“Don’t worry. I was someone who should have died long ago to begin with.”
Then he seemed almost relieved, and said:
“You’ve already far exceeded my expectations. I believe it won’t be long before you completely surpass us—even accomplish things that some of those before us could never do.”
He turned around and ordered the big black dog:
“Come here!”
The black dog immediately ran to Yang Xiao’s side and sat down quietly.
As the Ghost Dream was completely replaced by the big black dog before them, the scenery around them began to change rapidly.
A large tree appeared out of thin air beside the two of them, followed by tree after tree rising from the ground. In just a moment, a dense forest had enveloped them both.
An old, worn little wooden cabin appeared right in front of them.
Yang Xiao said, “This dog has never once walked out of this forest in its life. My original plan was to trap the ghost here. One day, the dog would gradually replace the Ghost Dream and become an entirely new existence.”
“But because of your appearance.”
Yang Xiao pointed at Yang Jian.
“A ghost controller beyond my expectations compressed this process into an extremely short period of time through the intervention of another fierce ghost.”
Yang Jian said coldly, “Cut the nonsense. No matter how much you flatter me, you’re still going to die. Help me control this dog.”
Yang Xiao walked over and stood opposite Yang Jian.
The big black dog glared viciously at Yang Jian, an eerie numbness within its ferocious gaze.
Yang Jian knew very well that this vicious dog was now the Ghost Dream. It had already completely replaced the fierce ghost, becoming a unique existence. There was no risk of a fierce ghost’s revival; as long as it wished, it could kill Yang Jian in an instant.
But the dog did not attack Yang Jian. It only stared at him fiercely. Even so, Yang Jian remained full of vigilance. This dog only recognized his father.
Yang Xiao said:
“A dog absolutely loyal to me. Other control methods aren’t very feasible. The only way is to make it judge you as me, to guide the identity of its master onto you. Only then can it obey your commands.”
Yang Jian nodded. Yang Jian already looked extremely similar to his father; this method was currently the most likely to work.
“What are you planning to do?”
Yang Xiao said, “When I trained it, every time it completed one of my commands, I would pat its head. In a moment, have it turn around and pat it. Don’t be afraid. You resemble me by seventy to eighty percent; it won’t dare bite you to death.”
“You make it sound easy.”
Yang Xiao walked up to Yang Jian, almost pressing against him.
He heavily patted Yang Jian on the shoulder, then turned around and stood on the same line as Yang Jian.
He ordered the big black dog, “Turn around.”
The black dog immediately turned around and sat on the ground.
Then Yang Xiao turned his head slightly and said, “Pass a message to your mother for me.”
“No problem.”
“Actually, back then, the box she used for her dowry was taken by me to contain a ghost. I was afraid she’d find out, so I took the dowry inside along with it. I left everything in that wooden cabin.”
“That’s it?”
Before Yang Jian could finish speaking, Yang Xiao’s entire body suddenly began to blur between real and illusory. Cracks were gradually spreading all over him.
In the face of the supernatural, partings were always so abrupt.
Yang Xiao continued, “You have a very good friend. He shouldn’t die here.”
Then, with a crisp crack, Yang Xiao’s body shattered into countless shards of mirror.
“I’m sorry to your mother...”
Yang Jian stood silently in place, staring at the glass shards scattered across the ground. In this dream, he possessed all the joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness that an ordinary person should have.
After a long while, Yang Jian ordered the big black dog, “Turn back around.”
The big black dog immediately turned around. In the black dog’s eyes, its master had just ordered it to turn away, and then ordered it to turn back.
It tilted its head and kept staring at Yang Jian. Though the master before it was just a tiny bit different, it wasn’t that smart. After all, it was only a dog.
Yang Jian immediately reached out and patted the big black dog on the head, giving it no time to react.
The black dog immediately let out a whimper. Its master had not patted it in a very long time.
“Lie down.”
The black dog immediately flopped onto its side, exposing its furry belly.
“Very good... It worked...”
Yang Jian stood up, picked up the wooden box on the ground, and placed his father’s head inside it.
This was his father’s remains from reality, brought into this dream. His father had fought against the supernatural for most of his life, and in the end, he had not even left behind an intact corpse. Yang Jian wanted to bring this head back to Meishan Village and properly bury his father.
He turned around and said to the big black dog, “Take me out of here.”
Liu Xiaoyu’s slightly anxious voice came from beside his ear: “Yang Jian, why aren’t you talking? Did you encounter a supernatural incident? Yang Jian?”
He slowly opened his eyes. Light snow was still falling from the sky, and he was right downstairs from Liu Jing’s home.
Yang Jian immediately said, “How long has it been since I answered the phone?”
Liu Xiaoyu was stunned. “About... one minute? You hadn’t said anything this whole time. I thought you’d run into a ghost.”
A trace of surprise flashed through Yang Jian’s eyes. From the time he entered the dream to the moment he woke up, less than a minute had actually passed.
“Captain Yang...” At that moment, Lin Bei’s weak voice came over.
Yang Jian’s expression shifted. The lake water immediately surged like waves, spreading out in all directions with Yang Jian at the center. Amid a field of red light, Yang Jian helped Lin Bei up from the ground; he was already barely recognizable as human.
At this moment, three strange expressions flickered in and out on Lin Bei’s face, almost exactly the same as the Buddha statue Yang Jian had seen in the dream.
Yang Jian immediately picked up the phone and said, “Lin Bei is going to die. Tell Wang Xiaoming to send me the location of that bus.”
Lin Bei weakly looked at Yang Jian. “Captain Yang... did we succeed?”
Yang Jian nodded and glanced at the big black dog leaping out from the lake nearby. He had indeed left the dream. That nightmare had been far too bizarre; even now, Yang Jian still somewhat suspected that he might still be dreaming.
The satellite phone vibrated. Yang Jian looked at the coordinates on it. Wang Xiaoming’s reaction was very fast. Even without knowing what Yang Jian and Lin Bei had encountered, he immediately made the optimal judgment and sent over the bus’s location.
“Let’s go. You’re about to die. Better get back on the bus and stay there.”
Lin Bei’s face immediately turned bitter. “Can I not go? I know a place that should be able to suppress my fierce ghost’s revival.”
“Sure.” Yang Jian nodded.
“On this day next year, I’ll burn more paper money for you.”
“Then I’ll go after all. I think the bus is pretty good. It shelters you from wind and rain.”
Above DQ City, an extremely sharp scarlet streak was cutting through the clouds at an inconceivable speed.
Yang Jian’s current condition was very good. The restlessness of the fierce ghost’s revival had completely vanished. Moreover, after waking from the dream, he could actually once again feel a faint trace of the emotions he had gradually been losing.
Both he and Lin Bei had this feeling. It seemed that in the dream, they could recover some of the self they had long since lost.
On a wasteland in the outskirts of Dajing City, the figures of Yang Jian and Lin Bei suddenly appeared.
“Wah—” Lin Bei fell to his knees and actually vomited up a large pool of black blood. His body was gradually splitting apart.
Yang Jian did not choose to help Lin Bei reset. If the problem of the fierce ghost’s revival could not be resolved, then no matter how many times he reset him, it would not save Lin Bei’s life.
Just then, a dilapidated bus appeared up ahead at some unknown time, slowly driving toward the two of them.
The dim yellow lights looked especially eerie in the night. There was not a single person on the entire bus—not even a driver.