Chapter 168

Having been carried out of the bathroom by Zhang Yanfeng, the old Daoist, being a seasoned detective, knew that a seventy-year-old, emaciated man like himself was practically weightless. He was easily lifted.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, the old Daoist sighed in relief, secretly admiring his own shrewdness.

The boss had called him here to perform a ritual, which meant there was definitely something wrong. The old Daoist wasn't sure what it was.

Therefore, while performing the ritual, despite appearing completely absorbed, he had kept a watchful eye out.

He was afraid that a fierce ghost or a zombie might suddenly emerge from somewhere. Although the boss was there to keep things in check, his own life was still his responsibility, wasn't it?

However, everything remained calm throughout the ritual. The old Daoist found it a bit strange; the earth-shattering event he had imagined didn't occur.

Then, when he went to the bathroom to wash his face and change clothes, the old Daoist, with his many close calls, didn't rush to use the toilet. Instead, he took out a talisman from his crotch and stuck it to the toilet lid.

Bathrooms were the most common place for ghosts to appear and cause trouble, so the old Daoist had to be cautious.

It turned out he was lucky this time.

He had just stuck the talisman on when the toilet lid began to tremble, followed by wisps of black smoke rising from within.

The old Daoist felt something grabbing and tearing at him. He resisted frantically, but the thing seemed to be above him, lifting him up and sticking him to the ceiling.

When a man and woman are deeply in love, they always want to touch and caress each other, wishing they could meld into one.

The old Daoist felt the same way, but the other party wanted to meld him into the ceiling. If they succeeded, he figured that in a few years or decades, when someone renovated the villa, they would find him dried into jerky.

"Hoo..."

The old Daoist breathed a sigh of relief.

"Um, Officer, you can put me down now."

Being held like this was a little embarrassing.

However, Officer Zhang didn't put him down. Instead, he brought something warm and wet close and began to lick his face frantically.

The old Daoist was so startled that he shuddered. Turning his head, he saw that it wasn't Officer Zhang at all, but a huge Alaskan Malamute. He was in the arms of this Alaskan, its tongue relentlessly licking him.

"Holy crap!"

The old Daoist immediately kicked the Alaskan away and scrambled backward.

The Alaskan didn't seem angry, just sat there dumbly, watching the old Daoist, its long tongue lolling out.

"Where the hell am I?"

The old Daoist then realized that not only was the sudden appearance of the Alaskan strange, but the place he was in was also odd.

To his left was a pit full of balls, with colorful spheres scattered around. To his right was a pile of stuffed animals, truly a "mountain of corpses."

Behind him was a small carousel, with its lights on and playing nursery rhymes.

"Slap! Slap!"

The old Daoist slapped himself a couple of times, but it didn't work. Everything in front of him remained the same.

"Hee hee... haha... hehe... brother... brother..."

A little girl's voice rang out, with a clear, bell-like quality.

The old Daoist rubbed his eyes. A little girl in a princess dress had appeared on one of the carousel horses.

The girl was holding onto the horse with one hand and waving the other, having a great time.

"Sister... I'm coming... I'm coming!"

On the carousel horse behind her sat a little boy in a suit, looking particularly stylish.

"Amitabha, Infinite Heavenly Lord, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Taishang Laojun..."

The old Daoist closed his eyes and chanted scriptures that he himself didn't even know the meaning of.

"Boss, Boss, save me, save me!"

In the end, the old Daoist realized that all the Buddhas and immortals were busy, and the only one who could save him was the boss.

However, after shouting for a long time, the boss didn't appear on auspicious clouds.

Instead, the carousel began to grow larger and larger. The little girl and boy were now riding giant carousel horses the size of dinosaurs, flying and spinning around above him.

The old Daoist was really worried that the thing would suddenly fall and crush him to death, so he began to run instinctively. There were no walls or boundaries in this place.

However,

no walls were the biggest wall,

no boundaries were the most terrifying boundary.

The old Daoist ran as fast as he could for who knows how long, until he had to stop to catch his breath, only to find that he was still running in circles around the amusement park.

He had run far,

but as he ran further, the amusement park facilities behind him continued to grow larger.

The shadow in the sky followed him like a ghost. The shadow cast by the carousel horses the two children were riding almost covered everything, bringing a sense of terrifying despair.

"Hee hee... haha..."

The children's laughter kept coming from above. They were having a great time, completely immersed in their play.

If it were any other time, seeing these two cute children, the old Daoist would have gone over to tease them and buy them some snacks. He himself liked children.

But at this moment, the voices of these two children were like deadly demonic sounds, constantly entering and leaving his ears, and it was useless to even cover them with his hands.

The old Daoist sat on the ground, looking up, feeling helpless and desperate.

What the hell was this place?

"Gurgle gurgle... gurgle gurgle... gurgle gurgle..."

The ground beneath him began to thicken like boiling curry. The old Daoist's body began to sink slowly into it.

"I..."

He was sinking too fast. By the time the old Daoist reacted, he had completely disappeared, without even the reaction to struggle.

There was no sense of suffocation he had imagined. Instead, his nose could smell a fragrant and sweet scent. The smell of curry was strong at first, but it was slowly replaced by the fragrance of candy.

It was a scent and atmosphere that would intoxicate anyone, young or old. In this scent, the old Daoist seemed to regain his youth, find his sunset, and relive the feeling of running under the setting sun.

Free,

happy,

relaxed,

energetic,

life,

beautiful.

The nightmare had unknowingly transformed into a beautiful dream. The old Daoist dreamed that he was flying, soaring in a sea of clouds made of cotton candy.

"Hee hee... haha... brother..."

"Hehe... hehe... sister..."

The voices of the two children came again.

At this moment, their voices were like those of unruly children running around on a high-speed train without their parents' supervision.

The old Daoist smacked his lips, opened his eyes with some dissatisfaction. Who couldn't have a bit of morning grumpiness when their beautiful dream was disturbed?

But the moment he opened his eyes, the old Daoist was dumbfounded.

He saw that he was flying in the air. He was really flying. And around him were bodies, carried by the voices of wooden horses and children, coming from himself.

Forcibly turning his head,

"Giddy up! Giddy up!"

The little boy shouted,

sitting on the old Daoist's back,

urging the old Daoist to move forward quickly!

What the hell was going on?

The old Daoist wailed in his heart. He was almost collapsing. He had been to places like the Three Villages before, and he wasn't some naive rookie, but he had never encountered such a bizarre place and scene.

"Uncle, come on, come on, let's play together, let's ride the horsey together."

"Come on, Uncle, Uncle come on..."

The two children shouted into the distance.

In the distance,

Zhang Yanfeng's figure appeared. He stood there somewhat woodenly, as if thinking, or perhaps struggling.

But the more he thought, the less he could figure out what he was thinking.

Instead,

that sense of intimacy was intensifying.

The old Daoist saw a woman standing next to him, a mother, standing by the carousel, watching her two children play.

The woman was wearing a long red dress, with long hair draped over her shoulders, and a good figure.

"Brother, come on... come and play with us..."

The woman, like her two children, was calling out to Zhang Yanfeng in the distance.

"No... Officer Zhang... wake up... wake up!"

The old Daoist shouted,

but his voice was drowned out by the nursery rhymes of the carousel and couldn't be heard at all. He was now just a carousel horse, one of many.

Zhang Yanfeng slowly started walking towards them, his steps faltering, and his expression somewhat tangled and forced.

But as his sister and nephews called out to him again and again,

a loving smile appeared on his face.

Why had he been so troubled by that case for so long?

It was because he couldn't let go of his sister and his two nephews.

He wanted to find out the real cause of their deaths, wanted to avenge them. He loved them, couldn't bear to part with them!

At this moment,

he walked faster and faster,

no,

he ran faster and faster!

If this was a dream,

then let me sink into it and never wake up.

"Damn it all!"

The old Daoist couldn't help but swear.

"Uncle, ride the horsey together!"

The boy jumped onto another carousel horse and waved at Zhang Yanfeng.

"Little Hua, be good, Uncle's coming!"

A bad feeling rose in the old Daoist's heart.

He saw Officer Zhang suddenly jump up,

as agile as he was when he was young,

and then sit directly on his back.

"Crack..."

His waist,

was twisted...

Tears streamed down the old Daoist's face from the pain.

"Uncle, Uncle..."

"Brother, Brother..."

"Hey, hey..."

The carousel,

continued to spin,

as if there would never be an end,

and its end would never be seen.

chun jie di xiao long