Chapter 155

“Because you have a father and mother by your side, and I don’t, right?”

Zheng Haiyang’s voice came from the car radio.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out to turn the volume knob, wanting to make the sound louder, but the static also increased, making the original sound unclear.

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

The front of the small pickup truck had bumped against the bridge’s guardrail. Since they had just gotten onto the bridge, the car wasn’t going fast, so there wasn’t a serious accident despite the driver, Tan Wenbin, suddenly hitting his head on the steering wheel and losing consciousness.

Yes, that’s right, Tan Wenbin had fallen asleep just like that.

Then, Tan Wenbin’s voice began to come from the car radio.

Although it was only his voice, it was enough to infer the plot he was currently experiencing in his dream.

Binbin had returned to a dream of the past.

A major difference between illusion and dream is that illusion targets your current temptations, while a dream… can completely override your established cognition.

Many university students will dream of going back to high school to do practice problems and take exams, bowing their heads to answer questions anxiously, and handing in their papers with a feeling of unease and despair. When they wake up, they suddenly realize they have already finished the college entrance exam and immediately feel fortunate from the bottom of their hearts.

This kind of dream will still occur after you graduate from university, get married and have children, and even in old age. Each time, you will forget your current identity and situation and directly immerse yourself in the tense atmosphere of high school.

However, Li Zhuiyuan also picked up some clues, such as the seamless progression of Binbin’s storyline, his flirtatious words to Zhou Yunyun, his composure in handling his father’s affairs…

Including the sudden situation of his mother drinking pesticide and being rushed to the emergency room, there was still that calm aspect in his bones.

The current Binbin was no longer adapted to his past ‘dream’.

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

But in this dream, he couldn’t wake up.

Li Zhuiyuan had once simulated and guessed many wonderful and complex methods of the dream ghost, but when things actually happened, he realized that he had thought too much.

The heaviest sword has no edge, the greatest skill appears unskilled. The terrifying aspect of the opponent might simply be the ability to forcibly drag you into a dream.

And the pre-arranged formations and feng shui patterns at Luo Xin Island Amusement Park could further amplify this ability of the dream ghost.

This one point alone was actually enough.

If it drags you into a dream and you can’t get out, you are essentially thrown into a pot, with firewood burning below. If one time doesn’t work, then two times, if two times don’t work, then three times… sooner or later, it can stew you into dregs.

The flow of time in the dream is obviously different from the outside. Because it can change your perception of time, sometimes a dream feels very long but only ten minutes have passed when you wake up. Sometimes a dream feels very short, but half a day has passed when you wake up.

Just like now, Li Zhuiyuan was just sitting in the car listening to the radio, while Tan Wenbin in the radio had already gone through several days of plot time.

When your perception of time can also be blurred, two, three, or even ten or more times are actually no different from one time.

One after another, it covers Tan Wenbin’s perception of the past, one after another, it makes Tan Wenbin repeatedly experience this dream cycle. Then, those thorns and discomforts on Tan Wenbin’s body will all be polished clean.

In fact, the fact that Tan Wenbin could maintain relative calm and handle things properly in this dream, and even joke with Tan Yunlong’s portrait, was a testament to his own quality resisting the impact of this dream.

First, pull out the thorns, let him change back to that high school sophomore Tan Wenbin, then soften him, let his mentality gradually lean towards timid and fearful, and finally… crush him.

After crushing the self-consciousness, he will become the most obedient puppet. The dream ghost only needs to transform into a very simple image, give you a little bit of grace and warmth, and you will regard it as a savior.

This kind of puppet is more reassuring than a chang, because it is not controlled by external forces, but is a purely internal reshaping that adapts to you.

Simple… yet extremely effective.

However, listening to the end, especially when Zheng Haiyang actually appeared in the hospital and his last two sentences were also emitted from the radio, Li Zhuiyuan detected that something was wrong.

Earlier, the radio had been all about Tan Wenbin’s solo performance.

Now, there was another voice participating in the play.

Zheng Haiyang should not have appeared in that plot environment, because it was too early.

It should have let Tan Wenbin spend more time with Zheng Fang, let Tan Wenbin watch Zheng Fang recover, then have mother-son affection, and finally… the rescue fails, and she passes away.

Zheng Haiyang’s appearance this time was very abrupt, and his sudden distortion and change in image was also very illogical.

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

The dream ghost should not give up on utilizing this thorn well. In fact, it did so. The first thing Tan Wenbin did when he entered the dream was to go save Zheng Haiyang.

But doing so was just not right, it simply destroyed the sense of immersion in the dream.

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

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

And it was from that night onwards that Tan Wenbin formally made up his mind, completely accepted the name ‘Zhuangzhuang’ given to him by Taiye, and joined the team with himself and Runsheng, so that he could take revenge for Zheng Haiyang later.

In other words, Zheng Haiyang’s performance would gradually stimulate Tan Wenbin’s awakening, making him associate with the lao shiren, the Dragon King… and himself, Xiao Yuan Ge.

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

Tan Wenbin seemed to see something terrifying and started to run;

Zheng Haiyang then followed step by step. No matter where Tan Wenbin hid, he would always chase and find him, telling him his inner grievances and unwillingness.

The two people seemed to be treating the hospital as a separate ‘amusement park’, playing a game of cat and mouse.

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that if this continued, it would force Tan Wenbin to make instinctive counterattacks, and subsequently recall more memories that should not appear in this dream setting.

Yin Meng: “What exactly is going on?”

Runsheng: “Why does Zhuangzhuang’s dream feel a bit strange?”

Lin Shuyou: “Will Bin Ge be in danger if this continues?”

The voices of the other three companions in the car echoed in Li Zhuiyuan’s ears.

Li Zhuiyuan remained silent, his face expressionless.

Earlier, when Tan Wenbin suddenly lost consciousness on the steering wheel, they showed great anxiety, but it was still within the normal range.

But now, their performance had become a bit distorted.

Since Tan Wenbin lost consciousness, Li Zhuiyuan hadn’t said a word. The radio had been playing until now, and other than reaching out to adjust the volume midway, he hadn’t done anything else.

He didn’t even take any measures to try and wake Tan Wenbin.

Logically, his reaction should have kept the other people in the team quiet, no matter how worried and anxious they were in their hearts.

So, they were now asking questions on behalf of someone else.

Li Zhuiyuan leaned his head against the car window.

Is it you, dream ghost, who also doesn’t know what happened and changed?

This is really interesting.

It’s a shame he can’t laugh out loud.

When they last met, Li Zhuiyuan had said that he was not sure whether everyone present at the next meeting would still be themselves.

In fact, there was no need to wait until the amusement park. From the moment they got into this yellow small pickup and departed, Li Zhuiyuan had already assumed in his heart that the companions in the car had all changed.

Facing their inquiries, he would definitely not analyze or explain anything.

Although Tan Wenbin had just fallen unconscious in front of him, the probability was that he himself was also in a dream right now.

Runsheng, Yin Meng, and Lin Shuyou were likely also enduring the same impact as Tan Wenbin in their respective unique dreams.

Li Zhuiyuan even suspected that the dream environment he was currently in was not progressing, but had been interrupted.

Including the segment of Tan Wenbin in the radio, it wasn’t the first time.

Was it the dream ghost that specially created this environment for him, including the presentation of the ‘plot’ in the radio? Its purpose was to extract some information from his mouth.

If so, it could only further explain… it was not just panicked, it was scared.

This was also why it didn’t hesitate to change its style and open a special field just for him.

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

He really wanted to laugh.

This feeling was exactly the original intention when he decided to walk this path. He just sought this kind of fun.

So, was he ‘extracted’ from the dream that was originally arranged for him and placed into this new scene?

The young man was very curious about what he had encountered in his original dream.

According to common sense, it should be the thing he feared the most and was most unwilling to face.

Thinking of this, Li Zhuiyuan frowned.

He knew the answer.

This answer, even just thinking about it, made him feel unwell in both body and mind.

At this moment, Runsheng, Lin Shuyou, and Yin Meng in the car all looked towards the young man.

They, or rather the dream ghost behind them, had misunderstood Li Zhuiyuan’s emotional expression.

The young man was not worried about Tan Wenbin’s situation at all.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and gently stroked his brow, imagining the feeling of A Li smoothing his brow last time. He did indeed need to nail a few more nails on the human skin on his face now.

Suddenly, Runsheng, Yin Meng, and Lin Shuyou collectively opened their mouths and asked in the same tone:

“Exactly, what happened?”

It had completely stopped pretending.

It was clearly the true master of the current environment, yet it didn’t hesitate to violate its proud principles and chose to negotiate with him by exposing itself.

Li Zhuiyuan believed that if he answered now, he could still negotiate terms.

The dream ghost was definitely not the hand behind the scenes. This cause and effect were too great. So the dream ghost itself had strong autonomy. It might default to this arrangement because it could gain certain benefits from it.

Theoretically, it was indeed possible for both sides to ‘turn enemies into friends’, as long as it felt that its losses and gains were not proportional, it might choose to leave the gambling table.

But what basis was there?

Coming as you please, going as you please, where in this world are things so cheap?

He was a Jiang person who couldn’t light a lamp and admit defeat a second time. In reality, he was just a gambler who had completely gone red-eyed and bet everything on his life.

He had no emotions to expose. In fact, he should have been that kind of person who would fight anyone who provoked him to the death, not hesitating to destroy each other.

Seeing Li Zhuiyuan delay and unwilling to answer, the three of Runsheng spoke collectively again:

“Let’s talk.”

Li Zhuiyuan continued to not speak. There was nothing good to talk about.

In fact, he himself couldn’t control the situation before his eyes. What was more joyful was that the dream ghost there should also be the same.

Dream is an extremely special environment that can infinitely amplify a thread of reality.

The line of cause and effect is also infinitely amplified in this dream.

This feeling is very similar to when Li Zhuiyuan didn’t understand things before and calculated his own fate, fainted directly after a nosebleed.

This is an extremely skilled formation environment that even a skilled array master cannot arrange.

Even if Li Zhuiyuan was given enough time and resources, he had no way to create this layout because it was fundamentally not feasible.

When the Jiang water was introduced here, the divergence of things was no longer interfered with by humans.

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 Zhuiyuan had been holding back his laughter, because it was really too funny.

The three of Runsheng spoke again:

“I, I can retreat.”

Li Zhuiyuan continued to not respond.

In his heart, he was thinking:

Don’t,

Don’t rush,

Wait a little longer,

I still want to see Fengdu Great Emperor.

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

In this life, since he could remember things, he had only disguised a smile and managed to squeeze out a little bit when he wasn’t disguising, which wasn’t truly holding back laughter.

Now, he was experiencing this feeling.

Just like that motto his Taiye used to mock others:

“You might as well go home and sleep, anyway you have everything in your dream!”

…

On a small river, a man nearly fifty years old was poling a small boat.

There was a shovel, a net, and a large bamboo basket on the boat, but he was not here to fish or dig for crabs.

The old man sniffed and looked around vigilantly.

He had been searching for a long time, but still hadn’t found it.

He even regretted a bit in his heart that he should have called that guy Shi Nan to come with him. With him around, it seemed like they could search faster.

The reason he hadn’t gone to find him was that with him around, he himself often became more unlucky, and he always seemed indifferent.

“Ka cha… ka cha…”

Lu Shan heard a sound.

He slowed down the boat and gently pushed aside the reed marsh in front with a bamboo pole.

He saw a large hole, about the size of a basin. That sound similar to an animal grinding its teeth was coming from inside this hole.

Lu Shan swallowed his saliva and pulled the boat towards the shore.

Then he got off the boat with his things. He first arranged the net at the edge of the hole, setting up a simple trap. Afterwards, he picked up the shovel and started digging.

Every time a shovel of soil was turned over, Lu Shan’s breathing would also pause, because he didn’t know when the thing inside would jump out.

Just then, the mud under Lu Shan’s feet began to sink.

He immediately leaped and jumped away from this area.

A thick, dead inverted breath appeared. A female dead inverted, with messy hair and her whole body covered in rotten mud, appeared in front of Lu Shan.

On the back of this dead inverted, there was still a male infant lying, also appearing to be less than a year old.

The male infant had his eyes closed, tightly hugging the female dead inverted with both arms, and still gnawing at her neck. That ‘ka cha ka cha’ sound earlier was coming from his eating.

Lu Shan tightened his grip on the Yellow River shovel in his hand, and his eyes revealed shock: “A dead inverted giving birth?”

But soon, he discovered that something was wrong again. The dead inverted continuously stretched out its arms, trying to grab and scratch the male infant on its back, extremely furious.

It was just that the joints of this dead inverted’s arms seemed to be nailed, so her limbs couldn’t unfold normally, and she really couldn’t get that male infant back.

But the fact was, that male infant could, in this situation, even being dragged into the muddy hole, still not be shaken off and could continue to gnaw. This was enough to show his extraordinary nature.

The dead inverted saw Lu Shan and pounced towards him, as if wanting to vent the anger it was currently enduring on someone.

Lu Shan didn’t fight hard, but chose to circle around it.

Finally, he found a gap and sprinkled a bag of black dog blood towards the dead inverted. The dead inverted emitted a miserable scream and its body trembled.

The male infant on the back of the dead inverted also emitted a miserable scream. He opened his eyes, and both eyes were gray.

It seemed that the harm from the black dog blood instead inspired the ferocity in the male infant’s bones. He gnawed and bit the neck of the dead inverted more fiercely.

“Ba da!”

The neck of the dead inverted cracked open.

Lu Shan took the opportunity to step up and cut the neck of the dead inverted.

“Pa.”

The head of the dead inverted completely fell off, and its body also fell down, starting to turn into pus.

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

Lu Shan lowered his head and looked at the male infant. The male infant, as if having eaten his fill, put his right thumb into his mouth and sucked very obediently.

Moreover, the gray in the male infant’s eyes gradually faded, revealing ordinary person’s eyes.

He saw Lu Shan, continued to suck his finger while puckering his lips, and smiled.

Grandfather… Grandfather… Grandfather…

Lu Shan raised the shovel expressionlessly towards the male infant under his foot:

“You monster, you shouldn’t be kept!”

Runsheng stared with wide eyes at the shovel falling heavily. Immediately after, he heard the crisp sound of his own head being smashed.

“Hu…”

Runsheng suddenly woke up. He found himself sitting behind the stove, with a fire still burning in the stove.

So it was just a dream, how could Grandfather possibly kill him?

Runsheng habitually added a little firewood to the stove. The water was boiling, he could put the meat in. He should have put it in earlier, he didn’t expect to fall asleep while tending to the stove.

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

Since he was young, his family rarely ate meat, and missing meals was even more common.

In his memory, he could often happily eat meat only in two situations. One was when he and Grandfather had just finished a job and received the lao shi money. That evening, Grandfather would go buy meat for him, a good reward for Grandpa and grandson. But it was only limited to that day and that evening, because the next day Grandfather would go to the gambling table and lose all the money.

Another situation was when they went to Li Deye’s house. Grandpa and grandson would always time it perfectly. Two days before, they would start not eating much, completely starving their stomachs flat, and then go. This way, they could eat a lot at Li Deye’s house.

Li Deye would always scold the two of them for being reincarnations of hungry ghosts, while also continuing to serve food, letting Grandpa and grandson eat to their heart’s content.

So, every time they wanted to go to Li Deye’s house, Runsheng would be happy several days in advance, even happier than waiting for New Year’s Eve, because there were many gamblers on New Year’s Eve, and many people for his Grandfather to ‘send money’ to.

Meat, meat, where is the meat?

Runsheng patted his head a bit, remembering that he had processed the meat and put it on the door board in the courtyard.

Oh no, delaying things by dozing off, it couldn’t be stolen by passers-by or carried away by cats or dogs.

Runsheng hurriedly ran out the door and came into the courtyard.

A large pile of meat, cut very neatly, was his masterpiece.

“He he.”

Runsheng couldn’t help but laugh.

On the door board, there were still three incense sticks inserted. They had already burned halfway. He vaguely remembered that when he was cutting the meat, he was greedy and just smelled the incense first to satisfy his craving.

Raw meat wasn’t inedible, but Grandfather wasn’t back yet, and he couldn’t eat first.

But why wasn’t Grandfather back yet?

Logically, by this time, his money should have been lost and he should have left the table.

Runsheng walked to the edge of the door board and suddenly noticed a pile of bloodstained clothes placed under the door board. It was his Grandfather’s clothes.

Oh no, he didn’t notice when he was cutting the meat and got Grandfather’s clothes dirty.

For the two of them, Grandpa and grandson, they only had one or two sets of decent clothes each. The rest were just worn around the house, lying on the bed. Wearing them outside was playing hooligan.

Runsheng was just about to bend down to pick up the clothes when he noticed a round object placed on the door board.

Did he buy a pig or a sheep back?

It seemed like the last job, the employer gave him quite a lot. On the way back, Grandfather’s mouth almost laughed crookedly.

Runsheng blinked. Grandfather often said his brain wasn’t good and he was easily deceived. This was indeed true. How old was he, and his memory was already so bad.

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

Although it had been processed, roasted and shaved, when it faced him, Runsheng still recognized at a glance that this was his Grandfather’s head!

Runsheng’s eyes widened, the blood vessels in his eyes quickly filled up, rapidly thickening as if they wanted to drip out.

He grabbed his face with both hands, looking at all this in disbelief. At this time, the memory of processing this meat continuously floated in his mind.

“Ah!!!”

…

“A You, the temple is not a place where you can come.”

“Shifu…”

“Don’t call me Shifu. Although you are my Shifu’s grandson, you are not qualified. You are not worthy of being a Guan Jiang Shou. I will not take you as a disciple either.”

Lin Shuyou knelt prostrate on the steps in front of the temple door, looking at the old man standing by with a pleading gaze.

But the originally kind Grandfather rebuked him fiercely at this moment:

“I didn’t expect my Lin family to actually give birth to such a bad seed. Others who want to become Jitong are not qualified, at most they cannot sense adults. And you, you can actually anger adults!

You are not my grandson, what are you, get out!”

Lin Shuyou left the temple door heartbroken.

Becoming a Guan Jiang Shou was his dream since he was young. Now, this dream was shattered, and his sky had also collapsed.

Just like this, he walked and stopped, wandering like a walking corpse in the old street, until it was dark. He couldn’t walk anymore and squatted down in a corner of the wall.

His mouth was still constantly chanting the names of various Yin Shen, and his hands were gesturing the postures and actions of You Shen.

“Fire! Fire! Fire!”

Someone started shouting.

Lin Shuyou was completely unaware and continued to be lost in his daze.

“The temple is on fire!”

“The temple is on fire!”

Lin Shuyou turned his head and looked outside. He saw a pillar of fire rising very high. His line of sight began to refocus. He recognized that the place of the fire was his family temple!

He immediately got up and ran madly. Along the way, he didn’t know how many people he had knocked down. In normal times, he would definitely apologize sincerely immediately, but now, he didn’t care about anything.

Whoever dared to block his way, he would just push them away. If the road ahead was blocked, he would just climb over the wall.

He, who was clearly already tired and exhausted, would once again be squeezed out new strength because of this fire in the family temple.

In that temple, there were not only Shifu and his Shixiong men, but also his family. Everyone usually lived in the temple.

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

However, Lin Shuyou would not notice these details.

He ran to the front of the temple door. The fire inside was indeed fierce.

Lin Shuyou kicked open the temple door with one foot. He greatly hoped that everyone inside had already run out.

But as soon as he entered the door, he was stunned. The fire was still burning, but the corpses of his Shixiongdi and family members lying on the ground were clearly not burned to death by the big fire.

Some were hit through the chest, some had their necks twisted off, and some were even torn in half at the waist with brute force.

Right in front of him, on the steps in front of the main temple hall, Lin Shuyou saw a man in red clothes, lifting up his Grandfather with one hand.

Grandfather’s face was open, proving that he had come up Ji, but even so, he was still not the opponent of the man in front of him.

Who exactly was this man, and how terrifying was he?

Grandfather’s neck was being pinched, and at this moment, he could only twist his head a little with difficulty, looking towards him. Blood foam continuously overflowed from Grandfather’s mouth:

“A You… run quickly…”

The man had been holding Grandfather’s neck with one hand. At this moment, he extended his other hand, grabbed Grandfather’s head, and just pulled like this.

“Bang!”

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

“Grandfather!”

The man very casually threw Grandfather’s head away, then walked towards the door.

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

Lin Shuyou rushed towards the man. Just as he got in front of the other side, he was swept away by a powerful breath.

He lay on the ground, spitting blood while unwillingly clenching his fist and hitting the ground. He couldn’t up Ji, couldn’t please adults to descend. The current him fundamentally had no way to threaten the man in front of him.

The man continued to walk outside.

Lin Shuyou shouted viciously: “I’m still not dead, why don’t you kill me, why don’t you kill me!”

The man replied: “Because you are not a person from this temple.”

“I am, I am, I clearly am!” Lin Shuyou’s face showed ferocity and he shouted again, “Why, why do you want to do this, why!”

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

“Those who offend the Dragon King’s majesty should be exterminated!”

…

Fengdu Ghost Street, under the rain.

Little Yin Meng stood at the door of the coffin shop, looking at the rain curtain in front of her.

There weren were many pedestrians on the road. A mother held an umbrella and walked by, holding her daughter’s hand and chatting and laughing.

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

Yin Meng tilted her head and looked at her, without responding.

She turned her body and went back into the shop.

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

She lifted the uppermost layer of clothes, revealing the glass. Looking down from above, she could see her father’s head contained under the glass.

This head was half rotten, with skin hanging off.

Seeing her, her father’s face showed a smile, looking very ferocious.

Yin Meng walked towards the kitchen. There were two large pots on the kitchen shelf.

She stood on a side board and looked into the pots. She saw a man whose whole body was boiled and swollen.

Then, she looked into another pot, and found her mother there.

Both of them were stewed into a very rotten paste.

Just like when they were floating in the pond.

Yin Meng turned and left, walked into the inner room, and sat down leaning against the edge of a coffin.

Here was the biggest source of warmth in her childhood, and also where she rested longest during her girlhood.

Inside lay a Grandfather who had brought her up by hand.

She clearly remembered the relief she felt in her heart on the day Grandfather left.

No need to wipe his body for him every day, no need to massage him every day to prevent bedsores, no need to pretend to smile and talk to him every day, no need to continue guarding this coffin shop that basically had no business.

The relief at that moment was real.

But every time she recalled it, it would give her an extremely strong feeling of guilt.

Facing the person who loved her the most, her real reaction was to gradually regard it as a burden over one year, two years, three years… ten years.

She rejoiced in her perfect disguise, and she sinned in the fact that she was actually really pretending.

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

Actually, she was not that fragile.

Her mother colluded with her paramour, killed her father, and sank him to the bottom of the water.

Her Grandfather also learned about this later from a ghost passing by at night.

But before that, her parents’ relationship had already broken down. Having them around or not actually made little difference.

Even, whether they died or not… rather than living like that, it was better for them to die early and clean up.

She had once been a girl yearning for her parents’ love, and had also envied others, but later she just got used to it.

When a child is away from their parents for a long time, they have no feeling; when parents are away from their child for a long time, it is also difficult to maintain much emotion.

People can adapt to anything.

But unfortunately, one dream after another would present all this to you repeatedly and progressively.

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

Even a strong person cannot endure this kind of continuous grinding.

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

She saw neighbors on the street. She also saw her mother’s new in-laws’ family members. Among them, there were also her two half-brothers.

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

Oh, Grandfather is also dead.

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

Since she was very young, Yin Meng had been aware that in this world, not many people would truly care about you, empathize with your joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. Whether you are good or not, bad or not, it is all irrelevant to them, and they themselves also know this.

Yin Meng was dressed in mourning clothes and a black veil. 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, manipulated by his mother’s new in-law, threw a bowl and walked in the front row of the funeral procession.

Yin Meng could only follow behind the procession.

This meant that after the funeral ended, the shop and the little property left would also be inherited by these people, and she would be irrelevant.

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

She felt that what she should have, she was not that timid, but she just couldn’t find it.

Because these things had been consumed dry in the previous dreams, one after another.

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

The brother walking in the front was crying. He wanted to hide behind the procession to avoid the wind, but was met with a heavy slap from his grandmother, hitting very loudly.

Anyway, her Yin family only had this one girl left, and no relatives. Once this matter was over today, the shop and the coffins inside would become their family’s things.

This girl, raise her first, make her do work every day. When she grows up a bit, marry her off for a bride price. Anyway, it’s all a guaranteed profitable business.

When the funeral procession passed a river beach, the wind suddenly blew stronger. Not only were people blown east and west, but even the coffin slipped and rolled down.

Under the continuous ‘kang dang’ sounds, the coffin flipped into the river water. The coffin lid was nailed when it was buried, and this would cause the lid to flip open directly, and the old man inside also rolled into the river.

Everyone hurried to support the coffin and pull the corpse, so that everything could get back on track.

Yin Meng stood by the river edge with a vacant expression, looking at her Grandfather in the river water, who they couldn’t pull back no matter how hard they tried.

Some took ropes, some took hooks, and some even went directly into the water to pull and drag, but Grandfather remained motionless, continuing to drift towards the deeper part of the river, drifting further and further away.

A feeling arose in Yin Meng’s heart, as if her Grandfather was going to the place he should go.

Surprisingly, the girl’s heart therefore produced some comfort, like water seeping out from a dry well.

But for some reason, the funeral procession, which was originally not serious and was just a posture to cope with and a temporary gathering, unexpectedly presented a weird orderliness at this moment.

After everyone collectively looked at Yin Meng, they immediately rushed towards the middle of the river again.

They wanted to pull Grandfather’s body back no matter what, let him be buried, let him come back as a zombie, let him return to the shop, to criticize the girl’s hypocrisy in treating him, and tell the girl that he knew in his heart that the girl always hated him and wanted him to leave earlier so she could be free.

Soon, only the girl was left on the river beach, and the rest of the people were all in the water.

Old and young, men and women, were all trying to swim.

Finally, they caught up with Grandfather who had drifted far away.

They joined forces, built a human ladder on the water surface, and dragged Grandfather’s body back.

As they dragged, behind Grandfather, four vague black shadows appeared.

“Ghosts!”

“Ghosts!”

Sounds of fearful screams came, and the crowd that was still orderly earlier directly collapsed.

They one by one tried to swim back without looking back, wanting to go ashore.

But soon, some people were dragged to the bottom of the water, one, two, three…

Yin Meng stood at the edge of the shore and personally witnessed her two half-brothers disappearing directly in her sight.

That new mother-in-law of her mother was quite agile with her hands and feet. She came ashore, just stretched out her hand, and pointed at herself:

“You damned bringer of misfortune, ke…”

With a “pu tong” sound, a black and vague hand grabbed the mother’s new mother-in-law’s ankle, flipped her to the ground, and then pulled her towards the river.

The mother-in-law grabbed the sand and stones at the edge of the river beach with both hands, crying for help to Yin Meng, hoping that Yin Meng could pull her a bit and save her.

Yin Meng walked forward.

The mother-in-law’s face showed relief. She stretched her hand towards Yin Meng as much as possible.

Yin Meng lifted her foot and stepped on the mother-in-law’s hand.

She clearly didn’t use much force. After all, she was still just a little girl now, but the mother-in-law emitted an extremely miserable scream, as if witnessing something terrifying.

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

The river edge and the river surface fell into a death-like quiet.

Yin Meng sat down in her original spot, hugging her knees.

She didn’t know how long she had been sitting there. She blankly lifted her head and found that the sky was half rainy and half sunny, and she was sitting exactly on the dividing line between yin and sunny.

She turned her head and looked behind her.

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

She saw the woman holding an umbrella and leading the little girl walking and chatting and laughing again.

Just 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 emitted miserable screams.

As if to form some echo, in the coffin shop, her father, who had already become a cabinet, also screamed. Her mother and her paramour in the two pots in the kitchen also stretched out their arms, no matter how the stewed rotten skin and meat fell off, they still stretched desperately, emitting fearful wails in the ‘gu lu lu’ soup water.

Immediately after, painful screams came from the shop faces of every shop on Ghost Street.

Countless noises stabbed into Yin Meng’s ears.

She felt dizzy and suffocated. She crawled on the ground, also wanting to call out, but her throat seemed to be blocked by something. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t emit any sound.

Yin Meng grabbed the stones on the ground and continuously slapped her own face. She hoped to use this method to ease the torment before her eyes.

Soon, her face was covered in wounds, and fresh blood continuously dripped down.

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

She was stunned. In her mind, some pictures that should not appear seemed to float up. She wanted to catch them, but it was very difficult.

And the screams on Ghost Street not only did not subside, but became more exaggerated.

Countless shop owners ran madly to the street, and together with the original pedestrians, they tore the skin off their bodies. This scene was like a human purgatory.

…

Inside the yellow small pickup truck.

In the car radio, the special crosstalk performance that originally belonged to Tan Wenbin suddenly had a piercing noise. Countless sharp screams came from inside.

Li Zhuiyuan felt a sharp pain in his eardrums. He stretched out his hand, but instead of turning down the volume, he turned the knob and turned the volume up to the maximum.

The young man’s shoulders began to shake.

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

Inside the car, Yin Meng, who was originally here, suddenly disappeared.

Runsheng and Lin Shuyou asked with wide eyes: “Tell me, what exactly is going on, what exactly is going on!”

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 Fengdu Great Emperor into your dream.

For nearly two thousand years, no ghost has dared to be as brave and fearless as you. You deserve to be a model of the ghost world!

At this time, Runsheng began to hit the car wildly with his head, making the yellow pickup truck shake violently. He repeatedly shouted ‘No! No! No!’ in his mouth.

Lin Shuyou clenched his fists and waved them while shouting fiercely: “You don’t go! You kill me! You kill me!”

Li Zhuiyuan knew that the dream ghost was using Runsheng and Lin Shuyou to threaten him.

Although the dream ghost had problems with Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng, and they were becoming more and more serious, it had almost succeeded with Runsheng and Lin Shuyou.

Maybe just one more dream was needed to completely destroy their mental defenses, thereby controlling their minds and making them the most obedient puppets.

This kind of harm is almost irreversible. Even if they can barely get out, people will be completely wasted.

The dream ghost was taking out the chips it had just won at the gambling table. It wanted to exchange these chips for an opportunity to leave.

Li Zhuiyuan’s shoulders stopped shrugging at this moment.

That feeling of holding back laughter disappeared.

But the young man was not angry or ashamed because of this. His mouth corner outlined some arcs. He was still laughing.

This kind of laughter expressed an attitude.

Negotiating was impossible.

In the dream ghost’s view, this was just a trap. Since everyone was wary of each other, they should leave separately.

But in Li Zhuiyuan’s view, this was a Jiang that everyone walked together, and even more, it was the black hand behind everyone’s common face.

There is no turning back when the bow is drawn. When this boat sails on the Jiang surface, no matter who falls into the water, the people left on the boat can only paddle desperately and continue forward as much as possible.

Li Zhuiyuan opened the car door and got out.

The car was shaking too severely because of the two people’s madness, making him dizzy sitting inside.

The young man walked along the bridge surface towards the front.

Behind him, the car window glass broke, and Runsheng’s roar and Lin Shuyou’s wail came from inside.

Li Zhuiyuan continued to maintain his smile and did not slow down at all.

The sounds of Runsheng and Lin Shuyou on the verge of collapse were like wonderful music in the young man’s ears.

This made the smile on the young man’s mouth corner almost impossible to maintain.

He didn’t want to be angry or pained or shout loudly, but he still wanted to laugh.

Earlier in the car, he was actually acting.

The more he expressed his refusal to negotiate, the tighter the dream ghost would hold these two chips, Runsheng and Lin Shuyou. It would not dare to destroy them completely now, because in its view, this was the only thing it could bargain with him.

In the short time between the end of the last meeting and their departure, he had set up something for everyone in the team.

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

It could even be said to be as thin and fragile as a piece of paper.

That is,

He had hypnotized all the companions in the team!

The clear heart symbol, the bone ring, and the pocket watch were all prepared for hypnosis.

Adding to the companions’ unconditional trust and active cooperation with him, hypnotizing them was really very easy.

So when Yin Meng walked out of the shop door, she felt the sunlight sting her eyes, and so Tan Wenbin felt tired after driving for a while and needed to swap driving with Yin Meng.

Because when everyone departed, they were actually all in a state of ‘sleep’.

Putting it here, it merely plays the role of offsetting one dream.

At most, when you are completely destroyed in one dream after another, you will suddenly wake up a bit, but the meaning is really not great, because the dream ghost can easily come again.

This is really just a small trick.

But this piece of paper, at this moment, played an excellent role. Runsheng and Lin Shuyou were obviously about to fail, but as long as the dream ghost didn’t completely destroy them, it couldn’t discover the existence of that paper.

Theoretically, Runsheng and Lin Shuyou were still in a safe state.

The matter of the seabed turtle and Fengdu Great Emperor had already made Li Zhuiyuan unable to help but want to laugh hysterically. The paper still being kept now added another layer of happiness to Li Zhuiyuan.

The reason he got out of the car was that he really couldn’t hold back anymore.

He didn’t want the other side to see any clues from his external expressions. He needed this matter to ferment further, and pull the hand from the dream ghost’s body.

He had to endure, he couldn’t laugh.

For ordinary people, the best way to hold back laughter is to recall the most uncomfortable and painful things in this life in your mind.

Li Zhuiyuan also did so.

To keep from laughing, he wanted to get off and walk over to see a person.

He believed that after seeing that person, he would immediately stop laughing.

Li Zhuiyuan just walked like this to the end of the bridge. At the end of the bridge, there was a ticket checkpoint.

Li Lan held two tickets in her hand and was standing at the door of the ticket checkpoint, waiting for him.

Indeed, seeing her, Li Zhuiyuan just couldn’t laugh anymore.

Li Lan bent down, patted her hands, and opened her arms to Li Zhuiyuan with a gentle, mother-like smile:

“My baby son, playing in the amusement park with mother, happy or not?”

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