Black-and-white images flickered indistinctly. In a dark alley, the frantic sound of someone running in panic echoed from near to far.
“Huff huff huff ”
In the narrow alley, a girl clamped a hand over her mouth, tears pooling in her eyes. She tried desperately to steady her breathing, yet she still couldn’t stop the short, shaky gasps escaping her lips.
“Where’d she go?”
In the alley right next to where the girl was hiding, a young man strolled past with two others, shouting loudly.
“Bai Bai? Why are you running? I’m not going to eat you!”
“Yeah don’t you know who Brother Lin is? Acting like some pure and innocent jade maiden all day long!” One of the men following him seemed to have long-held resentment and cursed crudely. “You little b*tch, sooner or later we’ll have our way with you!”
Hearing this, the young man didn’t seem bothered. He continued scanning the surroundings.
When he failed to notice the girl’s presence, gloom filled his ink-black eyes, and the irritation on his face could hardly be suppressed.
“Tch ”
The man clicked his tongue, threw his cigarette butt viciously onto the ground, and his footsteps gradually faded away.
Hearing them leave, the girl’s tense body suddenly went limp. She collapsed onto the ground, beads of sweat the size of beans falling straight down onto the pavement.
Just as she was about to let out a long breath of relief, the light in front of her was suddenly blocked by a large figure. A light chuckle came from above her head.
“Bai Bai I found you!”
“Ah!”
Qi Bai suddenly jolted awake from the bed.
When she realized it was a dream, instead of relaxing, the weight in her chest grew even heavier.
“The twenty-ninth day…”
Her lifeless eyes stared at the calendar marked with circles.
Ever since she had the same nightmare three nights in a row, she had started marking the calendar. Now this was the twenty-ninth time she’d had the dream.
The content of the dream wasn’t always the same. Sometimes it took place on a campus, sometimes in narrow alleyways, and sometimes… in a sea of fire.
Usually she couldn’t remember the details clearly. The only images that stayed vivid in her mind were running away, confessions, stalking, voyeurism, and being burned by fire.
The dark alley, the silent screams, the scorching heat, twisted faces, agonized shrieks… these scenes often lingered even after she woke up.
Qi Bai looked at the soaked bed sheets with a headache. The exhaustion in her heart made her realize she was reaching her limit.
“If… if I have this dream again tomorrow, I’ll go draw a fortune at the Dust Temple.”
She made the decision with difficulty. If the dream hadn’t already begun affecting her real life, she would never have spent the time praying to gods and Buddha.
After all, how could a broke corporate slave have the leisure to seek spiritual comfort?
Even getting a single day off was rare enough sleep itself was already a luxury.
Soon night once again enveloped the land. The noise of the city couldn’t soothe the exhaustion of its overworked office workers, and sleep quickly crept over Qi Bai.
“Please… let me have a good dream.”
Her prayer seemed to work. She soon found herself in a beautiful park filled with sunshine, singing birds, and fragrant flowers.
In high spirits, she enjoyed the river breeze brushing past her as she gazed at the shimmering water along the riverbank, feeling utterly at ease.
However, that pleasant mood was abruptly shattered by a sudden uproar of confession-like cheering.
A powerful palpitation surged in Qi Bai’s chest. A bone-chilling sense of fate suddenly swept through her entire body.
No way…
Just as she feared, the absurd confession scene unfolded on cue, like a bomb set to explode at a predetermined time. No matter how much she didn’t want to believe it, the countdown kept ticking.
“Say yes! Say yes! Say yes!”
At some point, a crowd had gathered, excitedly cheering toward the man and woman standing in the center of the circle.
Qi Bai refused to look more closely and turned her face away.
The suffocating pressure in her chest made it hard to breathe. Fear and anger clashed within her heart she couldn’t even tell which emotion was stronger.
The next second, the bullet finally struck her heart.
A sudden, piercing female scream stabbed into her ears. An indescribable pain spread through her chest.
What a heart-rending scream it was! In an instant it seized her heart tightly, sending chills down her spine.
It came from the burning woman.
She had originally worn a white gauze dress, but now only the lower half of the skirt still showed faint traces of white.
The human-shaped fireball rolled wildly on the ground. She had no time to care about the exposed skin; the flames had burned her body so badly that raw flesh was already visible.
The people who had been cheering earlier had already run far away.
No one tried to put out the fire.
No one blamed or cursed the instigator shouting angrily nearby.
They acted as if it had nothing to do with them. Some even fanned the flames thinking the scene amusing, they actually pulled out their phones and filmed the girl’s agonizing suffering.
The oil had been poured by that man.
The fire had been lit by that man.
Ordering people to record the video had also been his command.
He was the one who had confessed.
It was him! It was him! So it was him!!!
Rage surged violently in Qi Bai’s chest. This high-and-mighty executioner who treated others as toys this bastard turtle grandson who had caused her a month of nightmares!
Today she absolutely wouldn’t let him go!
Qi Bai grabbed a rotten wooden stick as thick as a wrist and rushed toward that scumbag. Her arm traced a graceful arc before she brought the stick down decisively toward his head.
Yet she didn’t hear the man’s scream of pain.
The stick didn’t strike its target as she expected. When it touched his body, it passed through like a holographic projection, offering no resistance at all.
When the strike failed, Qi Bai irritably waved the stick through the air a few times before gradually calming down.
But she didn’t notice that the scenery of the world had begun fading ever since she took action.
First, the cloudless blue sky slowly turned grayish white, losing its vividness and life.
Then the riverbanks on both sides, from far to near, looked as though a black-and-white filter had been applied.
The air suddenly seemed to freeze. The entire world fell silent.
“Can you help me?”
A ghostly, drifting voice sounded.
“Help me… help me…”
Qi Bai suddenly startled. A chill crept up the back of her neck, as if she were being watched by a predator.
She turned her head.
A face covered in pus and blood, with rotting flesh exposing bone, stared straight at her…
“Ahhhhhh help!”
Qi Bai woke up in shock once again!
“Will this ever end?! Do I seriously have a ghost haunting me or something?!”
Her mentality had completely collapsed. Anyone would break down after having nightmares about the same person every night.
She leapt out of bed and immediately began searching online for things to pay attention to when praying to gods and Buddha, while also planning her schedule for the next day.
After all, with no father’s care and no mother’s love, caring about her own life and health had long since become instinct.
As for that lousy job whoever wants it can go do it!