Chapter 46 : Mending the Heart!
Chapter 46 - Mending the Heart!
Li Nan Ke opened his eyes and curiously surveyed the strange environment around him.
On all four sides, grotesque trees towered into the sky, and ancient vines blotted out the sun.
The ground was densely covered with ferns and bracken. Moonlight filtered through a thick layer of clouds, casting a vague, dark halo. It was gloomy and chilling, filled with a terrifying aura of death.
Clearly, he was inside a deep forest.
He was also within the Red Rain dream of the little girl named Qinqin.
Based on analysis, when a person falls into a Red Rain dream, the environment is one of the scenes most deeply ingrained in their memory.
It is highly likely to be the place where they experienced some psychological trauma.
In other words, it was highly likely that something had happened to Qinqin in a deep forest, leaving her with a psychological scar.
“Hey!”
A hand suddenly clapped him on the shoulder.
Li Nan Ke turned around.
Standing prettily before him was a young woman, her chest heaving and seemingly ready to burst forth—it was Meng Xiao Tu.
“Your mental fortitude is quite good. I thought you’d be very nervous, since this is your first time entering a Red Rain dream like this.”
Meng Xiao Tu was a little disappointed by the man’s reaction.
Li Nan Ke glanced behind her, but seeing no one else, he frowned and asked,
“Where is Lord Leng?”
“I don’t know, I’m looking for her too,” Meng Xiao Tu said, shaking her head with a smile.
“But don’t worry, she’s probably in a different spot. She’ll meet up with us; this sort of thing happens all the time.”
Li Nan Ke grunted in acknowledgment, then looked around at the dense forest and said,
“It’s strange. Why would the little girl’s Red Rain dream be in a place like this?”
“It’s not strange. Butcher Zheng often takes his daughter hunting in the mountain forests.”
“Hunting?”
“Yep,” Meng Xiao Tu said, pulling a carrot from under her skirt and munching on it.
“We’ve already investigated. Butcher Zheng enjoys hunting and frequently takes Qinqin along.”
“Tell me about their family situation.”
While waiting for Leng Xinnan to meet up with them, Li Nan Ke decided to learn more about the little girl.
However, Li Nan Ke was surprised that this girl could actually eat a carrot in the Red Rain dream. When they returned to the real world, would she no longer be hungry?
Also, were carrots in the Red Rain dream salty?
He really wanted to have a taste.
Meng Xiao Tu said, “Butcher Zheng has had two wives. Qinqin is his daughter from his first wife. When Qinqin was five, Mrs. Zheng became pregnant again, but she unfortunately died during a difficult birth. Neither the mother nor the child could be saved.”
“A year later, Butcher Zheng married a new wife, the current Mrs. Zheng. Although her personality is a bit fiery, she’s a capable homemaker. Her only issue is that her attitude toward Qinqin isn’t very good.”
“In the early spring of the next year, Mrs. Zheng gave birth to a plump baby boy, and the whole family was overjoyed.”
“But unexpectedly, after only two months, the baby boy died for no apparent reason.”
“At the time, Qinqin was the only one in the room.”
“So now, Butcher Zheng only has his daughter, Qinqin, and dotes on her exceptionally. But six days ago, when Butcher Zheng took Qinqin hunting, the little girl accidentally wandered off and got lost.”
“It wasn’t until the next day that an old hunter discovered Qinqin, allowing her to finally return home.”
“After returning home, Qinqin stopped talking. She would stay holed up in her room all day, too afraid to come out, and would sometimes have nightmares. This afternoon, she had another nightmare, but her family didn’t think much of it, having grown accustomed to it.”
“Who would have thought that this time, she wouldn’t wake up no matter how they called to her. Eventually, it alerted the patrolling yamen runners, which is how we got involved.”
After hearing Meng Xiao Tu’s account, Li Nan Ke fell into deep thought.
That was quite a load of information.
It seemed the reason Qinqin was trapped in a Red Rain dream was that she had been lost in the mountain forest for a whole night six days ago.
What happened that night?
Did being alone in the terrifying forest create a psychological trauma?
Or was she nearly attacked by a wild beast?
Or did she happen to see the Demonic Creature from Yun City?
Any of the above were possible. After all, for an eight-year-old girl, there were far too many things that could cause a nightmare.
“Huh? Why isn't Sister Leng here yet?”
Meng Xiao Tu sounded puzzled. She tossed aside the half-eaten carrot in her hand, clapped the dust off, and said,
“Forget it, let’s not wait. Judging by the time, the Nightmare will appear soon. That little girl must be hiding somewhere. We’ll go look for her first, and maybe we’ll run into Sister Leng along the way.”
As she spoke, she slipped a ring onto Li Nan Ke’s ring finger.
“We’ll split up. Don’t be afraid. If you run into any danger, or if you find Sister Leng and Qinqin, just rub this ring three times, and I’ll appear at your side instantly.”
“Also, don’t be fooled by how vast this place seems. The setting of a Red Rain dream is actually confined to a small area. You’ll be blocked when you reach the boundary, so you don’t need to worry about getting lost.”
Li Nan Ke understood.
To put it simply, the Red Rain dream had invisible walls.
“I’m off.”
With a twist of her firm yet sensuous waist, Meng Xiao Tu waved at Li Nan Ke.
“See you in a bit, Big Brain.”
Li Nan Ke looked down at the ring on his ring finger and muttered, “Is this a marriage proposal?”
……
The dense forest was so silent it seemed to be slumbering in the fear of death.
The stench of rotting wood made Leng Xinnan, alone in the forest, feel inexplicably nauseous.
“Little Rabbit!”
“Li Nan Ke!”
The woman called out several times but received no response.
“Strange, where are those two?”
With doubt in her heart, Leng Xinnan moved cautiously through the forest, searching. The dull crunch of her footsteps occasionally broke the silence.
Suddenly, something cold touched her pale, jade-like cheek.
Leng Xinnan subconsciously touched her cheek, the pad of her finger coming away wet. Looking up, she saw that snowflakes had begun to fall from the sky.
The snowflakes fell, slowly at first, then faster, drifting down one after another in silence and stillness.
Soon, a hazy curtain of snow formed before Leng Xinnan’s eyes, and a thick layer had already accumulated on the ground.
The mountain forest had turned completely white, as if it had become a different world.
“An illusion?”
Encountering an illusion within a Red Rain dream was not a common occurrence, especially given that this was merely a little girl’s dream.
An inexplicable chill ran through Leng Xinnan’s body as she faintly sensed that something was amiss.
Just then, she suddenly saw a figure.
In the middle of the snowstorm, a petite figure was staggering through the forest with great difficulty, her frail body looking as if it might be toppled by the wind at any moment.
“Qinqin!” Leng Xinnan hurriedly chased after her.
But she had only taken a few steps when a transparent, resilient wall materialized out of thin air before her, sending her, completely unprepared, flying backward.
“How is there a barrier?”
Leng Xinnan, who had been thrown into the snow, was stunned.
Seeing the little girl continue onward, she scrambled to her feet and shouted,
“Qinqin! Stop!”
Whether it was because of the barrier or the howling wind and snow, the little girl didn’t hear her at all. She continued to trudge forward with difficulty, seemingly cradling something in her arms.
It was only when Leng Xinnan got a bit closer, still on the other side of the barrier, that she could faintly recognize what the girl was holding: an infant.
The little girl wasn’t dressed warmly, yet she still tried her best to hold the infant close to her own thin body, wrapping it in her outer coat.
“Is that her brother who died at two months old?”
Recalling Butcher Zheng’s family situation, an answer gradually formed in Leng Xinnan’s mind.
Perhaps this was an unresolved issue in Qinqin’s heart.
After all, the infant’s death was too strange.
Watching the little girl walk further into the distance, Leng Xinnan hurried after her. But no matter how she tried to approach, the barrier seemed endless, always keeping her separated from the child.
Just then, the sound of a howl faintly carried through the wind and snow.
Leng Xinnan snapped her head up to look ahead of the little girl and distinctly saw several dark figures moving against the white snow of the night.
It was wolves!
No, it was Nightmares!
Because the pack of wolves was formed from black mist.
Leng Xinnan’s expression changed drastically. She screamed at the little girl:
“Qinqin, don’t go any further! Hide! Quickly! Qinqin!”
But the little girl just kept her head down, walking onward, completely unaware that she was getting closer and closer to the Nightmares. Leng Xinnan cursed under her breath and desperately channeled her spiritual energy, hammering her fists against the barrier.
However, no matter how desperately she tried, she couldn’t break the barrier.
“Little Rabbit!!”
Leng Xinnan shouted several times, hoping Meng Xiao Tu would arrive in time. The girl was a high-level Dream Master, and her power within a Red Rain dream was greater than her own; perhaps she could break the barrier.
But still, there was no response.
The pack of wolves formed from black mist had already surrounded the little girl.
The terrified little girl backed against a rock, her small body trembling uncontrollably, yet she continued to clutch the infant in her arms protectively.
“Damn it!”
Leng Xinnan hammered on the barrier like a madwoman, trying to draw the Nightmares’ attention, but to no avail.
Now, she began to suspect that the mysterious woman was behind this.
A test for Li Nan Ke.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for a barrier to appear in a little girl’s Red Rain dream.
As Leng Xinnan wracked her brain for a rescue plan, the very air, swirling with fierce winds and snow, began to twist inexplicably. Then, a humanoid black shadow abruptly materialized in the sky above the little girl and the pack of wolves.
The black shadow was as tall as the God of Death, looming over a large part of the area.
In an instant, the pack of black-mist wolves dissolved into wisps of smoke and vanished into the heavy snow.
“How could this be…”
Leng Xinnan was stunned by this scene.
At that moment, she realized that perhaps Qinqin’s Nightmare wasn't the wolf pack, but this mysterious black shadow!
The barrier also existed because of the black shadow.
What on earth did Qinqin see in the deep forest that night?
As Leng Xinnan pondered, the black shadow began to speak. Its voice was vacant and merciless, as cold as the sound of dry bamboo scraping the earth, like the wind rustling through the trees.
“The baby boy in your arms, who is he to you?”
The little girl whimpered like a frightened kitten, too scared to speak.
“He is already dead… You killed him.”
“No!”
The little girl seemed to have been provoked. Her childish voice became somewhat shrill as she shook her head desperately.
“He… he fell… fell from the sky. He g-got hurt from the fall.”
The black shadow let out a cackle, full of mockery.
“Since he fell from the sky, then let me send him back. He doesn't belong here.”
Emanating a terrifying aura, the black shadow slowly extended a hand.
The hand looked like a withered branch from a shadow play, like a skeletal claw stripped of flesh, appearing especially horrifying against the white snow.
This is bad, it’s attacking her mind!
It’s torturing the girl’s heart!
Leng Xinnan’s face went pale. Disregarding her own internal injuries, she channeled her spiritual energy with all her might. Layers of solid ice formed into sharp awls that shot toward the obstructing barrier.
Bang!
The solid ice shattered in an instant.
The barrier only wobbled a few times like jelly, remaining unpierced.
Leng Xinnan flew backward and slammed into a tree. Her entire body ached as if from the backlash of her own attack.
Ignoring the pain, she scrambled up and rushed toward the barrier again.
“Qinqin! Close your eyes and don’t look at it!”
Although she knew that shouting was useless, it was the only thing Leng Xinnan could do at that moment, her heart filled with immense anxiety.
“Go away!”
The little girl cried out in terror, curling her already frail body even tighter, as if trying to squeeze herself into a crack in the cold rock.
But even under these circumstances, she still held the infant tightly, shielding it with her own body, terrified that it would come to harm.
The black shadow said apathetically:
“This infant’s heart is missing a piece. Since you want to save him, then… take a piece of your own heart to patch it up.”
The sharp black claw, dancing like a shadow in the air, stabbed mercilessly toward the little girl.
“Bastard! I know you can sense me! Come at me if you have any guts!”
Leng Xinnan’s eyes turned red, her pupils constricting horribly. She wished she could charge in and hack the Nightmare to pieces.
She knew the Nightmare could perceive her presence, yet it was deliberately ignoring her.
Even provoking her.
Puchi!
The sharp claw pierced the little girl’s chest, right over her heart.
Leng Xinnan smashed against the barrier in a fury. Perhaps it was a relapse of her internal injuries, as the familiar pain in her chest assaulted her once more, feeling as if it would tear her open. The beating of her heart grew erratic…
“Little girl, do you remember your name?” the black shadow’s indifferent voice floated down.
The little girl replied weakly, “My… My name is Leng Xinnan.”
Boom!
The once snow-white sky was suddenly stained with a crimson glow, which reflected off the woman’s beautiful and utterly stunned face.
So, it turned out…
This was my Nightmare.