Chapter 16 Trapped

I was even more confused. “Not done by anyone involved? What do you mean?”

Before Zhu Xuan could answer, Mr. Yang ran over with beads of sweat dripping from his head. He was incredibly shocked when he saw us standing next to the old woman’s bedroom with solemn faces.

“You… what are you doing?!”

Zhu Xuan noticed the old man’s expression, he quickly hid his gloomy look and smiled.

“Oh, nothing, nothing. Mr. Yang, this is my friend Gu Yu. Please don’t judge him by his appearance, he is the Taoist priest I invited here for you so he can exorcise the evil spirit.”

Not again… why didn’t you change the story this time?

Mr. Yang narrowed his eyes and looked at me with suspicion. “Him? He looks like a college student, how can he be an exorcist?”

As expected, even the words he said were exactly the same as yesterday.

As a result, before the old man could doubt me further, I spoke.

“I know you must have doubts. However, not only do I know that your wife suddenly suffered from a strange disease yesterday and now has a high fever, I also know that if we don’t do anything, she will be in great danger tonight,” I said with certainty.

Hearing this, Mr. Yang’s face turned pale with fear. I hastily stopped him before he kneeled down.

“The deity has appeared. Our prayers have finally been answered!”

“No, please don’t do that.” I really did not want to see the old man show his gratitude once more. “All you have to do is to give me brush a pen, ink, and paper, and let me draw some charms. As for the other matters, you can leave them to Zhu Xuan and me.”

“Okay, okay, no problem!”

Just like yesterday, Mr. Yang thanked me over and over again before fetching me the tools. After I drew a few apples on the paper, I passed them to him.

“Are they… apples?”

“Yes, they are. Just put the charms on the walls,” I answered perfunctorily.

Mr. Yang looked at me, then at the terribly drawn charms. At last, he nodded and hurried to paste them.

Zhu Xuan burst into laughter while watching this. “Hehe, Gu Yu, I have to admit that you really have the semblance of a swindler.”

I helplessly stared at him. “Really, you’re still making fun of me at this moment? What’s going on with this time loop? Have you got any ideas?”

Zhu Xuan nodded before sighing. He replied, “Water stains.”

“…Water stains?” I was puzzled.

“Did you remember I told you yesterday that there were water stains in the corner of this house?” Zhu Xuan asked. “However, it hasn’t rained recently in Yan city. There are no household appliances on the other side of the wall, like air-conditioning or a washing machine that may have leaked, so where did this water come from?”

Upon saying that, Zhu Xuan pointed at a corner. The water stains there were the same as yesterday.

“Then, what’s the reason?” I looked at him, waiting for his answer.

Zhu Xuan looked out of the window and then looked down at the water stains. “There is nothing on the other side of the wall, no courtyard, no house appliances that may have leaked. Then, there is only one explanation, it’s raining outside right now.”

I was dumbfounded. “Hold on, what are you talking about? The weather is really nice outside.”

“You don’t believe me?” Zhu Xuan curved up the corners of his lips. “If you don’t believe me, let’s ask.”

I got even more confused. Zhu Xuan yelled for the old man in the bedroom, “Mr. Yang! Is it raining right now?”

A minute later, Mr. Yang popped his head out of the room, his expression suggested that he was wondering why this young man asked a question with such an obvious answer.

“Yeah, it has been raining for days, and it has been drizzling all day today. Don’t forget to take umbrellas with you when you leave.”

Zhu Xuan showed me a victorious smile.

“Thanks, we will.”

What is happening? I began to doubt what I saw with my own eyes a few minutes ago, so I ran to the window. However, the sun shone brightly outside the window, it was indeed a sunny day.

That’s right, even if our eyes could deceive us, our clothes didn’t get wet as we walked here. On the contrary, the ground was covered by a layer of dust.

I looked at Zhu Xuan. “What is going on? Do you know anything about this?”

Zhu Xuan nodded while smiling. “It’s simple. It’s raining in the spacetime where this house is located, but outside of that, it’s sunny. Time is split.”

I recalled the decor of this house which I found very strange yesterday. The old stove, the obsolete refrigerator, and the old-fashioned furniture…

I was shocked. “Are you saying… the old veterinarian’s home, where we are now, is in a different time and space?”

Zhu Xuan looked at me approvingly. “Yeah, our Gu Yu has learned how to think properly now.”

I glared at him. “Can you stop making fun of me right now? Hurry up and tell me what’s going on.”

“Perhaps it’s ‘him.'” Zhu Xuan’s expression became gloomy. “First, he used my sympathy and got me to accept this request, then he used the beast Nian to trap us in the past, so we can neither escape, nor communicate with the outside world.”

After hearing this, I instantly thought of yesterday’s phone call that could not get through. A chill suddenly ran down my spine. I took out my phone and dialed Wen Jiubo’s number again.

However…

“Sorry, the number you dialed does not exist…”

“It’s no use. The call won’t get through.” Zhu Xuan shook his head. “We are now in the past. It’s not that easy to contact Wen Jiubo since he’s in the future.”

“But what does that Taoist priest Ling Xiao want?” I looked up and asked. “To trap us inside a small veterinarian house? What’s the point of doing that?”

“I don’t know either.” Zhu Xuan shook his head. “I’m afraid his original target was Wen Jiubo. But he didn’t expect that Wen Jiubo wouldn’t come here and accidentally trapped us instead. If we do nothing, we may be stuck in this place forever, and this day will repeat over and over.”

A primeval terror nearly engulfed me.

“No, we won’t!” I said emotionally. “We can just walk out this place right away and stop worrying about the veterinarian and his wife. You said that we are in the past, that is to say, they may have died long ago, there is no need to help them!”

“You can go ahead and try,” Zhu Xuan calmly said.

I immediately stepped outside the room and walked towards the door.

So what? I did not care. As long as I could get out——

At that moment, a bizarre thing happened. The second I stepped outside the room, I found myself entering the same room again.

“See, I told you.” Zhu Xuan looked at me calmly.

I did not believe it and tried again, but the same thing happened. No matter where I went, I would eventually end up inside the house.

“The one who trapped us here certainly doesn’t simply want us to stay here. I believe that with his power, he must have a much simpler way to trap us,” Zhu Xuan pondered. “He must have another purpose…”