America: The Cremator

Blood and tears fell onto the ground covered in thick grime. The hard ground where they landed seemed to turn into some kind of fluid the moment they touched it, rippling outwards in a strange pattern.

A piercing noise came from deep within Su Long's eardrums, like the sound that accompanies the screen flickering on an old-fashioned television.

His spiritual vision began to work, and he vaguely saw a mist, like a red ribbon, rising from the air and meandering towards him.

Su Long tried to raise his arms to block, but his hands were already out of control. His consciousness was forcibly pulled away at that moment, and he fell into an imperceptible darkness.

When he opened his eyes again, Su Long found himself sitting in a soft fabric seat, surrounded by the background noise of airplane engines and passengers talking.

The screen on the back of the seat directly in front of me was glowing with a pale blue light, displaying flight information:

Delta Air Lines, DL281, Airbus A339.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Shanghai Pudong International Airport, remaining flight time 7 hours 24 minutes.

A flight attendant pushed a food cart down the aisle, asking passengers in the front row if they needed coffee or tea. Everything seemed orderly and orderly, full of the rationality and stability of modern society.

Somewhat belatedly, Su Long turned his head to look out the porthole, where the deep blue of the stratosphere was visible, and the clouds stretched out like an endless white plain beneath the wings.

Am I on a plane?

He took his phone out of his pocket, turned on the screen, and the date was clearly displayed on the lock screen: Friday, January 23, 2026.

This was the day he originally planned to end his studies abroad and leave the United States completely.

Time to go home...

Su Long's tense muscles relaxed, he leaned back in his chair, and let out a long breath. The inexplicable anxiety about survival seemed to have finally vanished.

wrong!

A subtle yet undeniable sense of unease pierced the depths of Su Long's mind like a fine thorn.

He seemed to recall some strange memories.

Weird? Seattle? Cremated corpse? System?

A tattered tent? A smiling Virgin Mary?

Su Long closed his eyes, shook his head vigorously, and opened them again. The scene before him had not changed; it was still the slightly crowded economy class.

Am I trapped in a dream and unable to wake up, or is the previous experience the real nightmare?

Su Long unlocked his phone again, his fingers swiping rapidly across the screen to tap the red and white video application icon.

The homepage recommendations refreshed, and rows of video thumbnails and titles came into view.

The Pain at Mineirão! Brazil suffers a humiliating 1-7 defeat to Germany, missing out on the World Cup trophy!

How would you rate the latest iPhone 13 series?

Breaking News: 30-Series Graphics Cards Experience a Performance Surge!

Sulong's thumb hovered above the screen.

Wait a minute, what year is this political news from?

Scrolling down further, he saw familiar titles and covers, all of which seemed to be videos he had watched before.

Why? Is it because the eerie fabrication couldn't create details beyond his memory?

Yes!

If this is a dream or hallucination fabricated by a strange entity after reading memories, then the material it is filled with must come from information already existing in its own memory bank. For completely unfamiliar knowledge areas, the strange entity cannot fabricate them out of thin air!

Su Long's fingers flew across the search bar, typing in a line of characters he had never encountered before and would never be interested in.

"Advanced Mathematics - Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations"

The search results loaded quickly, and the first result was a 45-minute instructional video with a cover featuring a gray-haired professor standing in front of a blank blackboard.

Su Long clicked play.

The video buffered for two seconds before starting to play. The professor turned around, faced the camera, picked up a piece of chalk, and spoke in a steady and clear voice.

"Class, today we'll be exploring nonlinear partial differential equations. First, we need to introduce a concept..."

The professor's lips continued to move, as if he were explaining the next step of the derivation.

However, no sound came out.

The professor's facial features began to distort in the video, and then the entire video suddenly collapsed into black and white static, emitting a piercing "hissing" sound.

Su Long looked at the chaotic mess of noise and a smile crept onto his face.

Has the deception been exposed?

Can't come up with anything else?

When people are pushed to the limit, they'll do anything, except for advanced mathematics... The same goes for the supernatural.

This thing, you either know it or you don't!

"Click."

A crisp sound of shattering glass rang in his ears. In the corner of Su Long's vision, shallow cracks spread across the once realistic cabin walls, seats, and the backs of the heads of the passengers in front of him.

Su Long lowered his head and looked at his hands.

Visually, he was still holding the phone with static in his hands, but tactilely, he felt his ten fingers hanging in mid-air.

The logic of the dream is breaking down and can no longer fully cover perception; the sense of touch in the hands is returning.

Su Long tried to move his fingers and clearly felt his fingers clenching into fists in reality.

Then, a cool sensation spread throughout the inside of the eyeball.

My clairvoyance has returned!

His extraordinary vision instantly pierced through the illusion of the cabin. Between the fake seats and aisles, he saw a wisp of mist like a red veil, which resembled a snake burrowing into the center of his face, trying to go deeper.

Su Long focused his consciousness on his palm. Although he couldn't see the flames with the naked eye, he could feel the power of the primordial fire dancing joyfully in the center of his palm.

His hand, still burning with flames, grabbed the ethereal red mist in front of him.

He felt a tangible sensation at his fingertips, as if he had grasped a slippery, cold venomous snake. The wisp of mist struggled violently in his palm, emitting a sizzling burning sound.

"Get out!"

Su Long let out a low roar, exerted force with his arm, and tore it outwards fiercely.

"boom--"

With a deafening roar, the entire plane, the blue sky, the clouds, and the fake passengers were shattered in an instant, turning into countless bizarre fragments that vanished into the darkness.

My gaze refocused.

A tent top made of tattered, dirty tarpaulin appeared above, and several flies were alighting on the surface of his goggles, rubbing their long, thin legs together.

Su Long sat up abruptly, panting heavily. His forehead was covered in cold sweat, and the clothes inside his protective suit were soaked through and clung tightly to his back.

He looked around.

Stella and Hannah were lying on the muddy ground not far from him.

Stella maintained her elegant posture; even in her unconscious state, her hands were folded in front of her chest, but her breathing was rapid and disordered, and her chest heaved violently.

Hannah was curled up in a ball, her hands gripping the dirt on the ground so tightly that her fingernails almost dug into the thick layer of grease, as if she were experiencing a terrible nightmare.

The situation is not optimistic.

Su Long immediately activated his spiritual vision and looked at the two of them.

Around Stella's exquisite face, there was only a very thin layer of red mist, so thin that it was almost dissipating.

The situation was even worse on Hannah's side, where the remaining fog was barely visible.

Does this mean... the power of that eerie entity has penetrated deep into their bodies, dragging their consciousness into a deeper dimension of nightmares?

Although he didn't know what the consequences of getting lost in nightmares would be, Su Long knew it would definitely mean a terrible ending.

He got up from the ground, brushed the dirt off his protective suit, and lingered on the two fallen bodies for two seconds.

Perhaps he should have been prudent, turned around and left, rushed out of the tent, got back to his car, and then reported the situation to the Bureau of Oddity Support.

Although they managed to save their own lives, given the efficiency of the American government agencies, these two women were doomed.

No, if they die here, Su Long, as the sole survivor, will inevitably attract deeper suspicion and stricter scrutiny from government agencies, which will be detrimental to his continued career development.

Moreover, Stella owes him a clue to lift the curse, as well as a potentially large business deal in the future.

As for Hannah, a hardworking, ambitious, and pitiful girl, let's just consider it as something we rescued on a whim.

Suron turned around, his gaze passing over Stella and Hannah, and landing around the wooden table.

To rescue the two, we must first further enhance our spiritual vision to improve our ability to detect strange forces.

Previously, fearing that it would awaken strange powers, Su Long dared not easily deal with these corpses. Now that the strange powers have emerged, he would burn the corpses to gain some experience points and raise his spiritual vision.

The cremator in America is finally going to get back to his regular job.