I Wasn't Born Lucky

The long-necked ghost finally gave in. It wasn’t an evil spirit with a deep resentment. It was a relatively weak ghost or else it wouldn’t live in a residential building with two other ghosts. In particular, the long-necked ghost saw all the needle marks on the little ghost and told itself that a strong ghost couldn’t bully the local people, but it still chose to blink.

At this time, the IV ghost had injected a needle into the long-necked ghost and wanted to inject a second needle.

"Okay." Xiao Li held the IV ghost’s hand and stopped it in time.

The IV ghost regretfully withdrew his hand and spoke to Xiao Li for the first time, "Next time, also find me."

"...Okay."

Xiao Li took out the bone from the long-necked ghost’s mouth, untied it and touched the chin like he was scratching a dog. "Look at you, both chins are sore."

The long-necked ghost, "......"

It was now watching Xiao Li like Xiao Li was a creepy ghost. Xiao Li used the scalpel to send the IV ghost back to the hospital and then clapped his hands. He sat by the bed and asked the long-necked ghost, "Why do you want to peek at me at night?"

The long-necked ghost looked at him. It was very dissatisfied with Xiao Li’s words but only dared to say, "Choose the ingredients."

Xiao Li, "..."

He pushed the big bone away from the table and continued to use "You just said this was a no-go zone for humans. Are there no humans here?"

"There are none inside the restricted area but there are some old people on the periphery who refuse to leave here."

Xiao Li asked, "What’s special about the forbidden zone?"

The long-necked ghost wondered, "What do you mean by special?"

Xiao Li wanted to say a ’haunted place’. Then he looked at the long-necked ghost in front of him and remembered that for a ghost, maybe someone else’s place was the most special. He thought for a moment before replying, "A place you don’t want to go."

The long-necked ghost shook its head. So... the ghost didn’t know the area that should be explored.

Xiao Li gave up on continuing to cross-examine the long-necked ghost. He wanted to wave at the ghost to leave when he saw the ghost’s face change. It originally was ugly but it didn’t sneakily look out the window like it did now.

Xiao Li followed the long-necked ghost to look out the window. He could hear a faint whistling sound from outside the window. The whistling couldn’t be heard clearly but it obviously belonged to a powerful ghost. It was because the long-necked ghost was shivering and its knees weakened. It knelt beside the bed, its long and thin neck like a snake on the bed as it didn’t dare to look up.

Presumably, the other two ghosts in the house were the same. This was the escape opportunity that the instance arranged!

He grabbed the long neck of the ghost. "How long will the effect of this sound last?"

The long-necked ghost said, "F-Five minutes..."

This sound wasn’t only heard by Xiao Li. At almost the same time, Zou Hanyi pushed open the door to his room.

Zou Hanyi didn’t know the function of this sound but she hadn’t been able to sleep since the long-necked ghost left. She knew that if she couldn’t escape from here tonight, she wouldn’t be able to avoid fate the next day. They would become the ghost’s food. She intuitively grasped the sound of the long whistling and knocked on the doors of the reincarnators in turn.

Once she knocked on Xiao Li’s door, she found that the door wasn’t closed completely. Zou Hanyi’s heart sank. She stretched out her finger to push open the door a bit more and peered into the large gap.

The first thing in the room that caught her eye wasn’t Xiao Li or the long-necked ghost on the bed. It was the window facing the door. It was the sunny doll hanging from the window. The rope tied around the doll’s neck wasn’t a normal white rope but hair. The doll’s hair was long and the look on her face was full of indescribable resentment, making her look like a living ghost.

It was Tan Li. The whistling sound seemed to have some influence on her. She kept hanging from the window by her hair.

Zou Hanyi met the doll’s eyes and stepped back, feeling the urge to scream. Fortunately, the others were awake by this time. Hao Ge’s alertness wasn’t low. He heard Zou Hanyi’s knock on the door and jumped out of bed. Once he came out, he saw Zou Hanyi looking forward with a frightened expression.

Xiao Li directly removed Tan Li from the windowsill, walked to the door and opened it for them. Xiao Li followed the girl’s eyes and touched his face. "What’s wrong? Why are you all standing at my door?"

Zou Hanyi pointed at Xiao Li’s pocket. "T-That sunny doll... its a ghost! You—"

Xiao Li put Tan Li deep into his pocket and simply said, "An item."

Hao Ge hadn’t seen Tan Li and thought that Zou Hanyi was just shocked by the appearance of an item. He placed a hand on her back and said, "Now isn’t the time to be surprised. We have to leave quickly!"

Zou Hanyi slowly recovered from her fear. She could distinguish what was more important. Seeing Xiao Li’s clear expression, she knew that the doll only had a terrible appearance. She rushed out the door with the rest of the reincarnators.

The process went well and none of the family’s ghosts came out to stop them. Standing in the dark corridor, the reincarnators came to their senses from the nightmare of the ’ghost house.’

Hao Ge turned on the flashlight and headed down the stairs. "What is this sound. It made those ghosts afraid."

Hai Han followed him and said, "The only thing that can frighten ghosts are more powerful ghosts, such as evil spirits."

Hao Ge spoke in a depressed manner, "It can be something that restrains ghosts, such as a monk..."

Hai Han had become familiar with Hao GE and wanted to make some jokes to ignore the fear caused by this old building. He joked, "It is a dream flying out of the skylight."

In a flash, they had gone down a whole floor of stairs. Xiao Li was at the end. He walked down the stairs and didn’t continue. Hao Ge and the others chatted as their flashlight gradually moved away. Xiao Li’s location became more and more quiet, with only his own heartbeat being heard.

Xiao Li’s eyelids lowered. Since coming out, he had placed one hand on the pulse of his wrist to calculate the time. He didn’t feel right. It wasn’t that leaving wasn’t the right thing to do. It was that leaving like this meant losing some clues.

The instance arranging them to meet the white ghost at the beginning, was it just to increase the difficulty? Xiao Li didn’t think so. The sound lasted for five minutes and there were now two minutes and 50 seconds left. If he moved quickly then there was enough time.

He determined Xiao Li turned back and walked up the stairs, re-opening the door to the ’ghost house.’

Two minutes and 40 seconds.

The ghost house was very quiet. The ghosts hadn’t recovered yet and were paralyzed in place. Xiao Li turned on the living room lights. He headed straight to the other two ghost rooms and started to rummage through them.

The structure of the room was the same as the other. There was a bed, a table by the window, a wardrobe and other items. The tables and cupboards were ordinary household items and there was nothing else worth noting.

One minute and twenty seconds.

Xiao Li directly ignored the two unmovable ghosts on the bed. He moved quickly to examine all the places where things could be hidden but he couldn’t find the clues he wanted. He finally stopped at the window, raised the curtains and looked over the entire forbidden zone from the high-rise’s window.

It was late at night and darkness drowned everything. There were no signs of life, nothing but ghosts. In the distance, a point was lit up in the sky. It was a coloured light-like thing. It wasn’t fixed and swung along a circular track. It was beautiful and strange.

50 seconds.

Xiao Li turned around and wanted to leave directly, only to discover a doll at the end of the bed. The doll was blonde and a bit fat compared to a Barbie. She looked new in a pink princess dress. An envelope was pressed underneath the doll’s tutu skirt. The skirt was so big that he hadn’t found it previously. Xiao Li grabbed the envelope, put the doll back in place and sped up the pace of his departure.

There were 40 seconds left.

He turned off the lights, slammed the door and ran down. Compared to going up the stairs, going down was much easier. Xiao Li took two or three steps at a time as he headed down.

Just after five minutes, Xiao Li arrived at the ground. He caught his breath before walking forward. In an instant, the lights of the ninth floor of the residential building turned on again. Three shadows standing in front of the window were staring at his back but they didn’t catch up.

The rest of the reincarnators hadn’t gone far away. Zou Hanyi was frowning while Hao Ge crouched on the ground, looking at the tire marks left there. Xiao Li’s footsteps made them look up and Zou Hanyi looked relieved. "Sherlock, where have you been? We thought you were attacked."

Xiao Li took out the envelope. "I went back to find a clue."

He spoke lightly but the rest of the reincarnators could imagine how dangerous the process was. Not everyone would dare to go straight back to the tiger’s den. This envelope was normal in the ghost house but now that it was in Xiao Li’s hand, it seemed to be weathered by time.

The problem was the ’ghost house’ rather than this letter.

Xiao Li unfolded the letter. The paper inside was the same. It was yellow and some pieces had been pasted together. The paper was very fragile and there was even a black patch on the back. Only a few words could be vaguely discerned.

【 According to the above orders, I have to leave the place where my ancestors lived, my pets, my dolls, everything. I’ve been looking forward to the opening of the amusement park for so long and now I can’t play because of that damn explosion. 】

【 I don’t want to leave but they look so scary. They can’t be called ’people.’ 】

【 There is no choice at all. 】

Xiao Li read these sentences and then handed it to Zou Hanyi who came over. Zou Hanyi couldn’t wait and wondered after she read it, "Who are they? Ghosts?"

Hao Ge touched the goosebumps on his arm. "They could also be creatures that were contaminated by the explosion and mutated...?"

Night in the forbidden zone was very windy, making them feel cold. The reincarnators couldn’t help missing the bed and temperature of the residential building. It was the perfect place to live as long as there were no ghosts.

"What do we do now? Find a place to sleep for the night?" Hai Han felt this letter didn’t reveal any important clues. Compared to the completion of the task, he was more concerned about the present.

Zou Hanyi originally wanted to return the envelope to Xiao Li. However, Xiao Li pushed it back at her and she simply put it in the bag she carried.

Once this finished, Zou Hanyi said, "It is too dangerous to walk around the forbidden area at night. We will stay in the car and sleep for a while. Let’s talk about it tomorrow, lest we meet any ghosts."

Hao Ge agreed. "I think so as well. The exploration didn’t state whether it should be day or night so we should be careful."

Zou Hanyi looked at Xiao Li. Xiao Li was thinking about something else. He felt something was wrong but he couldn’t say where it came from. He didn’t respond to Zou Hanyi’s words so she assumed that he agreed.

The reincarnators got into the car and Hao Ge drove away from the residential building. He parked on a lawn not far away, turned off the power, opened a crack in the window for air to breathe and leaned against his window for a short rest.

He had driven all night but he hadn’t dared to really fall asleep in the ghost house. Now he finally felt some security. His posture might be awkward but he soon fell into a deep sleep. Hao Ge’s eyelids lowered and finally closed tightly together. His breathing became smooth and he fell asleep.

However, he didn’t get a good rest because he had a dream. He dreamt that he had come to a place of flowers, with fresh grass, blue sky and white clouds. In the distance, there was a little girl. The little girl was dressed in a beautiful tutu dress with long blonde hair. She was walking a tall and powerful dog.

The sun above his head stung. Hao Ge narrowed his eyes and didn’t dare to act rashly as he watched this scene. The dog ran around the law and pounced on a moth. He couldn’t pounce on it and finally rolled, arriving at a tree stump. Hao Ge’s spirit was in a bit of a trance. He clearly knew that he was in a dream but he didn’t know why he was having this dream.

The little girl waited quietly for the dog to finish. In the process, she looked around and finally focused into the distance. Hao Ge followed the direction of her eyes. There was a big building over there that was covered with steel. Then a raging fire ignited. Something swung like a willow in the wind.

The little girl reached for it but as soon as her fingers came into contact with it, her entire hand started to fester. Her skin was red and started peeling off little by little. A creaking sound came from her bones.

She slowly bowed her head and turned to look stiffly at Hao Ge. "This isn’t a place where you can come. Go."

Hao Ge wanted to leave but he had no strength in his legs. He couldn’t even speak.

The little girl’s face could no longer be called a face. She didn’t walk normally and crawled toward Hao Ge like a spider. This is your choice."

She approached Hao Ge and her hand pressed directly on Hao Ge’s shoulder. "It is to... stay."

The distance between them was so close that Hao Ge could directly see her corroded face. "Ah!" Hao Ge screamed and he woke up from the seat, covering his face. After a brief moment of his heart stopping, Hao Ge covered his chest and looked around. He found that he had returned to reality.

Zou Hanyi sat in the passenger’s seat. She wasn’t awakened by Hao Ge’s scream because she had woken up earlier than Hao Ge. Hao Ge met Zou Hanyi’s eyes. He placed his hand on the steering wheel and eased his breath. "I’m sorry, I... I had a nightmare."

Zou Hanyi’s eyes instantly sharpened. "You had a nightmare as well?!"

"As well?"

Zou Hanyi replied, "I just had a nightmare. I dreamed that I was on a lawn and there was a little girl walking a dog. Then there was an explosion and pollutants floated in the air. She became a ghost and warned me to leave. Finally, she killed me and I woke up from the dream..."

"I had the same dream!" Hao Ge was startled. "It was exactly the same!"

Just then, Hai Han sitting in the backseat also woke up. The movement of his head was too big and he directly hit the roof. He was in pain and had to cover his head. He looked at the two people in the front seat. "I...I had a nightmare!"

Hai Han spoke his dream and it was exactly the same as Hao Ge and the others. The reincarnators all had the same dream.

"What... is going on here? Is it eyeing us?" Hao Ge was afraid.

Zou Hanyi didn’t speak. She looked at the Xiao Li, the only one still sleeping in the car. His head was still against the window and his two long hair hung down to cover his eyes. His breathing was smooth and he still didn’t wake up. Hai Han sitting next to Xiao Li didn’t think much. He reached out to shake Xiao Li, wanted to wake up Xiao Li from the nightmare. "Sherlock?"

Xiao Li reacted almost instantly. He immediately opened his eyes and sat upright. Zou Hanyi easily noticed that Xiao Li’s eyes were awake, without the haziness of someone who just woke up from sleep. Nor did he look like he had a nightmare.

She asked XIao Li, "Did you have a nightmare too?"

Xiao Li noticed Zou Hanyi’s words. "You all had the same dream?"

Hao Ge nodded and asked, "Sherlock, why did you dream for so long?"

"What is your dream?"

Hao Ge recounted his dream.

Xiao Li was silent for a moment. "When she told me to go, I told her that I couldn’t go. I have a mission."

Hao Ge was startled. "...You could talk in the dream?"

"Why not?" Xiao Li asked.

Zou Hanyi wondered, "She... what happened next?"

"She said that it was my choice. She climbed toward me and told me to stay. I was very concerned about something so I reminded her."

Zou Hanyi asked eagerly, "What did you remind her of?"

Was it the explosion or the residential building? The letter? Did the little girl in the dream give a clue?

Xiao Li replied, "She hadn’t cleaned up her dog’s poop yet."

Zou Hanyi, "......."

Hao Ge, "???"