The Little Boy looked at Gao Tian:
"Do you know the future Xu Yuan?
"What kind of person did the grown-up Xu Yuan become? Did he fulfill his childhood wish and wipe out every ghost in the world?"
It was an incredibly difficult question to answer.
Gao Tian really had met the future Xu Yuan, but the man had become the exact opposite of what he had wished for as a child.
In this cruel world, there was no room for kind lies. Gao Tian decided to tell him the truth:
"You founded an organization called the Jialan Society, recruited a large group of Ghost Hunters, and dealt with many Supernatural Events.
"You went into a Supernatural Location called the Living Person Apartment and completed ten missions. You became the only person ever to leave the Living Person Apartment alive.
"You were quite an extraordinary person.
"Too bad you died."
The Little Boy's eyes widened:
"I died?"
Everyone died someday, but for a boy his age, death was something he had never encountered before and found very hard to accept.
His parents had died long ago, but he had grown up too young to understand, only hearing about it from other people.
Gao Tian sighed.
This was the cruelest part.
"You said just now that your wish was to wipe out every ghost in the world, right?"
The Little Boy, Xu Yuan, nodded:
"Mm, that's right. It was a wish my Teacher and I made together.
"Everyone else said my father died in a Car Accident. But my Teacher told me that he died in a Supernatural Event. While he was driving on the highway, a pair of Pale Hands covered his eyes, causing him to crash and die on the spot.
"And with these special eyes of mine, I've seen too many people slowly killed by ghosts, bit by bit. So my Teacher and I made a promise: when I grew up, I would drive every Evil Ghost out of our Human World. I wouldn't leave a single one behind."
Looking at the boy's face, Gao Tian, from decades in the future, told Xu Yuan, from decades in the past, in no uncertain terms:
"And then you died.
"You became a new Vengeful Ghost.
"You were no different from all the Supernatural Events you had dealt with before."
With a thump, the Little Boy Xu Yuan fell off his seat.
Children's bones were soft. He rubbed his backside and was back on his feet a few seconds later. His eyes were wide with disbelief, his lips had gone pale, and he stammered for a long time without getting a word out:
"Th-this... How could this be?
"Tell me, big brother. You're lying to me. The future you saw isn't real."
Gao Tian looked at him:
"Xu Yuan, I hope that when you grow up, if you still remember this day,
"you'll remember what you said today.
"You want to wipe out ghosts, not become one. Many years from now, when you're grown up, a Vengeful Ghost will kill you in a place called Sapphire Mall. But even if that becomes the last stop in your life, don't try to escape death by becoming a ghost."
He didn't know whether the Xu Yuan of the past would take his words to heart.
He didn't even know whether this could cause a Butterfly Effect in time and space, since the conversation might directly influence the adult Xu Yuan of the future.
The Little Boy kept his head down in silence for a long time, lost in thought. Thankfully, he eventually accepted reality, looked up at Gao Tian again, and nodded solemnly:
"I understand, big brother from the future."
The speed with which he accepted his fate was somewhat beyond Gao Tian's expectations.
Gao Tian asked:
"You're not even a little suspicious of what I told you? Whether I really know the future you, or how I know that the grown-up Xu Yuan became a ghost.
"There's also the possibility that I'm making the whole thing up."
The Little Boy's gaze fell on the Ghost Transformation Spear in his hand:
"I recognize that thing you're holding.
"It's my Teacher's most treasured possession. My Teacher said he'd give it to me when I became an adult. If I died in the future and became a ghost, and this thing ended up in your hands, then you must have met the adult Xu Yuan.
"You couldn't have just made up some ghost story to fob me off."
So that was it.
The Ghost Transformation Spear, which he had accidentally brought into this Chaotic Space-time, had proven his identity. Otherwise, with Little Xu Yuan's intelligence, he wouldn't have believed a stranger so easily.
The two of them fell silent for a while.
Little Xu Yuan asked:
"Did you figure it out?
"The mystery that's troubled my family for three generations."
Gao Tian knew he was asking about the secret of the Ghost Transformation Spear, a special item that was said to be capable of changing an era.
Gao Tian simply shook his head:
"No. Not even by the time you died.
"This Supernatural Item had passed through so many hands over more than fifty years, but no one had ever managed to uncover its secret. After you became a ghost, you had grown rather disillusioned with it. In your eyes, it had almost no value.
"That's why you gave it to me."
The light in the Little Boy's eyes dimmed at once.
Another piece of bad news.
If he had known his future was so bleak, Little Xu Yuan might have preferred not to ask so many questions.
Little Xu Yuan scratched his head, suddenly looking a little embarrassed:
"But you just said I founded the Jialan Society. There must be some misunderstanding. Future me would never give the society that name."
Gao Tian asked curiously:
"Why not?"
Little Xu Yuan said:
"Because Jialan is the name of the class monitor in Class 3 at Honglong Elementary School. Li Jialan. That girl is mean and short-tempered, and she always supervises my homework. After school, she makes me stay behind and personally teaches me English grammar and math formulas I don't understand. I'd never name anything after that wretched woman.
"There's got to be some misunderstanding. You can look into it again when you get back."
Gao Tian nodded:
"I see."
Little Xu Yuan had inadvertently revealed another piece of information.
The elementary school he'd attended was Honglong Elementary School, and he was in Class 3.
The class monitor was named Li Jialan.
As these details accumulated, the outline of the real Xu Yuan—his activities and background before he died, what he had done and where he had been—was almost within reach.
The Vengeful Ghost hiding in the Chat Group had gone to great lengths to conceal his identity. He would never have imagined that his real information would be revealed piece by piece in this way.
Facing Little Xu Yuan, still shrouded in the mist, Gao Tian had one last question:
"Xu Yuan, I'm playing a game with the future you.
"You died in Sapphire Mall, the very place we're standing in now. The future you said he hadn't dealt with his body before he died, and asked me to come here and take care of it for him.
"But the place has changed beyond recognition over the years. It's become a busy mall. No one has ever found his body, and he never told me where he hid it.
"Little Xu Yuan, put yourself in your own shoes and take a guess. Where would the future you hide his body?"
It was an absurd request: asking Little Xu Yuan to find his own body, that of his grown-up self more than twenty years in the future. The challenge was so bizarre that probably no one else in the world would ever get the chance to experience something like it.
Little Xu Yuan furrowed his brow, looking like he was thinking hard:
"If it were me, where would I hide my body before I died..."
He deflated like a punctured balloon:
"Um, do I have to look for it?"
Gao Tian patiently tried to persuade him:
"I'm afraid so. Please use your imagination and think carefully about what the future you would do.
"If we don't find that body, it'll undergo Corpse Transformation soon and become a new Vengeful Ghost. There are so many people in this mall. Who knows how many will die?"
Xu Yuan climbed back into the chair in front of the Game Console. Looking at his fingers, he murmured to himself:
"This place was already a little mall twenty years ago. The arcade was called Sapphire Mall back then, too.
"Honglong Elementary School was only three blocks from the arcade. Every day after school, my Teacher would take a while to come pick me up, so I'd come here and play games for a bit.
"When I ran out of tokens, I'd stand beside the other students and watch them play.
"I never thought the place would change so much over the years. And it's still an arcade."
Watching him mutter to himself, Gao Tian felt a little disappointed. Though the two of them were the same person, time could really change someone. Little Xu Yuan had no idea why the adult Xu Yuan had willingly become a ghost, or what he was trying to do.
Just then, the sound of leather shoes crossing the floor seemed to come from somewhere in the distant mist. Their footsteps were drawing closer.
Little Xu Yuan glanced in the opposite direction, as if he had seen something. He turned back and spoke anxiously to Gao Tian:
"My Teacher's coming to get me.
"He has a special ability. Whenever he's nearby, most supernatural phenomena, as well as my special powers, temporarily stop working or disappear.
"As soon as he gets close, my Ghost Eye will go offline. We'll both return to our own time and space.
"Our conversation may have to end here."
Gao Tian looked at the Little Boy from more than twenty years ago, the Vengeful Ghost who would try to kill him more than twenty years later. He nodded:
"Got it. Be careful.
"And remember what you promised. You must never become a Vengeful Ghost, no matter what happens in the future."
The Little Boy and his brand-new Game Console began to grow transparent in the mist, twisting and writhing. With the Leather Shoe Owner drawing closer, the connection between the two time periods was growing thinner and thinner. It was about to go completely "offline."
In the final moment before he disappeared, Little Xu Yuan suddenly seemed to remember something. He shouted toward Gao Tian from afar:
"I know!
"I know where the future me hid his body!
"You said that twenty years from now, Sapphire Mall will be bustling with people, but my body will have been here all along without anyone finding it, right?"
Before you continue