“First, I can help you eliminate a wrong answer. Your parents are not in real life. You are on the wanted posters for the investigation centre. They can’t find anything related to your parents, and I failed to do so either.” The corpse puppet’s lips were rotting, but he spoke faster. “However, if they are in the shadow world, how did they enter it? And when? How much do they need to sacrifice to survive in the shadow world?”
Gao Ming knew better than most how dangerous the shadow world was. He also didn’t understand how his parents managed to find him every time.
“They are normal people who have no powers. They entered the shadow world for you. You currently own everything, but it is built on the foundation of their pain. As their child, do you not care about them?” The puppet slowly led Gao Ming to the main point. “The future is here. The scenes you do not wish to see will appear. They will include ones with your parents.”
“Stop talking in riddles. You’ve said a lot. What exactly do you want?”
“The anomalies are the locations where the shadow world and the real world overlap. Your parents are in this building. You once murdered your way into my home to help me reunite with my mother. Now, I will help you reunite with your parents.” The corpse’s face was rotting. His expression was one of pain, but he cackled happily, “Go and find them. Guess and see if they’re your real parents or not.”
The corpse puppet was at its limits. It cracked open. The inside of its body was stuffed with paper. Gao Ming tried to put them together. It contained Situ An’s handwriting. They were the script for the corpse puppet.
“Don’t… believe it.” Xuan Wen sensed a clear change in Gao Ming’s emotions. She should have been happy, but she couldn’t. She even blurted out a word of warning.
Gao Ming stood in the pool of blood and shook his head. The God of the Past and the God of the Future were once the scariest existences in the shadow world. Even though they had been buried in the shadow world, their mud figurines still contained part of their power. This power could affect the past and the future.
“Perhaps they really have their hands on my parents.” Gao Ming seemed to talk to himself. Xuan Wen’s hand that held Gao Ming’s palm tightened. Her lips slowly opened. Then, when the clock rang again, Xuan Wen came to a decision. She let go of Gao Ming’s hand and looked at Gao Ming with a stern expression, “Stop going upstairs. Stay on the floor where we met. Go find a room where the future is hidden.” Then, Xuan Wen turned and left. She knew that the more she got entangled with Gao Ming, the worse her ending would be. The God of the Future would do anything to torture Gao Ming.
“I want to save my parents. No matter what.” In fact, only Gao Ming knew that all his parents should be in the birthday portrait. He was voicing out the words in ‘Xuan Wen’s heart.
When they were in the ‘coffin house’, Gao Ming had already figured out certain things. ‘Xuan Wen’ before him should be the daughter of that family. The God of the Future helped her become something close to a Red Spectre. The price should be her parents. Gao Ming was a psychiatrist. He had experienced many things through his deaths. After he saw through Xuan Wen’s identity, he started to affect her back. Love was a false and true trap, and emotion was a lie. The thing that connected them was their desire to save their parents. I understand your pain because I am in the same despair. I love you, so please don’t wait for me in the worst of the future.
Gao Ming abandoned his joy and bliss to become this version of himself. Everything he did was to achieve one goal. The fate that came up with the rules for Han Hai might be the killer of the shadow world. They turned this place into a prison and wanted to gain something from Han Hai. If the citizens wanted to obtain the power to fight fate, they had to become the new owners of the bloodred city of Han Hai.
Before he was eliminated by fate, Gao Ming would do anything to grab anything that could fight against fate. That included taking over the mud figurines of the Gods of the Past and the Future.
He was never a conventionally moral person because kindness had died in the past! He had to reach the bloodred city. When he opened the prison, he would bring all the inmates to see the real sky.
“I want to save my parents. I will save them, no matter the price.” Gao Ming slowly walked towards Xuan Wen. “I’ve accepted my past and will not fear the future. The God of the Future cannot sink me into despair. Neither can fate.”
Gao Ming grabbed Xuan Wen’s hand and headed upstairs. The clock on the wall spun rapidly. Wounds appeared on the clock face. Building Three was rapidly changing.
Inside Building Three, someone knocked on the door of Room 1801. Wang Jie, who stood before the mirror in his school uniform, started. He turned around and hid the knife behind his back. He slowly moved to the door.
Through the camera, he saw a pair of middle-aged couple standing at his door. The man was upright in his suit. He was tall and handsome. The woman, wearing a white top and jeans, was soft and gentle. She carried a birthday cake box that was wet from the rain.
“They look familiar…” After confirming they carried nothing dangerous, Wang Jie pressed the button. He spoke to the speaker, “Are you here to exchange food? What do you want to exchange the cake with?”
Building Three had been infiltrated by the worst future. Time flowed abnormally. Human desires like hunger were greatly amplified by the passage of time.
“We are Gao Ming’s parents. He hasn’t gone home after school. You are his roommate. We want to know if he’s with you.” The man should have just gotten off work. He didn’t even have the time to change.
“Gao Ming’s parents?” Wang Jie was confused. After he was there for so long, his memory started to blur.
“Why would Gao Ming be at my home?”
When Wang Jie was thinking, knocking echoed around the whole building.