Chapter 62 Revisiting Old Haunts

  The feeling of revisiting old haunts isn't always wonderful. Take this place, for instance - apart from stirring up bitter memories and a string of questions, it has no effect that's remotely uplifting.

  "That day, we clearly took a two-hour bus ride to get here, so why did the police say this place doesn't exist, and now it's suddenly appearing right in front of us?" I asked, bewildered, as those long-held doubts in my heart began to stir up again.

  "This is another world, situated between the realms of yin and yang. Everything you see, touch and feel once truly existed in reality. Time has left them outside of history, so you can stand here but cannot find their whereabouts." As he spoke, he picked up a leaf, blew on it gently, and the tender green leaf instantly turned gray, crumbling into tiny pieces that drifted away with the breeze, flying towards the center of the lake.

  Hou Dàyǒng said these mysterious things, I half understand. No matter whether I am in the world of the living or the dead, what I want to know is if my sister is here or not. Other questions seem meaningless to me. Just as I was about to ask, he spoke again: "You want to know if your sister is here, right?"

  He smiled faintly and continued, "This place looks small but is actually very large. I can confirm that they are here, but I don't know their exact location, so I need your help because you're her only blood relative."

  Still don't quite understand what he's saying, but I can confirm that my sister is here, and my heart has settled down a bit, at least I won't make the same mistake of misunderstanding again.

  We had stopped at the lakeside, and Hou Dayong turned around to close the door. Wang Jue and I curiously turned our heads to take a look at this mysterious door. But behind us, except for a thick bush, there was nothing else.

  Two pairs of eyes stared at him in surprise, and he nodded reassuringly, "Don't worry, I'll take you out after we're done."

  Then we followed him and started walking along the lake shore.

  The small villa in the center of the lake was no different from before, only with a slightly more airflow above it, like a whirlpool swirling on the roof. If this scene were seen in reality, people would surely think it was a tornado. If it really was a tornado, the villa should have been torn to pieces in just a few seconds. However, it stood there steadily and calmly.

  It was still a long way, winding and turning, and I didn't know how long it took until my legs were sore before arriving at the villa. Hou Dàyǒng wasn't wrong at all, this place looked small but was actually very spacious.

  It's still that door, and it's still Uncle Ou who opens the door. He's still wearing those glasses, and the entrance is still the same as before. Everything seems unchanged from that day, as if Hou Daxiong and I had just left for a moment. I even thought that walking through the corridor lined with photo frames to the study would be like that day, and I'd see Bai Huacheng elegantly sipping tea in the courtyard. What mental hospital, what Gu worm, what zombies, what ghosts? All those things were just illusions. After leaving this villa, I went back to school as usual, attended classes every day, and dozed off in class as usual. Hou Daxiong and Bai Huacheng are still my two new friends from the first day of school. This is the illusion that time brings to people - if nothing changes, even after staying here for a hundred years, you won't feel anything.