Chapter 320 - 318: Dream or Reality? (Part 1)

Chapter 320: Chapter 318: Dream or Reality? (Part 1)

"Big Brother?"

Luo Xiaohu subconsciously swallowed the medicine pill, his eyes widening in shock as he looked at Luo Hongyi. "I’m not even injured. Isn’t this a huge waste?"

"Cut the nonsense. Get on that bed and circulate your Inner Strength to absorb the pill’s effects. You suffered too much as a child and have many hidden injuries. This can heal them, and using it with your Internal Cultivation Methods will only help you, not harm you." Luo Hongyi carefully put away the remaining four medicine pills in his palm, stroking the small jade bottle.

’These medicine pills work quickly even without Internal Cultivation Methods. If these four pills are used properly at a critical moment, they could mean four extra lives...’

Luo Xiaohu didn’t dare to delay. Hearing this, he quickly sat cross-legged on the cot he used when keeping watch and began to circulate his Internal Cultivation Methods, focusing on absorbing the pill’s medicinal properties.

—’The medicine pill is already in my stomach. Even if I feel bad about what a waste it is, wouldn’t it be an even bigger waste not to hurry and absorb it?’

--

The moment Gu Nuan Nuan opened her eyes and regained consciousness, she was struck by a deeply unreal, illusory sensation. The feeling was overpowering. She felt weightless, having completely lost the solid, grounded feeling of reality. It was as if her feet were treading on piles of cotton. No, that wasn’t quite right. To be precise, her entire body was enveloped in a vast, white, hazy "pile of cotton." It blocked her vision, leaving her completely unaware of her whereabouts.

’Am I dreaming?’

She was bewildered for a moment. Then, she subconsciously called out for Cao Cao in her mind, but no matter how long she called, she couldn’t sense its presence at all—

"Cao Cao~ Cao Cao~"

Her inability to contact Cao Cao made her anxious, and she accidentally shouted its name aloud. But the moment she opened her mouth, a new terror gripped her: she couldn’t hear her own voice. Unwilling to give up, she shouted several more times, but it was useless, no matter how hard she yelled.

Gu Nuan Nuan remembered Cao Cao had once told her that even in a normal dream, she should be able to contact it in her mind due to their contract. But now... A chill shot up from the base of her spine.

’This dream isn’t normal.’

Having come to this clear realization, Gu Nuan Nuan forced herself to calm down after that initial moment of panic.

’The more critical the situation, the more useless nervousness, fear, and panic are. They don’t solve anything and only cause delays.’ After taking a deep breath to compose herself, she tried to contact her storage ring, which had already bound to her. Unsurprisingly, if she couldn’t even reach Cao Cao, a simple storage ring was completely out of the question.

She glared at the fog obscuring her view, unwilling to remain trapped. Finally, she couldn’t hold back any longer. She waved her arms forcefully, trying to part the mist. She kicked and stomped her feet. She even held her breath, puffed her cheeks, and blew with all her might. She tried every childish method she could think of, but as expected, none of them worked.

She grew a little dejected. She tried taking a few steps forward and was surprised to find her movement completely unrestricted. After a moment of shock, she grew bolder and took a few more steps. A thought struck her: ’Since this is a dream, maybe I can fly instead of just walking?’ She gave it a try and found that while she couldn’t fly, floating off the ground was no problem at all.

Gu Nuan Nuan grew bolder. She started by floating slowly, then discovered she could actually move quite fast. So, she began to explore her surroundings. The process wasn’t smooth, however. She found that while she could float at high speeds, the space itself was limited. She would inevitably run into invisible barriers. Crashing into them didn’t hurt, but she couldn’t pass through and had to change direction. After repeated attempts, she concluded that she was confined within a fixed, yet indefinable, area.

Just as Gu Nuan Nuan was at her wit’s end, she suddenly noticed the surrounding fog begin to dissipate. The place that was gradually revealed felt exceptionally familiar. Just as she was feeling surprised and uncertain, a familiar melody reached her ears.

As the light grew brighter, the white fog finally dissipated completely. Gu Nuan Nuan froze. She never could have imagined that the place trapping her would be the villa where she and Luo Hongyi had lived during the end of her past life. The same music she had always listened to was playing, just as if she had never left—

’How did I suddenly end up here?’

Gu Nuan Nuan floated blankly on the spot, lost in a daze. Now that she knew where she was, the overwhelming familiarity extinguished any desire to explore further.

She drifted out of her daze and realized she was hovering by the staircase landing. Even though she knew no one could see or bump into her, she moved aside out of habit. She drifted to the living room and settled into the armchair she had always favored, pulling her knees to her chest.

After settling in, she glanced down. As expected, the armchair showed no sign of sinking under her weight. She gave a bitter smile. ’Could it be because I gave Luo Hongyi that bottle of medicine today? Afterwards, I couldn’t help but overthink everything. I was so overwhelmed with regret and frustration that I nearly succumbed to a Heart Demon. "What you think of by day, you dream of by night"... Is that why I’m having such a strange dream?’ ℴℴ𝘮

’Heh. I’m really reaping what I’ve sown.’

Disheartened, Gu Nuan Nuan closed her eyes and curled up in the armchair. She had no interest in reliving the past, in watching a version of herself from a bystander’s view—a woman whose heart had been reduced to ashes.

...

"Shengnan, Grandma has to go back to her own house for a few days to take care of some things. I’ll be back when I’m done. While I’m gone, Granny Shan will take care of you. You have to be a good girl and eat your meals properly, okay?"

"I know. It’s because Grandmother and the others are coming again tomorrow, isn’t it?" A little girl’s tender voice was clearly unhappy. "Grandma, I don’t want to see them either, and I don’t want to be separated from you. Why don’t I go back with you for a few days? I’m worried about you being all alone."

"No, that won’t do. Your grandmother and her family rarely visit. It’s only right that you, as their granddaughter, stay home to welcome them. Be good, Shengnan. From now on, you can’t say you don’t want to see them, alright? If someone else heard that, it would reflect poorly on you. Besides, people might get the wrong idea and assume that Grandma taught you to say it."

The familiar voice and the child’s tender one reached her ears simultaneously, causing Gu Nuan Nuan’s heart to seize painfully. Curled up in the armchair with her eyes closed, she snapped them open and shot into the air, hovering. Below her, an old woman and a young child came into view, descending the stairs hand in hand.

"Mom... Shengnan..." Gu Nuan Nuan’s gaze was ravenous. She stared at the two of them, not daring to blink.