Plot Correction System (I)

"It's me, Shang Li."

The red-clothed ghost lifted up her long raven hair, revealing her beautiful face.

"…So it's you, kid?"

Zhang Yunshan retracted his hand that was holding the door and breathed a sigh of relief. "I was so scared. I thought it was some underground supernatural person who broke into the house illegally."

"Thank you for your affirmation and trust in me, Uncle Zhang."

Shang Li responded familiarly, "Long time no see."

He pulled his body away from the screen and unceremoniously slid into Zhang Yunshan's high-end computer chair.

Zhang Yunshan was not annoyed. He pulled a stool over and sat next to Shang Li. He picked up the can of soda next to the display screen and threw it to him. "It's been more than a long time since we last met. It's been ten years."

"You look the same."

Shang Li laughed, "What kind of changes can a ghost have? Its appearance depends entirely on manual operation."

"But you, it seems you have changed a lot." His deep red eyes moved around Zhang Yunshan who was sitting in front of him.

The middle-aged man, who is over 40 years old, can no longer maintain the physical condition of his youth. Long hours of work have given him a belly as big as a watermelon, and messy stubble surrounds his chin.

He is like the stereotypical otaku, with none of the demeanor of the strongest puppeteer in Yan City back then.

Zhang Yunshan smiled and shook his head, saying, "You used your previous body for so long, and it finally broke down. Are you coming to me to replace it?"

The thrown bottle of soda passed through Shang Li's digital body and landed steadily on the computer chair.

"Well, the requirements are still the same as before."

The ghost couldn't touch the entity, so it used its data to condense a can of soda to catch it and held it in its hand.

"When you didn't have anything to ask of me, you treated me as a stranger and didn't even say hello when we met on the street. Now that you have something to ask of me, we are like familiar faces again." Zhang Yunshan said with disdain.

"It was not intentional."

Shang Li explained sincerely, "To be honest, Lao Zhang, I only have memories before I was 22 years old."

Hearing this, Zhang Yunshan straightened up and said, "With your body and supernatural powers, are you serious?"

"Yes, there was... a person with superpowers who possessed me for ten years."

Before he knew whether telling Zhang Yunshan about the time traveler and the system would bring him danger, Shang Li decided to change his story, "I didn't wake up until a few hours ago."

Zhang Yunshan's eyes narrowed and his expression became serious, "Have you found out who the superpower is?"

Shang Li shook his head, "No, the connection was cut off."

"If my wife hadn't recognized the superpower and had been hunting down the body that was taken away, I might not have discovered this until now."

As he spoke, it seemed as if the two ears on his head drooped.

"Your wife? Cui Lan?" Zhang Yunshan's expression became a little subtle.

"Yes, although you haven't met him, I have often mentioned him to you before."

Shang Li sighed, "Although I'm divorced now."

"Tsk, I haven't seen it yet."

Hearing this, Zhang Yunshan couldn't help but feel weird.

"?"

Under the ghost's questioning gaze, he took out his phone and checked the news in front of him, saying in an extremely helpless tone, "I see him online every fucking day!"

“…”

Shang Li walked over and took a closer look:

[Shock! Cui Lan, the leader of the underground supernatural organization "Dark Current" that has been active for ten years, has committed a crime again, seriously injuring several people! ]

[The Yan City Supernatural Bureau suffered heavy losses, issued a wanted order and offered a large reward, and announced: No matter the cost, this criminal must be arrested and brought to justice! ]

The attached picture is a high-definition photo of Cui Lan wearing a black windbreaker and riding a motorcycle.

Cui Lan in the photo is looking back at the camera impatiently, with a crimson scarf covering half of her chin, her long hair fluttering, a red heart-shaped jewel necklace hanging on her chest, her waist wrapped in a white shirt showing from under her windbreaker, and her bent posture outlining her slender features.

It doesn't look like a wanted warrant, but more like a fashion photo.

“…”

The ghost stretched out its claws and subconsciously wanted to long-press the picture to save it to the album.

Before his fingers touched the screen, Zhang Yunshan turned his wrist and put the phone back.

"Anyway, that's it. Your wife is a famous person now, in a negative sense."

He held the phone and pointed at Shang Li's head. "At first, I was wondering how big the filter you had to open to make this lawless lunatic turn into a good student and a good kid."

"Now it seems that if you hadn't lied just now, everything would make sense."

Zhang Yunshan also sighed, "He became like this probably because of you."

“…”

Shang Li was silent for a while, then said, "So I must redeem everything."

"In this organization called 'Undercurrent', besides Cui Lan, are there other people with clear identities?" he asked.

Zhang Yunshan threw up his hands and shook his head, "Anyway, it's not in the news."

“…”

Shang Li was silent for a while, then he suddenly sat up straight and said in a very sincere tone: "Besides me, Cui Lan, you are the only person I can trust at the moment, Lao Zhang."

"This time I came here not only to change my body, but also to inquire about everything you know about me in the past ten years." He stared at the somewhat sloppy middle-aged man with his red eyes.

"People change, not to mention that ten years have passed."

Zhang Yunshan did not dodge or avoid, but looked back at the young ghost in front of him who looked exactly the same as he did ten years ago, and said, "How can you be sure that I won't stab you in the back now?"

"I'm not sure." Shang Li answered simply.

After saying that, he changed the subject and said, "But I know nothing right now. I can only tell myself to trust you first."

"If I find out later that you really lied to me..."

The ghost smiled, "I can't seem to do anything to you, right?"

“…”

Zhang Yunshan also snorted and laughed, "What can I, a dead-end puppeteer with no identity or background, know? Only the things I just told you."

"You must know more." Shang Li narrowed his eyes.

His voice was gentle but firm. "I'll give you double the reward. If you need any rare materials for making dolls, I'll find them for you."

“…”

Zhang Yunshan did not respond immediately.

He pried open the pull ring of the soda with one hand, gulped down the soda, stood up, crushed the can and threw it into the trash can diagonally opposite, and finally pressed the switch to adjust the light in the room to a suitable level.

After finishing all this, Zhang Yunshan finally made a decision in his mind.

He took Shang Li out of the workshop and into the basement.

The basement is divided into many small rooms separated by single-sided glass. Walking in the narrow passage in the center, you can see through the glass that each room is neatly decorated with different types of dolls hanging on the walls.

The dolls are dressed in exquisite little clothes and their eyes are vivid, as if they could stand up and greet the guests at any moment.

“Click.”

A Lolita doll's head suddenly turned towards the man with red eyes staring at her.

“…”

Shang Li silently withdrew his gaze.

He followed Zhang Yunshan to the deepest part of the basement and opened the heavy rolling door.

"brush--"

Dim light shone through the roller shutter, and countless randomly piled up dolls slowly appeared in front of the two people.

These dolls are the same size as living people, ranging from teenagers to young adults, and most of them are not complete. Some are missing arms, some are missing thighs, and some are cut off at the waist. Almost every one of them has its own characteristics that are different from other dolls.

The only similarity is that they all have a face exactly the same as the red ghost in front of the door.

Shang Li couldn't help but curl his lips, "You still keep these discarded bodies."

The scene in front of him was somewhat horrifying. Zhang Yunshan stood nearby and turned his head away, somewhat disdaining the small mountain of mutilated limbs. "After all, they are made of flower materials. They can be melted down and reused in the future. It would be a pity to throw them away."

"Even if we subtract the extra ten years, we have been friends for a full twelve years."

He put his hands on his waist, his voice more sad, "You are half my son, so I will make an exception and tell you the customer information."

"If you really want children, I don't mind calling you dad." Shang Li responded gently.

"If you keep talking nonsense, I won't tell you anything." Zhang Yunshan started to curse.

Back to the topic, he said in a deep voice: "In the beginning, it was indeed you who told me about Cui Lan, but a month ago... he suddenly found me in some unknown way."

"He was filled with murderous intent. I almost thought my secret was exposed and I was going to die."

Speaking of this, Zhang Yunshan couldn't help but shudder.

"After all, I'm like an old pervert, keeping so many life-size dolls of you in the basement. It's only natural that your wife would want to hack me to death if she found out."

Shang Li chuckled softly, "Actually?"

"He asked me to customize a doll."

Zhang Yunshan turned his head to the ghost who had quietly laid on the top of the puppet mountain, with a serious expression, "Unlike the blank body you use to carry your consciousness, I have set up a complete personality and past for that puppet."

"It has emotions, joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, just like a real human being."

He walked forward and began to gesture with his hands, "It is the most perfect work I have completed so far. I can even be sure that the puppet is only away from becoming a real human being, and only needs the birth of a soul."

"Since it looks no different from a human being now, how can we be sure whether the soul has been born?" Shang Li felt a little curious.

"The most intuitive proof is, of course, the awakening of supernatural powers born from the soul."

Zhang Yunshan said: "You know, the release of superpowers requires energy, and the superpower core that stores energy is condensed and replenished by the soul."

Well, this is indeed a good way to verify it, the ghost thought as he stroked the hair around his face.

However...

"Why would he ask you to customize a doll like this?!"

Shang Li sat up suddenly.

He poked his head out from the pile of dolls, bit his thumbnail with a sad face, and began to think wildly, "He cut my previous body into ashes. Could it be that he has completely given up on me and wants to hold that damn thing for the rest of my life?"

"?"

Zhang Yunshan immediately expressed his dissatisfaction, "How come the child I worked so hard to give birth to has become your substitute?"

"Its personality is totally different from yours. If you want to know the truth, just ask your wife."

At this point, he suddenly felt saccharine, "Ah~ I forgot that you divorced her a long time ago and have been her enemy for ten years. Haha, it's none of your business whether others play with dolls or not. You have no right to interfere."

“…”

Shang Li lowered his head slowly, his smiling words carrying a hint of chilling coldness that could not be concealed, "Maybe I can still take care of you, old man."

"hehe."

Zhang Yunshan put his hands behind his back.

"Dad, I'm going to make you a beautiful new body to help you."

He turned and hurried away.