I didn’t expect that I would actually dream of my deceased grandfather that very night.

Grandfather sat in a wheelchair, calling my name like he did in my memories.

“Gu Yu, Xiaoyu, come over here.” He waved his hand at me. “Come here and let grandpa look at you!”

I didn’t think too much about it and walked over. As expected, grandfather reached out a dirty pair of trembling, wrinkled hands and twisted my ear with force.

I yelled in pain, struggling hard to escape, but grandfather’s strength was more than I had expected, holding me in place like he would hold a mouse. I used an immense amount of strength to barely escape from his clutches, moving backward several steps and holding my ear.

My grandfather started laughing, the sound eerie, the wrinkled face of his twisted in laughter. The sound of it filled the entire room, making my hair stand on end.

“Why are you doing this?!” Because it was a dream, I couldn’t help but ask this question loudly, unable to hide the loathing in my tone.

“Do you really dislike it?” Grandfather opened his mouth again, showing his yellowed teeth, a foul smell spreading in the air. “I’m your grandfather after all.”

“You’re nothing more than a dead person! Stop lingering in my home!” I covered my nose, frowning in disgust. I gathered up my courage to yell,” Return to where you came from, stop bothering my family!”

However, when grandfather heard these words, he didn’t get angry. Instead, he smiled, his yellowed teeth looking even uglier. Following that, he actually stood up slowly from his wheelchair.

It was then that I noticed my grandfather’s two feet.. no, those weren’t even able to be labeled feet anymore. His legs were rotted from top to bottom, it was like a corpse from a zombie movie, rotting flesh hanging off pale white bones. The fact that he could still stand, trembling, that sort of scene was filled with unspeakable horror.

My grandfather smiled as he walked towards me with faltering steps. “I don’t want to either, Xiaoyu. I also want to hurry back into the reincarnation cycle, but it’s not up to me. I don’t have a choice.”

I was terrified, holding my nose and backing up frantically. My back suddenly hit an unseen wall, blocking off my path. I wanted to run away, but there was nowhere for me to go. I could only watch with wide eyes at the stooping old man slowly walking towards me step by step.

When he was barely three steps away, my grandfather suddenly stopped and wore a very mournful look.

He opened his mouth, spittle leaking out, and it was only then that I noticed his eyes were empty and without light, like a lifeless puppet. “Save me, Xiaoyu. I want to leave.. b-but t-they won’t let me leave.”

I swallowed and asked in a panic, “W-what? Who? Who won’t let you leave?”

“Not only does it not want me to leave, it also wants everyone from the family to come here.” My grandfather suddenly grabbed my elbow, agitated. I couldn’t shake him off and he started laughing again after a moment. “Fine, that’s fine as well. Let every single person come, let none of them be able to rest in peace! None of them will rest in peace!”

“What are you talking about!” I shook him off with effort. “Can you explain what is it? Why does it want to harass my family?”

My grandfather suddenly let me go, backing up several steps, his face stark pale. Then after a while, he said slowly, “It is.. this is it!”

And then my grandfather slowly turned around —

A coal-black worm, a massive, coal-black worm was attached on my grandfather’s back. The large body of the bug was almost bigger than my grandfather’s frail body. It writhed indifferently, stuck closely along my grandfather’s spine. Then, as if sensing me, the bug’s black eyes stared at me, making a whining sound.

“Ah—!!”

I woke suddenly, sitting up and feeling sweat covering me from head to toe. The sight of that huge bug was still burned into my eyes and I couldn’t help but feel a lurch in my stomach.

What was going on.. why did my grandfather appear in my dream? His words and that bug, what did it all mean?

I suppressed the urge to vomit and my eyes searched for Wen Jiubo instinctively. He would definitely have something to say about this.

But when I looked, the bed next to mine was empty, the blankets flipped open.

Where was Wen Jiubo?

Just when I was puzzling over this, the door to the room suddenly burst open loudly and who should walk but Wen Jiubo.

Wen Jiubo was wearing a simple shirt and long pants, seemingly already changed. His expression was serious and as soon as he came over, he flipped open my blanket.

“What are you doing!” I had only worn a pair of underwear to sleep and was alarmed by his action, hurriedly pulling the blanket back.

However, looking at his expression, it didn’t seem like he was joking at all. He picked up the clothes scattered across the floor, throwing them to me and saying, “Get up quickly. You’ve got three minutes to get dressed.”

Startled by Wen Jiubo’s mood, I jumped down from bed hurriedly. “What’s wrong?”

“Your mom just called,” Wen Jiubo said, frowning. “She said that your grandmother has gone mad again.”

————————————————————————

It was currently two in the morning and I didn’t have time to be flustered, dressing quickly and neatly.

“But speaking of which, my second aunt’s house isn’t close by,” I asked worriedly. “Can we still get a cab at this time?”

“There’s no time, we’ll use another method to get there.” Wen Jiubo grabbed my arm, his other hand pulling out a tiny paper person from his person.

I looked at the little scrap of paper in his hand, confused, not knowing what he was planning to do.

Wen Jibuo sighed. “I didn’t want to have to use this.. but since it’s an emergency, there’s no other choice.”

Before I could react, Wen Jiubo started chanting.

“Turn the earth upside down, the nine paths be blocked.”

As soon as Wen Jiubo’s words sounded, the little piece of paper in his hand suddenly floated into the air and countless little pieces of paper appeared from within. The paper seemed to have a life of their own, surrounding the two of us in a flurry, slowly forming a circle and enclosing us firmly within.

“What?” Before I could make sense of the situation, the rustling of the paper stopped, all of them floated back onto Wen Jiubo’s palm and merged back into a single piece of paper.

“We’re here,” Wen Jiubo said in a low voice.

It was only then that I realized that at some point, it had already become asphalt beneath my feet. Before me was my second aunt’s apartment building.

Before I could wonder at this, I heard a sharp cry from the building, followed by a string of crashing noises from things being knocked into and over.

“Hurry!” Wen Jiubo grabbed my wrist and ran towards the stairs.