Chapter 45: The Person in the Picture Is Me

Later, Qiu Xiaoli and I walked hand in hand onto the bus. I turned around and waved to the three of them.

Once everyone was on board, I said two words to the driver: "Hospital."

Then, Qiu Xiaoli and I walked to the very back row of the bus. We snuggled together, holding hands, immersed in a state of pure bliss.

Upon arriving at the hospital, the moment the bus doors opened, I pulled Qiu Xiaoli down the steps and walked inside, step by step. Perhaps out of worry, the other three followed closely behind me into the hospital.

Soon, Qiu Xiaoli and I stopped in front of a hospital room door. At that moment, Qiu Xiaoli let out a piercing cry once more—a cry of agonizing grief, as heartbreaking as the sorrow of eternal parting. I gently pushed open the door to the room and walked inside.

A moment later, I emerged from the room, with a smile actually playing on my lips. Qiu Xiaoli, however, was nowhere to be found.

I walked toward the three of them step by step, while they retreated step by step. Right then, the smile vanished from my face once again, and with utmost seriousness, I said to the three of them, "I really must thank you. Rest assured, the girl in the white dress will never appear in your world again."

As soon as I finished those words, I began foaming at the mouth and fell backward onto the floor. At that instant, an eerie wind swept through the hospital corridor once more.

Later, I was rushed to the emergency room for treatment, though there was nothing seriously wrong with my body. Afterward, I was moved to a regular ward and remained unconscious there until I woke up just now.

Listening to their recounting of these events left me alternating between hot and cold chills. I had absolutely no memory of the things they described. Moreover, I had a persistent feeling that the person I was back then was not me at all, but someone else entirely.

The three of them had stayed up all night, and seeing that I was fine now, they stood up to bid me farewell. I expressed my utmost gratitude to them. Soon, they left, and I was the only one remaining in the hospital room.

I racked my brain, trying desperately to recall everything that had happened last night, and suddenly, memories began to surface. Yesterday, right after I called out Qiu Xiaoli's name, a voice had echoed in my mind. After that, I lost consciousness completely, yet a series of persistent images had played before my eyes.

Within those visions, I had seen Ren Yunwen.

***

It was a night when Ren Yunwen lay on his bed, staring at his phone, hesitating and agonizing over and over again. Stored in his contacts was a single number, and the name saved to it was Qiu Xiaoli. Finally, with his eyes squeezed shut and sweat pouring down his face, he pressed the call button. This was the scene of Ren Yunwen making his very first phone call to Qiu Xiaoli.

Then, the scene shifted to a park bench by the lake, where Ren Yunwen appeared once more. Qiu Xiaoli was holding a smartphone, looking at a picture displayed on the screen—it was the newest model of an iPhone. Joy was written all over her face, as if she adored it beyond measure. Standing right beside her, Ren Yunwen beamed with a foolish grin, though his face also betrayed a hint of shame.

Ren Yunwen appeared yet again in a public cemetery. Right in front of one of the tombstones, an iPhone was placed neatly and squarely. It was late afternoon, and with hardly anyone left in the graveyard, the atmosphere was unusually desolate. A black-and-white portrait of a young girl affixed to the headstone made the place look even more ghost-haunted. At that moment, Ren Yunwen crept stealthily toward the headstone, secretly slipped the phone into his pocket, and hurried away.

The scene shifted once more, deep into the night. Pitch darkness surrounded everything, rendering nothing visible. Suddenly, a beam of light cut through the dark as a smartphone lit up. Following that, a hand entered the frame. Ren Yunwen was reaching out, bringing the phone up to his ear. But a mere moment later, Ren Yunwen tumbled off the bed.

The perspective changed, bringing us to the school gates. Ren Yunwen walked slowly toward the street as a delivery truck came barreling down the road, striking him and sending him flying ten meters away. He collapsed onto the ground, his body convulsing, until life finally left him.

Yet, the visions did not end there.

Another scene materialized, set by the school lake. It was the dead of night, and the lakeside was shrouded in utter darkness. A figure appeared in the vision, showing only a back view. However, I had a vague sense that this back view looked somewhat similar to my own. This image remained almost completely motionless, and the person within it never moved at all.

After a short while, another figure appeared by the lake. Viewed from a distance, this person seemed to be draped in a white dress, and one could roughly make out that it was Qiu Xiaoli. Qiu Xiaoli walked toward the person who looked like me and exchanged a few words with them. In the dim moonlight, the two could be seen standing very close to one another.

Suddenly, Qiu Xiaoli walked away. She walked step by step toward the lake, stopped at the water's edge, and with a heavy splash, jumped into the water. At that exact moment, the figure resembling me slowly stood up and advanced step by step. The silhouette gradually grew clearer, and the face slowly came into focus.

My body began to tremble uncontrollably, for I saw that the person in the vision—the one who looked like me—was unmistakably me. In the imagery, my own face was growing larger and larger, detail by detail.

At that point, the vision ended. Recalling this sequence of events left me with a profound sense of chilling dread.

Clearly, these were not sights I could have possibly witnessed with my own eyes. Everything appearing in those visions seemed exclusively tied to Ren Yunwen. It was highly probable that these were Ren Yunwen's memories.

If that was the case, had I truly been possessed by Ren Yunwen's ghost last night? Yet, Ren Yunwen's restless spirit had clearly been captured by Liu Sui—unless Liu Sui had purposely released the ghost...

***

What on earth was this Liu Sui trying to pull?

Thinking of this, I clenched my fists. Once I returned, I would definitely demand an explanation from him. Although I was physically unharmed at the moment, Liu Sui's actions amounted to nothing less than playing me for a fool, and there was simply no way I could swallow this anger. He had asked me to perform a soul-calling ritual, only to release Ren Yunwen's spirit to possess my body. Was he deliberately making a fool of me?

Still, anger aside, after a brief wave of fury, I refocused my attention on those visions. The final scene had actually featured me. What on earth was the meaning of this? I could swear on my life that the events depicted in that vision were things I had never experienced.

Could there be another version of me?

By this point, the questions swirling in my mind were simply too numerous to count. Unable to endure the torment any longer, I hurriedly checked out of the hospital. At this juncture, the only person capable of unravelling the mystery was Liu Sui, so I rushed straight to his residence.

However, the answer I received was that Liu Sui had already delivered last rites for Ren Yunwen early that morning, sending him off to the netherworld for reincarnation. This only deepened my confusion: "But I can say with absolute certainty that the ghost who possessed my body yesterday was none other than Ren Yunwen."

Liu Sui shook his head. "As for that, I cannot say. Perhaps his obsession ran too deep, allowing him to escape from the underworld on his own."

Liu Sui's explanation was perfunctory at best, delivered with an indifferent expression. I pressed the matter no further; after all, despite possessing my body the day before, Ren Yunwen had not committed any evil deeds—instead, he had helped me summon back Qiu Xiaoli's lost soul. How he managed to leave the netherworld was no longer something I cared to dwell on.

Consequently, I recounted to Liu Sui the visions that had flashed through my mind while Ren Yunwen was possessing me. Liu Sui merely lifted his teacup to take a sip, refusing to even glance at me from start to finish.

I laid out every single one of those scenes, including the final one. At that, Liu Sui raised his head slightly and fixed his gaze upon me.

After a brief pause, Liu Sui let out a sigh. "You are not mistaken. The person in that vision was indeed you. It was you who made Qiu Xiaoli jump into the lake and commit suicide."