Lu Li jerked his head up, eyes snapping open. Waves of malice pressed in from all around. At some point, the ruined temple had disappeared. Only the fire remained, and the Old Man was still asleep with his head resting on the little wooden chest. But to Lu Li, he seemed terribly unreal, almost as if he weren't alive.
"Is that red snow?" With no ruined temple to block the flakes, they drifted down through the air. Lu Li reached out and caught one, only to find that it was bloodred. The flakes landed in the fire with a sizzling sound. The flames flickered, seeming to dim a little.
The fire was the only thing Lu Li could see clearly. Beyond its glow lay complete darkness. He could just make out something moving—or perhaps writhing—and could even sense the malicious gazes cast his way by the things hiding there.
"Where's that Puppet?" Lu Li looked around and realized that the Puppet the Old Man had always kept by his side was gone. He still remembered seeing it wink at him just before he passed out.
"Ah!!!" A scream of agony came from one side. Lu Li immediately turned to look and saw something fighting in the darkness. One figure was knocked back, drawing a little closer to the fire. It was a Corpse Ghost.
A huge stone came flying out of the darkness and slammed into the Corpse Ghost, knocking it to the ground and caving in part of its chest. An ordinary person would have been dead from such an injury, but the Corpse Ghost's chest swelled back into shape at a visible speed. The bloodstains on its body seemed alive, crawling back into place. In just a few seconds, the Corpse Ghost had fully recovered.
Just as the Corpse Ghost roared and got back to its feet, ready to lunge again, another stone flew over and caved in its head. Before it could recover, the figure in the darkness had already charged up to it and kicked it in the chest, sending it stumbling even closer to the fire.
The Corpse Ghost was now bathed in the firelight, and its skin had begun to melt. Even its physical strength seemed to have been greatly diminished. Then the figure bound it with something Lu Li couldn't make out and dragged it over to the fire. The Corpse Ghost screamed in agony, but in the end, it could only melt into liquid and evaporate.
The figure's appearance came into view. It was the Puppet from the Old Man's hands. The gaps in her joints were now almost imperceptible, and her face even showed lifelike expressions. Every frown and smile held a charm all its own. She reeled in the threads in her hands, then glided over to Lu Li and gave him a graceful bow. To his astonishment, she spoke: "This humble one greets you, young master. May you enjoy peace and good health!"
A prompt appeared in the corner of his eye as soon as the Puppet showed herself:
[Monster detected. Updating information.]
[Thread-Pulling Puppet]
[Physical Assessment: 2.17; Life Energy Generation: 0.0 (Made from precious wood and infused with the maker's entire heart and soul, her body is exceptionally strong)]
[Soul Assessment: 2.37; Mental Energy Generation: 1.38 (No one knows why she came to possess a soul. Perhaps it was a miracle?)]
[Category: Spirit Possession]
[Cause of Generation: A spirit born from within a Puppet. Perhaps the master poured his whole heart and soul into her, giving rise to this miracle!]
[Special Abilities: (1) Thread Control: The threads that once controlled her body are now under her control!
(2) Thread-Pulling Tears: The tears at the corners of her eyes are breathtakingly beautiful, impossible to resist. She can expend mental energy to bewitch others!]
[Weakness: A Puppet is still a Puppet. She cannot stray too far from her master!]
[Monster Evaluation: Having her will be the greatest fortune of your life!]
"Um, could you tell me what happened? Where is this place?" Lu Li glanced at the Old Man, who was still fast asleep. Under normal circumstances, the intense fight between the Puppet and the Corpse Ghost should have woken anyone up. Yet the Old Man was still sleeping soundly. That was more than a little strange.
"Please allow this humble one to explain, young master." The Puppet's voice rang out like jade beads falling onto a silver tray, clear and sweet. It naturally drew the listener's attention. She looked at the sleeping Old Man with deep concern and affection. "This is the Dream of Delusion, a place between illusion and reality, between truth and falsehood. Countless demons and monsters covet the lives of the living. Once ordinary people fall asleep, their forms appear here, but they remain unconscious. The demons and monsters here are incredibly powerful. I can only offer a little resistance, and that is only because the fire holds them at bay."
"I was able to enter this place because of my bond with my master." The Puppet caught a snowflake and gazed at its vivid, despairing red. Then she prostrated herself before Lu Li and said mournfully, "Young master, you can remain conscious here, which means you are an extraordinary person of great ability. This humble one begs you to save my master. I have nothing to repay you with, but in my next life I will serve you as an ox or horse, and repay your great kindness a hundredfold."
"Miss, there's no need for such a grand gesture. I got along well with the old gentleman, and he was kind enough to give me clothes and food. I would never stand by and let him die." Lu Li hurriedly helped the Puppet up. Then he sighed. "It's just that I'm not very capable, and I'm not even as strong as you. I'm afraid there's little I can do."
"Besides, you know the old gentleman's situation better than I do." Lu Li shook his head. "He already wants to die. Even if we saved him for now, could we really save him for the rest of his life?"
Lu Li had noticed long ago that the Old Man had lost the will to live. A sizable pile of ash had accumulated beside the fire, showing that the Old Man had spent some time in the ruined temple. But aside from the firewood that had already been there, he hadn't gone out to gather any more. During the day, the little hill wasn't far away, and the Old Man knew he was running low on wood. Why hadn't he gone to get more? Everything he said and did had hinted at his desire to die.
Perhaps the Old Man had planned to eat his last bit of food, then fall asleep beside the fire and drift off in the cold of winter after it went out in the middle of the night. Lu Li's arrival had simply disrupted that plan.
"That's right... My master had long since made up his mind to die. I'm the one who held him back all these years. He wasted the best years of his life on me." The Puppet's wooden fingers gently smoothed the Old Man's gray hair. Her voice was full of remorse and guilt.
The Puppet remembered the Old Man decades ago, when he was only in his thirties. He had spent all his savings and defied his family's objections to make her with his own hands. She remembered the joy in his eyes as he looked at her, and how he kissed the tip of his brush before painting the final tear at the corner of her eye. Perhaps that was when she first gained a real heart, a real soul...
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