Along the edge of the letter, a line of blood-written words appeared: "Chen Yan's birth date and time are the second talisman that the Half-Immortal gave me back then."

I suddenly remembered that when Baldy San died, I had seen a yellow talisman with my name on it in his pocket.

It turns out that from the very beginning, I was his "backup soul guide" in his destiny plan.

Yuan Ying was merely a lamplighter in this underworld gamble, trying to snatch a glimmer of hope for Xiu Xiu and me.

But wait, did they count me back then?

I always feel like something doesn't add up, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

What I find most unsettling is that it seems...

I've been through it.

Just like what that guy from the Bureau of Extraordinary Investigations, also known as "Chen Yan," said to me back then.

He said it had been a long time.

But I don't know him at all.

Could it be that I've been through something similar?

But how old am I? How did I go through all this?

My mind felt like something was growing inside me, and just as I was about to think about it carefully, the eternal lamp in front of the shrine suddenly went out.

In the darkness, the rustling sound of the paper figures on the shelf grew closer, as if countless paper figures were approaching.

I reached for the copper coin Yuan Ying had given me for self-defense at my waist, only to find that the word "debt" had been engraved on my palm at some point.

It was exactly the same as the lines on Xiuxiu's palm.

Yuan Ying lit a match, and in the light, I saw her using her own blood to re-engrave my birth date and time on a tortoise shell.

When she looked up, there was blood at the corner of her mouth: "The day of amnesty is coming soon. This time, no matter what, we must guide the Reincarnation Soul into the Fetal Soul Jar."

The moment before the match went out.

I saw the divination image on the tortoise shell, which was clearly a paper effigy holding a baby, walking on the road to the underworld.