Time Traveler Help Hotline

The car stopped at the entrance of the gray brick alley. The driver took the fare and kindly reminded the driver, "It's not safe around here at night. Finish your business and head back early."

Baihe gave a vague reply and got out of the car.

A cold wind swirled up scraps of paper and dust from the ground, and only a few broken streetlights cast a dim yellow glow.

The entire area is slated for demolition, and there's hardly anyone in sight; it's practically deserted.

The dim atmosphere successfully aroused Baihe's fear, and he instinctively wanted to back out, but the driver had already driven far away.

"I don't know if anyone will accept my order and take me home later." Baihe swallowed hard, unsure where to start looking.

He was only in Shanghai on a business trip, not a local. Given the dim lighting, it would be quite difficult for an ordinary person to search for ghost stories in such an atmosphere.

After much hesitation, Baihe finally chose the simplest method.

Dial Mary's phone.

Almost simultaneously, a faint but clear cell phone ringtone sounded from the darkness not far away.

Baihe's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly walked towards the sound.

In an open space amidst rubble and broken bricks, a cell phone is vibrating with its screen facing down.

If there hadn't been no streetlights nearby, and if Baihe hadn't happened to make a phone call, causing the screen to light up automatically, he would most likely have missed the call if he had just passed by.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a very old model, definitely not the phone Mary used.

Not only was there no password set, but there were also very few apps.

Wait, no card?

How did I receive the call if I didn't have a SIM card?

Mary is a ghost story; she should be able to make calls without a card, but she would never joke like that.

So, the last call I received was from another ghost story masquerading as Mary?

Realizing this, a chill instantly crept up Baihe's spine.

In the brief moment of his stunned silence, the phone screen, which had automatically turned off due to his inaction, acted like a blurry mirror, reflecting the scene behind him: something had fallen.

Baihe's scalp blew open, and he rolled to the side in a disheveled state almost instinctively.

"Clang!"

A piercing metallic scraping sound exploded where he had just been standing.

Baihe looked up in shock and saw two deep, jagged cracks, several inches deep, on the cement ground.

The moonlight barely pierced through the clouds, illuminating the attacker's silhouette.

He was a tall, thin man wearing an out-of-place retro long trench coat and a strange mask covering his mouth and nose.

He held an enormous pair of scissors in his hand, connected by a pivot in the middle, with blood still dripping from the blade.

Jack gripped the scissor handles with both hands, deftly snapped them in half, and the massive weapon split in two, transforming into two long-handled, bizarre blades more suitable for stabbing and slashing.

This familiar appearance reminded Shirakawa of another ghost story protagonist he stumbled upon while searching for Miss Mary's ghost stories.

Jack the Ripper?

"Aaaaaahh ...

Baihe let out a short scream, and almost tumbled and crawled around, rushing towards the dark doorway of the nearest abandoned building.

Jack didn't seem to be in a hurry to catch up; rather, he seemed to be playing along, leisurely swinging his scissors as he followed.

As I rushed into the building, a strong smell of mildew and dust hit me.

Baihe could barely see with the faint moonlight filtering through the broken window. He hid behind a load-bearing pillar, trying to calm his lungs, which felt like they were about to burst.

A cold, viscous liquid dripped onto his forehead.

He subconsciously reached out and wiped it, and in the dim light from his fingertips, he could see that the liquid was dark red and had a rusty, fishy smell.

Baihe looked up at his head with a defeated expression.

Several figures, mostly children and women, could be seen hanging indistinctly from the beams of the ceiling.

They swayed gently in a breeze that seemed to come from nowhere, like dried bacon.

"Well……!"

Baihe felt a churning in his stomach, as if his stomach problems, which had just started to improve, were beginning to flare up again, but he dared not leave the place.

"The vast horizon is my love..."

The cell phone ringing echoed through the empty, abandoned building, faintly drowning out the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps.

Baihe was so frightened that he didn't dare to answer the phone. He even tried to throw it away, but instead tripped over some debris and fell forward.

As he fell, his elbow accidentally grazed the phone screen.

Baihe frantically tried to hang up, but a voice he knew by heart came through the receiver.

"I am Mary, I am..."

Baihe shifted his body backward, his clothes covered in pebbles and dust. Seeing Jack closing in with his twin blades, he no longer paid attention to what was to come.

"...Behind Jack!"

A petite figure emerged from the shadows behind Jack, wielding a pink short-handled axe that matched her size, and viciously cleaved it horizontally toward Jack's shin!

Jack was caught off guard and let out a painful groan, staggering but quickly regaining his balance.

That was enough time for Mary to circle around to his front, grab the White River, and run wildly.

Shirakawa almost cried tears of joy—it was Mary!

She really came to save me!

Mary wasn't very familiar with the area either, so she hid Baihe near the entrance and instructed him, "I'll keep him occupied for a while, and you find a chance to escape from this area."

"Aren't you coming with me?" Baihe didn't dare leave Mary. Now that he had recovered, all sorts of negative physical reactions came one after another, and he could hardly breathe.

He wanted to say that his calves seemed to be cramping and he couldn't walk at all.

"No! He's after me. If we don't separate, he'll keep chasing us!"

"Why...why was he chasing you? And those corpses...ugh!"

Just thinking about the ceiling full of corpses made Baihe want to vomit his dinner.

"We're ghost stories, Shirakawa. You've clearly researched our history and know what kind of beings we are, haven't you?" Mary looked at Shirakawa quietly, even as he looked away as if escaping reality, refusing to face it: "I'm no good either. Playing with you was just a spur-of-the-moment thing."

"But you..."

"Shhh."

Mary placed her finger on his lips, indicating that he should just listen: "The ghost stories can become stronger by consuming them. He has been trying to kill me and chasing me for a long time. If you don't want to be dragged down, this time we have to reach a conclusion, even if it's temporary."

"I'll stall him for a bit, and you run out without looking back."

"Both he and I are ghost stories, neither of us are good guys. You know what an ordinary person should do when two bad guys are fighting, right?"

Mary gave him a hard push, and Baihe's legs suddenly became full of power. An unnamed force guided him to fall backward rapidly in a certain direction.

Baihe could only watch helplessly as Jack emerged from the darkness, his blade leaving long marks on the ground.

"I've finally found you, Mary... This time, I won't let you get away again!"

Upon hearing this, Mary clicked her tongue in displeasure: "If they really fight, it's hard to say who will win or lose."

The vivid human expression on Mary's face quickly faded, and her azure eyes lost their focus, becoming as empty and lifeless as glass beads.

She smiled as always, but the expression that was formed by muscles turned into an inhuman smile painted on her face.

Its trunk also rapidly lignified, and its joints made a clicking sound when they moved.

In the blink of an eye, Mary transformed from a living girl into a female doll that was almost lifelike yet still recognizable.

Makeup that is too close to human features can even create an uncanny valley effect for people of all ages.

But clearly, even the supernatural Mary is no match for Jack in terms of strength.

Jack wielded his double-edged scissors, easily parrying Mary's axe blows. The sharp blades nearly grazed Mary's body several times, leaving tears in her elegant dress and causing her exposed arms to bleed inhumanly.

As Mary struggled to fend off Jack's increasingly ferocious attacks, she screamed in that strange, doll-like voice, "Leave me alone! Run!"

Her voice pulled Baihe back to reality from his fear.

Having lost Mary's support, he regained control of his frail body and fled.

As the unfamiliar street scene slowly rolled into view, Baihe hated himself for the first time for not exercising. His legs grew weaker and weaker, and his mind became increasingly confused.

"Police? Where are the police? No, would it even help if I called the police? Would they believe me?"

"Never mind, at least spread the word that there's something wrong inside!"

Baihe had been running for an unknown amount of time, and his lungs were burning with pain.

He dared not turn around, fearing that if he did, he would see the huge pair of scissors and be decapitated the next second.

Just as Baihe was about to collapse from exhaustion, he finally saw a figure at the alley entrance ahead!

someone!

As they got closer, they could see that the man was wearing a blue Taoist robe that didn't quite fit him. Because it was too small, his muscles were visible clinging to the fabric. The Taoist held an ancient compass in his hands, gesturing and pointing at it with his fingers, as if he were lost in the area.

At this moment, Baihe had no time to ponder how abrupt and coincidental this scene was. Everything that had happened tonight had already overturned his understanding. To encounter a lost Taoist priest on the edge of hell where strange tales abounded must be a sign from heaven that his life was not meant to end!

He didn't care about his image anymore, grabbed the Taoist's sleeve, and cried out, "Taoist Master! Help! Help me!"

The young Taoist priest was startled and lowered his head. But if Bai He were to look up now, he would find that there was no surprise or anything like that in the other man's eyes.

Baihe pointed incoherently at the dark ruins behind him: "It's over there! In that abandoned building! There are... there are ghost stories! No, there are monsters! Two monsters are fighting! One is a madman with giant scissors, and the other is a girl who has turned into a doll! They're fighting so fiercely that the sky and earth are darkening! Taoist priest, you must go and subdue them!"

He finished his tearful confession in one breath before looking up with anticipation, hoping to see composure and confidence on the Taoist priest's face.

However, when Baihe saw the other person's face clearly, his hopes instantly vanished.

This face... is so young!

He looked like a college student, with delicate features and fair skin. Apart from being a bit muscular, there was almost no indication that he could defeat the ghost story.

"Cough cough, don't panic."

The Taoist priest placed the compass in front of Baihe, and the needle on it pointed directly at Baihe, trembling wildly. He pretended to be mysterious and said, "Hiss, the aura of those things on you really is the demon I'm looking for."

Baihe's eyes lit up.

"What does the Taoist priest mean...?"

"I was chasing after a demon and found my way here, but unfortunately there is a maze around me, so the range of my compass search is limited."

After saying this, the Taoist priest examined Baihe for a moment and said, "I see that your face is dark and surrounded by black energy, so you've probably been in contact with demons for quite some time. Oh well, meeting you is fate, I'll lend you a hand..."

The Taoist priest pointed his index finger at Baihe's forehead, and a warm current flowed into it. Baihe felt all his fatigue disappear and he felt much more relaxed. Even the previous bumps and bruises healed on their own.

"It's a real Taoist priest!" Baihe instantly believed the other party's words.

"The black aura has been dispelled. As a mortal, you'd better leave as soon as possible." The Taoist priest pointed in a direction, "Just walk straight ahead for about five minutes, and you'll be able to leave this place."

"Actually..." Baihe suddenly remembered that he had called out for two demons earlier, realizing that this Taoist priest had some abilities, and then became worried about Mary: "There's a demon..."

"Let's go." The Taoist priest said softly, but Bai He felt a powerful sense of authority without any anger, and was unable to resist.

Baihe gritted his teeth and left without looking back.

……

The young Taoist priest, or rather, Ji Mo, dressed in a Taoist robe, walked alone into the gloomy, abandoned building.

My gaze swept over the deep cuts made by scissors, the marks left by an axe, and the scattered brick fragments on the ground. The scene was so convincingly staged that it looked like a real, fierce fight had taken place.

But that's just a resemblance.

"Alright, he's already far away, stop acting," Ji Mo shouted.

As he spoke, Ji Mo was the first to relax, and somewhat irritably reached out to tug at the collar of his Taoist robe, complaining, "How could you guys even come up with this idea, making me dress up as a Taoist priest to save people... Are ghost stories and Taoist priests from the same worldview? This Frankenstein-like script is so out of place."

This outfit was a gift from Jiu Chonglou two years ago. I didn't expect it to be so small this year. Luckily, the fabric is quite elastic, so I can still wear it, but I definitely can't do any big, sweeping movements.

Baihe, who had already escaped, probably didn't know that the "Taoist priest" who helped him was an insulator of supernatural powers. The power to heal wounds and dispel fatigue and negative states came from the Seven Luminaries Ring on his hand.

As for the blackening of the face and the surrounding black aura, that's all nonsense from Ji Mo.

A rustling sound came from the shadows deep within the building.

Immediately afterwards, Jack and the doll Mary, who had just been fighting to the death, came out together.

Jack's terrifying mask had been pushed up to the top of his head, revealing... a young face that looked somewhat like that of a virtuous wife and loving mother? And the huge, detachable pair of scissors in his hand was now being used as a gentleman's cane.

Mary had reverted to her blonde, Lolita-like appearance, with rosy skin, bright eyes, and no visible injuries on her arms, not even a scratch on her clothes. She was even holding the pink axe model in her hand, weighing it in her hand, a mischievous, slightly irritating smile on her face.

When they came out together, Mary still sat on Jack's shoulders, using him as a means of transportation.

The two of them showed no trace of the life-or-death struggle they had just fought.

Ji Mo looked up and pointed to the gruesome corpses of women and children still hanging on the ceiling.

Jack understood and waved casually.

The next second, the figures of the hanging children and women vanished like popped bubbles, leaving no trace of the blood that had dripped before.

"Just a little trick, an illusion." Jack shrugged, his tone relaxed, as if he wasn't the one who had just created the most terrifying scene. "Don't worry, we're law-abiding tourists."

Seeing Ji Mo's disbelieving look, Jack chuckled and magically pulled a small red book from his sleeve, tossing it to Ji Mo.

"Unlike Mary, I have official certification."

Ji Mo flipped open the volunteer certificate for the orphanage that had been thrown to her. The photo on the first page resembled Jack's face, but it was a feminine version of him.

The certificate also included several group photos, all of which were of Jack, a woman, with the children from the orphanage. Judging from the smiles on the children's faces in the photos, she must have been a very popular volunteer.

"Is this you?" Ji Mo looked Jack up and down.

"We're talking about a strange tale, where men and women don't follow the same rules?"

Seeing is believing, so Jack decided to take the initiative to change himself. He narrowed his shoulders, became shorter, and his chest size increased rapidly.

Despite it being just a change in gender, Ji Mo inexplicably felt a sense of déjà vu, thinking that Jack at this moment was the kind of mother most children would want.

An orphanage volunteer, a beloved mother figure... Ji Mo, recalling the legend of Jack the Ripper, began to understand the sacrifices and gains required for the bizarre to transform into a ghost story.

Only Mary was dissatisfied; her feminized shoulder width was clearly insufficient to support her sitting, and she had to jump back to the ground.

"The rest is to wait until tomorrow daytime, when I will go to see Baihe after successfully slaying the demon." Ji Mo paused, then looked at Mary, "Oh, and because you had some good intentions, you weren't killed immediately. Before being taken back to be suppressed and forced to repent for your evil deeds for the rest of your life, you want to see Baihe one last time."

Mary hummed in agreement twice, clearly satisfied with the response.

"I never expected that among the people the program is supposed to help, there would be ghost stories." Recalling yesterday's conversation, Ji Mo felt that she hadn't lived long enough and hadn't seen enough, which was why her worldview kept being challenged.

……

It all stemmed from a conversation on yesterday's program.

Previously, the program's scope of requests for help was limited to local residents of the Weifan community, but this episode was an exception, as many of the people seeking help, including Mary, were not from the Weifan community.

To put it another way, if we remove the qualifier "people of the mortal realm," what kind of people does the program usually help the most?

Ji Mo quickly came to the conclusion: "Then it must be a time traveler."

A time traveler is a life form that travels from one world to another.

The strange Mary, who is currently traveling in the mortal world, clearly fits the definition of a "time traveler".

Ji Mo has always felt that calling this program "Dangerous Radio" is unreasonable, because both the main subject of each problem and the type of problem to be solved are inseparable from the word "time travel".

It would be more reasonable to call it the Time Traveler Radio Station.

Therefore, it is reasonable for Ji Mo to help Mary.

The program has the right to decide and interpret the situation to help those in need. If Jimo is unwilling, she can also refuse Mary's request.

But Ji Mo ultimately decided to help her.

For no other reason than to extract information.

Ji Mo had seen many strange things, but this was the first time he had seen a real-life ghost story.

No matter how rich the information on paper is, it's not necessarily more reliable than the evaluations of locals. Otherwise, there wouldn't be situations where a set of stories is fabricated specifically to rip off outsiders.

"Okay, how do you want us to help you?" Let him see just how far the so-called ghost stories' love for humanity can go.

"Oh, you really agreed?" Mary was slightly surprised. "I thought you were going to refuse?"

Normally I would definitely refuse, but now I'm determined to extract information from you. Ji Mo couldn't be so blunt, so he made up a plausible excuse: "...We can't let ordinary people freely seek their own deaths."

In a language system, the quality of something can be quickly revealed by replacing it with similar words.

For example, the statement "I just want to go to Hope City to live off ghost stories and not work hard anymore, what's wrong with that?" seems to have no problem.

But if you change the wording and say, "What's wrong with wanting to go to Da Meili to live off a rich woman who is related to Asians?", doesn't it suddenly seem like this behavior is incredibly suicidal?

This kind of thing isn't suitable to be discussed at length on the show. It was also the end of the show, so Ji Mo indicated that Chen Zhuzhu could go home first. When he went to Mary's place, Chen Zhuzhu still looked lingering fear.

For a moment, Ji Mo didn't know whether she was afraid of Mary herself, or that her experience of almost being killed by a ghost made her unable to distinguish between the supernatural tale and the supernatural, and she was afraid of both at the same time.

I'll ask her again after this is over. Ji Mo thought to herself, it's best not to let such an obvious inner demon linger.

Mary's final location was in an upscale residential area.

When Ji Mo arrived, she was chatting with a child from a nearby household, discussing everything from flying dragons to proud elves, and finally, the triumphant return of the heroes.

"It's getting late, you should go to sleep." Mary sensed Ji Mo's presence and coaxed the child to bed.

"What about you, Mary? Will you still come to keep me company? The adults aren't here, and I'm so scared."

"That depends on how well you behave~ Good children, only doll fairies will come to you." Mary was currently in the form of a doll, the perfect size to sit on the bedside table.

Mary left only after confirming that the child had fallen into a deep sleep under her own power.

"Is it him?" Ji Mo's gaze was as if he were looking at a pervert.

He's already considering calling the police.

"It's someone else, an adult. I have quite a few human contacts."

Mary began to recount her encounter with Shirakawa, concluding with:

"My method of connecting cause and effect is similar to how your program targets those seeking help. The difference is that you are passively answering the phone, while I actively make the call."

"The people who usually come to us are all kinds of people, but they all have one thing in common: loneliness."

"If they are children, I am an imaginary friend. If they are office workers, I am a non-existent fairy godmother. The companionship I provide is as unreal as a dream, and there is no tangible evidence of it in reality."

"Shirakawa is one of the few exceptions. It's just that I haven't encountered such a bold human in a long time. It's quite rare, you know?"

"If you find a well-behaved stray cat that you can pet freely, wouldn't you deliberately walk past the area where the stray cat lives just to pet it a few more times?"

"But as I said before, I only pet cats, I don't keep them. But it's not good if the cat keeps wanting to come home with me."

Mary paused, then tentatively asked, "By the way, if a cat takes a liking to me and insists on coming home with me, it should find a way to cross over to the realm of rules to find me. The problem shouldn't be my fault, right?"

Ji Mo, unusually, did not answer the question, but instead replied with "hehe".

He was already very polite by not using "guess".

Other races aside, as for all the strange and bizarre tales, don't believe their claims like "It's not that I wanted to, but that these humans volunteered."

They must have had the idea, but they chose not to do it due to the pressure of reality.

"Do you have a plan?" Ji Mo decided to listen to what she wanted to do.

"Delete memories~"

Such a simple and blunt answer, such a scumbag woman's answer.

"If his obsession runs deep enough, simply erasing his memories won't solve his desire to find you." Ji Mo shook her head, denying the idea. "Sometimes, it's precisely because you can't remember clearly, yet you have a vague feeling in your heart, that the unseen white moonlight becomes all the more beautiful."

Mary's expression turned strange after hearing this: "You don't seem like a Casanova?"

"Learn from those you know."

Jiu Chonglou often said things in this tone, and Ji Mo, influenced by what he heard, couldn't say he completely agreed with this theory, but occasionally he would think from this perspective to judge whether his plans had any shortcomings in this regard.

Even if Jiu Chonglou didn't say those words, there are verifiable factual cases.

The Extraordinary Countermeasures Bureau's decision to continue tracking Zhang Qixuan for a period of time after erasing his memories, and even to permanently retain his criminal record, is based on this theory.

Subconscious impressions that are constantly idealized can often become potential crises.

Well, it's said that although such people can take the civil service exam in the future, they are very likely to be rejected during the political review when they climb up to a certain level. They don't even know that they failed the political review.

"It's best to completely destroy his unrealistic idealized impression of you. For example, pretend to get close to him just to help him drag more people into the mess."

The idea of ​​sneaking into another world and hoping to be kept by a ghost story who offers comfort and solace is something that can't be shaken off without some ruthless measures.

"Are you really a help center? How come you're like this... Hmm, no wonder it's funded by Sanchuan."

Ji Mo glanced at him sideways. "Do you have the right to talk about us?"

Mary chuckled and changed the subject, "What if even so, he still wants to continue spending time with me?"

"Then you can expect to be deported."

Once there's one, there will be two; Mary's strange tales can't stay in the mortal world.

It's possible that the Bureau of Extraordinary Countermeasures will take a drastic measure, extending this matter directly to other supernatural tales residing in the country, and demanding that they all leave the country within fifteen days.

As for why it's the 15th, it can only be said to be a commonly used official date.

Mary's expression immediately turned serious: "That won't do."

"Do you really like the humans in our world that much?"

"Don't you humans have a preference for Ragdoll cats? If you can get a purebred, then go for a purebred?"

Before he said it, this bizarre theory of human-pet relationships was already beyond saving.

As long as Mary doesn't actively compare Ji Mo to a lion or tiger, indicating that she also wants to raise one, Ji Mo won't bother with it anymore.

With a concrete plan in mind, Mary even recruited a ghost story as a laborer.

"This is Jack, just like me, a 'touch but don't keep' enthusiast."

The simple story begins from the beginning.