I can rewind time to prevent death

Yan Junze did not turn his head to take a good look; he simply replied, "Yeah, I'm here." Stay updated through empire

Through his peripheral vision, he could see the silhouette of a person standing in the water, seemingly very slender and motionless.

After his own response to her, the figure began to move, wading through the water, slowly walking towards him.

The surroundings were extremely quiet, with only the sound of water rushing from the fountain. The stench-emitting silhouette gradually drew closer to Yan Junze.

Yan Junze stood there like a statue, waiting for Fang Ning to approach.

To complete the task, it was impossible to evade; although the approaching Fang Ning reeked, and after being electrocuted for a long time, her corpse had become terrifying. Even Yan Junze at this moment had no desire to turn around for a glance.

However, according to the background explanation provided by the task, he could already imagine what Fang Ning looked like at this moment.

A person's body, after being electrocuted for a prolonged period, will exhibit characteristics of metalization. At this time, accessories, watches, and other items on the body will dissolve and fuse firmly with the skin and muscles, unable to be removed.

And since Fang Ning had been electrocuted by the leaking fountain all night, the long duration of electrocution coupled with the moisture from the water, her skin and muscles had decayed, melding with the accessories on her body.

One could imagine that Fang Ning's appearance had long since lost her beauty from when she was alive; in its place was a face charred and dissolved in the water, with no part left intact.

When the police initially performed the autopsy, if they did not consider her personal belongings, they could not possibly identify her.

Splash!

From the fountain to the right of Yan Junze, ripples spread as the figure drew closer, one foot emerging from the water, stepping over the edge of the pool onto the stone-cold ground.

Then the other foot also stepped out of the water.

During this time, Yan Junze stood motionless in his original spot.

The stench surrounding him grew thicker and thicker.

Pat pat, the sound of footsteps arose, step by step, like clumps of sludge falling onto the ground, drawing closer to Yan Junze.

Before long, Yan Junze felt something cold touching his hanging right hand, realizing only then that it was being held by another hand.

This hand was extremely rough, its texture no longer discernible, the skin's surface akin to scabs formed after an injury.

There was no sound from behind, but this hand groped for a moment before slowly taking hold of his right hand.

Yan Junze did not resist, naturally opening his fingers, suppressing his disgust, holding it in the palm of his hand.

Immediately afterward, his left hand also felt cold as another hand took hold of it. This hand, too, had scab-like skin, making Yan Junze feel as if he were holding onto an old tree branch.

The next second, his back felt a chill as if a large block of ice had approached, pressing tightly against his back.

"Huuuh..."

That eerie and hoarse voice resounded the instant it pressed up against Yan Junze's back, as if it had found something to cling to, a long-lost sensation.

Those past memories and moments, as the two stood back to back, drawing close, found their destination.

The icy feeling intensified as the human and strangeness pressed completely together. Within less than a minute, Yan Junze felt his entire spine numb from the cold.

Fang Ning did not speak, and he too decided to remain silent.

Hand holding hand, back against back, an inexplicable atmosphere spread.

This was not romance; in Yan Junze's view, this was freakishly bizarre!

A task graded as "hair-raising (low)" strangeness, clinging tightly to his back, hand holding hand, without uttering a word.

Is it going to be like this forever?

The eerie atmosphere slowly solidified, and after maintaining the same posture for over ten minutes, Yan Junze felt his legs starting to tremble slightly.

At that moment, Fang Ning's voice suddenly sounded, "Look at tonight's moon, how round and beautiful it is!"

Yan Junze could imagine that she had been looking up at the sky all along, admiring the moon above.

This is also why the task prompt suggested completing the task on a clear, full moon night.

It seemed that Fang Ning might have been very fond of this type of romantic setting when she was alive.

Of course, Yan Junze felt no romance at the moment, replaced instead by a thick sense of horror and oppression.

His lips moved slightly, and he thought he should still respond to the woman; otherwise, something unpredictable might happen, so he tried to speak up, "Yes, such a round and beautiful moon that it outshines all the other stars in the sky. It's as if the whole night sky is left with only its unique splendor."

"Hahaha...."

Fang Ning let out a laugh, which surely would have been like a melodious silver bell if it had been during her lifetime.

However, due to her throat being deformed by electrocution, the laugh that now came out gave Yan Junze goosebumps all over, and it sounded even more penetrating than the noise of scrubbing the bottom of a pan with a steel wool pad.

After several seconds, the laughter stopped, and Fang Ning became very quiet, still leaning on Yan Junze's back, standing motionless.

"Not talking again?" Yan Junze was somewhat puzzled.

After waiting awhile and seeing that Fang Ning was indeed as still as if she were dead, with no more signs of movement,

"Is it that I'm supposed to say something?" Yan Junze pondered for a while, deciding to speak up and test the waters, but just as he was about to speak, Fang Ning suddenly spoke again, uttering words that startled Yan Junze.

"Look at the moon tonight, how round and beautiful it is!"

Listening to these familiar words, they seemed exactly the same as the previous sentence.

For a moment, Yan Junze wondered if he had "Rewound," returning to an earlier point in time, which was why Fang Ning was repeating the question.

But on second thought, something felt off. He hesitated for a moment and then said, "Didn't you... just say that?"

Fang Ning gave no answer, still standing there.

Yan Junze held her cold, icy hand, feeling as if his own hands were about to freeze stiff, with the goosebumps on his body never subsiding.

After a long wait, there was still no reply from her.

Before long, Fang Ning spoke up again, "Look at the moon tonight, how round and beautiful it is!"

"Fuck, is this some kind of loop?!" Yan Junze started to realize what was happening.

He now understood that, as a "hair-raising" level task, it wouldn't be so easy to just pass through it.

In the previous task of this level, he was killed in an instant by the Back-faced Woman, then cursed to grow black hair all over his body, tormented in life and death.

This had never happened in other tasks before.

Now, it seemed that these words must have been what Fang Ning wished to say when she saw Jiang Hao but tragically never got the chance before dying, so they had turned into a strong "Obsession."

He had to break it, or he couldn't move on to the next step.

After these words, Fang Ning fell silent again.

Yan Junze carefully considered for a moment, Fang Ning's wish was very likely to have a date with Jiang Hao, to say goodbye, and to see the full moon one last time.

"Hmm, I remember feeling very sweet inside when I was with you," Yan Junze ventured.

Before he could finish speaking, his hands were suddenly grasped tightly, held in a death grip by Fang Ning's scab-like rough palms, and his bones made cracking noises.

At the same time, the cold feeling on his back vanished instantly, replaced by a sense of merging.

At this moment, Yan Junze didn't feel as if he were back to back with Fang Ning anymore but rather as if their backs had become fused together like conjoined beings.

He was startled and immediately took a step forward, feeling a sensation of ripping and piercing pain on his back.

At this point, Fang Ning remained silent, as if what Yan Junze was carrying on his back was a dead person, a woman electrocuted to death.

Yan Junze was even more terrified, furiously shaking his hands only to find they were stuck to the other's palms, with a copious amount of thick exudate making it impossible for him to separate his hands from Fang Ning's.