Chapter 5: Qiao Jia?

  She didn't expect that a week later, she returned to that terrifying dream again. Lianxiang opened her eyes, oh my god, the same environment, the surroundings were still empty with only a few withered trees, and the air was filled with a foul smell, she couldn't believe her eyes.

  Unlike last time, this time when she woke up, there was someone lying beside her. —— Yuan Qiao Jia!

  She looked at Qiao Jia with a mixture of shock and fear, how could this be. She began to believe that the game was real, and she didn't want her good friend to enter this nightmare as well. She couldn't bear to think that she had returned to this place once again. Unbelievably, she felt even more terrified than last time - how many times would she have to go through this nightmare before she could finally escape this haunted place.

  "Qiao Jia, Qiao Jia, wake up..."

  Qiao Jia slowly opened her eyes. "Lian Xi, how did you end up in my home? ... Ah, where is this?! How did I end up here?" Qiao Jia rubbed her eyes, and this was not her home. Although she didn't know where this place was, the surrounding environment had already told her that it must be a desolate land.

  "Do you remember that nightmare I once told you about?!"

  "Could it be..." Qiao Jia had lost control of her fear, and suddenly threw herself into Lian Xi's arms. "Is your nightmare real? How could this happen, why did I end up here? What should we do, what should we do?" Qiao Jia's tearful words pierced Lian Xi's heart.

  She also wanted to cry, she also wanted to know what she had done, why heaven was treating her like this. She felt that living was worse than dying, but seeing the fragile Qiao Jia, she knew she must become strong.

  "Get up, Qiao Jia. Don't be afraid!" Qiao Jia's legs had turned to jelly and she couldn't stand up by herself. Lian Xi helped her up, "What's this?" Qiao Jia pointed at the mud in front of them, "It seems like there's something over there."

  Lian Yu looked in the direction that Qiao Jia pointed and indeed saw something buried in the mud with only a corner exposed - it seemed to be a piece of paper.

  。

  He picked up the paper that had been thrown away in the evening. It was a black paper with blood-red words on it - "Dream Purgatory, Game Rules".

  "Heavens! Game rules?!"

  Qiao Jia also rushed to join in and take a look. Each time you enter the dream, there will only be one task. Every move you make, every word you say may trigger a dead end, triggering other evil spirits. Successfully surviving will earn an additional 2 survival points. Of course, the simplest way to pass is to abandon part of your own body. It's up to you whether you're willing to give it up or not!

  "What's this about giving up a part of one's body? Didn't that evil spirit from last time fail to kill me because my arm was twisted off?"

  "Don't scare me, I'm so afraid." Completing the nightmare and surviving will earn corresponding survival points. When the survival points reach 100, you can permanently escape from hell. Here, ghosts and humans can be killed in the same way, and killing evil spirits can earn extra survival points.

  The last line was written in large font: If you die here, you will be erased from the real world. On the other hand, it will repair all wounds. Flipping to the back, it was written firmly - Number of people executing this mission: 5. Complete the mission and get 7 survival points.

  Suddenly, Lian Yu thought of the last sentence he heard in his nightmare last time: "Congratulations, you have completed the first trial task, successfully killed the target and triggered two hidden tasks, and obtained a total of 9 survival points."

  Last time, only I survived, and triggered two hidden tasks. Each of the two hidden tasks gave 2 survival points, so the last task, which was defeating "Yue", only gave 5 survival points. This time it's 7...

  Ling Yu realized that this time's task must be even more perilous than the last. However, she overlooked one thing - "Yue" was killed by her, and she gained extra survival points for killing the evil spirit. If you subtract the points for killing the evil spirit, the previous task had 3 survival points, while this time, it's more than double the horror of the previous dream.

  Mission content: Two hours of hide and seek with ghosts, avoiding the ghost's pursuit. If you successfully kill the evil ghost, you will get an additional 2 survival points.

  "This paper, was there a task prompt in the last nightmare too? I was too panicked to notice... How can there be a time limit? Did the last one have it too?" Lian Xi couldn't help but become panicked, and indeed, a black piece of paper on black mud would not be easy to discover.

  But Winyuan said he had entered this nightmare three times, why didn't he find this "game rule"? Is it that he didn't notice or is he hiding something? Or is this paper a trap?

  No time to think more, regardless of whether what's written on this paper is true or false, Lian Xi has no choice. At this moment, Lian Xi notices that Qiao Jia's eyes are unfocused, she must have been frightened badly.

  "Qiao Jia, this is not the time to be afraid. We must work together and get out of here alive. We have two hours, as long as we can survive for two hours, we will wake up from this nightmare. Let's go, it's too dangerous to stay here." Qiao Jia could only tremble and follow Lian Xi, not daring to fall behind a single step.

  "Wait, didn't Qiao Jia just write 5 people on that piece of paper?"

  "It seems so."

  That means there are three other people here besides us.

  。”

  "Yes, yes! Let's go find them quickly, the more people the better!" Qiao Jia seemed to have found a lifesaving straw and revealed a hint of a smile.

  "No, we're not going to look for them!" Lian Xi said coldly. Lian Xi's tone was strange and scared Qiao Jia, her good friend of many years had never seen Lian Xi like this before - expressionless, very determined, with a hint of indifference.

  This made Qiaojia even more afraid, the gloom around her had already oppressed her to the extreme, and Lianxi's words made Qiaojia reach the verge of collapse. Was this still the Lianxi she knew? The one who never spoke loudly, never got angry, and was extremely gentle and considerate?

  The surroundings were eerily silent, the damp earth was soft and seemed to be on the verge of swallowing her whole at any moment. The crows in the withered trees shrieked loudly, the wind howled towards her with a misty air. What she thought was her only reliance, Lian Xi, was so unfamiliar, so terrifying.

  Ling Yu didn't notice Qiao Jia's fear and hesitation, and continued walking forward. Qiao Jia really didn't want to be alone in this hell-like place, so she had no choice but to follow Ling Yu. After all, compared to the ominous and terrifying surroundings, Ling Yu was still able to make her feel a glimmer of hope.

  They walked aimlessly, just like strolling around the street, but this time their "stroll" was filled with fear instead of joy. Lian Xi suddenly thought that according to the rules, ghosts and humans could be killed in the same way.

  So the ghosts and monsters here must be different from what we see in horror movies, they won't be such irresistible and terrifying beings as those in horror movies.

  It's not like you can just kill anyone you want, or that there are no restrictions in this "game". For example, like last time with Yue, she didn't move at an invisible speed to appear right in front of me like a ghost.

  Moreover, I somehow managed to survive and come back to life. If this game wanted to kill the "player", it wouldn't have to be so troublesome. So, this game must always give the "player" a way out that is certain to keep them alive. Thinking about the giant spider last time, as long as you don't make any noise, it won't go berserk again.

  "There will definitely be some hints!"

  "What did you say, Lian Yu?" Lian Yu told Qiao Jia about her own idea.

  "Although I'm not sure, but in this situation now, we don't have any other way. Qiao Jia, from now on, no matter how scared you are, be careful around everything and see if you can find some clues." Qiao Jia understood Lian Xi's meaning and silently nodded her head.

  "Rong Yu, why can't you go find someone else? Then tell the remaining three people about what you've been thinking, wouldn't our hopes be greater that way?"

  "When the time comes, it will come, but I don't want to intentionally look for it. You should know that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. When everyone is together, maybe the power will be greater, but the goal is also bigger. Remember when I told you about my nightmare last time? I triggered two hidden tasks, one of which made me lose my arm in an instant, and another almost took the lives of both me and Yingxuan."

  I still don't know why I triggered other ghosts. But if someone's mistake triggers a hidden task, maybe what awaits us is being 'wiped out'. As she said this, a hint of unease appeared on Lian Xi's face.