After hearing what the little girl A'li said, everyone in this "shelter" showed disbelief. They looked at Tianyang and his son and talked in a low voice.
"There are actually intruders who can kill the nightmare old man?"
"If Master Ari hadn't said it himself, I would never have believed it."
"After so many years, no one who entered the Nightmare Courtyard could come back. They all died in their own nightmares."
"What world are they from? They only have two eyes and two arms. They look very strange."
... ... .
Seeing that everyone gradually let go of their hostility, Tianyang couldn't help but look at the little girl in front of him, wondering who she was and how she could have such great prestige among the survivors of Xingdu, and make these people let go of their hostility with just one sentence.
Ah Li turned around, with a smile as warm as the spring breeze on her young face: "You can look around, I'll make some preparations, and we'll talk about it later. You must have a lot of questions, am I right?"
Tianyang nodded: "Okay, thank you Miss A Li."
The little girl waved her hand to indicate that you're welcome, and then she jumped and ran into a small courtyard in front that seemed to have been built especially for her.
As soon as A'li left, these unique-looking and distinctive survivors of Xingdu came up one after another, looking at Tianyang and his son curiously. Some of the brave ones even reached out and touched Tianyang and his son's clothes and armor.
Tianyang was quite embarrassed. He felt that he had become a rare species when he came to this group of "weirdos".
He glanced at his father. Su Lie seemed calm and even started communicating with the residents.
Due to some mysterious power of Xingdu, it was not difficult for people from different worlds to communicate with each other, and Tianyang soon learned a lot of information about the residents.
One or two of them had four eyes on their faces, huge skulls, protruding backs of their head, no hair on top, and another head protruding from their chests. They claimed to be from a region called "Jie Xiong".
These "Jie Xiong people" are very strange. They seem to be androgynous, with two heads, one male and one female. When they talk, the two heads often quarrel with each other, which is very interesting.
There is another kind of alien who calls themselves "Feather People". They are covered with feathers, are tall, and have long faces. They look like humans, but according to them, they reproduce by laying eggs in their posterior pockets.
One of the female "Yumin" was very interested in Tianyang and invited him to her "home" on the cliff. Tianyang could only politely refuse.
Among the residents of these star cities, there are also some with violent tempers, such as a few aliens who look like apes but have no hair, have human faces but fangs, have dark skin, and hold a piece of charcoal in their hands and chew on it from time to time. They occupy a corner alone, and the other residents stay away from them and don't want to get close to them.
According to other people's introduction, Tianyang learned that those apes came from a country called "Fire-hating". They had a bad temper and could spit fire from their mouths, so their houses were made of stone, otherwise it would easily cause a fire.
In addition to those with violent tempers, there are also residents in very strange conditions. The strangest one is a strange man who is said to be from the "Land of the Immortal".
He stood quietly under the shade of the tree, wearing a white mask on his face, which looked like a strange mask used for sacrifice. He had short black hair all over his body, a human body and deer legs, and from time to time he would tear off a branch from the tree, open the mask, and put it into his mouth to chew.
It is said that he is from the 'Immortal Kingdom' and is immortal. He is the oldest resident of Star City and the last person left in the Immortal Kingdom who was led by the God of Dreams. As for his compatriots, they have been transformed into monsters without intelligence.
The monster that won't die!
He seldom communicated with others and usually spent his days quietly standing under the tree, occasionally eating branches.
The residents of Xingdu don't know his real name and only call him "Xuan Lao".
The residents of these star cities really opened Tianyang's eyes. At the same time, he guessed that the original world of these residents should now have become a world of resistance.
After a while of talking, Ah Li sent someone to invite Tian Yang and his son. When they walked into the small courtyard, the residents of Xingdu stopped in front of the door. They were either looking at the door or lying on the low wall. They were all curious about what Ah Li wanted to say to Tian Yang and his son, but they didn't dare to cross the small door in the yard.
When he came into the house, Tianyang saw the little girl. A'li was wearing a plain white gauze dress with a long hem that draped straight on the ground behind her. She had a red silk ribbon tied around her waist with a piece of emerald green jade hanging on it.
She clasped her hands together, bowed slightly, raised her hands with a smile and said, "Dear guest, please take a seat."
Tianyang and the other man put down their weapons and sat down on two chairs woven out of rattan in the house. Someone brought a small wooden bowl filled with clear water and a small yellow flower floating in it.
There was a similar wooden bowl on the table in front of Ah Li. She picked it up gently and took a sip to demonstrate.
But Tianyang and Su Lie did not move. After all, this was Xingdu's stuff, and God knew what changes would happen to these "invaders" after they drank it.
Ahri didn't force it, and smiled, "You can ask your questions now, and I will answer you as long as I know the answer."
"However, after answering your questions, I hope you can do us a favor."
Tianyang asked cautiously: "What kind of help? I hope it's not beyond our capabilities."
Ahri blinked and said, "In fact, even if I didn't ask you, you would do it, otherwise you wouldn't be able to leave this world."
"It's okay. We'll talk about the details later. Now, please ask your questions."
Tian Yang looked at Su Lie, who understood what he meant. He nodded and looked at the little girl and said, "Are those residents really brought here by the Dream God from other worlds? How did this world escape the invasion of the Eternal Night?"
"Although it has become desolate and eerie, I am sure that this place has not yet been invaded by the eternal night."
Ah Li was stunned for a moment, then looked at Su Lie and said, "You know a lot of things, even 'Eternal Night'."
She tried her best to act like an adult, cleared her throat and said, "Yes, the residents of Xingdu were all brought here by the Dream God from other worlds. The reason why this world was able to escape the invasion of the eternal night is very simple. It is not a real world."
"It is the dream of Lord Qingluan, the God of Dreams."
"The residents of Xingdu, and now you two, are all in the dream of Master Qingluan!"
Although Tianyang had prepared himself mentally and felt that he could accept any absurd fact, he did not expect that this world was not real but a dream...
It seems that she had foreseen that the answer would be surprising and would shock the guests.
Not surprised by Tianyang and his son's reactions, the little girl calmly picked up the wooden bowl, drank a sip of the liquid in the bowl, and then looked at Tianyang and his son.
Tianyang took a few seconds to accept this fact. Now thinking about it, it is not unreasonable to say that it is a dream. After all, this is a world created by the god of dreams.
But he thought of another question: "If this is a dream world, do the people here still have physical bodies?"
Ahri smiled and said, "Of course not. Everything you feel here is as if you still have a physical body and power, but it is just the 'rules' of Xingdu."
"Master Qingluan has endowed the people here with a sense of 'being alive', so if an invader appears, they can still retain their own strength. That's why we need preachers and old nightmares to deal with invaders."
Ah Li's face suddenly darkened, and she said, "Lady Qingluan is very kind. She always allows the creatures in each world to have a good dream when they are asleep, so as to heal their physical and mental trauma."
"When the eternal night fell, she created the Star City and led everyone to live here, so that we would not become monsters and associate with darkness."
"But her power is limited after all, and there are too many people in Xingdu. Even though she is the God of Dreams, so many creatures living together in her dreams have placed a great burden on her."
Ahri sighed softly and looked out the window: "When she felt that she could no longer hold on, she ventured into the worlds that had been corrupted by the eternal night to find something."
“She thought those things might be able to help everyone survive. But even though she was a god, she was corrupted by the world of eternal night.”
"Every erosion made her weaker, and every weakness made Xingdu slowly move towards its end. In the end, she did find what she wanted, but she didn't get the way to survive from it."
"And after repeated explorations, she was polluted and eroded. She began to become twisted and crazy."
"She herself realized this, so she put herself into a deep sleep to fight against distortion and madness, and to prolong the existence of Star City."
A-Li shook her head and said, "But her deep sleep made everyone feel uneasy, and then a fight broke out. You know, we are still able to "live" here because of the power of the dream god."
"We are able to use our original strength and abilities, just as well. Therefore, the battles that took place in the dream consumed the power of Lord Qingli, and in the end, we ourselves pushed Xingdu into the abyss."
"After Lord Qingli's power was consumed, he could no longer control his distortion and madness. It turned beautiful dreams into nightmares, made Xingdu always night, made the weather cold, and gradually turned everyone into monsters."
Tianyang glanced outside the door and asked, "How did the people here survive?"
"It's because of me."
Ahri raised her head and said seriously, "Ms. Qingli combined part of her power with her kindness to create me. She asked me to hide with the residents who had not yet turned into monsters. With the power she gave me, I was able to set up a barrier in a corner of this star city to prevent pollution."
"But this is not a solution, and everyone is trapped in such a small place, living a very depressing and miserable life."
"therefore."
The little girl stood up, looked at Tianyang and his son, bit her lip, and said with determination: "Please... Please kill me!"