Yang Zhi felt a chill all over his body, as if he were immersed in ice water. He shuddered and woke up from a trance-like nightmare.

Kong Xuyang frowned and looked at Yang Zhi who was squatting beside him: "What's wrong with you? You were so distracted just now?"

Yang Zhi shook his head vigorously, trying to sober himself up, and forced a smile on his pale face: "...I don't know what's going on, the more I digest Bai Liu's memories, the easier it is for me to immerse myself in his memories. It wasn't like this before..."

"His memory is very strange, with three overlapping areas."

Speaking of Bai Liu, Kong Xuyang became interested: "What folding area? Weakness? Private part?"

“Neither…” Yang Zhi frowned, “It feels like a memory that has been covered up, and another layer of memory has formed on top of the memory. I felt very strange when I was digesting it, as if I had eaten the memory of the same time period twice.”

Kong Xuyang raised his eyebrows: "Isn't this just Bai Liu's memory being erased three times and then rewoven?"

"Even his memory has been tampered with. Bai Liu is really confused." Kong Xuyang smiled meaningfully. "Anyway, the monster we are waiting for hasn't made any moves yet. Tell me in detail."

After saying that, Kong Xuyang sat down on the ground and put on a gossipy expression, watching the excitement with ill intentions: "I haven't heard anything that makes me happy tonight. What kind of nasty things are in Bai Liu's memory? Tell me and I'll be happy."

Yang Zhi glanced at Kong Xuyang's face and said carefully: "Bai Liu first experienced this memory folding phenomenon when he was fourteen years old. He originally grew up in a private welfare home."

"Bai Liu suffered a lot of discrimination and torture in the private welfare home." Yang Zhi's face turned a little uncomfortable. He seemed to feel cold and rubbed his arms subconsciously. "The director there didn't like him and often punished him for various reasons, such as temporarily increasing Bai Liu's tasks and saying that he didn't complete his housework or study tasks on time. In winter, he made Bai Liu stand barefoot in a bucket of water in the snow, or made him pick ice and clean the pond behind the welfare home in sub-zero temperatures."

Kong Xuyang narrowed his eyes slightly and whistled happily: "A typical loser's childhood, and then what?"

"But I don't know who artificially modified and covered up these memories. In the end, the only memory left to Bai Liu was that he grew up smoothly until he was 18 years old in a public welfare home with strict management and good treatment for children. He did not suffer any abuse or torture. The teachers and the director were also very nice to Bai Liu, but they were often troubled by Bai Liu's rebelliousness." Yang Zhi said.

"Tsk." Kong Xuyang pouted in boredom. "Unremembered abuse is meaningless. It can't cause lasting trauma to people. What about Bai Liu's second memory fold?"

Yang Zhi's expression gradually became strange: "Bai Liu's second memory overlap occurred when he was 18 years old, a few months before his college entrance examination."

"College entrance exam?" Kong Xuyang's expression revealed a mixture of pride and contempt. "We checked Bai Liu's college entrance exam score, and it was only over 400 points, much lower than mine."

"It seems that even if some unknown high-level player was kind enough to modify her memory and avoid the so-called [childhood trauma], Bai Liu is still a hopeless case. A loser is a loser."

"No." Yang Zhi couldn't help but retort, "Bai Liu's grades were even worse than this at the beginning, he could only score over 300 points."

Even Kong Xuyang was surprised: "More than 300? Didn't he learn it in three years of high school?"

"About the same. From what I remember, Bai Liu never listened in class and basically fell asleep as soon as class started. Although he was forced to study for a while by his good friend Lu Yizhan, he soon returned to his old ways." Yang Zhi said, "He basically skipped all the evening self-study classes to go out and play games."

"When he was in his senior year, Bai Liu received a serious disciplinary punishment, which was recorded in his file and criticized by the whole school. Bai Liu's grades continued to decline seriously after that."

"Bai Liu's score is less than half of the total score. How can he still have room for decline?" Kong Xuyang raised his eyebrows and asked, "What punishment did he receive?"

Yang Zhi said: "He tricked students from the same school into stealing money from their families for gambling, and then they got into a fight. The amount involved was tens of thousands of dollars, and he almost went to jail."

"In the end, the other party's parents did not call the police, but chose to settle the matter privately. After being severely criticized, Bai Liu bowed his head and apologized to the classmate, and was given a serious warning."

"Originally, Bai Liu was going to be expelled, but at the time, two top students in their school, Fang Dian, who was ranked first in age, and Lu Yizhan, who had long been in the top ten in age, told the school that if Bai Liu was expelled, they would drop out and leave together with Bai Liu. In the end, after weighing the pros and cons, the school chose to keep Bai Liu on probation."

"The one called Fang Dian also took the blame for Bai Liu's gambling fraud, and was given a serious warning together with Bai Liu. The two of them went to the national flag stand together and read their apologies in front of the whole school, almost taking all the blame on themselves, forcing the school to keep Bai Liu."

"But after that, Bai Liu's score dropped to over 200. Although he didn't study well, he didn't do anything wrong. People around him pointed fingers at him. When he went to the toilet, his desk was empty. His bed in the dormitory was always dirty and splashed with all kinds of water. Is this considered a campus bully?"

"But Bai Liu's reaction was very calm. He didn't care at all. When his desk was gone, he just went to another classroom and continued to sleep. He didn't care what grade the students were in or what classes they were taking. If he couldn't sleep in the dormitory, he would just climb over the wall and go to an internet cafe to sleep all night."

Kong Xuyang clicked his tongue a few times: "He's just a gangster."

Yang Zhi's expression became more and more strange: "But at this time, a person suddenly appeared in Bai Liu's memory."

"Or maybe it can't be called a person. Only Bai Liu can see this person. No one else can see him. He's like a companion ghost, or the kind of 'friend that only I can see' that a lonely kid with mental problems would imagine."

"This ghost accompanied him silently, going in and out with him every day. Bai Liu would not leave no matter how hard Bai Liu tried. Every night, it would squat in front of Bai Liu's sleeping chair like a dog to watch over him. Occasionally, it would rest its head on Bai Liu and hug him to sleep together."

Kong Xuyang sneered: "Is there something wrong with Bai Liu's brain? It's normal. It would be strange if he didn't have a problem with his brain after such an experience."

"...I don't know if it's Bai Liu's brain that's wrong, or my brain. My memory is still confused after eating too much." Yang Zhi inserted his ten fingers into his hair, clasped them tightly, lowered his head, and muttered to himself in a daze:

"This ghost who suddenly appeared at the end of Bai Liu's high school years, a friend who he didn't know if he had imagined..."

"—looks exactly like Spade."

Kong Xuyang asked in a lost voice: "...What?!"

the other end.

Bai Liu led Mu Sicheng around the pond, across the dry stone bridge, and followed the path on the TV screen to a desolate mountain range with graves everywhere.

There are grave mounds of all sizes, new and old. It was just after the Qingming Festival and there were still unburned paper money next to many of the grave mounds. Half-burned red and white candles were stuck in the ground, and on the strangely rugged dead tree next to them hung a few strings of firecrackers that had been exploded. Money for the afterlife was scattered all over the ground.

The grave mounds closer seemed to be those of Yinshan villagers who were buried recently. They had modern marble tombstones with epitaphs and black-and-white photos neatly engraved on them using lasers.

And those that are farther away will have nothing but a bare grave mound. If you are lucky, you may find a simple tombstone next to it that has been eroded by wind and rain so much that no words can be seen - a wooden board with words carved on it.

Mu Sicheng held up the camera with night vision mode on and carefully took pictures of the tombstones on the lush green screen.

In the dark forests, under the green light and shadow, the old men with gray hair and neat smiles in the photos on the tombstones seemed to be staring at the two uninvited guests who were coming to the grave. The peaceful smiles on their faces that were originally meant to be buried in peace were gradually turning into resentment and hatred.

Mu Sicheng put his hands together in a prayer gesture and whispered, "I'm sorry, but I had no choice. Please don't blame me."

"Mu Sicheng, come over here and take a picture." Bai Liu waved from a distance.

Mu Sicheng carefully stepped over the grave mound, raised the camera and pointed it at the place Bai Liu pointed. He squinted his eyes and asked, "What is this?"

On the ground, facing the grave mounds, were three white porcelain wine glasses with a little dusty white wine in them. Beside them were three plates of raw meat of different colors and textures, a stack of golden paper money, and in the front were four incense sticks, two candles, and a small coin that was burning quietly.

"This is a device for [Borrowing Yin Fortune]. Someone came to the mass grave before me. This place where most of the Yinshan villagers were actually buried was arranged and all was done. They cast a spell and borrowed the Yin energy and Yin fortune. Now this place can no longer borrow Yin fortune. I can't complete the task." Bai Liu looked up at Mu Sicheng.

Mu Sicheng gritted his teeth and said, "Damn it, that bitch Kong Xuyang is causing trouble again!"