Chapter 62: The Bizarre Ritual in the Dream

"Alright, we'll go find her tonight."

Bai Peiyu walked on without looking back.

Qiu Yiyao let out a sigh of relief. As long as he agreed, she just needed to obediently follow along.

The two arrived at Central Park, and from afar, they saw the lonely carp statue standing upright in the middle of the plaza.

People afraid of the heat had long since retreated to the shade of the trees to cool off.

Qiu Yiyao found an empty bench and sat down. She took out her phone from her bag, but there was still no signal.

She held out her hand. "Hand over your phone."

Bai Peiyu didn't ask any questions. Obediently, he fished his phone out of his pocket and handed it to her.

The screen had no lock and unlocked with a single tap.

To Qiu Yiyao's surprise, however, the wallpaper was a photo of a little girl, around five or six years old, wearing a small white dress and hugging a fluffy stuffed toy.

For some reason, she felt like she had seen this photo somewhere before, especially that stuffed toy—it looked terribly familiar.

"Who is this in the photo?"

Bai Peiyu was lounging with his legs crossed against the back of the bench, eyes closed to rest. Hearing her question, he snapped back to reality and hurriedly snatched the phone back. "Snooping through other people's phones is against the law."

Qiu Yiyao was astonished. "Didn't you give it to me yourself? Why are you playing the victim?"

"I'm not giving it anymore."

Bai Peiyu stood up and, acting as if he were angry, walked away alone down a park path.

"Hmph, stingy."

Qiu Yiyao didn't follow him. She leaned back against the bench, absent-mindedly counting the pedestrians walking across the plaza.

The thick branches and leaves overhead blocked the scorching sunlight, and coupled with the occasional cool breeze, it was quite refreshing.

Before long, Qiu Yiyao felt her eyelids growing heavy.

Seeing that there was practically no one around, she simply hugged her backpack tightly, leaned against the back of the bench, and dozed off.

In a haze, she saw a sheet of fog ahead.

Qiu Yiyao's body moved forward uncontrollably. Passing through the mist, she saw a carp statue not far away, ninety-nine percent identical to the one in the plaza.

The only difference was that its mouth was truly holding a glowing, luminous orb, resembling the legendary moon.

Surrounding the carp statue, people were kneeling three layers deep—men and women, old and young, and even toddlers biting their fingers.

Their hands were clasped together, expressions devout, as they kowtowed incessantly to the carp statue, as if it were some extraordinary VIP or some divine deity.

Just as Qiu Yiyao was feeling puzzled, an elderly woman rushed past her and accidentally bumped into her arm.

A pain flared in Qiu Yiyao's arm, and she let out a gasp.

Seeing this, the old woman complained, "Why are you standing there in a daze? Why aren't you kneeling down quickly? What are you going to do if you miss the hour?"

Before Qiu Yiyao could react, the old woman had already grabbed her and pulled her toward the crowd.

Reaching the back row, the woman forced her to her knees without a word of explanation.

The sound of the surrounding people's voices drilled into her ears—strange and eerie sounds of which Qiu Yiyao couldn't understand a single word.

"What are you standing around in a daze for? Is your mouth glued shut?"

The old woman elbowed her arm, then clasped her hands together, looked up at the carp statue, and began to mutter under her breath.

Qiu Yiyao acknowledged her with a murmur, but she didn't know what she was supposed to say, and she was even more afraid of being found out if she spoke incorrectly, so she could only silently move her lips.

She secretly observed her surroundings and saw that right where she had been standing earlier, a large black door had somehow appeared.

Standing beside the door were two burly men dressed entirely in black. They wore serious expressions and sharp gazes, seemingly searching the crowd for something.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Everyone, look for her! She ran away!"

Hearing this, everyone stood up one after another, except for the old woman beside Qiu Yiyao.

The old woman slowly turned her head to look at Qiu Yiyao, a terribly eerie smile on her face.

"She didn't run away. She's right here."

Qiu Yiyao was startled, cursing inwardly that she was in trouble—she had been discovered.

She scrambled to her feet, intending to run toward a less crowded area, but was grabbed firmly by the surrounding people.

"You can't escape."

Unrestrained joy was visible on everyone's faces as they shoved and elbowed each other forward, eager to witness firsthand how Qiu Yiyao would be captured.

Qiu Yiyao felt as though she was being seized by countless hands. The air grew thinner and thinner, making it hard to breathe.

"Bai... Bai Peiyu... hurry..."

She used every ounce of her remaining strength to shout those words, her limbs turning limp as she plunged headfirst into a bottomless abyss.

Suddenly, a beam of light appeared before her eyes, and she instinctively rubbed them.

The next second she opened them, Qiu Yiyao found herself sitting on the bench, with the carp statue in the center of the plaza opposite her surrounded by a fountain.

It was just a dream, thankfully.

Qiu Yiyao raised a hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead and let out a long breath.

At that moment, an old woman's voice pierced her ears: "Young people these days—don't sleep at night, sleep everywhere during the day. They sure have thick skin."

Qiu Yiyao looked in the direction from which the voice came.

Sure enough, on another bench seven or eight meters away, two elderly women were whispering to each other, pointing and gesturing at Qiu Yiyao from time to time.

In front of them sat two baby strollers.

"So much free time. Instead of watching the kids, all they know how to do is gossip," Qiu Yiyao muttered under her breath.

She grabbed her backpack and prepared to leave when the old woman's voice sounded again: "Look, she's leaving. Oh my, if you didn't look closely, I'd have thought she was a boy."

The two old women covered their mouths and snickered.

Qiu Yiyao felt a surge of anger. So what if I'm flat-chested? I'm not eating your family's rice, so why talk so much nonsense? I might be flat, but you're sagging!

Furious, she marched right up to them. "Hey, who do you think you're talking about? What boy or no boy? Are you blind or just lacking eyes?"

Upon hearing this, the old woman grew combative as well. "We old friends are chatting, what business is it of yours? What, did you build this park? Aren't we allowed to talk here?"

"Exactly! You look pretty enough, why are you so sharp-tongued? At the very least, we are your elders, show some basic manners."

To actually pull rank and use seniority to suppress her—Qiu Yiyao was so angry she laughed. "Elders my foot! You two were talking nonsense and insulting people, and now you won't let someone talk back? Who made up that rule?"

Hearing this, the old woman shook her head and said, "There's really no talking sense to an unbred girl like you. What foot or no foot? You're a young woman, can't you speak more politely?"

"Politeness isn't for the likes of you, hmph."

Qiu Yiyao let out a scoff through her nose, thinking that once she rescued everyone, she would definitely find these two hags and settle accounts properly.

She lowered her gaze to look at the stroller. Not looking was fine, but one look left her stunned.

The baby inside had chubby little cheeks, but beneath the small blanket, two fair, furry little legs were exposed.

Seeing Qiu Yiyao suddenly fall silent and stare intently at the stroller, the old woman realized something, hurriedly stood up to push her away, and bent down to pull the small blanket back over the baby.

"What are you looking at? Scram, don't scare my grandson."

"Hmph, looking as ugly as that, it's the baby that's bound to scare people."

Qiu Yiyao rolled her eyes and set off toward the park exit.

As she walked, she looked around her surroundings, but there was no sign of Bai Peiyu.

"That guy really is stingy, not even waiting for me."