I can rewind time to prevent death

After searching the house once more and questioning both Lin Ling and Su Muyao, who had awakened, I was certain there were no more Spirit-Splitting remnants of the Resentful Granny present.

Zhang Xiaomo used the magnetic knife to emit an energy field to search again, then she and Yan Junze went back down to the first floor.

They entered the house and closed the door.

Zhang Xiaomo said, "Granny Ren has been dealt with, but to be on the safe side, I'll still stay with you until tomorrow afternoon."

"And then do we leave together, or…"

Before Yan Junze could finish, Zhang Xiaomo added, "I need to leave first to catch a flight to Sealed City. I booked the ticket seven days ago."

"Alright, you've been through a lot these past few days," Yan Junze nodded.

To be honest, he had been keeping the Rewind timeline open, cycling every four hours, and until now, he dared not close it.

Anyway, let's wait until tomorrow.

The pressure that had been building up in his heart over the last few days gradually dispersed. Lying in bed, Yan Junze soon fell asleep.

When they woke up in the morning, even Zhang Xiaomo overslept a bit and practically got up at the same time as him.

For the first time in history, the two of them went down to eat out at a street corner restaurant. However, Yan Junze heeded Zhang Xiaomo's advice and didn't open champagne to celebrate.

Then they brought some food for Su Muyao and Lin Ling, who hadn't gone to work. These two, just like Lin Dong, were somewhat spiritless after being affected by the Spirit-Splitting, but they would quickly recover after a couple days of rest.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

In the afternoon, Yan Junze and Zhang Xiaomo went to see Lin Dong again.

Lin Dong was already fine, just terribly frightened by the Resentful Granny, looking somewhat out of sorts. Old Li from the street corner even came over to look after him specially.

This kind of mental trauma could only be healed with time.

After dinner, Yan Junze suggested they go for a walk.

Zhang Xiaomo did not refuse.

The two strolled slowly along the streets of Rock.

After walking for a while, Yan Junze said, "After this incident, I feel that intruding and Spirit-Splitting are like the two ultimate skills of the supernatural."

Zhang Xiaomo shook her head: "For Wandering Spirits, intruding and Spirit-Splitting are child's play, easy to figure out. But Granny Ren was almost at the level of a Semi-Sculpting Spirit, which is why her Spirit-Splitting was so relentless, and her intrusions were unexpected and sometimes looked very weird."

Yan Junze laughed, "No matter how weird, they are all seen through in front of you. That was the case yesterday with Su Muyao. If you hadn't held me back, I might have already…"

Zhang Xiaomo said, "This requires training and the accumulation of disposal experience. The more times you encounter it, the more responsive you will become."

Yan Junze nodded.

By this time, the two had almost reached the end of the old street, which was precisely where Yan Junze had last detected "The Hanged Woman" mission at 39 Old Street.

Yan Junze glanced up at an empty, abandoned building not far away.

There were many self-built houses here, and this building also appeared to be self-constructed, only it had three floors, and the external door panels were already broken. One could see the dark interior of the house through the damaged door panels.

"Let's go, this way," Zhang Xiaomo pointed to another street.

Yan Junze couldn't help but ask, "This should be the place you mentioned before that was haunted by strangenesses. Now that we've come across it, why not deal with it directly?"

Zhang Xiaomo said, "Any strangeness that prevents people from living normally has been reported to the Exorcists and is in line. Unless there is an emergency, I can't interfere according to the rules. If no one has reported it, it means the strangeness is not dangerous, and I don't need to act."

"Just watching it happen right under your nose?" Yan Junze still didn't understand.

"The strangenesses in this world erupted suddenly more than half a year ago, and our team was only established then. That's why we still face many difficulties that we can't solve," Zhang Xiaomo looked up at the distant house. "We have our own rules of operation, including that strangenesses can form magnetic fields affecting the area, which is one of the rules that cannot be changed at will."

"I don't understand," Yan Junze shook his head.

"It means that if a strangeness isn't at the point of requiring immediate resolution, and you take care of it, the magnetic field of other strangenesses within the same range… they could become stronger or undergo some kind of unknown mutation."

Yan Junze was momentarily stunned. Wasn't this what "Perception of Strange Events" had mentioned before, that the level of an event could probabilistically increase over time?

It seemed that Exorcists were no pushovers; this much they had clearly grasped as well.

As the two of them talked, they neared 114 on Rock Back Street.

This was precisely where Yan Junze had detected the second mission's Lin Family courtyard.

He tilted his head slightly to observe Zhang Xiaomo's reaction, only to find that she merely glanced at the seemingly abandoned courtyard and said nothing after withdrawing her gaze.

Of course, Yan Junze himself wouldn't bring it up, or his secrets might be exposed.

He briefly scrutinized the dilapidated courtyard. Its surrounding walls were intact but overgrown with ivy and weeds. The nearby houses all sported the character "Demolish," yet for some reason they remained untouched.

As a result, no one lived in the vicinity.

"This place feels quite remote," said Yan Junze, making a deliberate comment.

"Mhm, let's go, back to our place," Zhang Xiaomo replied without much elaboration.

Returning to their rental, they greeted Lin Dong, and decided to move out the following day.

Lin Dong readily agreed, though he still lay on his bed, looking dejected.

Seeing him like this made Yan Junze feel somewhat guilty. If it weren't for his arrival, Lin Dong wouldn't be in such a state.

But fortunately, these innocent people hadn't lost their lives.

"I'll sleep on the sofa outside tonight. It's our last day, so you should get a good night's sleep in the bed," Yan Junze said to Zhang Xiaomo.

Zhang Xiaomo didn't say anything, and soon Yan Junze moved his bedding out, tossing it on the sofa.

When bedtime came, they turned off the lights in their respective rooms. Moonlight streamed in through the windows and for a while, neither of them fell asleep.

Eventually, Zhang Xiaomo's voice carried over: "You have a good constitution. You could come to our place for testing sometime. You might make an excellent Exorcist, so don't waste it."

"Let's talk about it some other time." This time, Yan Junze didn't outright refuse.

He felt that even if he couldn't become an Exorcist, he would still have many chances to deal with them in the future. This was unavoidable.

After chatting for a while, Yan Junze didn't know when he had fallen asleep.

It was just a dim awareness that he was lying on the sofa when a dark figure slowly approached from the inner room. It looked somewhat like Zhang Xiaomo, yet it didn't.

He was unable to open his eyes, nor move at all, as if suddenly hit by sleep paralysis—his consciousness was clear, but his body was rigid.

The figure drew near, standing silently by his side.

Yan Junze felt cold sweat breaking out; he struggled with all his might to open his eyes. His body shook slightly from the desperate attempts.

The figure moved, bent down, and brought its face close to his.

In that moment, Yan Junze suddenly opened his eyes wide to see a wrinkled, waxen yellow cheek.

He knew this face all too well.

Resentful Granny!

Huh...

Yan Junze abruptly sat up from the sofa, his forehead drenched in cold sweat, looking around, but there was nothing.

A dream! Was it just a dream?!

"After narrowly escaping from being killed by a strong magnetic field strangeness, it is normal to experience delusions and hallucinations for a period. Just ignore it and it will go away," Zhang Xiaomo's calm voice suddenly came from the bedroom, as if it was something she was accustomed to.