Chapter 40 - Horror Variety (5) (1/2)

The faint aroma of rose spread through the air and Cheng Zhi Chu suddenly felt a strong dizzy spell. The scene before his eyes darkened and he almost fainted.

When he opened his eyes again, his vision had returned to normal. He suddenly found himself standing in a sea of blooming roses. Red petals fluttered in the sky and the breeze that blew by was filled with the intense floral smell.

“Zhi Chu, come here. Want to take a look at this photo daddy took of you?”

At this moment, Cheng Zhi Chu discovered that his body was not under his control and he seemed to be inside another person’s body. When he heard the familiar call, the body’s line of sight moved. Cheng Zhi Chu then saw his dad who was still very young holding a digital camera in one hand and smiling warmly at him.

Dad? Why is he here?

Cheng Zhi Chu was stunned. He then realised that his line of sight was very low. He heard a tender voice answer: “Okay daddy, I’m coming.”

His line of sight moved down, and Cheng Zhi Chu saw a small pair of white and tender hands. The hands carefully pushed the rose aside so that the thorns didn’t prick him, and he slowly moved out.

Is this his child self?

Cheng Zhi Chu suddenly remembered the portrait he saw before his vision darkened. In the painting he was standing in the middle of a sea of roses. His smile was bright, and his eyes were pure and clear.

Could he be inside the painting now? And he’s inside his child self’s body?

What about the game of hide and seek? That ghost mentioned before that the place where the game is to be played is not at the villa, but in another place. If it was referring to the world inside the painting, how would they play the game if he doesn’t have control of his body?

Also, there seems to be a lot of people here. Who would the ghost turn into and what “person” does he need to hide from?

At this moment, a faint breeze blew past. In Cheng Zhi Chu’s vision, the petals changed shape and formed a faint line of words.

[The game has not started yet. After the countdown is over, you will gain control of your body, but now is not the time.]

[During this time, you will understand what you need to hide from.]

[You can guess who this “person” you should hide from is.]

Cheng Zhi Chu was a little nervous. He tried to open the system backpack and tried calling for the system and the bear, but he didn’t get any response. The petals changed its arrangement and formed a new line.

[Don’t try to call “it”. It’s useless.]

[The rules here are equally valid for you and for me. We can only use the powers of a “human”.]

[You can only rely on yourself.]

In other words, later he would need to run away in a child’s body?

Cheng Zhi Chu’s heart sank. After he finished reading the text, the petals fell and melted in the wind.

However, the tourists in the sea of flowers didn’t notice this strange phenomenon and just continued to enjoy this beautiful scenery.

The boy also didn’t notice the strangeness of the flower petals. After taking the photo, he happily rushed over into his daddy’s arms and flicked through the photos in the camera. When his dad said that it was time to take photos of his sister, he handed the camera back to his dad and waited on the side.

“Ling Ling, you should stand in the flowers like your brother did. But don’t go in too far and don’t step on the flowers. Also be careful of the thorns.”

“En!”

A girl that is younger than the boy nodded and stood in the flower bed. With a sweet smile on her face, she lifted her skirt up and made cute gestures as her father took her pictures.

At this moment, she didn’t notice a small hill by her feet. She accidently stepped onto it and fell onto the ground.

“Ling Ling, are you okay?” The originally smiling mum immediately revealed a look of concern.

“I’m okay. Luckily, I didn’t sit on these flowers!”

The little girl smiled and responded to her mother. She patted the soil off her body and stood up. Seeing that the roses weren’t hurt by her, she quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

While looking at the roses, she suddenly saw something small and white underneath it. Because she didn’t know what it was, she curiously picked it up. It was a very hard thing that looked like stone, but the edges were jagged. The uneven edges made it look like it was something that had fallen off after something hard was broken.

“Look at this. What is it?”

The little girl picked up the small piece and showed it to her family. Cheng Zhi Chu saw this through the eyes of his younger self and was momentarily startled. That hard object appeared to look like a cracked bone.

“This seemed to be a bone…..?

After the two adults studied it, they also came to the same conclusion as Cheng Zhi Chu. The two children immediately became curious and they asked why there would be bone fragments here.

Dad thought about it and said with a chuckle: “Perhaps there is an ancient tomb with lots of treasures buried inside under this——— Haha, just kidding. Maybe its just a bone that was accidently brought over it. We’re not too sure either.”

The family laughed. Cheng Zhi Chu however didn’t think that it was the case. The ghost had brought him here and even made him witness these scenes so it would only mean that this piece of bone is likely a human bone. Perhaps there’s a body buried under these flowers and maybe there’s more than one.

……….Could this be related to those child ghosts? Thinking this, his mood felt even heavier.

He wanted to take a closer look at the bone fragment, but the two adults made the girl throw the bone back and took the children away, so he didn’t have the chance to do so.

The two adults took pictures of each other and praised each other’s photos. Mum was praised by dad so excessively that she was both embarrassed and happy. She covered her face and said: “It’s because the scenery here is good. We’re very lucky to be able to get a reservation and be able to enter this place.”

“Yes.” Dad said. “I have heard that Zhou Luo Chen lives in this area. If I can see him in person, I won’t have any regrets in this life. You also know that I have always liked his paintings………..”

“Look over there. It looks like a group of children drawing?”

Mum suddenly looked somewhere into the distance. She pointed and said: “And there seems to be an adult that seems to be teaching them. Look, isn’t that person a little like Zhou Luo Chen?”

“It really is. It’s Zhou Luo Chen himself!”

Dad looked carefully for a while and said with surprise and joy: “Why don’t we go over and talk to him?”

“You can go first with Zhi Chu. I’ll take Ling Ling to find a bathroom nearby. She has been saying that she wanted to go to the bathroom for a while now. I’ll find you guys later.”

“Okay. Come back soon.” Dad waved at the young boy and said, “Zhi Chu, let’s go. Daddy will take you to see daddy’s favourite painter.”

The boy nodded and took his father’s hand. They walked down the road, crossed through the flowers and came to the man. The young man called Zhou Luo Chen had very elegant features and appeared to have a good temperament despite a faint hint of melancholy in his eyes. He was gently bending down and guiding a young teenaged boy with his drawing.

“Excuse me, could you perhaps be Mr Zhou Luo Chen?”

“Yes, I’m Zhou Luo Chen, may I ask you———”

Upon hearing the boy’s father’s voice, Zhou Luo Chen got up and turned to them. The handsome teenager who was painting also looked over.

As soon as their eyes fell onto the boy, a strange look appeared on their faces. Zhou Luo Chen even forgot to talk and just continued to stare at the boy. His eyes gradually lit up and there was a strange hint of passion within.

It wasn’t until the boy hid behind his father that he seemed to wake up from his daze. He smiled a little and apologised: “Sorry about that. Hello, I am Zhou Luo Chen.”

“He-hello Mr Zhou!”

Seeing his favourite painter, the man was very excited and was also a little at loss. He started chatting with the man: “I have always liked your paintings….”

“That is my honor………”

“………..”

The two of them chatted very happily, and the boy stood in the same place bored. The handsome young teenager placed down his drawing board and bent down next to him. He tilted his head and looked at him while muttering to himself with disbelief.

“Alike, it really is too alike………You look exactly like the child in my cousin’s painting. He clearly said that it was something that he saw in his dream. Was he lying to us all along?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t understand.” The boy pouted and was confused.

“I’ll explain to you later. I have to call my cousin over first. But where is he…..”

The young teenager scratched his head and looked irritated: “Why did he have to skip this class? He doesn’t have his phone and we don’t even know where he’s hiding. If I leave things like this and let you leave, he will definitely kill me later.”

As he said this, he could no longer stay still. Without even taking his drawing board, he got up and tried to sneak away but unfortunately, he was stopped by Zhou Luo Chen.

“Xi Xing, where are you going?” Zhou Luo Chen asked.

“Teacher Zhou…….I’m not trying to skip class. You can also see that my painting is almost done.” The teenager’s movements stopped, and he turned around. He tried to fumble out an explanation, “I just wanted, cousin he——–”

“Then you should go and help Ruolin. Don’t leave here without my permission.”

Zhou Luo Chen said this and his gaze then fell faintly back to Cheng Zhi Chu. He said slowly: “Bai Yi will have a chance to see him later.”

“……..Yes Teacher.”

The young teenager reluctantly obeyed Zhou Luo Chen’s words and walked over to a young girl. As he walked over, he would glance a few more times at the boy. With a small voice, he whispered: “Really alike………..”

What is Senior Bai saying that he looks like? Like the picture painted by Bai Yi? So, Bai Yi had seen him before this and had even painted his portrait?

Not only was the young teenager confused, even Cheng Zhi Chu was puzzled. He still has not yet figured out what the setting was in this instance, and what relationship it had with Bai Yi.

He naturally didn’t think that these were things that had actually happened. After all, he had never been to C City before and Bai Yi and Bai Xi Xing also didn’t know of him before this. But because there were familiar people in this instance, he didn’t feel very good about it and was even a little annoyed.

“Sorry Mr Cheng. That child is my student. He’s a little mischievous. I ask for your understanding.”

Zhou Luo Chen made the young teenager go over to help the girl. He turned back and smiled at the boy’s father. He then ruffled the boy’s hair and said: “This is your child? What’s his name?”

“Yes, he’s my son. Called Cheng Zhi Chu. I also have a little daughter called Ling Ling. She’s three years younger than him” The man pulled at the child’s hand, “Come on, say hello to Uncle Zhou.”

“Uncle Zhou hello.” The boy bowed his head.