Free Web NovelChapter 19: Chapter 19: Above the Ghost Eye
The little boy finished a round of his game and took a moment from his playing to look up at Gao Tian:
"Brother Gao? I don’t remember your face. I have no impression at all.
"Maybe we’ve met in the future, but that time just hasn’t come yet."
It seemed the Memory Ghost had no effect on him.
Gao Tian continued to use the Memory Ghost’s ability, coaxing him:
"Think hard. That Transformers toy you have at home—I’m the one who bought it for you.
"Your dad even lectured me for a long time back then. He said I shouldn’t buy you whatever you wanted, that it would give you wasteful habits."
The key to using the Memory Ghost was to continuously reinforce a specific anchor, deepening the victim’s false memory. This way, Gao Tian wouldn’t need to say much; the victim would automatically start to extrapolate from this false anchor and create more memories on their own.
The little boy put down the joystick and turned his whole body to face Gao Tian.
His big, dark eyes started to look Gao Tian up and down:
"I’ve never had a Transformers toy you bought me at home. Besides, my old man died before I was even born. How could he possibly lecture me for being wasteful?"
As one might imagine, Gao Tian was shocked by the little boy’s reply.
He was stunned for two reasons. First, this little boy was completely unaffected by the Memory Ghost. He himself had hesitated multiple times when facing his "father" and "mother," but the boy’s mental resistance was far greater than his own; the Memory Ghost’s effect on him was absolutely zero.
Second, the little boy wasn’t the arcade owner’s son at all. The owner had only started to lose his mind and then committed suicide after his son’s death. But the boy said his father had already died when he was born. The timeline didn’t add up.
The little boy scratched his head. When he looked at Gao Tian again, he had a puzzled expression on his face:
"Maybe I really have seen you in the future.
"For some reason, I get a vague, positive feeling when I see your face.
"Forget it, whatever. My teacher is coming to pick me up soon. If you have any questions, you should ask them quickly.
"Once my teacher shows up, you won’t be able to ask anymore."
Of all the people Gao Tian currently knew, only one had ever mentioned having a "teacher."
But no, it wasn’t that person. The age didn’t match, and the time didn’t match either.
Gao Tian knew the Memory Ghost was completely useless against him. So he dropped the act and asked directly:
"What’s your name?"
"Who is your teacher?"
"And why are you here, playing games all by yourself?"
The little boy was very well-behaved and answered Gao Tian’s questions seriously. It was just that his answers were earth-shattering.
The little boy blinked his eyes:
"My name is Xu Yuan.
"Xu as in Xu Xian, and Yuan as in ’abyss’.
"As for what I’m doing here, I’m just playing a few games after school, waiting for my teacher to finish their work and come pick me up.
"After my parents died, I’ve been living at my teacher’s house. My teacher provides for me, teaches me how to exorcise ghosts, and is no different from my own parents."
Cold sweat dripped down Gao Tian’s forehead. He slowly backed away until he bumped into a machine behind him with a THUD, and only then did he stop.
’How is this possible?’
Gao Tian knew, of course, that Xu Yuan was dead and was definitely a ghost. But how could this twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy in front of him possibly be Xu Yuan?
’Is it just someone with the same name?’
’The real Xu Yuan completed ten "green text" missions in the Living Human Apartment, and after leaving, he became the president of the Jialan Society (Ghost Infant called him President in the group chat). On the day he was killed by a ghost in the Sapphire Mall, he had to have been at least thirty, definitely not an eleven- or twelve-year-old boy.’
’After Xu Yuan died, his ghost remained in the chat group. His body was hidden in the mall. Even if it had reanimated, it should be a rotting corpse, not a clean little boy.’
’Who on earth is this little boy claiming to be Xu Yuan?’
For a moment, Gao Tian’s mind was a mess; he couldn’t understand what was happening. ’Is this a ghost’s Illusion Technique, or...’
He picked up the Supernatural Walkie-Talkie in his hand, subconsciously wanting to call Xia Ta for backup.
But when he pressed the call button, all he got was a busy signal.
’How is that possible...’
These Supernatural Walkie-Talkies were all specially treated. They could effectively resist the communication interference that came with supernatural events.
Seeing him pick up the walkie-talkie, the little boy said casually:
"Are you trying to make a call?
"Don’t bother, big brother. You’ve likely been accidentally pulled into a space-time vortex, so you’re not on the same timeline as your original world. The call won’t go through."
’A space-time vortex?’
Gao Tian quickly forced himself to calm down and observed his surroundings. At some unknown point, an incredibly thin white mist had begun to rise both inside and outside the arcade, swallowing everything. Figures passed through it in the distance, hazy and indistinct. As they drew slightly closer, they would dissipate like bubbles.
The arcade machine in front of the little boy, Xu Yuan, was also brand new and powered on. No wonder he’d been able to play for so long.
Gao Tian instantly understood what had happened. With the boy’s hint, everything clicked into place.
Although it sounded incredible, once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
Gao Tian had accidentally traveled through time, returning to a point in the past to speak with Xu Yuan as a child.
In the normal timeline, Xu Yuan had lived to be thirty or forty, then died in a supernatural incident, continuing to exist as a ghost in the chat group. But Gao Tian was facing the Xu Yuan from decades ago, a time when Xu Yuan was just a little boy. He hadn’t died, wasn’t a ghost, and certainly didn’t know what the future held.
Seeing the shocked expression on Gao Tian’s face, the young Xu Yuan understood that his guess was correct. He didn’t have much of a reaction, though, as if he were already used to all this:
"Are you that interested in who my teacher is? Who is my teacher? To me, my teacher is just... my teacher. My teacher isn’t ’somebody’.
"When I was little, I could often see things other people couldn’t. Sometimes a bloody corpse would slowly crawl onto a patient’s bed in the hospital ward, and I’d know that man wouldn’t live much longer.
"Who would’ve thought that after I said it, the man really died a few days later. Everyone thought I was a jinx, a bad omen. They said I ’jinxed’ my own parents to death. None of my remaining relatives would take me in, and at school, everyone ostracized me and called me names."
He swallowed hard, as if recalling this experience was very painful for him. The young Xu Yuan continued his story:
"Fortunately, I met my teacher later on. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
"My teacher told me that this ability of mine is called the Ghost Eye. I wasn’t a jinx or a bad omen; I was a natural-born Ghost Hunter. I was born to do this.
"My teacher is very strict with me, but also loves me very much. Every day, besides going to school for my regular education, I also have to learn how to control my Ghost Eye and develop my talent to its maximum potential.
"After that, I discovered that I could see more than just various vengeful spirits—I could even see the future.
"For example—"
He looked up, his gaze blazing as he stared at Gao Tian, as if trying to rip away the veil of mystery behind him.
"You’re not the first person to travel from the future to talk to me now. But you’re definitely the calmest one.
"Most of the big brothers and sisters who accidentally enter my ’domain’ are terrified. They scream and shout and use all sorts of strange supernatural items on me. It seems they mistake me for a murderous vengeful spirit and just want to get out of here as fast as possible.
"No matter what I say, they won’t listen, let alone try to communicate.
"One time, I met an adult who looked a lot like me. His companion, outside the space-time vortex, called him Xu Yuan. I recognized him at a glance—it was the future me. I was so happy then, thinking that finally, someone could understand me and talk with me here.
"But the result was very disappointing. The thirty-year-old Xu Yuan didn’t recognize his childhood self when he saw me. He was muttering something about a ’green text’ mission’s trap, a ghost’s Illusion Technique. He even took out a strange supernatural item I’d never seen before and tried to attack me."
At this, the young Xu Yuan shook his head. If a person couldn’t even understand their own past self, what in this world could possibly understand him?
He reached into his pocket, wanting to take out another Game Coin. But after fumbling around for a while, he found that all his Game Coins were gone.
Gao Tian understood Xu Yuan’s story.
The legend of the Ghost Eye wasn’t uncommon. Children born with special abilities who could see "unclean things" that ordinary people couldn’t from a young age. Gao Tian had heard of it many times, in folk legends or ghost stories.
But Xu Yuan was a one-in-a-million genius. His eyes were capable of far more than that.
He could even see people who didn’t exist in this era at all. To Gao Tian, the boy was the past; but to the Xu Yuan of this moment, Gao Tian was the future.
With a single glance across the river of time, Xu Yuan had somehow dragged Gao Tian, who was investigating in the Sapphire Mall more than twenty years in the future, into a space-time vortex. The two of them had found a point of intersection in the same location, but in different times.
’Damn, I’m jealous. Comparisons will be the death of me.’
’This kid’s talent was maxed out from the start.’
"Since you’re from the future...
"Can I ask you some questions?"
The young Xu Yuan sat in his seat, looking at the strange big brother across from him, and asked cautiously.
Gao Tian had originally thought he would be the one asking the questions. But in the end, he had to answer questions from the Xu Yuan of the past.
He was slowly starting to accept the fact that this little boy was from the past. ’After all, in a world with ghosts, what’s so strange about time travel?’
’The key is how to use this kid from the past to my advantage. That’s the real question.’
’He couldn’t help but consider some darker ideas. What if he killed the Xu Yuan of this past timeline? Could he rewrite history? For instance, the future Xu Yuan’s ghost would cease to exist. The Jialan Society, which had gathered so many ghost users, would vanish. And he himself would never have ended up in the Living Human Apartment because of it.’
’This whole chain reaction was caused by the Xu Yuan right in front of him.’
But Gao Tian quickly abandoned the thought.
’The young Xu Yuan is a genius in the Supernatural Community, able to completely nullify the Memory Ghost’s influence. What makes me so confident I could take him out?’
’Besides, among the other adults who had been pulled into the space-time vortex, many had mistaken Xu Yuan for a ghost and tried to kill him.’
’But they had all failed.’
"Go ahead and ask whatever you want.
"If it’s something someone from my timeline would know, I’ll definitely tell you."
P.S.
Q: Young Xu Yuan has met the future Gao Tian, so why doesn’t the adult Xu Yuan know who Gao Tian is?
Is this a bug?
A: Take note.
Young Xu Yuan also met his adult self.
But the adult Xu Yuan had also forgotten that his childhood self could speak with the future.
This is foreshadowing, not a bug.
