Chapter 269: Obsessed

Hearing Bai Zhi's confirmation, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe felt reassured—Jue Yuan had taken effect.

Spencer, killed by a ghost on the first-floor hall, had indeed been assimilated into "them," and had indeed been stamped with the mental imprint: "I must protect Cynthia and Katyusha."

Too bad Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe was no longer Cynthia—he was now Auror.

"Wait, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe, ahead is…"

Noticing Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's direction, Bai Zhi hesitated; her wrist, held in his palm, twitched slightly: "There are ghosts ahead."

"I know." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe did not slow his step, not even pausing.

Outside the fire zone, before the grand hall's main entrance, lay a circular terrace enclosed by railings; standing at its edge, one could see the entire castle's layout—the tower, the execution ground, the scripture hall, the purification chamber… all laid bare.

On either side of the terrace curved long corridors, enclosing the blazing grand hall; these corridors extended into the bell tower's core, leading to the "Grand Arcade" connecting the ground floor to the second floor.

Now, faint glimmers dotted the curved corridors—not from the fire within the grand hall, but from countless floating candles; within their halos, hunched figures holding candles were barely visible. They drifted like ghosts in a cemetery, wandering the quiet corridors, as if the great fire that consumed the central hall had never occurred.

Bai Zhi had come up via the Grand Arcade, carefully navigating the curved corridors to reach the grand hall; she knew how perilous this path was, hence her terror.

But Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe dared take this route because he had studied the layout of Vanessa Castle.

"This way." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe pulled Bai Zhi over the railing, stepping onto the eave jutting outward from the bell tower's wall.

Bai Zhi, holding two corpse-oil lamps, climbed over the railing and crouched beside Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe on the eave, pressing her back against the wall, lowering her form; behind them, a candle floated slowly through the corridor.

A cool breeze stirred the girl's golden hair; Bai Zhi brushed the stray strands behind her ears. Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe glanced at her frost-red fingertips and trembling shoulders, asking softly: "Cold?"

"Yes." Bai Zhi nodded.

"I'm cold too." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe nodded: "But back on the ground, I didn't feel cold. What about you?"

"Same," Bai Zhi thought, then said: "I climbed up from a large arcade. On the ground, I felt nothing, but every few steps upward, the temperature dropped further. By the time I reached the second floor, my teeth were chattering."

"Similar to my case." After hearing Bai Zhi's account, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's suspicion solidified: "I came up through a vertical shaft—faster than your stairs—so the temperature dropped quicker and more sharply."

Earlier, on the tower, he had shivered from the cold wind, but he hadn't noticed then, assuming it was just high-altitude wind and that Cynthia, having just started her period, was weak. After descending to the ground, he'd been distracted by the execution ground with its guillotine and the apricot-leaf sutras in the scripture hall, never realizing the cold had vanished.

Only now, combining his own experience with Bai Zhi's, did that overlooked detail surface.

【Within Vanessa Castle, the higher the elevation, the colder the temperature.】

"It's gone." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe glanced back; the floating candle had drifted past the terrace to another location. He stood and took from Bai Zhi the corpse-oil lamp that once belonged to Cynthia.

He pulled back the skin cover slightly—the light inside still burned. Carrying the lamp to the eave's edge, the dim glow revealed several protruding wooden beams on the castle's outer wall, one of which held a half-broken brick.

"The bell tower's original eave was continuous. After the flood, it was rebuilt into this version—only eaves beneath windows and railings—both to deter thieves and because no matching timber beams could be found."

As he spoke, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe gripped the railing, stepped onto a beam, tested its sturdiness, then placed his other foot on it, using the beams as footholds to walk from the eave beneath the railing to another eave beneath a nearby window.

"Okay, come over." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe gave a distant thumbs-up.

Bai Zhi lit her corpse-oil lamp, clung to the wall, and carefully crossed the beams as Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe had, then crouched beside him beneath the window.

Inside the corridor, a candle-bearing shadow flickered faintly.

"How did you know this path existed?" Bai Zhi whispered.

"After I woke up, I specifically researched the castle's history and studied both its old and new blueprints." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe didn't hide it from her.

"Huh?" Bai Zhi's eyes widened with astonishment: "So you weren't lying—you really can return under a different identity… Does that mean dying to a ghost in a dream doesn't always mean death?"

"No, it does," Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe shook his head: "I didn't die because I paid the price of death in another way."

"I see…" Bai Zhi looked disappointed.

Astonished, yet puzzled, she gently poked Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's shoulder with a finger: "If you've already woken up, why return to the dream?" She didn't know what price he'd paid after dying to the ghost, but she guessed it was heavy. Why, after barely escaping the nightmare, would he choose to return to this danger instead of staying safely in reality until it ended?

Was there a reason?

"I want to uncover the truth behind the strange events in this castle." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe looked up at the window above; faint firelight glowed through the glass—the ghost hadn't left.

He paused, then added: "This castle is called Vanessa Castle, located in the north of the Italian Peninsula, within the United States of Europa. I'm currently en route to the United States of Europa. You understand what I mean."

Bai Zhi tilted her head, grasping his meaning.

"Inspiration" has foresight—just as she had sensed Lei Te at Bishui Bay Manor, and the "Unseeable God" on the highway outside Guzhen, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's presence in this nightmare likely meant he would soon encounter this strange event in reality.

So, was Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe returning to the dream to learn the truth of Vanessa Castle's mystery in advance, preparing for reality? The logic held—but…

"But something's off," Bai Zhi hugged her knees: "You already woke up, didn't you? If you're awake, you could've investigated Vanessa Castle in reality first—gathered information, prepared thoroughly—then considered re-entering the dream."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe froze: "Is… that right?"

"Exactly," Bai Zhi nodded firmly: "Reality is certain—it's there, visible, tangible. Dreams are uncertain."

And from what I know of your nature, you'd prioritize securing what's certain before risking uncertain probabilities.

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Besides, information gathered in reality might help in the dream too, right?"

Not like now—just skimmed some documents, glanced at a floor plan, and rushed back into the dream.

Listening to Bai Zhi, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe frowned, his expression growing grave.

She was right—he was a pragmatist who clung to what he could grasp. In Hejia Village, Bishui Bay Manor, Yun Capital, or anywhere else, he'd never wavered from this principle.

But this time, he'd chosen the exact opposite: entering the dream unprepared in reality, blindly chasing illusions, chasing the answer while ignoring the foundation…

"Of course, I might be overthinking," Bai Zhi gazed down at the rose garden below, saying: "I trust you never act without reason. You must have your own reason for rushing back into the dream."

Was it because the strange event was sealed off, leaving no other information on Vanessa Castle in reality? Or was there another force pushing him to enter the dream quickly? Only Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe knew.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe silently clenched his fists, then slowly released them.

He knew exactly what the reason was.

"Jue Yuan…" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe gritted his teeth.

When he crossed the execution ground as Cynthia, reading the Apricot Leaf Sutra's Creation Theory of the Sleep God, meeting Bai Zhi and Spencer in the laundry room… Jue Yuan's influence had subtly, silently, imperceptibly amplified a certain desire within him.

That desire was called—"the thirst for knowledge."

"Jue Yuan stamped me with the mental imprint: 'I must solve the castle's mystery.'"

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe confirmed it again—he could not bring himself to think, "Leave this dream alone." He had his answer: "Without my knowledge, Jue Yuan has already influenced me…"

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe exhaled slowly, raised his head, and saw the girl beside him watching him curiously, her beautiful blue eyes seeming to speak.

"Why are you in such a hurry to return to this nightmare?" Bai Zhi whispered: "I'm just asking—you don't have to answer. You must have your own reason…"

"For you." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe cut her off: "I have a way to pay the price and escape the dream. You don't. When I wake, you'll still be trapped here—because of me."

If not for me, Bai Zhi would still be crouching in the laundry room's corner, blending into the background—never lighting the corpse-oil lamp, never entering the bell tower, never now in this danger.

"You didn't have to go through this. I made you leave the laundry room." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe gave his reason—even though he didn't believe it himself: "I can't leave you behind in the dream. So I came back for you. That's it."

"Huh…?" Bai Zhi froze, eyes wide, forgetting to blink.

(End of chapter)