Yang Jian and Xiao Yuan were sitting in a luxurious private room. Before them was a large round table laden with many dishes.
Just then, a lifeless voice sounded beside Yang Jian's ear:
"Guest, your dishes are all served. Please enjoy at your leisure."
A horrifying arm covered in corpse spots extended from Yang Jian's side, carrying a plate of food that was still steaming hot.
Such an abrupt scene transition left Yang Jian momentarily stunned. Following the arm upward, his pupils suddenly contracted.
A numb, vacant old man's face appeared before him.
The Knocking Ghost—Qian Wanhao's grandfather.
Without the slightest hesitation, Yang Jian grabbed a plate and was about to smash it at this old ghost. If he couldn't win in reality, how could he fear it in this dream?
However, right then, a shard of glass flew in first, viciously piercing into the Knocking Ghost's chest with such force that it pinned him to the wall of the private room.
"Yang Jian, is that you?"
Yang Jian followed the voice to look across the dining table. Lin Bei was sitting there, but he looked to be in excellent spirits, his eyes bright and piercing—a stark contrast to his previously gloomy demeanor.
"Lin Bei?"
Seeing Lin Bei, Yang Jian was somewhat surprised, but he quickly realized that Lin Bei had been beside him at the time. It seemed he had also been dragged into this dream.
"Yang Jian, can you tell me just what kind of ghostly thing we've provoked?"
Lin Bei held a small shard of glass in his hand, seemingly on guard against Yang Jian and Xiao Yuan. He couldn't be certain whether the Yang Jian before him was real.
Xiao Yuan immediately charged forward with a sharp knife upon seeing this. Judging by her posture, she wouldn't rest until she had stabbed Lin Bei to death. In this nightmare world, she trusted no one except Yang Jian.
"Xiao Yuan! Don't be rash!"
Yang Jian immediately stopped her. This cousin of his had an even more ferocious personality than him. Yang Jian would start fighting if words disagreed; Xiao Yuan would try to kill the other party upon first meeting.
Lin Bei's face showed shock when he saw Xiao Yuan charging over. He also stood up, gripping the glass shard and preparing to strike.
"Lin Bei, don't act rashly! This is my cousin."
"Cousin?"
Lin Bei was taken aback, then immediately showed an expression of sudden realization. He sat back down and said:
"You should have said so sooner. This cousin of yours is practically carved from the same mold as you. It really runs in the family."
Lin Bei had witnessed Yang Jian's style of handling matters on the bus—absolutely no retreat, and he would drag people off for a one-on-one fight if words failed. That ghost controller named Xu Feng had been thoroughly subdued by him.
Yang Jian's face was full of dark lines. This cousin indeed shared his personality, especially when it came to fighting. He said somewhat awkwardly:
"Let's not talk about that. How are you here?"
Lin Bei rubbed his bald head and said, "I don't know either. When you activated your ghost domain back then, I suddenly felt very sleepy. After turning around, I arrived at a shopping mall where I was being chased and killed by dozens of headless corpses."
"Shopping mall? Headless corpses?"
Yang Jian thought of his Headless Ghost Shadow, which had been detained at Furen Shopping Mall.
It seemed that within this dream world, Lin Bei had entered another manifestation of a scene he had experienced.
"That's right." Lin Bei nodded.
"It chased me and I ran; I ran and it chased."
"Then how did you get here?"
Yang Jian looked at the environment of this private room. No matter how he looked at it, this place resembled where Miao Xiaoshan's cousin had encountered the Mirror Ghost attack.
Lin Bei said, "The ghost I control requires mirrors as a medium. Inside the mall, I found a mirror in a clothing store and escaped. By the time I realized it, I was already here."
Mirrors? Yang Jian thought about how he and Xiao Yuan had just fallen into a world full of mirrors, where there was also a bizarre giant Buddha.
Yang Jian looked at the glass shard in Lin Bei's hand. That giant Buddha might have something to do with him.
But Lin Bei didn't seem willing to reveal more information about the fierce ghost he controlled.
After all, such information concerning one's own life wouldn't be easily shown to others normally, let alone when Lin Bei still harbored doubts about Yang Jian's authenticity.
Lin Bei had been observing Yang Jian the entire time. He still couldn't be sure of Yang Jian's authenticity.
"Can you tell me now just what kind of ghostly thing we've provoked? This place is too bizarre. Logically speaking, even if I enter a dream, I shouldn't be experiencing those strange events."
Even if he entered a dream, he wouldn't enter here...
Yang Jian keenly caught that there was something odd about Lin Bei's final sentence.
The current Yang Jian had lost all his supernatural abilities. He was no longer that Ghost Eye Yang Jian people spoke of, but an ordinary person. He could only do his utmost to analyze any information he could currently understand.
'That is to say, Lin Bei isn't encountering dream-related supernatural phenomena for the first time. On the bus, his state was very much like being asleep and chased by ghosts in a dream.'
'If we continue inferring from this, it's highly likely that Lin Bei possesses means to counter nightmares. Otherwise, he couldn't have survived in the dream while that dried corpse bride attacked him.'
'But the most important thing right now is to first confirm his authenticity, to avoid any further mistakes.'
Thinking this, Yang Jian spoke up: "I can only tell you what I know, but before that, wait a moment."
Saying this, Yang Jian picked up a plate from the table, suddenly turned around, and smashed it toward the Knocking Ghost pinned to the wall.
"Bam!!"
A muffled sound rang out. The Knocking Ghost's head was actually smashed deeply inward by Yang Jian. Yang Jian raised his hand and struck again with a knife, directly piercing through his heart.
Yang Jian had always been like this—if someone bit him once, he returned a hundred blades.
Not to mention that the current Yang Jian was just an ordinary person, possessing all emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. This long-lost feeling made him feel as if he had returned to his school days with Zhang Wei.
"Try knocking on my door again?"
Yang Jian felt much better in mood. He discarded the utensils stained with black blood and sat back down.
"Alright, let's continue."
Lin Bei watched from across with dumbstruck eyes. He suddenly remembered that he seemed to have knocked on Yang Jian's door today as well, and a wave of fear arose in his heart.
And through Yang Jian's act of violently beating an elderly man just now, Lin Bei could almost confirm that the Yang Jian before him was the real person.
Throughout the supernatural circle, anyone who knew Yang Jian—after witnessing that scene just now—wouldn't doubt the authenticity of the Yang Jian before them.
Lin Bei wiped the cold sweat from his bald head and said, "Well then... Team Leader Yang, about me knocking on your door today..."
"Don't knock next time."
Yang Jian picked up a napkin and wiped the filthy blood from his hands.
"Get to the point. Regarding this dream world, I don't have much information at present. I only know that it's a ghost my father once controlled."
"Your father?!"
Lin Bei's expression showed some surprise, but looking at Yang Jian, then looking at Xiao Yuan, he felt this matter was perfectly reasonable. It seemed this entire family wasn't quite normal.