The porcelain doll Shen Cuiyu calmly analyzed, "We've indeed successfully entered Yuan Yuan's mental prison. But he passed away at a very young age. His spiritual form was pure yet weak in power, and he wasn't a vengeful ghost who died a violent death. Although he forcibly pulled our spiritual consciousness here with his obsession, he couldn't support us in maintaining our original forms. Instead, our consciousnesses are temporarily attached to these old toys. These toys should be the most familiar items in Yuan Yuan's memory and also the ones that carry the most emotions."
Hearing this, the paper figurine Zhong Shengwan seemed to recall something.
He was the lightest in the group. After getting used to it for a while, he could finally move slowly. He shifted his fluttering paper body, rubbed against the window, and slowly climbed onto the windowsill along the wall. Looking out through the gap, he was immediately stunned.
This familiar courtyard reminded Zhong Shengwan of that sunny afternoon deep in his memory. Every bluestone slab and every plant was in exactly the same position. But now, it was shrouded in a gloomy gray light, eerily silent.
"This is... Yuan Yuan's home," he murmured. His voice sounded a bit dull as it came through his paper body. "I first met him here."
Hearing this, the others began to carefully examine the room.
The room was luxuriously furnished, filled with all kinds of rare and precious toys. There were common things like the Chinese rings and cloth tigers, as well as expensive and delicate mechanical toys and small jade carvings... They were so numerous that they almost filled the corners.
However, the degree of use of these toys varied greatly. Most of them were as shiny as new, as if they were just displays, placed far away on the shelves or in the corners, covered with a faint sense of desolation.
In contrast, the paper figurine, the rag - doll, the porcelain doll, and the little puppet general they were attached to were all placed in the most accessible position in the middle of the room. They showed obvious signs of being repeatedly touched and used, and some were even damaged.
"If this was Yuan Yuan's room when he was alive, where is he?"
The rag - doll Dongfang Xiao couldn't help but ask curiously, "Wasn't he sick? Could he still go out and play?"
Before her words faded, a slow and regular sound of a wheelchair turning, "creak - creak -", accompanied by indistinct humming, came from the corridor outside the door, getting closer and clearer.
Shen Cuiyu quickly used spiritual voice transmission to warn, "Someone's coming. Everyone be careful. If we're discovered by the things in this mental prison, they'll go berserk."
Hearing this, the others immediately felt alarmed. If they had entered in their original forms, dealing with a few dead things in the illusion wouldn't be a problem. But now, their spiritual consciousnesses were attached to these clumsy toys. Not to mention fighting, even moving was a big problem!
Dongfang Xiao waved her arm angrily, but only a few cotton wads fell out, making the situation even more desolate...
"Creak -" The door was gently pushed open.
An old servant woman with a blurry face and a slightly hunched back pushed a small wooden wheelchair into the room.
Sitting in the wheelchair was a chubby little boy with delicate features like a porcelain doll. But his face was as pale as newly pasted window paper, without a trace of blood, and his lips were very pale.
He sat quietly, with no expression on his face, lacking the vitality of a child.
The three of them subconsciously glanced at Zhong Shengwan. They saw his thin paper body trembling slightly uncontrollably, and they knew the answer - this was the young Yuan Yuan.
Zhong Shengwan stared at the child, dazed.
The person in front of him was completely different from the playmate in his memory, who, although a spiritual form, always had a naive smile.
This Yuan Yuan was surrounded by a heavy and almost tangible gloomy aura, a ghostly chill.
He knew that the mental prison was formed by the obsession of the spiritual form, which would infinitely magnify and show the painful and resentful parts of the spiritual form. It wasn't strange that it was different from the original body.
But seeing this scene with his own eyes, Zhong Shengwan still felt a strange sense of bitterness in his heart.
Shen Cuiyu noticed Zhong Shengwan's state and didn't interrupt him.
This mental prison belonged to Yuan Yuan, but wasn't it also Zhong Shengwan's?
Sometimes the wishes of ghosts could be resolved, but the obsessions of humans were hard to let go. Some knots still had to be untied by oneself.
Just then, the servant woman spoke.
"Master, it's very windy and evil outside these days. Let's not go out. Be careful that your illness gets worse," she said in a dry and flat voice, as if she had repeated it countless times.
Yuan Yuan showed no reaction on his face, as if he hadn't heard at all. Only his thick long eyelashes trembled slightly.
When the servant woman pushed the wheelchair to the bedside, Yuan Yuan's silent gaze slowly swept across the numerous toys in the room. Finally, his jet - black eyes suddenly stopped and didn't move.
Dongfang Xiao, the rag - doll, was the closest to him. Locked by that cold gaze, she felt a chill rise from her heart. She didn't even dare to move a single cotton wad and could only stiffen in place.
But at this moment, Yuan Yuan suddenly reached out his hand!
That small hand was also pale and almost transparent, with a coldness. Dongfang Xiao almost prepared to fight with all her might!
However, that hand just passed by her and extremely gently picked up a small wisp of cotton that had fallen beside the rag - doll's feet, as if it was something precious.
Before Dongfang Xiao could catch her breath, Yuan Yuan's gaze slowly moved again and landed on the paper figurine with a rather gory painting style beside.
He tilted his head and spoke crisply, but there was no trace of curiosity or enthusiasm that a child should have in his voice, only a cold calm:
"Auntie, my toys..."
He paused and said clearly, word by word.
"Have come to life."
The four of them:?!
Hearing this, the servant woman turned around stiffly. Her neck seemed to turn inflexibly. Different from Yuan Yuan's ghostly gaze, her eyes were cloudy, with extremely small black pupils and most of the whites exposed. When she "focused" on something, it gave a creepy feeling of being scrutinized by a non - human thing.
She vigilantly scanned the pile of toys back and forth for a long time, so long that the air almost solidified. Then she twitched the corner of her mouth and showed a stiff and almost terrifying "kind" smile: "Master, don't joke. Maybe... the wind is leaking through the window gap and blowing the paper figurine."
Yuan Yuan pursed his bloodless lips and didn't continue this topic. He just lowered his eyelashes and softly said, "I left my knee blanket on the outer corridor. Push me to get it."
The servant woman responded and pushed the wheelchair out of the room again with a "creak - creak -", gently closing the door.
The room was deathly silent for a moment.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief. They had been stiff and motionless for a while just now, and now they just wanted to take this opportunity to stretch their muscles.
However, the puppet Pei Yu, who was placed facing the window, suddenly whispered sharply, "Don't move! Look outside the window..."
Everyone suddenly stiffened. A stronger and more creepy premonition than when they were scrutinized by the servant woman seized them.
There was not a single sound of footsteps.
There was not a single sound of breathing.
They used all their self - control and extremely slowly shifted their "gaze" to the window -
Only to see that outside the window paper, which should have been empty, was tightly pressed a pale, enlarged face of a child!
Yuan Yuan never left!