Learn one small skill every day

"The upstream has released water!"

The girl reacted immediately and pulled Bai An towards the shore.

But the current was too fast. When the two were only a step away from the shore, the turbulent current slammed into them and swept them downstream.

The girl grabbed Bai An in the rushing water and used all her strength to push him to the shore, away from the raging torrent.

"Go...find Dad and the others...! Hurry...get ashore...!"

Bai An watched in terror as the girl was submerged by the water, his whole body trembling uncontrollably. In that instant, all he could think about was the beating and scolding he was about to receive from his father.

Exhausted, he didn't walk far before collapsing to the ground and falling into a deep sleep.

After an unknown amount of time, when Bai An opened her eyes again, she saw her uncle with a complicated expression and her grandmother wiping away tears beside her.

"Xiao An, you're awake. How are you feeling? Is there anything that's bothering you? The police officer is going to ask you some questions, so please answer them carefully."

Bai An nodded blankly, as if everything he had just experienced was a nightmare.

"Sister! Sister!"

Bai An suddenly shouted, looking around, but he couldn't see that familiar and reassuring figure.

Upon hearing this, Grandma Bai couldn't help but cry again, and her uncle quickly helped her out of the ward.

Then a man walked in, holding a strange instrument. With a kind smile on his face, he sat down in front of Bai An's hospital bed and asked, "Little friend, we have some questions for you. We hope you can recall them carefully to help us, and of course, to find your sister more easily."

"Where...where did my sister go?"

"Don't worry, we'll help you find her. Was your sister swept away by the water?"

Bai An paused for a moment, then slowly nodded.

"Did you insist that your sister take you to play by the water?"

Bai An continued to nod.

"Very good... Oh no, I mean thank you for your cooperation."

The man smiled slightly and continued, "The situation is like this: your parents were playing cards when the water was released upstream. Soon after, someone ran over and said they saw you playing by the water. So they immediately ran to the water to check if you were safe. Unexpectedly, they saw your sister being swept away."

"Your parents are both excellent swimmers, so they went into the water together to rescue your sister, but unfortunately none of them came back."

The man sighed regretfully: "Child, I hope you can learn from this. You should have listened to the adults and not insisted on playing in the river. You killed your sister and parents."

"..."

"Beep beep..."

The instrument in his hand emitted a piercing sound, and Bai An's eyes became lifeless.

He raised his hand and pointed the instrument at Bai An's forehead.

"But now, child, please accept my condolences, and then... rest in peace."

Chapter 250 Embracing the Past, Creating the Future

Bai Miao woke up from the bed amidst a dizzying sensation and a pervasive chill.

"Was it... Bai An's memory that was taken from her in the dream?"

Every detail is clearly visible; the summer heat and the river's coldness are so real.

"Sister..."

Even in his dreams, Bai Miao felt the familial love bestowed upon him by his sister Bai An.

For Bai Miao, who had never experienced even paternal or maternal love, this kind of older sister's love was completely foreign.

But it didn't feel bad.

"Cheng Tiyuan... so it was you, you dog..."

The last man in my memory holding the strange instrument was Cheng Tiyuan. As a raw material purchaser, he would naturally come to harvest the raw material called memory at this time.

It's a pity that I killed this guy back in third grade. Looking at it now, I think I made him die too easily.

However, Bai Miao couldn't understand whether the flood of rainwater that had entered his room last night was a dream or reality.

Bai An's memories have come back to me, so what should I do next?

Without any warning, Bai Miao didn't even know how those who had encountered the same situation before had died.

Could it be that the danger last night was being submerged in water, but because I can breathe underwater, I passed the test unharmed?

After much thought, Bai Miao still felt that this was the most likely scenario.

Because he survived the test by breathing underwater, he learned about the memory of Bai An's disappearance.

However, the dungeon is not yet over, which means there are still challenges to come.

What happened last night was just an appetizer.

If we follow this logic, then the trials related to Bai An's memories are almost all easy, so wouldn't I be able to get through them by simply lying down?

The sudden overflow of rainwater in the room seemed more like a ghostly act.

Bai Miao stepped out of the room and checked all the traps and formations he had set up, but none of them were triggered.

"Isn't it a ghost...?"

Bai Miao was very confident in his arrangements. If there really was a ghost in the courtyard last night, it should at least have triggered the most basic alarm array, right?

The principle behind this formation is very simple: it will ignite violently if there is even the slightest trace of the underworld's aura.

The flames that burn out are not simple; the flames triggered by the alarm array are not limited by normal combustion conditions.

"Could it be a hallucination in my head?"

Psychological attack...

Bai Miao slowly walked to the mirror, made a firm decision, and directly used psychoanalysis.

However, Bai Miao's psychoanalysis subject was not himself, but Bai An.

Bai An is not dead; his spirit still lives on.

"If only I could listen to my sister..."

"Humans cannot live without water, but I've started to fear it..."

"I should have stayed in that summer, instead of growing up alone..."

A sharp pain shot through his head, and Bai Miao began to hallucinate.

One by one, crooked, blood-red characters appeared in the void, filled with Bai An's regret and fear.

The first attempt at psychoanalysis on Bai An failed; Bai Miao did not see Bai An's mental form in the mirror.

However, seeing what appeared to be Bai An's inner thoughts at least indicates that her method was somewhat effective.

If I continue to delay, as graduation day approaches, the mental attacks I suffer will likely intensify.

"Afraid of water, is that it?"

Bai Miao tried to walk to the water vat, but when he was less than half a meter away from the vat, his legs felt like they were filled with lead and he couldn't move an inch.

My body...I can't move...

It felt as if there was another force within my body that was preventing me from getting close to the water.

After several attempts, Bai Miao finally understood that it was Bai An's past consciousness trying to take control of his body.

This is a very strange thing.

In the past, when I participated in dungeons as a knocker, I had never encountered a situation where the original owner of my body had taken back control of me.

"The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is an auspicious day for offering sacrifices..."

"You want to go back to that summer? Then I'll take you home to see it. I don't think you'll object, will you?"

It has been many years since Bai An last went back.

Perhaps if I go back to my hometown, I can find some solutions.

There are still relatives like my uncle who farm in my hometown, but because of Bai An's distorted view of reality, these relatives all believe that Bai An's parents are still alive.

Bai Miao couldn't remember whether he had visited anyone during the Lunar New Year; all his memories of summer and winter vacations had been erased.

Soon, Bai Miao boarded the bus back to his hometown.

After asking Bai Miao where he was going, the ticket seller on the bus gave him a ticket and didn't pay him any more attention.

The buses from the county to the countryside are fairly convenient, but the last stretch of mountain road home is quite difficult.

Along the way, Bai Miao looked at the terraced fields and the farmers working among them, and a sense of anticipation arose in his heart.

That was the anticipation I felt as a child when I was on vacation, looking forward to returning to my hometown and playing freely in the mountains and fields.

Returning to the countryside from the county seat allows children to unleash their natural instincts.

They chased chickens and dogs in the yard, climbed trees to steal fruit from other people's houses, and poked beehives on the roof beams with bamboo sticks.

Memories flooded back.

Bai Miao realized that these were all his lost holiday memories.

In every memory, there is the shadow of that girl.

Her figure remained unchanged from that summer, but she would appear every summer to accompany Bai An as they played in the countryside.

Together with Bai An, they became the infamous troublemakers of Baijiatun.

Bai An used his power to distort reality to make everyone in Baijiatun believe that his sister was still alive.

Will I be able to see my sister when I go back to my hometown?

Bai Miao thought to himself.

Soon, the bus arrived at the market. As soon as Bai Miao got off the bus, an old man on the roadside, cracking sunflower seeds, asked, "Isn't this Bai Chen's youngest son? Why did you come back alone? Where are your parents and your sister?"

Seeing Bai Miao's confused look, the old man chuckled: "Don't you recognize me? I used to hold you when you were little! I'm your third great-uncle!"

Bai Miao really didn't remember. Such complicated family relationships were baffling not only to children, but even many college students were completely clueless when they returned to their hometowns.

"I took a car back first... They still have some things to do, they'll arrive later."