Chapter 159: 156. Illusory Dream?

156. Illusory Dream?

Flowing light and overflowing colors, chaotic and without order, indistinct whispers, mysterious high-pitched singing... Is it an illusory dream, or a scene that truly exists?

The colors before her eyes were beginning to return to order; within the chaotic scenery, orderly lines were gradually being outlined, the colors were slowly becoming distinct, and the maddening whispers and sharp singing were subsiding and dissipating.

"To actually be able to meet here, what an unexpected surprise." A kind voice entered her ears. Chen Xiaolin was lying on the ground beneath the shade of the trees, sniffing the scent of soil and the fragrance of flowers and grass. In her daze, she regained her strength and pushed her body up from the ground.

"Can you still stand?" A hand with delicate skin was seen reaching out toward her. Chen Xiaolin's gaze shifted from focusing on the hand to the appearance of the owner of that slender hand.

"Season? Siji Ge?" Chen Xiaolin felt her memory gradually reviving and her consciousness slowly clearing. She looked at the person before her and called out the other party's name in confusion. She did not understand why she had appeared here, nor why she could see a man she was not particularly familiar with here. "Why am I here?"

Chen Xiaolin felt that she was missing something, that she had forgotten something.

Soon, listening to the chirping of insects and birds all around and looking at the forest shrouded in mist on all sides, Chen Xiaolin had a guess about the question she had just asked. "Ah, I'm dreaming, right?"

"Yes, you are dreaming." Upon hearing this, Drake was stunned for a moment, then chuckled. He took the hand the other party had extended and helped her stand up from the ground.

"So I am dreaming." Chen Xiaolin slowly regained her strength. She thanked Drake for his support and stood up on her own, curiously looking around. "But why would I have this dream? I don't seem to have ever seen the scenery here, and... if it is a dream, isn't it a bit too real?"

Drake said to Chen Xiaolin, "Let's go to the shop first. There is a shop ahead; once we go there, perhaps you will be able to understand your current situation." He pointed in a direction. The mist ahead seemed to thin out, revealing a lake, a few crooked willow trees, and an ancient wooden house hidden beneath the veil of mist.

"Uh." Chen Xiaolin had no clue about her own situation but could vaguely feel that something was wrong somewhere. The first moment she caught a glimpse of that ancient wooden house, mystery and the unknown invaded her consciousness like a dark fragrance. She wanted to approach it but also felt a sense of fear, causing her to hesitate and shrink back.

After hesitating for a moment, Chen Xiaolin's professional instinct as a reporter to seek the truth overcame everything else. She walked with Drake toward that quaint wooden house.

Facing a pair of evil ghost masks carved onto the facade, she pushed open the mahogany doors that had been silent for who knows how many years, and Chen Xiaolin followed Drake into the interior of the mysterious wooden house.

Faced with the "dazzling array" of goods displayed in the wooden house, Chen Xiaolin received a strong visual impact. Although she could not identify every object on the display shelves, she could feel from the eerie details of each individual object that they were Abnormal items carrying mysterious power.

At this moment, Chen Xiaolin felt palpitations and a heartbeat that was about to burst out of her chest. She could almost be certain that she was not dreaming, but rather experiencing a truly bizarre and Abnormal event.

Suddenly, Chen Xiaolin felt a mental jolt and a sharp pain in her brain. The various things she had experienced before falling unconscious—going deep underground in the forest, witnessing the Hollow People and the death scene, and finally falling off the cliff and into the underground river—all flooded into her brain.

"Li Duojin..." Chen Xiaolin's breathing was rapid. Looking at the "goods" all around, as if surrounded by fear and darkness, she began to call out the name of the person who had fallen into the abyss with her with increasing panic.

Despite her panic, she did not dare to shout out loud. The intense pressure and fear made her voice fearful as well; she only repeated the name of that young master who had provided her with protection over and over again.

"Guest, are you alright?" A cold hand patted her shoulder lightly. That voice was full of vigor and possessed a sense of power.

The moment the large hand landed, Chen Xiaolin felt as if the coldness all over her body had been patted away as well. She turned her head back abruptly in a stress reaction, only to see a man wearing red clothes standing behind her.

Although red is a festive color, when it appeared on the man with pale skin before her, there was a strong sense of contradictory conflict. That contradictory temperament complemented everything around it perfectly, and Chen Xiaolin was absolutely certain that the person before her was an employee of this small shop.

"The guest looks like a new face. Is there anything I can help you with?" Wei Jiang asked with a smile.

Looking at the other party's kind smile, Chen Xiaolin recovered some of her composure. "Where exactly is this place?"

"This is Lin Laoban's Shenqi Miaomiaowu, a magical little shop that sells various Consecrated Dharma Artifacts, Evil-Warding Props, and Alien Knowledge to the outside world," Wei Jiang explained. Not knowing how many times he had explained this, Wei Jiang felt no shame when mentioning the shop name, Forest Cabin.

Hearing this unprofessional name, Chen Xiaolin was silent for a moment.

"Brother Wei Jiang, we meet again." Seeing the person before him, Drake smiled and nodded in greeting.

"Please, the two of you, go to the front desk. If you have any needs, you can tell our boss." Wei Jiang smiled and reached out, gesturing for the two to continue walking deeper into the shop.

Hearing what Wei Jiang said, Drake's eyes lit up. "You mean, the boss is in the shop today?"

"The boss is always here, but only during the daytime," Wei Jiang explained, then thought for a moment and added, "Only during the daytime here."

"Hehe, then my luck is really quite good today." Drake was somewhat excited.

Chen Xiaolin was curious about who the "boss" they mentioned was. Various strange, non-human appearances emerged in her mind. Although she had not seen the person himself, she had already secretly and arbitrarily concluded that the boss was not human.

"Li Duojin... where exactly are you?" Chen Xiaolin muttered to herself, walking out of the shelf area.

"Ms. Chen?" Just as Chen Xiaolin was confused, another familiar voice came.

Hearing the sound, Chen Xiaolin excitedly raised her head to look. The person revealing a look of astonishment was none other than Li Duojin himself.

She ran up to him in surprise, her eyes slightly red, and punched his solid arm. "Where did you run off to, and why did you leave me behind?!"

"No, I didn't expect you to be able to come here either." Li Duojin let the other party vent and scratched his face, feeling a bit awkward. Afterward, he cast a look for help toward the young man sitting behind the counter who was smiling like a living Buddha.

Upon seeing the young man, Drake and Wei Jiang both bowed respectfully to him and called out, "Boss."

"Hehe, being able to come here is all a matter of fate." Lin Ling said with a chuckle. He held a white bone in his hand and, without looking back, tossed the bone into the fish tank behind him.

Inside the fish tank, an octopus with a somewhat strange appearance, upon sensing an object falling into the water, immediately pounced like a hungry wolf that had smelled a delicious lunch, wrapping its entire body around the large white bone and stuffing it into its body.

Seeing this scene, Chen Xiaolin went rigid, standing in place in terror.

If she hadn't seen it wrong, the bone that had just been tossed into the water should have been one of those strange skeletons she had seen in the cave.