Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Ning Shuo stood still for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

“So that’s how it is.”

Truth be told, this Hypnosis Experiment that had disrupted part of his memory was indeed very realistic.

Unfortunately, it was too realistic-so realistic that they had even rendered the individual strands of hair.

One must realize that many things are exposed through the details.

This dream was indeed beautifully crafted.

Returning to the most regrettable, most unforgettable past that one most desired to revisit-what wonderful words.

What a pity it was constructed based on only a portion of his memories.

“You might not know this, but at this point in time, the one writing novels wasn’t actually me,” Ning Shuo said as he turned into the kitchen, picking up a handy kitchen knife and weighing it in his hand. “It was Rong Xi.”

Following his memory, Ning Shuo opened the door. Sure enough, standing outside was a man dressed in black, clutching a cleaver that was still dripping with blood.

As a Player, the sickly Ning Shuo was in slightly better physical shape than the medicine-chugging Ning Shuo of the past. At the very least, the man in black was completely unable to react to Player Ning Shuo’s movements. “Did you know? In my world, there’s a saying: a life for a life.”

Ning Shuo swung the knife down. The man in black slumped to the ground. Behind him was a burlap sack; the corner peeking out was nothing but a blur of bloody flesh-Rong Xi.

Ning Shuo kicked the incapacitated man aside and checked Rong Xi’s breathing.

…

“My condolences. Your caution was correct. The victim had already been murdered, and the killer had his phone. You weren’t in good health; given the situation at the time, if you had opened the door, you would have just been throwing your life away.”

“The victim’s primary crime scene was found in an alley two kilometers away. The reason the killer targeted the person who reported the crime was because the victim happened to be on the phone with someone at the time. We found the person on the other end-it was a moving company helping the reporter move. The victim showed proof that he knew the reporter, which is why they gave him the reporter’s address. The murderer used this to bring the victim to the reporter’s home, intending to create the illusion of a mutual struggle resulting in death.”

“Intermittent insanity? He had the presence of mind to stage a scene; I suspect there’s something wrong with his psychiatric certification.”

“Impossible. I will make him pay for this in blood.”

“Ning Shuo, you lunatic! Rong Xi was so good to you! What would it have hurt to just open the door and let him in?! Did you really trust him that little?!”

“Family member, please calm down. Rong Xi didn’t meet his end at his doorstep…”

“Even if he didn’t, what if? What if it really was Rong Xi outside the door? What if someone really was following him? Ning Shuo is a murderer!”

“He’s a jinx! Don’t you all know? Every time he says something that might cause someone trouble, they actually end up in trouble! Who knows if he cursed Rong Xi to die because they’d been out of touch for too long?!”

“…”

“Ning Shuo, you’re just a cold-blooded jinx.”

*Jinx.*

-*Holy crap, what’s with you? How is it that as soon as you say someone’s going to trip, they actually do? It didn’t look staged at all.*

-*Huh?? No way. You just said it might rain this afternoon, and it started pouring in the middle of a sunny day?*

-*Haha, I hope there never comes a day when you say someone’s going to die and they actually do.*

His Word Spirit only worked for bad things, to the point that Ning Shuo always had to use absolute logic to weigh every word he spoke when interacting with others.

Though he didn’t care about strangers and generally wouldn’t strike up a conversation with them, what if he hurt someone he knew?

What if he hurt Rong Xi?

Interacting with people like that was bound to be exhausting.

So Ning Shuo thought: let’s end it.

Then, not a few months after they cut ties, Rong Xi was innocently caught up in a madman’s frenzy while on his way to find him.

Facing the fury of Rong Xi’s family, Ning Shuo smiled. “It cannot be denied. In a situation where there was a seventy percent chance the person outside the door wasn’t Rong Xi, as long as there was a fifty percent chance my own life would be endangered, I would absolutely never open that door.”
Blood from his encounter with Rong Xi still stained his face, making the smile on Ning Shuo’s face appear even more sinister.

It was eerie and utterly cold-blooded.

“I’ve always known how selfish I am.”

Because of that selfishness, he had preferred to cut ties with Rong Xi rather than let himself be burdened.

Because of that selfishness, when he discovered the person outside the door wasn’t Rong Xi, his first priority was ensuring his own safety-even if Rong Xi might have met with an accident.

“Crazy… You’re a lunatic!”

…

Shouts from all directions mingled with memories, flooding back and being shoved into Ning Shuo’s mind like a tangled mess of thread.

It was the segment of memory that the System had temporarily sealed away.

Rong Xi was indeed dead.

Ning Shuo leaned against the door and called the police, just as he had in his memory.

The difference was that this time, there was an extra corpse before him.

However gruesome Rong Xi’s death had been, Ning Shuo made sure this person suffered even more.

Just like back then.

…

After Rong Xi was murdered, Ning Shuo left the police station and immediately sought out that mental patient.

They said the hospital where the patient resided was owned by his own family. Fresh lilies were placed in the ward, their fragrance carrying a sense of cleanliness.

Compared to Rong Xi’s corpse, the sight was jarringly bright.

He said nothing, only returning a smile when the patient looked at him with a giddy grin.

He appeared elegant and friendly, his voice soft as if he were making small talk with an old friend. “Tonight, in the dark of night where no one will notice, you will lose your footing and fall from the building. It just so happens there’s a lot of uncleaned glass down there.”

Under the man’s confused and contemptuous gaze, Ning Shuo took his leave with poise.

His jinxes weren’t always effective; he had tried it before.

Even when planned in advance, success was purely probabilistic. Planning ahead didn’t mean it was guaranteed to happen.

When Ning Shuo smiled at the man, he had merely glanced at the cup behind him. Before the thought in his mind had even fully formed, it had already been transformed into a vicious curse.

Ning Shuo thought that he truly was a born villain.

In that case, he might as well go all the way and be thoroughly wicked.

The next day, Ning Shuo returned.

He looked at the bandages wrapped around the man and said, “God bless. I hope you don’t take the wrong medicine; that would cause you unbearable pain.”

The third day. The fourth day.

Eventually, the man couldn’t take it anymore and finally committed suicide.

…

Time ticked away second by second. As the sound of police sirens wailed, the surrounding scenes faded into black and white, frame by frame, before finally dissolving into nothingness.

Ning Shuo opened his eyes. He was still in the room where he had undergone hypnosis.

The small town didn’t have air conditioning. When Ning Shuo first entered, he felt the room was a bit stuffy, so the Dreamweaver had turned on the ceiling fan.

The ceiling fan creaked. Ning Shuo looked up and saw someone hanging from it.

Actually, it could hardly be described as a person. It was just a lump of flesh. Two eyes glowing with a green light stared straight at him. Between its bared teeth, one could see bits of reddish meat-it was unclear if they were streaks of blood.

Ning Shuo: “…”

Without changing his expression, Ning Shuo got out of bed and used the faint candlelight in the room to find the ceiling fan switch.

Then, he turned it to the maximum setting.

The Ghost/Monster: “…”

The monster began to spin along with the fan blades. Ning Shuo acted as if he had simply turned on the fan because he was hot, then turned to face the person sitting on the seventh bed. “Host, can you resolve my problem now?”

The Dreamweaver acted as if he hadn’t seen Ning Shuo teasing a supernatural entity, maintaining his jolly smile. “I said I would resolve my troubles, not just yours alone.”

Ning Shuo smiled. “You mean I need to wake all five of them up too?”

“No, no, no. Direct external stimulation will turn them into idiots. You wouldn’t want your younger brother to become a fool, would you?”

Ning Shuo’s eyes lit up. “That’s not out of the question!”