Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
Advance chapters available for patrons on Patreon. And a chapter can be sponsored by buying me a ko-fi.
In his drowsy state, fragments of memory surfaced more vividly in Gu Wuji’s mind.
….
A very beautiful child was sitting in a dimly lit room eating dinner. The only lighting in the room was a flickering electric light.
Beside him sat a man and a woman, their skin unnaturally pale, their outstretched hands stiff. The two were almost motionless, sitting silently, offering the child strained smiles. The scene was incredibly eerie; anyone with common sense would realize that these two were probably ghosts.
The television next to them was playing a talent show, but perhaps due to a poor signal, the picture was very bad and distorted from time to time, making the people on screen look extremely strange.
But the child seemed oblivious, telling his parents about his experiences at school, just like any other child from an ordinary family. Of course, he didn’t mention being treated like a monster by his classmates, but his expression still seemed somewhat forlorn.
With such good looks, he shouldn’t have been disliked like this, but everything strange about him had already destined him for an unacceptable fate.
The smiles on his parents’ faces softened slightly. His mother reached out and gently stroked the child’s head, her voice hoarse and somewhat helpless, “Good child, everyone will definitely like you.”
“Really?” the child couldn’t help but ask, his eyes seeming to sparkle, but his tone hesitant, as if he were expectant yet disbelieving, “But if they get close to me, others will get hurt…”
“It doesn’t matter, you will definitely become… someone as dazzling as those stars on TV. Even if others are afraid to approach you, they will definitely feel happy because of you.”
The child nodded, seemingly understanding. But regardless, from that moment on, he had set the most important goal of his life.
The scene slowly darkened.
That’s right, he had no memories of anything further back; he had only lived in this place since he could remember. Everything around him was already strange back then; yes, his parents were ghosts.
Even so, young Gu Wuji never noticed this, or rather, he simply didn’t care about such things. To him, the line between ghosts and humans was too blurred; ghosts were perhaps more endearing.
There were too many strange things, such as his mother never going out and her body always being ice-cold, his father only appearing late at night, and various other circumstances— the kind of plot that could easily be used in a horror movie. Yet, they still took good care of Gu Wuji, just like real human parents, and their appearances were no different from ordinary humans.
Gu Wuji didn’t know if they were his biological parents, but without a doubt, he considered them the most important people in his heart. The influence they had on him was immense; they must have been very good people when they were alive.
Then the scene shifted again.
It was a secluded corner of the neighborhood, where young Gu Wuji was idly drawing on the ground with a twig.
No one else wanted to play with him, so he could only pass the time like this.
Then, a faint mist seemed to spread around, and the black mist, carrying the twig, began to draw as well.
Gu Wuji looked up with some surprise. His playmate was a shadowy figure shrouded in black mist, about the same height as him, like a pitch-black child.
“You’re finally out! I was so bored, I’ve been waiting for you for so long,” Gu Wuji said, his tone unconsciously carrying a hint of coquetry, clearly indicating their close relationship. “Come play with me.”
The shadowy figure nodded, and with a twig, it smoothly drew a small figure on the ground, very lifelike, clearly depicting Gu Wuji.
Gu Wuji couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement, then naturally took the other’s hand, not caring that the hand he touched didn’t resemble a living person at all. Then, he enthusiastically added a crooked little black figure next to the original, his smile dazzlingly bright, “I drew you too!”
The shadowy figure paused slightly, looking at the pattern on the ground, its movements becoming cautious, as if afraid of ruining the design.
At this moment, a commotion arose behind them, and the shadowy figure immediately disappeared into Gu Wuji’s body.
Several children came running up from behind, making a racket. Their faces changed upon seeing Gu Wuji, a mixture of fear and disgust. “Why is it this guy?” “What bad luck! Let’s go!” “I heard there’s a fun abandoned factory nearby, let’s go check it out!”
“What’s there to be afraid of about this skinny guy!” One of the bolder children stepped forward, trying to attack Gu Wuji.
Seeing this, the other children couldn’t control themselves and rushed over, wanting to teach this person who had traumatized them a lesson.
Of course, the ending was tragic; even if they all attacked, they couldn’t defeat Gu Wuji. One by one, they ran away crying, leaving only a messy, completely erased pattern on the ground.
Gu Wuji felt a pang of dejection; if he could, he wouldn’t want to hurt these children.
The dark shadow emerged again, watching the departing children and the vanished pattern on the ground. The surrounding black aura seemed to thicken.
Just then, a hand suddenly grasped his. Gu Wuji turned to look at him, seemingly realizing something, and said, “Let’s ignore these people and go home.”
The dark figure finally nodded and disappeared into Gu Wuji’s body.
….
Yes, Gu Wuji remembered.
The memory that occupied the most space in his childhood was that playmate.
It was someone who had been by his side since he became conscious, rarely appearing in person, but Gu Wuji could clearly feel that person’s presence within his body. And that person would occasionally emerge from the black mist to play with Gu Wuji.
He was Gu Wuji’s best friend, seemingly knowing everything about Gu Wuji, always knowing how to make Gu Wuji happiest, and never letting him feel bored… At that time, he was undoubtedly Gu Wuji’s favorite person.
But if Gu Wuji played with other children, those children would inevitably encounter ghosts that night, and afterward, they would be greatly frightened. So naturally, no one wanted to be with Gu Wuji anymore, and some even regarded him as a monster. But if these people dared to point fingers at Gu Wuji or humiliate him, an even more terrible fate awaited them.
Over time, Gu Wuji had no living friends left; and everyone avoided him like the plague. But he didn’t care about such things. This kind of life could have continued normally, until that one event occurred…
Perhaps because Gu Wuji hadn’t been to that abandoned factory, he couldn’t remember what happened there. But that extremely painful feeling welled up inside him, even instilling in him a fear and resistance towards the entity within his body— something he had never experienced before.
“What exactly happened in that abandoned factory?”
Before that, the shadowy figure was merely a very close friend. He didn’t seem like someone capable of anything terrible. He also remembered that the man was a child who had tried to bully him in his childhood, only to be beaten and made to cry.
After that, the memory resurfaced, this time roughly after the incident at the abandoned factory.
This time, however, the scene was completely different from the previous two. In the pitch-black room, the child could only sit on the floor, trembling.
Before him were two bloodied ghosts. The two ghosts who should have been his parents were now trembling and collapsed on the ground, their bodies almost contorted, barely maintaining human form, exuding a terrifying and eerie aura.
But to the child, they were still his parents, his closest people. He wanted to reach out and hold their trembling hands.
But the next instant, black mist filled the entire room. His parents’ ghosts seemed to have encountered something terrifying; their bodies stiffened, and then the black mist slowly devoured their bodies as if torturing them, terrifying screams echoing continuously within the house.
“Dad, Mom…” The child nervously tried to approach, but was bound by the black mist, hands reaching out from nowhere blocking his vision.
The two ghostly figures, usually so cold and aloof, spoke with a hint of soothing in their voices, “Don’t look.”
“How could this be! What have you done to them?!”
“They simply failed in their duty,” the figure said softly, its voice chilling. “They didn’t protect you, so they don’t need to remain in this world.”
“No, no! Don’t hurt them!” the child pleaded with his favorite playmate, but the other no longer responded as before.
“From now on, you just need to forget all of this. When you wake up, it will all be over.”
Before the child completely lost consciousness, all he saw was the black mist that completely enveloped everything.
….
Gu Wuji’s forehead began to throb. He clutched his head and struggled to open his eyes.
That was the past he remembered. It was all his fault, because of the entity residing within him. It had caused his father’s ghost to vanish, and his mother’s ghost to become incomplete, reduced to the lowest level of ghost, existing only on instinct.
And all his memories after leaving this place had been deliberately manipulated, making him believe that everything was alright, that he was just an ordinary person, simply prone to contact with ghosts.
But in reality, within him resided an entity far more terrifying than a dungeon boss.
As the scene before Gu Wuji cleared, what met his eyes was the black mist from his nightmares.
“This can’t go on. I didn’t protect those around me in the past, this time I will—”
Guys, ads are my only source of revenue, so please do not turn on the AdBlock when you are accessing this website…. Thank you, this would be a great help…
You can buy me a ko-fi and sponsor a chapter on: https://ko-fi.com/midnightrambles
Or become a Patron or access advance chapters on: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=45665005
If you support me, I would be able to provide more chapters….
Previous • Table of Contents• Next
