Chapter 22: A Series of Nightmares

  As we walked to the foot of the mountain, a large "prohibited" character was placed in front of us. We passed by from the side gap, and Xiaolü seemed more excited, looking at the green mountains and waters, which indeed made people feel happy. However, there was an inexplicable sense of oppression in my heart, I don't know if they had it, but my feeling was especially strong. The mountain road was difficult to walk, and after walking for half a day, we realized a serious problem: it seemed that we were lost. "Xiaolü, quickly take a look at where we should go?" Li Xiangyu asked tiredly as she sat on the ground, Xiaolü looked around for a long time and also sat down with a thud: "I'm good at probing people's hearts, not good at exploring roads!"

  Ye Zi Ke held the compass, I looked over and saw that the needle was spinning wildly. "Ahh! I said handsome guy, do you think we came to an ordinary mountain? This is a ghost mountain! How did you find out?" Li Shan Yu stood up and saw me setting up the tent, "So quickly setting up the tent, what's the point?" "Look at the sky, anyway we can't find the way, so let's set up camp and continue tomorrow!" I said while setting up the tent. Xiao Lu carefully looked at the sky and nodded in agreement, then ran to my side to help me set up the tent. Before long, two tents were set up.

  Li Shan Yu closed her eyes, sat cross-legged, and muttered something under her breath. It must be some kind of powerful spell! I rushed to her side to eavesdrop, but all I heard was: "Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits, please show us the way!" Ye Zi Ke looked at Li Shan Yu with a black line on his face, but Xiao Lü's method was even more bizarre. She pulled out many pink ribbons from somewhere and tied numerous bows on two tents. "Hey! I don't care about your girls' tent, but don't tie those bows on my tent!" Ye Zi Ke tried to untie the pink bows, but Xiao Lü said, "If you dare to untie them, I'll reveal your secret!" Ye Zi Ke's hand froze in mid-air, and he stormed into his tent with a dark face.

  "Never mind, I'm still completely directionless, let's go into the tent!" Li Shan Yu pulled me and Xiao Lü into the tent. Xiao Lü turned on a small energy-saving lamp and laughed: "How is it? Isn't it very atmospheric?" Li Shan Yu glared at her: "Little devil, aren't you sleeping yet?" "Hey, it's really unfair, the three of us squeezed into one tent, Ye Zi Ke has one all to himself, I'm so jealous!" Xiao Lü shook her head and sighed. "Why don't you go keep him company then?" After finishing speaking, Li Shan Yu kicked Xiao Lü out with a single kick. I stood by, dazed, watching Li Shan Yu's violent behavior.

  Xiao Lü quickly crawled in, her face pale as she looked at us, seemingly on the verge of tears. "Hey, what's wrong?" Li Shan Yu asked, hooking her arm around Xiao Lü's neck. "Ning Qi, we just came in when it was still dusk, right? But after just a little while, why does it look like midnight outside?" Xiao Lü shrank back into the tent in fear. I also felt surprised and thought to myself that she must be joking with me, but when I lifted up the tent flap to take a look, the outside was indeed pitch black and eerily quiet. Li Shan Yu's expression turned serious as she immediately closed the tent flap and tied the soul bell above it, saying: "Everyone, let's not think about it anymore, go to sleep!" The three of us lay down with uneasy hearts, not daring to say another word. Sleepiness crept in unknowingly, I closed my eyes and fell into a dreamland...

  "Wake up, Ning Ke! How much longer are you going to sleep?" I opened my eyes to see Xiao Lü's flushed face. "I've been calling you for half a day, and you can really sleep!" Li Shan Yu also looked at me with dissatisfaction, then lifted the tent flap. Unexpectedly, there was no sunlight, just darkness, and Li Shan Yu fell in front of me covered in blood. I couldn't believe what I saw. Xiao Lü pulled out the knife from Li Shan Yu's back and smiled, saying: "Ning Ke, it's your turn!"

  A ferocious smile, a flashing knife. "What are you going to do?" I backed away, but the knife moved faster than me, stabbing straight through my throat. Blood spurted out, so painful, so painful! A doctor appeared, "Does it hurt? Do you need surgery?" He smiled, but his knife slashed towards my face again and again... So painful, so painful. The smell of blood filled the entire tent, I helplessly watched Li Shan Yu lying on the ground, Xiao Lü standing there with a foolish smile, and the doctor continuously slashing at my face with his knife. My consciousness and vision gradually blurred...

  "What's wrong?" I opened my eyes, and Li Shan Yu looked at me anxiously, asking "Did you have a nightmare?" Xiao Lü was scolding, "You slept for so long!" Seeing Li Shan Yu about to open the tent, I tightly grabbed her arm, "Don't!" A knife stabbed straight into my abdomen, Li Shan Yu smiled brightly, "Why not?" Feeling a knife in my back, I turned around, and Xiao Lü's eyes were red as she looked at me, "Ning Lie, does it hurt? Do you hurt?" Li Shan Yu stabbed another knife into my abdomen, and I fell to the ground, looking at their ferocious smiles, "Does it hurt? Do you hurt?" The smell of blood was thick and intense. Was I in a dream or reality? This pain made my consciousness blur again. Was I alive or dead?

  "Is she still not awake?" It was Li Shan Yu's voice, I opened my eyes again. I was actually on Ye Zi Ke's back: "What's going on?" Ye Zi Ke faced my questioning and replied: "You didn't wake up for a long time, we had to hurry along the road, so we had no choice but to carry you out." He put me down, I looked at Li Shan Yu and Xiao Lu not far away, and involuntarily took a step back. Although the sunlight was dazzling, although I could feel the warmth, why did I still feel a chill? I stepped back one step at a time, Ye Zi Ke smiled at me: "What's wrong?"

  I saw Li Shan Yu and Xiao Lü behind him start arguing, they began to wield knives at each other, I even felt the blood splashing onto my face. "They're killing each other." I continued to back away. "Ah! I know, why don't you take a look at what's behind you?" Ye Zi Ke asked, I turned around and saw that it was an endless abyss. "Ah?!" A pair of hands pushed me forward, I saw Ye Zi Ke's face filled with a radiant smile, a smile I hadn't seen in ages.

  Li Shan Yu and Xiao Lü stopped moving, both looking at me with a smile. The wind whizzed past my ears quickly, I knew I fell down, getting hotter and hotter, looking down, it was magma. I looked up, the three of them had already disappeared. Feeling scorching hot, "Ah!" I let out a loud cry, I probably fell into the magma, but I didn't die, just watching my body turn bright red, as if being burned by fire, "Ah!" I couldn't help but scream again, consciousness disappearing once more.

  "Ah, ah!" I opened my eyes to find Ye Zikuo, Li Shan Yu and Xiao Lü standing before me. I sprang up and pushed them away. It was too frightening! Was this a dream or reality?! They didn't seem surprised by my behavior, but instead all hugged themselves tightly. Only then did I notice that the three of them were drenched in sweat, their faces pale as ghosts. "Was it a nightmare?" Li Shan Yu asked softly, and received affirmative nods from Ye Zikuo and Xiao Lü. "Am I awake now, or am I still dreaming?" Ye Zikuo approached me, but seeing my wary retreat, gave up.

  "We should be awake now, just don't fall asleep again, this place is really too eerie!" Xiao Lu suppressed her panic, but I could still feel her trembling. Ye Zi Ke stretched out his hand to me, his eyes full of sincerity: "Ning Hong, trust me." After hesitating for a moment, I took his hand and sat down with him, facing Li Shan Yu and Xiao Lu.

  Outside the tent was a deathly silence, not even the sound of wind could be heard. But inside the tent, it was even more silent, the four of us sat quietly, desperately suppressing our drowsiness. "Let's relax! The more tense we are, the more likely we'll fall asleep." Li Shan Yu suggested. "Let's tell jokes!" A voice came from outside the tent, soon followed by the sound of scratching against the fabric, "Open up! Aren't you guys trying to relax?"

  Xiao Lü was so scared that she hugged her head and scolded in a low voice: "Shan Yu, look at the good thing you've done!" I trembled all over, not knowing what to do. When I was pulled into Ye Zikai's arms, I prepared to lift my head to look at him, but he just said lightly: "Don't worry." Li Shan Yu bit her lip and listened to the rustling sound outside getting bigger and bigger, anxious to the point of almost shedding tears: "What should we do?!" Li Shan Yu asked with a crying tone. "Get out!" Ye Zikai roared angrily, and the rustling sound outside suddenly disappeared. But I also noticed that Ye Zikai was trembling too, he clenched his fists tightly, but still couldn't stop shaking, I held his hand back and looked up at him saying: "Thank you."

  Xiao Lü tightly hugged Li Shan Yu and said: "Shan Yu, I'm so sleepy, what to do?" Li Shan Yu also seemed to be overcome with drowsiness: "I don't know, but we can't sleep!" Seeing Ye Zi Ke close his eyes, I quickly shook him awake: "We can't fall asleep!" Ye Zi Ke shook his head and rubbed his temples, saying: "I don't know what's going on, this place is really eerie. The more I try not to sleep, the sleepier I get!" Xiao Lü pinched Ye Zi Ke hard, looking at his pained expression said: "Is this method effective?! How about we all pinch each other?"

  Li Shan Yu immediately pinched Xiao Lü, who cried out in pain. Then the two of them started crazily pinching each other. I pinched Ye Zi Ke's arm: "Not sleepy anymore?!" Ye Zi Ke also pinched my arm: "Looks like it's a good method." But not long after, we didn't even have any strength left and could only stare at each other. "I'm telling you, don't sleep!" Li Shan Yu warned with her eyes half-closed. "If we mentally collapse in our dreams, we'll never wake up again. So everyone, don't sleep!" Xiao Lü whispered from the side, but why couldn't the drowsiness be driven away?