108 The Nightmare Is You

A familiar force erupted in the air, and suddenly, a strange black hole appeared. Sun Cheng swiftly embraced the infant spirit.

The infant spirit struggled fiercely, countless hands striking at Sun Cheng. He withstood several blows and carried the spirit into Jiang Linlin’s nightmare world.

Moments later, Sun Cheng returned, the infant spirit’s presence completely vanished.

Jiang Linlin closed her eyes tightly, boundless energy flowing into her body, and she exhaled a large breath of foul air.

As if drained of great effort, she said, “Though I cannot kill him, I can seal him for a time.”

With the infant spirit sealed, the lone peak’s soul clone lost its energy support, growing dimmer and eventually dissipating.

Only a black summoning banner remained in the air.

“Can you take this in?” I pointed to the banner floating overhead.

Sun Cheng held his breath, and a force of spatial energy formed a small portal in the sky once more.

Since Sun Cheng’s ability did not specialize in opening spatial gates, this imitation was arduous; the portal looked as if it could collapse at any moment.

Jiang Linlin hurriedly reopened the nightmare world, linking its entrance to the spatial portal.

“Quick!” Sweat poured down Sun Cheng’s forehead. “Force it into the portal!”

Hearing this, Lin Xiayue hastened to activate her gravity field, unleashing the power of the Seven of Hearts!

Gravity reversed!

The summoning banner in the sky was pulled by an opposing parallel gravitational force, slowly showing signs of movement.

But its pace was agonizingly slow. Watching Sun Cheng and Jiang Linlin struggle to maintain the shrinking portal, I worried whether they could seal the banner before the portal closed.

The banner shifted less than a meter before halting completely. No matter how much Lin Xiaoxiao reinforced the gravity in the space, it was futile.

After a brief silence, the banner trembled violently, releasing a burst of dark, undulating energy.

The nearest spatial portal shattered instantly, and the nightmare world was forcibly closed.

Sun Cheng and Jiang Linlin spat blood and collapsed, both grievously wounded by the strike.

Lin Xiayue intended to act again, but the banner, as if imbued with sentience, plummeted straight down from the sky.

Chen Hao immediately shielded Lin Xiaoxiao, swinging a large wooden plank with force.

The banner shattered the plank, but Chen Hao remained steadfast, unleashing the full power of the Two of Clubs.

Divine strength!

With both hands, he braced against the ghostly weapon. His entire body radiated a golden glow as he stubbornly resisted the banner’s impact. However, the ghostly weapon bore a deadly aura that began to corrode Chen Hao’s hands.

Suppressing the pain, Chen Hao violently flung the banner aside, quickly tearing a sleeve section to wrap his injured palm. Dark miasma spread across his face, more severe than before.

Ignoring my own fatigue, I rushed to Chen Hao and tore away the cloth concealing his wounds.

Something strange appeared—one of Chen Hao’s palms had lost all flesh, leaving only a bare skeletal claw. The other hand, though less grievous, had flesh mysteriously vanished from the first knuckles of the fingers.

No trace of flesh remained near the exposed bones, as if it had simply vanished into thin air.

The spinning summoning banner, caught in some unseen force, stopped midair, its flag unfurling as if waved by an invisible hand.

A chilling voice echoed from the sky:

“You dare disturb my sacred artifact—remember, this is but a warning.”

The banner tore through the air and vanished. The sky finally returned to normal.

We had never expected the summoning banner’s master to call it back. We had assumed it was ownerless, but it was clearly a weapon belonging to someone.

Fortunately, this lord had not become enraged; only the banner’s residual death aura had harmed Chen Hao.

With the banner gone, we were safe for the moment.

I forcibly triggered the Mirror Spirit’s ancient mirror power again to heal Chen Hao’s hands before finally closing my eyes, utterly exhausted.

When I awoke, we were already on the return journey, jolted awake by the vehicle’s rough ride.

Looking around the half-empty carriage, I realized the death toll from the three-day survival trial in the sealed ghost village was over half.

Among the high school students, only the little girl following Sun Cheng, Feng Qian accompanying me, and a few others survived; the rest perished tragically.

Wang Shaowei sat in the last row, feigning indifference, but everyone else kept their distance from him.

Even Jiang Linlin, who also bore the ghost card, avoided sitting near Wang Shaowei. Still, I had questions for Jiang Linlin.

I gathered my strength, left my seat, and sat beside her without regard for her mood.

“What do you want?” Jiang Linlin feigned ignorance.

I raised an eyebrow and leaned close, whispering, “Don’t think I forgot who tried to kill me in my dream.”

Jiang Linlin shuddered, fixing me with a bitter grimace.

“You actually remember the dream’s details?”

Her words surprised me. Could it be that one forgets completely upon waking from the nightmare world?

If so, each entry would be even more perilous.

The nightmare world’s controller repeatedly probes the dreamer’s defenses, but the dreamer remains as defenseless as on their first visit.

Eventually, the dream would strangle them.

It was a losing tug-of-war.

Jiang Linlin widened her eyes, awaiting my explanation.

“Yes, I remember. It’s my ability.”

Her face darkened instantly.

“So, this time you want to set things right?”

I smiled, inching closer to Jiang Linlin, catching a faint fragrance from her.

Our clothes were tattered from battle, revealing skin beneath.

I glanced at the wound on her chest, my gaze unwavering.

After a moment, she realized I was teasing her and swung a slap at me.

Without the aid of her powers, how could a fragile woman resist? I caught her hand and pulled her into my arms.

Jiang Linlin struggled fiercely, pushing my hands away, her voice sharp.

“Lin Zijian! What do you think you’re doing!”

Her face flushed crimson. I stealthily slid my hand to the inside of her thigh and gave a hard pinch.

Jiang Linlin yelped in pain; I quickly covered her mouth.

“If you want to make a scene and let everyone see, then scream.”

At my words, she finally closed her mouth.

I shoved her back into her seat, showing no mercy.

Savoring the scent on my hand, I said sternly, “Jiang Linlin, even if we’re even now, I’m not holding this against you because we face a greater threat. I can’t afford to lose any allies.”

“Lin Zijian, listen to me!” she whispered fiercely. “No matter what, we’ll always be enemies in the end. Your generosity won’t last long.”

“Haha,” I scoffed, unfazed. “Do you think you can beat me in reality? If you try to attack me in my dreams again, you’ll be finished when I wake.”

With that, I twisted her again. She groaned softly, and I returned to my seat.

Chen Hao peeked from behind and whispered, “Brother Zijian, are you alright?”

I steadied myself. “I’m fine, Haozi. Don’t worry about me.”

“You’ve been through a lot these three days. Get some rest.”

Chen Hao didn’t press further. After a while, his soft snores came from behind me. I watched the scenery outside the train blur past when a figure suddenly appeared before my eyes, lingering.

Han Xue, where have you gone?