Ceremony
At night, lights of various colors mixed together illuminate every street in the city, making it look like a fairyland, illuminating large areas of the night sky, as if making the bright galaxy look dim.
“Dongdongdong——”
“Woo——”
The sound of drums and music was deafening, covering the wide streets shrouded in orange-red lights. The dense crowds of people, like a swarm of ants, created waves of noise. Everyone had a smile on their face, waving their hands wildly, and escorted the long and magnificent convoy forward.
In the middle of the procession of carriages and horses, a very grand and luxurious float that looked like a multi-story attic moved forward slowly. On the float, a dozen boys and girls dressed as dancers looked at the crowd below, smiled, and burst into laughter.
They were holding lanterns or Kongming lanterns in their hands.
"Boom!" The drum sounded like thunder, and the Kongming lantern slowly rose into the sky from the float.
Then, a long blast of trumpets erupted, and the young men and women on the floats waved their lanterns at the crowd below, their faces brimming with joy. They spun around and danced, their faces flushed with excitement, and from time to time, they enthusiastically embraced those around them.
The sounds of drums and people's cheers intertwined into one, strangely enough, and no one could help but sink into this carnival.
——Even if they are outsiders, even if they are trapped outsiders, in this joyous celebration, their hearts beat like crazy to the rhythm of the music, as if even their boiling blood is controlled by strangers and keeps surging.
No one's face can be without a big smile.
Troubles are gone, thoughts are more joyful and relaxed than ever before, joy lasts forever, joy lasts forever——
May you have peace and joy forever!
Hahahahahaha, peace and joy——!!!
The convoy and the dense crowds of people rushed towards an ancient tower.
Countless clusters of fiery red, pale white, and various sizes scattered across the sky. A fiery red curtain slid across the night sky, and countless clusters of flowers fell from the sky like falling stars.
Red, white... tens of thousands of people laughed and stretched out their arms to the sky, forming an embrace. It was hard to refuse such kindness, and their arms were filled with the colorful flowers.
"The Lord of Nightmares! The Lord of Nightmares—"
Although it was a carnival with everyone laughing, the unspoken words of the people were clearly heard by outsiders, causing their souls to tremble.
"Give us eternal life! Give us eternal life—"
"Protect us forever, and keep us safe and happy—"
In front of the ancient tower, thousands of people were howling madly and meaninglessly. The sound was wild and primitive, and seemed to awaken the most primitive fear and carnival in people's blood.
Amidst the meaningless, beast-like howls, silent, frantic prayers and demands reached deep into the outsider's soul. The two intertwined, and the outsider felt only the thump, thump, thump of his heartbeat accelerating, as if it had reached a certain limit, yet also as if it had already stopped.
They had crazy smiles on their faces, and they followed the residents of the city in kneeling down and worshipping the tower, awake yet seemingly numb.
As thousands of people knelt down in awe, Liu Jingyu's eyes widened. She knew what she was doing, but the deep fatigue in her heart pulled her away, telling her not to think anymore and to cheer along with the thousands of people.
She couldn't even produce a clear word in her mind. She felt weak all over. Liu Jingyu moved her eyeballs with difficulty, forcing herself to look away from the visual feast in front of her.
Her eyes slowly lowered, staring at the ground beneath her feet. She was involuntarily squeezed and swayed from side to side. The crowd was moving, and countless gray shoes stepped on the small piece of black ground in front of her.
A cold light flashed. Liu Jingyu held the dagger in hand, extending his other arm forward. A flower-like patch of crimson stained his peach-colored sleeve. Drip after drip, dark red blood flowed from the hideous wound, meandering down his arm and onto the ground. The last remaining drop of blood lingered on his fingertip, shaking and falling...
Blood splattered everywhere.
In this pain, Liu Jingyu woke up briefly for a moment.
But as the sound of "Woo-woo, woo-woo" took another turn, lowering, lowering, and then bursting into carnival music again, Liu Jingyu's pupils dilated.
Liu Jingyu stared blankly at his forearm covered in blood. Two scabbed scars that had already formed were like a withered old man lying on it. A fresh bloodstain pierced through the two scars, forcibly turning over the thin scab.
As the joyful and festive music played, the blood vessels began to throb, and dark red blood gushed out from the hideous scars on the arms, endlessly, endlessly... and could not be stopped.
The scenery in his vision became blurred, and Liu Jingyu's mind went blank.
"To this day, I still don't remember what happened after that." In the small pavilion, Liu Jingyu sipped warm tea, a gentle and sweet smile on her lips. She said, "When I woke up, it was still late in the city, but it was unusually quiet and desolate. I don't know when the five of us and I returned to the inn. We sat around the table in the lobby, and I just woke up from my sleep with my head on the table."
Jiang Jingzong, who was always trembling with fear beside her, forgot his fear and looked at her in shock and said, "Could it be that you have never left the inn at all?!"
He began to speculate and exclaimed, "Could it be that there really isn't a mountain city at all, and everything in the city is just an illusion cast by this inn?! Then, what about that 'mountain cat'?! What exactly is the relationship between the 'mountain cat' and the inn?"
"No, no, how could such a truly massive city scene be an illusion?! If it really is an illusion, then how powerful must the being who cast it be!" Jiang Jingzong was caught in a brainstorm, feeling dizzy. "Why are there so many people in the city? What's the purpose of this celebration? Is it really to commemorate the 'Lynx Cat'? Is the 'Lynx Cat' the source of all this weirdness?!"
Liu Jingyu smiled and didn't answer him.
Seeing the focused expressions of the people in front of her, she paused for a moment before continuing, "The night wasn't over yet. We heard that howling sound again, like a cat's meow or a baby's cry..."
The faint blue moonlight filtered through the windows of the inn, as if it had fallen into a deep, dark lake, unable to illuminate the depths. It was powerlessly swallowed up by the darkness, leaving only a few glimmers of light by the windows, silently indicating something.
"ah!!!"
A panicked scream cut through the sticky darkness and exploded in the ears of several people.
"who?!!"
"Yes, miss?"
"This?! How did we get back??!"
"Aren't we still watching the celebration on the street? What happened? Is the celebration over?!"
"I only vaguely remember some fragments of the celebration. I can't remember how it ended or how we got back."
"Me too! This is so weird. I remember at the celebration, I couldn't control myself and inexplicably joined the townspeople in reveling!"
A faint light appeared in the darkness, dimly illuminating the faces of people gathered around the wooden table, some of them surprised, some frightened, and some pondering.
Even though she had just woken up and saw this strange scene, Liu Jingyu did not fall into confusion or panic. She lowered her eyes and thought silently.
"Wa ...
The strange howling sounds from afar broke the deathly silence in the city. One sound after another was like a ghost wandering in the wilderness, creepy and awakening the ancient and primitive fear deep in people's souls.
"We're back at the inn..." someone muttered absentmindedly, "Did we really walk back to the inn from the main street during the festival, or did we never leave the inn at all?!"
As soon as these words were spoken, they caused a huge uproar.
Everyone screamed:
"You mean, we've been staying in the inn the whole time, never left, and never participated in any celebrations?!"
"What about during the day? Is everything I see and hear during the day also false?"
"What about the mountain city? Does the mountain city still exist?"
"Could it be that the mountain town we saw in the wilderness was actually just an inn?! We've been wandering around inside the inn the whole time?"
"What's going on? Was this all a dream?"
Hearing this, Liu Jingyu's eyes suddenly moved slightly, and he murmured to himself: "The Lord of Nightmares..."
It was as if the celebration was reenacted before her eyes, amidst the prosperity and joy, thousands of people at the celebration were cheering together—
"The Lord of Nightmares! The Lord of Nightmares—"
"Give us eternal life! Give us eternal life—"
"Protect us forever, and keep us safe and happy—"
The inn was so quiet in the dark that her murmurs could be clearly heard by the people sitting at the table. Their expressions changed slightly and they all stopped talking. Their eyes were nervously looking at the girl who was pondering at the table.
Liu Jingyu's face was calm as he raised his eyes and said, "Let's leave the inn now!"
Everyone understood the seriousness of the matter. Without any extra words, they nodded solemnly in unison. "Creaky--" the chairs made a sharp and harsh friction sound as they slid across the ground. Everyone stood up quickly and ran out of the inn at a rapid speed.
The streets of the city, shrouded in a faint blue light, were desolate and lonely. Even the wind blew silently, as if afraid of disturbing the sleeping mountain city.
Everyone stood outside the inn, their bodies icy cold. Cold sweat dripped down their backs as they listened to the howling that grew louder and closer.
Liu Jingyu looked up and around, noticing the strings of large red lanterns hanging on both sides of the street. They looked eerie and terrifying against the blue light. She lowered her gaze to the street floor, which glowed a brilliant white in the moonlight, looking clean and tidy.
Liu Jingyu had a guess in his mind.
She turned and looked at the people behind her. They said nothing, unwilling to disturb her, but their expressions could not hide their sorrow and anxiety. Liu Jingyu looked at them and said in a sweet and calm voice, "The mountain city exists, and so does the inn."
Several people were stunned and looked at her with burning eyes.
Liu Jingyu smiled and continued, "Did you hear the 'Lord of Nightmares' mentioned at the celebration?
"We are in a dream now..."
"Miss, what you're saying is..." Hearing this, someone looked stunned and subconsciously murmured, "Will we enter the dream of 'Yanmao' when we stay in the inn at night? And when we leave the inn, what we see is reality?"
Everyone looked stunned and then fell into deep thought.
Liu Jingyu had a faint smile on his face. He glanced at the people in front of him, opened his lips slightly, and was about to speak, but the expression on his face suddenly froze.
Her gaze stopped at one place, she froze, and then she glanced at the number of people in front of her in a panic.
Why……
Why in front of her...
There are six people?
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