Nightmare (9) - Madman

The red gauze curtains were gently drawn back, revealing a figure sleeping restlessly on them.

The figure rolled over, bumping into something, and a peanut fell off the bed, rolling softly to the corner of the round table in the center of the room.

The wine glasses were neatly arranged on the round table, their textured surfaces reflecting a soft glow against the backdrop of the specially laid-out festive tablecloth.

The word "" was posted in all conspicuous places, seeming to tell everyone that this happy event is worth celebrating.

Zhou Xue felt a lot of peanuts and dates under her, symbolizing "early birth of a son." She turned over uncomfortably and, in her drowsy state, reached up and touched the hard jade pillow under her head. The cool touch made her mind clear a little, and she opened her eyes with some fright.

Where am I?

She dared not move an inch; the red candle burning on the bedside table proclaimed one thing—she was dreaming again.

Moreover, this dream was different from all the previous ones; it was her first time in this unfamiliar place. It looked like... a wedding scene from ancient times?

A thunderclap resounded in her mind, and fear involuntarily surfaced in her eyes, for she clearly remembered that the man in her dreams kept telling her to go back with him and get married...

Zhou Xue realized that there seemed to be no one else in the room, so she nervously propped herself up on her arms and sat up.

This movement caused her face to turn pale instantly. She looked down and realized that she was wearing a thick bridal gown, the skirt of which spread out and took up a large area.

How could this be...? She clearly didn't agree to his request!

How did we end up in a place like this again?

Isn't it said that as long as you don't give in, ghosts can't do anything to you?

Her mind was a jumbled mess. She was used to being perfectly lucid even in her dreams, but for the moment, she was unwilling to accept the fact that the scene had changed.

Her previous dreams were all set in her bedroom. No matter how terrifying the Female Ghost and men in her dreams were, she felt that nothing serious was likely to happen to her in reality. Besides, she had the jade, so she figured nothing would happen...

Where is my jade?

Zhou Xue, still shaken, reached for her chest and discovered that the scene in the dream had changed, the clothes had changed, and even the jade was gone.

Cold sweat instantly soaked her entire back. She hurriedly got up, and carefully put on the red embroidered shoes by the bedside in preparation for any possible chase that might occur later.

After a while, Zhou Xue took off the outer robe that was in the way, leaving only a red inner garment that made movement easier, before she could finally settle down and look around.

The window wasn't closed tightly, and the night seeped in through the cracks, obscuring the moonlight and creating an eerie atmosphere.

"When will I wake up...?"

She had developed a resistance to facing two terrifying ghosts in her dreams every day. Although she was still panicked when she didn't see any ghosts this time, she quickly calmed down and started calculating how long the dream would last and what she might encounter.

In some ways, Zhou Xue is really suited to her current job; designing horror Yugi isn't particularly difficult for her.

She plays a lot of horror Yugi and used to joke with her colleagues that when holographic technology becomes available, she will definitely design a horror Yugi to port it in, so that players can experience the VIP treatment of being there and seeing ghosts.

Now she's feeling it in advance.

The Yugi experience is terrible—no one would dare to play after knowing they could actually be dragged to their death by a ghost.

Zhou Xue cautiously peeked out the open window.

Based on past experience, she usually stays in the dream for about forty minutes, but today the scene has changed. Perhaps the ghost has been around her for too long, and its influence has become more profound... She doesn't know what today's change means, and can only try to abandon the worst thoughts and try to endure for forty minutes.

As someone with considerable expertise in designing horror plots, Zhou Xue looked at the pitch black outside and became determined to go out.

In horror Yugi or movies, being alone is unacceptable, and wandering around is also unacceptable, but both of these rules are based on having multiple characters, and the plot must be downplayed.

Now she knows clearly who will come looking for her—it's none other than the man who has evolved to the point of chasing her in her dreams with a knife.

She certainly couldn't stay here peacefully. It was obvious that before long, that person would come to this wedding room to "marry" her. She had to escape and hide before he arrived, hiding for as long as she could, hoping to get through this dream. That way, if she had this dream again tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that... she would be experienced.

Just as I was thinking this, I heard footsteps at the door.

Along with the footsteps came a melodious tune, but the person humming it seemed to be in a very good mood, the melody floating on the air, carrying a unique sense of danger.

Zhou Xue's expression changed, and she grabbed the window, trying to climb out.

Her clothes were still too long, making it difficult for her to move around. Afraid of making a noise and being discovered, she gritted her teeth and struggled to control herself.

There was a knock at the door.

Zhou Xue also managed to flip over at the last second.

The moon was still there, emitting a faint glow that kept her from falling.

Outside was a small lawn, which seemed to have been carefully tended by a gardener. It was planted with some flowers whose names I didn't know. The spherical grass clumps were trimmed quite well. One clump was right by the window, which could block out six or seven parts of Zhou Xue's figure.

The person humming the tune entered the room, and the music abruptly stopped.

"Hmm? Ran away?" The deep male voice carried a hint of obvious dissatisfaction, as if a deranged killer had discovered that his target had slipped away while he wasn't paying attention, with a kind of excitement at watching his prey make a futile struggle.

"Let me see... where can we run to?"

The voices grew closer as they approached. Zhou Xue shrank back under the windowsill, intending to use the protruding eaves and clumps of grass to conceal her presence.

However, a hand reached out from behind her and grabbed her arm.

Before she could even scream in fright, another hand firmly covered her mouth, silencing all her sounds, and pulled her aside with an irresistible force.

Zhou Xue struggled, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the red cuff behind her. A wave of despair washed over her. "It's over, how can this thing teleport?"

She was quickly dragged quite a distance, stopping behind several other clusters of grass balls. The person pulling her said impatiently in a low voice, "What are you moving for? Want to be discovered?"

His voice was gloomy and cold as ice, and his tone was fierce, as if he were criticizing a pig.

Zhou Xue paused, realizing that the voice was different from the one humming in the room.

She stopped struggling and was about to ask the person behind her to remove their hand from her mouth when she saw the window she had climbed out of was still gently waving.

... yes!

When she came out, she pushed open the window and hid underneath, but the two window slats did not return to their original position; instead, they were opening and closing slightly.

Anyone who enters the room, unless they are blind, can see that someone just left through the window!

Zhou Xue was terrified. She looked up and, sure enough, half a person leaned out of the window the next moment.

It was a man wearing a half-mask, his eyes and nose covered, leaving only his mouth and a beautifully shaped, smooth chin visible. His hair was medium-length, and his leaning posture was extremely aggressive.

"Lower your head." The person behind her coldly reminded her, releasing her arm and pressing her head down.

Zhou Xue: "..."

She bent down to make sure she wouldn't be seen by the man peering around the window, peeking through the limited gaps in the grass leaves.

The man seemed to smile, "You've been hiding quite well~ Are you... here?"

With incredible flexibility, he leaned his entire upper body down almost backwards.

One hand was raised high, holding a sharp knife, and it stabbed fiercely under the eaves!

The person who had initially appeared to be quite refined suddenly revealed his true, insane nature, sending a chill down one's spine.

Zhou Xue was relieved that her mouth was still covered, because she had almost screamed out a moment ago.

If she hadn't been pulled away, she would have been hiding in the spot the man is looking at now.

She had hoped to escape unscathed by staying away in the dark, but she overlooked the window shutter that exposed her position. Luckily, someone pulled her to a different spot; otherwise, one can imagine what would have happened to her...

A strong sense of lingering fear washed over me.

The man seemed a little surprised. "Oh? Not here? You're a bit smarter than I thought..."

Zhou Xue: "..."

He shrank back, as if he had moved away from the window.

The person behind her finally released her mouth and took a step back.

Zhou Xue turned around, covered in cold sweat, and saw a young man with a cold and profound face.

She was instantly certain that she hadn't seen this person in her previous dream. In fact, even the man humming the tune just now had a slightly different demeanor from the man in her dream who wanted her to obediently marry him.

But the latter two are clearly the same person; it's just that she doesn't know why this unfamiliar person suddenly appeared in front of her today, and it seems he's even helping her.

The strangest thing was that this person was wearing Da Hong wedding dress, and although he wasn't wearing a matching hat, it was clearly a groom's outfit.

Zhao Yijiu frowned when she saw the target staring blankly at her.

What he hates most is protective missions, which mean that his life is no longer his own, and whether he can survive depends to a large extent on the intelligence and cooperation of the target he is protecting.

He impatiently tugged at Zhou Xue: "Leave here first. He didn't follow us out of politeness, but that doesn't mean he'll give up on thoroughly inspecting this place."

"Oh, oh." Zhou Xue was still thinking that the groom and the bad guy who wanted to take her away in her dream were not the same person. Upon hearing this, she could only obediently nod and let the other party pull her quietly towards another courtyard.

After walking for a while, she realized that she was the "bride" and the other person was the "groom." And who was that pervert who wanted to kill her? Well, that's not wrong. Who was that pervert...?

If that person wasn't the groom, why did he want her to come back and get married?

Moreover, it now seems that the "groom" and that person are not on the same side, and he even wants to protect her. She suddenly couldn't understand what that person wanted her to do every night, and what the meaning of a crying bride was.

The groom was very familiar with the yard, so he led her to the garden. The garden had the most colorful things, which was very advantageous in terms of blocking the view, and the area was large, so they wouldn't get blocked out.

After a while, the two squatted down behind the artificial hill, Zhou Xue finally managed to ask, "W-what exactly is this place?"

Zhao Yijiu glanced at her. "The Fang Mansion."

He had been wandering around this place for quite some time before Zhou Xue entered his dream.

This is a complete version of a burial site, with the exact same layout as the five-courtyard compound in the first phase, but much more prosperous.

There were no servants, no master or mistress. When he woke up, it was still daytime. He was in the main room where Zhou Xue had just been lying. After wandering around for a while, he found Liu Xue, the bride in her wedding dress, wandering around.

Liu Xue seemed to be out of her mind, drifting around without getting annoyed. He watched her from afar without provoking her, until night fell, when she finally returned to the main house and lay down as if it were a habit.

Besides her, there was another madman in the mansion who looked quite respectable. The madman had medium-length hair tied back and wore a mask. To be honest, at first glance, Zhao Yijiu mistook him for Yu Xing.

He wanted to go and meet up, but after being discovered by the madman, he realized that this wasn't Yu Xing —because the first thing the madman said to him was, "Huh? Young Master Fang seems a bit different today."

Then, a chase ensued.

The madman was having a great time, his knife gleaming coldly. Later, probably tired, he finally gave up searching for the groom, played by Zhao Yijiu. Only then did Zhao Yijiu have time to search for clues.

Because this was a burial site during a prosperous period.

This means that many clues that did not appear in the first phase can be found here.

He first confirmed the wealthy family's surname through the family genealogy, piecing together the incomplete identity information. Then, he collected some written information to confirm that there were no other people or ghosts in the mansion. The Absurd Deduction system finally gave him a more detailed task.

[Between midnight and 1 a. m., Zhou Xue will enter this area and take over Liu Xue's identity. Please protect her.]

There's only one hour.

Zhao Yijiu only encountered Liu Xue and the madman at the Fang Mansion, and confirmed that these two were not Zhao Ruru and Yu Xing. Therefore, he realized that he was the "lone wolf" in this stage of the mission.

The protection period for Zhou Xue is three days. On the first day, he only needs to be responsible for one hour, which means that outside, Yu Xing and Zhao Ruru are carrying out their mission in a different way.

For him, this one hour was no easier than the twelve hours his two teammates had worked.

Based on his identity information, he knew he was playing the role of the young master of the Fang family in Zhou Xue's dream, but he didn't know what would happen if Zhou Xue died in the dream. He could only act as if it were in reality and protect Zhou Xue from being caught by the madman.

"Fang Mansion... what kind of place is that?" Zhou Xue was a little confused; she had never heard of the term before.

Moreover, the moment she heard the word "Fang," Fang Xing's face involuntarily appeared in her mind.

Actually, thinking about it, Fang Xing looks a little bit like the person who wanted to kill her? I don't know if it's just my imagination.

"The Fang Mansion is the Fang Mansion," Zhao Yijiu said, listening to the sounds around her while glancing at the countdown displayed by the system. "It was your dream; how would I know?"

"Huh!?" Zhou Xue was genuinely shocked. "You knew this was my dream? No, no, no, that doesn't matter anymore. Do you know who that person was?"

"This person has no name; everyone in the manor calls him Master." This was determined by Zhao Yijiu through the clues he found. His eyes were cold as he thought to himself, Yu Xing's guess was indeed correct. Some characters did exist, but they were simply not mentioned in the first phase.

"My mother hired him after I died. I'm said to be quite capable; he was the one who came up with the whole insidious idea."

Zhao Yijiu's role required him to convincingly portray Young Master Fang, including in Zhou Xue's dream where he was a "ghost" who was fully aware of his situation.

Sure enough, although Zhou Xue knew very well that no living person would actually appear in her dream, she still shuddered.