It's time to become an evil god.

The woman in red, her bright red high heels clicking as she approached Bai Ge, grabbed him by the neck, and slammed him against the wall. Bai Ge had never been so close to a female ghost in red before, observing her sinister and eerie face up close.

"Auntie, you have nasolabial folds, forehead wrinkles, crow's feet, tear troughs, and perioral wrinkles. Don't you usually take care of your skin?"

The woman in red slowly raised her hand, revealing sharp nails, and said, "I'm giving you one last chance to choose. What will you call me?"

Suddenly, the letter in Bai Ge's pocket fell to the ground, which caught the attention of the woman in red. She picked up Bai Ge's letter, and after seeing the contents of the envelope, she quickly turned around and looked at Bai Ge, who was being tightly gripped, almost pressing the letter against his face.

"Wait, where did you get this letter from?"

The red-clad female ghost's voice grew increasingly urgent, demanding each word with force, "Answer me now!"

Sharp nails were already close to Bai Ge's cheek, and he had no choice but to tell the woman everything in detail.

After hearing this, the woman in red seemed to have her soul ripped out. Her expression turned strange, and she stood motionless for a while before slowly regaining her senses.

With a hesitant look in her eyes, she slowly said, "Come with me."

After hesitating for a moment, Bai Ge followed the red-clad female ghost slowly forward. At this moment, the memorial tablets placed in the mourning hall had fallen over, and the hidden compartments on the wall had been opened. It seemed that some secret was waiting for him in the depths of the dark staircase.

The female ghost in red stretched out her hand, pointing to the deep, narrow corridor, without saying a word.

Bai Ge had no choice but to grit his teeth and walk deeper into the building. The further he went, the colder it became, until Bai Ge stepped down the last step and a half-open, rusty iron door appeared in front of him.

He took a deep breath and slowly pushed open the iron gate.

When the door opened, there was no terrifying scene. Bai Ge fumbled for the switch and turned it on, and a dim yellow light instantly filled the dark space.

Inside was a narrow little room. An old CRT television sat on a TV cabinet, next to a bookshelf, and on the most conspicuous table were neatly stacked square objects.

Using the dim light, Bai Ge picked up the items on the table.

"This is... a videotape?"

Chapter 586 Mysterious Visitor

Videotapes were a rarity in this era, and coupled with the old-fashioned CRT television, Bai Ge even had a strange, ominous premonition. The last time he'd seen something like this was in *The Ring*, but that version was a bit odd. One second the atmosphere was incredibly terrifying, and the next, Sadako, who was trying to pop out of the screen, was stuck because her breasts were too big, unable to move forward or backward. The kind-hearted protagonist even called a neighbor to help push her from behind, and was so hot he had to go shirtless. However, for some reason, Bai Ge's father, who happened to be home from get off work, saw this and gave him a severe beating.

However, to find out the truth, he had no choice. Bai Ge could only take a deep breath, take the videotape to the dusty VCR, gently wipe away the dust, and carefully insert the videotape.

Click.

As the videotape was inserted into the old, antique machine, Bai Ge had given up all hope that it could even start.

However, before he could even plug the power cord into the socket, the CRT television screen suddenly flickered a few times and a wavy pattern appeared.

Amidst the wavy patterns in the portrait, a young man sits in a chair, wearing a baseball cap, his face completely obscured.

The young man spoke softly in a deep voice, “Whoever you are, congratulations on seeing this videotape. However, you are not the first person to realize that something is wrong with this world. Forgive me for having to use this old-fashioned way to communicate with you, since any means of communication could be identified by it and thus know my location.”

At this moment, the image became grainy. The man, somewhat alarmed, looked around to make sure there were no unexpected events before turning his face back to the camera. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, “In every world, there are people like you who want to find the truth. They are very curious about what those strange images and memories that appear in their minds are all about. The moment you had this thought, government officials appeared. They first used the excuse of paranoia to detain you in a mental hospital and cut off your communication with others. Then they began a series of brainwashing sessions, the ultimate goal of which was to make you believe that you were indeed an incurable paranoid patient. But I can tell you very clearly that everything that appears in your mind is real. In an accidental experience, I obtained these old videotapes. I don’t know who hid these videotapes in various corners of Xu City, but from the moment I came into contact with the videotapes, I was officially wanted by the government. I had no choice but to scatter them in various places and hide them secretly.”

"What I'm about to tell you may completely overturn your imagination. We can deduce two conclusions from the contents of those videotapes."

"The first conclusion is that we have had a memory confusion with the original body in another parallel world. As for the situation and reasons, they are unknown, but the government must know the secret, which is why they are hunting down those of us who have awakened our memories."

"The second conclusion is that we do not belong to this world, and our awakening of memories would pose a huge threat to this world, which is why government departments are so vigilant in guarding against the existence of awakened individuals like us."

"And within the government, there is a special department—the hunter squad, composed of awakened individuals. They specifically hunt down those of us who are trying to find the truth. The truth may be devastating, but we must know the truth about this world, even if that truth is exceptionally cruel."

At this point, the ripples in the image became increasingly violent, and the figures in the old television footage gradually blurred. The man's voice had lost its previous composure and transformed into one of extreme fear.

"They're here, they're here."

The man suddenly stood up, knocking over the chair behind him, and said in a terrified voice, "They've found me."

The light bulb in the dimly lit room began to flicker incessantly, its flickering brightness almost plunging the scene into darkness. The subsequent scenes began to shift and jump frequently. These images were unusually blurry, fleeting in the 480p resolution; Bai Ge could only barely make out that most of the things filmed were strangely eerie.

A grotesque shadow lying on the floor, twisting and turning; a bloodied, mangled corpse nailed to the wall; a terrified face staring at the camera; a child crouching on the ground with his back to the camera; intestines wriggling like worms; and long, black hair tangled in a bathtub of blood.

After the image ended, a vibrant red appeared in the black and white portrait.

A pair of scarlet eyes were staring at him, and Bai Ge froze, seemingly frozen in place. Even as he mentally tried to move, he felt as if he had lost control of his body. His eyes were fixed on the television screen, and his consciousness was fading away.

Bai Ge felt numerous phantoms appearing around him, as if those fleeting, terrifying scenes were appearing one by one beside him.

The faint sound of children's laughter drifted in and out of my ears. There were also the cries of a woman for help, the scraping sound of something heavy pulling on a rope behind me, and even a tickling sensation on the back of my neck, as if someone was gently tucking my hair down to my neck.

"Damn it, was the TV screen just now actually hypnosis?"

Bai Ge desperately tried to turn and run away, but suddenly saw several pale fingers emerge from the television screen. They were wriggling and scratching frantically, as if trying to grab onto something nearby. As more and more fingers appeared, the television screen frame seemed unable to support those terrifying and bizarre things. Pale arms crowded the not-so-large screen, trying to drag the man in front of him into the television.

At that very moment, an arm suddenly grabbed Bai Ge's collar, and his stiff body was pulled and dragged away by a tremendous force, crashing heavily onto the hard steps. In that extremely urgent moment, the door behind him slammed shut, and from inside came continuous banging and crashing sounds, as well as a series of mechanical, numb, simulated human cries for help.

"Help...me..."

"Let...me...out..."

"That was close, just a hair's breadth away."

Still shaken, Bai Ge turned around, trying to see the mysterious figure behind him clearly. However, the moment he turned his head, his eyes widened and he froze on the spot.

Chapter 587 The High Fortress Extraordinary Man Project

"Dad...?"

Bai Ge stared blankly at the middle-aged man who had suddenly appeared before her. The man was unshaven, haggard, and looked weathered. Bai Ge hesitated before asking, "Wait, weren't you supposed to have disappeared and died?"

Snapped.

The old man slapped Bai Ge on the back of the head and said coldly, "You brat, I heard you've been telling everyone I'm dead?"

Bai Ge quickly waved his hands and said, "...No, I didn't, don't talk nonsense."

Old Man Bai glanced at him, then sighed deeply and said softly, "I shouldn't have dragged you into this. The old man from the Yi Academy should have given you a letter, right? Actually, that letter was an anchor point, allowing me to correctly land on the projection of this world. It's just a pity that the previous president of the Folklore Research Association has passed away, otherwise we should have been able to get more information out of him."

"Anchor point?"

Bai Ge looked at his father with some confusion, suddenly feeling a bit of a stranger, as if he were just a stranger who looked exactly like his father.

"You don't need to look at me like that. I am indeed your real father, without a doubt. It's just that your memory hasn't returned yet, and there are many things I don't have time to tell you in detail right now."

The old father looked meaningfully at the tightly closed iron gate behind him and slowly said, "After the Yaotai Town massacre, I was the only survivor, and I also possessed a mysterious power. Since then, I have been hiding from being hunted down."

"Pursue? What do you mean?"

"To the program, I was like a bug or cheat code. While others painstakingly grinded experience level by level, I could skip classes and pass the game. But I really didn't expect that in order to eliminate us, who might threaten its existence, the program would actually pull the monsters from deep space into its own plane."

After saying this, the old father took out two different pills, one red and one white, from his pocket and placed them in front of Bai Ge, saying, "Now it's your turn to make a choice. Take the red pill and you will see the truth of this world."

Bai Ge tentatively asked, "If I take the white pill, will I forget all of this and continue living a normal life?"

"Do not."

The old father said earnestly, "The white one is poison that will kill you as soon as you take it."

"Then what choice do I even have?!"

Bai Ge picked up the red pill without hesitation and said, "But I really want to know the truth about this world."

As soon as he finished speaking, Bai Ge swallowed the pill without even blinking. After taking the pill, more memories began to flood back, real and imagined scenes flashing through his mind. Bai Ge gradually remembered the bits and pieces of the past. However, at the last moment, no matter what he did, his memories could not be restored. It was as if a part of them had been forcibly erased, leaving only a blank.

"I can remember a lot of things, but why can't I recall the important last part of my memories?"

Bai Ge patted his head, but still couldn't recall the details. Just then, his father turned to look at the doorway and said coldly, "Those people are coming."

"Those people? Who are they?"

Bai Ge was confused and eager to give his father a good scolding, "At a time like this, what are you still trying to prove?"

The old man suddenly covered Bai Ge's mouth, made a shushing gesture, and whispered, "You should have seen the video before. The government has specially organized a department to hunt down Awakened Ones. Unfortunately, they have already found us."

Several black armored vehicles appeared silently on the dark and gloomy street and parked in front of the Folklore Research Association.

The outer metal armor is jet black and exceptionally thick, capable of withstanding rifle and even machine gun bullets. The windows, fitted with bulletproof glass, are angled to effectively reduce bullet damage, and a constantly flashing warning light is installed on the roof. Even more eerie is the fact that the vehicle is covered with what appears to be Taoist talismanic runes, densely covering the metal panels.

The warning light strip is surrounded by an orange-yellow logo indicating "relevant departments".

After the armored vehicle doors opened, a squad of heavily armed soldiers stepped out, their guns pointed at the gate of the Folklore Research Association. Red and blue lights illuminated the red brick walls, making everything seem like a still frame.

A middle-aged man in a black uniform and beret stepped out of the armored vehicle; the scar on his face looked particularly frightening. Behind him followed two young men, their sharp suits and youthful faces standing out starkly from their surroundings.

"Are you sure that Awakened One is hiding in this place?"

The scarred man turned around with his hands on his hips and said impatiently, "I brought all my elites here to capture this Awakened One."

"Don't forget that I was also an Awakened One before."

The young man rolled up his sleeves and said softly, "It was precisely because I knew all the secrets that I decided to cooperate with the government and establish Project High Castle, to nip all uncooperative awakened individuals in the bud. Since these guys are unwilling to cooperate obediently, then we have no choice but to..."

Suddenly, the door opened a crack, and the young man nervously took a step back. He bit his black glove with his teeth and gently removed it, revealing a pair of pale arms covered in lividity.

Upon seeing that strange arm, even the battle-hardened squad leader's expression changed drastically, and some terrifying images flashed through his mind. He ordered the others to take a step back and leave the situation to the other party.

"There's no need to hide anymore. Although you've awakened your memories, your abilities haven't. If you come out now, I might consider sparing your life."

The door was suddenly pushed open, and a middle-aged man walked out with his hands behind his back, swaggering out and scanning everyone present with an air of otherworldly superiority.

He lowered his voice and said to Bai Ge, "From now on, follow my instructions and do as I say."

Bai Ge clenched his fist and nodded slightly.

Even the young man with the ghostly hands couldn't help but take a step back after sensing the powerful aura.

Bai Ge stared intently at his father, then suddenly shouted, startling the special forces members who were already on edge, causing them to nearly fire their guns accidentally.

The old man suddenly raised his hands high, and said righteously, word by word, "Sir, please don't shoot, I surrender!"

Chapter 588 Kidnapping All of Humanity

The young man's lips twitched. He had been prepared to die with his opponent. However, he hadn't expected the other party to choose such an unexpected approach as surrendering outright. And that "Spare me, sir!" felt like a roundabout way of insulting and mocking him.

Several soldiers quickly subdued Bai Ge and his father, but the father remained fearless, completely unconcerned about the men in front of him. He continued, his mouth tumbling out, "Sir, my good citizen is..."

He then pointed to Bai Ge behind him, pretending to put his hands behind his back and whisper in his ear, "Get the Awakened brats behind you to work."

Bai Ge's expression changed instantly. "You can't sell your son like this!"

"Baka! Pah! Shut up!"

The young man was almost led astray by this guy. He glared at him fiercely and said, "Do you think I'd believe your sweet talk? Take them all and load them into the truck!"

Bai Ge and his father were hooded and escorted towards the secret base. Bai Ge was puzzled as to why his father would deliberately surrender and be captured. Could it be that there was some intelligence in the secret base that was worth the huge risk of infiltrating?