Chapter 159

"Why do you have a mom and dad by your side, while I have none?"

Zheng Haiyang's voice came from the car radio.

Li Li Zhuiyuan reached out to turn the volume knob. He wanted to make the sound louder, but the static increased along with it, causing the original voice to become blurred.

In the end, he could only find a middle ground—as loud as possible while still ensuring it was clear.

The front of the small pickup truck was pressed against the bridge's guardrail. Because they had just gotten onto the bridge, the speed wasn't fast, so no serious accident occurred when the driver, Tan Tan Wenbin, suddenly slumped over the steering wheel, unconscious.

Yes, that's right, Tan Tan Wenbin just fell asleep like that.

Then, Tan Tan Wenbin's voice began to emit from the car radio.

Although it was only his voice, it was enough to piece together the plot he was currently experiencing.

Brother Binbin had returned to a dream of the past.

A major essential difference between an illusion and a dream is that an illusion is a bewitchment targeting your current state, while a dream... can overwrite your established cognition.

Many college students dream of returning to their high school days to take exams, answering questions with extreme anxiety, and handing in their papers with a heart full of trepidation and despair, only to realize upon waking that they had long since finished the college entrance exam, immediately feeling a heartfelt sense of relief.

You continue to have such dreams even after graduating from college, getting married, having children, or even when you are old. Each time, you forget your current identity and situation, directly substituting yourself into the tense atmosphere of high school.

However, Li Li Zhuiyuan also detected some clues, such as the smoothness of Brother Binbin's fighting scenes, his flirtatious banter with Zhou Yunyun, and the composure he showed when handling his father's funeral arrangements...

Including the sudden situation of his mother drinking pesticide and entering the emergency room, the calmness that still existed deep in his bones.

The current Brother Binbin was no longer suited to his past "dream."

Under normal circumstances, he actually should have sensed something was wrong long ago and woken up from the dream.

But this dream—he couldn't wake up.

Li Li Zhuiyuan had once guessed and simulated many of the Dream Ghost's strange and complex methods, but it wasn't until things actually happened that he realized he had been overthinking it.

A heavy sword has no edge; great skill is not flashy. The terrifying thing about the opponent might just be the ability to forcibly pull you into a dream.

And the formation layouts and Feng Shui patterns pre-buried in the Luo Xin Island Amusement Park could further amplify this ability of the Dream Ghost.

This point alone was actually enough.

Pulling you into a dream and not letting you out is equivalent to throwing you into a pot with firewood burning underneath. If once isn't enough, then twice; if twice isn't enough, then three times... sooner or later, you will be boiled into dregs.

The flow of time in a dream is obviously different from the outside world because it can change your perception of time. Sometimes a person wakes up from a very long dream only to find ten minutes have passed, and sometimes they wake up from a very short dream to find half a day has gone by.

Just like how Li Li Zhuiyuan was currently sitting in the car listening to the radio, while several days of plot time had already passed for Tan Tan Wenbin inside the radio.

When the perception of time can also be blurred, two, three, or even ten times or more is actually no different from once.

Overwriting Tan Tan Wenbin's cognition of the past time and time again, letting Tan Tan Wenbin repeatedly experience this dream reincarnation—then those thorns and incompatibilities on Tan Tan Wenbin would all be polished away.

In fact, the fact that Tan Tan Wenbin could remain relatively calm in this iteration, handle things decently, and banter about Tan Yunlong's portrait, was itself his own quality hard-carrying the impact of the dream.

First, pull the thorns, letting him return to that Tan Tan Wenbin in his second year of high school, then soften him, letting his mindset gradually lean toward cowardice and panic, and finally... crush him.

After crushing his self-consciousness, he would become the most obedient puppet. The Dream Ghost only needs to transform into the simplest of images and give you a tiny bit of grace and warmth, and you will view it as a savior.

This kind of puppet is more reassuring than a ghost-servant, because it is not controlled by external forces, but is a pure reshaping of your own inner self to suit you.

Simple... yet extremely effective.

However, hearing until the end, especially when Zheng Haiyang actually appeared in the hospital, and Zheng Haiyang's last two sentences were also emitted from the radio, Li Li Zhuiyuan sensed something was wrong.

Previously, the radio was entirely Tan Tan Wenbin's one-man show.

Now, there was an extra voice in the drama.

Zheng Haiyang shouldn't have appeared in that plot environment, because it was too early.

Tan Tan Wenbin should have been allowed to spend more time with Zheng Fang, letting Tan Tan Wenbin watch Zheng Fang recover as before, then experience mother-son affection, and finally... fail to respond to resuscitation and pass away.

Zheng Haiyang's appearance at this time seemed very abrupt, and the sudden distortion and transformation of Zheng Haiyang's image was also very illogical.

Tan Tan Wenbin had always had a thorn in his heart, which was witnessing Zheng Haiyang's death with his own eyes.

The Dream Ghost shouldn't have given up on making good use of this thorn. In fact, it did exactly that; the first thing Tan Tan Wenbin did when he entered the dream was to save Zheng Haiyang.

But doing it this way was wrong; it was simply destroying the immersion of the dream itself.

The tragedy of Zheng Haiyang's family involved that turtle at the bottom of the sea. Letting Zheng Haiyang act like this in front of Tan Tan Wenbin was equivalent to constantly stimulating Tan Tan Wenbin psychologically, making him associate it with that turtle.

Li Li Zhuiyuan even suspected that in Tan Tan Wenbin's dream, he had actually already seen the "turtle."

And it was from that night that Tan Tan Wenbin formally made up his mind, completely accepted the name "Brother Zhuangzhuang" given to him by his great-grandfather, and joined the team of himself and Lu Runsheng, in order to avenge Zheng Haiyang in the future.

This meant that Zheng Haiyang's performance would stimulate Tan Tan Wenbin's awakening step by step, making him associate it with the corpse-salvager, the Long Wang... and himself, this Brother Xiaoyuan.

Moreover, it was very obvious that the plot on the radio had slowed down at this moment.

Tan Tan Wenbin seemed to have seen some terrifying scene and began to flee;

Zheng Haiyang followed him step by step. No matter where Tan Tan Wenbin hid, he had to chase him down to find him and pour out the grievances and unwillingness in his heart.

The two seemed to have treated the hospital as a separate "playground" and started a game of cat and mouse.

Li Li Zhuiyuan suspected that if they continued to play, it would force Tan Tan Wenbin to make an instinctive counterattack, immediately remembering more memories that shouldn't have appeared in this dream background.

Yin Meng: "What exactly is going on?"

Lu Runsheng: "Why does it feel like Brother Zhuangzhuang's dream has become a bit strange?"

Lin Lin Shu You: "Will Brother Bin be in danger if he continues like this?"

The voices of the other three partners in the car rang in Li Li Zhuiyuan's ears.

Li Li Zhuiyuan remained silent, expressionless.

Previously, when Tan Tan Wenbin suddenly fell asleep on the steering wheel, they had appeared very anxious, but it was still within the normal framework.

But now, their expressions had already become slightly distorted.

From the moment Tan Tan Wenbin fell asleep, Li Li Zhuiyuan hadn't said a word. Since the radio started playing until now, other than reaching out to adjust the volume halfway through, he hadn't done anything else.

He hadn't even taken any measures to try to wake Tan Tan Wenbin up.

Logically speaking, this reaction of his should have made everyone else in the team remain quiet, no matter how worried or anxious they were inside.

Therefore, they were now asking questions on behalf of others.

Li Li Zhuiyuan turned his body to the side, resting his head against the car window.

Is it you, Dream Ghost? Do you not know what kind of accident has occurred either?

This is truly interesting.

Unfortunately, I can't laugh out loud.

During the last meeting, Li Li Zhuiyuan had said that he wasn't sure if everyone present would still be themselves at the next meeting.

In fact, he hadn't even waited for the amusement park; from the moment he set off in this yellow small pickup truck, Li Li Zhuiyuan had already defaulted in his heart that the partners in the car had all been replaced.

Facing their inquiries, he certainly wouldn't go and do that analysis and explanation.

Don't look at how Tan Tan Wenbin is just sleeping in front of him; in all likelihood, he himself is also in a dream right now.

Lu Runsheng, Yin Meng, and Lin Lin Shu You might also be enduring the exact same impact as Tan Tan Wenbin in their own unique dreams.

Li Li Zhuiyuan even suspected that the environment of the dream he was currently in was not a continuous process, but had had a break in the middle.

Including this segment of Tan Tan Wenbin on the radio, it wasn't the first iteration either.

It was the Dream Ghost specifically creating this environment for him, including the presentation of the "plot" on the radio, with the purpose of extracting some information from his mouth.

If that were the case, it could only further explain... it wasn't just panicked; it was afraid.

This was also the reason why it spared no effort to change its style and open a special session just for him.

His current position was really a bit like a guest commentator for a variety show on TV.

Really, I want to laugh so much.

This feeling was the original intention he had when he decided to take this path; he was just looking for this kind of fun.

So, was he "plucked" out of the dream originally arranged for him and placed into this new set?

The boy was very curious: what did he encounter in his original dream?

By common sense, it should be the thing he feared most and was least willing to face in his heart.

Thinking of this, Li Li Zhuiyuan frowned.

He knew the answer.

This answer, even just thinking about it, made him feel physically and mentally uncomfortable.

At this moment, Lu Runsheng, Lin Lin Shu You, and Yin Meng in the car all turned their gazes toward the boy.

They, or rather the Dream Ghost behind them, misunderstood Li Li Zhuiyuan's emotional expression.

The boy wasn't worried about Tan Tan Wenbin's matter at all.

Li Li Zhuiyuan reached out and gently touched his brow, imagining the feeling of A Li smoothing out his furrowed brow for him last time. He really did need to nail a few more nails into the human skin on his face right now.

Suddenly, Lu Runsheng, Yin Meng, and Lin Lin Shu You spoke collectively, asking in the same tone:

"What exactly... happened?"

It had completely stopped pretending.

Clearly the true master in the current environment, it didn't hesitate to violate its own pride and principles, choosing to negotiate with him in a way that broke the illusion.

Li Li Zhuiyuan believed that if he answered now, he should still be able to negotiate terms.

The Dream Ghost was definitely not kept by the hand behind the scenes; the causal connection was too great, so the Dream Ghost itself had relatively strong autonomy. It might have defaulted to this arrangement because it could obtain certain benefits from it.

Theoretically, the possibility of both sides "turning enemies into friends" did exist, as long as it felt that its losses and gains were disproportionate, then it might choose to leave the gambling table.

But, why?

Coming when it wants and leaving when it wants—in this world, how could there be such a cheap thing?

He was a river-walker who couldn't admit defeat by lighting a lamp a second time; in reality, he was a gambler who had completely gambled red-eyed and staked his life.

It was just that he had no emotions to show; in fact, he should have been the kind of image who would fight to the death with whoever provoked him, not hesitating to perish together.

Seeing Li Li Zhuiyuan reluctant to answer for a long time, the three of Lu Runsheng spoke collectively again:

"Let's... talk."

Li Li Zhuiyuan remained silent; there was nothing to talk about.

In fact, he himself couldn't control the current situation, and what was even more gratifying was that for the Dream Ghost, it should be the same.

A dream is an extremely special environment that can infinitely amplify a thread from reality.

This thread of causality was also infinitely amplified in this dream.

This feeling was very much like when Li Li Zhuiyuan was ignorant in the past and calculated his own fortune, resulting in a nosebleed and then fainting directly.

This was a brilliant formation environment that even the most brilliant formation master had no ability to set up.

Even if given enough time and resources, he wouldn't be able to come up with this layout, because it didn't possess feasibility in the first place.

When the river water was introduced here, the divergence of things was no longer subject to human intervention.

In short,

The Dream Ghost,

It had also pulled that big turtle from the bottom of the sea into the dream.

This was also the reason why Li Li Zhuiyuan had been holding back his laughter, because it was truly too funny.

The three of Lu Runsheng spoke again:

"I... can exit."

Li Li Zhuiyuan continued not to respond.

Inside his heart, he was thinking:

Don't,

Don't be in a hurry,

Wait a little longer,

I still want to see the Fengdou Emperor.

Li Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head, forcibly holding his breath.

In this life, ever since he could remember, he had only ever feigned smiles or squeezed out a tiny bit when not feigning; he had never truly held back laughter in the real sense.

Now, he was experiencing this feeling.

Just like his great-grandfather's catchphrase for mocking others:

"You might as well go home and sleep; anyway, dreams have everything!"

On a small river, a man nearing fifty was punting a small boat.

There was a shovel, a bundle of nets, and a large bamboo basket on the boat, but he wasn't here to fish or dig for crabs.

The old man sniffed his nose, his gaze vigilantly scanning his surroundings.

He had been looking for a long time, but he hadn't found it yet.

To the point that he even had some regrets in his heart; if he had known, he should have called the fellow who lived in Shinan to come along. With him there, it seemed he could have found it faster.

The reason he didn't look for him was that with him there, he himself usually had bad luck, while the other person was always like someone who was perfectly fine.

"Crack... crack..."

Lu Shan heard the sound.

He slowed the boat down and used a bamboo pole to gently push aside the reeds in front.

He saw a hole the size of a washbasin; that kind of sound similar to an animal grinding its teeth was coming from inside this hole.

Lu Shan swallowed his saliva and brought the boat to the shore.

Then he picked up his things and got off the boat, first setting up the net at the edge of the hole to make a simple setup, and then he picked up the shovel and began to dig.

Every time a shovel of dirt was lifted, Lu Shan's breathing would pause, because he didn't know when the thing inside would jump out.

Just at this moment, the dirt under Lu Shan's feet began to sink.

He immediately made a leap, jumping away from this area.

A rich scent of a dead-walker appeared, and a female dead-walker with messy hair and covered in mud from head to toe appeared in front of Lu Shan.

On the back of this dead-walker, there was also a male infant, looking less than a year old.

The male infant had his eyes closed, and while his arms were tightly hugging the female dead-walker, he was also gnawing at its neck. The "crack crack" sound from before originated from his gnawing.

While Lu Shan gripped the Yellow River shovel in his hand, his eyes revealed astonishment: "A dead-walker giving birth?"

But soon, he discovered something wrong again; the dead-walker kept stretching out its arms, attempting to grab and scratch the male infant on its back, extremely manic and angry.

It was just because the dead-walker's arm joints seemed to have been nailed with nails, so her limbs couldn't be unfolded normally, and she really had no way to deal with the male infant on her back.

But the fact was, the male infant could continue gnawing even in such a situation, even after being brought into the muddy hole without being thrown off, which was enough to show he was extraordinary.

The dead-walker saw Lu Shan and lunged at him, as if wanting to find someone to vent the anger it was currently enduring.

Lu Shan didn't fight head-on, but chose to maneuver around it.

Finally, he found an opening and sprinkled a bag of black dog blood onto the dead-walker. The dead-walker let out a scream, its body trembling.

The male infant on the dead-walker's back also let out a scream. He opened his eyes, and his pupils were completely gray.

It seemed that the damage from the black dog blood instead ignited the ferocity in the male infant's bones; he tore at the dead-walker's neck even more manically.

"Snap!"

The dead-walker's neck split open.

Lu Shan took the opportunity to step forward and gave the dead-walker's neck a slash.

"Plop."

The dead-walker's head fell off completely, and its corpse also fell down, its body beginning to turn into pus.

The male infant also fell down and rolled in front of Lu Shan.

Lu Shan lowered his head to look at the male infant; the infant seemed full, and he put his right thumb into his own mouth, sucking on it quite obediently.

Moreover, the gray color in the male infant's eyes was gradually fading, revealing the eyes of an ordinary person.

He saw Lu Shan, and while continuing to suck on his finger, he curled his lips and began to smile.

Grandpa... Grandpa... Grandpa...

Lu Shan raised his shovel with an expressionless face, facing the male infant at his feet:

"You freak, I cannot let you live!"

Lu Runsheng watched helplessly as the shovel fell fiercely, and immediately after, he heard the crisp sound of his own head being smashed to pieces.

"Hoo..."

Lu Runsheng suddenly woke up with a start; he discovered he was sitting behind the stove, and a fire was still burning inside it.

So it was just a dream; how could Grandpa ever kill him?

Lu Runsheng habitually added a bit of firewood to the stove; the water had boiled, and it was time to put in the meat—actually, he should have put it in long ago; he hadn't expected that he would actually doze off while tending the stove.

He stood up, picked up the ladle, lifted the lid, and added some more water to the pot.

Since he was small, his family rarely ate meat, and running out of food was an even more common occurrence.

In his memory, there were usually only two situations where they could eat meat to their heart's content: one was when he and Grandpa had just finished a job and received the corpse-salvaging money; that night, Grandpa would go and cut some meat for him to reward the two of them well, but it was limited to that day and that night, because the next day Grandpa would go to the gambling table and lose all the money.

The other situation was when they had to go to Old Man Li's house; every time, the two of them would keep track of the days, start eating very little two days in advance, and only go after their stomachs were completely hollowed out, so they could go to Old Man Li's house and eat to their heart's content.

Old Man Li would always curse them for being starving ghosts reincarnated, while continuing to bring out food, letting the two of them eat their fill.

Therefore, every time they were going to Old Man Li's house, Lu Runsheng would start feeling happy several days in advance, even more so than waiting for the New Year, because there were many people playing cards during the New Year, and there were many targets for his own grandfather to "send money" to.

Meat, meat, where is the meat?

Lu Runsheng patted his own head and remembered; the meat had been processed by him and placed on the door panel in the courtyard.

Oh dear, dozing off ruins things; it mustn't be stolen by passersby or snatched away by cats or dogs.

Lu Runsheng hurriedly ran out the door and arrived in the courtyard.

A large pile of meat, cut very neatly—it was his own handiwork.

"Hehe."

Lu Runsheng couldn't help but laugh.

On the door panel, there were still three sticks of incense inserted, now half-burned; he vaguely remembered that it must have been when he was cutting the meat, he felt greedy, so he smelled the incense to satisfy his craving first.

It wasn't that raw meat couldn't be eaten, but Grandpa hadn't returned yet, so he couldn't start eating first.

It's just, why hasn't Grandpa returned yet?

Logically speaking, at this hour, his money should have been lost and he should have left the table by now.

Lu Runsheng walked to the side of the door panel and suddenly noticed the blood-stained clothing piled under the door panel; it was his grandfather's clothes.

Oh no, he hadn't noticed when he was cutting the meat and had dirtied Grandpa's clothes.

The two of them, all in all, only had two sets of clothes each that they could wear out; the rest were just enough to cover their heads but not their backsides—wearing them at home on the bed was fine, but wearing them outside would be indecent.

Just as Lu Runsheng was about to bend down to pick up the clothes, he noticed a round object placed on the door panel.

Had he bought a pig or a sheep back?

It seemed that for the last job, the employer had given quite a lot; on the way back, Grandpa's mouth had almost been crooked from smiling.

Lu Runsheng blinked; Grandpa often said his brain wasn't good and he was easily deceived; this was indeed true—how old was he, and his memory had already become so poor.

He reached out, grabbed that round object, and turned it over.

Although it had been processed, roasted, and scraped, when it faced him, Lu Runsheng still recognized at a glance that this was his grandfather's head!

Lu Runsheng widened his eyes, bloodshot veins rapidly filling his eyes, quickly becoming so dense they seemed about to drip out.

He grabbed his own face with both hands, looking at all this in disbelief, and at this moment, memory images of himself processing this pile of meat kept surfacing in his mind.

"Ah!!!"

"A-You, the temple is not a place you can come to."

"Master..."

"Do not call me Master; although you are my master's grandson, you are not qualified, you are not worthy of becoming a Guan Jiang Shou, and I will not accept you as a disciple."

Lin Lin Shu You knelt on the steps in front of the temple gate, looking at the old man standing to the side with pleading eyes.

But the originally kind grandfather scolded him sternly at this moment:

"I didn't expect that my Lin family would actually produce a natural-born evil seed like you; when others fail to become a spirit medium, at most it's because they cannot sense the Lords, but you, you actually managed to provoke the Lords into a rage!

You are not my grandson; what on earth are you? Get out!"

Lin Lin Shu You left the temple gate in a daze.

Becoming a Guan Jiang Shou had been his dream since childhood; now, this dream was shattered, and his world had collapsed.

Just like that, he walked and stopped, darting back and forth in the old street like a walking corpse, walking until it was dark; he couldn't walk anymore and squatted down in a corner.

His mouth kept muttering the names of various Yin gods, and his hands were also gesturing the movements used during the deity procession.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!"

Someone started shouting.

Lin Lin Shu You was completely unaware, continuing to be in a daze.

"The temple is on fire!"

"The temple is on fire!"

Lin Lin Shu You turned his head to look outside; he saw a pillar of fire rising very high; his vision began to refocus, and he recognized that the place on fire was his own temple!

He immediately scrambled up and started running like a madman, not knowing how many people he had knocked over along the way; in the past, he would definitely have apologized sincerely immediately, but now, he couldn't care about any of that.

Whoever dared to block his path, he would push them aside; if the road ahead was blocked, he would climb over the wall.

He, who was already exhausted, was squeezed for new strength at this moment because of this fire in his family's temple.

In that temple, there were not only his master and fellow disciples but also his family; everyone usually lived in the temple.

The closer he got to the fire, the fewer people there were around, and he didn't see anyone coming to put out the fire.

However, Lin Lin Shu You would not notice these details.

He ran to the temple gate; the fire inside was raging.

Lin Lin Shu You kicked open the temple gate; he really hoped that the people inside had already run out.

But as soon as he entered, he froze; the fire was still burning, but the corpses of his fellow disciples and family members lying on the ground were clearly not burned to death by the big fire.

Some had their chests punched through, some had their necks twisted off, and some were even torn in two at the waist by brute force.

Right in front of him, on the steps in front of the main temple building, Lin Lin Shu You saw a man in red clothes holding his grandfather up with one hand.

Grandfather had painted his face, proving he had already been possessed by a deity, but even so, he was still no match for the man before him.

Who on earth was this man, and how terrifying was he?

Grandfather's neck was being gripped; at this moment, he could only turn his head with great difficulty to look at him, blood foam constantly overflowing from the corners of his grandfather's mouth:

"A-You... run..."

The man kept gripping grandfather's neck with one hand; at this moment, his other hand reached out, grabbed grandfather's head, and just like that, pulled it off.

"Bang!"

Grandfather's head was detached from his neck, and fresh blood gushed out from the headless neck.

"Grandpa!"

The man very casually discarded grandfather's head and then walked toward the main gate.

When the surrounding flames tried to close in on him, they were all pushed away by the air waves blowing from his body.

Lin Lin Shu You rushed toward the man; as soon as he reached the man's side, he was swept away by a powerful aura.

He lay on the ground, spitting blood while clenching his fists and pounding the ground in frustration; he couldn't be possessed, couldn't invite the Lords to descend; the current him simply had no way to threaten the man before him.

The man continued to walk outside.

Lin Lin Shu You shouted viciously: "I'm not dead yet, why don't you kill me, why don't you kill me!"

The man replied: "Because you are not a person of this temple."

"I am, I am, I clearly am!" Lin Lin Shu You shouted again with a ferocious face, "Why, why do you have to do this, why!"

The man stopped, turned his head, looked at him first, then looked at the big fire rising continuously in the main temple, and said:

"Those who offend the majesty of the Dragon King shall be exterminated!"

In Fengdou Ghost Street, it was raining.

Little Yin Meng stood at the entrance of the coffin shop, looking at the curtain of rain before her.

There were not many pedestrians on the road; a mother holding an umbrella walked by, laughing and talking while holding her daughter's hand.

When the little girl walked past, she even turned her head and waved at Yin Meng, who was standing at the shop entrance.

Yin Meng tilted her head, looking at her, without responding.

She turned around and returned inside the shop.

At the very end of the counter was a small cabinet wrapped in clothes; the four corners of the cabinet were two hands and two feet, respectively.

She lifted the top layer of clothes, revealing the glass; looking down from above, one could see her father's head placed under the glass.

This head was half-rotted, with skin hanging off half of it.

Seeing her, her father's face revealed a smile; it looked very ferocious.

Yin Meng walked toward the kitchen, where two large pots were set up.

She stood on a stool nearby and looked into the pot; she saw a man whose whole body had been boiled until bloated.

Then, she looked into the other pot, where she found her mother.

Both of them had been stewed until very mushy.

Just like when the two of them were floating in the pond back then.

Yin Meng turned and left, walked into the inner room, and sat down with her back against the coffin.

This was the greatest source of warmth in her childhood, and also the longest-lasting release for her exhaustion during her teenage years.

Lying inside was her grandfather, who had raised her single-handedly.

She clearly remembered the sense of relief that appeared in her heart on the day her grandfather passed away.

No longer needing to wipe his body every day, no longer needing to massage him every day to prevent bedsores, no longer needing to put on a smile to talk to him, no longer needing to continue guarding this coffin shop that had no business at all.

That moment of relaxation was real.

But every time she recalled it, it would produce an extremely strong sense of guilt in her.

Facing the person who loved her the most, her true reaction was to gradually treat him as a burden over one, two, three... ten years.

She was glad that she had pretended until the end, and she felt sinful that she had actually been pretending.

The current Yin Meng was actually already numb, gradually losing her perception of everything around her.

Actually, she really wasn't that fragile.

Her mother, in collusion with her lover, killed her father and sank him to the bottom of the water.

Her grandfather also only learned about this later from the ghosts passing by at night.

But before that, her parents' relationship had long since broken down; whether they were there or not didn't really make much difference.

Even, whether they died or not... rather than them living, it would be better if they died sooner to have a clean slate.

She used to be a girl who longed for the love of her parents and had envied others, but later she actually just got used to it.

After a child leaves their parents for a long time, they don't feel much; after parents leave their own children for a long time, it's also hard to continue much affection.

People can adapt to anything.

But unfortunately, in one dream after another, all of this is presented before you again and again, not only repeatedly but also progressively.

Yin Meng hadn't collapsed yet, but she was close.

Even the strongest person couldn't withstand such continuous grinding.

At this time, the sound of suona horns came from outside.

She saw the neighbors, and she also saw her mother's new mother-in-law's family; among them were her two half-brothers.

Yin Meng turned her head and looked at the coffin behind her:

Oh, so Grandpa died too.

These people who came in were saying sad words and shedding tears, but from time to time, they were also laughing.

Since she was very young, Yin Meng knew clearly that in this world, not many people would truly care about you or empathize with your joys and sorrows; whether you are doing well or not, good or bad, it has nothing to do with them, and they know this themselves.

Yin Meng was changed into mourning clothes and wrapped in black gauze; she just sat there, letting others arrange things for her.

Grandfather's coffin was lifted up to be sent out for burial.

That half-brother, under the management of his mother's new mother-in-law, smashed a bowl and walked in the first row of the funeral procession.

Yin Meng could only follow behind the procession.

This meant that after the funeral ended, the shop and the remaining property would also be inherited by them, having nothing to do with her.

But in Yin Meng's heart, there was no feeling of unwillingness or anger.

She felt she should have had some, she wasn't that cowardly, but she just couldn't find it.

Because these things had long been exhausted in those dreams one after another.

The rain was still falling, the wind was still blowing, it was very cold.

The brother walking at the very front started crying; he wanted to hide behind the procession to avoid the wind, but what he got in return was a fierce slap from his grandmother, which sounded very loud.

Anyway, the Yin family only had this one girl left, and there were no other relatives; once today's matter was over, the shop and the coffins inside would become their own property.

This girl, they would raise her for now, use her for work on weekdays, and when she grew a bit older, marry her off in exchange for a bride price; either way, it was a profitable deal.

When the funeral procession passed by a river beach, the wind suddenly blew harder, not only blowing people until they were swaying but even causing the coffin to slip and roll down.

Under the continuous "clanging" sounds, the coffin rolled into the river water; the coffin lid was supposed to be nailed down at the burial, but at this moment the lid flipped open directly, and the old man inside also rolled into the river.

Everyone hurriedly went to support the coffin and pull the corpse, so that everything could return to the right track.

Yin Meng stood on the riverbank with an expressionless face, looking at her grandfather in the river water, whom they couldn't pull back no matter how they tried.

Some of them took ropes, some took hooks, and some even went into the water to pull, but grandfather firmly and unswervingly continued to drift toward the deep part of the river, drifting further and further away.

A feeling rose in Yin Meng's heart, as if her grandfather was going to the place he should go.

In the girl's heart, a little comfort actually arose because of this, like a little moisture seeping out in a dry well that had long since dried up.

But for some reason, the funeral procession, which originally had no proper form and was only temporarily put together to go through the motions, now presented a strange sense of order.

After everyone collectively glanced at Yin Meng, they immediately rushed into the river again.

They wanted to spare no effort to pull grandfather's remains back, to have him buried, to have him become a corpse-demon, to have him return to the shop, to criticize the girl for her hypocrisy in treating him, and to tell the girl that he knew in his heart that the girl had actually always been eager for him to leave sooner so she could get relief.

Soon, only the girl was left on the river beach; everyone else was in the water.

Old people, children, men, women, all were swimming hard.

Finally, they grabbed the grandfather who had drifted far away.

They formed a joint effort, forming a human ladder on the water surface, dragging grandfather's remains back.

As they dragged, four blurry black shadows appeared behind grandfather.

"There's a ghost!"

"A ghost!"

Terrified screams came, and the crowd that had been orderly just a moment ago collapsed directly.

One by one, they tried to swim back without looking back, wanting to get ashore.

But soon, someone was dragged to the bottom of the water, one, two, three...

Yin Meng stood on the shore, witnessing with her own eyes her two half-brothers disappearing directly within her line of sight.

That mother's new mother-in-law was quite agile; she got ashore and was stretching out her hand, pointing at her:

"You heaven-killing jinx, you cursed..."

With a "plop," a black and blurry hand grabbed the mother's new mother-in-law's ankle, flipped her onto the ground, and then dragged her, sliding toward the river.

The mother-in-law grabbed the sand and stones on the river beach with both hands, calling for help from Yin Meng, hoping Yin Meng could pull her and save her.

Yin Meng walked up.

The mother-in-law revealed a look of relief, stretching her hand toward Yin Meng as much as possible.

Yin Meng raised her foot and stepped down on the mother-in-law's hand.

She clearly didn't use much force, after all, she was still just a little girl, but the mother-in-law let out an extremely shrill scream, as if she had witnessed something incredible.

Soon, the mother-in-law was dragged to the bottom of the river.

The riverbank and the river surface fell into a deathly silence.

Yin Meng sat down on the spot, hugging her knees.

She didn't know how long she sat, but she looked up blankly and found that half of the sky was cloudy and rainy and half was sunny, and she happened to be sitting on the dividing line between cloudy and sunny.

She turned her head and looked behind her.

Clearly she was still sitting on the river beach, but behind her was the Ghost Street, her own coffin shop.

She saw that woman holding an umbrella and holding a little girl, walking while laughing and talking again.

Only this time, when the little girl looked at her again, preparing to wave and greet her, the little girl and her mother squatted on the ground and let out shrill screams.

As if to form some kind of echo, the coffin shop, the father who had turned into a cabinet, also screamed; the mother and her lover in the two pots in the kitchen also stretched out their arms, letting the stewed rotten skin and flesh fall off, but still stretched out their white bones tightly, emitting terrified wails in the "gurgling" soup water.

Immediately after, painful screams came from one shop after another on Ghost Street.

Countless noises pierced into Yin Meng's ears.

She felt dizzy and suffocated; she crawled on the ground, wanting to scream too, but her throat seemed to be blocked by something; no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make any sound.

Yin Meng grabbed the stones on the ground and kept hitting her own face, hoping to use this method to alleviate the torment before her.

Soon, her face was full of wounds, and fresh blood kept dripping down.

Some fell on the ground, and some flowed into her mouth along the corners of her lips.

She froze; in her mind, some images that shouldn't have appeared seemed to surface; she wanted to capture them, but it was very difficult.

And the screams on Ghost Street not only didn't subside but became even more exaggerated.

Countless shopkeepers ran frantically to the street, tearing at the skin on their own bodies along with the original pedestrians; this scene was like a human purgatory.

Inside the small yellow pickup truck.

In the car radio, the crosstalk performance originally belonging exclusively to Tan Tan Wenbin suddenly had ear-piercing noise, and countless sharp whistles came from inside.

Li Li Zhuiyuan felt his eardrums aching; he reached out, but instead of turning down the volume, he turned the knob to turn the volume to the maximum.

The teenager's shoulders began to shake.

At this moment, his impulse to laugh almost reached its peak.

Inside the car, Yin Meng, who had been here just a moment ago, suddenly disappeared.

Lu Runsheng and Lin Lin Shu You asked: "Tell me, what on earth is going on, what on earth is going on!"

Li Li Zhuiyuan was still shaking his shoulders.

What's going on?

Dream Ghost, Dream Ghost, Dream Ghost...

As a ghost, you actually dare to pull the Great Emperor of Fengdu into a dream.

For nearly two thousand years, no ghost has dared to be as brave and fearless as you; you can be called a model of the ghost world!

At this time, Lu Runsheng started using his head to hit the car frantically, causing the yellow pickup to shake violently, while shouting "No! No! No!" over and over again.

Lin Lin Shu You clenched his fists and waved them while shouting ferociously: "Don't go! Kill me! Kill me!"

Li Li Zhuiyuan knew that the Dream Ghost was using Lu Runsheng and Lin Lin Shu You to threaten him.

Although the Dream Ghost had problems with Tan Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng, and it was getting more and more serious, it had almost succeeded with Lu Runsheng and Lin Lin Shu You.

Perhaps it only needed one more dream to completely destroy their mental defenses, thereby controlling their minds and turning them into the most obedient puppets.

This kind of damage was almost irreversible; even if they could barely walk out of it, the person would be completely ruined.

The Dream Ghost, at the gambling table, took out the chips it had just won; it wanted to hand over these chips in exchange for a chance to leave.

Li Li Zhuiyuan's shoulders stopped shaking at this moment.

That feeling of stifled laughter disappeared.

But the teenager didn't become angry from embarrassment because of this; his lips curled into a slight arc; he was still smiling.

This kind of smile expressed an attitude.

Negotiation was impossible.

In the eyes of the Dream Ghost, this was just a trap; since everyone was wary of each other, then they should separate and leave.

But for Li Li Zhuiyuan, this was a river that everyone was crossing together, and even more so, a mastermind behind the scenes that everyone was facing together.

Once the bow is drawn, there is no turning back; when this boat sails onto the river, no matter who falls into the water, the remaining people on the boat can only row the oars as hard as they can to continue moving forward.

Li Li Zhuiyuan opened the car door and got out.

The vehicle was shaking too violently because of those two people's madness, making him dizzy sitting inside.

The teenager walked forward along the bridge deck.

Behind him, the car window glass shattered, and Lu Runsheng's roar and Lin Lin Shu You's wailing came from inside.

Li Li Zhuiyuan continued to keep smiling, not slowing down at all.

The sound of Lu Runsheng and Lin Lin Shu You on the verge of collapse was like beautiful music in the teenager's ears.

This caused the teenager's smile to be almost unable to be maintained.

It wasn't that he wanted to be angry or painful or shout, but that he still wanted to laugh.

Earlier in the car, he was actually acting.

The more he showed an attitude of refusing to negotiate, the tighter the Dream Ghost would hold onto the two chips of Lu Runsheng and Lin Lin Shu You; it dared not destroy them now, because in its view, this was the only thing it could bargain with him about at the moment.

In the short period between the end of the last meeting and their departure, he had made an arrangement for everyone in the team.

Honestly, although this arrangement was the limit of all the methods he could think of at the time, in reality, the significance of this arrangement was not great.

It could even be said that it was as thin and fragile as a piece of paper.

That is,

He had hypnotized all his partners in the team!

The Heart-Clearing Talisman, the bone ring, and the pocket watch were specifically prepared for hypnosis.

Plus the partners' unconditional trust and active cooperation with him, hypnotizing them was really easy.

That's why Yin Meng felt the sunlight was dazzling when she walked out of the shop, and why Tan Tan Wenbin felt tired after driving for a while and needed to switch with Yin Meng.

Because everyone was actually in a "sleeping" state when they set off.

Placed here, it only served to offset the effect of a dream once.

At most, when you were completely destroyed in dream after dream, you would suddenly wake up, but the significance was really not great, because the Dream Ghost could come again at any time.

This was really just a little cleverness.

But it was this piece of paper that had an excellent effect at this moment; Lu Runsheng and Lin Lin Shu You were clearly not going to make it, but as long as the Dream Ghost didn't completely destroy them, it couldn't discover the existence of that piece of paper.

Theoretically speaking, Lu Runsheng and Lin Lin Shu You were still in a safe state.

The matter of the turtle at the bottom of the sea and the Great Emperor of Fengdu had already made Li Li Zhuiyuan want to laugh wildly; that piece of paper was still being kept, which added another layer of happiness for Li Li Zhuiyuan.

The reason for getting out of the car was that he really couldn't hold it in anymore.

He didn't want the other party to see any clues from his external expression; he needed this matter to ferment further, from the Dream Ghost, and then involve that hand.

He had to endure; he couldn't laugh.

For ordinary people, the best way to stifle laughter is to recall the most uncomfortable and painful things in their life in their mind.

Li Li Zhuiyuan did the same.

In order not to laugh, he had to get out of the car and walk over to see someone.

He believed that after seeing that person, he would immediately be unable to laugh.

Li Li Zhuiyuan walked to the end of the bridge like this; at the end of the bridge was a ticket gate.

Li Lan was holding two tickets, standing at the entrance of the ticket gate, waiting for him.

Sure enough, seeing her, Li Li Zhuiyuan couldn't laugh anymore.

Li Lan bent down, clapped her hands, revealed a soft, motherly smile, and opened her arms to Li Li Zhuiyuan:

"My precious son, is it fun to play in the amusement park with Mom?"

(End of chapter)