Chapter 33: Nightmare Village
"We have to go," Chu Yun's voice broke the silence in the cave. He stood up and took the scorching "Shadow" token back into his arms. Mo Li also paused. She carefully wrapped the pre-assembled parts in a piece of black cloth. "We just need to calibrate the final few core nodes. I can finish them on the way." "Will we make it in time?" Li Ge asked, her eyes fixed warily outside the cave. "Even if we don't make it in time," Mo Li said firmly. "Without the 'Heart Knot,' even if we reach that 'Nightmare Village,' it's a dead end." Without another word, the three of them quickly packed their bags, and with Li Ge leading the way, they left their temporary hiding place in the cave. They chose not to take the main road, but instead traversed the rugged mountains and forests, trying to obliterate every trace of their presence. Five days later, on the southern border of Xinjiang, in a village called "Wangyou," the three of them entered the village entrance, exhausted, their faces etched with unconcealed fatigue. For the past five days, they'd barely slept, constantly racing against the ever-present pursuit. Fortunately, Li Ge's anti-tracking methods were exceptionally sophisticated, always managing to steer them past Shadow Pavilion's search range at crucial moments. "This is it," Chu Yun paused. The "Heavenly Heart" in his embrace was emitting a faint warmth, guiding them towards this seemingly ordinary little village. "Wangyou Village..." Li Ge muttered the name, his brow furrowed. "I feel like I've heard this name somewhere before." The village was quiet, almost too quiet. It was afternoon, a time when smoke from cooking fires should be rising and children playing, but the entire village was devoid of human voices. The streets were deserted, and every wooden door was shut, as if it were a deserted city. "Something's wrong," Chu Yun said gravely. He could sense a thick, cold energy enveloping the village. This evil energy was unlike any he had encountered before. It carried no murderous intent, but like a toxin, it silently seeped into the mind. His inner strength reacted strongly to it, and a stabbing pain shot through his chest once again. "Let's find a place to stay and observe the situation," Chu Yun decided. The three of them walked along the deserted streets deeper into the village. Suddenly, Mo Li stopped and pointed at the doorway of a house not far away. "Look." Chu Yun and Li Ge looked in the direction she pointed and saw a child, about seven or eight years old, sitting at the door...
"We have to go." Chu Yun's voice broke the silence in the cave. He stood up and took the hot "Shadow" token back into his arms.
Mo Li also stopped what she was doing. She carefully wrapped the pre-assembled parts in a piece of black cloth. "We just need to calibrate the last few core nodes. I can finish it on the way."
"Is it too late?" Li Ge asked, her eyes always looking outside the cave vigilantly.
"It's not too late, but it's not too late." Mo Li's tone was very firm. "Without the 'Knot of Love', even if we reach that 'Nightmare Village', it will be a dead end."
Without saying anything more, the three of them quickly packed up their bags, and with Li Ge leading the way, they left the cave they were temporarily hiding in. They chose not to take the main road, but instead walked through the rugged and difficult mountains and forests, trying their best to erase all traces of themselves.
Five days later, in the southern border of Xinjiang, there was a village called "Wangyou".
The three of them walked into the village entrance, exhausted, each face etched with unconcealed fatigue. For the past five days, they had barely slept, constantly racing against the ever-present pursuit. Fortunately, Li Ge's anti-tracking methods were extremely sophisticated, always leading them out of Shadow Pavilion's search range at crucial moments.
"This is it." Chu Yun stopped. The "Heart of Heaven" in his arms was emitting a faint warmth, and the direction it was pointing to was finally this seemingly ordinary little village.
"Wangyou Village..." Li Ge read the name, but his brows were tightly furrowed. "I always feel like I've heard this name somewhere before."
The village was quiet, almost too quiet. It was afternoon, a time when smoke from cooking fires should be rising and children playing, but there was not a sound of life in the entire village. The streets were deserted, and the wooden doors of every house were closed, as if this were a deserted city.
"Something's not right," Chu Yun said gravely. He could sense a thick, cold energy enveloping the entire village. This energy was unlike any evil energy he had encountered before. It carried no murderous intent, but like a toxin, it silently seeped into the mind. The power within him violently rejected it, and a stabbing pain shot through his chest once again.
"Let's find a place to stay first and observe the situation." Chu Yun made a decision.
The three of them walked along the deserted streets deeper into the village. Suddenly, Mo Li stopped and pointed at the door of a house not far away: "Look."
Chu Yun and Li Ge looked in the direction she pointed and saw a little girl of seven or eight sitting at the door of the house. Dressed in clean, coarse cloth, she lowered her head, concentrating on weaving a grass ring. Her movements were slow, but meticulous. In the dead silence of the village, her presence seemed out of place.
Chu Yun's brow furrowed even more. He took a few steps closer to the girl, and the tingling sensation in his chest, caused by the power, miraculously eased a lot. This discovery made him feel a stir, and he became extremely curious about this girl.
"Little sister," Chu Yun tried to speak in a gentle voice, "Why are you sitting here alone? Where are your parents?"
The girl raised her head. She had a pair of very clear eyes, like two black gemstones. She looked at Chu Yun and did not answer his question. She just handed him a grass ring she had just woven and said, "This is for you."
Her voice is soft and clean.
Chu Yun was stunned for a moment before accepting the grass ring. The ring was made of an unknown type of grass and carried a refreshing fragrance. The moment he touched the ring, he felt a cool breeze emanating from it, instantly calming the restless energy within him.
"This is..." Chu Yun looked at the grass ring in his hand in shock.
"It can help you sleep well." After saying this, the girl lowered her head and continued to weave the next grass ring, no longer paying attention to them.
The three of them exchanged glances, each seeing surprise and suspicion in the other's eyes. This girl was definitely not simple.
"I might know where this is." Li Ge's voice suddenly became extremely solemn. "Wangyou Village, the place where the legendary 'nightmare' first appeared. The villagers here have been troubled by nightmares for generations, so they named it 'Wangyou', hoping to forget the pain."
"Nightmare..." Chu Yun muttered the name.
"It's the evil creature represented by the mark we saw on the blueprint." Li Ge's face turned ugly. "It's an ancient evil creature that feeds on people's negative emotions and can drag people's souls into a mental cage. It's coming."
"Then this girl..." Mo Li looked at the girl who was still quietly weaving grass rings.
"I don't know." Li Ge shook his head, "But the aura on her body is very pure, without any signs of pollution. Perhaps she is a child of the nearby mountain people who happened to pass by here."
As they were talking, a tightly closed wooden door creaked open not far away, and a haggard middle-aged man poked his head out. He was startled at the sight of Chu Yun and the other two, but then he rushed over as if he had grabbed a lifeline. "Strangers? Are you from outside?"
The man grabbed Chu Yun's arm, his voice trembling with excitement.
"We are merchants passing by." Chu Yun calmly broke free from his hand. "Fellow villager, what's going on in this village? Why is there no one here?"
"Stop talking! Go! Get out of here!" The man looked around in horror and lowered his voice. "This village is cursed! We can't stay here any longer!"
"Curse? What curse?"
"They...can't wake up..." the man said incoherently, "My wife, Uncle Wang next door, the Li family kid from the east end of the village...so many people have fallen asleep and can't be woken up! It's like...it's like they've been possessed by ghosts!"
"When did it start?" Li Ge asked.
"It started three days ago!" the man said. "Three days ago, a very strange nursery rhyme began circulating in the village, and then some people started having trouble waking up. We went to the witch doctor on the other side of the mountain, but he said it wasn't a disease, it was the 'Dream God' punishing us, and there was nothing he could do!"
"Nursery rhyme..." Chu Yun and the other two felt their hearts sink simultaneously. It was another nursery rhyme. This was exactly the same method used in Qingxi Town.
"You guys should leave quickly! If you don't leave now, it will be too late!" After the man said this, he looked around in panic, then turned around and ran back to the house as if avoiding the plague, and slammed the door shut.
The three of them looked extremely solemn. Shadow Pavilion's movements were even faster than they had imagined. They had likely already begun arranging the rituals here, gathering the souls needed to power the Source.
"We must find a way to stop them." Chu Yun said.
"How can we stop them?" Mo Li asked, "We don't even know where the enemy is. Do we have to enter that dreamland like Li Ge said?"
"This is the only way." Li Ge's tone was very firm. "The real body of 'Nightmare' does not exist in the real world. If we don't enter the dream world, we won't even have a chance to attack it."
"I still think it's too risky." Mo Li shook her head. "It's too risky for Li Ge to go in alone. And I haven't completely finished the 'Heart Knot' yet." She glanced at the semi-finished product in her hand, which was made up of parts and talisman paper.
"Then finish it." Chu Yun looked at her with a firm gaze, "What do you need? We will help you."
"I need an absolutely stable energy source to calibrate the final core circuit." Mo Li said, "The energy crystal I used previously consumed too much energy in the Tianshu Tower, and the remaining energy is insufficient for such a delicate operation."
"Energy source..." Chu Yun lowered his head and looked at the "Heart of Heavenly Craftsmanship" in his arms.
"No!" Mo Li and Li Ge objected almost at the same time.
"'Heart of Heaven' is the 'hub', the core component of the Evil-Suppressing Seal, and cannot be used lightly!" Mo Li said.
"Moreover, it is connected to your blood. Forcibly extracting its energy will cause irreversible damage to yourself." There was a hint of unquestionable determination in Li Ge's tone.
"We can't worry about that now." Chu Yun shook his head. "This is our fastest and only way. If we can't stop them before Shadow Pavilion completes the ritual, let alone the Evil Seal, all three of us will die here."
Looking at Chu Yun's resolute eyes, Mo Li and Li Ge fell silent. They knew that Chu Yun was right.
"Okay." Finally, Mo Li gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement, "But you have to promise me that once I complete the calibration, you will immediately stop transmitting energy. Otherwise, we would rather not have this 'heart knot'."
"I promise you." Chu Yun promised solemnly.
The three of them sprang into action. They found a long-abandoned, empty house as a temporary base. Mo Li laid out all his tools and parts, making final preparations. Li Ge, on the other hand, set up several Ghost Doctor-style warning barriers around the house.
Chu Yun sat cross-legged in the center of the room, holding the "Heavenly Heart" in his palm. He took a deep breath and began to try to guide the power of the heart that was connected to his blood.
Night fell quickly. The entire village of Wangyou fell into a dead silence, not even the chirping of insects. The sticky, cold energy grew even more intense in the night, as if an invisible monster was watching every living thing in the village from the darkness.
At this moment, a faint sound, like a sigh and a singing, rang out simultaneously from all directions of the village.
Inside the room, Mo Li, concentrating on calibrating parts, suddenly felt his fingers tremble. Li Ge's face instantly turned pale. And Chu Yun, sitting in the center, felt as if he had been struck hard. He suddenly opened his eyes and spat out a mouthful of blood.
He saw it and heard it.
In their perception, everything in the entire village fell asleep at this moment, except for the house they were in and the girl at the entrance of the village who was still weaving grass rings.
A huge, invisible cage made up of the nightmares of all the villagers has quietly opened.
The nightmare has arrived.
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