I can rewind time to prevent death

The task prompt says that this woman named Ling is adept at meddling in relationships.

In other words, she's very skilled at getting involved with others romantically, and can do so in a variety of situations and gestures.

This female strangeness died from jumping into a river, and her appearance constantly dripping with water suggests a significant connection to it.

And just now, the first person who came into contact with water was Liao Jing, who poured a glass of water for Mao Jin'an after he fainted.

She must have accidentally touched the water while pouring it, and then it seemed she passed the water cup to someone else, who then helped Mao Jin'an drink.

Yan Junze carefully recalled that the person seemed to be... Jin Wei.

And coincidentally, it was Jin Wei who just hugged Liao Jing.

Coming to this realization, Yan Junze turned his head and looked at Jin Wei, "Tell me, do you really know this woman or not? Don't try to hide anything else; otherwise, she wouldn't have chosen to possess Liao Jing and embrace you."

Jin Wei stared at Yan Junze, dumbfounded. His reaction was quite normal, and even more panic surfaced on his face after hearing Yan Junze's words, as he incredulously looked around him.

"No, no, no, that's impossible! I really don't know this woman." After a moment, he vehemently shook his head, like a frightened bird, his hands flailing wildly.

"I have nothing to do with her; I truly don't know her, I've absolutely not lied to you all!" Realizing that everyone was looking at him, Jin Wei became even more agitated and nearly shouted.

"Don't get excited yet," Yan Junze advised, seeing his demeanor which suggested Jin Wei really wasn't trying to hide something, "Think carefully, before coming to Tianmeng Science University, any girls you dated or girls who had a crush on you that you didn't reciprocate."

"Damn it."

The young men present all turned their surprised eyes towards Jin Wei. They all found it hard to believe that this average-looking guy, with no outstanding physique or American-style curves, could evoke Yan Junze to say such things.

"Having to remember which girls he dated?!" Xu Yongqiang's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he glared at Jin Wei, thinking, "If it was me, would I even need to remember? The only girl I pursued in the second year of high school resulted in me running myself ragged, not only did she not agree in the end, but I also almost lost my life at the hands of her father's stick."

A chill went down Yang Yang's spine next to Xu Yongqiang, as if he too recalled some horrifying past event.

At the same moment, Li Bin stomped his foot and shook his head, likely never having held a girl's hand before University. Now hearing that Jin Wei had to rely on his memory to recall which girl it was, he looked like someone who'd eaten shit and found it insufficient.

Jin Wei thought hard; it wasn't that he had dated many girls, but now he was completely terrified, his thinking much slower than usual, his mind muddled.

After pondering, he shook his head, "I'm sure, I had two girlfriends before starting University, but we both parted on amicable terms, and it's not possible that any of them would die then come looking for me. Plus, those two girls don't look anything like this strangeness."

Yan Junze recalled the mission background and prompted, "Think about it, who once loved you, or pursued you, that you didn't accept."

No sooner had he spoken than at least three young men raised their hands.

Yan Junze frowned as he looked over, and Xu Yongqiang, speaking as their representative, clutched his wrist in a gesture of deep regret, "Can we request to be excused? This is too much of a blow to our self-esteem; we can't stand to listen any longer."

"No," Yan Junze shook his head, "If it's not handled properly, you all might already be possessed too, just not showing it yet."

"Then I choose to stay," declared Xia Kai.

Compared to not having a girlfriend, he thought his life was of the utmost importance.

The others fell silent, all of them looking at Jin Wei.

Jin Wei thought it over and nodded, "A girl pursued me; at first, I thought she was quite nice and we had dinner a few times, but it didn't reach the stage of dating. But she didn't die, she's still alive and well."

"Is that so?"

Yan Junze was puzzled, the previous scene was quite clear, the female strangeness chose to possess Liao Jing and embrace Jin Wei as a way to evade his investigation, yet didn't want to give up embracing the one she loved.

That would be the only reason she'd do that.

But looking at it now, if there's still no connection, maybe Jin Wei was still hiding something.

But why would he hide it? Could it be he killed this woman?

No way.

Yan Junze looked at Jin Wei's cowardly expression and dismissed the idea.

Of course, you can't outright confirm it through appearance, but at least he had an intuition that not only did Jin Wei seem timid, but after interacting with him for a while, he really did seem timid.

However, timid people can also have moments of audacity.

"Did you kill this woman?" Yan Junze suddenly asked.

"Ah!" Jin Wei jumped in fright, "I don't even know her, why would I kill her? My whole life, I haven't even killed a chicken, let alone... dare to kill someone?!"

Yan Junze frowned, shook his head, and seemed to have entered a wrong line of thought.

He dragged the nearest chair over, sat down, bent over, propped up his chin with his hands, and stared at Liao Jing who was still unconscious, occasionally turning to look at Jin Wei who appeared anxious and fearful.

Where did he go wrong?

It now seemed obvious that the strangeness's choice of whom to embrace couldn't all be wrong. Was she intentionally leading him down the wrong path?

Unlikely, her obsession was strong; even if she was adept at meddling, she wouldn't go against her own obsession to embrace the wrong person up close.

Could it be that the target of this female strangeness wasn't men but Liao Jing, whom she had split her spirit with?

Struck by this thought, Yan Junze startled himself.

It seemed that Jian Tong from Wine Red High Heels had influenced him too much, with thoughts of men with men, women with women, constantly trying to burst forth.

The mission, it was still the problem with this mission.

Yan Junze thought carefully; the mission background stated that the woman drowned herself in the river, so it wasn't homicide. Furthermore, after she drowned, her body got tangled in the water weeds and has yet to surface.

"Hasn't surfaced?"

Yan Junze suddenly froze for a moment, something dawning on him as he turned his gaze to Jin Wei.

At this moment, Jin Wei was so terrified that, seeing Yan Junze's unkind look, he couldn't help but take two steps back in fear.

"Tell me, the girl who had a crush on you but whom you didn't reciprocate, what's her name? Does she have a commonly used nickname, or how do you address her?" Yan Junze asked.

Jin Wei said, "Her name is Bai Ling, I always called her... Ling."

"That's right, it's her." Yan Junze nodded with certainty, "Bai Ling is already dead, you just don't know it."

"What?" Jin Wei's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets in fright.

"Because you rejected her, she threw herself into the river and committed suicide, but her body hasn't been found yet, she's just been listed as a missing person. You haven't been in contact with her and haven't heard any other news about her, so you'd think she's living just fine," Yan Junze analyzed.

"How... how could you know?" Jin Wei was astonished.

Everyone else also looked confused.

Yan Junze began to bluff, "I possess a special ability that allows me to understand the Obsession of strangenesses, so I can know roughly what caused her death and what her Obsession is."

"Then... if... it really is Ling? She has been following me... what... what does she want at the end of it all?" Jin Wei stammered as he asked.

Yan Junze revealed a smile, glanced at the others, and spoke, "Actually, it's quite simple, she wants to Kiss you once."

Upon hearing this, everyone paused for a moment, then Ma Dun said, "That's very simple, Jin Wei, why don't you just kiss Liao Jing right now and be done with it?" Explore new worlds at My Virtual Library Empire

"Is that so?" Jin Wei looked at Yan Junze, his tongue unconsciously licking his lips.

By his look, he wasn't opposed to kissing Liao Jing, and since Liao Jing herself was sunny and youthful, with good looks, perhaps Jin Wei had some feelings for her as well.

Yan Junze promptly shattered his illusion, "Not necessarily. How about this, I'll turn off the lights, and then you go kiss Liao Jing. No matter whom you actually kiss, it should be enough to pass the test."

"Okay," Jin Wei thought for a moment and nodded.

"No way," Ma Dun immediately objected, "we won't be able to see what happens this way."

"Yeah, what if he screws up?" Yang Yang also said, I want to see it happen.

"Damn, are you guys even brothers?" Jin Wei asked, irritated.

"No," all the men shook their heads together, "we're just members here."

"Cut it out," Yan Junze laughed, about to return to the door to turn off the light, but Xu Yongqiang beat him to it.

Xu Yongqiang pressed the light switch with a grin, saying at the same time, "I'll do it, Jin Wei, just be quick with your move."

Jin Wei didn't respond, but soon there was the sound of rustling. It was unclear what stage things had progressed to.

About ten seconds later, there was a snap, and the lights came on again.

Aside from Yan Junze, everyone looked eagerly towards Jin Wei and Liao Jing's direction with cheerful smiles.

What they saw was Jin Wei indeed kissing someone. However, the recipient of the kiss was a woman dressed in a grey long dress, dripping wet all over, while Liao Jing was lying on the floor, not sitting in the chair at all.

The wet-haired woman's hair clung to half of her face, revealing only parts of her excessively pale skin. Her bulging eyes had no whites, just black.

As she was being kissed, one of her hands was clasping Jin Wei's neck tightly, with water flowing down and soaking into Jin Wei's spine, drenching his clothes.

It was clear to everyone that Jin Wei's body was violently trembling, bent over as he kissed, as if he might collapse at any moment.

Everybody had been excited to witness this scene, yet upon actually seeing it, a chill ran up their spines and goosebumps appeared all over.

Imagining those cold, stinking lips against their own, most of the men felt like they were about to throw up.

It was at this time that Yan Junze saw Jin Wei mumbling something with his eyes closed, uttering three words that, despite being unclear, he still heard.

Those three words were, "I'm... sorry..."

Points, definitively points. Yan Junze nodded inwardly.

Indeed, after Jin Wei uttered those three words, the woman's lips parted, and she made a clicking sound in her throat. She didn't speak but instead released more foul-smelling water.