When I saw the 'me' behind the old lady.

My head went blank, as if I'd been hit hard by a sledgehammer.

Isn't this the same scene that happened not long ago?

I raised my hand as if to slap myself, to see if this was just an illusion.

But my arms felt like they were filled with lead, limp and I couldn't lift them at all.

The scene before me was dizzying, the whole world seemed to be twisting and spinning wildly, and my consciousness began to become blurred.

...

I don't know how much time passed.

When I woke up, I found myself lying on a shabby bed.

I subconsciously touched my kidneys.

Thankfully, happiness remains.

Looking around, there was no one there, only a deathly silence.

The walls and windows were covered with countless red paper figures.

These paper figures are completely different from anything I've seen before.

They are dressed in armor, some holding spears, some holding machetes, much like the "paper warriors" burned for ancestors during the Qingming Festival.

I knew that the old lady had refused to bring me here before, but then suddenly brought me to Qingping Village. It turned out she had already set a trap for me.

If she had agreed from the beginning, I would have been suspicious.

But she deliberately refused to take me there first, which piqued my curiosity and made me insist. After I took out the money, she pretended to be impatient with me and then 'reluctantly' took me there.

That was a brilliant move of feigning indifference.

That old bastard is too cunning.

I got up and walked to the window to look outside.

It was pitch black outside, and a chilly breeze crept in, making me shiver.

By the faint glow of the waning moon on the horizon, I saw the paper figures in the courtyard still tirelessly repeating what they had done that morning.

The paper figure killing the goose raised its cleaver and slammed it down hard on the goose's neck.

In an instant, crimson blood splattered everywhere.

The goose tilted its head to one side, twitched a few times on the ground, and then went still.

Then the paper figure took out a flat paper goose from its pocket.

Hold the paper goose by both ends and gently shake it in the air.

Strangely, the previously still paper began to glow with an unusual light.

In the flickering light, the paper goose seemed to come alive, and began to wriggle its body.

In an instant, it transformed into a lively, bouncy goose.

The "caw caw" sounded particularly jarring in the pitch-black, deathly quiet night.

The goose he had previously thrown on the ground and killed had now turned back into paper.

This scene was as bizarre as it could be.

I even suspect that the place I live in now and the food I ate today might be made of paper.

What kind of place is this?!

I checked my pockets, and thankfully, my phone hadn't been taken away.

Just as I expected, the phone had no signal at all.

I cautiously walked to the door and tried pushing it.

But to my surprise, I actually managed to push it open a crack.

This old lady is really interesting.

They went to all this trouble to lure me here, and now they're not even locking the door. Is that so I can escape?

The door was pushed open, but there were still five or six paper figures busy outside.

One of them was holding a kitchen knife.

My brain raced, and my eyes searched the room eagerly before finally landing on the metal kettle on the bedside table.

I grabbed the water bottle, took a deep breath, and with all my might, threw it far away.

A loud crash was heard.

The metal kettle crashed onto the open ground, the sound carrying far in the deathly silence of the night.

The paper figures, which were mechanically working, froze in motion.

Immediately afterwards, everyone seemed to be puppets controlled by the same string, all stopping what they were doing and turning their heads slowly toward the source of the sound in a strange, stiff posture.

Seizing the opportunity, I flung open the door and sprinted towards the front gate.

They were right at the doorway; the dawn of victory was in sight.

Suddenly, a female paper figure standing by the door appeared like a ghost, blocking the exit completely.

"Mom told you not to go out."

Fuck you!

I punched her hard in the head.

The paper doll's head instantly caved in.

However, she was like a statue without pain, completely unaware of all this, still standing there straight in front of me.

"Mom told you not to go out."

The paper figures that had been drawn to the kettle were now all looking at me.

They were closing in on me step by step.

"Get out of the way!"

I took out my lighter and pressed it hard with my thumb.

With a "pop," the flame instantly leaped up and flickered in the darkness.

The light reflected off my face, and at the same time, it also revealed the eerie faces of the paper figures around me.

I noticed that the paper figures, upon seeing the flames rise, seemed to have encountered a natural enemy and involuntarily took a few steps back.

They were indeed afraid of fire.

"Get out of the way!"

I held the lighter towards the paper figure blocking the doorway.

Although the paper doll was afraid of the lighter in my hand, she stubbornly blocked the doorway, mechanically repeating, "Mom told you not to go out."

Seeing that the paper figure behind me was getting closer and closer, I gritted my teeth and lit the lighter on the female paper figure.

The moment the flame touched her, her body was instantly ignited.

Even so, she mechanically repeated the same sentence amidst the flames: "Mom told you not to go out."

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