Chapter 86

A green light flickered all over Gu Qingming's body, but the chalk mist could not block the spider light. Strange purple threads flashed by, creating a terrifying and hideous scene like a crack in space.

Cao Sheng ran over and tried to pull Gu Qingming over, but someone was faster than him.

Chu Zhongyuan rushed over without any thought, relying on his instinctive reaction, and then held Gu Qingming's hand tightly.

Just like when they first met at Lantai No. 1 Middle School, Gu Qingming jumped down from a high place without hesitation and held his hand.

The spider web did not reject them, and instantly took them both into its range, entwining around their en factors and tightening suddenly.

Cao Sheng and the other two wanted to reach out to pull them up, but they only had time to catch the young men's limp bodies.

Cao Sheng checked the condition of the two people with a frown, confirming that they were breathing normally and the en factor was functioning normally, but they just fell into a deep sleep, then he explained.

"It should be the spider poison of Yin Gu Nv...it has the effect of making people fall asleep."

Although he said this, his brows were still furrowed, without any sign of relaxation.

As the inheritor of Miaojiang Gu technique, Yin Gu practiced the spider Gu that was related to illusions and dreams. Her Gu was the most insidious and cunning among the five poisonous Gu. By guiding people in dreams, the spider Gu would make people fall into the most beautiful dream, and then they would be intoxicated by it and could never wake up again.

"...In the dream, they will be bewitched by various spider poisons. If they choose the wrong option... they may never wake up again."

Cao Sheng carried Gu Qingming on his back, while Zheng Qiuji and Luo Dong helped Chu Zhongyuan up. After all, this was not a place to stay for long, and the condition of the two needed a more stable place to deal with it, such as the CPA camp built by several CPA masters.

"The most beautiful thing..."

Zheng Qiuji and Luo Dong lowered their eyes.

They were not sure whether they could break free from such a dream, but for some reason, a kind of trust that could even be called strange arose in their hearts.

"That's Brother Gu and Chu Zhongyuan."

Zheng Qiuji thought, how could it be difficult to get them?

He had only been in the mysterious world for a little over a year, but he had already been promoted to a C-level member by the big boss.

At the end of countless phantom colors twisted together, Gu Qingming couldn't even feel his own existence.

He felt as if he was traveling in colorful black, unable to see any outlines, only blocks of colors piled together in a mess.

He struggled hard in the chaos, struggled madly, and finally found a ray of light at dawn.

He passed through the thin white line, like a drowning man breaking through the surface of the sea, and finally gained the attachment of oxygen.

Gu Qingming's vision returned to normal, but everything in front of him was still hazy and unclear, and it seemed that there was a voice whispering in his ear.

"Xiao Qingming? Can you hear me? Xiao Qingming?"

He tried hard to focus his vision, and the beautiful and familiar face of the woman appeared in front of the boy. Her eyes were sparkling, like the unyielding sun and the wind of an expedition.

"……Mother?!"

Gu Qingming spoke in disbelief.

"Are you confused because of sleep? How come you don't even recognize your mother?"

Gu Nanfeng tapped Gu Qingming's forehead with amusement. The touch was too warm and real, making Gu Qingming addicted to it for a moment and unable to extricate himself.

He looked around in silence and found that he had returned to his home in Dezhu City without knowing when.

Clean white and blue double curtains, a bright and clean living room, a bookcase with a few geography books casually placed on it, and even an ugly little duck embroidered on the corner of the curtain - Gu Qingming still remembered that it must be a hole he accidentally burned on his mother's favorite curtain when he was naughty. In order not to make his mother angry, he sewed it stitch by stitch with a flashlight late at night.

Unexpectedly, when the mother saw the little duck, she just laughed out loud and didn't look angry at all.

The surroundings were too familiar and real, real to a terrifying degree.

Gu Qingming could even smell the lingering jasmine scent in his mother's hair.

Is this also... fake?

As if something terrible had eroded his consciousness, Gu Qingming raised his hand, but was grasped by Gu Nanfeng.

"You don't have a fever either. That's strange. Did you do too much homework?"

Gu Nanfeng was just as vivid as in Gu Qingming's memory, smiling, the skirt of her natural-colored dress designed by Gu Qingming's father swaying on the sofa like lake waves.

"…Today is Sunday, Mom."

Gu Qingming rubbed his brows and said, "I usually don't do my homework on Sundays."

"Hey, I thought you were a busy man. You're not idle even on Sundays."

Gu Nanfeng stuck out his tongue and pulled Gu Qingming up. "Let's go, we finally have a weekend, of course we have to treat our elementary school bully well--"

Gu Qingming looked at the familiar face and almost wanted to grab it with his backhand and follow his mother's figure.

But it doesn't work.

"Gu Qingming!"

A torn deep blue space gap appeared along with a shout. Gu Qingming turned back abruptly. He had not yet held Gu Nanfeng's hand, but he did not miss it. The gentle and bright woman's face suddenly became hideous.

Gu Nanfeng gritted his teeth and frowned: "Come here, Gu Qingming, why, don't you miss your mother at all?"

“Don’t go over there!”

Chu Zhongyuan struggled to expose half of his body from the crack, then staggered a step and jumped out of the gap in space.

The moment he saw his grandfather when he woke up, he realized that something was wrong, because Sanfu was standing beside his grandfather, looking at him with an extremely fierce look.

The usually docile weasel suddenly jumped onto him and kept biting him. Although it did not cause him any harm, the pain awakened Chu Zhongyuan's mind.

He was already in high school and had not been in Lin Ling for a long time. How could he appear in front of him so suddenly?

Chu Zhongyuan realized something was wrong instantly, and then his grandfather's figure suddenly became ferocious. With the help of Sanfu, he finally found the entrance to the space to escape. However, after leaving the strange forest, he saw Gu Qingming about to hold the hand of a woman he had never met.

Although they had never met, Chu Zhongyuan had heard his classmate Xiao Ming describe his mother many times, and recognized her at a glance. It should be Gu Nanfeng.

To be precise, it was a dream spider disguised as Gu Nanfeng.

Spider Gu has a way of distorting people's hearts. From Chu Zhongyuan's perspective, there is something wrong with "Gu Nanfeng" all over her body, but from Gu Qingming's perspective, "Gu Nanfeng" is exactly the same as the mother in his memory.

Under the influence of the spider poison, people's memories will try their best to complete the familiar people in front of them and become more real.

"Come here, my...good boy."

The spider seemed a little anxious and wanted to pull Gu Qingming over completely.

But Gu Qingming suddenly took two steps back, with a look of deep vigilance on his face.

"Are you a dream? Or a Gu?"

He tilted his head slightly and quickly realized that the familiar person in front of him must be the Yin Gu woman's doing.

Chu Zhongyuan quickly ran two steps forward, and Gu Qingming hurriedly stepped back, and the two stood side by side perfectly again.

The moment Gu Qingming saw through the dream, Gu Nanfeng's facial expression quickly faded and turned into a hideous, faceless human figure.

But the human figure was still laughing.

Beside him, an old man with crutches stood up, causing Chu Zhongyuan's pupils to shrink slightly.

After a brief twist, the two faceless figures took shape again.

The familiar faces of their loved ones appeared before them again, exactly the same as they remembered.

Chu Zhongyuan's grandfather and Gu Qingming's mother smiled with pretended tenderness.

“Gu Qingming…my child, you have grown up…you obviously miss your mother so much, why don’t you come and stay with us.”

The figure of Gu Qingming's father also appeared behind Gu Nanfeng. The scholarly man pushed his glasses in the same way as Gu Qingming.

"Come on, let's stay together as a family. Aren't mom and dad important enough to you?"

"Kid... come here, let's continue living together in Linling. Aren't you lonely in Lantai City?"

Chu Zhongyuan's grandfather tapped the ground with his cane, and a smile seemed to appear on his hazy face.

Intense pain spread in their minds. The terrible loneliness and struggle outlined the limbs of the two young men like silk threads. The omnipresent sadness permeated. Even the strongest people have their own weaknesses.

Although he played around a lot in school and was so unconventional that he enjoyed bullying others, Chu Zhongyuan would occasionally feel lonely and helpless in the dark of night. He would look at the hustle and bustle of life and the empty apartment behind him and fall into silence.

In the night of Lantai City, Gu Qingming would occasionally think of the interesting things in the distant past. He hugged his quilt tightly, trying to get a glimpse of the warm and complete home in his memory from the old things.

But, but even so.

Even if I am tossing and turning in the dark night, even if I come home from school and can only shout to the empty room: "I'm back."

Even if I am very sad and feel the pain of being abandoned, I will question myself in my dreams and wonder if I am not good enough.

But truth is truth, and falsehood is falsehood.

"Yeah, Mom, I really, really miss you and Dad."

Gu Qingming closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his eyes were clear.

"But, precisely because you are so important to me, I can't stay here."

Gu Qingming lowered his eyes and shook his head, his expression as gentle as spring water. After a flash, the bronze spear in his hand appeared.

Without hesitation, he swung his bronze spear, wrapped in green wind, and smashed everything around him.

The swirling dark colors twisted together, and they seemed to have returned to that time again.

In that initial black space.

In a trance, many shadows of people flashed before them.

"Do you miss Grandpa?"

——I want to, I want to too much.

Chu Zhongyuan answered in his heart uncontrollably.

"Do you miss mom and dad?"

——I want to, I want to too much.

Gu Qingming couldn't help but answer in his heart.

"Do you want to leave with Grandpa?"

——But——I can’t.

"Do you want to leave with mom and dad?"

———But, no.

Sorry, but they can't.

We cannot selfishly throw away the truth and indulge in illusions.

They still have companions, teachers, and responsibilities waiting for them.