Niannian saw a completely different Brother Yu Sheng.
Broken and childlike.
Hidden deep in the memory, something he never wanted to recall.
In the fragments of one memory cycle after another, Niannian also saw other family members.
Her mother, who had gone crazy and didn't recognize her own kin because of her disappearance.
Her father, who had been running around desperately every day, searching for her.
Her eldest brother, who buried himself in his studies and dedicated all his time to it.
And Yu Sheng, who was constantly bullied at school and received no attention at home.
During that long period of chaos, Yu Sheng lived at home like a transparent person.
When he came back covered in wounds, instead of listening to his grievances, what awaited him was a barrage of scolding.
His father didn't care where the wounds on Yu Sheng came from.
His first thought was that this naughty son had caused trouble and got into a fight outside.
After all, Yu Sheng had transferred to a public school because he had fought with someone in a private middle - school.
Yu Qiu's way of taking care of his younger brother was even more peculiar.
Even though he knew Yu Sheng was being bullied at school, he didn't offer a single word of comfort.
Instead, he kept lecturing him on the importance of being a man who didn't shed tears easily, being independent, and being strong.
Friends?
There were none.
Most of his former friends had stopped contacting him because of the Yu family's business troubles.
After transferring to a new school, because of Wang Qi, Yu Sheng was isolated by the boys at school, and the girls didn't dare to get close to him either.
He was always alone.
As his academic performance plummeted, the teachers who used to stand up for him occasionally no longer cared about this young boy.
The young master who was once the center of everyone's attention suddenly became a poor, neglected child.
The contrast was obvious.
Yu Sheng hated it, but he didn't know who to hate.
Each of his parents and elder brother had their own hardships.
Those former friends either left because of their parents' influence or because they were never really close.
He was at a loss and finally transferred all his hatred to Wang Qi.
Why was Yu Sheng so afraid of the invisible and intangible ghosts?
Niannian also found the answer in the memory fragments.
It was in the pitch - black storage room that Wang Qi locked Yu Sheng inside and played tricks to scare him all night.
It was also this incident that almost made Yu Sheng lose control and kill him.
The memory returned to the very beginning again.
In the dark storage room, there came a hollow and eerie chant from outside the door, as if a ghost was moaning.
Niannian slowly turned her head and looked at the corner where Yu Sheng always curled up.
For some reason, her heart ached.
She groped her way to a position close to the corner and softly called out, "Brother."
Niannian had never called Yu Sheng so sincerely before.
In Yu Sheng's memory fragments, she saw how her family had suffered for five years because of her.
The feelings she couldn't understand before, the likes she could only sense intuitively, became extremely clear at this moment.
It turned out that without her knowing, her family still loved her deeply.
"Niannian?"
Suddenly getting a response, Niannian was slightly taken aback.
Logically speaking, Yu Sheng, who was immersed in his memories, should be thinking about the past.
At that time, she hadn't returned home yet, and he shouldn't have remembered her.
Why could Brother in the memory accurately call out her name?
"Niannian... Is that you?"
Niannian could tell from the voice that Yu Sheng was not far from her.
She groped forward in the direction of the voice and touched his slightly cold skin.
"Brother Yu Sheng?"
"Niannian, are you here to take me out? I knew you were the best and most capable. You must be able to take me out, right?"
There was a strong sense of dependence and even a hint of sobbing in Yu Sheng's voice.
"I can! Brother Yu Sheng, don't think about anything. Take a deep breath and repeat after me."
Even though she couldn't see, Niannian still nodded vigorously.
When an adult's soul was trapped in a painful memory cycle, they would have a great sense of distrust towards the outside world.
Yu Sheng, who was immersed in such a situation, actually asked her for help, which meant that Brother Yu Sheng trusted her greatly.
This was the trust from family, just like the trust her master and senior brothers had in her.
"Keep your heart as calm as ice, not startled even if the sky falls. Amidst all changes, stay determined, with a peaceful mind and a tranquil spirit. Be unstained by dust, untouched by the vulgar. Let the void be serene, and be in harmony with nothingness. Existence and non - existence give rise to each other, and difficulty and ease complement each other..."
The young voice of the little girl rang out. The monotonous chanting of the incantation inexplicably had a strong calming effect on Yu Sheng.
He repeated these incomprehensible words after Niannian, one by one.
Suddenly, a ray of light appeared in the darkness of the memory.
Yu Sheng instinctively felt that he should walk forward. As long as he walked into the light, he could leave this terrifying place.
The little girl watched Yu Sheng unconsciously walk towards the exit and showed a relieved smile.
Well.
Brother Yu Sheng was really quick - witted.
The Qingxin Incantation had worked after just one recitation.
She watched until Yu Sheng's figure completely disappeared before she withdrew her smile.
She turned around, and in the area illuminated by the light, stood Wang Qi with a ferocious face.
Niannian frowned and raised her hand to touch her own forehead.
Strands of golden light were drawn out from between her brows. Wang Qi's face changed drastically.
"A tapir. It's really rare. Aren't you going to run?"
Niannian stared at Wang Qi with a sharp look.
Just as her voice faded, the figure in front of her suddenly shrank rapidly and turned into an image of a creature with a body like a mini - pig and a face like an elephant.
A tapir.
A mythical beast.
It loved to create nightmares and eat other people's beautiful dreams.
The tapir was similar to a nightmare, but more terrifying.
After all, a nightmare only created terrifying dreams, but it didn't peep into others' memories or devour their beautiful dreams.
Not long ago, the little girl had sensed something was wrong.
Being immersed in memories was like constantly dreaming about the past.
Although Niannian didn't know much about her former family, she knew that Yu Sheng and Zhao Tang had a very good relationship and roughly when Zhao Tang had moved into their house.
In the series of memory fragments just now, many scenes were extremely strange.
For example, Yu Sheng always smiled stupidly at a certain place. After suffering so many grievances outside and at home, he could recover quickly after a short while.
It seemed that something was missing.
Missing someone or something that could heal Yu Sheng and support him through that difficult time.
Niannian guessed that it was probably Zhao Tang.
Although Brother Yu Sheng wasn't very smart, he was a loyal and straightforward person.
He cared so much about Zhao Tang. There must be a reason.
Moreover, Yu Sheng had already come out of that darkness. It didn't make sense that he would start to be afraid as soon as he recalled the past.
So, it was very likely that this little thing had meddled.
It had eaten the reason for Yu Sheng to come out of the darkness and all the memories about Zhao Tang.
It deepened Yu Sheng's pain and tried to make him sink into the mire.
Unable to extricate himself.
"Hehe, I'm everywhere. We'll meet again."
The pig - like tapir chuckled and then turned into a wisp of green smoke and disappeared from the spot.
Niannian sighed and stuffed the extracted merits back.
It hurt. It was better not to waste them.
The tapir was not easy to catch.
Although it was a mythical beast, it was illusory.
Moreover, the tapir had a special ability. It could wander in everyone's dreams and run away at any time.
It was more ethereal than a ghost and very difficult to catch.
Just now, Wei He had somehow managed to drive the tapir into Yu Sheng's body.
Maybe it was when the cold wind suddenly blew.
Or maybe it was even earlier.
What made Niannian a little frustrated was that she hadn't noticed at all.
Even after Wei He activated the tapir, she still didn't understand what was going on.
If it hadn't been for this greedy little thing that wanted to eat her memories when it saw her soul leave her body, she might not have been able to expose it.
Well, at least the tapir had left for now. Brother Yu Sheng was relatively safe at the moment, and she could be a little more at ease.
Looking at the space that had turned dark again, Niannian let out a long sigh. Then she moved her soul out of Yu Sheng's body.
Seeing her physical body beside her, she immediately got back into it.
She stabilized her soul and then opened her eyes.
The situation on the rooftop last night had been extremely chaotic. The surveillance cameras had also captured a person jumping off the building.
That person was Wei He.
In the surveillance footage, after Wei He jumped off, she wasn't injured at all. She stepped on the air - conditioner units one by one and climbed down the wall and left through the back wall of the school.
When the teachers who were watching the surveillance footage saw this, they were terrified.
When they asked Wang Qi and the others, all they got were words like "ghost" and "spirit".
The teachers naturally didn't believe these things and thought these kids were having some kind of hysteria.
They asked the parents to take the kids home and gave them a few days off.
As a person involved, Yu Sheng was naturally taken home and also got a few days' vacation.
After returning home, Yu Sheng seemed to have forgotten that strange experience of being immersed in painful memories.
Since Yu Sheng was okay, the little girl didn't say anything either.
She didn't tell her parents either.
Niannian instinctively felt that if she told her parents about this, it would cause trouble for Brother Yu.
Brother Yu was already so pitiful. She didn't want to make him even more miserable.
At night, Niannian lay in bed and carefully recalled the scenes on the rooftop.
The more she thought about it, the more she felt that Wei He's surprise when she learned that Niannian was a Taoist priest seemed fake.
Why was her look at Niannian so gentle?
It was as if she had known Niannian before.
And that tattoo...
Niannian suddenly thought of a possibility.
Could it be that Wei He was also related to the Holy Cult?
Third Senior Brother had said before that the ancient - style tattoo artists who could cast spells on tattoos had inheritances, and there were very few of them.
At that time, Wei He was very young. It couldn't have been her who did it.
But it was possible that the person who taught her tattooing had done it.
At this thought, it was as if something had suddenly clicked.
Originally, she had only been 50% interested in tracking down Wei He.
But now, it was 100%.
She had to catch the people from the Holy Cult, those who had harmed her parents and brothers!
"Knock, knock, knock."
Suddenly, there came a knock on the door.
The little girl got out of bed slowly and opened the door.
As soon as she opened the door, she saw Yu Sheng with a furtive look on his face.
Niannian glanced at the time. It was already half - past ten.
"Brother Yu Sheng, what's up?"
"Let me in first."
Yu Sheng looked around to make sure he hadn't alerted his parents, then quickly slipped in sideways.
Disturbing his sister at this time would definitely earn him a scolding if his parents caught him.
Niannian was full of doubts. After closing the door, she sat back on the edge of the bed and blinked silently, waiting for an explanation.
"We've been forced to take a few days off from school. Guan Peng is quite scared being alone at home. Just now we had a chat. He said he knows something, but he wants to tell me on the phone. So I came to find you to listen with me. Maybe you can get some clues about Wei He from him."
Yu Sheng took out his phone and showed Niannian the chat record.
On the chat interface, not long after Guan Peng got home, he had encountered many strange things.
While taking a shower, the light above his head suddenly exploded, the water from the faucet suddenly got hot, or the bedsheet floated up by itself.
Anyway, the scene was extremely terrifying. It was almost driving him crazy.
Yu Sheng had comforted him a few times. After repeated questioning, Guan Peng finally relented and was going to tell him about Wang Qi and Wei Xi.
"Is he willing to talk?"
"Yes. I'll call him now."
With that, Yu Sheng directly made a video call to Guan Peng.
The call was quickly answered. Guan Peng's face was even paler than during the day.
He looked half - dead, as if he was barely hanging on.
"What's the deal with Wei Xi? If she wants revenge, why did she include you?"
As soon as the call was connected, Yu Sheng couldn't wait to ask.
Guan Peng bit his lower lip. He was silent for a while, then, as if making up his mind, he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he told the story.
"I... I saw... I saw Wang Qi and the other two kill Wei Xi... Actually, I wanted to call the police at that time, but they found me. They threatened me that if I dared to say anything and got them sent to jail, they would definitely kill me too. I was scared of them... so I didn't say anything..."
"Everyone in school said that Wei Xi was an orphan with no parents. When I saw that she had been missing for so long and no one was looking for her, I was even more afraid to call the police on my own. After all, no one would believe such words without evidence. I could only be a witness. I couldn't do anything else."
"But just a week later, Wei Xi came back to class! I saw her alive in front of me, so I thought she wasn't dead. But Wang Qi and the others didn't think so. They kept saying that it was Wei Xi's ghost coming back for revenge."
"Later, I don't know why they started playing the spirit - summoning game. I think they probably couldn't believe that Wei Xi was still alive. After all, they said they had disposed of the body very cleanly at that time."