Reversing Falsehood and Preserving Truth: All Gods and Gods Are in My Hands

The December wind, carrying a chill, swept past the windowpane, its mournful whimpers sounding like someone whispering incessantly.

A rich aroma wafted from Lu Yu's kitchen. Steaming brown sugar rice cakes filled the steamer, mingling with the crispy fragrance of fried dough sticks, making the warmth of the Spring Festival even more palpable.

"Auntie, your cooking is amazing!" Zhao Lei exclaimed, his cheeks bulging as he held his rice bowl, his chopsticks still rummaging through the fried lotus root. "Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, it's even better than the one I had at that old-fashioned restaurant last time!"

He exhaled hot breath, but his eyes were fixed on the last piece of lotus root left on the plate, as if afraid that someone else would snatch it away.

Lin Hui smiled and put the fried lotus root sandwich into his bowl: "Eat more if you like it, there's more in the pot, plenty to go around."

She also put a serving of steamed rice cake on Lu Yu's plate: "You loved eating this when you were little, but now you don't fight over it anymore."

Lu Yu took a bite of the steamed rice cake, its sweet aroma melting on his tongue. He suddenly remembered that when he was a child, his grandmother would steam a big pot of brown sugar rice cakes for the Spring Festival, and she would also embed dates on top, arranging them into beautiful patterns. His grandmother's hands were covered with calluses, but she always managed to steam the rice cakes until they were soft, chewy, and not sticky.

Back then, Zhao Lei would also come over for a free meal. The two of them would fight over the last piece of rice cake, while Grandma sat next to them, smiling, her wrinkles crinkling at the corners of her eyes, saying, "Eat slowly, we'll steam more if you're not full."

"Mom," Lu Yu put down his chopsticks, his tone subtly probing, "Grandma has been missing for almost three years, is there still no news from the police?"

The laughter in the living room suddenly subsided. Lu Jianming put down the newspaper in his hand: "I called to ask about it a while ago. The police said they were still investigating, but there weren't any new leads. Your grandmother's disappearance was too sudden; even the surveillance cameras didn't capture any trace of her..." He sighed, "Don't worry, as soon as there's any news, the police will definitely notify us immediately."

Lin Hui nodded in agreement and added another piece of pork rib to Lu Yu's bowl: "Don't think too much, just enjoy the New Year. Maybe after the New Year, we'll hear news about your grandmother."

Zhao Lei chewed his food and mumbled, "Yes! There will definitely be news!"

Lu Yu lowered his head in silence, but Zhao Lei suddenly pointed out the window, his eyes shining like light bulbs: "Wow! It's snowing!"

Everyone turned to look, and saw snowflakes falling softly outside the window. At first, they were small, fine snowflakes, but soon they turned into large, fluffy flakes that swirled and danced in the wind, turning the rooftops and treetops in the distance white. The world was covered in a blanket of silver, a beauty that seemed almost unreal.

"A timely snow promises a bumper harvest!" Lu Jianming smiled as he got up, walked to the window, and pushed it open a crack, letting in the crisp, cold air carrying the scent of snow.

There is a mountain on the outskirts of Zhongzhou City called Shennong Mountain. The snowflakes fell heavier and heavier, and soon the area was covered in a vast expanse of white.

Halfway up the mountain, a family of four could be seen crunching and laughing as they played in the snow.

The father, wearing a dark blue down jacket, was bending over and making snowballs, while the mother stood beside him, wrapping a pink scarf around her daughter, her eyes full of smiles.

The older brother, dressed in a white down jacket, was a head taller than his sister and blended perfectly into the snow. Every now and then, he would suddenly lie down in the snow, only his dark eyes showing. When his sister came looking for him, he would jump up and shout, scaring her so much that she would scream and run into her mother's arms, while he laughed so hard he couldn't stand up straight.

"Brother! You scared me again!" The younger sister rubbed her eyes, but couldn't help laughing. She made a small snowball and threw it at her brother, "Watch me hit you!"

The snowball hit his brother's back and shattered into a cloud of snow.

The older brother pretended to be angry, bent down and made an even bigger snowball, chasing after his sister: "You dare hit me? See how I deal with you!"

The snow was filled with the laughter of the two, with their father and mother following behind, occasionally joining in the fray. As snowballs flew, the snow was trampled into a mess, yet it exuded the warmth of family reunion.

As they ran, the older brother suddenly stopped, his eyes darting around. Taking advantage of his sister's inattention, he quietly hid behind a nearby snow slope. The younger sister chased after him for a few steps, then, realizing he was gone, she put her hands on her hips and shouted, "Brother! Don't hide! I know where you are!"

She searched down the snow slope, calling out several times, but received no response from her brother. Her mother laughed and said, "He's probably hiding behind some tree again. Let's look together."

The family of three was walking down the snow slope when, after only a few steps, a muffled "boom" came from the snow under their feet. Then, the ground collapsed, revealing a dark, deep pit!

"Watch out!" The father reacted quickly, grabbing his wife and daughter. The three of them staggered backward, staring in shock at the deep pit before them. The pit wasn't large, about two meters in diameter, but it was bottomless. A chilling aura emanated from the dark opening, and even snowflakes falling at the entrance seemed to be swallowed up instantly, disappearing without a trace.

"Brother!" the younger sister suddenly cried out, pressing her face against the edge of the pit and peering down. "Brother, are you down there?"

From the darkness came the older brother's muffled reply: "I'm here! I'm okay, but I think I can't climb up!"

The father quickly lay down at the edge of the pit and shouted, "Don't be afraid! We'll call the police now, they'll be here soon! Don't move down there, be careful!"

The mountain was remote, and with heavy snow falling, the police car couldn't get there anytime soon. The older brother got bored after a while in the pit, but listening to his parents' instructions from above piqued his interest. He used the dim light filtering through the opening to examine the pit walls.

"Dad, Mom, I'll go down this way and see if there's another way out!" the older brother shouted. Before anyone could respond, he started to walk down the pit wall.

He didn't notice that the soil under his feet was unusually soft, crumbling as he stepped on it, unlike a naturally formed mountain, but rather something that had been deliberately filled in.

After walking down about ten meters, the pit walls suddenly became gentler, and the ground beneath their feet became wider. The older brother curiously walked forward, wanting to see where this deep pit led, but he didn't notice a clod of loose soil under his feet, and his body suddenly lurched forward, his knee hitting the ground hard with a dull thud, making him grimace in pain.

"Hiss—" He rubbed his knee, and just as he was about to stand up, he felt something hard where his knee had hit. It didn't feel like a stone, but rather like some kind of metal object. He curiously reached out and touched it. It was cold and hard to the touch. Following the outline, he discovered that it was actually a huge jar, buried underground by a thick layer of soil, with only a small part of it showing.

The jar was covered in rust and felt rough to the touch, as if it had been stored for many years. The older brother became even more interested and used his hands to dig away the surface soil, wanting to see what this jar was all about.

"Click—"

A crisp cracking sound rang out in the darkness, and the already broken jar split open with a long crack. The older brother peered into the crack through the dim light filtering in from the opening, and his eyes widened instantly, his blood freezing in his veins—

The jar contained a dark green liquid, thick like sticky mud, and within the liquid, a blurry figure was slowly writhing. The figure's outline was strange, as if it were entangled by something, rising and falling in the dark green liquid, exuding an indescribable eeriness.