Gu Ergou
Only when the protective shield enveloped everyone and brought them to the entrance did the Dream Eater roar and depart.
"Come on, Number 178, you open the door. You must know this is a nightmare, an extremely evil nightmare. Even if you see the person you hate again, you must not lose your composure, lest you fall into the abyss again." The protective shield connected to the entrance, fitting tightly against the wall. Seeing that the environment was safe, the Nightmare Brother handed the instructions to Number 178 and prepared to enter the dream.
Number 178 took the ghost child's hand and said, "I understand, Nightmare Master. For Tongtong's sake, I am willing to look forward, only asking to enter the dream to vent my hatred and no longer complain about what I have experienced."
"Squeak~"
After obtaining Nightmare's permission, Number 178 firmly grasped the doorknob and pulled the door open.
Inside the door was a bedroom, where the scumbag, his wife, and their child were sleeping peacefully on a large, comfortable bed. The scumbag was lying on his side, fast asleep, while his wife's long, flowing hair was spread across the pillow, and her slender, fair arms gently held their child in her embrace. The three of them slept soundly and peacefully. If it weren't for the deep-seated grudge that Number 178 had to settle, it would have been an enviable scene.
Suddenly, the scumbag in his sleep opened his eyes, and the surrounding scene rapidly changed and reshaped, gradually piecing together a private clinic.
The scumbag rubbed his eyes in disbelief, looked down at the bed, but his wife and daughter were nowhere to be seen. In a panic, he had no choice but to get up and grope his way forward.
"Mengmeng, wife, where are you?" the scumbag called out towards the front, but only silence answered him.
"Tap...tap...tap" sounds like someone wearing slippers walking around nearby.
"Husband, what should I do? The doctor wants to remove my baby!" A thumping sound came from around the corner, followed by a woman's face covered in blood peeking out from behind the wall. It was the face of number 178, only it looked several times more terrifying in this scumbag's nightmare.
"Li Rou...you...you...you weren't dead...dead, were you?" The scumbag cried out in terror, his face pale.
"Death? What are you talking about, honey? Aren't we getting married? Didn't you say we'd get our marriage certificate after the baby was born? Look, the baby's already been born."
Number 178 emerged from behind the wall, talking to the scumbag as she slowly approached him. Only when she stood right in front of him did she pull out a bloody lump of flesh from behind her and throw it into his arms.
"What is this?! Ahhhhhh... Take it away, take it away!"
The scumbag stared blankly at the lump of flesh in his arms, seemingly recognizing it in an instant. He screamed and threw it forward, then turned and ran towards the door. But the moment he touched the doorknob, the entire door and all the objects in the room vanished, leaving only Number 178 holding the lump of flesh, relentlessly chasing after him.
"His nightmare really is you."
The third mural reflects the deepest fears in people's hearts, which are then amplified and transformed into the most terrifying form by incantations. He was already restless day and night because he killed you, and with this dream-making catalyzing effect, he will probably be restless for the rest of his life.
"He'll have a lifetime of unease, and that's too good for him. Murderers should pay with their lives, especially when it involves two lives, one adult and one child," Gu Lili said coldly, looking at number 178 in her dream and the mass of flesh and blood she was holding.
"We can't interfere in human affairs, but there is justice in the human world," Nightmare Brother sighed.
"He and I were high school classmates. At the freshman orientation meeting, he was invited by the school leaders to share his learning experience as the leader of the top class in junior high school. I will always remember that moment when he walked from the back of the playground against the light, his figure was thin, and his face was full of pride and youthful vigor... It was at that moment that he walked not only to the podium, but also into my heart."
Number 178 looked at the scumbag fleeing in a disheveled state and slowly spoke.
"His family was poor. He rose from humble beginnings in a remote mountain village through extraordinary hard work and perseverance. We were admitted to a good university, but his family couldn't afford the tuition, so he had to work while studying. It was around that time that he began to experience the harsh realities of life. His once clear and vibrant eyes gradually became clouded, and the poem he used to keep by his bedside, 'The lamp burns at midnight, the rooster crows at dawn; this is the time for a man to study,' was changed to 'In youth, I was confident and ambitious. Now, spring's glory has faded, and I am filled with desolation.'..."
"He is him, and you are you. No matter how tragic his experiences are, it's no reason to belittle someone else's life. It's just that he wanted to take a shortcut, and you were the only stumbling block on his road to success." Gu Lili's expression was indifferent, and her opinion of the scumbag had not changed because of his past experiences.
"Yes, I understand all of this. Although I am from the city, my ordinary family cannot provide him with any substantial help. So, he seized the opportunity to climb the social ladder. The boy who once worked hard to get into law school with great ambition and vowed to fight against injustice in the world is now like this."
When No. 178 realized that Gu Lili thought she was being love-struck and soft-hearted, she quickly revealed her true feelings: hatred. She felt nothing but hatred towards the person in front of her.
"That's about enough. This dream can last for about 2 more hours in the real world, but to prevent the dream-eating beast from attacking on the way back, we should head back now."
Nightmare Brother glanced at his watch; the corresponding time in the mortal realm was 3:00 AM. He then spoke to Number 178.
Number 178 smiled at Gu Lili, then bent down and picked up Tongtong. "Mommy will carry you back. After this last bit, our mother-son bond will be over. Let's go and embrace new life together." Without even glancing at that scumbag one last time, she walked towards the exit opened by Nightmare Brother.
Gu Lili walked to the exit, then suddenly stopped and turned back to look at the scumbag. At that moment, the man was cornered by Number 178 from his dream. Number 178 held up the bloody lump of flesh in front of him. The scumbag was so frightened that tears and snot streamed down his face. He kept muttering, "Let me go, let me go," while his hands were uncontrollably pulling at his hair.
"Let's go, Meng Po." Nightmare Brother called out to the house when Gu Lili hadn't come out yet.
"Yes, I'm here," Gu Lili replied.
After Gu Lili emerged, Nightmare Brother sealed off the dream entry, and the protective shield of the dream corridor activated at the same time, enveloping the group once more. The return journey was quiet; the repulsive dream-eating beasts did not bother them again.
As the group stepped out of the frame, mural number three returned to its original size and was reattached to the wall.
"Take this receipt. It's getting late. If you go back to the Underworld now, number 178 can still catch this wave of reincarnation." Nightmare Brother handed the receipt to Gu Lili and said.
Gu Lili smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll bother you again next time."
Gu Lili turned to look at Fangfangfang, who understood immediately and activated the teleportation by making a hand seal. When the black mist dissipated, the group had returned to the Bridge of Helplessness. There was still a long queue in front of the bridge, and 389 was busy in front of the soup pot. This similar scene made her feel like she was trapped in a time loop.
"Lady Meng Po, you're back."
Still dressed in his zombie costume, 389 hopped over to greet Gu Lili when she returned.
"How was it? Did everything go smoothly? Did you scare that jerk to tears?" 389, who had jumped over to the group, asked number 178.
Number 178 looked up, his eyes no longer bloodshot, and said with a chuckle, "Yeah, he was scared to tears, so scared he wet himself and kept begging me to let him go."
"Hehehehe, I knew my master would be no problem. Wait... what's that in your arms?" 389 subconsciously jumped back two steps and asked 178.
Gu Lili smiled and said, "That's the assistant I brought for you. I often travel for work, and it's too tiring for you to do it all by yourself."
Nightmare Brother had said that the ghost child's intelligence was not yet fully developed, and that once he attained enlightenment and repaired his spiritual consciousness, he would not remember his origins, which would be a good thing for him. So, for the sake of the child, the group tacitly concealed his origins, treating him as a lost soul that Gu Lili had picked up, and kept him in the underworld. In this way, Number 178 would have no more attachments or regrets.
"We're about to leave. Are you ready?" Fangfangfang asked.
"Okay, I'm ready." Number 178 picked up the ghost child and placed him next to Number 389, then affectionately patted his head and said, "From now on, you must obediently follow Lady Meng Po and protect her, understand?"
The ghost child seemed not to understand what parting was, and simply nodded blankly.
“It’s not good to keep calling him ‘Ghost Child’. Why don’t you give him a name before you leave?” Gu Lili said.
Number 178 pondered for a moment and said, "No, Lady Meng Po. You gave me and him our second lives, so you can name this child. I don't want... I don't want him to bear anything."
Gu Lili frowned: "Well... in my hometown, we say that children with weak constitutions should be given a simple, rustic name so they'll be easier to raise. I think that since the ghost child's spirit and mind are incomplete, that counts as being physically weak, right?" Gu Lili paused, then tentatively asked, "How about he take my surname, Gu, and be called... Gu Ergou?"
Fangfangfang and 389 pursed their lips helplessly. Number 178's hand holding the soup bowl trembled visibly, and he quickly said, "Anything is fine, I'll do whatever Lady Meng Po says. My wish from my past life has been fulfilled, so I'll drink this soup!"
Having said that, No. 178 didn't hesitate any longer, picked up the soup bowl and drank it all in one gulp. As the bowl was placed back on the table, No. 178's face was calm and her eyes were empty, showing no emotional fluctuations. She simply walked slowly towards the Bridge of Helplessness. The other souls in the queue behind her didn't urge her, letting Gu Lili and the others watch as No. 178 crossed the bridge, boarded the boat, and crossed the River of Oblivion to welcome her new life.
"Ding~"
A message notification tone ended Gu Lili's farewell ceremony. She picked up her phone and opened the message.
"Have you forgotten something?" the owner of the large hand sent a questioning message.
"Oh no! Fangfangfang, you stay with 389 to make soup, I have to go... I have to go..."
Ever since the Ghost Festival dinner, Gu Lili would blush and feel her heart race whenever that person's name was mentioned or when she thought of those beautiful hands.
"Yes, Lady Meng Po." Whether Fang Fangfang saw through Gu Lili's thoughts or didn't want to pry, she replied before the other party could reveal her whereabouts.
“Um…” Gu Lili, who had already turned to leave, suddenly realized that she did not have a teleportation spell and had always relied on Fangfangfang to activate teleportation.
Gu Lili turned around and looked at Fang Fangfang. She intended to tell Fang Fangfang where she was going so that Fang Fangfang could activate the teleportation. However, a spacetime rift suddenly appeared beside her. A pair of large hands grabbed her from inside the rift and pulled her into it.
As the rift closed, 389 looked at Fangfangfang in surprise, but Fangfangfang simply pretended to straighten her clothes and ignored her. Because in the entire Underworld, only the one in Guannan Palace could activate a high-level spatial rift spell. It was best for them to stay out of the chairman and his boss's whereabouts and gossip.
Tearing apart spatial barriers and traversing various spaces, this high-level spell was like an untrained ordinary person sitting in a spaceship and heading straight into the universe. Upon returning to Guannan Palace, she was dizzy and stumbled, falling into the arms of the person in front of her.
"You..." Guan Nan was about to get angry when he saw that the other party had already fainted, and a faint crack appeared between his eyebrows.
The line "The lamp burns at midnight, the rooster crows at dawn; this is the time for a young man to study" in the passage is from "An Exhortation to Learning" by Yan Zhenqing, a calligrapher and poet of the Tang Dynasty.
The line "In youth, I was confident in my writing skills. Now, spring's glory has faded, and I am filled with desolation" is from Liu Kezhuang's poem "Yu Meiren: The Ninth Day" from the Song Dynasty.
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