Frightening Joke: Above the Mist-Chapter 394: Seeing Through

"Brother! I’m back from school!"

Bai Yanliang only managed to hear this call. When he turned his head, his heart trembled uncontrollably, and before he could make out the figure, he completely lost consciousness and fell down.

It was as if some force was preventing him from meeting another version of himself; Bai Yanliang’s collapse came extremely suddenly, and similarly, he didn’t take long to wake up.

When he opened his eyes again, he was lying on a gray sofa. The dim yellow sun shone on the patterned floor, casting a shadow.

Bai Yanliang propped himself up and looked towards the figure by the window. It turned out to be his brother, Bai Yanren.

At this moment, his hand rested casually on the window ledge, his gaze focused on the yellow sky, yet it seemed as though he wasn’t looking at anything specific.

Following his gaze, Bai Yanliang could only see a large mass of thick clouds slowly moving. The edges of the clouds were tinged with an orange-red hue, as if something was hidden within.

Bai Yanren seemed to have heard something, turned his head silently towards Bai Yanliang, his eyes rarely showing inexplicable confusion.

"Who exactly are you?"

It wasn’t until Bai Yanren asked this question that Bai Yanliang realized that the brother in his memory was completely different from the real one.

His brother... didn’t appear to be a happy person. As a child, Bai Yanliang didn’t understand, but now he was shocked to realize that Bai Yanren was filled with an intense sense of loneliness, so intense that even with someone standing beside him, he seemed isolated.

Bai Yanliang didn’t know how to answer. Sailing under the moon, when people die, they die in the water... At the place where the full moon was reflected, there was a door that connected to the past world.

Moreover, judging from Xu Zhifei and Gu Pingsheng’s reactions, they didn’t seem surprised by the appearance of this door.

It’s even possible that they came for the door.

Seeing Bai Yanliang’s silence, Bai Yanren did not press further. He only said in a low voice, "Just now, my brother came back, and at the moment he opened the door, you and he simultaneously lost consciousness."

He was merely stating a fact.

"I carried him to the bedroom; he should wake up soon," Bai Yanren’s eyes fell on Bai Yanliang’s face. "You and my brother look alike."

Bai Yanliang slightly opened his mouth, about to speak, but then heard a voice calling from the bedroom: "Brother..."

He was awake.

Bai Yanren gave Bai Yanliang a glance, then turned and went to the bedroom.

Bai Yanliang looked down at his own hands. To this moment, he still couldn’t understand whether he had truly returned to the past or had fallen into some replicated fragment of time.

Soon, Bai Yanren came out.

"Come with me; you and my brother shouldn’t meet, right?" He spoke the truth straightforwardly. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Bai Yanliang stood up, silent, and followed him out of the living room.

"Finish your homework after dinner. I’ll come back to check later!" Bai Yanren shouted towards the bedroom before leaving the house.

"...Got it!" came back a feeble wail from the bedroom.

With a "click—", as the door closed, Bai Yanren smiled and looked at Bai Yanliang: "What should I call you, Yanliang?"

With that, without waiting for a response from Bai Yanliang, Bai Yanren headed down the stairs on his own.

Bai Yanliang’s pupils trembled greatly. He wasn’t someone with much emotion, but the impact Bai Yanren gave him at this moment was immense.

The two of them walked along the big street one before the other, the sky still not completely darkened. Looking up, they could still see the thick clouds from before, only now they were tinted by the night, like a blackened stone set in the sky, ready to collapse at any moment, bringing catastrophic disaster to the entire city.

The streetlights on the street were already lit. This time of year, there weren’t many mosquitoes, but there were still a few moths mindlessly flying towards the light.

High and low neon signs sprawled here and there, unfurling halos in the first shades of night, and the large street was crowded with night market vendors, along with motorcycles emerging from who knows where.

Bai Yanren led Bai Yanliang through this chaotic and noisy environment, walking calmly forward until they stopped in front of a grilled fish shop.

"Remember? The grilled fish here tastes pretty good."

Bai Yanren said with a broad smile.

As he spoke, he greeted the owner: "Boss, a grilled fish for two of us. Grill it how you like."

"Alright!"

The rapid response soon got lost in the sizzling oil, the honking of car horns, and the street-side haggling and debates.

Bai Yanliang sat down, absent-minded, dazed for a very long time.

The aroma of the grilled fish swirled in the night breeze. This not-so-upscale roadside shop gave him a rare, palpable sense that he was still alive.

"Yanliang, these years, a lot has happened to you, right?"

Bai Yanren sat across from him, looking at him with gentle eyes.

He remembered his childhood brother, but the brother before him now seemed as if he was a completely different person.

And for Bai Yanliang at this moment, he could finally let just a little of his true self show...

His elder brother was very smart. He knew it since he was very young.

And Bai Yanren, who knew about the Nine Prisons, had an understanding of the past and future that far exceeded ordinary people. So, even with a stranger of a "brother" appearing in front of him, he could still comprehend.

"I... come from ten years in the future."

Bai Yanliang took a deep breath and said slowly.

Bai Yanren’s pupils trembled slightly. To guess something was one thing, but to hear the person confirm it was another.

At this point, Bai Yanliang didn’t hide anything further, meticulously recounting to Bai Yanren everything he knew about himself, his brother, and... events that would happen in the future.

The more he spoke, the faster he got, and the brighter his eyes became.

Bai Yanren just listened without speaking, only pausing when the waiter brought the grilled fish, and then it was back to Bai Yanliang’s storytelling.

He indeed had too much pent up in his heart, most importantly, the death of his brother back then.

Like a flood finding its outlet, towards the end, Bai Yanliang himself couldn’t stop talking.

The real version of him had been silent for too long...

Bai Yanren listened to what Bai Yanliang narrated about the happenings of the future, and although his expression didn’t change, the grip on his chopsticks grew tighter.

He smiled while serving grilled fish to the incessantly talking Bai Yanliang, finally confirming at this moment... he had succeeded.

No one knew just how excited Bai Yanren was when Bai Yanliang admitted his identity.

The existence of Bai Yanliang now further solidified his beliefs.

Though, as Yanliang grew up, his personality had almost entirely changed.

Yet... he was alive, truly alive!

Bai Yanren smiled until his eyes narrowed.

But in his eyes, besides gentleness, there were also a few extremely dangerous glints.

"Yanliang, brother succeeded..."

In the home of the two brothers.

The childhood Bai Yanliang was leaning over his desk doing his homework. As he wrote, drop after drop of crimson blood wetted his workbook.

The little boy bleeding from seven orifices was completely unaware, still incessantly scribbling and drawing on his workbook...

(I’m back! After losing half my life, I’m starting to update again! I’ll finish this book before starting a new one. Don’t worry, everyone, I just might write at a slower pace due to my recovery and having a bout of illness again. So, the goal here is to craft with care and precision, and not worry about the results. Finishing this book has become my obsession; finishing it is the priority!)