Chapter 142 Mysterious Symbols

Fiercely waiting until off-work hours, Cui Yue pushed his old Forever bicycle out of the shed. As he lifted his leg to mount it, he nearly kicked the pedal right off.

"Who knows how much longer this old fellow can hold out? Let's see who gives up first, you or me."

Cui Yue muttered to himself with a self-deprecating smile.

Just as he started riding forward after a few steps, someone suddenly grabbed him tightly around the waist, and the back seat sank heavily.

Cui Yue quickly adjusted his balance, barely managing to keep a firm grip on the handlebars.

"Hey, hey! Who, who is it?!"

Cui Yue hastily turned his head back and shouted.

Upon turning, what met his eyes were slightly raised willow-leaf eyebrows, starlit eyes brimming with tender affection, and a wisp of orchid fragrance that refreshed the heart.

The familiar braided pigtail hung obliquely beside her ear, and her little pout reached high up.

Cui Yue couldn't help staring in infatuation; no matter how he looked at her, it was never enough.

"Hey! Have you seen enough yet?"

"Not yet..."

Cui Yue said in a daze.

"Then watch the road!"

"I haven't seen enough!"

Cui Yue foolishly stared back at the Yang girl, mistakenly hearing the word "road" as "enough"!

"Hey, watch the road! Watch the road! Not watch enough!"

The Yang girl panicked, hurriedly tugging at Cui Yue as she yelled.

Before her words finished falling, the two of them, along with that old Forever bicycle, had already veered right into a tree.

"Ouch."

Both people and bike crashed into the side together.

Yang Liu's pretty face flushed red, a mix of exasperation and amusement.

With an embarrassed expression, Cui Yue hurriedly propped up the rickety old bicycle that was nearly falling apart.

"Why are you so clumsy!"

Yang Liu put her hands on her hips, muttering with a pout.

"Me? Well, who told you to suddenly jump out like that?"

Cui Yue muttered under his breath, "God knows what you were fed growing up, you're heavy as lead."

"What did you say?!"

"Nothing, nothing at all."

Cui Yue hastily answered. He really feared this temperamental young lady, who would resort to fists and kicks at the drop of a hat.

"Consider that you still have some wits about you."

Yang Liu gave a slight glare with her phoenix eyes, the corners of her mouth curving upward with a fair bit of smugness.

"Let's go, my lady, I'll see you home."

"I'm not riding your piece-of-junk bike anymore. It hurts my backside."

Yang Liu pouted slightly.

"Not riding, huh? If you're not riding, then I'm leaving. You can walk home slowly by yourself."

Cui Yue pushed the old Forever bicycle forward, purposely pedaling hard a few times.

"Hey! You dead Cui Yue! Wait for me! Stop right there..."

The two of them frolicked and chased each other all the way, and the gloomy cloud in Cui Yue's heart was largely dispelled by her silver-bell laughter.

After finishing dinner that night, Cui Yue shut himself in his room, lying on the wooden plank bed while staring blankly at the mottled ceiling.

Figures continually surfaced in his mind—the bespectacled guy, Old Freak Huo, Old Duan, and the blue-robed female ghost. The relationships among these people were intricate and complex, defying any attempt to sort them out. Where would fate steer him in the end? What awaited him?

As he pondered, his eyelids gradually grew heavy, and everything before him blurred into obscurity...

The moment Cui Yue opened his eyes, he found himself engulfed in pitch darkness. There was no ahead, no behind—in this empty, desolate world, it seemed there was only the sound of his own footsteps.

Crunch, crunch.

A burst of strange noise suddenly echoed by his ear.

Immediately following that, a blinding beam of light flashed across. Cui Yue hastily shielded his eyes with his hand, and through the gaps between his fingers, everything around him underwent a sudden transformation.

The night sky hung high, with a pale moon rising, yet not a single star was visible.

Row upon row of neat factory buildings stood in the compound, devoid of a single human figure, save for one workshop beside him that was brightly lit. The crunching sound of machinery was precisely emanating from this room.

"Me, where am I..."

Cui Yue stood bewildered on the path within the factory yard, looking around. Why did everything before him feel so familiar? Wasn't he just at home? How did he end up inside the factory in the blink of an eye?

"Am I dreaming?"

Cui Yue touched his face; it was surprisingly still warm. He pinched it hard, but felt not the slightest bit of pain. He was indeed in a dream.

Before Cui Yue could ponder further, the noisy roar of machinery pulled his thoughts back.

Cui Yue raised his eyes and saw a sign outside the workshop that was strikingly conspicuous: Raw Material Workshop!

Why would he dream of such a strange place?

Aside from the clamor of the machinery, the workshop was devoid of any other sound.

"Who could possibly appear in this dream? Could it be that Yang Liu girl?"

At this thought, a sudden warmth welled up in Cui Yue's heart.

If this girl were to accompany him, he would gladly remain sunken in a dream for all eternity.

Cui Yue held his breath and concentrated, gently pushing the heavy workshop door open just a crack.

Lifting his gaze, he saw four material-crushing machines neatly arranged within the cavernous workshop. The feeding platforms were completely empty, and not a soul stood beside the machinery, leaving the equipment to spin idly by itself while emitting bursts of crunching noise.

"How is there no one here?"

As Cui Yue was feeling puzzled, he suddenly caught sight of a woman sitting on a workbench in the corner, wearing the factory's light-blue work uniform and facing away from the workshop entrance.

A waterfall of long hair draped down to her waist. Her back remained completely motionless, sitting rigidly upright.

The air inside the entire room seemed suffocating, compressed to the absolute limit.

For some reason, Cui Yue found this back view somewhat familiar, though he simply couldn't recall where he had seen it.

"This woman looks like..."

The woman seemed to sense someone behind her and slightly turned her profile. Her entire complexion exhibited a sickly pallor, and the half of her eye that was exposed exuded an indescribable, eerie quality.

Upon finally catching a glimpse of her side profile, Cui Yue sucked in a sharp breath of cold air!

It was her!

It was Huang Juan!

Huang Juan slowly turned around, fixed her gaze in Cui Yue's direction, and suddenly split her mouth into a grin. Her laughter was bone-chillingly eerie.

Cui Yue shivered violently, not daring to draw a full breath.

That pair of eyes brimming with venomous malice was something Cui Yue would never forget for the rest of his life.

Huang Juan stood up, her right hand tightly clutching a fruit knife, and walked step by step toward Cui Yue's direction.

"What is she trying to do? What should I do?"

Cui Yue hurriedly yanked his head back from the door crack, breaking out in a cold sweat.

Running away at this point was out of the question, yet staying put was equally impossible; his legs felt as though they were stuck deep in a mud pit, refusing to budge an inch.

Suddenly, a mass of black mist drifted in from outside the window. The black vapor continuously twisted and shifted, hovering right in front of Huang Juan.

At this moment, Huang Juan's entire body trembled violently before gradually calming down. The expression on her face became dull and sluggish, her two hollow eyes staring fixedly at the black mist before her.

A shock gripped Cui Yue's heart. What on earth was this mass of black fog? Why had it entered his dream?

Huang Juan reached out a hand and made a bizarre gesture, pointing her thumb toward her own shoulder.

Wasn't this action...

Without any warning, Huang Juan burst into a ferocious, shrill laugh. With her left hand, she pinched the tip of her nose, while her right hand descended with the knife in a swift motion, livingly slicing her own nose right off and cupping it in her palm.

Scarlet blood instantly spurted like a pillar, staining a large expanse of her clothes in front of her chest.

Cui Yue felt his throat tighten and a chill strike the depths of his heart. Why on earth did Huang Juan personally slice off her own nose?

Huang Juan, whose face was covered in blood, showed not a shred of panic. Acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, she carefully cupped her severed nose in her hands and offered it into that mass of black mist.

The black fog instantly churned, rapidly contracting and expanding. By the time Huang Juan withdrew her hand, that nose had vanished without a trace.

Had it been devoured by the black fog?