Chapter 160

As Li Lan spoke, "brain fog" immediately began to form in Li Zhuiyuan's mind.

It was gradually overwriting his memories and cognition, pulling him into that specific scenario from the past.

Li Zhuiyuan understood this.

Although the Dream Ghost was in a state of panic and was gradually losing control of this place, at least for now, a dream was still a dream; before its framework collapsed, it would continue to operate according to its established procedures.

It was just that Li Zhuiyuan didn't quite like this "gradual" process; he could feel a force obscuring his memories.

This gave him the feeling that his intelligence was being insulted to his face.

Since this memory overwriting was irreversible, he would have preferred a more subtle approach; otherwise, it could just raise a cloud of dust or strike with a bolt of lightning to instantly shift the scene and let him immerse himself directly.

But upon second thought, Li Zhuiyuan suddenly realized a contradiction: before he was pulled back into the little yellow pickup truck by the Dream Ghost to listen to the radio and act as a program commentator, he should have already been pulled into the dream many times.

Logically, he should have already had many of his edges smoothed away, and at the very least, he should be gradually tending toward acceptance and numbness regarding this kind of dream.

How could it be that every time he entered the dream, it still took so long to set up the sense of immersion for him?

So, Dream Ghost, what exactly have you been doing before this?

The brain fog was gradually taking shape, and Li Zhuiyuan could no longer remember certain things; he could only think as much as possible within the limited time, even if it was just using a habitual mode of thinking.

This shouldn't be.

Li Zhuiyuan admitted that he was far ahead of his partners on a mental level.

But he would not take it for granted that relying on this would make him appear so unique in this dream.

Any phenomenon that defied logic must have at least one objective contributing factor.

Li Zhuiyuan quickly recalled the conversation between the Dream Ghost and himself in the little pickup truck.

A guess arose in the boy's heart:

The Dream Ghost's submissive tone was directed at him.

So,

Is there a possibility,

That it wasn't just Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng's dreams that went wrong,

But that his own dream,

Had actually gone wrong too?

Just as this thought occurred, the "brain fog" finished covering his mind.

Li Zhuiyuan's memory froze at a year and a half ago, when he had not yet returned to his hometown in Nantong.

The boy's appearance at this time had also changed: he was a bit shorter, his face was a bit rounder, the sense of physical strength brought by his persistent basic training in breathing exercises had vanished, and the temperament of being both oppressive and composed that he had cultivated through his experiences had also been wiped away.

Li Lan's embrace was right in front of him, and a joyful smile appeared on Li Zhuiyuan's face as he threw himself into her arms, mother and son hugging.

"Mom, I'm so happy."

A scene of maternal kindness and filial piety.

The boy at that time was exactly like this; he had not yet given up hope for his mother, and although he knew she didn't like him—and even loathed him—he still stubbornly clung to her sleeve.

After the hug, they separated, and Li Lan held the tickets in her right hand while holding Li Zhuiyuan's hand with her left, the mother and son walking into the amusement park.

Although there was no ticket collector, Li Lan still went through the motions of handing over and checking the tickets.

Li Zhuiyuan stood obediently by his mother's side, occasionally revealing his curiosity and yearning for the amusement park.

He would also lean toward the inside, trying his best not to obstruct the path of other tourists.

Even though, apart from the mother and son, there were absolutely no other tourists here.

This was like in Lin Shu You's dream, where on the road to his burning family temple, the closer he got to the temple, the fewer people he saw on the road; it was just that in that situation, Lin Shu You wouldn't notice such details, as he was a bit thick-skinned.

Therefore, dreams would also simplify things that didn't need to appear, as it wouldn't affect your sense of immersion anyway.

The same phenomenon also appeared in Li Zhuiyuan's dream.

But unlike the simplification in Lin Shu You's case, even if the amusement park were packed with people at this moment, from the perspective of this mother and son, it would make no difference whether they were there or not.

The mother and son were acting anyway; acting toward living people, acting toward dolls... or acting toward thin air, there was no difference.

At the park entrance, there was a freezer selling cold drinks.

Li Lan looked down at Li Zhuiyuan with a smile, while Li Zhuiyuan placed a finger to his lips, then subconsciously raised his eyelids to sneak a glance at his mother; after making eye contact, he immediately shifted his gaze away.

"Hehe."

Li Lan seemed to have "seen through" her son's little thoughts, walking up to ask the price from thin air before picking out a popsicle from the freezer.

She paid, received change, and finally said, "Thank you."

Afterward, Li Lan tore open the wrapper; it was a cute panda-faced popsicle, which she handed to her son.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out to take it, then took a bite and raised his arm, Li Lan bending down to take a bite as well.

The mother and son chatted and laughed, starting to look for rides in the amusement park.

If viewed from a God's-eye perspective—that is, the Dream Ghost's perspective—even if it hadn't specifically set anything up yet, this dream was already eerie enough.

This mother and son were performing an extremely delicate "pantomime" in the empty amusement park.

The popsicle was soon finished, and Li Zhuiyuan threw the wrapper and the little wooden stick into the trash can, then stood there with his hands spread, feeling a bit awkward.

Li Lan took a tissue from her pocket and carefully wiped her son's face.

After wiping, she even tapped her son on the nose with her finger, and the mother and son looked at each other and smiled.

It was a pity there were no outsiders.

Otherwise, this mother and son would definitely have attracted many people's attention.

A child as cute, sensible, and exquisite as a porcelain doll, and a beautiful young mother with excellent temperament; every move of the mother and son seemed to be interpreting the standard meaning of the word "mother and son."

The dream here should have been terrifying.

Just like what Tan Wenbin, Runsheng, Lin Shu You, and Yin Meng experienced here.

Actually, for Li Zhuiyuan, this dream was also terrifying.

Because in the split second invisible to an outsider, Li Lan's eyes would reveal a trace of rejection, and she would suddenly apply a bit more force when wiping his fingers.

All sorts of fleeting details revealed Li Lan's loathing for him.

What was cruel was that she knew her son could catch it.

What was even more cruel was that she knew her son knew she could have performed flawlessly.

What was most cruel was that she was doing it on purpose, letting him lose the false warmth and satisfaction he had worked so hard to create while he was performing with all his heart.

She was mocking, she was sneering, as if facing a... self-deceiving little freak.

They were perhaps the most connected mother and son in this world.

And because of this, she knew better how to make her son suffer, letting him experience the feeling of his human skin being constantly torn off.

Every time she saw him gradually unable to maintain his act due to his trembling heart, her inner self could find a bit of relief.

"Son, shall we ride the pirate ship?"

"Okay."

Li Lan went to buy tickets.

At the moment she turned around, Li Zhuiyuan raised his hand, as if sand had gotten into his eyes, and began to rub them lightly.

Under the cover of his hand, a trace of calmness and indifference, inconsistent with his age, appeared in the boy's eyes.

After buying the tickets, the mother and son lined up in front of the empty pirate ship.

They could even pull on each other when they "saw" some interesting people, signaling to look together, and chat and laugh about it.

One would start a topic, and the other would immediately pick it up.

In a pleasant and expectant atmosphere, Li Zhuiyuan and Li Lan sat on the pirate ship.

The pirate ship began to sway back and forth, the amplitude gradually increasing.

Li Zhuiyuan began to cheer, and Li Lan, holding her son, also laughed very happily.

Originally, this "beautiful atmosphere" should have continued.

But for some reason, from Li Zhuiyuan's perspective, the one-eyed pirate captain wearing a hat on the bow of the ship turned into the image of an old man with white hair.

Although the old man was old, he was in high spirits, and his body was very sturdy.

He stood at the bow, ignoring the swaying of the ship and the "wind and waves," and was smiling kindly at him.

Looking at his smile, then turning to look at his mother's smile.

The two were the same, yet they were very different.

"Little Brother Yuan Hou... Little Brother Yuan Hou... Little Brother Yuan Hou..."

The old man called out.

Li Zhuiyuan had heard his mother's secretary, Auntie Xu, make phone calls to her parents; at that time, Auntie Xu spoke a very strange dialect.

Auntie Xu said his mother also knew this dialect, but he had never heard his mother speak it, and in his memory, his mother had never called her parents in her hometown.

The swaying amplitude of the pirate ship reached its maximum.

Cracks slowly appeared on the body of the old man at the bow; he was shattering, but he was still looking at him, and the kind expression on his face did not change, and he continued to call his name.

Li Zhuiyuan grabbed the railing of the seat in front of him with both hands and lowered his head.

Li Lan: "Are you scared, son?"

Li Zhuiyuan nodded forcefully: "Mom, it's so scary."

Li Lan: "It's almost over."

The pirate ship gradually stabilized; this round was over.

When Li Zhuiyuan gathered the courage to raise his head again, he saw the old man shattered all over the ship.

There were hands here, feet there, bloodstains everywhere, and his head was fixed right on the seat in front of him, staring at him.

Li Lan held Li Zhuiyuan's hand as they got off; when getting off the ship, the boy's legs were a bit weak, and his breathing was a bit rapid.

"Son, do you want to rest for a while?"

"No, no need." He wouldn't cause trouble for his mother because of himself.

Any trouble belonging to a child could be manufactured, but it all had to be within a limited scope, just to reflect the child's cuteness and set the stage for the mother's performance.

"Then shall we go play bumper cars?"

"Okay."

Still buying tickets, still lining up.

After it was the mother and son's turn, they both sat into one car.

This was a circular field with many cars inside.

On the smooth ground, there were drawings of boys and girls in various ethnic costumes holding hands.

When the indicator light turned on, all the cars inside, even if no one was driving them, started moving.

Li Lan signaled for Li Zhuiyuan to drive; Li Zhuiyuan gripped the steering wheel, stepped on the pedal, and the speed of the bumper car picked up, soon colliding with the car in front.

"Ouch!"

"Ouch!"

The mother and son let out the same cry.

Next, turn the steering wheel, break away, and then crash into someone else.

"Bang."

"Hehe."

"Haha!"

Pure crashing back and forth, looking for a suitable opportunity, preferably from the side, to crash into other cars, and then the mother and son seemed to be able to hear the screams from the non-existent people in the cars at the same time, and then laugh together.

But as they drove, Li Zhuiyuan suddenly saw that in the center of the field, in the area where a little girl was originally drawn, that little girl had left the picture and sat up.

She was wearing a red Hanfu, very dignified, sitting quietly on a small stool with her feet planted in front of her.

She was very quiet, and she was also very beautiful; although her eyes were not focused, even as bumper cars sped past her, she paid no attention, just staring straight ahead.

For some reason, when he saw her, Li Zhuiyuan also quieted down.

The boy even shifted his body slightly to the side, putting a little distance between himself and his mother, at least not leaning as close as before.

Li Lan asked: "Are you tired?"

"Hmm."

"Then Mom will drive."

Without waiting for Li Zhuiyuan to respond, Li Lan reached out and grabbed the steering wheel, then slammed her foot on the pedal.

This time, the bumper car didn't go to crash into other cars, but drove straight toward the spot in the center of the field.

The speed was fast, with no time to react, and Li Zhuiyuan's eyes widened, immediately seeing the girl being run over by the bumper car he was in.

The boy's body began to tremble.

Li Lan continued to drive, stepped on the reverse pedal, and then ran over her again.

The boy clenched his hands, his well-manicured nails digging into his flesh.

Li Lan crashed into her again.

The boy tilted his head back, an intense feeling of suffocation washing over him.

Li Lan: "Son, is Mom driving well?"

The boy gritted his teeth and closed his eyes.

Li Lan ran over her again, over and over, back and forth without stopping.

"Son, how is Mom's technique?"

"Son, is Mom amazing?"

"Son, what's wrong with you today? Why are you such a coward?"

The ending sound played.

All the bumper cars came to a stop.

The non-existent people in the cars began to get off and leave the field; whether they were "adults" or "children," their faces showed they were not yet satisfied.

Normally, the ticket price for bumper cars in an amusement park is the most expensive tier, and the experience time is not long.

Li Lan asked: "Son, shall we play one more time?"

At this time, if you leave one person in the car and let another go pay, you can continue playing without lining up.

Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes; in his vision, the center of the field was already a patch of red.

That red Hanfu had long since been torn to pieces in the constant crushing.

Although he didn't know why, just now, Li Zhuiyuan had countless impulses to vent in his heart; he wished he could tear off his own human skin with his own hands, and then tear off the human skin of the woman beside him as well.

He really wanted to stand there, bloody, and face her, face this world.

Because he couldn't stand this inexplicable pain.

But every time this impulse reached a critical point, a cool and soft touch would appear on Li Zhuiyuan's forehead, stroking it gently.

It smoothed his furrowed brow time and time again, pulling his state of mind, which was on the verge of collapse, back from the edge of the cliff.

He didn't know why this cliff suddenly appeared in front of him, nor did he know why there was a rope on him, preventing him from jumping off the cliff.

But he cherished this rope very much, like a drowning person finally craving a breath of fresh air.

Turning his head again, he looked at his mother sitting beside him, who was still eager to continue playing.

Li Zhuiyuan smiled and replied:

"Okay."

Li Lan handed a bill to Li Zhuiyuan; it was a large denomination, enough for more than just one more round.

Li Zhuiyuan left the bumper car and walked toward the empty ticket booth, handed over the money, smiled at the person in front, turned to the side, and pointed to the bumper car his mother was sitting in.

Afterward, Li Zhuiyuan ran back and sat back in the car.

During this back and forth, a "creaking" sticky sound came from the soles of his shoes, piercing the boy's eardrums painfully.

"Mom, it's done."

"Good, let's keep playing."

"Okay."

"You drive, and Mom will rest for a bit?"

"Hmm!"

Li Zhuiyuan took the steering wheel, and his feet were also placed on the pedals in preparation.

He had already sensed that a large piece was missing from the depths of his heart.

He didn't know where this piece had gone, but he could keenly sense that this piece was still continuing to play a role.

This seemed to be a tug-of-war.

The other end of the rope didn't seem to be just his mother.

Likewise, beside him, another figure seemed to be standing there as well.

No clues, no known information; he only knew that he couldn't lose.

The indicator light turned on again, and a new round of the game began.

Li Zhuiyuan drove the bumper car and began to crash into other cars.

At first, Li Lan just watched her son play with a smile, but after a while, she seemed to notice that her son was only looking for cars to crash into on the periphery, so she pointed toward the center.

"Son, go there, go there."

Li Zhuiyuan turned his head to look at the center; he saw that girl in the red Hanfu had appeared there again, still sitting on the stool, her feet in embroidered shoes planted neatly in front of her.

The boy turned the steering wheel and drove toward her.

The violent trembling in his heart surfaced again; he began to tremble once more, a trembling from the bottom of his heart, an intense impulse to tear off everything on his body surfaced once again.

But just at this moment, the girl smiled at him.

In this instant, Li Zhuiyuan quieted down, and he also revealed a smile.

"Bang!"

He crashed into her.

Li Lan: "Is it fun?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Really fun."

Li Lan: "Then back up quickly."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Okay, Mom."

Crash after crash, crushing after crushing, in exchange for trembling after trembling in his heart, but as the number of times gradually increased, the inner resistance was also gradually decreasing.

In this round of the game, Li Lan did not take over the steering wheel.

In the next round, and the one after that, it was all the boy driving.

He shouted very loudly, laughed very happily, and played until his face was covered in sweat.

Finally, Li Lan spoke up: "Son, let's rest for a bit."

"Okay."

Li Zhuiyuan released the steering wheel with both hands, leaving two wet handprints.

The mother and son left the bumper cars and walked outward.

On the way, Li Zhuiyuan looked back at the center; the girl was still sitting there.

She didn't blame him at all for what he had done to her, just looking at him like that, smiling at him, her eyes seeming to hide countless brilliant stars.

A smile also bloomed on Li Zhuiyuan's face.

The boy couldn't specifically describe this feeling; it seemed to be a kind of trust, a trust so high that she didn't need to speak, just a simple look was enough to understand each other, and any extra explanation was a useless burden.

Li Lan asked: "It seems my son really had a fun time."

"Hmm, very fun."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't know what kind of environment he was in now, and he hadn't broken through the memory overwriting under the "brain fog."

But standing from the Dream Ghost's perspective, even without the influence of other troublesome and thorny matters, it would have a headache over such an opponent.

For anyone else, this kind of forcible dragging in and repeated forcible grinding would eventually erode them until they collapsed.

But for this boy, even though the Dream Ghost had already calculated the most suitable dream, what the boy showed was not numbness...

He was adapting!

Everything you mobilized to trigger his emotional breakdown would be overcome by him one by one, and eventually, it would no longer cause the slightest ripple in his heart.

He could even derive a certain kind of joy from this process of overcoming extreme emotions.

However, it wasn't that he had no weaknesses.

He was hiding something, maintaining something; he had another critical threshold, and as long as it could pry open a tiny gap, what would greet him would be a complete collapse.

But the problem was...

Outside the amusement park ticket gate.

A figure holding a candle and lowering its head stood there; when it wanted to walk inside, the ticket gate railing in front of it never opened for it.

The Dream Ghost slowly raised its head, revealing its gender-neutral face.

On this face was full of confusion.

It felt that it had already found another way to break the boy's mental defenses, but the problem was, as the creator of this dream, it had actually been blocked outside of this dream.

It could not make any modifications to this dream.

This meant that no matter how many dream cycles there were, what the boy experienced here was always the first version of the dream.

If the first version of the dream was truly effective on him, even if only 0.99, then multiplying it continuously would also be able to weaken him constantly.

But if this version of the dream was 1 to the boy, then no matter how many times you multiplied it, it would have no effect.

If it really was 1, that would be fine; at the very least, he could be trapped here. But what if it was 1.01?

This was also the reason why the Dream Ghost pulled the boy out of the dream; it was worried that if it continued, its dream would only constantly strengthen the boy's state of mind.

The most obvious manifestation was that the time required to overwrite the boy's established cognition every time he entered the dream was getting longer and longer.

But after it pulled him out, he actually... walked back in on his own initiative.

But this still wasn't the most exaggerated part.

The Dream Ghost took a step back, and its figure instantly arrived at the center of the bridge.

On both sides were lake surfaces.

On the east side of the lake, turtles, large or small, were swimming on the surface, stretching out endlessly, with no end in sight.

On the west side of the lake, ghostly shadows were swimming underneath, countless hands constantly reaching out of the water, as if suffering some kind of torture, trying to grab something to replace themselves.

The Dream Ghost looked at the candle in its hand.

Originally, the flame was red.

Now, one-third was blue, one-third was black, and the red only remained in the middle, and it was still being compressed.

This was its dream, but it was gradually losing control over it.

It didn't know why such a thing had happened; it truly couldn't figure it out.

As a Dream Ghost, this should have been its home field, and it should have dominated everything here.

This was also the most terrifying part for it:

What kind of terrifying existence,

Could forcibly intervene in its absolute home field in this way?

The Dream Ghost closed its eyes.

The next moment,

It opened its eyes.

It was lying in a pond, with a burning candle standing on its chest.

The surroundings of the pond were pitch black, but by the faint light of the candle, one could see a dozen vague figures.

They were all sitting cross-legged by the pond, each doing their own thing.

Some were pinching their fingers to calculate, some were divining with tortoise shells, some were shaking bamboo divination sticks, some were using an abacus, some were shaking coins...

The mental energy calculated formed halos of light all around.

This was an absolutely luxurious lineup; there were truly not many forces in this world that could send out such a deduction formation.

The Dream Ghost and them were not on the same side; they were actually always guarding against each other.

They wanted it to set up a layout to kill, or at least cripple, someone.

It needed their reinforcement to gain higher deduction support, allowing its dream to go a step further.

Both sides, each getting what they needed.

But the problem now was:

Who exactly is the person you want me to kill?

No,

Do you really know who the person you want me to kill is?

No,

You,

How on earth did you dare?

At this moment, a figure walked in from outside; its figure was completely wrapped in a gray robe, revealing nothing, and even the voice it emitted had been distorted.

The Dream Ghost didn't know what their identities were; they had done the most precise concealment and masking for themselves, not just in reality, but also in the causality of heaven, wiping away the traces of their actions.

"Can we stop now?"

The other party asked.

Dream Ghost: "Yes, but I think, let's enjoy it for a while longer."

"Don't be too greedy; the reinforcement you've received is already enough. Stop now, lest things change over time."

Dream Ghost: "I like long nights, and I like dreams even more."

The truth, it was impossible to tell.

The Dream Ghost knew very well that if it told them the real situation in the dream now, the first thing they would do would be to decouple from it, or even turn around and suppress it.

But looking at it, they also felt that this matter was already in the bag, not feeling at all that any problems would arise under such meticulous planning, just like it had felt at the very beginning.

"End it early."

"Okay."

The Dream Ghost closed its eyes again.

It can't be ended anymore,

Only if everyone goes into the water together,

Can I have a chance to get ashore in the chaos.

The gray-robed figure turned and walked outward; it pushed open a door, and outside the door was gloomy darkness, while inside the door, torches were blazing.

Although separated by only one door, the restriction formation in the middle was complex and dense, completely two different layout environments.

Inside the room, there was a well; the well mouth was very large, but not too deep.

The well walls were full of chains, and the chains were covered with talisman papers, trapping something inside.

The thing that was locked up sometimes turned into the appearance of a person, sometimes into a bird, but no matter how it changed, the chains trapping it remained unusually stable.

In the room, there was another person, also in a gray robe.

Two people wearing gray robes stood facing each other across the well mouth.

They came from the same family, but they didn't know each other.

Because although this family had a main branch, the main branch could only manage its own family on a daily basis, and the family branches were scattered like stars in the sky, with even their surnames being different from one another.

This was a method of avoiding disaster, and also a means of continuing the lineage.

Only at specific times, when summoned by the main branch, would this group of people gather together to act on the basis of hidden identities.

After the matter was finished, they would disperse again, hide their names once more, and remain unknown to each other.

"I didn't expect that after all these years, someone in their family would start walking the river again."

"Perhaps they learned the lesson from the last one who failed, this time this person is walking silently."

"If it weren't for the fact that the ancestors had deep grievances with the Liu family, leaving behind a trigger to calculate the movement of the river water, I'm afraid no one in the Jianghu would have discovered it."

"Maybe they just started walking not long ago and haven't had time to make a name for themselves."

"That's not necessarily true; that old lady of the Liu family has never been someone easy to deal with."

"She is old."

"That too."

"Are you curious about this person?"

"Not curious, very stupid; I have never seen a fish that knows how to cooperate so well and walks into the net on its own."

"I even suspect whether it's worth it for us to set up such a formation and pay such a huge price just to eliminate him?"

In order to isolate the causal relationship as much as possible, they were extremely careful and cautious when pushing the layout, so they spent huge resources, trying their best not to operate on the field themselves to avoid leaving traces.

But this time, other lines were progressing very smoothly, but one line was exceptionally troublesome.

In the end, they had to send a clansman to correct it personally, and after the correction, he committed suicide.

Therefore, although they set up the layout, they didn't know who the person they wanted to kill specifically was.

Because only those who do not know can be innocent.

"We cannot give the Qin and Liu families another chance to rise; these two families are all lunatics."

"I know, but I look forward to the old lady of the Liu family going crazy first."

"This is also what we want to see."

"The Dream Ghost side is almost finished."

"Then get ready to suppress it, let this Boqi form spirit swallow the Dream Ghost, and completely annihilate the traces."

"This Boqi form spirit was suppressed by the Liu family in history, which also fits the causality."

As they spoke, the two gray-robed figures puffed out their chests together, and their voices also turned from the previous gloominess to righteousness.

"The Dream Ghost is difficult to deal with and brings disaster to the world; we have spent huge efforts and united with the river walkers to set up this layout, just for the righteous path, to eliminate this evil!"

"We righteous people are all willing to sacrifice, just for the clarity of the Jianghu, the peace of the world, and the heart to eliminate demons and defend the path, heaven and earth can testify!"

After a short rest, Li Zhuiyuan and Li Lan walked into the haunted house.

Nowadays, if a haunted house wants to create lighting effects, it requires huge costs, and in order to save costs while creating a terrifying atmosphere, they often run toward a down-to-earth or even underworld-oriented direction.

The coffins, paper figures, Black and White Impermanence, torture, and other scenes inside are arranged in the most physically uncomfortable way possible; as long as you are scared, the ticket price is worth it.

Li Zhuiyuan and Li Lan walked hand in hand and finished visiting the haunted house.

The mother and son were "scared" out of their wits.

Li Lan would hug her son, and Li Zhuiyuan would also hug his mother.

It was very dark inside the haunted house, so the requirements for acting details were not high, and the mother and son could both get a breather and relax.

After all, even the most excellent senior actors would feel exhausted after acting with veteran actors for a long time.

However, there were some scenes that made Li Zhuiyuan's heart tremble.

He saw a big guy squatting on the ground gnawing on a corpse.

He saw a woman sitting up suddenly in a coffin; she was made of paper, and her skin was very white.

He saw a young man possessed by an evil ghost constantly hitting the wall.

He saw a man being torn apart by two child ghosts.

When passing these four scenes, Li Zhuiyuan's expression changed, and it wasn't all acting, even though he knew in his heart that they were fake.

After walking out of the haunted house, Li Lan tidied her hair, specifically avoiding her son, not wanting him to see her scared side.

Li Zhuiyuan kept repeating the classic scenes inside, in child-like language.

After Li Lan finished tidying up, she squatted down, looked at her son, and smiled: "Our Little Yuan is really brave!"

As she spoke, she reached out and hugged the boy into her arms, patted his back, and comforted him: "It's all fake, it's all fake, be good, don't have nightmares tonight, Little Yuan is a brave and strong child, right?"

Li Zhuiyuan turned his head slightly to look at his mother's exquisite earlobe.

He could even imagine the mocking smile currently forming on his mother's lips behind his back.

Perhaps his mother also knew that he could imagine her current expression.

Should he perform a bit of sadness to cooperate with her?

Li Lan pushed Li Zhuiyuan away gently and looked at his face; from the depths of the boy's eyes, she saw a trace of fleeting sadness and pain.

"There's a riddle-solving game ahead, shall we go there?"

"Okay."

Li Zhuiyuan continued to be led by Li Lan.

He knew that he and his mother had the same illness; he often saw his mother taking deep breaths in front of the mirror over and over again before going out every morning.

But for some reason, when he was with his mother before, he would rack his brains to make her happy, and besides that, he could actually receive a kind of very special comfort.

Something like satisfaction, attachment, inertia, or a sustenance?

He actually never really acted; besides acting, he had invested some other things he was unfamiliar with.

However, this time playing in the amusement park with his mother, he found that he couldn't find those unfamiliar emotions anymore.

If he couldn't see her, it seemed fine; if he could leave her, it seemed okay; if she didn't appear in his life, he didn't seem to have to be so tired?

That thing... seemed to have been lost forever just like that.

Li Zhuiyuan looked up at the sky.

I seem to have lost a lot of things all at once?

"Son, what's wrong?"

"Mom, I'm a little tired."

"Then that's perfect, let's do some riddle games to relax."

"Hmm."

The riddle stall was large; this was a relatively large activity in the amusement park, with three corridors side by side, with screens inside; after solving one, you could go to the next table.

Finally, depending on how many were solved, you could choose some rewards.

Of course, you had to buy tickets, and the prizes weren't expensive; many were riddles or even brain teasers, and if controlled well, the tourists would have fun and the park would make money.

"Son, shall we have a competition?"

"Okay."

The mother and son each walked toward a corridor.

There should have been a staff member behind each table, or one staff member looking after two or three tables when not busy, but here, there was no one.

The questions were placed on the tables, and you answered them yourself.

The mother and son didn't need to check the answers; whatever they solved was correct.

Li Lan paid the money.

The answering began.

The first question was a photo the size of the entire table, filled with uniform human faces, asking you to find the different one within a limited time.

The difficulty was not ordinary, because there were simply too many small photos; it shouldn't have appeared in this kind of environment.

But neither the mother nor the son felt anything abnormal.

After all, there wasn't a single person in the entire amusement park, and they didn't feel anything strange about that either.

Li Zhuiyuan just glanced at it, pointed out the different small grid, and then bypassed the screen to go to the next question.

He himself felt a bit strange; logically, even if his memory was good, he shouldn't have been able to remember so many faces and find the difference so quickly.

For example, his mother was still stuck on the first question.

The second question was an arithmetic problem, but it used a special Bagua method, asking you to substitute these special symbols to calculate the answer.

Li Zhuiyuan just glanced at it, and the answer came out; he wrote down the answer and went to the next question.

He still felt strange that he didn't need to be familiar with these special symbols; they really just moved naturally as soon as he looked at them, telling him the final result.

The third question was a color question, requiring you to use a brush to dip in paint and complete the painting on the table.

Looking closely at this painting, it seemed to be moving; the stream was flowing, the mountain wind was blowing, and the weather was surging.

This was no longer a question that should have appeared here; even without considering the fit of the weather rhythm, the painting technique alone was enough to stump 99% of the people in the amusement park.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up the brush and made a few simple strokes, smooth and natural.

The next question was a puzzle, a puzzle piled very high, asking you to finish it.

Li Zhuiyuan spread out the puzzle pieces, looked at them for a while, and began to assemble them; the dense little squares didn't take too long for him to finish.

He didn't think much, and most of the time was spent on the action of assembling the puzzle.

After assembling it, it was a dragon poking its head out of the clouds.

A normal person would probably take days and nights to assemble this.

Before going to the fifth question, Li Zhuiyuan specifically walked back and came to the side of the corridor, seeing his mother just finishing the second question and holding a brush, doing the third question.

Mom, how did you become stupid?

Li Zhuiyuan turned and walked toward the table for the fifth question; due to the angle and being separated by three screens, the mother and son couldn't see each other at this moment.

But when Li Zhuiyuan walked to the table for the fifth question, he froze.

Because sitting behind the table was actually a person.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't see the person's face clearly, nor could he see their clothes, but he only knew that someone was sitting there.

"Who the hell is it that has nothing better to do and pulled me into a dream?"

(End of chapter)