CHAPTER 818: CHAPTER 815: GOODBYE

Jiang Feipeng smiled and raised his phone, then widened his eyes and lowered the phone in shock.

Because in the phone lens, there was a vast expanse of white ahead, with no human figure in sight.

Yet, when he put down the phone, the three little ones were clearly right in front of him.

"Is the phone broken?" He raised the phone again in doubt.

This time, he looked carefully; still, there was nobody on the screen, yet the sled moved on the ice without anyone riding it, and the laughter of the children still echoed in his ears, making everything seem so eerie.

Jiang Feipeng, who was initially a bit sweaty, felt his hands and feet turning cold, a chill swept over him, freezing his soul in place as if the cold wind had entrapped him.

Those anomalies he had previously ignored began to surface in his mind one by one.

When he spoke, the cold formed white mists before him, yet those three children chattered away without a hint of mist.

Besides, after playing with them for so long, he was panting and steaming hot all over, making him quite conspicuous in the winter.

But the three children didn’t have a drop of sweat, nor any mist.

This was very abnormal; children’s energy burns faster than adults’, so they should have more steam, especially in winter when lifting off a hat would be like opening a steaming basket.

These commonsensical facts could not have escaped Jiang Feipeng, merely he had ignored them earlier.

"Mili... Mili..." He murmured.

He only knew the other one was called Mili but never asked for her full name.

At this moment, Mili approached Duoduo and Dou Dou, pointing at Jiang Feipeng sitting on a bench by the riverbank.

"Taking a photo?" Duoduo was surprised upon hearing.

Dou Dou hurriedly turned her head to look back, just to see Jiang Feipeng holding up his phone.

"Oh no, we’re done for." She stood up straight from the sled.

"Should we run?" She suggested.

"Run? Why?" Mili was still puzzled.

"We’re ghosts; the phone can’t capture us." Duoduo explained.

"He must have noticed. We definitely scared him; will he hit us? We should hurry up and run." Dou Dou suggested again.

Duoduo gave her a sideways glance: "Stop talking nonsense; he’s been scared out of his wits; how could he hit us?"

"Will he scold us then? Call us bad kids." Dou Dou added.

Mili didn’t want to hear their bickering and quickly asked, "Was Xiao Peng scared?"

"How would we know? You ask him yourself." Dou Dou replied.

But Mili did not listen to her; she looked towards Duoduo instead, trusting Duoduo more than the chatty Dou Dou.

Duoduo met her gaze and slightly nodded.

"Then... would you go with me?" Mili asked hopefully.

"Sure."

Dou Dou agreed without thinking and tried to rush towards Jiang Feipeng but was held back by Duoduo.

"You go by yourself; you need to explain your own matters." Duoduo said like a little adult.

"Besides, since he still remembers you, he shouldn’t be afraid of you." Duoduo added.

"Alright then."

Mili took a deep breath and turned to walk towards Jiang Feipeng.

Dou Dou wanted to follow, but Duoduo held her firmly.

"You, stop pulling; you can’t run."

"Hehe..."

Dou Dou smiled sheepishly, realizing she was caught.

Jiang Feipeng saw Mili walking towards him, put away his phone, and took a deep breath, having calmed down by now.

He could have turned and left, but he couldn’t suppress his curiosity.

This curiosity overcame his fear.

Sure, there must be other reasons too.

Such as Mili’s young age naturally making people lower their guard, or Mili was his best childhood friend and they had played together all along without harm, all of which kept him seated.

Seeing Mili walk up to him, he took a deep breath, restraining the urge to turn and run.

"You..."

"You..."

They spoke simultaneously, looking at each other with a faint smile.

"You go first." Mili said.

"What’s your name—I mean your full name?" Jiang Feipeng asked.

"Cai Yunong, my name is Cai Yunong." Mili replied.

When Jiang Feipeng heard this, he took another deep breath and continued to ask, "Is it the Cai Yunong I knew?"

Upon hearing, Mili smiled and extended her right little finger: "We made a promise, remember?"

Jiang Feipeng smiled in response, and as he continued to smile, his eyes started to mist.

It was their last promise, but Mili never survived that snowy night; she passed away that evening, leaving Jiang Feipeng heartbroken for a long time.

Now, countless doubts surged in his heart, but he didn’t speak them immediately; instead, he took a deep breath, letting the cold air fill his nostrils, calming him further.

"What do you want to say? Go ahead." He said.

"Do you know everything? Did we scare you?" Mili asked.

Upon hearing, Jiang Feipeng hesitated for a moment, then said, "To be honest, yes, but... but we are best friends, I suppose... I suppose you wouldn’t harm me, right?"

Actually, when Jiang Feipeng said this, he was quite nervous.

With time having passed, who knows if the person before him is still the Mili of his memories, plus people and ghosts exist on different planes; it might skew his perspective thinking about ghosts from a human standpoint.

"Harm you? Of course not." Mili replied feeling a bit saddened.

"I just kept our promise all along; now that it’s fulfilled, I have to go." Mili said.

"Where are you going?" Jiang Feipeng hurriedly asked.

"To where I should go, of course." Mili turned to look at Dou Dou and Duoduo playing in the middle of the lake.

She proudly said to him: "They are my friends, very good friends. I am happy with them."

"Then... that’s good..." Jiang Feipeng muttered.

He found himself momentarily speechless.

"Xiao Peng." Mili suddenly called out to him.

Lost in thought, Jiang Feipeng raised his head upon hearing, asking somewhat confusedly: "What’s up?"

Mili beamed a bright smile at him.

"Thank you for not forgetting me." Mili said.

"This... it’s nothing; we used to be best friends. How could I forget you?" Jiang Feipeng replied somewhat stammeringly.

Although he was over twenty years old, he felt like a child, awkward and embarrassed by this gratitude.

"Really?"

Hearing this, Mili’s expression turned somber, and tears again filled her eyes as she thought of her parents who had forgotten her.

"Of course, we are best friends. I’ll always remember you." Jiang Feipeng said.

Mili smiled once more, brilliantly.

Then raised her hand, waving to Jiang Feipeng: "Xiao Peng, goodbye."

This scene made Jiang Feipeng recall that snowy night again.

Back then, it was Jiang Feipeng who was saying goodbye to Mili.

"Mili, goodbye."

At that time, Mili lay in bed just smiling at him, no longer able to even raise her hand.

When he snapped back to reality, Mili had disappeared from before him.

"Wait... wait a second..."

He stood up hurriedly and looked towards the lake’s center, only to see an empty sled in the desolate lake.

"Mili..."

Jiang Feipeng shouted at the void, tears streaming down his face.

"I still have so much to say to you." He murmured softly.

But the only response was the winter wind.