I can rewind time to prevent death

Since he rarely went out at night, Yan Junze never carried an umbrella, and having known in advance that Mo Family Village was already shrouded in fog, he hadn't even thought of Fang Ning's matter.

At this moment, he hadn't expected to run into trouble over this issue.

Looking at the thinning fog ahead, he was about three hundred meters away from the Plum Blossom Forest. Although it wasn't far, getting there would be somewhat troublesome.

He glanced around. If he didn't take a straight path, a detour could get him there; it would just take a bit more time.

As long as he moved towards the denser fog, he would eventually reach the Plum Blossom Forest.

Yan Junze rested for a while, looked left and right, and realized that the backpack he carried wasn't very large. If he took it off to cover his head, it wouldn't completely hide his shadow.

If he took off his coat and used it to cover his head, he would likely expose his shadow by accident.

After thinking it over, he removed his coat, put the backpack back on, held the coat over his head with both hands, and quickly moved towards an area with denser fog, being cautious yet swift.

He stealthily hid in the fog, inching closer to the direction of the Plum Blossom Forest, sometimes sidestepping, sometimes walking diagonally.

At times, his shadow was exposed under the moonlight, and he could see Fang Ning's arm reappear. However, Yan Junze was always vigilant and would immediately sprint forward, hiding in the fog again.

What would have taken only a few minutes to enter the Plum Blossom Forest, he finally burst in after about half an hour.

He removed the coat from his head and looked up at the moon, obscured by the leaves. With the fog also present in the forest offering a double barrier, he finally evaded Fang Ning.

However, Yan Junze remembered that this was the very Plum Blossom Forest mentioned in the task involving the "Lantern Woman."

The task informed that Lantern Woman Ning Ji went out in search of her husband after arguing with him, resulting in his death outside. Therefore, her obsession was to keep searching everywhere with her lantern in hand.

This woman had two forms. When the lantern in her hand was white, she was a normal strangeness, but when the lantern turned red, Ning Ji would transform into a very terrifying strangeness.

Yep, the vengeful ghost type.

Having entered the Plum Blossom Forest, Yan Junze remained tense and cautious, not letting his guard down.

Apart from watching for any gaps above his head, he also had to be aware of the Lantern Woman's potential appearance.

However, the Lantern Woman should be quite noticeable. If she were to appear, he wouldn't fail to see her.

The task hint was to help the Lantern Woman find her husband. That being the case, he had to speak with the Lantern Woman; otherwise, any historical information about this ghost of at least 800 years would be impossible to verify.

Speaking with strangenesses wasn't something Yan Junze feared. His rich experience in conversing with strangenesses had accrued since the completion of the "Wine red high heels" task.

When Jian Tong had a conversation with him back then, it was all twists and turns, but in the end, Yan Junze managed to resolve her obsession. Er, although the hug afterwards made Yan Junze feel a bit sick.

The Plum Blossom Forest wasn't very large, and after a short walk, Yan Junze could already vaguely see the houses beyond the forest.

But at this moment, he suddenly paused and then smiled wryly.

Where his gaze fell, traversing the Plum Blossom Forest to the village to the west, the fog was even sparser, which was why he could see the houses on the other side at a glance.

In this case, unless he stayed in the Plum Blossom Forest, it would be impossible to reach the other side.

After some consideration, Yan Junze looked up at the tree branches above him, took out a multipurpose army knife from his backpack, and prepared to chop down the nearby branches and leaves to build a makeshift Moonshade Umbrella to take to the houses on the other side.

He looked around. Since entering the Plum Blossom Forest until now, he hadn't seen the Lantern Woman. Perhaps she was just wandering near the forest and not necessarily inside it.

Yan Junze chose a tree and started to climb. As he rarely climbed trees, his movements were awkward and it took a lot of effort to get a little way up. Barely standing on a knot in the tree, he raised the army knife to chop the branches when he glanced downward.

From this higher vantage point, he noticed something odd about the ground in the distance.

The moonlight, less obstructed by the fog outside, allowed him to see farther. At a distance of less than a hundred meters, near the edge of the Plum Blossom Forest, the ground sloped downwards as if there was a ravine there.

Yan Junze's eyes brightened slightly. He gave up looking at the branches and climbed back down, then quickly headed towards the direction he had just seen.

Soon he discovered that alongside the edge of the Plum Blossom Forest, a ravine had been carved out.

The ravine wasn't very deep, but even standing fully upright inside it, he would be concealed by the slopes on either side, hidden from the moonlight.

With that, he could simply jump into the ravine and walk toward the village to the west, quickly entering the village without needing to construct a makeshift Moonshade Umbrella.

Yan Junze smiled. He looked around, still without any sign of the Lantern Woman.

At this moment, completing the task involving the "Lantern Woman" wasn't urgent. As long as he could quickly check if Zhang Xiaomo was still safe, he could wait to complete the task once the situation stabilized or when he returned.

Moreover, Yan Junze didn't know the whereabouts of the Lantern Woman and didn't want to waste more time here.

Without another word, he jumped into the river ditch, which was nearly dry, only wetting his soles a bit. The bottom of the ditch was hardened with concrete, so there was no soft mud to cling to his shoes.

Yan Junze looked up and saw indeed there was no moonlight shining in, so he turned on his flashlight and quickly headed towards the other end of the riverbed.

At this moment, this place was an excellent passageway for him, so Yan Junze, to make up for the time he had just lost, jogged almost all the way, soon reaching the middle of the ditch that was distanced from the village to the west.

Just then, he abruptly stopped, swiftly turning off the flashlight in his hand, his gaze fixed on a point about ten meters away from him.

There, a woman dressed in a white, ancient long dress was crouching on the ground, with a white lantern that glowed from within placed beside her. The woman's hands appeared to be digging at something on the ground.

For a moment, Yan Junze nearly held his breath. With just one glance, he recognized that the woman before him was undoubtedly the Lantern Woman.

It hadn't occurred to him that the Lantern Woman wouldn't be in the Plum Blossom Forest but, like him, had traveled out along the river ditch.

And looking at the woman crouching there, she seemed to be digging into the soil of the river ditch's rocky wall.

The mission said she was always looking for her husband. Could it be that she had found something? Was her husband's body buried in the mud of the rocky wall?

If that was indeed the case, Yan Junze was ready to sing his own elegy.

If the Lantern Woman completed her Obsession on her own, then he wouldn't be able to accept the mission.

However, the river ditch in front of him was very narrow, and with the Lantern Woman squatting there, she nearly blocked most of the passage. To get past, he would need to lift a foot over.

But doing so would inevitably disturb the Lantern Woman.

Yan Junze pondered for a moment, only to see the Lantern Woman stop digging in the soil and lean forward. In a short while, she slowly stood up, cradling something in her hands.

Yan Junze concealed himself at the corner of the ditch, poking his head out and quietly watching the scene unfold.

The woman had a slender figure. Even though it was covered by a white long dress, it was evident that in life she must have been a great beauty.

However, Yan Junze's definition of "beauty" had completely changed by now. He was well aware that no matter how pretty a woman was in life, her appearance after death could probably scare an entire street.

The Lantern Woman didn't reach for the lantern on the ground; instead, she turned around, her gaze intensely fixed on the object in her hands.

Yan Junze also looked at what she was holding at the first opportunity.

It was a skull that had seen some years, its surface yellowed and covered with dirt.

"She actually found it herself," Yan Junze felt a pang of regret.

The next second, he looked up at the woman's face and was jolted.

Unexpectedly, the white-dress Lantern Woman had a delicate and pretty face. Using modern terms, she was a natural beauty.

Although, like the Back-faced Woman, her hair was loose and disheveled, it was silky smooth, without a hint of filth. Two strands of long hair fell beside her cheeks, and at first glance, she gave off an otherworldly beauty.

"Fuck! This is the first time I've seen this!" Yan Junze exclaimed inwardly.

The appearance of the Lantern Woman overturned his belief that all strangenesses looked hideously frightening.

But the scene that followed made Yan Junze gasp in surprise again. The Lantern Woman suddenly crushed the skull in her hand, reducing it to powder, then calmly picked up the lantern from the ground and began walking towards him.

"So... that skull was not her husband," Yan Junze realized after a moment's stun. He immediately wanted to retreat, but then thought that going back would still allow the Lantern Woman to see him. It was better to stand right there and play it by ear.

The Lantern Woman walked steadily, her upper body barely moving, just her feet beneath the dress moving forward with equal poise. She approached Yan Junze's location quickly.

Yan Junze looked down and discovered that the Lantern Woman was practically gliding, with her toes barely touching the ground occasionally. The lantern led the way in front of her. Her movements seemed filled with an eerie grace that was indescribable.

When the Lantern Woman reached the corner of the ditch, she came face to face with Yan Junze.

Up close, her face was even more evident to Yan Junze. Illuminated by the light from the lantern, she looked less like a ghost and more like a living person.

The Lantern Woman's eyes lifted slightly, glanced at him, and without speaking, continued walking past him as her footsteps never stopped.

The close approach and eye contact with her had Yan Junze's heart thumping. He did not know when the woman might go mad. Instead, she simply walked past him, and nothing happened.

After the Lantern Woman walked by, Yan Junze's tension eased slightly, and he wondered whether he should complete the mission right then. While thinking, he stepped forward.

At that moment, the Lantern Woman suddenly stopped, turned around with her lantern, and said to Yan Junze, "Please wait a moment."

Yan Junze was taken aback, then turned around, looking at her somewhat defensively.
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"Have you seen my husband?" the Lantern Woman asked.