With a cough, Wei Yanchi continued his questioning. "What is this place?"
The Giant Dragon replied, "The depths of your mind."
"So I'm dreaming." Wei Yanchi blurted it out almost without pause. He casually raised a hand to pinch his ear, his gaze calm and indifferent.
"An ordinary dream wouldn't take someone this deep. There are only two reasons I'd be here: either someone has attacked me, or I've come looking for someone. You said you were the guardian spirits of the Wei bloodline. Judging by your current state, does that mean I haven't been attacked, and I'm here to find him?"
A hint of amusement appeared in the Giant Dragon's eyes. "A clever little fellow. But you're wrong about one thing. From beginning to end, I have been the Wei family's only guardian spirit. As for them, they're merely prisoners locked inside your body. If you die, they die. If you live, they live. That's why they cannot betray you."
The Giant Dragon's gaze grew colder. "But they must never be trusted, either."
"Hey, we're still right here," the Landlord complained.
The Ghost Bride merely smiled gently, her features indistinct beneath her red bridal veil.
Wei Yanchi's expression remained unchanged. "Since I'm here to find someone, where is he?"
The moment he said that, all the ghosts looked straight ahead of him. With that single glance, every building blocking the view along the road collapsed to either side. Yet no clouds of dust rose. Instead, it was eerily silent, like a spectacular movie effect.
Wei Yanchi saw what lay at the end of that ruined road.
Heavy snow swirled through the air, revealing a Northern Country landscape. Buildings with distinctive architecture rose from the ground, and conifer forests covered the wilderness. He had never been to the Northern Country, so what lay ahead could not have come from his own mind.
Could it be that man?
The snow filling the sky certainly suited him perfectly.
Of course, how could the tremendous commotion on Wei Yanchi's side fail to draw the attention of the other subconscious's owner?
Hu Songlin was tending to his wounds, though not particularly carefully. He simply sat in the conifer forest, dug the bullets out with his hands, and bandaged himself. It hurt, but the pain was nothing compared to his fascination.
With his absolute luck, he almost never had a chance to get injured, much less hurt by someone else.
This was his first experience of anything so novel. He had actually been shot! Hiss, it really did hurt.
His haphazard bandaging had a 98% chance of causing an infection, but he didn't care. He was the other 2%.
Once he finished bandaging himself, his body was stiff and numb from the cold, and he could barely feel any pain. Hu Songlin made a call in another internal member's name and had the Club's peripheral members deliver some weapons and defensive items. He couldn't wait to go back and see whether the Killer still remembered him.
If he walked past him, would the Killer draw his gun immediately?
This was simply too much fun!
Hu Songlin smiled. He had better remember him, because what he hated most was someone who had clearly remembered his name only to forget him again!
Just then, an earthquake-like rumble came from ahead, wrenching the entire Subconscious Space out of shape for an instant.
Hu Songlin paused, then curiously parted the undergrowth to look into the distance.
He saw a young man in a very thin school uniform, with finely drawn features, walking over the ice and snow without any fear of freezing to death.
He looked like another very interesting person, and he seemed familiar. Could this be someone else who knew him, but whom he had forgotten?
None of this was normal.
But Hu Songlin took it all in stride.
"Hey! You there! Aren't you cold?" Hu Songlin shouted, his voice swallowed by the vast snowfield.
Wei Yanchi turned to look at him, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes. As vigilant as he was, he had only just noticed someone was there. The man was covered in blood, as if he had been involved in a murder, and the smell of blood was strong.
Wei Yanchi frowned. "Who are you?"
Ah, so this person didn't know him.
"My name's Hu Songlin. You're here looking for someone, right? Who are you looking for? Maybe I can help." Having said that, Hu Songlin fell silent and ran straight up to Wei Yanchi, watching him with mischievous delight.
Wei Yanchi took a step back. It occurred to him that the person before him might be a figment of the subconscious of the man he was looking for. Otherwise, how could his instincts tell him this person's words seemed to fade in and out?
"I'm looking for him."
Wei Yanchi took out a portrait. It depicted none other than the Killer.
Hu Songlin grew even more excited. "What a coincidence! I'm looking for him too. I know where he is. He's in the city up ahead, possibly still at the intersection!"
Wei Yanchi asked reflexively, "How do you know?"
"Because he nearly killed me just now."
The smile on Hu Songlin's lips looked utterly innocent. "But don't worry. I never hold that sort of grudge. I won't hold it against him."
Wei Yanchi raised an eyebrow, deciding the man before him was insane. Still, no one could really die in a dream, and all kinds of abnormal things happening was perfectly normal, wasn't it?
The two of them set off toward the city together.
After a while, Hu Songlin suddenly asked, "Do you know my name?"
Wei Yanchi gave him a baffled look. "Hu Songlin."
"You remember!" Hu Songlin felt almost delirious with joy. Two people had remembered him in a single day! He hadn't been ignored. "Good, you remember. You have to keep remembering. You must always remember."
He really was a strange person.
Wei Yanchi couldn't be bothered to look at him and kept walking.
The wind and snow were fierce, and the snowfield was immensely vast, making the little city resemble an exquisite castle inside a snow globe.
Perhaps because Wei Yanchi had realized he was dreaming, the ghosts spilling out of his subconscious slowly disappeared. Of course, they might also have been dragged back. The street opposite was covered in snow too, leaving it impossible to make out.
On the verge of tears, Xie De stepped out of the café again. He rallied himself, determined to kill that little bastard and get out of here.
So what if 455 couldn't locate him?
Couldn't he find him himself?
So what if the wind and snow were too heavy?
Were they scarier than ghosts?
He refused to believe it. He had shot Hu Songlin twice. Was Hu Songlin really going to swallow that and not come back for revenge?
He could run, but he couldn't hide forever.
He had to get out of here.
After giving himself a pep talk, Xie De steeled himself and walked through the snow for two minutes. The street was quiet and completely deserted, with only the crunch of snow beneath his feet.
But soon, crunching footsteps came from ahead as well. Xie De looked up, a flicker of delight stirring in his heart.
He had searched high and low, only for his quarry to fall right into his lap. Ha, the man had walked straight into his line of fire.
Wait, why was the protagonist standing beside the villain?
A second before Xie De could fire, Hu Songlin hurriedly shouted, "As long as I don't want to die, I won't die, no matter what you do to me! But I want an answer from you. As long as you tell me, I can grant your wish."
Xie De nevertheless kept his gun raised, his face expressionless.
Hu Songlin's voice also snapped Wei Yanchi out of his daze, and he stepped several paces aside.
Strange. Why had someone suddenly appeared beside him?
Just how absorbed had he been?
The tips of Wei Yanchi's ears instantly reddened. When he had drawn that portrait by instinct, he had used a black pen, so of course the figure hadn't been in color. He had even been rather smug about how good his drawing looked.
Only after seeing the man in person did he realize his drawing was nothing but a blob of pixels.
Silvery-white hair, dark green eyes. Against the Northern Country's snowy skies, on a deserted street, those colors were so vivid.
Wei Yanchi felt something strike home. Someone like this really existed in the world.
The person who had suddenly appeared beside him was rather noisy, though, shouting, "Tell me, one at a time, what my name is, and tell me your names."
He was truly noisy, and he had drawn the gaze of the man before them.
Baffled, Wei Yanchi said irritably, "Do I know you?"
The moment he finished speaking, Hu Songlin's face cracked like a weathered statue. He looked as though the sky had fallen, his entire body trembling. "You were saying my name just now, and now you've fucking forgotten me!"
A second before he was about to explode.
Xie De narrowed his eyes. "Hu Songlin."
The explosion halted. Shaken to his core, Hu Songlin turned toward him, his eyes almost brimming with tears.
But Mr. 39 showed no mercy whatsoever. Looking straight at him with an icy gaze, he swung his gun around. "Die."
As you wish. Hu Songlin closed his eyes.
Bang. The world collapsed.
Before you continue