I can rewind time to prevent death

Zhen City is currently under a partial lockdown.

In the direction leading to the Great Capital center of Huaying, the local security department has set up eye-catching isolation strips. Normally, there are patrol cars that come and go, but due to limited resources and the absence of Spirit Bridges, no dedicated Exorcists have been stationed here.

Which is to say, if someone wanted to sneak into Zhen City, it would be quite easy.

But in this day and age, no common person is so bored as to seek out this kind of hardship. Only certain daredevil teams with a death wish would crazily test the waters on the edge of the line of death.

Such as the adventure teams of the wealthy, or various money-grabbing gimmicks on video platforms.

Ever since that time he talked with Zhang Xiaomo in the coffee shop, Yan Junze hadn't been in touch with the "Open Your Eyes" video platform for a long time, nor had he uploaded any videos.

In the meantime, the platform's editor, Tang Zhengyi, had contacted him numerous times with various shooting suggestions and plans, like teaming up with other Spirit Exploration Teams, or letting Yan Junze explore a hot new location of strangeness provided by the platform.

Regardless of the reason, Yan Junze refused them all.

The first reason was that Yan Junze had too many secrets on him now and could not film and upload videos as before, as it would easily expose him and be very unsafe.

The second reason was that he had developed a strong distrust of the video platform and, after finding out more, he believed that this industry might not last much longer.

After looking through the Zhen City material, Yan Junze could now guess that for whatever reason, if the Back-faced Woman and Ke'er were indeed in the Dead City, then the likelihood of them entering was very high.

However, during the last shared viewpoint, those who appeared before him in uniform were not strangenesses, but rather all humans.

What were these people doing there? Did they pose some harm to the Back-faced Woman and Ke'er?

It was too far away, and Yan Junze didn't know if he could even find the mother and daughter now if he went. Besides, the city was so big, how would he even begin to search?

Furthermore, what if he had guessed wrong and it wasn't this city, or that they were not in the Dead City at all?

All eventualities were possible; none could be completely assured.

Yan Junze put his phone aside and rubbed his somewhat swollen forehead, taking off his glasses and setting them on the nightstand.

After a moment, he picked up his phone again and sent his application for the Magnetic Shielding Clothes to Huang Chen, asking him to expedite the process and report to the Exorcist squad of Tianmeng.

"Don't rush; all the information about the Back-faced Woman and Ke'er is still just speculation for now. Let's wait and see, maybe the Semi-Spirit Body will activate again soon. As long as it activates, I'll have enough time to get accurate information on them..." Yan Junze kept reassuring himself.

He attempted to activate his Semi-Spirit Body once, but there was still no response.

...

One week later.

Ku Zai's application for the Magnetic Shielding Clothes had been approved. The style of the garment wasn't a vest, but resembled a light, non-leather batwing jacket that could be washed directly.

Because Ku Zai was so thin, the garment hung loosely on him, but it actually suited his physique quite well.

The Charger was about the size of a dinner plate used for serving food. Being rather thick, it couldn't fit into a pocket.

This Charger could automatically absorb and convert surrounding Magnetic Energy, operating continuously 24 hours a day, self-charging until full and then automatically switching off.

Charging the Magnetic Shielding Clothes was also straightforward, simply bring the clothes close to the Charger and it would automatically start charging. A full charge took about two hours and provided six to seven hours of uninterrupted use.

Of course, if worn as regular clothing, the embedded button on the inner side of the garment could be pressed to turn off the release of the magnetic disturbance signal, saving energy for when it was really needed.

Once the Magnetic Shielding Clothes were in his hands and fully charged, Yan Junze had Ku Zai try them on.

Upon hearing that the clothes could protect him from strangeness invasions even when not near Xiang Er, Ku Zai was ecstatic.

However, he soon froze, feeling that something was amiss—as if he would also be missing something from now on.

Yan Junze instructed that Ku Zai could wear the garment whenever he wished, but he should only activate the magnetic disruption signal when Xiang Er wasn't by his side, in order to conserve energy as much as possible in normal times.

In the days following the arrival of the Magnetic Shielding Clothes, Ku Zai slept hugging the garment every night. He gradually got used to Xiang Er standing by the window until dawn every night.

Clutching the Magnetic Shielding Clothes in his arms, he slept soundly every night as if he had found a substitute to rely on.

Although Yan Junze had reached a verbal agreement with the Lantern Woman and her husband in the dream, agreeing that Jia Sheng could use those headless corpses, and in return, the Lantern Woman would not trouble him anymore.

But this was after all just a spoken agreement. What if the Lantern Woman went back on her word—things had just begun, and nothing was clear yet.

Therefore, it was necessary to keep Xiang Er by his side while he slept, otherwise, he wouldn't know how he might die in the dream.

Moreover, Yan Junze felt that after the last battle, his relationship with the Lantern Woman and her husband had grown somewhat closer. It wasn't out of the question to start discussing cooperation between them.

Everything needed time.

If possible, as long as the Lantern Woman didn't harm him and could guard in the dream, it would completely block other strangenesses from entering the dream.

And Yan Junze knew that the Lantern Woman also had the skill of projecting dreams into reality, and she was even more adept at it than the Black Dress Woman.

While the Black Dress Woman projected herself into photographs, the Lantern Woman projected directly into real space, simply appearing in different forms of women, crouching somewhere with their backs to him.

This ability was clearly much stronger than that of the Black Dress Woman.

If used well, not only would Yan Junze be protected in his dreams, but he could also receive this special protection from the Lantern Woman in reality.

Every night, Yan Junze's habit was to dim the bedside lamp to its lowest brightness, lay on his back, and fall asleep gazing at the silhouette of Xiang Er standing by the window.

It had to be said, the profile of Xiang Er was utterly captivating—the bridge of her nose was prominent, lips slightly parted, her contours delicate. As the last image accompanying him into slumber, Yan Junze found it well worth it.

Sometimes, he was so mesmerized that he would begin to indulge in fanciful thoughts.

However, at such times, he would immediately conjure up the image of the Ugly Girl in his mind, and then... feeling utterly uninspired, he would cover his head and fall asleep.

Another week passed.

That day, the sunshine was splendid, and Yan Junze asked Xiang Er to carry his fully packed black backpack and, along with Ku Zai, took them for a walk.

At noon, the warm sunshine felt immensely comfortable on the skin.

The trio walked along the streets toward the suburbs, and after about forty minutes, buildings on both sides of the street became scarce.

At that moment, a cloud gathered in the sky, obscuring the sunlight.

Ku Zai suddenly felt uneasy. He looked around and realized that there were no residential buildings nearby. Looking ahead, an abandoned, rust-stained, and overgrown factory emerged, completely deserted.

"How did we end up... in such a desolate place?"

An ominous premonition enveloped Ku Zai.

"We're going to the factory," Yan Junze patted his shoulder, pointing to a corner of a spacious clearing inside the factory.

This place must have once been a playground where workers exercised and ran, but now the cement cracks were filled with weeds, and it had been abandoned for a long time.

Ku Zai, still dazed, followed Yan Junze and Xiang Er onto the playground.

Since this clearing was not beside the road but required walking a hundred meters and turning a corner to enter, standing inside meant that even the passing cars on the street were out of sight, and only their sounds were audible.

Yan Junze asked Xiang Er as he positioned Ku Zai towards the rear of the playground's center, "Is this place okay?"

Xiang Er didn't speak at first, bowing her head as if sensing something.

After a moment, she lifted her head, "It's fine."

Yan Junze turned to look at Ku Zai, who had been ready to put on the Magnetic Shielding Clothes when they left home, but Yan Junze had not agreed.

Seeing Yan Junze looking at him, Ku Zai became even more panicked and stammered, "This... what is this..."

"An experiment," Yan Junze said with a smile, a poorly concealed insincerity within it.

Xiang Er took off the backpack and handed it to Yan Junze, then went to pick up a two-meter-long rusted and broken iron rod from the side.

Returning with the rod, she thrust it firmly into the ground behind Ku Zai, shook it to ensure its stability, and then stepped back.

Yan Junze had already opened the backpack and took out a bundle of rope, handing it to Xiang Er.

After receiving the rope, Xiang Er bound the utterly bewildered Ku Zai's hands behind him to the firmly planted iron rod, making him immobile.

"I... I want to go home, back to FH Community," Ku Zai pleaded, near tears at the sight before him.

After completing these steps, Yan Junze nodded to Xiang Er, and the pair ignored Ku Zai. Xiang Er turned and walked away.

Seeing Xiang Er leave the playground and continue walking outside, Ku Zai became immediately panicky, struggling to follow.

"Don't move," Yan Junze said, "We're just conducting an experiment, you won't be harmed in the slightest, and it will be over soon."

By now, Xiang Er was out of sight, and it was unclear whether Ku Zai has heard Yan Junze. In his terror, he jerkily looked around, losing all composure.

After losing sight of Xiang Er, Ku Zai began to shake like a leaf in the wind, and his clenched teeth clattered loudly.

"Yan, Yan, Yan, Yan... Brother, I, I, I... am, am, am, am... wrong, please let... let me go..."

Before he could finish, a rustling sound of something being dragged suddenly came from the dense weeds behind him.

Hearing this sound, Ku Zai instinctively shut his mouth.

Yan Junze, however, felt a shameful delight in his heart and took a few steps back, giving Ku Zai even more space.

Shortly after, a half-bodied strangeness appeared in his sight.

This strangeness was a naked male, missing his lower half, with his innards dragging on the ground behind him. He crawled forward with his hands, slowly making his way towards Ku Zai. In the process, he stuck out his dark, bluish tongue, greedily licking his lips at Ku Zai.

Ku Zai turned his head just in time to witness this scene, shaking violently and involuntarily crying out, "Mama!"

A sense of horror and disgust, long absent, flooded his body in an instant.

Yan Junze, on the other hand, rubbed his hands with excitement and took a few more steps back.

Because at that moment, from another direction, through a hole in the broken ground, another spirit emerged—this one was a shabbily dressed woman.

The woman was slightly corpulent with apparently deformed feet—a bend at the knee joint of her left foot toward the left, and similarly, her right knee bent left, as if she had been struck by something heavy from the right side before death, fracturing both legs.

With a thud, thud, as she walked, her leg bones clashing, the woman in tattered clothes slowly approached Ku Zai, her expression equally excited.