Tiefe Illusion

Kapitel 26

"Connection point?" Although I still didn't understand what was going on, if this was one of the ways to break the formation, I had to give it a try. I looked at Li Hai, then at Fang Lei, gritted my teeth, and said, "Then I'll go down and find it!"

"No!" Fang Lei grabbed me and said, "You don't know any magic at all. Going down there is like committing suicide, you know? Besides, do you even know what a connection point is?"

"Then tell me." I pushed Fang Lei away from my arms and grabbed her shoulders.

"I don't know!" Fang Lei shook her head vigorously and said, "It could be a corpse, or it could be an object that is related to the whole truth, or even more likely..." Fang Lei stopped there.

"What's more likely?" I asked, wiping away the tears from Fang Lei's eyes.

"You know, it's more likely to be death. This formation has been lost for too long, anything can happen. But I don't want any possibility of losing you!" Fang Lei hugged me tightly again, her warm body trembling with tension and worry.

I didn't speak, but simply hugged Fang Lei tightly, inhaling the unique fragrance of her hair. It's so good to have a warm body, so good to be alive. So I won't let you die, Fang Lei. We have so many things to do together, like getting married, like having children. I even want you to have a child like us! Fighting back tears, I looked into Fang Lei's eyes, which glistened with tears. I gently patted her shoulder and said, "No, you won't lose me. I promise!"

I let go of Fang Lei and took a step back. Fang Lei didn't try to persuade me anymore, but just smiled at me and said, "I'll wait for you to come back."

Nodding, I turned and rushed towards the blood pool.

※ ※ ※

Red, still red. My eyes seemed to have been dyed red, the blood stinging my eyeballs with each spurt. But even though I was in the blood, I found I could still breathe. My body continued to sink, the bottom of the red blood a bottomless black abyss. This pool of blood felt like a deep sea. I'd been sinking for five or six minutes, but there was nothing around me except fragments of human flesh. My skin felt cold and sticky, with a corrosive pain, as if countless steel needles were piercing my body. I was starting to see stars.

The deeper I sank, the more subtle the surrounding silence became, like a mixture of crying and laughter, as if a fleeting moment in life, where all the sorrow and joy simultaneously assaulted me. I felt my heart overflowing with countless emotions, my thoughts becoming muddled, countless memories replaying like a slideshow. The pricking sensation on my skin intensified, as if the needles had pierced my muscles and entered my veins, the pain throughout my body becoming unbearable.

The descent accelerated, until it felt like falling from a great height, with the scenery rushing past me. The surrounding pressure intensified, and I could hear the churning of my internal organs.

Suddenly, darkness engulfed me, and the suffocating feeling made my head spin. After a long while, when I opened my eyes again, I found myself in a body of water, clear and cold, but no longer the red blood. Looking up more closely, I was overjoyed—this was Heart Lake! Indeed, life contains death, and only in death can one find life!

I took a deep breath, swung my arms, and the pain all over my body was gone. I quickly swam to the shore, and my feet finally touched solid ground again. The lake shimmered with silver moonlight in the night, as bright as a sparkling diamond. Yes, the terrifying is often beautiful; my sister's words were proven true once again. I shook the water droplets off my hair and walked deeper into the woods.

"Boss, this chick's got some serious firepower!" A lewd voice came from deep within the dense forest, mixed with a woman's painful and indistinct moans. I cautiously approached, hiding behind a large tree, and peered towards the source of the sound.

I saw a man with monkey-like cheeks, a pointed mouth, and small eyes, lewdly grinning at a more handsome man with thick eyebrows and large eyes. What surprised me most was that a pair of long, bare woman's legs emerged from a bush, and a man with his pants pulled down to his knees was thrusting on top of her—it was clear they were up to no good. Unfortunately, the bushes completely obscured their upper bodies, so I couldn't see their faces at all.

I frowned. I hadn't expected anyone to do something like this in a place like this. What troubled me was whether I should immediately turn back to find the connection point or step forward and be a hero. If I went out now, it would definitely delay my search for the connection point, but if I left, it would go against my conscience. However, Fang Lei's words about waiting for me to return and Li Hai's struggling appearance made me suppress the urge to rush out and be a hero. After all, Fang Lei and Li Hai were far more important than this woman I hadn't even seen. Besides, who knew if this woman was willing or forced? These days, relationships between men and women are often very casual; what if I rushed out and ruined her plans? Thinking this, I tried to comfort myself with a bit of self-deception, and then prepared to retreat.

"Aijun, are you done yet? Let me do it one more time!" The man with the pointed mouth and monkey-like face shouted at the man who was working hard, and the name he called out made me stop in my tracks as if I had been frozen in place.

"Alright, alright." The man climbed off the woman, pulling up his pants as he said to the man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, "Senior, please don't tell my girlfriend Zhao Di, or she'll kill me."

The man with the pointed face and monkey-like features immediately pushed the other man aside, unzipped his pants, and was about to have sex with him.

"Zhongguo, are you still up to the task?" The man with thick eyebrows and big eyes ignored the man who was speaking to him and instead smiled ambiguously at the man with the pointed mouth and monkey-like face.

Ai Jun? Zhong Guo? Zhao Di? These familiar names immediately made me dizzy. Weren't they all dead? And who was that man with thick eyebrows and big eyes? Could it be that this wasn't the era I was in before, but rather that I had returned to the past? Countless questions made me lose my balance and sway backward, accidentally bumping into a tree branch behind me with a snap.

"Who goes there?" Yu Zhongguo shouted at me warily as he pulled up his pants. The other two men also looked in my direction alertly.

I knew now was not the time to run away. This was very likely the connection point between the gates of life and death. Thinking of this, I calmed down. Since passing through this blood pool had brought me back to the past, wasn't this the perfect opportunity to find out the truth?

I stepped forward and confronted them. Mao Aijun immediately blushed and fearfully hid behind the man whose name I didn't yet know. The man, however, remained calm and composed, watching me without any surprise at my appearance. Yu Zhongguo, on the other hand, looked terrified and uneasy, trying desperately to hide it, which only made his already unsightly face even more distorted.

I glanced at them and took another step forward, but Yu Zhongguo immediately blocked my way. Staring intently at him, my gaze made him involuntarily shift his body. And I finally saw the woman lying in the bushes. Although I had somewhat expected it, I was still deeply stunned when I finally saw her.

Chapter Fifty-Six: Who is he?

Her body, as white as cream, was covered in shocking patches of reddish-purple bruises. Her hands and feet were bound with leather straps, and it seemed they had been there for some time, leaving bloody marks where the straps had been applied. Her legs hung limply, spread apart, offering no concealment despite being spied on by several large men. The white, cloudy fluid there testified to the abuse she had suffered. Her pale, tear-streaked face and empty, numb eyes clenched my heart. Was this the same Lin Yuyan, the peerless beauty on stage? Was this still the ethereal, sorrowful Lin Yuyan? Now she lay there like a rag doll. An overwhelming sorrow and anger rendered me speechless. How could these beasts treat such a beautiful and elegant woman like this?

I looked back at the people in front of me, clenched my fists tightly, and considered whose face I should punch first.

"So, what do you think? This woman's pretty, buddy?" Yu Zhongguo probably thought I was one of them since I didn't say anything, and started chatting me up.

"Want to give it a try?" Yu Zhongguo winked at me, grinning lewdly. I could tell he was practically drooling! Did he want to drag me down with him? I wanted nothing more than to beat him to a pulp. Thinking this, I punched him.

"Friend!" The man with thick eyebrows and big eyes grabbed my outstretched fist. I don't know if it was because I had just climbed out of the water or because the air here was really cold, but his hand felt unusually cold to me, as if a block of ice had been pressed against my hand. My hair stood on end, and a feeling of disgust welled up from the bottom of my heart.

I glared at him fiercely, trying to break free of his grip, but he was incredibly strong, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't break free from his clamp-like hand.

"What do you want?" the man holding my hand asked me smugly. I saw a familiar smile curl up at the corner of his mouth.

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. I glanced at the man before me in fear, my vision blurring, and I heard their unrestrained laughter. I was pulled in front of Lin Yuyan, her naked body once again before my eyes. This time, however, I found myself aroused. The desire rising from my lower abdomen was stronger than ever before, startling even myself. Every vein in my body seemed to boil, rushing to my lower body as if about to explode. I licked my dry lips, and Lin Yuyan in my eyes was no longer pitiful but had become exceptionally alluring and captivating. The previous bruising and restraints had now become a deadly temptation; her empty eyes had become exceptionally seductive and wanton, as if bewitching me. I was completely mesmerized by her demonic body and angelic face.

When I came to my senses, I found myself completely on top of her, her soft body beneath me. Although I knew perfectly well that continuing like this would make me no different from those people, my body pressed down on her involuntarily. Their vile words filled my ears, and my head throbbed with pain.

Just then, the jade pendant on my chest suddenly heated up again. The heat rushed into my body, scattering the surging desire, and my mind immediately cleared. My vision blurred. I didn't immediately get up, but propped myself up and looked back through the gap. Because I was looking down, everything was upside down. Yu Zhongguo and Mao Aijun's faces were strangely pale green, their eyes empty and lifeless, their mouths split open from laughing, their features eerily unsettling. Cold sweat immediately broke out on my palms. Their complexions and expressions were not those of normal people, and their bodies were stiff and rigid. When I looked at the man again, I almost couldn't support myself. His face was no longer the same; it was another face, a face that was both familiar and terrifying. All the memories came flooding back: the face I saw on the rooftop of the villa at No. 77 Guhuai Street when I was pushed off, and the face I saw on Death Avenue—they all overlapped at this moment, grinning madly before my eyes, and I could see the smugness in his eyes.

Trembling all over, I suddenly felt a stone in my hand. Whether I survived or not, I had to try. Even though I knew a stone couldn't possibly hurt him. So, God, Mother Teresa, and Buddha, please help me get through this!

I leaped up and hurled the rock backward at the man, then kicked Yu Zhongguo, who was closest to me. At that moment, I began to hope that my Taekwondo, which I had neglected for several years, could finally come in handy.

With a loud bang, I kicked Yu Zhongguo right through his chest. Good heavens! My Taekwondo skills aren't that impressive, are they? Even more embarrassingly, my foot got stuck in his ribs and I couldn't pull it out. But Yu Zhongguo, with his chest pierced, just grinned at me like nothing had happened. That smile, however, was terrifying to me, because he had already grabbed my right leg, which was stuck in his chest, and twisted it again.

*Crack!* I heard the sound of my right foot bone breaking. A piercing pain immediately shot through my foot, a jolt like an electric shock coursing through my body. Cold sweat instantly soaked my skin. With a scream, I collapsed to the ground. Yu Zhongguo had a large hole in his chest, oozing a thick, red liquid mixed with yellow pus and lumps. He mechanically wiped the wound and continued walking towards me. Mao Aijun, on the other side, also walked towards me with a numb expression, but their bodies were stiff, their gait unsteady. Only two words came to mind: zombies!

"Haha, haha..." The man laughed maniacally, "So you're nothing special after all, making me go through so much trouble!"

"Who are you?" I shouted at him. This person wasn't Lin Junxian, so who was he? Who else was the real mastermind behind this case? The jade pendant's stimulation had brought back many memories, including the once handsome face with thick eyebrows and large eyes. Although time had changed that face considerably, and although I had only seen it on television, I still remembered it as the face of Vice Mayor Zhu Zhenhua. But now the face had changed again. Who was he?

"You still don't know who I am? What a failure!" The man laughed arrogantly, looking at me with disdain, and said, "You Chinese are just stupid!"

What does this mean? Isn't he Chinese himself? My mind raced, but there was no time. Yu Zhongguo and Mao Aijun had already staggered to my side and were lunging at me. But the pain in my right foot prevented me from moving. I could only watch helplessly as their bodies fell towards me, instinctively reaching out to block them. In my panic, I caught a glimpse of the man's surprised expression; he was staring blankly at my hand.

What happened? Just as I was wondering about his expression, the ring on his finger suddenly shone brightly with golden light. The scorching light was so intense it was blinding. Amidst screams, Yu Zhongguo and Mao Aijun's bodies were gradually melted by the golden light. First their heads, then their entire chests. Their bodies dissolved like candles, blood and pus dripping onto the ground, creating plumes of black smoke that reeked of burning.

After the golden light passed, I looked up and saw the man clutching his head in pain. Perhaps because he was relatively far away from me, the golden light did not melt him, but the pus and blood flowing from between his fingers covering his face told me that he was also injured.

"No...impossible! This ring shouldn't have this kind of power!" The man released his hands and shouted. His face was almost melted and unrecognizable, like a wax figure melting after being heated. One eyeball drooped on his face, his nose was gone, leaving only two nostrils, and his lips and chin had completely disappeared, revealing pink bones and white teeth. His jawbone was clearly visible.

Should he have seen this ring before? I suddenly thought of that nameless skeleton. Could it be that the skeleton belonged to him? Then why did he die in the sewer? Was it murder or suicide? If it was murder, who killed him? I racked my brains, and I think countless brain cells must have been used up. After considering countless possibilities, I decided it was best to consider myself first, because he was staggering towards me. His feet were probably being dissolved by the golden light, leaving red footprints with each step.

I tried to move it, and to my surprise, I found that I could move my right foot again. Could it be that golden light from before? There was no time to think about it any further. I immediately sprang up from the ground and ran quickly towards the lake.

Even though I knew the man behind me couldn't catch up, I still ran as fast as I could, as if a vicious dog was chasing me. Panting, I reached the lake and, without thinking, plunged into the water, determined to leave where I came from.

※ ※ ※

"Splash!" I let out a long breath, and my body floated back to the surface of the blood pool. Looking out of the blood pool, Li Hai and Fang Lei were fighting the bandaged ghost together. Talismans and ribbons were being used alternately to strike the bandaged ghost, and the red light emitted by the bandaged ghost had also caused Li Hai and Fang Lei to be injured!

She hurriedly struggled to climb out of the blood pool, glancing anxiously into the water a few times. Fortunately, the man hadn't followed her, and the color of the blood pool was gradually fading, soon turning pink.

Could everything I just experienced be the connection point? I looked happily at the bandaged ghost, and sure enough, his power was gradually weakening; the red light was no longer blinding, and his movements were slowing down. Just then, Fang Lei's ribbons suddenly wrapped around his body, binding him tightly.

"Stop!" I hurriedly called out to Li Hai, who was trying to finish off the bandaged ghost. They couldn't hide their excitement when they saw me return. Fang Lei almost pounced on me, but stopped because she was still holding the ribbon binding the bandaged ghost.

"Kid, you're finally back." Li Hai smiled at me, panting heavily. I could tell he was exhausted.

I nodded to him and turned to the bandaged ghost, hoping to learn the man's true identity from him. But I didn't ask him directly; I already guessed his identity and needed to confirm it first. So I asked, "Are you Yang Yi?"

Upon hearing my words, the bandaged ghost immediately threw his head back and laughed a few times, his hoarse voice ringing out again: "That's right, it is me. When did you find out?"

Yes, just as I expected. I smiled and replied, "We didn't suspect you were Yang Yi at first. We initially thought you were Lin Junxian, but things have changed our minds. Lin Junxian was burned to death, right? Then why are you covered in bandages? Also, Lin Junxian loved his daughter so much, how could he let her remain a ghost instead of being reincarnated? Lin Yuyan is his niece, so why would he use the Ten Thousand Souls Locking Array against his own family? And just now, Li Yang called. Although I didn't hear the whole thing he said, I know he was trying to tell me that the one who wasn't burned to death must be you, Yang Yi!"

"Yes, that fire did burn me and Lin Junxian to death. But Lin Junxian was burned to death directly, while I had to endure the pain of having 90% of my body burned before I died! That's not fair!" Yang Yi shouted in grief and indignation. Although I am not a surgeon, I know that burning 90% of the body is indeed a torment for a person.

"But is that why you want to kill someone?" I asked.

“I think the one who truly advocates for live experiments is you, isn’t he?” Fang Lei suddenly interjected thoughtfully, staring intently at Yang Yi, and said, “And the one who told us those stories about Lin Junxian and St. Mary’s Hospital and tried to mislead us into believing that Lin Junxian was behind it all wasn’t Yang Tianxing, it should be you!”

Huh?! Li Hai and I both turned to Fang Lei with questioning eyes. We hadn't thought about this at all!

Chapter Fifty-Seven: A Sea of Mysteries

"How did you know?" Yang Yi was no less surprised than we were; judging from his tone, he must have already admitted it.

“It’s actually very simple,” Fang Lei said with a smile. “Age! The fire at St. Mary’s Hospital happened more than seventy years ago. Yang Tianxing must have been in his sixties. How could he know so much about it? Either he’s making it up, or he’s not Yang Tianxing at all!”

Age! Sure enough, how could we have overlooked the most direct and simplest point? From the very beginning, we overcomplicated things and forgot about what was most exposed to us.

"Then how did you guess that he was the one who advocated for live experiments?" Li Hai asked from the side.

"Hehe," Fang Lei winked playfully at Li Hai and said, "I really did guess, but he admitted it!"

"You!" Yang Yi was immediately angered by Fang Lei's words and struggled for a moment. He never expected that he would be tricked into talking by a little girl.

"But we clearly saw Yang Tianxing! He's a person!" I still felt something was off. Was Yang Tianxing a real person or an incarnation of Yang Yi?

"He's just using Yang Tianxing's body. I think Yang Tianxing isn't your son at all, is he?" Fang Lei asked aggressively.

"Hahaha...hahaha...!" Yang Yi suddenly burst into maniacal laughter, the sound echoing endlessly in the laboratory, sounding desolate and lonely. Fang Lei tightened the ribbon in her hand, and under the purple light, the bandaged ghost's figure showed signs of gradually disappearing.

"Yes, it was all me, all my doing!" Yang Yi's laughter sounded more like crying. "Who told him to refuse to continue the experiments? Who told him to sever ties with our partners? He even tried to expose everything! He clearly said he would develop a medicine to save his daughter, how could he go back on his word halfway through?"

After hearing all this, Fang Lei, Li Hai, and I exchanged glances. It seemed Lin Junxian was the biggest victim; he must have been killed by Yang Yi to silence him because he didn't want to continue doing such heinous things as live dissections. But if Lin Junxian was doing experiments for his daughter, then why did Yang Yi do experiments in the first place? Since Yang Yi set Lin Junxian on fire, how could he himself have been severely burned and died? I've never heard of a murderer who set fire to someone and burned themselves in the process! And who hired the murderer who led us here? Was it Yang Tianxing, possessed by Yang Yi?

"Why did you do those experiments?" I asked tentatively.

"Why? Why?" Yang Yi looked at me with a confused expression, his one eye fixed on me, making me feel very uncomfortable. Humans can go crazy, but don't tell me ghosts can go insane too!

"Why are you conducting this experiment? What is your purpose?" I continued to press.

"An experiment?! To achieve immortality! Yes! To achieve immortality! Hahaha..." Yang Yi continued to laugh maniacally, his laughter sounding particularly tragic and ironic to us. Immortality? I sighed, looking at Yang Yi before me. If this state could be considered immortality, then he had indeed achieved his goal. But would "living" like this bring any joy, or would it only be a form of torment?

"Immortality? Who told you that?" Li Hai asked, frowning. While there were many legends in ancient China about the search for elixirs of immortality, the most famous being Qin Shi Huang sending over three thousand boys and girls to the mythical Kunlun Island, he never imagined that in this age of advanced science, anyone would still believe it. But Yang Yi was just an ordinary doctor; where would he get the knowledge of elixirs of immortality? And the biggest question was, who set up the Ten Thousand Souls Locking Array? Although the newspaper reported it was a charity tree-planting event organized by Lin Junxian, surely someone had instructed him to do so? Perhaps even Lin Junxian himself didn't know that his event was actually a setup?

"He told me that as long as we perform live dissections, we can find a way to live forever! He said he would help me!" Yang Yi suddenly looked around in horror, her only eyeball darting around.

"Who is he? Who exactly is he? Is he the skeleton in the sewer?" I asked hurriedly, because Yang Yi's figure was becoming more and more transparent and was about to disappear.

"Wait a minute!" Fang Lei loosened her grip on the ribbon, but it was too late. Yang Yi had disappeared before answering my question, and only his miserable laughter before he vanished echoed in the air.

"Damn it!" I slammed my fist on the wall. This best clue had vanished just like that, and I still had so many questions to answer! I glanced back at the blood pool, and to my surprise, the once crimson water had become unusually clear. I was momentarily stunned. Did the disappearance of the blood mean the disappearance of Yang Yi, or had the wronged souls in the blood pool been released from their torment?

"Lin Xiao!" Fang Lei suddenly ran over and hugged me, her face flushed with joy and sparkling with excitement.

"Have you found the connection point?" Li Hai asked, looking at me.

Nodding, I took Fang Lei's hand. Although I didn't want to dampen their spirits, I still had to tell them what had just happened. After I recounted what had happened at Heart Lake, their happy faces immediately fell again, and their good mood vanished.

"How come another guy has appeared?" Li Hai sighed in frustration, his whole demeanor slumped. Yes, he thought everything was settled after dealing with Yang Yi, but he never expected there to be such a well-hidden mastermind behind the scenes. How could this not make us feel uneasy?

“I think we need to sort out our thoughts now,” Fang Lei comforted me and Li Hai, who were feeling frustrated. “I think what Lin Xiao just experienced wasn’t just a simple illusion.”

"You mean, the part before that was the real past?" Li Hai immediately perked up and asked.

“I think so. If that’s the case, then we can know why Lin Yuyan disappeared the day after the performance. It’s very likely that she was raped by Yu Zhongguo and Mao Aijun,” Fang Lei replied.

"Wait a minute, I saw more than just the two of them, there was also Zhu Zhenhua!" I quickly added from the side.

"So one of the big questions now is why Yu Zhongguo and Mao Aijun both died, but he didn't, and he's still alive and well." Fang Lei slowly analyzed, "And why did Lin Yuyan go to Heart Lake at night? I don't think she would choose to visit a place she might not even know before at night. So I think she was probably invited there by someone."

Li Hai and I both nodded in agreement. Fang Lei's analysis made a lot of sense, and we were gradually getting to the root of the problem.

"So who was the person who asked her out? And why would she agree to meet them? I think Lin Yuyan probably doesn't know anyone in this city, so the person who asked her out must be someone she didn't know before. What reason do you think would make a girl go to a remote place so late to meet a stranger?" I suddenly asked a lot of questions.

"It seems the key to this case still lies with Lin Yuyan. And why did she suddenly reappear? If the migrant workers' indiscriminate logging damaged the formation, giving her the opportunity to emerge, then why did she kill those women? This is something I still can't figure out! Is it simply because they all went to Sacred Heart Hospital? There are plenty of women who go to that hospital, so why did she specifically choose them?" Li Hai looked puzzled, but this was a question we were all curious about as well. Lin Yuyan shouldn't be some kind of evil spirit!

“Alright, I know there are still many problems, but…” Fang Lei frowned and said, “Can we leave this awful place first?”

Fang Lei looked around with a hint of disgust and tugged at her clothes. I immediately smiled knowingly. It was indeed inhumane to have such a beautiful woman standing naked in a laboratory full of human specimens!