Helping each other with countless me.

Chapter 534 A Real Dream, Anti-Strange Tales Bureau
"It really was a dream."

In the early morning, Ryoko opened her eyes.

Her eyes were full of regret, but even more so, they were filled with a sense of entitlement.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.
She got out of bed and started washing up and making herself breakfast.

Sitting there, eating bread and eggs, Ryoko couldn't help but reminisce about everything in her dream.

Normally, a dream is over and done with.

However, Ryoko felt that the dream was too real, so real that it was like reality itself. Even now, she could clearly remember every scene from the dream, such as the delicious food, the beautiful clothes and backpacks, the high-end cosmetics she had longed for, and the lawyer holding the will...
Everything seemed as if it had truly happened.
She can even find bread, milk, and eggs tasteless now, as if she had actually eaten those delicious foods before.
After a long while, Ryoko sighed, but still forced herself to finish eating everything.

Then, carrying her schoolbag, she went to school.
A dream is, after all, just a dream.
At noon, the school enters its lunch break period.

Because it is summer and the weather is sunny, many students, especially girls, like to cool off on the lawn under the big trees during lunch break, eat their lunch, chat, and occasionally take a nap.

"So you had a dream yesterday where you inherited a large sum of money?"

"Yes."

Everything was just as Li Zhongren had said.

Girls are naturally fond of gossip; they love to share anything gossip, whether it's about others or themselves.

Naturally, Ryoko began to recount the incredibly vivid dream she had the previous day.

Not only did I inherit a fortune, but I also ate a lot of delicious food, some of which I could never afford in my entire life.

"For example?"

"This king crab is so big! The meat on its legs is like a piece of ham, but it tastes sweet and fresh, like eating candy. And the Wagyu beef, I always drool when I see it on TV, and I've actually eaten it in my dreams. It melts in your mouth and has a strange taste, like milk candy."

Liangzi shared everything about her dream with her friends.

However, as she continued to share, one of the girls under the tree began to look at her strangely.

Her name is Lingzi. Her family is very wealthy, but she is surprisingly down-to-earth and gets along with everyone.

The reason for her strangeness is quite simple.

She knew about Ryoko's family situation. She was all alone and survived by working odd jobs. Even when she offered to help her, Ryoko refused. She had a strong sense of self-respect. People like that would not usually do things like streetwalking.

Therefore, she couldn't possibly have had the money to eat those things, yet her descriptions of their taste were always incredibly accurate.

This is extremely unreasonable.

So, Reiko, being a child from a wealthy family, immediately thought of something, a possibility.

Ghost tales

Otherwise, she couldn't have described the taste of so many expensive ingredients so accurately.

However, she did not make a fuss about it.

To reiterate, her family background allowed her to know more about various things, such as dealing with ghost stories.

Generally speaking, the key is to avoid spreading the information and keep it within a small circle.

And when discussing ghost stories, try not to have any emotional fluctuations.

This can limit the power of ghost stories.

So, Reiko has made up her mind that she will find her uncle after school today and ask him to contact the Anti-Ghost Stories Bureau.
However, Lingzi was unaware that her every move was being watched by Li Zhongren.

As his first seed, Li Zhongren naturally had to take good care of it. Right now, he was residing in the anchor point of Liangzi's soul.

It observes every move of the world as if it were a camera.

At the same time, because of Ryoko's story, more people know about him, and he can see himself becoming stronger. However, this knowledge cannot serve as an anchor point yet. He must make them dream tonight to make it an anchor point.

This is also a limitation of ghost stories.

That is, apart from ghost stories that have the ability to create clones, there is only one ghost story, and it can only appear in one location at one time, and use its ability on the corresponding person, unless you have group skills.

Therefore, after thinking it over, Li Zhongren decided to use his skills on one of the girls.

As for Lingzi, he won't touch her for the time being.

He was confident in his ability to remain hidden, but if he encountered someone like Reiko who clearly knew what she was doing, he would expose himself far too early.
"Uncle, that's it. I'd like you to help me look into it."

"it is good."

Reiko's uncle works at the Anti-Ghost Stories Bureau. Although he is not on the front line, he possesses some special abilities and methods.

"Before that, let me check you out first."

"Uncle, do you suspect I'm being targeted by ghost stories?"

"It's not that they're targeting us."

Reiko's uncle shook his head.

"If your speculation is correct, then after you heard what that child said, you have already been included in the list of those infected. Once you know about this, the ghost stories may find you, just like marking you."

"What I'm going to do is, if the ghost stories really have marked you, we can remove them. That way, the ghost stories won't be able to find you. And if we're really lucky, your house has a defensive barrier, so most of the ghost stories can't get in."

"Okay, uncle."

Reiko nodded and lay down on the bed.

Lingzi's uncle then took out a device, similar to a metal detector used in security checks, and scanned Lingzi from the top of her head to her feet.

"Good news, you don't have any markings on you."

"What about the bad news?"

"There's no bad news yet. I need to check to find out if your classmate Ryoko really encountered a ghost story."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Uncle."

"This is also my job."

Lingzi's uncle waved his hand, packed up his tools, picked up his suitcase, and left Lingzi's house.

Under the cover of night, he moved with the agility of a swallow, leaping several meters with each bound, speeding towards Liangzi's house.

This is a perk for all staff members of the Anti-Ghost Stories Bureau.

After years of research into ghost stories, the nation has finally yielded some research results.

These achievements are similar to equipment, potions, or other items that can grant ordinary people who join the Bureau of Ghost Stories powerful abilities to deal with ghost stories.

The ability to leap effortlessly across rooftops without making a sound comes from a supernatural tale. This ability was made into shoes, and the person who wears these shoes can perform such feats.

Therefore, in this small town, it wasn't long before Reiko's uncle, Jili, arrived near Ryoko's house.

He did not approach.

As a professional anti-ghost story bureau employee, his job mainly involves detection.

Therefore, he usually reports his every action. After reporting, he will observe. Where ghost stories appear, there will definitely be some traces. As long as these traces are found, it can be confirmed that there are ghost stories there. Then it is the action team's business.

From the rooftop of a nearby building, lying prone, Ji observed Ryoko's house using a specially made telescope. It was around eight or nine o'clock in the evening.

The curtains in Ryoko's house were already drawn, but under Jili's special telescope, it was still possible to see through them. Of course, this wasn't the kind of X-ray vision device found in H novels, but rather something similar to infrared technology. It could only see the outline of a person and wouldn't reveal any privacy. Moreover, it was particularly effective at revealing traces left by ghost stories, just like a blood tester and an ultraviolet lamp.

"Nothing?"

After observing back and forth for a while, Geely couldn't help but feel a little suspicious.

There was no trace of anything related to ghost stories.

but.

On the way here, Jili's teammates had already sent over the information. Recently, Liangzi's income and expenses have been normal, and she has not been in contact with any strangers. In other words, it is impossible for her to accurately describe the taste of those foods that she has not eaten.

There must be something wrong here.

"It seems that we need to conduct more in-depth testing."

With that in mind, Geely finished writing the report and sent it back to the bureau via mobile phone. This was something Li Zhongren had mentioned before: ordinary people in this world cannot use mobile phones, and the whole society is still stuck in the 1980s. Only people from the Anti-Strange Tales Bureau can use this kind of high technology.

His report was quite simple: send professionals to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth examination of Ryoko.

Moreover, multiple people must be present. This is also a form of power defense. Otherwise, members of the Anti-Ghost Stories Bureau would inevitably abuse this power to trespass on private property or even do things that violate morality and the law, and they would not be held accountable afterward. The reason is simple: the Anti-Ghost Stories Bureau has a memory eraser. No matter what the Anti-Ghost Stories Bureau members do to ordinary people, the ordinary people will not remember it afterward.

At 10 p.m., all was quiet.

The Anti-Ghost Stories Bureau members arrived at Ryoko's house without anyone noticing.

At this moment, Ryoko was already asleep and unaware that the staff were analyzing and testing her.

"How is the result?"

In the dim light, a woman wearing a black trench coat and with long black hair cascading over her shoulders asked.

"Captain, we've found nothing, no trace of any contact with the ghost stories. Could it be..."

There must be something wrong.

The woman pursed her lips.

"Otherwise, there's no way to explain how she can accurately describe the taste of so many expensive ingredients. Has her soul been examined?"

"It has been checked."

A man in work clothes, a mask, and gloves nodded to the side.

“We examined everything from the inside out—blood, flesh, and soul—and found no trace of anything unique to ghost stories.”

"It seems to be some kind of strange tale: surveillance equipment was installed in her home, and I was in charge of approving the review."

"Yes, Captain."

A car drove silently in the night. It was the Anti-Ghost Stories Bureau's latest vehicle, an electric car with zero noise, making it especially suitable for nighttime operations.

The captain was driving.

The streetlights outside the car window shone like squares across her face.

"What kind of ghost story do you think it would be?"

Suddenly, the captain spoke up.

But there was no one on the bus.

"Wow~~"

A moment later, there was a sound as if some kind of dust had gathered together.

In the passenger seat of the captain's electric vehicle appeared a woman, or rather, not entirely human. Some of the marks on her body were animal marks, like those of some kind of arthropod, but she was exceptionally elegant. Apart from her pure white robe, she exuded a sense of holiness.

"Didn't that girl say that?"

The woman in the white robe spoke slowly, her voice sounding gentle and warm.

"She had an incredibly vivid dream, so this ghost story is very likely related to dreams."

"However, we examined her soul."

"Then perhaps the trace isn't in her soul?"

"What do you mean?"

"A dream."

The woman in the white robe chuckled.

"All traces of that ghost story exist in dreams. When you wake up, the dream disappears, so naturally you won't find any trace of it, hehehe."

"Sister Bai, this is not funny at all."

The woman in the black trench coat gripped the steering wheel, her expression turning serious.

Just hearing about such a strange tale makes you realize how troublesome it must be.

Thinking of this, she immediately opened the communication.

"Attention everyone."

"Immediately monitor everyone who came into contact with Ryoko today and knows about the dream, and prevent them from going to school tomorrow morning. Investigate them."

"Yes"

"Sister Bai, do you think this will work?"

"That depends on what kind of ghost story it is. If it's the kind that originated in Ryoko's dream, it'll be useful; it will be sealed in place. But, as you know, people can't imagine things they've never seen. Ryoko can describe the taste of those ingredients so accurately, so most likely, this is a ghost story that can move freely."

Therefore, everything you do cannot stop its spread.

"I understand. I will report this matter. Let's wait for the results tomorrow. If it's the worst outcome, then this matter is beyond our ability to handle directly."

"Alright, Tanya, you don't need to be so nervous. This isn't the first strange story related to dreams."

"But this is the first ghost story where the traces disappear when you wake up. Ghost stories of the same caliber as Freddy Krueger in North America can also be traced back to the soul."

"That's true, then the best way is to seal it away."

Sealing is one of the most perfect methods to deal with ghost stories.

The best way is naturally to make everyone forget about the ghost story, but that's not easy to do, especially for those ghost stories that can move freely. No one knows where they've been, so sealing them away is the best method.

At any given time, there can only be one such strange tale in the world.

As long as this ghost story survives, no other ghost stories will emerge, no matter how much they are sung or circulated outside.

Therefore, countries around the world tend to seal away extremely dangerous ghost stories when dealing with them, and doing so also allows them to be studied.

However, the process of capturing the ghost stories is not simple, and each time it can be said that a heavy price has to be paid.

This is why Tanya was a little nervous; this town is her hometown.

Unfortunately, now that such a strange tale has been created, some things are beyond her control.
(End of this chapter)