Chapter 21: Peril

The little girl was so angry she nearly spat blood. “You’re the weakling; your whole family is weak!”

But there was nothing she could do. She had entered Xia Wulei’s dream, and Xia Wulei was the master of this dreamscape; Xia Wulei was not afraid of her, so her own power could not be fully unleashed.

These ghosts and monsters thrived on the fear of the players to grow stronger, yet Xia Wulei feared neither heaven nor earth, causing the spirits to meet nothing but obstacles in her presence.

This place was unbearable; she had to get out!

The little girl was wise and immediately turned to flee.

Xia Wulei smiled faintly, “Don’t go just yet. Did I say you could leave?”

The girl’s body stiffened instantly.

Dreams were easy to enter but hard to escape from; without the owner’s permission, she could not leave at all.

Watching the girl’s retreating figure, Xia Wulei realized something.

“So, without my consent, you really can’t leave, huh?”

The girl: …So you’re only realizing that now?!

Xia Wulei rested on her hoe thoughtfully, then suddenly laughed, “If I want to know something, you wouldn’t refuse to tell me, would you?”

The girl: Don’t come near me!!!

…

The fifth morning, the first day of the village feast.

Xia Wulei woke up feeling refreshed, still vividly recalling the events of the dream.

She wanted to call the others to share information but found Yu Huaiyu’s condition beside her was quite bad.

“...Huaiyu? Wake up, are you alright?”

Yu Huaiyu looked like she had just been pulled from the water—soaking wet, eyes tightly shut, lips pale and blue, trembling.

Xia Wulei reached out and touched her; her hand felt ice-cold, unlike that of a living person.

“Wake up quickly! Something’s wrong with Huaiyu!”

Sensing she couldn’t handle this alone, Xia Wulei quickly got up and called Hong Qi and the others.

But the others seemed shaken as well. Zhu Chen was staring at his disheveled hair, his eyes bloodshot.

“What’s going on? I had a nightmare last night—two children kept pulling me to ride a big horse, and now my whole body aches…”

Hearing this, Hong Qi tensed.

“So it’s true—the monsters in the dungeon are targeting us; we all dreamed about them.”

Everyone’s face grew serious as they observed Yu Huaiyu’s condition.

Hong Qi said, “She seems trapped in a nightmare. If we don’t wake her soon, her life might be in danger.”

…

But how to wake her was a dilemma.

No matter how much they shook or shouted, Yu Huaiyu’s eyes remained closed, her teeth chattering.

Xia Wulei bit her lip. “Looks like I have no choice.”

She straddled Yu Huaiyu and raised her hand, preparing to slap her face forcefully.

Just then, Yu Huaiyu’s eyes fluttered open.

Xia Wulei: …

This was a bit awkward.

Yu Huaiyu looked dazed at Xia Wulei. “Sis, what are you doing… finally couldn’t hold back and decided to hit me?”

Hong Qi and Zhu Chen: ?

“Stop talking nonsense,” Xia Wulei snapped, relieved that Yu Huaiyu was awake.

“What are you all doing here? Why am I so wet? Were you trying to hit me just now?”

As she regained color, Yu Huaiyu seemed oblivious to her own abnormal state and kept chattering.

Xia Wulei, annoyed by the noise, patted her on the head. “Go clean yourself up first, be quiet now.”

Xia Wulei’s unexpected gentleness left Yu Huaiyu, who was used to roughhousing, somewhat embarrassed; she nodded shyly.

Only then did Xia Wulei notice something was wrong.

“Where’s Chu Wei?”

Everyone hurried to knock on Chu Wei’s door. Fortunately, it opened shortly, and Chu Wei stood inside, looking at them oddly.

Hong Qi sighed with relief. “Good, you’re fine. We thought…”

Before Hong Qi could finish, Chu Wei opened her mouth and exhaled a wisp of black smoke tinged with the smell of burning, then straightened and collapsed backward.

“Chu Wei!”

“Sis Chu!”

…

It wasn’t until the afternoon that the chaos finally subsided and Chu Wei regained consciousness.

There were no doctors or healers in the village, so Hong Qi spent a large amount of points from his resources to purchase an emergency healing potion and administered it to Chu Wei, which helped her wake up so quickly.

“Thank you. I’ll repay you the points for that potion if we make it out alive,” Chu Wei said hoarsely, taking the water Yu Huaiyu had poured for her.

Hong Qi scratched his head. “Don’t worry about it; points can be earned back. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Jiuying entered the dream. A little girl grabbed me in the dream and held me tightly as we both burned. Although I look fine now, every organ in my body aches,” Chu Wei explained.

She gave a bitter smile. “And, I was marked.”

She held out her hand, revealing a deep red and black palm print.

The mark was small, like a child’s handprint—easy to guess who left it.

Everyone fell silent. Chu Wei sighed softly, “If it weren’t for that life-saving item, I probably wouldn’t have woken up.”

Xia Wulei suddenly looked up and patted Yu Huaiyu. “Check your protective charm.”

Yu Huaiyu was puzzled but pulled out her charm, surprised. “There are only two uses left!”

Xia Wulei pursed her lips. Indeed, Yu Huaiyu had suffered a fatal attack.

Hong Qi and Zhu Chen checked their charms as well, but both were fine.

“The child in my dream seemed to want to play with me; there was no intention to take me away,” Hong Qi recalled, while Zhu Chen nodded, “Two little boys came to me, immediately asking to ride a big horse. I was dazed and just played along.”

Xia Wulei sighed, knowing this dungeon was unfriendly to female players, but she hadn’t expected it to be so dangerous even before the last day.

“When did I use it? How come I don’t remember?” Yu Huaiyu looked bewildered, still out of sorts.

“Didn’t you dream about anything last night?” Hong Qi couldn’t help but ask.

Yu Huaiyu shook her head. “I didn’t dream. But I felt like I couldn’t breathe, didn’t know what was wrong, and couldn’t wake up.”

“I felt like I was suffocating and can’t remember anything else. When I woke up again, I saw you all.”

Xia Wulei and Hong Qi exchanged a glance. It seemed Yu Huaiyu had used her charm at that moment.

“Oh, since waking up, my back has been itching. I don’t know why. Xia, can you take a look for me?”

Hearing this, Hong Qi and Zhu Chen wisely left the room.

Yu Huaiyu finally relaxed, turned around, and reached to scratch her back.

“So itchy… is it mosquitoes? How did they bite my back?”

Yu Huaiyu wore a loose short-sleeved shirt. Xia Wulei gently pushed away her frantic hands and lifted the back of her shirt.

At a single glance, both Xia Wulei and Chu Wei were horrified.

Yu Huaiyu’s pale back was covered with countless blue-purple handprints, densely packed.