Ah! Li Lingling had never seen so many graves before. She screamed in fright and buried her face in Lingyun's shoulder, refusing to look up again. In fact, she had completely fainted when she was caught in the shadows, and had no idea how she got there, so she felt no fear.
Ling Yun used his telekinesis to support the bodies of several girls, and then tightly embraced Li Lingling. They struggled back the way they had come. He wasn't worried about getting lost; the route they had taken was permanently etched in his mind. However, with so many people with him on the way back, their speed was significantly reduced.
As dawn was breaking, the group of six finally approached the city.
Chapter Eleven: The Yellow Book
Ling Yun gently placed the several unconscious girls by the roadside, then used his telekinesis to check on them, only feeling relieved after confirming they were still alive. (This area was close to the city center; although there were no pedestrians, vehicles occasionally passed by, and he absolutely couldn't let anyone else know about his special ability.)
He thought for a moment, then gently shook Li Lingling, who was still tightly holding him as he drifted off to sleep. Li Lingling hadn't eaten or drunk anything for a day and a night, and her body was very weak. Coupled with the ordeal along the way, when she learned that she could be by her beloved's side, her heart had already relaxed, and she had unknowingly fallen asleep in Lingyun's arms.
It took Ling Yun a while to wake her up. Half-opening her eyes, she mumbled, "Ling Yun, are we home yet? Take me home, I'm so tired and sleepy."
Looking at the girl's haggard face, Lingyun felt a pang of pity and said softly, "Lingling, I can't take you home."
"What!" Li Lingling's eyes widened suddenly. She struggled to get out of Ling Yun's arms and said pitifully, "Why can't you take me home, Ling Yun? Don't you want me anymore? Do you think I'm a burden?"
"That's not how it is, Lingling, listen to me." Lingyun quickly explained, then whispered a few words to Li Lingling.
"Oh, I see." Li Lingling's face showed a look of sudden realization, and she nodded, saying, "I understand, I'll listen to you."
Lingyun was a little worried: "Lingling, you must remember that I have superpowers. You must not tell anyone. Just do as I say. What we experienced was too bizarre. We must not let anyone know."
The girl smiled sweetly, covering her mouth, her fleeting charm as bright and captivating as a lotus flower in the morning: "I know, I'm not that stupid. Go ahead and don't worry. Remember to come see me when you get back to the city."
"Hmm." Ling Yun seemed completely oblivious to the girl's unexpected beauty, as if he hadn't even noticed it. He turned and left the main road.
Li Lingling watched his retreating figure disappear quickly into the distant grass, then slowly turned her head, gazing blankly towards the path he had taken. A morning breeze swept by, and the girl felt a slight chill, involuntarily recalling Ling Yun's warm embrace.
Ling Yun didn't go far before stopping behind a large tree, cautiously peering towards Li Lingling's location. To avoid being discovered, Ling Yun decided to avoid the situation. However, he couldn't abandon Li Lingling and the other girls. Therefore, he had instructed Li Lingling to wait alone by the roadside so he could stop a passing vehicle, thus rescuing her without being noticed.
The police will definitely question her about the girl's disappearance, but this will be easy to cover up. Li Lingling only needs to say that she was unconscious the whole time, and when she woke up, she found herself lying on a suburban highway. She can claim to know nothing else. The cemetery incident is too horrifying, and it possesses mysterious powers unknown to the public; Ling Yun doesn't want the public to know about it.
Although it was early morning, a white minivan soon drove up from the city center. Ling Yun saw Li Lingling walk to the middle of the road and wave. The minivan stopped, and a middle-aged driver in his forties got out. Li Lingling went over and said a few words to him. Soon, the driver carried several unconscious girls into the minivan one by one, and finally Li Lingling also got into the minivan.
The minivan made a U-turn on the highway and sped towards the city center along the same route it had come from.
Ling Yun waited until the minivan disappeared at the end of the road before emerging from behind the big tree and heading towards the city.
It was 9:15 AM when they got home. Ling Yun hadn't slept all night, traveling dozens of kilometers with several girls and engaging in a life-or-death battle with the shadow monster. Yet, he felt neither tired nor sleepy; on the contrary, he felt even more energetic and vibrant. His mental state was completely different from before. Even when Ling Yun first gained his superpowers, he still needed to rest every night.
Because they had informed him the night before, and Lingyun hadn't returned home all night, his parents didn't think much of it, assuming he was just playing at a classmate's house. They went to work as usual, leaving only a note telling him that the food was in the refrigerator and he could heat it up himself if he wanted.
Ling Yun wasn't hungry, so he picked up his phone and called Zhang Yunfeng to tell him that Li Lingling had returned. But to Ling Yun's surprise, Zhang Yunfeng's phone was switched off, whereas he usually kept it on 24/7.
When the call didn't go through, Ling Yun simply stopped trying and sent a text message, figuring that Zhang Yunfeng would call him back sooner or later anyway.
He sat on the bed, carefully recalling every detail of his strange encounter the previous night. This was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre event since gaining his supernatural abilities. The mysterious cemetery, the strange tomb array, and the magical ancient lampstand and powerful yet terrifying shadows within the enormous tomb—all of it formed a huge question mark that lingered in his mind for a long time.
Especially that shadow, which almost cost him his life. If it weren't for his mental energy field breaking through in the final desperate situation, he would probably be a cold corpse in the tomb with the girls right now, never to see the light of day again. Thinking of this, Ling Yun couldn't help but shudder.
Although he ultimately defeated the shadow, Ling Yun still doesn't know what it was. Furthermore, the black energy it transformed into disappeared into Li Lingling's body. This makes Ling Yun uneasy. Although Li Lingling has remained normal since regaining consciousness, who knows if the shadow might re-emerge from her body and take control again?
The thought filled Ling Yun with irritation. He deeply felt his own weakness and powerlessness. Having gained superpowers, he was already in a world far beyond that of ordinary people, like an ordinary person suddenly learning amazing magic. But that was only relative to ordinary people. Once he transcended the mundane realm and encountered incomprehensible things, Ling Yun immediately felt his own insignificance and fear of the unknown.
It's a pity that the old lampstand wasn't brought back with us; otherwise, a closer examination might have yielded new discoveries. Ling Yun thought with some regret that he had been too eager to leave that awful place, the cemetery, and hadn't bothered with the lampstand.
An invisible spiritual force field penetrated the wall and easily opened the kitchen refrigerator door. Then, a can of cola flew out of thin air, deftly turning and passing through the automatically opening bedroom door. It floated leisurely above Ling Yun, and with a soft bang, the cola bottle opened automatically. Then, the can tilted slightly in the air, and the black, icy liquid trickled out, pouring into Ling Yun's open mouth without spilling a drop.
Unbeknownst to him, Ling Yun's telekinetic control had improved considerably. Just last night, he couldn't have done it so naturally and gracefully. Several iron spoons flew out from the exquisite white cupboard, dancing a beautiful, nameless dance on the ceiling of Ling Yun's house. Ling Yun could even spare the energy to plug the TV into the power outlet and then gently tap the remote control with his mind, changing channels one by one.
Only now did Ling Yun feel completely relaxed. Looking at the bright sun outside the window and recalling what happened last night, Ling Yun felt as if he had been through another world.
He lay comfortably on the bed, the empty Coke can being tossed into the kitchen trash can by his mental power. The iron spoon was still dancing on the ceiling, only now it had changed its form, continuously drawing the Chinese characters "Ling Yun is a great hero." In Ling Yun's eyes, those characters carried silver threads unique to his mental energy field, their trajectory clearly visible.
He rolled over and suddenly felt something hard in his pocket. As if remembering something, he abruptly sat up. His telekinetic power dissipated instantly, and the iron spoon went out of control, clattering to the ground.
Ling Yun carefully took out a thin, yellow booklet from his shirt pocket. It was the same ancient book he had grabbed from the corner of the nameless coffin last night.
The yellow book was only the size of the picture books Ling Yun used to read as a child, thin with just a few pages. It was pale yellow all over, and the first page had no markings or text. Ling Yun noticed that although it had been sealed in the coffin, the yellow book was unusually clean, without a trace of dust or stains. Moreover, although it was only a thin book, it felt quite heavy in his hands.
Ling Yun gently ran his fingers along the cover of the yellow book. The sensation told him that it was definitely not made of paper. It was not only sturdy but also exceptionally soft, though he didn't know what material it was. Moreover, it had been rolled up and squeezed in his pocket, but when he took it out, the yellow book had no creases or wrinkles.
He slowly opened the yellow book, only to be greatly disappointed. Every page, like the first page, was a completely blank pale yellow. There were no words or markings, as if it were a brand new blank notebook, waiting for someone to fill in the words.
The booklet had seven pages in total. But even on the last page, Ling Yun didn't find anything useful. Undeterred, he flipped through it again from the beginning, but still found nothing.
"Could my intuition be wrong?" Ling Yun frowned as he looked at the booklet, muttering to himself. The process of obtaining the yellow book last night vividly resurfaced in his mind once again. Since gaining his superpower, Ling Yun's memory had become astonishingly permanent, remembering every single detail clearly.
There was definitely a voice calling to him from the depths of his being. Although Ling Yun didn't know what that call was, his perception of his mental energy field was unmistakable. Moreover, when he grabbed the book, Ling Yun clearly felt an unusual fluctuation within it. However, time was of the essence, and Ling Yun couldn't examine it further.
But now, the yellow book is clearly just an ordinary book without any words. Apart from its special material, it is nothing different.
Wait, no words? A vague thought flashed through Ling Yun's mind. Perhaps this yellow book wasn't meant to be read with the eyes. He seemed to understand something. So he closed his eyes, unleashing his full mental energy field, which touched the yellow book.
Strange things happened.
The moment the yellow book came into contact with Ling Yun's mental field, it suddenly emitted a pale yellow light, as if a yellow light bulb had been turned on. Then, the yellow book automatically floated up from Ling Yun's palm and hovered at eye level. The yellow light flashed, and the book automatically turned its pages, with a rustling sound, until it reached the last page in the blink of an eye.
Ling Yun watched this scene intently. It seemed his triggering method was correct; the yellow book did indeed react to telekinesis. He just didn't know what he would see next. His mental energy field wrapped around the yellow book strand by strand, almost completely enveloping it.
A powerful surge of energy emanated from the yellow book, blocking out all external perception. Ling Yun suddenly felt the yellow book growing larger, and in the blink of an eye, it became infinitely tall. In an instant, his perception was filled with a pale yellow world.
Chapter Twelve Mysterious Barrier
Everything around him had changed drastically; Ling Yun found himself suddenly in a strange world.
There was no sky, no earth, and no scenery; all that met the eye was a pale yellow that stretched to infinity. Lingyun felt as if he had entered a desert, but he didn't feel any solid ground beneath his feet. It was as if he were walking on thin air, yet he didn't fall. This feeling was truly wondrous.