Dreamscape

In a room thick with ambiguous intimacy.

Li Baling was surrounded by several scantily clad beauties, arms draped around them left and right, utterly carefree.

Suddenly.

A strip of black cloth covered Li Baling's eyes.

"Young Master, come catch us,"

a girl giggled.

"And if I catch you?" Li Baling leered.

"Then we're yours to do with as you please."

"Young Master, hurry up and come catch me."

The twittering voices stirred Li Baling's lust, and he stood up in wild excitement.

Even blindfolded, he could still hear.

He spread his arms and lunged forward, but grasped nothing but air.

A whiff of perfume brushed past his nose.

"Young Master, so close~" the girl laughed lewdly.

Li Baling pounced again in frantic haste, missing once more.

He chased the laughter of those young ladies around the room, but caught none of them.

After a while, the room fell into an eerie silence.

Li Baling thought the girls had all hidden.

He wasn't stupid—he quietly lifted the black cloth a crack.

"Huh?"

"Where did everyone go?"

He yanked the cloth off entirely, only to find no trace of the young ladies.

The room was empty, with only him inside.

"Those little vixens—how dare they toy with this Young Master!"

Fuming, Li Baling stepped out of the room to get to the bottom of it.

As soon as he exited.

Two crimson lanterns hung by the door.

The courtyard outside was deserted, hollow and sinister.

"Where is everyone?"

He walked out into the courtyard and suddenly spotted a pink figure flickering in the distance.

"This time I'll catch you for sure?"

Li Baling gave chase without a second thought.

He pursued it into a waterside pavilion, only to lose the pink figure again.

"Strange—how did it run so fast?"

Li Baling panted, winded.

Hoo~

Suddenly.

A damp, cold breath brushed against his neck.

"Young Master, we're right behind you."

An unnervingly gentle voice sounded from behind.

Li Baling instinctively tried to turn around!

But then he felt countless icy hands pressing down on his head.

Splash~

Caught off guard, his head was shoved straight into the pond beside him!

"AHHH!!!"

He tried to fight back, only to find his hands and feet bound by something wet and immovable. Then his whole body was thrown into the water.

Struggling in the pond, he saw corpses with ghastly pale faces submerged at the bottom.

Those corpses seemed to notice Li Baling, grinning sinisterly as they reached out with pale, rotting hands, pulling him down.

"No!"

Li Baling screamed, jolting awake from his bed in terror.

When he opened his eyes, his eyeballs were shot through with blood-red streaks.

"I can't take it anymore!"

"I really can't stand this!"

Li Baling had a morbid, frantic terror.

He got out of bed and searched the cabinet like a madman for something.

Then.

He found a pair of scissors.

Without any hesitation.

Li Baling grabbed the scissors and actually stabbed them straight toward his own neck.

"Baling!"

Li Tong rushed into the room and seized Li Baling's hand.

"Father!"

"I really can't bear it anymore."

"Just let me die!"

"I haven't slept in ten days."

"I'm in so much pain."

Li Baling collapsed against Li Tong, crying with red-rimmed eyes.

"It's alright!"

"I will definitely cure this strange illness of yours."

Li Tong did his best to soothe Li Baling, keeping him from doing anything foolish.

"Master, Young Master Qin and Young Master Zhao have come to call."

A guard reported from outside the room.

"Qin Yang?"

"You all look after the young master. I'll go see them."

Li Tong let the guard in, took the scissors from Li Baling's hand, helped him to bed to rest, and only then left.

Li Manor's main hall.

Qin Yang and Zhao He were standing casually.

"Two worthy nephews come calling, and I failed to welcome you properly."

Li Tong hurried in.

"Uncle Li, haven't you been resting well lately?"

Qin Yang frowned slightly.

Li Tong's complexion looked very pallid, his expression weary.

The white hairs on his head seemed to have increased.

"Ah, it's all because of Baling's matter."

Li Tong sighed softly.

"Uncle Li, we came specifically to see Baling."

"How is he doing?"

Zhao He asked with concern.

"You have kind hearts."

"But Baling's strange illness is truly a headache."

"So many days, I've brought in countless famous doctors from the city, and still nothing works."

Li Tong sighed in despair.

"What kind of illness is it?"

Qin Yang frowned slightly.

From Li Tong's tone, he seemed to sense a hint of hopelessness.

"An illness of constant nightmares."

"Better let Baling tell you himself."

Li Tong said in a low voice.

He led Qin Yang and Zhao He to Li Baling's room.

"Baling."

"How did you end up like this?"

Zhao He was startled when he saw Li Baling's current state.

The truth was, Li Baling didn't look human anymore.

His cheeks were sunken, his cheekbones jutted out sharply, and his eyes were bloodshot red—utterly terrifying.

Qin Yang also furrowed his brow.

"I... I don't know."

Li Baling lay in bed, lightly tapping his own head.

"Ever since that day of the Qing Tian Festival, every time I sleep, I have nightmares."

"Whether it's day or night, the moment I fall asleep, the nightmares come. I simply can't sleep."

Qin Yang calculated: "So you haven't slept in ten days?"

"Yes." Li Baling's voice came out weak.

"No wonder you've turned into this after ten days without sleep."

Zhao He exclaimed in shock.

"What kind of dreams do you have?" Qin Yang asked.

"I only vaguely remember that every time, I appear in a room, and then a lot of women surround me. After that, all the women vanish, and I keep searching and searching."

"As I search, someone shoves my head into water."

"In the end... I get eaten by some terrifying things."

Li Baling recalled the dreams, his expression fearful and desperate.

"It's just a dream. Does it really scare you that much?" Qin Yang frowned.

"Brother Qin, you don't understand."

"That dream is too real, too terrifying."

Li Baling shook his head incessantly.

"A lot of women."

"I remember you went to Huaxiang Tower in the Inner City on the day of the Qing Tian Festival?"

Qin Yang suddenly recalled this.

"Yes. That day I stayed late at Spring Orchid Courtyard in Huaxiang Tower and only came back late. That very night, the nightmares started."

Li Baling nodded.

"Zhao He, you went too, didn't you?"

Qin Yang asked.

"No. I had something come up that day, so I didn't go."

Zhao He shook his head.

"Then who else went?" Qin Yang asked Li Baling.

"Han Zhiye, Yi Hai, and Zhang Zhengde."

"The four of us went together."

Li Baling struggled to recall.

Qin Yang's former self knew all these people—they were a bunch of idle Young Masters.