I can rewind time to prevent death

The key issue lay with Ye Zhennan.

Ye Zhennan's corpse wouldn't consent to be buried—each time she was placed in a coffin, she would extend a long tongue and run out on her own, to hang herself under the house beam once again.

This was a behavior of her subconscious.

Yet, Ye Zhennan had already seen her son's bloated corpse after it was drowned. So, why wasn't she at peace?

This suggested that maybe the child who drowned... wasn't Ye Zhennan's son, Long, at all!

This problem might have come to light only after Ye Zhennan had become a strangeness.

When she first saw the swollen corpse of the child, she couldn't possibly recognize the face, and could only rely on the clothing to identify him.

If the drowned child wasn't Long, could it be the Ning mentioned by these children, who had stolen something from the King of the Children? But why would Ning be wearing Long's clothes?

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Moreover, since Long hadn't appeared since then, it definitely meant he had also died.

Could it be that Long never left, and like the other children, was burned to death right here in this courtyard?

Thinking this, Yan Junze looked up at the other children.

Among the children sitting in a circle now, the King of the Children himself could be ruled out, as it was his belongings that were stolen.

Then there was Rou, with a butterfly clip embedded in her head—she could be ruled out too.

The one-armed boy who claimed to be Dogie, and also answered the King of the Children's questions, could be ruled out as well.

That left the children with half a head, the one with an empty chest, and the one with only one leg.

Actually, to Yan Junze, the child with half a head seemed quite close to the King of the Children; if it had been Long who stole from the King of the Children, he wouldn't have displayed such closeness.

This meant there was a high chance the child with half a head was not Long.

Therefore the target was narrowed down to the boy with an empty chest and the one-legged boy.

So far, neither of these two had spoken a word, of course, they hadn't had the chance to.

This time, it was Rou's turn to "Drop the Handkerchief."

As the other children started singing rhymes, Rou began to trot along, running around the circle cheerily.

Yan Junze paid close attention to when the handkerchief in her hand would vanish, but Rou held it tightly, and soon she had run two laps.

The rhyme was almost finished when Rou seemed to trip while running, stumbled forward without falling, and then continued her run.

It was at this moment, that Yan Junze noticed the handkerchief was no longer in her hand.

Immediately turning his head, he discovered the handkerchief had dropped behind him.

Yan Junze grabbed the handkerchief, stood up, and chased after her.

Though it was easy for him to catch up with Rou with his stride, he intentionally slowed down his pace, waiting until Rou had quickly completed a lap and sat down in her spot.

Then, Yan Junze stopped, shook the gray handkerchief in his hand, and showed a resigned smile.

He walked into the center of the circle formed by the children and stood still.

The King of the Children looked at Rou, and Rou began to question Yan Junze, "Do you know Ning or Long?"

Yan Junze shook his head, "I don't know either."

"Then what are you doing here?" Rou continued.

"Looking for something," Yan Junze answered.

It wasn't incorrect to say—he could also be searching for the so-called "treasure" of the courtyard.

Of course, Yan Junze now dared not tell outright lies; he was unsure if these little ones had the ability to discern which of his words were true and which were false.

However, at least for now, he hadn't told any lies.

After two questions had passed, Rou quickly asked the third question, "Then have you seen the thing that was stolen from Hu Gang?"

"Who is Hu Gang?" Yan Junze was taken aback for a moment.

"Me." The child king suddenly spoke up.

The item Rou was referring to was naturally the one they had designated for Ning or Long to steal.

Of course, Rou didn't believe it was Long who had stolen it.

However, this question posed a bit of a problem for Yan Junze.

Just now, when he witnessed the pile of corpses surging up from the ground, he clearly saw a hand behind the pile throw something resembling a wooden carving into the pit at the foot of the bed.

Could it be that the item they were talking about was that wooden carving?

Yan Junze couldn't be sure.

Since he wasn't certain, Yan Junze thought for a moment and then replied, "I don't know."

Not knowing whether the wooden carving was the item Hu Gang had stolen, he could naturally say he didn't know. There was no deceit in his answer.

Just as Yan Junze finished speaking, the child king Hu Gang suddenly asked, "Were you hesitating just now?"

"No, I was considering," Yan Junze replied.

Hu Gang slowly stood up: "Either you know or you don't, why did you have to consider?"

"Boss, was that your fifth question?" The boy with half a head suddenly piped up.

"Right, I'm not going to answer," Yan Junze nodded, silently applauding the rebelliousness of the boy with half a head.

"Sit down!"

Hu Gang glared at the boy with half a head and barked angrily but indeed did not pursue any further questions.

Regardless, it seemed these children still abided by the rules of the game.

"So now... it's my turn to Drop the Handkerchief," Yan Junze muttered to himself.

Holding the gray handkerchief in his hand, he went outside the circle of ghosts and began to walk around it.

His steps were large, so he didn't need to run, while at the same time, the other children began singing the Drop the Handkerchief rhyme.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

However, after one lap, Yan Junze dropped the handkerchief behind the one-legged boy.

Before dropping the handkerchief, he had already considered carefully; the boy with the hollow chest and this one-legged boy looked no different from the other silent children.

Things like hair, height, build, and features, all had shriveled, twisted, and deformed after a big fire.

One could say that at this moment, they looked more like charred wood than their former selves.

Thus, it was impossible to guess their identities based merely on sight.

However, their sitting postures were different; the boy with the hollow chest held his head up, always observing the entire game, while the one-legged boy occasionally lifted his head, but most of the time he kept it lowered, looking up a bit more frequently when Rou spoke.

These details were only picked up by Yan Junze; the other souls, no matter how they might have been as children, could not possibly have reached this level of thoughtfulness or observation.

Besides, after becoming strangenesses, they were controlled by an Obsession, losing even the instinctual thought that humans possess.

Unless, the strangeness in question had evolved to a high level! Like the Resentful Granny.

The one-legged boy noticed the handkerchief behind him, picked it up, and immediately stood on one foot, hopping after Yan Junze with a 'thump, thump, thump'.

At first, Yan Junze thought the kid might have Dogie's kind of crawling skill, so he was all ready to run, but who knew the boy would hop on one foot like a golden rooster, making it completely impossible to catch up with him.

So Yan Junze simply quickened his pace, quickly completing a lap and stealing the one-legged boy's spot, sitting down with a plop.

The one-legged boy, holding the handkerchief, hopped to the middle of the circle, facing Yan Junze, without saying a word.

Yan Junze didn't speak either, for the moment.

The other little ghosts all stared at Yan Junze as well, also silent.

After staring at the one-legged boy for a while, Yan Junze finally asked, "Why did you switch clothes with Ning?"