Of course, that wasn't the most important thing.

The most important thing was that at the dinner table, Dis personally raised his glass to Aunt Mary and said, "You've worked hard, for the family business, for Mason, and for the children in the family."

After receiving affirmation from her father-in-law, Aunt Mary drank the red wine in her glass and then buried her head and cried for a long time.

Actually, she wanted to laugh, but sometimes the expression of extreme happiness was crying.

Dis's position in the hearts of his family members was completely different, so Dis's affirmation in person was of great significance to Aunt Mary.

In the two days after the birthday dinner, Aunt Mary practically walked with the wind and hummed her favorite cheerful tunes. This morning, Mrs. Mark came to complain as usual about her flowers being picked by mourners, but Aunt Mary took the initiative to apologize and offered compensation. This change actually left Mrs. Mark at a loss. She didn't want Aunt Mary's compensation, but instead got angry and pulled out a few flowers with her own hands. Perhaps, she just wanted to pick a fight with someone.Closing the book, the cover read:

"You think you're running honestly, but you can't exchange it for real visibility."

Karun silently calculated the days with his fingers. Excluding today, there were only two days left of the seven days that Dis had mentioned.

Younis came over on Aunt's birthday night, and Karun went to Younis' house for afternoon tea yesterday.

Karun clearly noticed that Mrs. Jenny was preparing to move, and she even specifically asked if Karun was seasick.

In any case, the day was gradually approaching.

"Ring ring..."

The phone rang.

Karun walked over and answered the phone:

"Hello, this is the Inmolese Funeral Society."

"Hello, I'm looking for Karun Inmolese."

The voice on the other end was that of a gentle man.

"What's the matter?" Karun asked.

"Can you let Karun answer the phone? I have a gift of life to give him."

"Sorry, Karun is not at home right now."

Karun hung up the phone.

Was there already a telecom fraud?

At this time, Mina walked over and handed Karun a letter:

"Brother, I forgot when I came back, this is a letter for you."

"Who is it from?" Karun took the envelope and found that there was no recipient written on it.

"It's from a priest named Simon. He approached us on the tram and said he was good friends with Grandpa, and then asked us who was the smartest among us, and he would give that person a gift.

I wasn't going to answer because I thought he was weird.

But Lunt said you, Karun, were the smartest in the family, and then Chris immediately nodded in agreement.

The priest gave us this letter and asked us to give it to you when we got home.

A quick look at "pawread dot com" will leave you more fulfilled.

Brother, is that priest a fraud?"

"It's possible." Karun cautioned, "Be careful next time."

"Well, he got off the tram after giving us the letter."

"Okay, I received the letter. Oh, there's yogurt I made in the fridge. Go share it with Chris, Lunt, and them."

"Okay, brother."

Mina hugged Karun and gave him a kiss on the cheek before running off with a smile.

Mina, who was always quiet and sensible, suddenly became more expressive. This was not because Mina had changed, but because she, who was thoughtful, might have noticed something.

Karun sat back down and opened the envelope:

"Hello, when you see this letter, congratulations, you are the lucky one chosen by fate.

I will lead you into the true ladder of this world and appreciate the true scenery of this world.

If you are willing,

Tonight at eight o'clock,

you can go to the entrance of the Mingke Street Church, where I will be waiting for you.""Your guide - Simon."

"Hehe."

After reading the letter, Karun smiled.

The format of the letter reminded him of all kinds of lottery scam emails that filled his mailbox in his past life.

However, after laughing, Karun's expression became serious.

It was both a phone call and a letter, and the location was still the church where his grandfather worked. It was one thing to joke about it, but it would be self-deception to treat it as a scam.

But Karun tore the letter.

"Hehe, only fools would go."

Karun went upstairs and saw Dis coming down.

As soon as their eyes met, Karun immediately spoke:

"Grandpa, a priest sent me a letter through Mina, and there was also a phone call looking for me earlier. They said I was the lucky one chosen by fate and invited me to meet him at the door of the Mingke Street Church at 8 o'clock tonight. The signature was Simon."

Dis nodded, indicating that he knew.

Karun stretched lazily. It was time to prepare dinner.

"You don't need to prepare dinner."

"Hmm?"

"Come with me."

"Okay, Grandpa. I'll get the car keys... Oh no, Uncle Mason has already taken the hearse out for business today."

"Let's walk."

"Okay, Grandpa."

Karun followed Dis to the first floor. There were several black umbrellas on the inside of the living room door.

After all, the umbrellas from the funeral home were not suitable for too many colorful designs.

Dis held an umbrella and walked in front, and Karun followed with an umbrella. The grandfather and grandson stepped into the rain curtain.

Karun didn't ask where Dis was going. He just followed. However, the direction they were going was not towards the location of the church.

When they reached the intersection, Dis stopped, and Karun stopped as well.

A taxi drove by, and Dis waved. The car stopped in front of the grandfather and grandson.

Karun went forward to help his grandfather open the door of the back seat, and then sat in the passenger seat himself.

It turned out that when Grandpa said "let's walk," he meant to walk out and take a taxi.

Grandpa said the destination was the West Street Cemetery.

Twenty minutes later, the taxi stopped at the gate of the cemetery. It was a small cemetery, and it was already "full." Its location was not in the city center, but it was not considered the suburbs either.

Unlike in the past life, where people were superstitious about living near a cemetery, the citizens of Roja City didn't have much resistance to having a cemetery near their homes. To some extent, houses closer to the cemetery were even more popular, of course, as long as the cemetery was well maintained and not like a mass grave.Standing at the entrance of the cemetery, you could see a wooden house inside. It should be the caretaker's house, but the door was closed, and the caretaker was probably not at home.

Dis walked along the gravel path and led Karun to a joint tombstone.

This should be a joint tomb of a couple surnamed Smith.

"Today is your parents' memorial day."

Karun remained silent.

According to reason, he should kneel down and shout emotionally, "Father, mother, your child has come to see you." But Karun couldn't do this overly dramatic emotional expression, especially in front of Dis. This style was not allowed.

However, Karun still held his umbrella, took a step back, and bowed to the tombstone.

After bowing, Karun asked, "Are their bodies buried here?"

Dis shook his head.

Oh, then it must be a tomb with clothes and hats.

Puerh had told Karun that the bodies of clerics would be collected by various churches because they were important materials. Lady Molly had previously asked him for purified flesh.

The tombstone was surnamed Smith, not Inmoleis. Was it to deceive people and avoid being disturbed?

Karun glanced at Dis from the corner of his eye. "Karun's" parents were killed by Dis himself because they were seriously contaminated and were no longer human, not even a conscious existence. Therefore, their memorial day was also Dis's sad day. A person who attached great importance to the family had killed his own two family members with his own hands.

Dis stood there silently for a long time.

Karun stood beside him, looking down and watching the puddle in front of him being hit by raindrops.

Finally, Dis turned around and seemed to be leaving. Karun hurriedly followed.

"Grandpa, do you come here every year on this day?" Karun asked.

In the memory of the previous "Karun," he did not accompany his grandfather to pay respects to his parents.

"Um." Dis responded, "I choose a tombstone every year and stop to stand for a while."

"Uh-huh?" Karun widened his eyes, "So, who was the owner of the tombstone you just visited?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Isn't it written on the tombstone?" Dis asked back.

So, it wasn't even a tomb with clothes and hats. The alias was just his own imagination. The couple buried under that tomb were really strangers surnamed Smith!

"Is it surprising?" Dis asked.

Karun pursed his lips and said, "It's a bit surprising, but I can understand that if you have grief in your heart, even a photo, a flower, or a beam of sunlight can be used for comfort and remembrance.""Grandpa deliberately found a cemetery and chose a tombstone. It's already comprehensive in terms of form and ceremony."

"Form and ceremony." Dis chewed on the words. "Yes, you're right."

"So, what's next?" Karun asked. "Choose another tombstone?"

Dis shook his head. "The rain is getting heavier. Let's go home. The form and ceremony are too heavy."

Karun and Dis walked out of the cemetery. Fortunately, the driver who had brought them over earlier seemed to have developed athlete's foot and was picking his toes there...

But it was inconvenient to take a taxi on a rainy day. Karun still opened the back door for Dis. After Dis got in, Karun ran to the other side and sat down next to Dis.

"No. 13 Mingke Street."

"Okay, sirs."

...

Back at home, standing at the door.

Dis reached out and put his hand on Karun's shoulder, patting it. "Let's go home."

This scene had occurred once before, but at that time Dis had been full of killing intent. Now, he was full of kindness.

However, just as Dis pushed open the door...

Karun suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He remembered something. No, it couldn't be!

The scene from that day flashed through Karun's mind again. He was holding the golden retriever, and Dis was standing next to him.

Then, Dis put his hand on Karun's shoulder and asked him a question: what was in front of them?

At the time, Karun had thought it was a test from Dis. Only by answering "home" could he touch the softness in Dis's heart and save his own life.

But Mr. Hoffmann's incident had caused Karun to have a preconceived notion.

In fact, Dis had never intended to kill him from the beginning.

So...

The scene in Karun's mind began to shift, and the perspective began to stretch to the back.

In front of him, from left to right, and from front to back, were the golden retriever being led by a leash on the far left and in the front, Karun himself holding the leash behind the dog, and Dis standing behind Karun with his hand on his shoulder...

"Karun."

"Gra... grandpa..."

"Where are we, Karun?"

"Home!!!"

When Karun shouted out the answer in his hoarse voice, the scene in front of him showed that Dis's hand on his shoulder was actually a protective gesture to keep him below him. At the same time, Dis turned his head and looked behind him with a killing intent in his eyes.

That killing intent wasn't directed at him, but at the blurry figure standing behind him at the time, even across the street...