I can rewind time to prevent death

The group enjoyed some light drinks, deliberately avoiding the topic of strangenesses, and finally, a bit of atmosphere seemed to settle over the gathering.

Around ten past nine, Zhou Dali called for the Divine Camel Exclusive Car, a minivan he had booked earlier that, besides the driver, could seat six people.

There were five of them in total, and after they all got on the car, they first dropped off Yan Junze, who lived the closest.

Only then did they proceed to drop off the others one by one.

When the minivan reached FH Community, Yan Junze said goodbye to everyone, arranged a time to meet with Bao Yunjing, and got off the car alone, slowly walking into FH Community under the protection of an umbrella.

Watching his figure disappear into the rain with the umbrella, Bao Yunjing waited until the minivan started up again before turning to Bao Jie to ask, "Doesn't your classmate always give off an air of mystery?"

"Not really," Bao Jie shook her head, "It's a mysterious aura with an inexplicable touch of teenage angst."

"I agree with that," Zhou Dali nodded on the side.

Jiang Ruixin covered her mouth and sniggered.

...

As Yan Junze entered the gates of the community with his umbrella, he glanced at Grandpa Zheng in the duty room.

Grandpa Zheng was absorbed in watching TV, completely unaware of the person standing outside with an umbrella.

Yan Junze walked straight to Building No. 7 and, just as he was about to turn into the stairwell, the door leading to the underground garage suddenly moved slightly.

Yan Junze stopped in his tracks, still holding the umbrella, and turned his head to peer through the crack in the door, widened slightly in the moonlight. Near the bottom of the door, a pair of eerie eyes flickered and then disappeared.

He paused, then turned around and walked out of Building No. 7 to Grandpa Zheng's duty room. He began, "Grandpa Zheng, do you have any candles here?"

Grandpa Zheng, who was watching a tear-jerker about caring for the elderly, dabbed gently at a tear about to fall, and without noticing why Yan Junze was holding an umbrella, opened the glass door of the duty room and asked, "What do you need the candles for?"

As he spoke, and without waiting for Yan Junze's reply, he bent down to pull a pack of candles from a drawer: "How many do you need?"
Continue your journey on empire

"Give me seven or eight," Yan Junze said with a smile, "I'll bring you a new pack tomorrow."

"No worries, I have plenty at home." Grandpa Zheng handed over eight candles to Yan Junze, then looked up at the sky in confusion and asked, "Is it raining?"

"Yeah, it just started a little while ago, but it's stopped now; I didn't bother to close my umbrella," Yan Junze, fabricating a story, took the candles and quickly returned to Building No. 7 of the community.

The candles Grandpa Zheng provided were the kind used for illumination during a power outage, not the ritual candles sold for the deceased, so they were quite a bit smaller.

Arriving at the door to the underground garage, Yan Junze squatted down and took out a candle, slowly extending it through the crack in the door, swaying it left and right inside the doorframe.

At that moment, a withered, shriveled hand suddenly reached out, grabbed the candle, and violently pulled it back.

Soon after, the sound of chewing echoed.

Yan Junze stood up, took out another candle, opened the door, and walked in.

He closed his large umbrella behind him and, in the dim light, saw a strange baby crouching behind the door on the stone stairs leading to the underground garage, hungrily devouring the candle. In just a short moment, half of the candle in its hand had been eaten.

"How did you get out?" Yan Junze muttered to himself, dangling another candle in front of the strange baby, "Come on, let's go back."

He walked down the stairs.

The strange baby hadn't finished eating the candle in its hand and reached out to grab the one Yan Junze was holding, but Yan Junze deliberately kept it out of reach.

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Having no choice, the strange baby had to crawl toward the direction of the pipe room in the southeast corner of the garage while biting the candle in its hand.

Soon they reached the small door and stopped in front of it. By this time, the strange baby had already snatched his second candle and was voraciously eating it.

"Aunt Mei, this little ghost has run out, and I've brought it back to you!" Yan Junze pushed open the door, not entering, but standing at the doorway and calling.

After a brief moment, without any sound coming through, a head with fluffy hair approached the door from the pitch-black room inside, smiling, yet the body underneath the head could not be seen.

It was indeed Aunt Mei's head, but perhaps it was too dark to see her body; just a head, floating in mid-air, smiling at Yan Junze.

Yan Junze was startled to see the strange baby trembling under his feet as it turned around, grabbed the remaining candle from his hand, and staggeringly ran into the room.

Aunt Mei's head still seemed to hang on the door frame, smiling at him.

Yan Junze did not leave, in fact, bringing the strange baby back was just one of his objectives; he had another motive concerning himself.

"Aunt Mei, if it's convenient for you right now, I'd like to ask you to come out for a moment. You see… is that okay?"

This was the first time he had made a request to Aunt Mei, and after uttering these words, a cold sweat broke out on Yan Junze's back.

He stared unblinkingly at the smiling Aunt Mei, and the atmosphere became stagnant.

About ten seconds later, Aunt Mei's head, which appeared to be hanging, moved, flying straight out and hovering in front of Yan Junze, still with a full-faced smile.

"Your… your body?" Yan Junze was dumbfounded and took a long time before asking, "This… how… how can you go out like this?"

No sooner had he spoken than he noticed a fresh blood thread connected below Aunt Mei's seemingly floating head, extending into the darkness of the room, its destination unknown.

However, one could imagine that the other end of the thread was likely connected to Aunt Mei's body at the neck, and just the thought of this made Yan Junze shudder.

Just then, Aunt Mei's head drew closer, reaching Yan Junze's elbow and giving it a gentle touch.

Yan Junze paused and then said, "Are you asking me... to directly carry your head… out?"

Aunt Mei's head touched his elbow again.

Yan Junze hesitated for a moment, but finally reached out and held her head.

At that moment, the blood thread connected below snapped with a pop.

It was time to go.

Yan Junze felt a chill in his heart, and the head of Aunt Mei felt soft and squishy as he touched it, then he proceeded to walk out of the underground garage carrying the head.

Inviting Aunt Mei out was for a reason.

After ascending the stone steps and arriving in front of the small door to the underground garage near the first floor, Yan Junze looked down at Aunt Mei's head; the old lady still had a smile on her face, as if nothing was amiss.

The moonlight was bright, shining in the stairwell of the first floor. Just by opening this small door, Yan Junze could bathe in the cold moonlight.

And this time, he didn't plan on carrying an umbrella. After he had entered the underground garage earlier, the large umbrella had been left leaning against the back of the door.

Carrying the head, Yan Junze took a deep breath and stepped through the door directly.

The moonlight came down, casting the shadows of him standing outside the door, along with the head of Aunt Mei in his arms, behind them.

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