Bizarre Reversal

On the breakfast table, Jiang Ying ate the breakfast Jiang Yue had bought.

At first, she had a stern face, showing her displeasure at Jiang Yue not coming home last night.

After Jiang Yue finished speaking, her young, delicate face was filled with surprise.

The information Jiang Yue shared was too immense, so much so that she almost thought she was listening to a ghost story.

Her twenty-one years of life experience were completely insufficient to process such a vast amount of information.

Apart from the secret of the Spirit, Jiang Yue revealed everything he could.

Including the various encounters he had at their hometown during Qingming Festival two days ago.

He started with his mother entering his dream.

Mother entering dream, photo frame falling, Flowery Skirt Woman's Shadow, joss paper easily burns, soup head seeking head, dragon and tiger fighting, Vermilion Bird broken spine, Old Turtle transforming, borrowing water to offer prophecy, bus ghost, midnight soul returns, and later the group of dogs floating corpses his aunt mentioned on the phone, he recounted it all truthfully.

San Gou's pants, Sister He next door's ordeal, the taxi driver's ordeal, all the information about the Year Eater, Jiang Yue hid nothing.

Even though Jiang Ying had already prepared herself mentally, anticipating that what Jiang Yue was about to say would be extremely bizarre, listening to it from beginning to end, her face was still filled with disbelief.

How could this be a factual account? It was like a series of late-night ghost stories!

Fortunately, San Gou was involved in the first half. With San Gou's corroboration, it at least carried some weight.

As for the latter half, San Gou wasn't involved, but with various pieces of evidence presented and the police already involved in different departments, Jiang Ying, even if she didn't believe it, couldn't refute it.

Let alone Jiang Ying, even San Gou, that simpleton, was stunned after listening.

"Second Brother, you went through such an exciting night and didn't even call me?"

"Xiao Yue, so you're saying this world is really going to change?" Jiang Ying managed to squeeze out after a long pause.

"It's not going to change, it already has." This was something they had to face sooner or later. It was better to reveal it now and prepare mentally.

"Sis, you need to call Aunt and urge her family to come to the city quickly."

If their previous apartment felt a bit crowded, now with Villa No. 9, that wasn't a problem.

As for how to explain Villa No. 9, Jiang Yue decided to figure that out later.

"Xiao Yue, you're saying the woman in your dream was Mom?"

"I think so." Jiang Yue nodded.

"It's been ten years. If Mom wanted to send a dream to you, she wouldn't have waited until now."

Jiang Ying was still a bit confused.

Logically, she, Jiang Ying, was older and had a deeper bond with their mother. Why didn't her mother send a dream to her?

"Besides, Mom didn't look like her younger self. Judging by her age, she looked more like she would now if she were alive," Jiang Yue added.

"You mean? Mom is still alive?" A flicker of joy flashed in Jiang Ying's eyes.

"If we deduce from the traces at the car accident scene, from the logic of the conventional world, she should be gone. But..."

"Just like we were saying, this world is clearly starting to deviate from our understanding! So, I think we should hold onto a sliver of hope!"

This was the first time in ten years that Jiang Yue had spoken the word "hope."

Buried in his heart for a decade, no matter how faint, how dim, how precarious, that tiny spark of hope, he had never let it extinguish.

Jiang Ying had long passed her teenage years. After two years in society, struggling to make a living and enduring life's hardships...

Her beautiful thoughts about hope and dreams had been covered by a thick layer of dust from life.

But regarding her mother, had she ever let go?

Neither the brother nor the sister spoke again, silently savoring the sweetness brought by this minuscule hope, even if it was distant, even if it was currently just an illusion...

San Gou, caught in this emotional atmosphere, understood little and felt awkward. He grabbed a steamed bun and went to the living room to watch TV.

Just a few seconds after turning on the TV, San Gou suddenly shouted, "Second Brother, quick, come look!"

His voice and tone were as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

"Breaking News: Major Reversal in the Mudslide Incident on Mount Dajin's Mountain Road!"

"A surprise, a one-in-ten-thousand chance of luck!"

"Night rescue successfully saves trapped passengers!"

The screen cut to the landslide site.

The scale of the landslide was indeed terrifying. Such a massive slide should have swallowed ten vehicles.

Clearing the outer debris alone took a full day and night.

However, in the core area of the landslide, a giant rock, three zhang high and over ten meters long, lay horizontally between the foot of the mountain and the road.

And the bus was positioned just to the right of the giant rock, barely blocked by it.

Although it was also covered by the mudslide, the giant rock blocked most of the impact. The bus sank one to two meters deep but wasn't completely buried, leaving a gap.

As a result, miraculously, no one on the bus died!

Fifteen or sixteen severely injured individuals were carried out and rushed for immediate medical attention. Others had minor injuries, and some were suffering from exhaustion and dehydration due to hunger.

The discovery sent a wave of excitement through the rescue personnel on site.

After a day and a night of rescue work, the outer roads had finally been cleared, and they had pushed into the core area. Everyone had long prepared themselves to face a tragic scene.

Who could have imagined such a massive reversal would occur?

Of course, this reversal was joyous and exhilarating!

Opening his phone, Jiang Yue realized this had all happened late last night.

Major media outlets had already rushed to report it, and the comment sections were filled with joy, with people leaving messages saying "Heaven bless Great Zhang Country, Heaven bless the people of Great Zhang."

Jiang Yue and San Gou, however, couldn't feel happy at all. Instead, their eyes met in a look of horror.

This situation...

How could it look so bizarre and absurd?

San Gou mumbled, "Then what was I seeing that night? I clearly recognized those people. They were all dead, covered in blood, not a single complete person..."

Jiang Yue's mind was equally blank.

The experiences of the past few days had already led him to psychologically accept the fact that the world was changing.

The bus incident was undoubtedly strong evidence.

But with this reversal, the fact he had mentally prepared for seemed to be called into question again.

Everything had become bafflingly unclear.

What was San Gou seeing with those ghosts clinging to the bus? What was it that returned to town that night? What was the deal with all the dogs in town drowning collectively?

Could it be that there really were two parallel worlds? In one world, those people had died, but in the real world, they had miraculously survived?

What should be believed, and what shouldn't?

Let alone San Gou, Jiang Yue's own mental state was starting to fray.

Of course, it was a great thing that the people on the bus had survived.

This was true for both Jiang Yue and San Gou. It wasn't that they wished for those people to die. Especially for San Gou, many people in town were acquaintances.

If they were alive, San Gou would be happy for them.

But...

"Second Brother, I really didn't lie to you! What I saw, what I said, not a single word was a lie. They were really dead, really!" San Gou squatted on the ground, clutching his head, in great distress.

The constant reversals and changes had overturned San Gou's simple understanding of the world. He was lost, and deeply doubted everything he had seen.

Could it really have just been hallucinations?

"San Gou, I believe you," Jiang Yue said, placing a hand on San Gou's shoulder.

"Second Brother..." San Gou looked up, dejected.

"Believe in yourself, believe that you are still that fierce little beast," Jiang Yue patted San Gou's shoulder. "Want to go for a walk with me?"

If there was one person San Gou respected the most, it was Second Brother.

And Jiang Yue was the one who knew best how to ignite San Gou's fighting spirit.

The two got off at a bus stop near Officer Han's workplace.

As soon as they got off, they saw a group of people by the platform pointing and discussing.

"Sky-high reward for a lost dog.

Yesterday, I lost my beloved dog in the area of Yunshan Street and Yunshan Times Square. The dog is a show-class Akita, like family to me. If anyone has information or can provide clues that lead to my dog's return, I will reward them with fifty thousand cash, no empty promises!"

The reward also included a photo and the owner's phone number.

"Tsk, tsk, it's true that it's better to be a rich dog than a societal mongrel. If I got lost, would anyone offer five thousand to find me? 555..."

"Don't be naive, that's all a scam. Online, sky-high rewards are mostly fake. You target their reward, and they target your savings."

"Brother, I have to say, poverty limits your imagination. My boss has a dog, what's it called... imported, it cost a full six hundred thousand. If it got lost, our boss would pay fifty thousand!"

The group was intensely discussing the matter, and quite a few were tempted.

Some proactive individuals even took out their phones and dialed the number.

"Hello? Is this reward real! If it's real, I won't be moving bricks today, I'll go search around Yunshan Square for you."

"It's real! Of course, it's real. If anyone finds my dog, I'll pay fifty thousand cash on the spot. I've already prepared the cash!" The voice on the other end belonged to a young girl, her voice cute and slightly tearful, the kind that made one's heart ache.

San Gou, overhearing this, couldn't help but be moved. He tugged at Jiang Yue's sleeve, "Second Brother..."