I can rewind time to prevent death

Upon hearing that, all the children clearly appeared surprised.

"Ah," Hu Gang, the children's leader, stood up and stared at the boy with one leg in the center, asking, "You are... Long? You didn't run away?"

"Hey, I haven't finished my question yet," Yan Junze reminded aloud.

Hu Gang was taken aback, touched his head, and said nothing more, sitting back down again.

Yan Junze once again looked at the boy with one leg: "Answer my first question, why did you switch clothes with Ning?"

"He forced me," the boy with one leg finally spoke up.

At this point, if it were anyone else, they would certainly go with the flow and ask "why," but Yan Junze wouldn't. He only had three opportunities to ask questions, and he must make good use of each one. Each question must have value, otherwise, it would all be for naught.

"What did Ning say to you after he stole Hu Gang's belongings?" Yan Junze asked.

The boy with one leg clearly didn't expect him to ask this. He was slightly startled, looked straight at Yan Junze for a moment, and then replied, "He made me switch clothes with him, and if I didn't, he would tell Hu Gang that I was the one who stole the things, and he would also tell my mom that I like Rou."

"These little brats! It's such a trivial matter!" Yan Junze couldn't help but feel speechless.

But sometimes it's just like that; what adults don't think matters much is more important than the sky in a child's eyes.

Regardless, Long absolutely couldn't let his mom know he liked Rou. Nor could he allow Hu Gang to say he was the one who stole his things.

Yan Junze stood up and addressed all the little ghosts, especially the so-called children's king Hu Gang, "I think... there's no need to continue with 'Drop the Handkerchief,' the answer is quite clear."

He turned to the boy with one leg and asked, "Last question, who are you?"

"Zhu Zhanglong," the boy with one leg answered.

Long, where are my things?" Hu Gang suddenly stood up.

Before Long could answer, Yan Junze had already walked over and grabbed his hand, feeling as though he'd grabbed a piece of charred wood or charcoal.

Looking up at Hu Gang, he said, "The things were taken by Ning, it has nothing to do with Long."

"Then where's Ning?" Hu Gang asked, frustrated.

"What were you all doing when the fire broke out?" Yan Junze didn't answer, instead countered with his own question.

"We were in that room, looking for my stuff," Hu Gang pointed to the room that had just been jostled out of the pile of corpses.

"That's right," Yan Junze shrugged, "Ning stole your stuff, then blackmailed Long into switching clothes with him to frame him, but at that moment, you gathered everyone together to search for your lost belongings. It must've been late, and Ning, who had yet to escape, was afraid of being exposed. While you were summoning others, he simply set fire to the next room."

"He originally wanted to use the fire to distract you, so he could escape with the treasures he'd hidden, but Ning didn't anticipate the presence of liquid gas in the house. The ensuing explosion terrified him, completely beyond his control, so he panicked and fled, leaving you all to burn to death here."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Yan Junze looked up at a place not far from the Lin Family courtyard, where the light of the moon faintly shimmered, reflecting light upwards. Rock Reservoir must be nearby.

It was very likely that Ning, frightened out of his wits, had plunged into the reservoir in his panic.

The course of events was probably just like this, although, of course, some details are now impossible to ascertain.

And yet, Yan Junze still kept some things to himself. For instance, whether the wooden statue was indeed what Hu Gang had lost, and now he knew whose hand it was that he had seen sticking out of the pile of corpses in the room.

It was Long's hand; even though he hadn't taken the wooden statue, nor had Ning taken it away. The item had always been hidden in that room, well protected by Long's soul.

Yes, this item must be the "treasure" mentioned in the mission!

"Now everything is clear; it was Ning who took Hu Gang's item, and it has nothing to do with Long." Yan Junze looked at the piece of "charcoal" he was holding and told everyone, "I'm taking him to see his relatives now, and I'll be back soon."

"Long is with us; we cannot separate," Rou's voice rang out.

Indeed, the mission hint made it very clear this was a group-living strangeness, condemned to be inseparable.

But since Ye Zhennan couldn't leave number 39 on the main street, taking her son to meet her was the only option.

Actually, the problem wasn't that difficult. It was just a temporary separation, much like when they played Drop the Handkerchief, not a permanent one. However, at this moment, the children's leader, Hu Gang, was furious, and it might be very difficult to convince him to let Long leave alone.

Of course, Yan Junze had ways to calm Hu Gang down, such as telling him that the wooden statue was in a pit under the bed in the room, but by doing so, his own mission to find the treasure would naturally go cold.

He certainly didn't want to just hand over the "treasure" he was about to obtain.

If it came down to a confrontation, then so be it. He could endure until he got to Ye Zhennan's place. By then, with the hanged ghost intervening, this bunch of little brats wouldn't be able to cause much trouble.

If all else failed, he could always Rewind.

Yan Junze had made up his mind.

"Are you sure Long can't leave for a while?" he asked again.

"No," Hu Gang's answer was adamant.

The next second, a Crawler Monster appeared beside Yan Junze's foot, and soon after, Ke'er appeared, lying on his back.

Yan Junze turned his head and whispered something to Ke'er. The little creature sprang into action, darting toward the back and scampering into the room that had just held a pile of bodies.

Before long, Ke'er came running out on all fours, leaping back onto Yan Junze's back as if nothing had happened.

"Let's go."

Yan Junze grabbed the silent Long and walked towards the courtyard's main gate.

"Don't leave!" Experience tales at empire

Hu Gang's voice became chillingly cold at that moment.

"Ahh..."

Ke'er on Yan Junze's back turned her head, baring her teeth at the children about her size, her hands bracing on Yan Junze's shoulders as she stood upright on all fours, her body tensed, both defensive and warning, staring down all the strangenesses.

The Crawler Monster symbolically split its mouth open and howled once, then extended its forked tongue and began grooming the hair on its head.

Yan Junze was speechless: "Could you act a little more professionally?"

No sooner had he spoken, than the half-headed child closest to him suddenly charged.

The Crawler Monster, which had been grooming itself, lashed its tongue out sharply, striking the boy on his waist and sending him flying.

"Everyone come back, together," Hu Gang's juvenile voice turned vicious.

With a loud shout, all the children, except Long, gathered around him.

Their limbs began to twist and distort, merging into the darkness. In just a moment, the pile of bodies appeared again, rolling and crowding forward.

This time, however, the pile of bodies was missing one.

Long had already been snatched by Yan Junze, who was at the courtyard gate, kicked open the decayed gate, and charged onto the street.

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