Frightening Joke: Above the Mist-Chapter 396 Memory

Without waiting for everyone to think much, the man whose face couldn’t be seen spoke to himself: "However, that’s not important. Since you can see me, it means you’re nearing the end, and it’s time to hand this key to someone more suitable."

Gu Pingsheng, who hadn’t spoken, suddenly asked, "Have we met before?"

The man with the indistinct face was silent for a moment: "In your time, yes."

"What do you mean by in my time?" Gu Pingsheng frowned, puzzled.

"In my time, it’ll be a while before I meet you."

He said the words "you."

Not only Gu Pingsheng heard it, but everyone else present heard it too.

What no one expected was that, although the mysterious person spoke like a madman, he was very candid—unexpectedly candid. He said whatever he could, answered whatever he could, without any concealment.

But problems also followed.

"Since you haven’t met him in your time, why do you know about this now?" Yu Wenxuan asked.

The mysterious man seemed to smile: "Because I have stepped out of time at this moment."

"Stepped out... of time?"

Song Que murmured these words, feeling they were somewhat familiar.

"That’s right, I’m already dead," he said astonishingly, "so I can browse through all the memories in my life at will."

The five of them were accustomed to dealing with abnormalities, but seeing someone truly dead standing before them still made their brains freeze for a moment.

They didn’t think the mysterious man was lying, firstly because there were no signs of deceit, and secondly, he had no reason to lie.

Considering the current situation where they were at his mercy, he had no reason to fabricate such an inexplicable lie to deceive them.

"I know you have many questions, my time is short, but I can try to answer them. However, to let me answer the following questions, you must agree to two conditions."

"First, you must choose one among you to take this key."

After saying that, he fell silent.

"What’s the second?" Gu Pingsheng asked.

He vaguely remembered who this person was.

This way of speaking, this tone—who else could it be but that person?

However... why did that person appear in the story "Sailing Under the Moon, People Die in Water"?

It’s impossible, he had clearly returned to Ye City, from that dark fracture...

"Agree to the first and then I’ll say the second."

The mysterious man continued.

"I agree to it." Gu Pingsheng had already guessed the man’s identity and agreed readily.

He knew that although he and this man might have chosen different paths, the endpoint might very well be the same.

The other four glanced at Gu Pingsheng and didn’t deny anything.

After all, that crimson key was clearly a master key and might also be the reason this mysterious person could open this mysterious space and bring them here.

"Good, then I’ll tell you the second."

The mysterious man paused for a moment, seeming to once again gaze at everyone.

"You should know someone named Bai Yanliang."

These words made everyone’s heart skip a beat.

Although he clearly jumped with Xu Zhifei into the reverse sea, Bai Yanliang didn’t appear here, and now there seemed to be an answer.

"Someone released calamity, someone saw the future, someone stepped out of time, someone hid among the people..."

He whispered as if chanting, the last few people almost indistinct.

"You must... kill him."

The mysterious man’s voice echoed in the not-so-spacious room:

"Kill him completely."

————

"Knock, knock, knock—"

"Knock, knock, knock—"

Bai Yanliang’s eyelids were extremely heavy, but his body was relaxed. It had been years since he had slept so comfortably.

He heard someone knocking at the door, then entering.

Lazily opening his eyes, Bai Yanliang looked towards the door, first stunned, then slowly spoke.

"Brother..."

"It’s okay, you can eat something and then sleep some more." Bai Yanren placed the breakfast of soy milk and buns on the bedside table and smiled, "You talked a lot last night, seemed tired, and even fell asleep at the grilled fish shop table."

"Did you carry me home?"

"Of course," Bai Yanren pointed to the room next door with his chin, "just be careful not to run into your younger self."

He smiled slyly.

Bai Yanliang tried to smile back and then looked around.

Yes...

This was definitely his home, the memory too deep to erase.

However, more of the memory was filled with dismembered limbs and blood.

His brother died here.

Bai Yanren had already returned to the living room, seemingly organizing the desk and getting ready to work.

Bai Yanliang glanced at the still steaming soy milk and buns, then got up and walked to the window.

The scent drifting in from outside...

was of rot.

Looking at the sky, strips of black cracks were clearly visible in the blue sky, the deep black within the cracks resembling a vast starry sky, or an endless abyss.

On the street, workers with half-rotten faces walked and talked while clutching their bags.

The breakfast shop owner, with maggots crawling out of his eyes, skillfully made buns.

A child, with only half a head and a pulsating crimson brain, played on the street with a backpack...

The sun... was dark red.

Like blood about to coagulate.

Is this truly the real past world?

Bai Yanliang gazed up blankly.

"Yanliang!" His brother’s voice called from the living room, "What do you want to eat for lunch today?"

What do I want to eat...

Bai Yanliang walked step by step out of the room and into the living room.

Neck, arms, waist, abdomen, chest, knees, ankles... everywhere were bloody horrifying scars, and Bai Yanren smiled at him.

At this moment, Yanren looked like a stitched-together body, long since dismembered...

"Brother..."

The next second, Bai Yanliang walked forward and hugged this terrifying corpse.

"Yanliang..."

Bai Yanren seemed startled, but he soon calmed down, hugged Bai Yanliang back, and asked, laughing, "What’s wrong? Did someone bully you in the future?"

"I don’t know..." Bai Yanliang, devoid of emotion, suddenly began to choke up, but his expression was fierce, as if he couldn’t make an expression, his eye sockets dry, as if he couldn’t shed tears at all.

"I seem to have... forgotten many things..."

"I don’t remember my younger self..."

"Nor do I remember the faces of mom and dad..."

"Don’t remember childhood friends..."

"Don’t remember neighbors’ names..."

"I only remember..."

Bai Yanliang didn’t continue.

His voice was indeed choking, but no tears fell.

His clearest memory was of the night Bai Yanren died.

And... everything after that when he was admitted to the mental hospital.

As for earlier memories, they seemed covered with a veil, vaguely visible yet unreachable, unattainable...

Bai Yanliang hugged Bai Yanren; at this moment, the surrounding walls were already covered with cracks like those in the sky.

"It’s okay, as long as your brother is here, these things don’t matter..."

Bai Yanren, like a corpse stitched together, patted Bai Yanliang’s back, speaking gently: "Don’t worry, as long as your brother is here... no one can hurt you."

"But... what if I wake up?"

Having never shed a tear, Bai Yanliang suddenly burst into tears at this moment.

"..." Bai Yanren’s expression suddenly turned eerily silent.

"Brother... what if I wake up..." Bai Yanliang cried painfully, "If the one who wants to hurt me is you... what should I do..."