Frightening Joke: Above the Mist

Some memories that had never existed, yet seemed to be real, burrowed into Bai Yanliang's mind the moment the name "Meng Zhen" appeared.

He had already accepted that he was a Nameless Ghost from the Fog Realm, but at this moment, this inexplicable memory shattered his thoughts completely.

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In the memory, there was a child.

The child was very young, and his father passed away before he had any memories.

Perhaps because his father and mother were engaged in some strange research, there were some rules at home that seemed very odd to outsiders since the child was young.

For example, having to use an umbrella on sunny days, or not eating hot food; even freshly cooked food had to be cooled before eating.

It certainly sounded strange, but a child educated this way from a young age did not find it odd.

And as for the child's home, his mother said they had lived beneath the ancient tree called Tong You for generations and never left its canopy.

What surrounded his memories from childhood was the cool, canopy of leaves, blocking out the sky.

So, even on sunny days, it was hard for the child to be in the sunlight, he had to run very far to escape the shade of the ancient tree to appear in the sunlight.

He could only gaze out.

There seemed to be an invisible force between the tree's shade and the world outside, making it difficult for the child to know the world outside the shade, and vice versa.

And the trifling yet strange rules had long since melded with things that seemed unbelievable to ordinary people, becoming second nature to the child.

Some things, to this day, he couldn't figure out whether they really happened or if it was all an illusion...

He remembered it was a hazy dusk when his mother seemed a bit different than usual. Instead of continuing her research, she stood under the thick trunk of the ancient tree, looking at him tenderly.

"Do you miss your father?"

Dusk blurred everything.

The child looked to where his mother voiced, but found the world slightly distorted, as if she might disappear at any moment.

Father?

He never saw his father from the time he could remember; why would his mother ask this?

But, meeting his mother's gaze, he had to nod, even though he didn't really miss the father he had never seen, and no one had ever told him what kind of person his father was.

What's with mom today?

"Yes..." he said against his own will.

His mother seemed a little happy. She slowly walked towards him, her white dress made her appear especially elegant and beautiful, like a gentle flower swaying in the wind.

"Today, mommy will tell you a secret."

She approached and patted the child's head.

"Actually, this is not our hometown, not your father's hometown. We are all guests here."

As she spoke, she slightly raised her head, looking toward the world beyond the tree crown, and cast some glances toward the treetop.

Guests?

But didn't mom say we had lived under this big tree for generations?

The child was too young and couldn't quite grasp the meaning of his mother's words.

"Yes, we are guests, we are different from the people here..."

His mother suddenly held the child's hand.

"Come, mommy will take you to see."

It was originally dusk, but before long it had grown completely dark.

His mother held the child's hand and slowly walked out of the house.

This was the child's first long trip.

Usually, he only looked up to glimpse the distant world.

Though... it was hard to navigate the night path.

The child felt, being led by his mother, that today her hand was so cold.

Furthermore, the world outside the home, the roads were truly complicated.

Interwoven like a spider web, though his mother seemed to go in circles, they were consistently moving further from home, walking on and on, until the child suddenly looked back and found that "home" had undergone subtle changes, turning into something extremely unfamiliar.

Luckily, it wasn't too late, yet on the path, it was only the child and his mother. At some point, the moon appeared, fuzzy and emanating a dim light.

The dark yellow glow spilled over the earth, distorting everything.

Even the night sky seemed to be pulled in opposite directions by massive invisible hands, stretching into the infinite darkness.

Guided by his mother, the child continued forward until his feet began to go numb, prompting him to ask, "Mom, how much longer do we have to walk?"

The dark night sky and the distorted earth began to twist, making the world seem suddenly like a kaleidoscope being turned by a child.

How long had they been walking?

The child tugged at his mother's sleeve, who looked down at him with a smile and gave no answer.

"Mommy promised to show you the people of this world... look."

As soon as she finished speaking.

Her white dress swelled like a growing bubble, expanding outward from the viscous darkness. In his stunned gaze, this elegant woman turned into a grayish-white, twisted-limbed, humanoid aberration.

"M-Mom..."

The child was stunned.

He didn't know fear; he didn't understand fear.

From his earliest memories, everything he knew his mother had taught him. She never told him what this form was, nor why she turned into this.

His not yet fully developed brain couldn't support any judgment; he could only stand blankly, staring at the grotesque grayish-white form.

"Do you want to become like mommy?"

The grayish-white figure suddenly spoke.

The child didn't quite understand what this question meant.

But as with before, when his mom asked if he wanted his father, although he didn't, he knew what his mother wished to hear.

"No..."

He knew what his mom wanted to hear was this answer.

"Right... good child, this isn't the form we should have."

"Look..."

As she spoke, completely unrecognizable, his mother suddenly extended a twisted arm, placing it on the child's shoulder.

And in that moment, it was like the child's eyes were suddenly fitted with glasses that let him see the true world.

He saw...

On the ancient tree he grew up by, the one his mom called "Tong You."

The tree's crown, branches, twigs, trunk...

Everywhere, was crawling, figures identical to his current mother.

Their eye sockets were dark, limbs twisted and long, as if they felt his gaze. At that moment, they abruptly stopped.

On the ancient tree, densely packed, they looked at him!

"Don't become like this..."

As his mother's hand left his shoulder, in an instant, all those "people" vanished again.

"Your father will find a way to take you out."

His mother looked at him with pity.

"You shouldn't have been born in this world..."