Chapter 17: Madam Zhang’s Memories

Li Si felt nauseous seeing the scalp under his foot. He sat by the well and began to slowly untangle the hair from his foot, trying to suppress his discomfort. As he did so, he occasionally touched the cold, soft scalp, which made his own scalp tingle.

Finally, after a while, he managed to untangle the hair.

Li Si breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the hair with the scalp attached from the ground. Upon closer inspection, he felt even more disgusted. He casually tossed it back into the well.

At this moment, Li Si seemed to remember something and hurriedly searched for a cloth bag in his bosom, only to find that the protective charm was miraculously still dry.

Seeing that the protective charm wasn’t wet at all, Li Si felt a great weight lift from his heart. Fortunately, for some unknown reason, the protective charm couldn’t be soaked by water, otherwise his danger level would have increased significantly.

“Do you want to view the Drowned Ghost’s memories?” Suddenly, a message appeared in his mind.

Li Si was about to wring out his clothes when this message suddenly appeared in his mind. He paused, suddenly remembering that in that game, ghost-eating-ghost could gain soul points and memories. In simple terms, when the player-controlled ghost ate another ghost, it would break down into soul points and memory-like things.

Li Si became curious. He wanted to know how exactly these memories could be viewed. Making up his mind, he chose to view them with a thought.

Suddenly, Li Si’s vision went dark, and a familiar scene appeared before his eyes. It was in the Zhang mansion, with a sea of people in front of him.

Red silk and red lanterns were everywhere, creating a joyous atmosphere. Congratulatory voices could be heard from time to time – a wedding was being held here.

He looked at his own hands and found that he was still himself, but when he looked at places outside the wedding scene, he found that other areas were blurry.

Li Si walked into the wedding scene and saw a man and a woman bowing to heaven and earth. He recognized the man as a younger version of Landlord Zhang, and the woman was Landlord Zhang’s former wife, whose corpse he had just seen. It seemed this was the wedding scene of Madam Zhang and Landlord Zhang.

“Second bow to the elders!” A person with a blurry face called out loudly.

Landlord Zhang and Madam Zhang bowed to the elders sitting in the high seats.

“Husband and wife bow to each other!” With this shout, the two began to bow to each other. At this moment, Li Si saw the joyous expressions on their faces, looking very happy.

Suddenly, the surrounding scenery began to blur. Li Si felt as if he was in a state of chaos.

“It’s born, it’s born! The madam has given birth!” A joyful voice rang out in the space.

Li Si felt the chaotic world begin to brighten. At this moment, he was standing in the Blue Flower Courtyard, surrounded by a group of people. Among them was a young man pacing back and forth, looking anxious and uneasy. This young man was the young Landlord Zhang.

Upon hearing that joyful voice, he could no longer contain himself and rushed into the room, taking two steps at a time.

Li Si followed him in. In the room, he saw the young Landlord Zhang stride to the bedside and urgently ask the faceless midwife beside him, “How is my wife? Is she alright?”

The faceless midwife smiled and said, “Mother and child are safe. This is the smoothest delivery I’ve ever had.”

At this moment, Landlord Zhang, ignoring the baby in the midwife’s arms, directly grasped the pale-faced woman on the bed and said with genuine concern, “You’ve suffered, my dear. We only need one child, that’s enough. We won’t have any more in the future.”

The woman on the bed looked at Landlord Zhang, her eyes revealing a tender expression.

Seeing this, Li Si felt somewhat strange. The Landlord Zhang he had encountered today was not like this at all. Today’s Landlord Zhang, from his words to his expressions, seemed to wish his former wife had died and reincarnated earlier. He even seemed to want to dismember this Madam Zhang and scatter her ashes.

As Li Si was pondering, the surrounding people changed again. Landlord Zhang, Madam Zhang, and the midwife all disappeared like bubbles, but he was still in the Blue Flower Courtyard.

“This meat is so delicious, I’ve never eaten such good meat before,” an excited voice came from outside at this moment.

Li Si walked out and saw Landlord Zhang sitting alone at the stone table in the courtyard, heartily enjoying a dish.

At this point, he was confused. Wasn’t this supposed to be Madam Zhang’s memory? Why was there only Landlord Zhang alone?

Li Si looked around and suddenly noticed a hole in the window of the house. He walked over and saw an eye in the hole, staring intently at Landlord Zhang’s position.

Is this Madam Zhang? Li Si had a guess, but was also puzzled. Why was Landlord Zhang eating while Madam Zhang was peeking from inside the room?

Why weren’t they eating together?

Li Si approached Landlord Zhang and looked at what he was eating. It seemed to be just ordinary braised pork, but upon closer inspection, he felt a chill run from his tailbone to his head. He felt nauseous and wanted to vomit.

The surrounding scene slowly faded away, but Li Si’s mind was still filled with the sound of Landlord Zhang smacking his lips as he ate. His head felt a bit dizzy. How could someone eat that kind of meat?

A pale flash of lightning streaked across the night sky, followed by a rumbling thunder. Raindrops fell to the ground. It was as if heaven could no longer bear to watch.

“Master… Master, please don’t… Master…” At this moment, a crying voice reached Li Si’s ears. He looked towards the source of the cry and saw a plump Landlord Zhang carrying a frail woman towards the well. The woman was struggling constantly, but Landlord Zhang’s arms were like stone, not moving at all.

Landlord Zhang walked to the edge of the well and threw Madam Zhang in without hesitation. Seeing this, Li Si momentarily forgot that this was in Madam Zhang’s memory. He instinctively ran to the well in two quick steps and looked down.

He saw Madam Zhang start to swim up after falling into the water. It seemed that Madam Zhang knew how to swim and wasn’t in any danger.

At this moment, Li Si suddenly felt something flash by beside him and fall into the well. He turned his head but saw nothing. Looking back into the well, he drew in a sharp breath. Below, a grotesque figure covered in blood and flesh had appeared.

This strange person appeared physically weak, with internal organs and bones occasionally visible as it moved. It walked on the water surface, looking very eerie. It walked to Madam Zhang’s side and grabbed her head with a bony hand that had a few pieces of flesh hanging from it, forcefully pushing her down.

Seeing this monster, Madam Zhang began to struggle desperately in terror, causing large splashes of water around her. However, it was to no avail. The monster’s hand was like steel, continuously pushing down with force.

Only after Madam Zhang stopped moving did the monster release its hand. Its hollow eyes looked up towards the well, as if seeing Li Si.



Li Si was startled, looking at the monster’s eyes, feeling as if he had seen them somewhere before.