Chapter 25 Entering Dreams (3)

  As Ye Zi Ke fell to the ground, the scene in front of me spun around. This endless withered forest had left Ye Zi Ke and I powerless to run anymore. My legs seemed to be able to move again, and I wanted to help Ye Zi Ke up from the ground. He gave me a signal with his eyes, then closed them and pretended to faint. Just as I was at a loss for what to do, my chin was lifted violently upwards, directly facing the vampire boy's pair of enchanting purple eyes: "You see? Even if you can run now, you still can't escape my grasp."

  I pushed him away, shouting: "You're just a dream, what are you being so arrogant about?!" "Oh? A dream? You think this is a dream?" He said, grabbing my hand and licking it with his tongue, saying: "Then I'll bite you, see if you feel any pain." How disgusting, the teeth closing in on my wrist made me shudder.

  "Get out!" I punched him with my right hand, and he let go of my hand. Rubbing the face that had been hit, anger rose: "You're looking for death, aren't you?!" I couldn't care about that anymore, taking advantage of my free hands to grab his neck directly: "I'll strangle you! Strangle you!" The vampire boy said with a mocking expression: "You're too cute!" How dare he mock me, I increased the force and scolded: "Die, pervert! Go die!" With a thud, I was pressed down to the ground instead. The vampire boy continued laughing and said: "I told you you're childish!" Then looked at my neck again: "Now I really will bite!" A chill ran up my neck, feeling two sharp fangs about to sink in when the boy stopped moving.

  I pushed him, and he fell to one side. That's when I saw a cross on his back. Ye Zikuo pulled me up, and the boy's purple eyes were still staring at us. "Is he dead or not?" I asked nervously. "Don't know, but he should appear in someone else's dream too!" Ye Zikuo replied lightly, kicking him with her foot. "Where did you get that cross from?" I asked, and as soon as I finished speaking, Ye Zikuo hit my head: "Imagined it, but it takes time, so I pretended to faint." I sighed, looking up at the gloomy sky, the eerie feeling still heavy.

  "Hey! Ning Qi, Ye Zikuo!" After walking for a while, I heard this familiar voice and looked up to see two tents not far away, as well as two familiar people - Li Shan Yu and Xiao Lü. A gust of cold wind blew over, making me want to rush into the tent, but Ye Zikuo held me back: "Take a closer look, don't you think it's strange?" Familiar faces, familiar tents, I took another step forward and stood still. The butterfly knot that Xiao Lü had tied on the tent was gone, and now looking at the two people in front of me, their movements and expressions seemed suspicious no matter how I looked at them. I started to back away again: "They're not Li Shan Yu and Xiao Lü."

  Ye Zi Ke stared at the two people in front of him: "You can see the loopholes, not bad!" After a while, Li Shan Yu and Xiao Lü disappeared into thin air. I rubbed my eyes, and indeed they were gone. Can this be an illusion? "Mirage?" Ye Zi Ke said, sitting down on the ground with a thud. I looked at the endless withered forest in front of me, and deep despair crept over my heart. Will we never get out of here? Will we sleep forever? Ye Zi Ke stood up, dusting off his clothes: "Alright, now let's go find Li Shan Yu and Xiao Lü!" I glared at him dejectedly: "Can we find them? And can we even get out?"

  "Do you remember what I said? The endless nightmares are meant to wear us down, to break our mental defenses. If we collapse on our own, wouldn't that be falling into their trap? How can we get out of this Isolated Mountain Villa then? How can we take Yuan Nu back with us?" Ye Zikuo said to me while touching every tree with his hand, as if searching for something. "Since this withered forest has no end, the exit should be among these trees. You help look too, maybe we can find a way out."

  When I heard this sentence, I quickly searched for it too. However, after trying many trees, there was still no reaction. "Look over there!" Yezi Ke's shout made me see a tree that stood tall in the clouds, very high, and couldn't be seen to the end. It was obviously different from the surrounding trees, but why didn't we discover it before? Without thinking about so much, when we just walked to the front of the tree, countless withered leaves fell down, making us unable to see anything. After the leaves finished falling, I found that we were on a beach, and Li Xiangyu and Xiao Lü were lying not far away from us. I quickly ran over to support Xiao Lü: "Wake up! Xiao Lü!" Xiao Lü opened her eyes in confusion and asked: "Did Xiangyu and I walk out of the dream?" Li Xiangyu seemed to have heard the movement, got up to look at the beach, and immediately fell down again, scolding: "What a broken dream! Can't we get out yet?!"

  Ye Zi Ke looked up at the blue sky, where seagulls occasionally flew by. The sound of waves crashing against the shore was clear in her ears, and even the sea breeze felt incredibly real. Li Shan Yu continued to shake the bell on her waist, but apart from the tinkling sound of the bell, nothing miraculous appeared before them.

  Xiao Lü sighed and looked at me, saying: "What to do? I think we're done for!" "Look up at the blue sky!" Ye Zi Ke's words made us all look up at the sky. The sky was a brilliant blue, very beautiful. Just as we were wondering why he told us to look at the sky, Li Shan Yu suddenly exclaimed: "Don't you see? The sky is still, there's wind, but those clouds aren't moving! Maybe the exit is right there!" Ye Zi Ke gave Li Shan Yu a thumbs up: "That's correct! If we pass through that patch of sky, we can wake up!"

  Xiao Lü stared blankly at the distant sky: "So high? How do we get up there?!" "Imagination!" I reflexively replied, recalling what Yezi Ke had said earlier. Li Shan Yu closed her eyes and shouted: "Quickly appear hot air balloon! Quickly appear hot air balloon!" Xiao Lü and I also quickly closed our eyes to imagine the appearance of a hot air balloon, hoping it would immediately appear. After a strong gust of wind passed, a large hot air balloon indeed appeared before us, and we hastily ran up to it as it slowly rose into the air. The sea gradually became distant from us, and the sky drew closer. The sea breeze blew through our hair, and Li Shan Yu suddenly burst out laughing: "Actually, it's quite fun! Originally, thoughts can be such a powerful thing!"

  I leaned forward and lay on the hot air balloon, looking at the sea view, my mood suddenly opened up. Slowly entering the clouds, our line of sight became darker and darker, when we opened our eyes again, the dim yellow light shone on us, isn't this the green light? It seems that we have woken up.

  I crawled up and felt the light outside, slowly opening the tent, and the sunlight poured in bit by bit. I excitedly ran out and shouted: "We're awake!" Li Shan Yu, Ye Zi Ke, and Xiao Lü also came out one after another, feeling the warmth of the sun. This feeling was great, but it only lasted for a moment, because we still couldn't find the way up the mountain. We had to hastily pack our bags and head towards the mountain based on intuition. The atmosphere was eerily quiet, not even a hint of wind, Li Shan Yu walked while shaking her bell, as if trying to dispel something.

  "Ni Hong!" I habitually responded to the call, but was met with three astonished expressions. "What's wrong?" The look on their faces sent shivers down my spine. "Don't you know that when a stranger calls your name, you shouldn't respond?" Little Green looked at me sternly, and I carefully recalled the previous voice - it wasn't any of them. Had I provoked something I shouldn't have? Ye Zikuo remained calm, saying, "If we find Isan Mountain Villa before nightfall, won't we be safe?" Li Xiangyu tightly grasped my hand, saying, "Don't stray too far from us." As we continued our ascent, everything seemed smooth, but we couldn't shake the feeling that a pair of eyes was watching us from behind. When we turned around, we could catch a glimpse of a fleeting white shadow. Everyone's face showed subtle unease, and reality proved our suspicions true.