What is real?
When the group of six walked out of the inn, the sunlight from the sky had already turned into a warm golden color, shining on the earth, forcefully dispelling the biting cold of the night, and the temperature in the mountain city suddenly warmed up.
Liu Jingyu and others bought toys and food from the stalls along the way, but they just put them away. They still ate the dry food they brought with them.
One of the younger guards gnawed at the stale rations in her hand, a look of sorrow and pain on her face. A suppressed voice rang out from her throat: "Ah, I saw this city from afar on the mountain and thought I could finally have a good meal. But now that I'm in the city, I still have to eat this ration..."
They had been walking for so long and in such a hurry that they hadn't replenished the food in their storage space. They could only dig out some dry food that had been left there at some point and eat it with water. God knows, they hadn't eaten this dry food in a long time, but this time they ate it for half a month.
"Okay, just bear with it. When we get out this time, we will definitely take you out for a good meal." Another person comforted.
At this time, a man walking across the street, looking back from time to time, said to the others, "These residents in this city are really crazy. They're so excited that they almost faint when they hear the words 'mountain cat' and 'celebration'. It's really scary."
"Well, I'm fine here, but everyone is really excited. The bun seller dropped his baskets of buns and chased me all the way to tell me the story of 'Mountain Cat'." Another person said helplessly.
The man who was munching on his rations painfully put them down and looked up, saying, "So, this 'mountain cat' is quite formidable. I don't know where this monster came from, but it's bewitching everyone in this city to the point of madness."
"Yeah, the 'Bobcat' thing happened so many generations ago, and it's amazing that people today can still be so crazy." The person next to him nodded in agreement.
——They have no faith and only follow the young lady. They cannot understand the fanaticism of these residents at all, and they only feel that the scene is absurd when they see it.
"So, the source of the problem still lies with 'Lynx Cat'?" Someone turned to look at Liu Jingyu and asked, "Miss, are we really not going to meet that 'Lynx Cat'?"
When Liu Jingyu heard her question, she didn't hide her plan and said with a faint smile, "Don't worry, everyone hasn't arrived yet."
"Huh?!" The younger woman was shocked, her eyes widening. She instinctively felt that the young lady's plan was very interesting. She immediately forgot the pain of chewing dry food and glanced at Liu Jingyu with implicit anticipation.
Everyone was curious, but no one wanted to ask.
If Liu Jingyu wanted to say something, she would have said it early on. Otherwise, they would wait patiently to follow Liu Jingyu's instructions.
Don't bother her over such a small matter.
The group wandered outside for a long time, and then returned to the inn to rest for a few hours. As expected, during the day, even if they fell asleep, they would no longer dream of the "mountain cat" and the terrifying and strange deserted city.
At dusk on the second day after the city gates were closed, several people gathered in the lobby of the inn hung two jade pendants on their waists. The hanging tassels intertwined and swayed gently. Everyone looked at each other and nodded in unison.
Liu Jingyu raised a faint smile and said, "Then let's go to the celebration tonight."
"good!!"
"Yes, Miss!"
On the streets, large areas of red are burning like flames, and joy is spreading in people's hearts.
As expected, several people gradually became dazed.
When they finally woke up, they were already in the dark inn, sitting at the same wooden table they had been sitting at the night before. That night, they did not leave the inn to explore the streets of the city.
The dim light reflected on the faces of several people. They sat facing each other, counting the number of people from time to time to prevent the "mountain cat" from sneaking in. They just waited for the night to pass.
On the morning of the third day after the city gates were closed, inside the inn.
Faint sunlight fell on the wooden table, and the six people sitting around it woke up slowly. One by one, some narrowed their eyes and stretched, while others twisted their stiff and aching necks. Then, they all took out water from the storage space to moisten their hoarse throats.
"Ahem, Miss, what are our plans for today? Do you want to see the images recorded in the jade pendant?" asked a man holding a water cup.
As soon as she said this, no one responded immediately. Instead, they stared at her face blankly.
"What, what happened?" She felt something was wrong. Facing everyone's gaze, she uncomfortably picked at the teacup in her hand and asked subconsciously.
But the next moment, she realized something——
There was a warm and wet feeling on her lips. She thought it was water at first. She raised her hand subconsciously and touched her nose lightly. When she put her hand down, she saw a scarlet mark on her fingertips out of the corner of her eye.
“??!”
She was immediately horrified and raised her hands to touch the bottom of her nose, the dark red stain in her hands becoming even more pronounced. "What's going on?!" she asked, frantically taking out a handkerchief and hastily wiping the lower half of her face.
"Is this what the young lady was talking about, the negative effects of dreams?" someone murmured blankly.
As soon as these words came out, everyone hurriedly looked at Liu Jingyu who was standing aside:
"Miss, are you okay?!"
"Miss, how are you? Are you feeling unwell?"
Liu Jingyu shook her head at them, her gaze fixed on the person opposite her who was covering the lower half of her face with a handkerchief. She asked, "How are you? Do you feel anything special? Do you feel anything is wrong?"
"No." The man raised his head, wiped his nose again, and lowered his head to answer carefully, "I don't feel anything at all, just like usual, not weak at all. If you hadn't looked at me like that, I wouldn't have known what happened at all."
Listening to this, someone nearby also raised their hand and tentatively touched their nose. Then, seeing a smear of scarlet on their hand, they suddenly pulled out a handkerchief and covered their mouth and nose. From under the handkerchief came a muffled voice: "Me, me too..."
"Miss, what should we do...?" someone asked.
Liu Jingyu pondered for a moment, then raised his face and said seriously, "First, see if the elixir works. We'll try to wait until tomorrow morning to go to the city gate. If you really can't hold on any longer, tell me."
"Miss, are you waiting for other outsiders in the city?" The younger man said in sudden realization after hearing her words.
Liu Jingyu didn't hide anything and said frankly, "That's right. Just the few of us wouldn't be able to kill the 'Mountain Cat', let alone break into the tower. And when there's no immediate crisis, strangers will only think about how to take advantage of each other, rather than truly working together."
She said, "Tomorrow, tomorrow morning, the outsiders will definitely show symptoms, and the negative effects of the dream will be fully exposed. By then, the outsiders, with nowhere else to go, will have no choice but to return to the city gates."
——Yes, in Liu Jingyu’s guess, although the celebration lasts for five days, not many people can actually survive to the fifth day.
"Miss, we can wait!" The two men who were wiping their nosebleeds said solemnly with determination in their eyes.
The others also looked solemn and nodded seriously, "Miss, we can!"
"Okay." Liu Jingyu smiled and said in a sweet voice, "But don't force yourself. If you can't hold on, others will definitely be unable to do so."
The five people around him looked serious, nodded, and said nothing.
However, in reality, only they themselves know what they are thinking.
Liu Jingyu knew this very well and said softly, "We need to rest well during the day and take turns to watch over them. If we see someone nearby is not in a good state, wake them up immediately."
"good!"
"yes!"
After a day, four of the six people had shown obvious symptoms. That night, Liu Jingyu and his men stayed in the inn and did not go anywhere.
In the room, Liu Jingyu took out the two jade pendants that she had brought to the celebration.
This is a jade pendant that can record images. One that is not infused with spiritual power can see scenes in reality; the other that is infused with spiritual power can see everything the wearer sees.
Liu Jingyu first examined the jade pendant infused with spiritual energy. The scene recorded in the jade pendant was exactly as she remembered it. Unfortunately, the scene after her last consciousness disappeared, which she wanted to know most, was not recorded in the jade pendant, but this was also within her expectations.
She was not overly disappointed, and calmly picked up another jade pendant and placed it in her palm.
Liu Jingyu lowered her eyes and looked at the jade pendant in her hand. Her intuition told her that the images recorded in the jade pendant would answer many of her doubts, and the truth behind it would also...
Extremely terrifying.
Liu Jingyu paused, then opened the video recorded in the jade pendant. However, the first scene left her a little stunned.
This is not a wild and festive celebration.
On the streets, shrouded in a faint blue light, bright red lanterns and curtains swayed gently, and an eerie atmosphere permeated the city... Upon witnessing this scene, Liu Jingyu almost suspected she had taken the wrong jade pendant. Otherwise, why did the recorded scene resemble the deserted city in her dreams so closely?!
"Could it be that...what was in the dream was real? And the celebration scene was fake?" Liu Jingyu began to have wild thoughts uncontrollably.
The scene in the jade pendant continued. Liu Jingyu forced himself to calm down and continued watching.
On the street with a strange atmosphere, a dense crowd of people came out silently one after another. From the jade pendant, we can see that Liu Jingyu, who was carrying the jade pendant last night, is following the crowd.
——This is very much like a scene at a celebration.
But the atmosphere wasn't the same. The people at the celebration were eager to burn out their last ounce of life in revelry, in the ultimate madness, yet the scene recorded in the jade pendant was a silent and eerie one.
The city's residents, dressed in a variety of clothing, stared straight ahead with their eyes wide open, their faces expressionless. They walked lightly on the streets without making the slightest sound, like midnight ghosts performing some primitive and strange ritual in ancient legends.
They followed the path they had taken during the celebration, silently heading towards the tower. In the image recorded by the jade pendant, a tall, fiery red float was moving forward among the crowd ahead. The people standing on the floats had no expression on their faces, either holding lanterns or sky lanterns, and stood frozen in place for a long time, not moving an inch.
The scene of the Kongming lanterns rising slowly into the night sky as seen at the celebration did not appear. In the picture, the Kongming lanterns were held in their hands and never rose.
The stark difference between this and her memory sent a chill down her spine. Her heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by a hand, its even beatings cautiously.
"What is real..."
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