I can rewind time to prevent death - Chapter 358 - Chapter 358: Chapter 290: Spirits (1)

Chapter 358: Chapter 290: Spirits (1)

Yan Junze didn’t say anything, he could hear that Zhang Xiaomo was very anxious as she spoke on the other end of the phone, and after hanging up, he immediately took a taxi to Tianmeng City District.

Upon arrival at the city district, Zhang Xiaomo and the others were not in the city, but at another end of the city district near the outskirts.

Yan Junze didn’t get out of the car, but directly took the car to a three-story old-style building, which was the latest location Zhang Xiaomo had sent him.

The building was very old, built with old-fashioned corridor layouts; the corridors were close to the street side, usually, if someone were to hang any clothes there, the dust raised by passing vehicles would completely cover them.

Yan Junze got out of the car and stood in front of the old building, looking up to see that some residents’ doors were broken, half-open, while some had no doors at all.

From the looks of it, it seemed like no one lived here anymore, possibly because the building had been marked as a dangerous structure.

Soon, Yan Junze noticed that at the far end of the second floor, there were two doors that were firmly closed, their condition good, and their style incongruous with the surroundings, seemingly newly installed.

Yan Junze checked the Spacetime Atlas with his Inner Vision, as he had been searching for the location of the space-time rift recently, consuming a shocking amount of Different Dimension Energy, and at this moment, he had slightly over 2000 points of energy left.

This was because, on the route here, he had dared not release the Dimensional Energy to search for the space-time rift. Usually, once he had used Dimensional Energy and the remaining energy approached around 2000 points, he would force himself to stop and wait for the energy to slowly recover.

Now with slightly over 2000 points of energy available for use, it seemed there should be no problem handling the tricky situation Zhang Xiaomo had mentioned.

Just as he was about to go upstairs, his phone rang; it was Zhang Xiaomo calling.

After Yan Junze answered, he heard her voice deliberately lowered, quietly asking, “Are you here yet?”

“I’m here, at the bottom of the building, on which floor are you?” Yan Junze asked.

“Second floor, the penultimate room at the end of the corridor,” Zhang Xiaomo replied, still keeping her voice very low, “Don’t come up yet, think it over because this mission is very dangerous.”

Yan Junze was taken aback, sensing something different in Zhang Xiaomo’s voice, he asked, “How dangerous?”

“The mission level was misrated,” Zhang Xiaomo said. “We only realized later that what was originally rated as an E-level mission should now be C-level, and it could even escalate to B-level at any moment.”

“Did you inform higher-level Exorcists, like Old Guo?” Yan Junze exclaimed in surprise.

“Uncle Guo went to Huaying District for physical rehabilitation training. There are also two four-star Exorcists: one is guarding the Spirit Bridge in Mo Family Village as it fades away, and another left a month ago with the four-star Exorcists from Tianyi District–Shi Tai and his team–on a mission and has not returned.”

Zhang Xiaomo’s voice was calm, suggesting a current sense of safety, but still very soft, “We believe that to complete this task, having a higher-level Exorcist won’t be very helpful. This thing is very strange, so you were the first person I thought of. Perhaps only you can resolve this crisis.”

Yan Junze nodded, “I’m coming up now.”

“Tread lightly, and when you come up, don’t speak loudly,” Zhang Xiaomo said, ending the call.

Yan Junze immediately went upstairs from the staircase next to him. The steps of the staircase were somewhat broken and not wide enough, so he had to be very careful not to twist his ankle or slip.

He moved carefully, and upon reaching the second floor, he didn’t continue to the third floor but moved slowly toward the new doors at the far end of the second-floor corridor.

The building was old, but the floor was still very sturdy. Yan Junze didn’t make a sound as he moved forward, coming to a stop in front of the first closed door at the end of the corridor.

Counting from the inside out, this was precisely the second-to-last room.

Just as Yan Junze was about to listen for any abnormal sounds nearby, the clearly newly installed door slowly opened inward, and a head peeked out through the crack, looking outward.

Yan Junze recognized him–it was Zhang Di.

Upon seeing Yan Junze, Zhang Di made a gesture for silence, moved back inside the room, and gestured for Yan Junze to enter.

Yan Junze didn’t hesitate, stepping sideways into the room, and as he did, the light dimmed and the door closed behind him.

The curtains in the room were all drawn, and he could barely make out Zhang Xiaomo standing in front of him, frowning slightly.

Looking back, there was only Zhang Di, who had just let him in.

Yan Junze asked in a low voice, “Why not turn on the light?”

It seemed like there was no one else in the room, and he didn’t understand why they would prefer to stay in the dark.

Zhang Xiaomo pulled him to the corner window on the wall, the position farthest away from the last room next door, and then leaned close to Yan Junze’s ear to whisper, “Next door is our mission target, he’s very sensitive, very cautious, we can’t let his emotions fluctuate at all, otherwise all of us would be in great danger.”

Yan Junze was momentarily stunned, “You two, working together, can’t handle this guy? How long has this strangeness been dead?”

Zhang Xiaomo shook her head, “He’s not a strangeness, he’s not dead.”

“Ah!” Yan Junze was somewhat confused, “If he’s not dead, then he’s a living person; he can’t be a zombie. Could it be that this person is a Spirit Cultivator, and either extremely vicious or has a gun?”

Zhang Di joined in, lowering his voice, “He doesn’t have anything, simply empty-handed, but very terrifying. These past two days we haven’t been able to get near him at all.”

“Have you ever heard of Dead Spirits?” Zhang Xiaomo asked.

“Dead Spirits?” Yan Junze’s memory was jogged.

He remembered when he first started school, he had heard the chairman and others from the Strangeness Association mention that strangenesses were usually referred to as Dead Spirits, and that there was another kind different from strangenesses called Living Spirits.

There was once a Putsinger experiment, which was conducted by a professor named Putsinger from the Great Capital of USA, where a living person with an exceptionally developed brain wave and a severed arm was locked in a room and subjected to brain stimulation by a powerful magnetic field.

After being stimulated, seven days later, this man grew a new arm from where his had been severed, although the arm was deformed and had lost many normal functions, it was purely created by the magnetic field stimulation, resulting from the man’s mental intentions.

Recalling this experiment, Yan Junze spoke to Zhang Xiaomo, “Are you saying that the man next door can cause himself to mutate with his mind?”

“You’re underestimating Living Spirits,” Zhang Di took over, “We don’t call it intention, but a special kind of Obsession. But this man’s Obsession is very strong, very terrifying, Xiaomo and I are completely unable to resist it, and it’s useless how many people come.”

“Initially, based on the mission information feedback, we didn’t even know this was a Living Spirit.” Zhang Xiaomo pouted slightly, somewhat aggrieved.

“What is his Obsession? Is it not to turn himself into a monster?” Junze wondered.

“If only it were that simple,” Xiaomo shook her head, “He’s very sensitive and loves to fantasize. When we went to the airport to pick him up, there was nothing abnormal at first, but while sitting in the back seat of the car, I always felt a hand resting on my shoulder. You know, there was no one behind me; Zhang Di was driving in front, and that guy was sitting in the passenger seat.”

“And then?” Junze asked in surprise.

“Just as I was about to turn around to look, I heard that guy suddenly start talking.”

“What did he say?”

“He said, ‘Don’t turn around, there’s something terrifying behind you, don’t ever turn around,’” Xiaomo said with lingering fear. “I was startled, but my first thought was that some fierce strangeness was clinging to him, and now, after we picked him up, this uninformed strangeness had actually found its way to Exorcists.”

“So, you turned around to look?” Junze asked.

“No, my hand lashed out with a blade,” Xiaomo said with a slight smile, pretending not to see Junze’s quietly raised thumb.

“What was behind you?” Junze inquired curiously.

“A woman, with a face terrifying indeed, her features as if they were melting like wax, all slowly drifting downward. But with that one slice, I severed her head too, it’s just…” she paused for a moment. “Not long after I beheaded her, the severed head started to disappear bit by bit right before my eyes, eventually leaving no trace at all.”

“Did you manage to capture any residual energy from that strangeness?” Junze quickly asked.

Zhang Xiaomo also had a badge, but it was a silver one issued for official members. In the past, every time a strangeness was killed, a bit of the residual magnetic field energy of that strangeness would be collected by the badge, allowing for payment per case upon return.

This was why Junze asked the question.

Zhang Xiaomo nodded, “I used the badge to collect it, but I got nothing.”

“No magnetic field energy?” Junze was surprised.

“None,” Zhang Di took over, “Later we came to know that the strangeness appearing behind Xiaomo, was a figment of this man’s imagination.”

“Ah!” Junze almost exclaimed, quickly covering his mouth.

He never could have imagined that such a Living Spirt, this man’s special Obsession, could be so powerful as to conjure up a strangeness out of thin air.

“Did this guy show any other anomalies later on?” Junze asked.

Zhang Xiaomo seemed reluctant to recall, letting out a light sigh, “You can’t imagine how we held out until here, that guy’s various thoughts kept emerging endlessly, but he couldn’t control them and seemed in great pain. By the time we got here, I had killed at least twenty strangenesses.”

“I took down a dozen or so,” Zhang Di added.

Only then did Junze notice Xiaomo’s bandaged arm, due to the insufficient light in the room; he had not realized it until now and asked with concern, “Are you hurt?”

“It’s not too serious,” Xiaomo shook her head, “We called you because the things this guy imagines are getting more and more bizzare and even stronger in strength; Zhang Di and I can’t hold out much longer.”

“Why did you lock him in the room next door?” Junze walked to the wall.

“That room is our secret detention room, completely sealed, without light, and with an isolating magnetic field. He said he could find peace of mind inside, and indeed, after he went in, he fantasized a lot less,” Zhang Di explained.

“After he went in, did he still imagine strangenesses attacking you?” Junze frowned.

“There were two times, but no attacking strangenesses appeared; instead, very odd… things did,” Zhang Di seemed at a loss for words.

During the conversation, he unconsciously reached to touch the back of his neck, as if there was still something uncomfortable sticking to it.

Junze breathed a sigh of relief, “I think, I more or less understand the whole process of events now. By the way, before I came in, has it always been just the two of you here?”

“Yeah.” Zhang Di nodded.

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“Then…” Junze stretched out his hand pointing towards a still silhouette standing in a dark corner near the door, “who is he?”

Following the direction of his finger, Xiaomo looked over and let out a cry of alarm, but she quickly suppressed the shout, then covered her mouth with her hand.

In the vague darkness, she indeed saw, in the corner not far from the door, a silhouette standing there.

But before she could get a clearer look, Junze had already withdrawn his gaze, looking towards Zhang Di, asking, “And… who are you?”

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