Chapter 5: Nightmare

“Urgh…”

Hua Qi’an bit down weakly, trying to tear apart the waterweeds that had invaded her throat from who-knows-where.

But these efforts seemed utterly futile.

Unlike the frail strands she’d seen before, these waterweeds now pulsed with life, toying mercilessly with her mouth.

Some even slithered straight down her throat… probing into her body.

Her muddled brain couldn’t think straight, but on instinct, she knew she shouldn’t be here.

…Then where should she be?

A drowning-like suffocation crashed over her.

She seemed to be submerged in some body of water.

Unstoppable liquid seeped into her ears, her nose…

The coolness carried a deadly force as it entered her body.

She wanted to open her mouth and scream, but the moment she did, she choked.

The waterweeds, writhing like living things, seized the chance to burrow even deeper…

Urgh…

The sensation of foreign objects thrusting into her throat was far from pleasant.

Her eyes rolled back for an instant.

She gagged reflexively.

But submerged as she was, even that motion proved difficult.

Hua Qi’an tried to lift her hands, to yank these inexplicable waterweeds off her body.

Only to find her hands utterly immobile…

In her haze, she looked down.

And saw her hands bound fast by iron chains.

A thick chain shackled her bare ankle as well.

From prolonged immersion, the chain showed no trace of rust.

It was wrapped thickly in waterweeds—

The chain’s other end connected to an iron block plastered with talismans.

It emanated an ominous aura.

Half the block was buried in the muddy bottom.

Clearly heavy, and aged.

“Cough… urgh…”

A sudden suffocation gripped her brain once more.

Hua Qi’an felt her neck crushed under immense pressure.

Her instinctive gasp filled her mouth with water and weeds again.

What little oxygen she had was stolen away.

It wasn’t the waterweeds—

It felt like hands… strangling her neck…

Gripping hard.

As if intent on killing her.

“Whimper…”

The air in her chest dwindled.

Her consciousness blurred.

The foreign pressure and pain clamped vise-like on her neck; all that escaped her lips were agonized wheezes.

In her daze, fragments of her childhood flickered before her again…

“…”

Was this the life-flashing-before-her-eyes bit?

It seemed she was truly about to die here, pointlessly.

Her body probably wouldn’t be found for a while…

She wondered if that person would even show a sad face upon hearing the news…

Faces flashed one by one, people from her memories parading through her mind.

Hua Qi’an watched them calmly.

Until one face held still.

“Late Return…”

Her lips trembled soundlessly.

Xia Wan Gui.

Her childhood sweetheart.

“…”

Why, even now…

Could she still not recall her face?

“Gah… urgh…”

She really was on the brink.

Those “hands” on her neck weren’t just strangling…

They were scraping her skin with sharp-feeling nails—

Damn it, what the hell was this thing!

Could she… truly do nothing?

The sharp scraping made her skin burn; in her foggy mind’s final moments, clarity pierced through for a few seconds.

A glint of ferocity flashed in her eyes, otherwise calm and unruffled.

Intense pain erupted from her tongue tip.

She bit down hard, dragging the waterweeds in her mouth along with it.

A thick metallic tang flooded her oral cavity.

She’d realized long ago—this wasn’t a true “body of water.”

Otherwise, she’d have drowned by now.

This had to be a dream.

So she needed to wake up.

Her prior memories had all resurfaced.

Hua Qi’an recalled filming the video in the abandoned house, then blacking out.

So this was surely the dream born from her unconsciousness.

The waterweeds, now stained with her blood, inexplicably quieted for a few seconds.

Then, as if enchanted, they all withdrew from her mouth in a rush.

“Ah…”

The abrupt retreat from her throat made Hua Qi’an shudder all over.

But afterward, she finally felt a measure of relief.

Once she recognized this as a dream, her entire being cooled into calm.

The haze before her eyes lifted somewhat; the waterweeds seemed to recede…

But Hua Qi’an knew this was the calm before the storm.

A human silhouette slowly materialized before her.

A familiar sensation welled up in her heart.

She had a rough idea of the figure’s identity…

Because those hands were still clamped around her neck.

Had she… somehow offended her?

Hua Qi’an frantically searched her mind for anyone who might harbor a grudge…

But soon, she let out a wry smile.

She already knew this was an absurd dream—what was the point in overanalyzing?

“Hiss…”

Though it should be a dream, the pain felt undiminished in the slightest.

The bloody taste still filled her mouth.

Hua Qi’an suddenly sensed the pressure on her neck easing.

Though she couldn’t make out the “silhouette’s” face clearly, she inexplicably knew…

She was looking at her.

Even that pain couldn’t jolt her awake from the “dream”…

Did she need to start with this “humanoid” figure?

Another one of these bizarre, twisted dreams…

As Hua Qi’an’s thoughts wandered chaotically, a sudden change occurred.

She trembled all over.

In disbelief, Hua Qi’an felt an icy chill press against her lips.

Her vision blurred under the haze.

So cold…

A slick, cold, flexible tendril—replacing the waterweeds—invaded her mouth.

It swept away every trace of the metallic tang.

This was…

This thing was kissing her?

Why?

Those hands, once throttling her neck, now pinched her face instead.

Hua Qi’an felt the dull ache in her cheeks.

Though the strangling suffocation had eased…

Her breath was now stolen in an even more domineering way…

Hua Qi’an tried to break the kiss.

Whether twisting her head or struggling, it was all pointless.

Her body remained bound, immobile.

At last, the silhouette released her.

Ceasing its torment of her poor mouth.

At some point, the figure had turned nearly translucent, allowing Hua Qi’an a vague glimpse of its form…

Hua Qi’an narrowed her eyes; a familiar déjà vu raced through her mind with the memory.

This shadow… wore the same clothes as the thing she’d glimpsed in the mirror—

Had it appeared in her dream because she’d fainted from fear?

Now that she’d uncovered the “truth” of this dream, the faint panic that had lingered in her heart slowly dissipated.

“What… do you want?”

As expected, this wasn’t reality—her voice emerged smoothly from her mouth.

Echoing with an underwater resonance.

One second.

Two seconds.

No response whatsoever.

Just as Hua Qi’an prepared to press further, she suddenly felt an itch at her sole.

Gritting her teeth, she looked down.

The waterweeds that should have been tangled on the chain to the massive iron block were now slowly writhing toward her.

They’d already brushed her foot.

[Qi’an… Qi’an…]

The silhouette before her finally stirred.

A wet, sticky call, as if rising from the lightless depths of water.

Now, it repeated a single name over and over.

“You… know me?”

Hua Qi’an couldn’t help but focus.

What exactly was this figure before her, chanting her name…?

Even as the unbearable itch crept up her foot, she forced herself to ignore it.

[You promised… never to leave…]

[You lied…]

A voice laced with resentment and shrill grief rang out again.

Accompanying it was the severe foreign pressure and suffocation returning to her neck.

[Hehehehe… Let’s… be together forever…]

“Ah… heh…”

Death loomed once more; Hua Qi’an’s mind raced.

Those two sentences were her only clues, her lifeline.

The one she’d promised never to leave, to be together forever with…

The one she’d failed to keep her word to, whom she’d deceived…

That person was—

Urgh…

Who?

…Which one?

Hua Qi’an’s consciousness sank into darkness.