Mysterious Revival

Night fell once again.

The tranquil and peaceful village was once more enveloped in darkness, and only a few scattered street lamps were still casting their dim yellow glow. Some lights hadn't been turned on at all due to lack of maintenance.

Yang Jian hadn't left the old house during this time.

He had stayed in the room with the portraits, keeping watch for any movements, like a wooden statue devoid of needless gestures.

But unfortunately,

aside from the footsteps he had heard earlier, Yang Jian made no other discoveries.

He guessed that the nightmare was still ongoing, that the ghost from the dream had departed from this place and wouldn't be coming back for the time being.

"Yang Jian, what are you up to? I've been looking for you for quite a while," Jiang Yan said cautiously as she appeared in the hallway outside, peeking in.

She sighed in relief when she saw Yang Jian inside the room.

"What do you want from me? If there's nothing important, go to sleep. It's dark already," Yang Jian had already heard her approaching, so he wasn't surprised.

Jiang Yan walked in and said, "Well, I just wanted to report back about earlier. Guess how much money I've lent out in just a short while? Your relatives were like mad, I was nearly surrounded. Really, one shouldn't try to be too nice."

"You've handled it yourself, I'm not interested in such trivial details," Yang Jian replied.

"Trivial details? We're talking millions here," Jiang Yan said, "That's enough to support me for a lifetime."

"Where's my mom?" Yang Jian asked, ignoring her statement.

Jiang Yan replied, "She just went back to her room to sleep, on the first floor. Is there something you needed?"

"Nothing, just asking," Yang Jian answered.

At that moment, Jiang Yan walked over, wrapped her arms around Yang Jian's neck from behind, and said with a giggle, "It's so boring for you to sit here all alone. Why don't I keep you company? It's rare for us to have time together. Is it really okay to waste it like this?"

After speaking, she leaned close to Yang Jian's ear, appearing very affectionate.

Yang Jian remained cold as wood, completely indifferent. He glanced at her briefly, "I have a feeling that something abnormal will happen in the village tonight. I need to stay awake. You wouldn't want to end up like Lin Xiaoxi today, suddenly attacking yourself and chopping off your own head, would you?"

"Ah?"

Jiang Yan shrank back in fright, "Are you trying to scare me again?"

"I'm not trying to scare you. I was originally planning to leave Meishan Village overnight, but after giving it more thought, I decided there were more things I needed to handle, so I chose to stay one more day. It was rather reckless, because if something happens, it could involve you and my mom too."

Yang Jian fell silent for a moment.

"But then I worried if I sent you away, and you encountered danger in Dachang City, I might not be able to rescue you in time. So, after some consideration, I made this decision," he continued.

"Hehe, you really do care about me the most," Jiang Yan focused on the strange point and started chuckling happily.

She felt she had become important and was starting to receive attention.

However, Yang Jian still sent her off to rest in the next room in the end.

Because he needed to ensure that nothing troublesome would happen before their departure the next day.

However, as time gradually passed,

the night deepened.

Yang Jian still sat alone in the room, facing the portrait on the table, while also keeping an ear out for any signs of disturbance.

It was probably past eleven by now, and the majority in the village must have been asleep. It was very quiet outside, not a single peculiar sound to be heard, not even the rumble of a passing car.

In such a setting, one would believe that falling asleep would lead to a restful night.

But Yang Jian still did not sleep, he dared not sleep, afraid of having another nightmare.

However, around one in the morning, Yang Jian's expression shifted ever so slightly because he heard a noise—a person passing through the alley nearby, making a faint sound. Although light, it could still be heard if one listened intently in the silent night.

There was someone moving about the village at night.

But at this hour, could the person outside really be human?

Based on the direction of the sound, it seemed as if the person was about to pass by his own front door.

Yang Jian decided to go out and take a look, but just as he was about to stand up, he suddenly heard someone calling him from downstairs.

"Yang Jian, are you there?"

This wasn't the voice of his cousin Xiao Yuan, but that of a strange man, someone he had never encountered before, for Yang Jian had no trace of recognition in his heart.

But before Yang Jian could react, his expression flickered and the room underwent a drastic change.

The room quickly aged, and the lights flickered out at the same time as the room's layout completely changed.

Where there was once a table holding a memorial portrait, a single bed now stood, and several old items that didn't match the previous decor had appeared, as if the place had suddenly reverted to how it was over a decade ago, making all the furnishings seem very old.

Even more strangely, Yang Jian noticed a pair of used leather shoes beside the single bed.

The floor was now marked with several footprints, left by muddy soles.

"Damn it."

Realizing something, Yang Jian immediately left the room.

His expression then changed.

The village was no longer the one he knew but had become unfamiliar, with many of the buildings looking like they did more than ten years ago, the streetlights at the entrance had disappeared, and the sky was dim and oppressive, devoid of any light. Despite this, it wasn't dark; instead, one could clearly see the surroundings.

Was it a dream?

The nightmare had started again.

Yang Jian realized he was being pulled into a nightmare once more, but he found it incredible because he was certain he hadn't been asleep and was completely lucid. If this was a paranormal event named Nightmare, he should have been able to avoid it by staying awake.

Was it because of the person who called out to me downstairs earlier?

He discovered the commonality in both nightmare experiences.

The first time was when his cousin Xiao Yuan called out to him from downstairs, and the second was when a strange man's voice called out his name from downstairs.

Each time his name was called, he found himself plunged into a nightmare.

It happened in the blink of an eye, beyond the capability of keeping awake to resist. It was like a secret code to trigger ghostly events.

However, before Yang Jian could think any further—

The door of the neighboring room opened.

Jiang Yan, with somewhat disheveled hair, mumbled groggily, "Yang Jian, why did you call me out this late? I was still sleeping."

Yang Jian's gaze immediately shifted to Jiang Yan, and he became grave.

Had Jiang Yan been pulled into the nightmare as well?

Or was it possible that this Jiang Yan was fake, a ghastly apparition masquerading in her form?

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Jiang Yan asked, puzzled, blinking.

"I didn't call for you just now. The person who called your name wasn't me," Yang Jian said calmly.

Jiang Yan retorted, "How is that possible? I clearly heard you calling for me downstairs, asking me to come out. I'm so familiar with your voice, I couldn't possibly have misheard."

"Do you believe me, or do you believe a voice?" Yang Jian said coldly, "You were called by a ghost, and now you've entered into a supernatural nightmare. If you don't believe me, take a look around—you'll see that it's no longer the same as it was during the day."

"Huh?"

Only then did Jiang Yan take a closer look at her surroundings, and she was immediately stunned.

It indeed wasn't the same. Standing on the balcony and looking around, many buildings were different from how they were during the day, and Yang Jian, who supposedly called her from downstairs, was actually in the corridor. Things just didn't add up.

"Ah? Am I really in a nightmare? I can't feel at all like I'm dreaming; it's as if I've just woken up," Jiang Yan said in a mix of surprise and doubt, but seeing Yang Jian at her side, she felt somewhat less afraid.

Yang Jian said, "Can a supernatural dream be the same as an ordinary one?"

After observing Jiang Yan for a while,

he couldn't find any indication she might be a ghost, so he temporarily let his guard down.

At this moment,

it wasn't just Yang Jian and Jiang Yan.

One by one, people began to emerge from the other houses in the village. They were all villagers, and they seemed very confused because they had all heard a voice calling their names from outside.

The once deserted and quiet village began to fill with people.

"What kind of joke is this? Are so many people involved now?"

Yang Jian saw many figures; at first, he thought they were ghosts, but when someone greeted him, he realized they weren't ghosts at all—they were all people from the village he had seen during the day.

"This ghost is even more terrifying than before; it seems to have dragged an entire village into a nightmare. There's a trend of losing control... Could it have something to do with the corpse from the daytime?"

He thought back and the only thing that had been tampered with was that dismembered body.

He had meddled with the body, and as a result, this incident occurred at night; there had to be a connection, or he wouldn't believe it for a second.