The soul of a resentful couple

"Brother Nightmare, the points have been paid. Here's the receipt," Fangfangfang said, handing the receipt to Brother Nightmare.

"Okay, I'll scan the receipt. You check the dream recipient's information and location. It's almost time, let's prepare to enter the dream." Nightmare Brother took the receipt, checked the time, and instructed Fangfangfang.

"yes."

Fangfangfang took out her phone and activated the location projection according to the information given to the dream recipient by number 178. As the light flashed and then stopped, a large amusement park appeared on the projection screen. The park was bustling with people, and sweet, colorful balloons and ribbons were swaying in the wind. The camera looked around and finally stopped at a bench. A gentle and charming woman was holding a 4-5 year old girl and sitting on the bench to rest.

"Mengmeng, come to Daddy's for a hug, let Mommy rest." A man strode over from a distance and sat down on the bench. The man looked clean and neat, with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses hanging over his eyes, making him appear very refined.

"No, Mengmeng wants Mommy to hold her." The little girl pouted and hugged her even tighter.

"Mengmeng, look, Daddy bought you popcorn and lollipops. Come here to Daddy, after you finish eating, we'll go buy a magic wand."

"Lollipop..." The man pulled out a pink crystal-like lollipop. The little girl's eyes crinkled at the sight of the candy, and she was immediately drawn to the man's arms.

"Honey, how are you? You must be exhausted. I'll take her shopping later, so you can rest." The man took her hand and gently rubbed it tenderly.

"Is it him?" Fangfangfang suddenly turned off the screen mirroring and turned to ask number 178.

"Why...why?" Number 178 didn't answer Fangfangfang's question, but kept muttering to himself.

"What's wrong, Number 178?" Fangfangfang asked.

"Why can he be so happy after killing me and my child? His child is five years old, and if my child were alive, he would be just as adorable, wouldn't he?" Number 178 was agitated, seemingly having suffered a great shock, and his voice gradually became shrill.

"Oh no! She's going to become a fallen soul!!! Get out of the way with Meng Po!" Nightmare Brother, who had just finished scanning the receipt, saw Number 178 walking over quickly and said to Fangfangfang.

Surrounded by wisps of black smoke, Number 178's shoulder-length hair slowly grew back to the ground. Hearing Nightmare Brother speak, he instantly raised his head, his face contorted in a ferocious grimace, his scarlet eyes fixed on him: "All men, die!!" Number 178 roared at Nightmare Brother, his long fangs bared from his mouth, the roar accompanied by a shockwave that sent Nightmare Brother flying.

The few public relations staff members who were in the Nightmare Division rushed over upon hearing the commotion. After helping Nightmare Brother up, they quickly formed hand seals. However, because the Nightmare Division consumed a lot of points, few souls came to create dreams. Over time, many of the former public relations staff were transferred away, and the few who remained were just doing odd jobs and did not have high cultivation levels.

The group formed a semi-circular defensive shield by making hand gestures, protecting them in the center. Fangfangfang took out her phone to report the matter to her superiors, but was stopped by Nightmare Brother.

Gu Lili looked around, thought for a moment, and then took out her phone to send a message.

"Pfft~" Nightmare Brother coughed up a mouthful of blood, clearly indicating that his magical resistance had reached its limit.

Unlike other ghost messengers and underworld officials who possess spells to suppress the souls of the dead, Nightmare Brother specializes in dream creation. Even with a thousand years of cultivation, he is no match for the vengeful, fallen souls that even ghost messengers find troublesome.

Number 178 continued to roar, and the blood and tears that had been sealed by Meng Po's essence gushed out from its seven orifices again, gradually gathering together to form the shape of a child. It looked like an 8-9 year old boy with equally scarlet eyes, glaring at everything around him.

The boy took No. 178's hand, and No. 178, as if suddenly empowered, unleashed another shockwave at Nightmare Brother. The already precarious protective shield developed fine cracks under this attack.

"Number 178, once you become a fallen soul, you will be unable to reincarnate. You will be rejected by the six realms and never be reborn! Think carefully, control yourself, and seize the opportunity while there is still time." Seeing the urgency of the situation, Fangfangfang shouted to Number 178.

"I want revenge! Why? Tell me, why?!"

Seeing that Number 178 was gradually losing his mind, staring with bloodshot eyes, he launched another attack on the defensive shield.

Just as the defensive shield was about to collapse, a spatial rift appeared beside Gu Lili. From the rift emerged a pair of large hands forming hand seals, conjuring strings of golden runes that flew towards Number 178 with the force of lightning. The runes then bound him tightly like ropes, rendering him immobile. Upon seeing this, the ghost child bared its fangs and looked at the crowd. However, upon hearing Number 178 growl as he was burned by the rune chains, it turned around and began to tear at the chains. With a few bites, the chains remained undamaged, but the ghost child's fangs were shattered by the runes, and cracks appeared on its body.

"Lady Meng Po, please stop your magic! If this continues, Tongtong... Waaah, Tongtong will die again! Please, please!" In the blink of an eye, Number 178's appearance returned to its previous state, and her reason returned as well. However, the ropes on her body tightened more and more, and strings of runes were branded on her burned skin, making her look just like a ghost in a movie or TV show, vulnerable before she was about to vanish into thin air.

The owner of those hands in the space-time rift did not fully emerge, but Gu Lili was all too familiar with those hands. The large palms paired with slender, fair fingers, with distinct knuckles, and the veins bulging every time she made a hand seal, was why Gu Lili, a hand fetishist, couldn't help but grab them when she was drunk and refused to let go.

"Guan Nan... could you...?"

Those "saintly" individuals who lack ability themselves but pretend to be good people after their teammates risk their lives to save the day were the types of people Gu Lili despised most in her life. But facing this pitiful mother and child before her, she didn't know what to do. They were just one step away from happiness—to enter their dream, fulfill their dream, and then be reborn to embrace a new life. Number 178 was so vulnerable at this moment, already filled with boundless hatred, but she suppressed her resentment for the sake of her child. They were only one step away from happiness…

"Can."

The owner of those hands uttered two short words, then made a hand seal to retract the rune chains, closing the spacetime rift along with them, and vanished without a trace.

A moment later, Gu Lili's phone rang. The owner of the large hands replied to her SOS message, "Come repair my spiritual consciousness tonight."

"Meng Po, what do you plan to do next?" Nightmare Brother pretended not to have seen what had just happened and asked, pointing at the mother and child in number 178.

"Can I continue dreaming?" Gu Lili put her phone back in her pocket and turned to ask Nightmare Brother.

"It depends on your choice. The one who just refused to show himself was giving you the choice. Otherwise, if he had shown himself, he would have represented the laws and authority of the underworld, and Number 178 and that ghost child would have been annihilated and never reincarnated," Nightmare Brother said, arms crossed and head tilted.

"Then what about this ghost child? When No. 178 died, she was only 7 or 8 months pregnant. Does this... ghost fetus also grow as it grows?"

"No, unborn children do not possess souls. This ghost child was originally formed from the resentment of No. 178 when he passed away. However, because No. 178 was kind-hearted and had love and affection for his child, he nurtured the child to grow up in his soul. Today, under multiple stimuli and opportunities, he has taken on a physical form, which is quite a strange thing."

Gu Lili thought for a moment: "Like Sun Wukong?"

Nightmare Brother laughed, “Hahaha, no one in this world can compare to the Great Sage, but the truth is indeed the truth. This ghost child has been with No. 178 in the underworld for many years in a spiritual state, and has been nourished by the spiritual energy of the underworld. The fact that the person today did not kill it proves that this little guy is not an evil spirit and is not a threat. It’s just that he has no soul and no past life, so he cannot be reincarnated. Meng Po has to help him find a place. Otherwise, if other officials discover his existence, at best they will lock him up in the special management office for the dead and never see the light of day again, and at worst they will kill him to eliminate future troubles.”

"Lady Meng Po, please take this child in. I am willing to give up all my points. I... I do not ask for an afterlife. Human suffering is better left unaddressed."

Number 178 had been quietly waiting for the two to decide what to do. When he heard that Tongtong might be executed, he could no longer hold back. Despite the pain, he got up, crawled to Gu Lili's feet, and knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly and begging Gu Lili to take in her child.

Gu Lili was about to say something, but hesitated and turned to look at Fangfangfang.

"You don't need to ask me anymore. Every time I try to advise or stop you, you never listen. Just do what you think is right." Fangfangfang pretended not to see Gu Lili's pleading eyes and stubbornly turned her back to say this.

Gu Lili suppressed a laugh as she watched Fangfangfang's retreating figure. She thought about how Fangfangfang always scolded and resigned her when she acted on her own initiative, but now that this old-fashioned woman had simply given up and stopped trying to persuade her, she found her somewhat adorable.

“Then let him follow me. If he is willing to devote himself to cultivation, maybe in the future I can recommend him to be a formal underworld official, which would be a perfect ending,” Gu Lili said to No. 178.

"Quickly, Tongtong, come and kowtow to Lady Meng Po. You must remember this great kindness and cultivate diligently to protect her."

Number 178 excitedly pulled up the ghost child and made him kowtow to Gu Lili. The ghost child had just taken form today and was still clumsy, and did not have the ability to speak. He could only imitate Number 178, kneeling and looking at Gu Lili.

"Alright, alright, I hate these kinds of formalities. Let's hurry up and get into the dream, and then you can be reincarnated as soon as possible, just in case something goes wrong," Gu Lili said, waving her hand a little embarrassedly to everyone.

Nightmare Brother nodded and then walked to the third mural. Suddenly, he made a hand seal, and the third mural began to tremble violently. Then it suddenly grew larger and fell to the ground, forming a huge "door".

"Let's go. Remember, don't look back in the Dream Corridor!" Nightmare Brother said, holding an old-fashioned kerosene lamp handed to him by the PR person.

After receiving an affirmative reply, Nightmare Brother led the group into the picture frame and into the dream corridor. The corridor was still damp and dark, and under the dim light of the kerosene lamp, the blank picture frames on the wall exuded an eerie deathly aura.

The absence of an entrance ahead indicates that the dreamer is not yet asleep, so the group can only continue walking along the corridor until an entrance appears.

Having learned from her previous experience, Gu Lili observed Number 178 and the ghost child as she walked, so she could detect in time whether they were possessed by the dream-eating beast. She also kept a close watch on the murals on both walls; she didn't want to get involved with that sticky, foul-smelling black liquid a second time.

"The entrance hasn't opened yet, so we need to be constantly vigilant against the Dream Eater. Although the defense system has been upgraded, that thing has evolved and gained intelligence, so we can't be sure what kind of insidious plans it might have," Nightmare Brother instructed.

"Okay," everyone responded.

The group walked forward in a row until a large door radiating bright light appeared at the end of the corridor.

“The entrance has appeared,” Nightmare Brother said.

Suddenly, the ghost child began to look ahead restlessly. Number 178, standing behind him, thought he was just uncomfortable with the bright light and quickly went to hug him to comfort him. But the ghost child broke free from Number 178 and growled at the front. Nightmare Brother, who was standing at the very front, stopped when he heard the noise and spread his arms to protect Gu Lili and the others behind him.

Suddenly, a huge, sticky mass rushed towards them. Just as it was about to reach Nightmare Brother, a golden light spread out and transformed into a bowl-shaped protective shield, enveloping them. The sticky mass crashed into the shield, howling in pain. The sound was eerie and piercing, somewhat like a mother cat outside the window in the middle of a hot summer night, sounding particularly unsettling in the confined space.

"The Dream Eater is here. Everyone be careful. Don't get near the edge of the protective shield. Try to stand in the middle. Let's hold on a little longer, we'll reach the entrance soon," Nightmare Brother instructed again.

The Dream Eater outside the protective shield stretched out its body, still relentlessly staring at the group inside. It would occasionally slap the shield with its claws, leaving pools of foul-smelling black slime running down it. This slime seemed to have a life of its own, trying to burrow into the shield through the gap between the bottom and the ground, but the equally intelligent shield saw through its trick and bulged up, turning the entire shield into a seamless sphere, carrying the group forward.