Nightmare (6)-Lying

Zhou Xue's grandmother was named Liang Erni, a very common name in that era.

After she passed away, Grandma passed on a jade necklace that she had carried with her for many years to Zhou Xue. It is said that during the hardest times, Grandma could only eat moldy cakes, and her clothes were full of patches. In the end, she couldn't even afford coarse cloth to mend her clothes, and the holes in her clothes were left to let the wind through. She still couldn't sell the jade.

Later, life took a turn for the better. Grandma gave birth to Zhou Xue's father, but she didn't pass the jade down to him. She kept the jade as if she were guarding some kind of obsession. It wasn't until the day Zhou Xue visited her in the hospital for the last time that she tremblingly placed the jade pendant, which she had warmed against her chest, into Zhou Xue's hand.

At that time, Grandma was already nearing her end.

Actually, Grandma's funeral was a happy one; she had reached an old age and died peacefully without illness or disaster.

The family didn't feel much grief; they simply viewed it as a necessary process—everyone dies eventually, and dying of old age is a blessing.

That day, Grandma stuffed the jade into her hand, chased everyone away, leaving her alone, and gave her some instructions in a hoarse voice.

"Ah Xue... keep this jade safe. It accompanied Grandma her whole life and protected her her whole life. Now that Grandma is leaving, her only wish is for you to be safe and sound... this jade will protect you too."

Grandma said this jade can protect people.

Zhou Xue and Liu Ruru paid their respects to her grandmother and reminisced about the past. Looking at Liu Ruru's concerned face, Zhou Xue subconsciously pressed her hand to her heart.

The jade pendant was on her neck; she hadn't been without it for a single day since her grandmother died.

Perhaps it was the jade that protected her... that prevented those two terrifying things in her dream from harming her?

Therefore, she absolutely must not listen to that Female Ghost and smash the jade.

"I see..." Zhao Ruru seemed thoughtful. She thought for a moment, "Tomorrow is Saturday, you don't have to work, right?"

"Rest," Zhou Xue said.

"Shall we go to the cemetery together?" Zhao Ruru suggested. "Even though it's not a special holiday, we can still buy some paper money and tell your grandmother what happened. Maybe she'll bless you."

There was a moment of hesitation in Zhou Xue's eyes.

But then she sighed, seemingly regretting that she had stooped to the point of disturbing her deceased grandmother.

"Okay, let's go together tomorrow at noon. I hope Grandma can... save me."

The sun is strong at midday, making it less likely to be frightening.

Zhou Xue still had a poor appetite, and after chatting with Liu Ruru for a while, she got tired.

After helping Liu Ruru clear the dishes, Zhou Xue left Liu Ruru's house, took out her keys, and went inside.

Although she didn't want to face the bedroom, the month-long ordeal had given her some resistance. At first, she was terrified of the bedroom when she woke up, but now she could accept it more calmly.

Of course, Zhou Xue's reaction was perhaps much calmer than that of ordinary people. It's hard to say whether it was due to her personality or because she had been exposed to her eccentric grandmother since childhood, which gave her a stronger ability to accept these things than normal people.

Wash up, scroll through your phone, climb into bed.

It's still early before her usual bedtime, but she feels very tired. Fortunately, it's Friday, and she didn't bring work home, so she's quite relaxed now.

Since we've already made plans to visit Grandma at the suburban cemetery tomorrow, it's good to get some rest so I can be well-rested.

Zhou Xue closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Zhao Ruru put the bowls and chopsticks back in the cupboard, processing the information she had gathered, her face expressionless.

Now she needed to figure out how to contact Yu Xing. After so much time, she doubted Yu Xing would just stay obediently in the hallway waiting; perhaps she'd gone shopping?

She didn't know Yu Xing's identity, but perhaps she could access other channels that had clues.

Taking out a black wooden chopstick shorter than ordinary chopsticks, Zhao Ruru muttered something under her breath before letting go of it.

The chopsticks stood in place in a magical balance for two seconds before tipping over in her direction.

"Right here?" She was a little surprised; the divination indicated that the person she was looking for was very close to her.

"He wouldn't really be waiting in the hallway... No, that's impossible. He probably went out and came back after timing it."

Zhao Ruru walked to the entrance hall and saw a man's shadow flash by.

With an "I knew it" expression, she opened the door and said in a low voice, "Come in—"

Huh?

Is nobody here?

"Peng."

Suddenly, a dull thud came from the bedroom, as if something had fallen to the floor. Zhao Ruru frowned, closed the door behind her, and went to the bedroom.

She took a deep breath and gently turned the handle.

Contrary to her expectations of darkness, the bedroom was brightly lit with the lights on, allowing Zhao Ruru to see everything inside.

A man sat at her desk, chin in hand, scrolling through his phone. An open laptop sat in front of him, its charging cable connected to a power outlet under the desk.

A sturdy tissue box lay on the floor; the sound must have come from it falling off the desk.

Hearing the door open, the man looked at her listlessly.

"Hello!"

Zhao Ruru nearly jumped in fright. After recognizing who it was, she finally couldn't help but put her hands on her hips and exclaimed, "You're always scaring people like this!"

"Me? Isn't that too unfair? I was just sitting here peacefully, how did I scare you?" Yu Xing looked at her innocently, then a smirk appeared on her lips. "If you're scared by something like this, then you're too—"

Under Zhao Ruru's almost fiery gaze, he swallowed his words for the sake of harmonious relationships among his teammates.

"How did you get in?" Zhao Ruru asked angrily. For some reason, she had encountered all sorts of people in her daily life, gathering information from various sources. No matter how annoying the other person was, she could always maintain a calm and composed attitude from an outsider's perspective, leaving others with the image of a composed and capable Zhao family.

But when faced with Yu Xing...

Her emotions are easily stirred up.

Especially when the other person makes an innocent expression after doing something wrong, it really makes you want to smack them.

It's not that she has any special feelings for Yu Xing; she's really not a looks-obsessed person. Compared to appearance, she always cares more about interests, and emotional control is an essential lesson in gaining those interests.

That's why she found it strange; it seemed that Yu Xing's every move was somehow different from others.

Could it be that the other party is someone even more adept at gathering information than she is, and that her guard has been worn down without her realizing it?

Be confident, that's it!

Zhao Ruru said to herself.

Yu Xing, unaware of what Zhao Ruru was thinking while standing there in a daze, shrugged and bent down to pick up the tissue box she had used to attract Zhao Ruru's attention. "I came in through the window; it's too cold outside."

Zhao Ruru was speechless for a moment.

After a long pause, she finally asked, "How much did you hear?"

Yu Xing said, "All of them."

Her eye twitched. "..."

So all this time, I'm busy cooking and chatting, and you're just sitting on your phone next door!

Forget it, he's right to be forceful. At least I've overheard it and it saves her the trouble of repeating it.

After reassuring herself for a while, she said in a normal tone, "Okay, let's discuss it."

Yu Xing put down her phone for a moment, looked up at her, and said, "Okay."

"From her words, we can conclude that she possesses a piece of jade, which is the key to this mission." Zhao Ruru saw Yu Xing sitting on her chair, and humiliatedly sat on the edge of the bed. "Grandma might be strange, more or less related to yin houses, and Zhou Xue's danger comes from her dreams. In other words, it's difficult for us to provide her with effective protection from the outside unless she doesn't sleep."

"Impossible. Judging from her mental state, she hasn't slept well for a long time. If she's allowed to hold on for another three days..." Yu Xing considered carefully, then concluded, "She might die suddenly."

"... You're right, and when the time comes, it's not impossible to force sleep. The drowsiness is too intense for a person to resist." Zhao Ruru touched her wrist, where a red bandage was tied.

Yu Xing glanced at the bandages and thought they were quite nice, "So, we need to find a way to interfere with her dream. Either we go in, or we pull the ghost out. Only when the ghost and we are in the same space can we protect Zhou Xue."

Zhao Ruru asked, "So, what are your thoughts?"

"I don't really have any ideas, I just think it's kind of fun." Yu Xing looked at the wall in front of her with a half-smile. From here, separated by just one wall, was Zhou Xue's bedroom.

"You should be able to figure this out," he paused, "about Zhou Xue's grandmother, the origin of that Zhou Xue, and even the content of her dream—"

"You lied," Zhao Ruru replied calmly.

"That's right, they all lied." Yu Xing nodded.

Then he raised an eyebrow and praised, "Not bad, smarter than last time."

Zhao Ruru really wanted to spit blood in Yu Xing's face to block out his amazing ability to make even his compliments sound sarcastic.

"I feel I need to make this clear: while I'm not particularly good at deduction, my judgment of people is absolutely—very accurate!"

Do you really think she's an idiot?

Yu Xing, completely oblivious to the fact that she had offended someone, simply replied, "Oh."

[Huh? Wait, how did I lie?]

How did they know Zhou Xue was lying?

[I watched it from beginning to end, yet I'm not worthy to think with them.]

[This Absurd World is so cold, only Xingyan can bring me a sliver of warmth.]

Wake up! Didn't you already notice? What you're seeing might just be an illusion.

[I don't care, life is short, seize the day! From now on, every erotic dream I have will have a face.]

[...]

[My brother is a true hero]

No, actually I'm a woman.

The comments section often goes off-topic.

Yu Xing casually picked up a pen from the desk and twirled it between her fingers. "She claims that her grandmother gave her the jade before she died. Whether that's true or not is another matter for now. Just consider the men and women in her dreams. If they really terrified her as she says... she wouldn't be so enthusiastic about the current Yugi projects."

He clearly remembered that Zhou Xue had put a lot of effort into the Yugi "Nightmare". If she was really afraid of the ghost bride, she wouldn't have remembered more and more details in her dreams in order to copy them into the Yugi design.

"I don't know about her attitude towards work, but if the ghost bride really believed that those were two ghosts who would harm her, she wouldn't have ignored this bandage on my wrist." Zhao Ruru raised her hand; those who knew her knew that this was one of her sacrifices.

This time, she deliberately took the strap out of her Persona Mask and waved it in front of Zhou Xue several times during the meal.

"I'm a woman, and I scared her in the stairwell. Wearing this red ribbon that clashes with my clothes, a truly frightened person would only think I'm possessed by a ghost bride. But she didn't show any suspicion at all. It's so fake."

She smoothed a few stray strands of hair that had fallen to her temples. "But no matter how big a lie she told, or why she lied, one thing remains unchanged—she is the target we must protect. Regardless of whether her stance is right or wrong, there's nothing we can do about her. And the jade should really exist; our key to clearing the level is indeed the jade... Tomorrow, I'll go with her to the cemetery to visit that old woman and try to get some information about the jade. If all else fails, we might have to take drastic measures."

"Let's see how things go tonight. Once she really realizes the crisis, she won't be able to resist telling the truth." Yu Xing's voice rose at the end, carrying a calm and sarcastic tone.

"Hmm." Zhao Ruru rubbed her face. "Speaking of which, were the ghost groom and Liu Xue really in Zhou Xue's dream? How could they both appear in her dream at the same time...?"

Yu Xing: "I don't know."

In the first phase of the mission, he indirectly got to know the young master who died first through the entire supernatural space. He didn't think that a ghost who wanted people to become weeping brides would create such impartial scenes as Ghost Alley and haunted houses.

Either Zhou Xue was lying, or the woman in the dream had a problem, or the man in the dream had a problem—there are only three possibilities. But more than any of these, there's one thing he really wants to know...

Where did Zhao Yijiu go?

Since the mission objective is to protect Zhou Xue, the deduction system shouldn't assign them roles that prevent them from contacting Zhou Xue for too long. However, almost a day has passed, and Zhao Yijiu still hasn't appeared around Zhou Xue.

This is unreasonable.

Unless...

After nightfall, Zhao Yijiu could finally have contact with Zhou Xue, and the duration was about the same as theirs.

Unless Zhao Yijiu is playing a thief who broke into the house, there's practically only one possibility left.

The role he played didn't exist in reality, but in a dream.

Yu Xing glanced at the dark window, a hint of amusement creeping into her eyes.

If that's the case, then until they find a way to enter Zhou Xue's dream, they'll have to trouble Brother Jiu to hold out a little longer...

"Wait!" Zhao Ruru suddenly spoke, interrupting his train of thought.

He looked at Zhao Ruru and noticed that her face was somewhat pale.

"What's wrong?"

Zhao Ruru touched her arm, which was covered in goosebumps from her sudden flash of inspiration, and asked somewhat blankly, "You came in through the window, so who was the figure I saw in the hallway just now?"

Yu Xing: "?"

What's that figure?

"I was just looking for you when I saw a tall man's figure through the peephole... He disappeared as soon as I opened the door. Before I could think about it, your cardboard box fell."

Zhao Ruru's pupils contracted, and she turned to Yu Xing with a dry expression, asking, "Did I just... get lucky and dodge the ghost?"