The little boy finished a round of his game and took a brief moment to look up at Gao Tian.
"Brother Gao? I don't remember your face. I have no impression of it at all.
"Maybe we've met in the future, but it's just not time yet."
The Memory Ghost didn't seem to have the intended effect on him.
Gao Tian continued to activate the Memory Ghost's ability, coaxing him, "Think carefully. That Transformer toy sitting in your house—I bought that for you.
"Your dad even scolded me for a long time back then, saying I shouldn't just buy you whatever you asked for, that it would give you spendthrift habits."
The characteristic of using the Memory Ghost was continuously reinforcing a specific anchor point to deepen a victim's false memories. This way, Gao Tian wouldn't need to say much; the victim would automatically start making associations based on this fake anchor, fabricating even more memories.
The little boy let go of the arcade joystick and turned his whole body toward Gao Tian.
His large, dark eyes began sizing Gao Tian up and down.
"There has never been a Transformer from you in my house. Besides, my old man died before I was born. How could he have scolded me for spending too much?"Hearing the boy's reply, one could easily imagine Gao Tian's shock.
He was astonished by two things. First, this boy was completely unaffected by the Memory Ghost. Back when Gao Tian faced his "father" and "mother," he had hesitated multiple times. Yet this boy's mental resistance was far above his own—the Memory Ghost's effect on him was absolutely zero.
Second, the boy wasn't the arcade owner's son at all. The arcade owner had lost his mind and committed suicide only after his son died. Yet this boy claimed his father was already dead when he was born. The timeline didn't match.
The little boy scratched his head. When he looked at Gao Tian again, a confused expression appeared on his face.
"Maybe I really have met you in the future.
"I don't know why, but seeing your face gives me a faint sense of affinity.
"Forget it, whatever. My teacher is coming to pick me up soon, so if you have any questions, ask them quickly.
"Once my teacher gets here, you won't be able to."
Among all the people Gao Tian currently knew, only one had ever mentioned having a "teacher".
But that wasn't right. It couldn't be that person—the age didn't match, and the timeline was wrong.
Knowing the Memory Ghost was completely useless against him, Gao Tian dropped the act and laid his cards on the table.
"What is your name?
"Who is your teacher?
"And why are you staying here, playing games all by yourself?"
The little boy was very well-behaved and earnestly answered Gao Tian's questions. But his answers hit like an earth-shattering thunderbolt.
The boy blinked.
"My name is Xu Yuan.
"Xu as in Xu Xian, Yuan as in abyss.
"As for why I'm here, I naturally came to play a few games after school while waiting for my teacher to finish his work and take me home.
"Ever since my parents died, I've lived at my teacher's house. He provides my food and drink, and teaches me how to exorcise ghosts. He's no different from my parents."
Cold sweat rolled down Gao Tian's forehead. He slowly backed away until he bumped into a machine behind him with a thud, finally stopping in his tracks.
How was this possible?
Xu Yuan was dead and was definitely a ghost now—Gao Tian knew this, of course. But how could this twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy in front of him be Xu Yuan?
Did they just share the same name?
The real Xu Yuan had completed ten Green Text Missions in the Living Apartment, and after leaving the apartment, he became the President of Galan Society (the Ghost Infant called him President in the Chat Group). On the day he was killed by a ghost in the Sapphire Mall, he must have been at least thirty years old. He couldn't possibly be an eleven- or twelve-year-old boy.
After Xu Yuan died, he turned into a ghost and stayed in the Chat Group. His remains were hidden in the mall, so even if his corpse reanimated, it should be a rotting body. How could it turn into a clean little boy?
Who exactly was this little boy claiming to be Xu Yuan?
For a moment, Gao Tian's mind was in total chaos. He couldn't understand what was happening. Was this a ghost's illusion, or...
He raised his Supernatural Walkie-Talkie, instinctively wanting to call Xia Ta for backup.
But when he pressed the call button, he was only met with a busy signal.
How was that possible...
These Supernatural Walkie-Talkies were specially treated. They could effectively resist the communication interference brought about by supernatural events.
Upon seeing him raise the walkie-talkie, the little boy casually remarked, "Are you trying to make a call?
"Don't bother, brother. Right now, you must have accidentally been swept into a spacetime vortex. You aren't in the same timeline as your original world. You won't be able to get a signal."
A spacetime vortex?
Gao Tian quickly forced himself to calm down. He observed his surroundings and noticed that at some unknown point, an incredibly thin white mist had begun welling up inside and outside the arcade. The mist swallowed everything around them. In the distance, figures passed through it, indistinct and hazy. If he moved just a bit closer, those figures dissipated like foam.
The arcade machine in front of the young Xu Yuan was also brand new and powered on. No wonder he had been able to play on it for so long.
Gao Tian instantly understood what had happened. After the boy's hint, everything clicked into place.
As unbelievable as it sounded, once you eliminated the impossible, whatever remained, no matter how bizarre, must be the truth.
Gao Tian had accidentally traveled through spacetime, returning to a point in the past to speak with Xu Yuan during his childhood.
The Xu Yuan of the normal timeline had lived into his thirties or forties before dying in a supernatural incident, after which his ghost lingered in the Chat Group. But the person Gao Tian was facing was the Xu Yuan of decades past. Back then, Xu Yuan was just a little boy. He hadn't died, he wasn't a ghost, and he certainly didn't know what would happen in the future.
Seeing Gao Tian's drastically changed expression, the young Xu Yuan realized his guess was correct. However, he didn't react much, acting as if he were used to all this.
"Are you very interested in my teacher's identity? Who is my teacher? To me, he's just my teacher. He isn't any 'who'.
"When I was young, I often saw things other people couldn't see. When I saw bloody corpses slowly crawling onto a patient's bed in a hospital ward, I knew that uncle wouldn't live long.
"But when I said those things out loud, the uncle really did die a few days later. Everyone thought I was a jinx, a harbinger of disaster. My parents were literally cursed to death by me. None of my remaining relatives were willing to take me in, and even at school, everyone isolated me and gave me nicknames."
He swallowed hard; recalling this experience seemed extremely painful for him. The young Xu Yuan continued, "Fortunately, I later met my teacher.
"My teacher told me that my ability is called the Ghost Eye. I'm not some jinx or bad omen, but a natural-born ghost hunter. I was born to do this line of work.
"My teacher was very strict with me, but also very loving. Every day, besides my normal schooling, I had to learn how to control my Ghost Eye to maximize my talent as much as possible.
"Later on, I discovered that the things I could see were no longer limited to various Fierce Ghosts. I could even see the future.
"For example—"
He raised his head, his gaze burning bright. The look he gave Gao Tian seemed intent on completely tearing away the fog behind him.
"You aren't the first person from the future to cross over and talk to me. But you are definitely the calmest.
"Most of the older brothers and sisters who accidentally entered my 'Domain' were absolutely terrified. They screamed and shouted, using all sorts of weird Supernatural Items on me. It seemed they mistook me for a murderous Fierce Ghost and only wanted to escape this place as fast as possible.
"No matter what I said, they wouldn't listen, much less try to communicate with me.
"One time, I met an adult who looked a lot like me. His companion outside the spacetime vortex called him Xu Yuan. I recognized him at a glance—that was the future me. I was so happy at the time, thinking that finally someone would understand me and talk to me here.
"But the result deeply disappointed me. The moment the thirty-year-old Xu Yuan saw me, he didn't recognize that I was him as a child. He was muttering something about a Green Text Mission trap and a ghost's illusion. He even pulled out strange Supernatural Items I had never seen before and tried to attack me."
At this point, the young Xu Yuan shook his head. A person couldn't even understand their own past self; what else in this world could possibly understand him?
He reached into his pocket, wanting to dig out another arcade token. But after rummaging around for a long time, he found he had already used them all up.
Gao Tian understood Xu Yuan's story.
The legend of the Ghost Eye wasn't uncommon. Children born with awakened special abilities could see the unclean things ordinary people couldn't from a young age. Gao Tian had heard of it many times in folktales and supernatural stories.
But Xu Yuan was a one-in-a-million genius. His eyes were far more than just that.
He could even see people who didn't exist in this era at all. To Gao Tian, he was the past; yet to Xu Yuan at this moment, Gao Tian was the future.
Xu Yuan had looked across the long river of time from afar and actually dragged Gao Tian—who was investigating the Sapphire Mall more than twenty years later—into a spacetime vortex. The two of them had found an intersection point at the exact same location but in different times.
Enviable. Comparing oneself to others was truly infuriating.
This kid had max-level talent straight from childhood.
"Since you came from the future...
"Can I ask you some questions?"
The young Xu Yuan sat in his seat, looking at the unfamiliar older brother across from him, and asked cautiously.
Gao Tian had originally thought it was his turn to ask the questions. But in the end, he still had to answer some questions for the Xu Yuan of the past.
He slowly accepted the fact that this little boy was from the past. After all, ghosts already existed in this world, so what was so strange about time travel?
The key was how to make use of this boy from the past to get things done. That was the crux of the problem.
It wasn't that he hadn't considered some malicious ideas—like whether killing the Xu Yuan of the past timeline would alter spacetime. For instance, the future ghost of Xu Yuan would cease to exist, and the Galan Society, which had gathered so many ghost users, wouldn't exist either. Consequently, he wouldn't have moved into the Living Apartment.
This entire chain reaction was all caused by the Xu Yuan right in front of him.
But Gao Tian quickly gave up on the idea.
The young Xu Yuan was a genius in the supernatural circle who was completely immune to the Memory Ghost's influence. What gave Gao Tian the confidence that he could kill him?
Furthermore, among the other adults who had been swept into the spacetime vortex, many had treated Xu Yuan like a ghost and tried to kill him.
But they had all failed.
"If you have questions, just ask.
"Whatever someone from my timeline knows, I will definitely tell you."