"You're finally out!" Xiangdong breathed a sigh of relief. He threw away his cigarette, strode up the stairs, picked up Chen Yang and stuffed him into his arms.
Chen Yang pushed him away.
Xiangdong was still trying to rescue Chen Yang, but the painter downstairs said, "In order to prevent you from entering the illusion again, I suggest we go out and talk."
"Ah... yes, yes." Chen Yang handed Chao Jian's crutches to Xiang Dong, "Help me hold it."
He carried the emotionally disturbed Chao Jian on his back and quickly went downstairs.
Xiangdong looked at the two crutches in his hand: "...Huh?"
This thing has a blood feud with me, so I might as well throw it away.
The painter's sallow face showed a smile: "Without the cane, Chao Jian will live on Chen Yang's back."
Xiangdong: “…”
Go to hell!
Chen Yang carried Chao Jian out of the attic. He glanced at Widow Zhou who was standing next to the inn with a lantern, frowned, turned a corner and then put Chao Jian down.
"The crutch is in Xiangdong." Chen Yang listened to the footsteps, "He and the painter are heading this way..."
Before he finished speaking, Chao Jian put his left leg on the ground, leaned against the wall and looked over.
Chen Yang thought of something, he hurriedly said "Wait for me here" and turned the corner, running quickly to Xiangdong.
"You guys go back to the inn first. I have something to talk to Chao Jian about. I'll be back soon."
Chen Yang returned to the corner with his cane.
"Damn it, they have to get us out of here, and quietly, we can't all go together..." Xiangdong couldn't help but want to follow. He braked again and returned to the painter with a deadpan look on his face, "Let's go back to the inn."
The two of them passed by Widow Zhou without stopping.
Widow Zhou didn't react either.
At the corner, Chen Yang tried to sort out the scenes in the illusion. Every time he sorted out a part, he would tell Chen Yang, all the while observing the other person's expression.
Nothing was observed, zero gain.
Maybe the light is too dim.
Or maybe Chao Jian's emotions had calmed down from the storm.
Chen Yang moved closer: "You entered my fantasy, didn't you?"
Chao Jian lowered his head: "Yeah."
"Have you seen my sister?" Chen Yang asked.
Chao Jian still responded with “hmm”.
Chen Yang became excited. He grabbed Chao Jian's arm tightly. The cold touch startled him. "What did my sister say?"
Chao Jian said: "She will bless you."
Chen Yang blinked: "Bless me?"
Chao Jian's facial features were hidden in the darkness: "She hopes you can go back."
Chen Yang asked without hesitation: "Where to go?"
"Go home." Chao Jian said.
Going home
Go home...
Chen Yang fell silent. When he first entered the mission world, he wanted his sister to protect him.
I could have seen her this time.
Unfortunately, I entered the wrong fantasy world.
The one he entered had no sister.
"She didn't ask you to do anything, did she?" Chen Yang said, "For example, asking you to tell her a story."
He shook his head at Jian.
Chen Yang handed the crutch to Chao Jian. He suddenly remembered that the other party had said a few words to him before entering the illusion, and he immediately took back the crutch.
"Did you know that there was a ghost in the attic that could pull people into a fantasy world?"
Reminded him several times.
Chao Jian said, "When I went upstairs, I heard you calling me."
Chen Yang was shocked. He thought Chao Jian was taking the medicine as milk pills, and he discovered the abnormality when he became manic. He didn't expect it to be earlier.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Chen Yang suppressed his temper, "If you had told me earlier, wouldn't we have been able to avoid it?"
"It will be too late by then, and," Chao Jian paused for a moment, reached out, grasped his cane, stroking it, and said, "You will have to get used to it sooner or later."
Chen Yang was speechless.
The partner's tone seemed to be saying that children will only be supported by adults when they are just learning to walk, and will not be supported for the rest of their lives.
You should try to go on your own.
You have to get used to walking on your own.
"Illusions are the most common and the most terrifying things." Chao Jian rested his arm on his crutch, his voice low and hoarse.
Chen Yang said: "Is it common? I have done several missions, but this is my first time going in. They didn't choose me at the bathhouse that time."
Chao Jian did not explain to him in detail the elements that made up the illusion, but only said, "Chen Yang, you are not lucky every time."
Chen Yang: “… Got it.”
The first time is new, the second time is familiar. The next time he goes in, he will face what is inside his heart, those painful experiences that he has forgotten through selective amnesia and does not want to recall.
Chen Yang recalled the illusion this time. It was his partner's private part that he accidentally touched. He asked tentatively, "Is everything in the illusion real?"
Chao Jian walked forward with a crutch, her slightly bent back facing him: "It's true."
"Then you..." Chen Yang's tone was hesitant, "Your left leg..."
"It will be fine." Chao Jian tilted his head back, stared at him, and spoke each word clearly, "It will be fine."
Chen Yang's breathing stagnated. The boy in the illusion seemed to have overlapped with Chao Jian. He scratched the back of his sweaty neck and said, "Let's work hard together and keep training. When you don't need crutches anymore, I'll rent two bicycles and we'll go out and play."
Chao Jian in front didn't say anything.
Chen Yang walked up to Chao Jian, turned to face him, and smelled the medicine in his breath: "Don't want to ride a bike?"
"No." Chao Jian seemed impatient, and his breath became a little heavier.
"..." Chen Yang said, "Then I will teach you when the time comes."
Chao Jian frowned: "I don't need you to teach me."
Chen Yang agreed with him and said, "Okay, then you can learn by yourself. I just want your left leg to be healed. Don't let it be like in the illusion. To be honest, I have some psychological trauma. Fortunately, the illusion is not all real, otherwise I will doubt you..."
Chao Jian suddenly sneered: "Why do you doubt me?"
Chen Yang's scattered thoughts closed instantly, and he smiled: "Nothing."
I suspect you've also thought about smashing that leg, Chen Yang said to himself.
At half past nine, everyone gathered in Qian Han and Ge Fei's room.
There were several scratches on the back of Qian Han's hand. He said that he was attacked by the crazy woman in the land temple. If it weren't for Ge Fei, he would be dead now.
In response to Qian Han's gratitude, Ge Fei's reaction was indifferent. He didn't seem to think it was a big deal, just a piece of cake.
There was a fragrance in the room, coming from several girls. They had all taken a bath and changed their clothes, wearing the clothes given by Widow Zhou.
Miss Qiao is the most fragrant and the most lustful.
Obviously, it is just an ordinary jacket and pants. Xiang Zimu, Big Eyes Girl and Zhuzhu look like girls next door when they wear them, but Miss Qiao looks like a seductive and unfaithful lady.
What a great figure.
Her temperament is also very charming, which comes from her bones, and she can't look plain even if she wears a sack.
Old Wu looked at Miss Qiao frequently, pulling the hem of her clothes from time to time. The ring on his hand was made to look ironic by his obscene action.
Miss Qiao held a cigarette between her legs and yawned lazily: "I haven't made any progress, what about you, have you made any progress?"
Chen Yang listened to what others said.
The result disappointed him. Except for Big Eyes Girl and Zhuzhu, he didn't find the rest.
Of course, it is possible that someone is lying.
It's like this every time. No matter how he expresses himself, the temporary team composed mostly of strangers can't get together.
The girl with big eyes saw that Chen Yang was in a bad mood, so she told him about how Old Man Zhao and Li Erban slept in the same coffin.
Teacher Xie was confused and asked, "Didn't Old Man Zhao have a terminal illness and won't live more than half a year? Why are people eating his fish? Or did I remember it wrong?"
Ge Fei leaned against the bed, holding a palm-leaf fan that he had found from nowhere, "If I remember correctly, it was like that."
"Who would even let his fish go?" Teacher Xie said, "It's just a few months of life, why would you take it away?"
"Teacher Xie, what's there to not understand? The fish is right next to you, so why not catch it?" Old Wu was still angry that he had exposed his desire on the spot, and his tone was not very good, "Let alone a few months, even if it's just a few days of life, I won't let it go."
Old Wu snorted: "Haven't you heard the old saying, no matter how small a fly's legs are, they are still meat."
The room was filled with silence.
"It's so scary..." the big-eyed girl sobbed.
Xiangdong shouted fiercely: "Why are you crying? You have only just started, hold it in!"
The girl with big eyes covered her mouth with sobs.
This guy is super handsome, with a super manly physique, but he turns out to be gay.
A gay who has no sympathy for women.
Zhuzhu revealed Yang Erzhu's story, and after everyone chatted for a while, the smell in the room became unbearable.
None of the eight men took a shower.
Only the painter's clothes didn't smell of sweat, the other seven...
"Let's talk about it tomorrow!"
The big-eyed girl was so irritated by the smell of sweat that she opened the door and pointed, saying, "The hut over there is the place to take a shower. Just draw some water from the well and add some hot water to pour over your body."
At ten o'clock, Widow Zhou came back with a lantern and closed the back door.
Chen Yang had just finished taking a shower and greeted her with dirty clothes in his arms.
Widow Zhou said, "Mr. Chen, give me the clothes. I will go to the river tomorrow morning..."
"No, I don't need to wash mine." Chen Yang declined.
Widow Zhou said in confusion, "You don't want to wash it? It's worn in the summer and has a strong smell. It doesn't smell good and will attract mosquitoes."
"It's okay. When I'm away from home, I'm used to packing up dirty clothes and taking them home to wash."
Chen Yang gathered the dirty clothes together.
The old tasker at the rest stop had severe PTSD. Before he died, he smelled the incense on him and Chao Jian and became obsessed with it.
Chao Jian lit the incense every day before going to bed. He also had post-traumatic stress disorder. His condition was very bad during this mission. Chen Yang wanted to keep the clothes because there was residual smell of incense on them.
"Go to sleep." Chao Jian approached with a damp face.
Chen Yang said to Widow Zhou, "Good night."
Widow Zhou stood quietly in the yard for a while, blew out the lantern, and the yard became dark, with a waning moon hanging in the sky.
The whole inn became blurry.
In the room, Chen Yang leaned his cell phone against the wall behind the table, placing it vertically. In the light, he took out some tuberose and prepared to place some at the head and foot of the bed.
Chao Jian stopped him and said, "Put it away and throw it by the door."
Chen Yang looked inquiringly.
"Otherwise you will feel dizzy and it will be bad for your respiratory tract," Chao Jian said.
Chen Yang could only cancel his action.
"It's very hot." Chen Yang glanced at the wooden window in the room and resisted the urge to touch it. There was no screen there, and once the window was opened, they would be swallowed by mosquitoes.
As soon as Chen Yang lay down on the bed, he felt sparks on his back. He leaned towards Jian Yi, and the sparks immediately turned into a raging fire, making him sweat profusely. His shower was in vain.
When they were in Chen Xishuang's hometown, the bed they slept in was also small, but it was April and not as hot as it is now.
Now it really is...
Chen Yang sat up: "Let's take turns tomorrow night. One of us will sleep on the chair and the other will sleep on the bed. This will be better."
A cool breeze responded to him.
Chao Jian was holding Chen Yang's little notebook and fanning it absentmindedly.
Chen Yang lay down silently, allowing himself to completely hide in the wind. He closed his eyes to try to fall asleep, and suddenly asked, "Why did you hug me when I came out of the illusion?" And you hugged me so... pitifully
The action of fanning Jian paused almost imperceptibly.
"Did you think I couldn't get out?" Chen Yang turned his head and touched his wet hair. "No, your partner is not that bad."
Chao Jian continued to fan him without saying a word.
Chen Yang stole a glance at the boy's casually bent left leg. It seemed that the obsession with this leg was about that "brother".
Chao Jian said that some things in the illusion were real and some were fake. If they were all real, then the reason why he didn't use his left leg was because he thought his leg was a burden to that person and he didn't want to be left behind again.
That was Chao Jian’s fear.
Come to think of it, can ghosts in illusions recognize the wrong person
Or did his face become that of another person in the eyes of that boy
Just like Chao Jian, my sister also mistook him for herself
Something seems wrong.
Chen Yang sat up again. He moved his body, leaned his back against the slightly cool wall, and faced Chao Jian.
"You..." Chen Yang wanted to say something, but he got stuck just as he started. He didn't know how to say it, or what to say. He kept saying "you" for a long time, and felt inexplicably blocked in his heart, and a little stuffy and painful. "Forget it, let's go to sleep."
"The fourth fish tide is getting closer. We need to look for clues. We'll see which families hold funerals tomorrow morning. People in the town will also know about Old Man Zhao's incident. We'll see how they react, as well as the mayor. We need to..."
Chen Yang's words were muffled by a hand.
He leaned over to Jian, put his lips close to his ear, and whispered, "There's someone outside the door, be quiet."