Chapter 13

"Damn it!"

Lin Sheng rolled out of bed and sat on the edge, running both hands through his hair. His palms came away drenched in sweat.

"It's not like I've never died in a nightmare before, but that feeling... nothing I've experienced before even comes close!"

Lin Sheng gasped for breath, trying to shake off the impact of dying in the dream.

He sat on the edge of the bed and rested for a while. Once he had calmed down a little, he got up and sat at his desk. He switched on the lamp and looked over the book passages he had translated earlier.

"The most essential part of that swordsmanship journal is these five illustrations. The rest mostly recounts experiences and stories. These few pages are the only ones that actually explain the swordsmanship," he murmured, staring at the translated notes.

"What was that shadow, anyway? And can these notes really be used?"

"The notes and swordsmanship in the dream might just be things my brain made up on its own. If I practice them wrong, I could cause irreversible damage to my body."

Lin Sheng had heard of people becoming disabled while practicing acrobatics or martial arts because they lacked the proper foundations or used incorrect postures.

He was worried that the so-called swordsmanship journal from his dream was really just a jumble of knowledge conjured up by his own mind.

Sitting silently on the edge of the bed, Lin Sheng's thoughts churned and refused to settle.

After a long while, he finally lay back down and closed his eyes, but no matter what he did, he couldn't fall asleep again.

The moment he closed his eyes, wave after wave of pain from being killed washed over him.

That state lasted until dawn.

As soon as the sky began to lighten, he had to get up. He boiled some noodles with the leftovers from the night before, ate them quickly, then changed into his school uniform, grabbed his bag, and headed straight for school.

Lin Sheng had originally thought that being killed was just a dream.

But throughout the day, his heart ached, and a faint, lingering sting seemed to remain around his neck.

He made it through classes in a daze. After school, he turned down Shen Yan's invitation to take him to the cassette shop, then staggered home alone.

He didn't even eat dinner. Lin Sheng collapsed onto his bed and fell fast asleep.

This went on for two days before his spirits gradually began to recover.

He didn't dream once during those two days. It was as if the nightmare had only been an illusion.

During that time, his dad, Lin Zhounian, thought he might be sick and brought him a thermometer. His temperature was perfectly normal.

In the end, all he could do was tell Lin Sheng to get more rest and not overexert himself. The college entrance exam was important, but if he wrecked his health, he'd have nothing left.

After two dreamless days, Lin Sheng felt much better.

After dinner, he lay on his bed and gazed up at the ceiling without saying a word.

If the notebook containing the notes he had translated hadn't still been in his desk drawer, he really would have thought the whole thing had just been a dream.

Ring, ring.

The phone suddenly rang.

In the living room, his mother, Gu Wanqiu, went over to answer it.

"Chenchen, your sister's on the phone."

Lin Sheng froze for a moment, then flipped out of bed and hurried from his room to the living room, where he took the receiver from his mother.

"You got out of bed without even putting on a jacket." Gu Wanqiu touched Lin Sheng's hand with concern. It felt cold, so she hurried to the bedroom and brought him a coat.

Lin Sheng smiled at her, put on the coat, then sat on the sofa with the receiver.

His sister didn't speak either. She just listened to the sounds on his end of the line. He could faintly hear her breathing.

Lin Sheng paused and switched the receiver to his other hand.

"Hey, Sis. What's up?"

"Nothing. Mom and Dad said you haven't been feeling great lately. Don't work too hard or push yourself too much. Getting into a good university is important, but your health matters more." Lin Xiao sounded worried.

"I'm fine. I know, so don't worry, Sis." Lin Sheng calculated how much time was left. "The college entrance exam is still more than four months away. I'm not panicking that badly. I've just been having nightmares lately, so I haven't been in the best shape."

"Have you been reading too many weird books?"

"I don't know. I haven't been doing anything but studying." Lin Sheng played dumb.

"Are you short on money?" Lin Xiao suddenly lowered her voice.

"No."

"Really?"

"Really." Lin Sheng answered firmly.

"Don't try to tough it out. I'll send you some money. Remember to withdraw it later. You're getting older, and there are some expenses you can't avoid." Lin Xiao spoke earnestly.

"I don't need it, really. You have plenty of expenses of your own, Sis."

"I have enough, so don't worry. That's all I wanted to say. Just remember to withdraw the money." Lin Xiao said no more.

A woman's voice came faintly through the receiver, calling for her. It sounded like she wanted Lin Xiao to help move something.

"I've got something to do here, so I'll hang up now." Lin Xiao answered hurriedly, then quickly ended the call.

Lin Sheng put down the receiver helplessly and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was nine at night.

She was still working away from home. He really didn't want to take the hard-earned money Lin Xiao sent him.

But she was stubborn. If she said she'd send money, she'd definitely do it.

"Forget it. I'll deal with that later. I should get a good night's rest. Tomorrow, I need to buckle down and prepare for the college entrance exam."

The college entrance exam in this life wasn't much different from the one in his previous life.

It was a crucial hurdle for students hoping to rise above their station.

And if they failed the exam and couldn't get into a good university, they could only attend one of the various vocational schools and learn a trade.

Celine had plenty of vocational schools, but they were held in relatively low regard. Compared with the vocational schools in Lin Sheng's previous life, the standards here were even worse.

If a student couldn't get into university and went to vocational school instead, it basically meant his life was over.

The class divide here was immense, and it was rare for vocational workers to rise again. Wages were low in many fields, even for workers doing simple technical jobs.

Lin Sheng returned to his bedroom and flopped onto the bed. He had already made up his mind to get some rest, put the nightmare aside for now, and focus on the college entrance exam.

He pulled up the covers, wished himself good night, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Whoosh.

Lin Sheng heard his own breathing echo softly through the empty room.

He opened his eyes. Before him was the familiar hall of the manor.

On the long table, covered with a tattered white cloth, lay several scattered silver utensils.

"I... I'm back again?"

Lin Sheng's heart sank. He quickly looked around.

To his left was a wall covered with blurred oil paintings. To his right was a huge, gridded window. Through the hazy curtains, he could see the mist drifting outside.

He quickly strode forward and soon reached the study. He went through the open doorway.

He soon saw the room inside.

The massive tome on the low table lay open, its pages still covered in clearly visible writing.

"As I thought. I'm back again."

Lin Sheng calmed down.

He didn't look through the swordsmanship journal. Instead, he left the study and returned to the living room.

At the window beside the living room, he reached out and gently lifted the curtain to look outside.

Beyond the manor's crude wall, beneath the hazy mist, stood a black forest with branches reaching out like claws.

In the courtyard inside the wall sat a little swing and several broken wooden benches.

Something that looked like a hoe leaned against the corner.

Lin Sheng let the curtain fall and checked the other windows.

None of them offered a view of the direction the front door faced.

That was the direction the shadow had charged from earlier.

He paused, standing in the living room as he considered the situation. Then he turned and began searching the rooms.

"I need a weapon to defend myself. Something long and wide, so I can block attacks!"

Lin Sheng knew exactly what he was looking for.

He didn't intend to stay in the house forever. This dream was bizarre, and dying here had actually affected his body in the real world.

That filled him with a deep sense of danger.

He had a strange premonition that if the shadow killed him again and again, something terribly troublesome might happen to him.

It felt as if his body were instinctively warning him.