That Past, A Nightmare

I couldn't see anything wrong with Xu Qiuyan's mental state; as far as I was concerned, she was perfectly normal.

"Xiao Bai, take me away. I don't want to stay here anymore." She linked her arm through mine and whispered in my ear.

For some reason, I didn't have any other thoughts when she linked her arm through mine like that. I just felt a sense of long-lost familiarity.

I turned to look at Xie Yi. Xie Yi cleared his throat but didn't say anything.

"Why are you here?" I asked Xu Qiuyan. Xu Qiuyan pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes as if thinking about something. Finally, she shook her head. "I don't know. I don't remember."

"Do you still remember Li Sen?" Xie Yi asked.

Her body trembled slightly at the mention of Li Sen's name, and her expression turned ugly.

Xie Yi sighed. "She was at the scene when Li Sen had his accident. She was so scared she lost control, babbling nonsense. People who were there said she looked terrifying and couldn't be calmed down. Her family couldn't be reached either. The responding officers had to restrain her and sent her straight here. I'm not entirely clear on the specifics, but I've visited her a few times since we took over the case. Today is the first time she's been lucid."

Xie Yi finished speaking and looked at me, his eyes filled with a question. Was he implying that Xu Qiuyan's clarity was due to my appearance?

"Do you recognize him?" I asked Qiuyan.

She stared at Xie Yi for a moment and nodded gently. "I've seen him before, also in a dream."

I frowned, and Xie Yi looked equally surprised.

"But the him I saw was younger. He was wearing a Taoist robe, which looked rather comical." She actually let out a faint smile as she said this.

I smiled too. When I first met Xie Yi, I also thought he looked like a Taoist priest.

Xie Yi, however, asked, "Oh? Where did you dream you were, and what were you doing?"

"On Qixia Mountain, giving fortunes," Xu Qiuyan said very seriously.

I looked at Xie Yi, and saw shock on his face again. He opened his mouth wide but couldn't speak for a long time.

I asked, "Have you really given fortunes on Qixia Mountain?"

Xie Yi pursed his lips and took a deep breath. "Yes, but that was almost twenty years ago."

I looked back at Xu Qiuyan. "He's visited you several times during this period, and you don't remember any of it?"

She shook her head.

I was also puzzled. I didn't know what had happened to her, but I was very curious about her dreams. She said she had seen me in her dreams, and the me in her dreams looked just like I do now. She had also seen Xie Yi, but it was the Xie Yi from twenty years ago. Why would she have such strange dreams?

"Can I take her with me?" I asked Xie Yi.

"You can, but have you thought about how you'll accommodate her?"

I froze. Yes, I could take her away from this place, but what would happen to her afterward?

I was still a student myself.

However, seeing Qiuyan's plaintive eyes, I made up my mind. No matter what, I had to get her out of here first. This kind of place could drive even a normal person insane if they stayed too long. As for whether she truly had mental issues, I figured it wasn't a big deal. At worst, I could ask that idiot Eccentric Song to provide more psychological counseling; he was good at that.

"You don't need to worry about that. I'll figure something out."

Xie Yi said, "You can take her, but..."

"But what?" I asked.

Xie Yi said, "You mentioned before that you wanted to join us?"

I nodded. I still felt the same way now.

I was an insecure person. Joining their department was a way to seek protection. From Xie Yi, I could tell that their department was very powerful, not because they had special privileges, but because they likely had many capable individuals.

Most importantly, one couldn't mess with the Little Ancestral Hall Entrance without some serious capabilities.

"I can make this decision. I am the head of the Ninth Bureau Special Section, and I promise to let you join the Ninth Bureau Special Section. However, she must join with you. That is my condition."

He further explained that the Ninth Bureau Special Section, also known as the Special Affairs Investigation Department, primarily investigated supernatural phenomena, such as what happened at the Little Ancestral Hall Entrance ten years ago.

I didn't agree immediately. Instead, I looked at Xu Qiuyan. I couldn't make such a decision for her lightly.

"I'll listen to you," she said softly, her hands still tightly linked through my arm.

Hearing her agree to join Bureau Five, Section Nine with me, Xie Yi's face broke into a smile.

Looking at his smile, I suddenly felt like I had been tricked, and that feeling annoyed me.

"But before that, I'd like to talk to you alone," I said to Xie Yi.

He nodded. "Alright."

He then turned and walked out of the ward. I gently pulled my arm away from Xu Qiuyan's grasp and said to her, "Wait here for a moment. I'll be right back."

Xu Qiuyan softly replied with an "Mm" and obediently sat down on the edge of the bed.

I followed Xie Yi. He led me to a room that looked like an office based on its furnishings.

"The incident at the Little Ancestral Hall Entrance happened ten years ago. Why are you only thinking of investigating it now?"

To be honest, I had a stomach full of questions. If I didn't get to the bottom of it, I would feel uneasy.

Xie Yi thought for a moment and said, "Actually, our people approached you several years ago. I remember you hadn't even finished junior high school then, about six years ago. But at that time, you were completely unresponsive. You had shut yourself off entirely. No matter what we said or asked, you showed no reaction. At that time, we were also trying to find the other people who escaped the Little Ancestral Hall Entrance incident, but besides you, they had seemingly vanished from the face of the earth. If Li Sen hadn't suddenly committed suicide, we might not have found them even now."

I began to understand. "Are you saying that Uncle Long and Aunt Qin were only found after Li Sen's suicide? And when you found them, they were already in that state?"

"That's right. Even I didn't expect you to become lucid this time. When I boasted to Old Shu that I would definitely make you conscious, I was still somewhat apprehensive because you were living in your own fantasy. There's a saying that perfectly describes you: you can never wake someone who is pretending to be asleep. You weren't pretending, but you had self-hypnotized yourself, becoming numb to reality."

I lowered my head, reflecting that for the past ten years, my life hadn't been exactly the state he described.

"I know, asking you to recall events from ten years ago is a painful ordeal, but there's no other way. Only by knowing what truly happened at the Little Ancestral Hall Entrance ten years ago can we figure out how to deal with this," Xie Yi said with a serious expression.

I closed my eyes, trying hard to remember that night ten years ago.

It was a crescent moon night, with stars dotting the sky.

My dad and I were cooling off on the street. He was lying in a bamboo lounge chair, fanning himself with a large fan.

I couldn't remember what my dad and I were talking about at the time. I only remembered that a wind suddenly picked up, and black clouds swirled in the sky. They moved so fast that in the blink of an eye, they had completely obscured the sliver of a new moon.

Then, the whole world plunged into darkness, so dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. It was also completely silent. I was terrified and called out for my dad loudly, but there was no response.

I fumbled around, trying to get home, but no matter how I walked, I couldn't find my way. There were no obstacles around me. I was clearly on the street, yet it felt like I was in a vast, empty wilderness.

Fear filled my heart. I didn't know what this darkness meant, nor what was hidden within this boundless void. I worried that a hand might suddenly reach out from somewhere and drag me into an endless abyss.

I don't know how long passed before a faint light appeared in the distance. The light was green, just a small speck, but it gave me hope. I ran towards the green light, not caring about my footing at all. In fact, I didn't need to worry about my footing because, at that moment, there were no obstacles or hindrances in this world.

As I got closer to the green light, I heard a sound. It was a piercing noise, like a steel spoon scraping across glass. It tore at my heart, and the feeling was unbearable. I cried out again, "Dad, Dad, where are you! Mom, Mom..."

"You're having a nightmare again."

Hearing that familiar voice, I jolted awake. I found myself lying in bed. Eccentric Song was sitting by my bedside, propping his head with one hand, seemingly observing me intently.

I looked around. The environment was very familiar. It was my home in Qiao City, No. 44 Yongle Road, that scrap metal recycling station.