Chapter 621: Mutual Schemes
The moment the burn mark appeared, the road outside the window began to rebuild itself.
The collapsed buildings on the street also rapidly restored themselves to their original state.
This scene made Tianlong pause slightly.
He couldn't help but feel somewhat puzzled. How could someone who was completely focused in a dream wake up in reality?
"Tianlong, it really is a pity." Qi Xia looked at his own wrist and said, "Just one step away. Perhaps you were just one step away."
"Is that so... White Sheep, as expected of you."
Tianlong smiled faintly, then also turned to look at the buildings rapidly reconstructing outside the window, and then gazed up at the sun slowly turning its back in the sky. Finally, he shook his head helplessly.
"You should know," Qi Xia raised his head and continued, "After this, you won't be able to enter my dreams again. I will be fully on guard and will never allow this to happen again."
"I believe you can do it." Tianlong nodded. "That's the real you."
Qi Xia looked at his wrist, then slowly revealed a faint smile.
"I remember now..." he said.
"Hmm?"
"Dreams are truly a wondrous thing." Qi Xia slowly lifted his head. "When people are awake, they often forget what they dreamed. And in dreams, they often forget where they came from. But I remember now."
Tianlong stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the sun in the sky. "How terrifying... White Sheep, did you intentionally lure me out?"
"Lure you out...? No..." Qi Xia shook his head. "To be precise, I had no idea what I would lure out. I only wanted to know why I had been resisting falling asleep all along."
"You truly are a madman." Tianlong nodded. "Using yourself as bait to draw me into the trap. Aren't you afraid?"
"We're even." Qi Xia looked at Tianlong and noticed that his facial features had disappeared again, leaving only a flat face. "You were gambling too, weren't you?"
"I hope the thin ice beneath your feet will always be as solid as it is today."
"Then I hope that monster of yours never appears in anyone's dreams."
"May both our hopes come true." Tianlong stood with his hands behind his back, staring blankly out the window.
Qi Xia only felt the scenery around him growing increasingly blurry, the walls rapidly receding from him.
He felt himself waking up.
"Whoosh——!!"
Qi Xia sucked in a sharp breath and instantly opened his eyes.
Before him was endless darkness and the stench of decay.
But at this moment, he felt exceptionally real.
It took him a few seconds to recall. He remembered that this should be Dihu's game venue.
In addition to the putrid smell, there was also a faint scent of burning in the air.
Qi Xia touched his wrist. A ring of burn marks had already formed there, now sending a searing pain.
He was grateful that the black thread emitted during the "Pegasus Moment" had indeed been hair. When the numerous strands of hair retreated on their own, some had tangled together and snapped. He had specifically kept one just in case.
Hair itself is flammable. After being hardened and thickened, it became even more burn-resistant, making it an excellent fuse.
And that fuse had saved his life at a critical moment.
"So it seems that dreams invaded by 'Tianlong' are different from ordinary dreams. Only interference from outside the dream can break them."
Qi Xia slowly stood up, reached out to feel around, found a table and chair in this basement, and slowly sat down.
While the contents of the dream were still circling in his mind, Qi Xia quickly reviewed everything Tianlong had said.
Although most of it was similar to what he had imagined, what was with the "sun"?
After thinking for less than three minutes, Qi Xia reached up and slowly pressed his forehead.
He felt something was wrong.
His mind still seemed very chaotic, similar to the feeling in the dream.
He had a bad feeling...
Could he still be in a dream?
As soon as this thought popped up, he felt a chill down his back.
No... that shouldn't be possible.
He had never dreamed of being in the "End Land". The few dreams he had were all in his own home.
And every time he dreamed, Yu Nian'an was always there.
The problem now was somewhat tricky... Even if he guessed that he wasn't in a dream right now, how could he prove it?
Or was there another possibility...
Maybe this wasn't a dream, but his brain and mental state had indeed been damaged?
Due to Tianlong's intrusion, his subconscious had suffered substantial damage, causing his mind to feel blocked now?
Qi Xia felt a lingering fear. If Tianlong had continued to act in his dream, he would most likely have become a mindless fool by now.
He rubbed his forehead, trying to calm himself down, and then thought back to that strange sun.
"Is the 'sun' Yu Nian'an?"
Wasn't this answer too absurd...
Who turned her into the sun? When did this happen? And what was the purpose?
"The eyeball was 'gigantified'... and then 'levitated'?"
He felt that this was definitely done by Tianlong, most likely to deal with him.
But there was another possibility...
That Tianlong was lying.
After all, everything before was just a "dream", and Tianlong seemed to be able to control the dream.
So could everything he did be fake?
For instance, Yu Nian'an with no face, the giant eyeball in the sky, the streets that collapsed at will and then rose again.
Tianlong had fabricated all of this just to shake his mental state and completely break him down.
Qi Xia carefully recalled everything that had happened since he had memories, including various anomalies and the sun in the sky. Since he had never thought in this direction before, the review consumed a lot of his time.
Whether it was because his intelligence had plummeted or this matter was truly too absurd, no matter how he thought about it, Qi Xia couldn't find evidence to prove the relationship between Yu Nian'an and the "sun", nor could he deduce Tianlong's true motive for doing this.
He stood up and stretched his muscles, feeling that the days ahead wouldn't be easy.
If he wanted to completely guard against Tianlong, he couldn't fall asleep again for all the time to come.
Even napping while sitting might not be safe.
According to Tianlong, he hadn't lain down to sleep for seven years. In his subconscious, he thought it was seven years in reality, but on second thought, Tianlong was most likely referring to the seven years since he became the "White Sheep".
With the physical constitution of an Earth-level zodiac, one could go without sleep for a long time. But now, he was just an ordinary person.
An ordinary person going without sleep for a long time would definitely suffer various side effects. But he couldn't care about that now. To escape from this damned place, he had already made himself neither human nor ghost. One more step wouldn't make a difference.
"I hope this will end soon..."
The long night stretched on. Amidst the faint chirping of insects outside, Qi Xia sank into deep thought.