“I grew up with my grandmother scaring me with that ‘Don’t Look Back’ Guai Qi story, so naturally, I knew not to look back.”
Wen Weilan recounted, and although her slightly trembling voice revealed the fear in her heart, she maintained her composure and detachment.
“But as soon as I looked down, I could see two pale, greenish arms tightly wrapped around my neck. The arms were thin and small, and the fingernails were black, seemingly with dried bloodstains.”
“It should have been a child.”
“Its body was very, very cold, pressing against my back, and my back was almost frozen stiff.”
Wen Weilan’s words secretly startled Liu Sheng. Such details truly didn’t sound like a simple dream.
“Then it kept whispering in my ear, ‘Sister, look at me. Sister, why don’t you look at me?’”
“This endless road made me a bit dazed, and as I listened, I also wondered, ‘Why don’t I look back?’”
“But when I wanted to look back, I faintly heard my grandmother’s voice in my ear, telling me never to look back.”
“The fear in my heart instantly reached its peak, as if if I just did that, I would die immediately.” Wen Weilan’s eyes showed even deeper fear.
“So I ignored it and just kept walking with my head down.”
“As it spoke, seeing that I just wouldn’t look back, it seemed to get angry. Its arms tightened more and more, strangling my neck, and I could barely breathe.”
“I grabbed its arms, trying to shake it off.”
“As a result, as soon as I exerted force, its arms were directly broken off by me. I held two small arms with dead black broken ends in my hands, and the brittle bones poked out, which was very disgusting, so I quickly threw them away.”
“But, without its arms, it was still on my back!”
“Moreover, it started to burrow into my body from my back!”
“I could feel its bones poking into my body, and cold, stiff chunks of flesh forcibly burrowing into my muscles…”
Wen Weilan shivered involuntarily at the thought of that scene.
“What happened next?” Liu Sheng asked.
“Later, ha, for some reason, a knife appeared in my hand, so I used the knife to gouge the child out of my body piece by piece, and as a result, I also fainted from excessive blood loss.”
“Then I woke up and found myself standing in the courtyard, holding a knife.”
Wen Weilan looked down at her hands and whispered, “The feeling of gouging myself with a knife, cut by cut, is too clear. It really hurts.”
“That Lu Er, she should have felt a lot of pain too…”
She looked up, smiling coldly and bitterly, “Even if I’m not a weird object, I’m still a murderer. I’ll never be able to wash this away in this lifetime.”
Liu Sheng always felt that this case was full of doubts, so she didn’t respond and continued to ask, “Besides this time, have you ever really injured others or yourself due to a dream?”
Wen Weilan shook her head and said, “Never.”
“Are your dreams always the same? Do you always end up gouging yourself with a knife?”
“Yes… Although the process always has some subtle differences, in the end, it burrows into my body, and I have to take it out.”
If Wen Weilan truly killed someone in her dream, a single stab would suffice. Why push someone downstairs? According to what Wen Weilan said, she didn’t make such a move in her dream.
Moreover, judging by Miss Lu’s falling posture, to push her downstairs, one would have to specifically stand behind her after stabbing her, which doesn’t seem like something Wen Weilan could do in an unconscious state.
Of course, all of this is predicated on Wen Weilan telling the truth.
“When do these kinds of dreams usually occur for you?”
“At first, it was always when I fell asleep at night. Later, gradually, sometimes even when I was just sitting there, I would enter a dream, especially when I was very tired…”
Liu Sheng’s brows furrowed even tighter. Connecting these pieces of information, she felt like she was holding a loose thread, but didn’t yet know where the other end of the thread was.
In short, Wen Weilan’s situation indeed seemed very much like she had encountered a Guai Qi.
As Liu Sheng said this, Wen Weilan also said, “Naturally, I also felt it, but I used the previous Ghost Qi Detector to test all around, and I couldn’t detect any traces of Guai Qi.”
“As a result, that detector quickly broke accidentally when I was out.”
“That’s why I came to you to buy another one. This time, it did show something,” Wen Weilan’s face was pale, “but it always pointed to myself.”
This was also the main reason she believed she was a weird object.
Liu Sheng still had one more question to ask.
“Do you still remember how you lost your cultivation?”
As expected, Wen Weilan said sadly, “I don’t remember at all. It seems that when I left the city, I accidentally entered a dream again, fainted on the ground, and was rescued back to the city. When I woke up, I found that I didn’t have a single trace of Lingtual power.”
“Perhaps, I have been abandoned by the Supreme God.” A self-mocking expression appeared on Wen Weilan’s face.
…
Liu Sheng followed Zhang Dagge out of the prison gate.
Seeing the light of day again brightened Liu Sheng’s heart, which had been suppressed by the dungeon.
“Thank you, Zhang Dagge. Tomorrow, I’ll get you a bottle of Crane Tower Spring.”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Dagge swallowed and whispered, “No problem, no problem. If you want, I’ll let you in secretly again tomorrow.”
Liu Sheng thanked him again and even took out one Lingtual to ask Zhang Dagge to get Wen Weilan a blanket.
She silently made a mental note: Wen Weilan owes one Lingtual.
Liu Sheng took out her spirit message and glanced at it. It was still Shenshi, so there was still time.
She thought for a moment and sent a message using her spirit message.
After a while, she received a confirmation message, and Liu Sheng’s lips curved into a smile as she walked towards the Ten Thousand Affairs Hall.
At this moment, Su Yanjun was reading a storybook. Seeing Liu Sheng return, she couldn’t help but ask with concern, “How was it? Was it smooth?”
Liu Sheng nodded, “It was alright.”
Su Yanjun wanted to ask more, but she heard Liu Sheng ask first, “Are you off duty yet?”
“Not yet. Without you, how would I dare to sneak away at this time?” Su Yanjun said shamelessly.
“That’s good then.”
Su Yanjun blinked her eyes curiously, “What’s wrong?”
Could it be that she wanted to treat her to a meal as a thank you? Su Yanjun was secretly overjoyed.
But Liu Sheng’s thoughts were always poles apart from what she imagined.
She only regretted that she was always so self-deluded.
She only heard Liu Sheng say, “Hmm, I have a commission, and I’d like the Ten Thousand Affairs Hall to help me.”
Ah? A commission?
Su Yanjun was stunned.
“My friend always has nightmares, and she’s plagued by Guai Qi. I want to investigate if there are any weird objects causing trouble around her.”
Liu Sheng looked at Su Yanjun seriously, “This should be handled by the Exploration Division, right?”
“Today, immediately, can you dispatch someone?”
“My friend’s situation cannot be delayed.”
Very quickly, someone from the Exploration Division took on the case.
Liu Sheng was drinking tea in the Ten Thousand Affairs Hall when she saw Fu Ze and Liao Chengpeng walk out of the Weaving Institute, and she smiled with satisfaction.
Outside the door, Fu Ze lowered his voice and asked, “Liu Siku, you said that if we actively take on this case, you’ll help us modify the Ghost Qi Detector, is that true?”
“Cough cough, of course, I’m not entirely doing it for this. Eliminating harm for the people is also our duty.”
Everyone had arrived at the Qinghe Weaving Institute, and Liu Sheng had not been Siku for a long time, but they were still used to calling her that and couldn’t change their habit.
Liao Chengpeng also leaned in to listen.
“Of course it’s true, but the Materials fee…” Liu Sheng’s wallet temporarily didn’t allow her not to ask people for Materials fees.
“We’ll pay, no problem!” Liao Chengpeng said excitedly.
“You don’t even know, this Qinghe Weaving Institute is said to be one of the top ten institutes, but its equipment is not as good as ours in Li County, especially that detector, it’s not as useful as the one Liu Siku modified!”
Liu Sheng smiled faintly, “Then it’s settled.”
“Now, let’s go to Wen Manor.”