Phantom Skeleton Painting

Chapter 73.1 Dream

However, unlike Lin Banxia’s fear, Xiaohua seemed to be pleased by those shadows and let out a crisp laugh.

Before Lin Banxia could react, he was wrapped in a black shadow and dragged out of the room. His body fell helplessly from the sky to the hard ground, and severe pain attacked his consciousness. Lin Banxia calmed down for a while, then managed to recover. He staggered up from the ground and found himself standing in an empty wilderness. In the center of the wilderness, stood a dilapidated old house.

Lin Banxia looked up and saw the bright moon hanging on the dome again. The bright moon was clear and bright, without the previous shadows.

He took two tentative steps forward, but felt the ground shake, as if something giant was slowly moving towards his direction from a distance. Lin Banxia felt a little confused. He looked around and found that the source of the vibration was the old house in front of him. Looking towards the old house, he found that the dilapidated walls had begun to fall apart piece by piece, and then the eaves. Then came the doors and windows. The house could no longer withstand the violent vibrations and began to gradually disintegrate.

Lin Banxia was a little confused. Although he didn’t understand what was happening, he felt that this change was related to Xiaohua. However, just as he was about to get closer, he actually saw a black torrent pouring out of the house, sweeping towards him with overwhelming force. Lin Banxia raised his head as the black torrent swept towards him like a tsunami. The wave covered most of the sky. Standing there, he turned into a pitiful ant, without even the thought of turning around and running away, because he knew that he would definitely not be able to escape.

Sure enough, a astounding moment, Lin Banxia was sucked into the black torrent. After being sucked in, he realized that this was not a current, but an untouchable shadow. He was trapped in it, and the surroundings were full of all kinds of strange sounds and sights. Lin Banxia didn’t know how long this dream existed or where it came from. However, he actually heard the languages ​​​​of countless countries. It was as if the dream had traveled around the world… Fragmented pictures filled everywhere it reached. Lin Banxia struggled hard, trying to get out, but his body couldn’t muster any strength, so he could only give up and let his body drift with the current, drifting to an unknown place.

Lin Banxia didn’t know how long he had been floating there, maybe a day, maybe a month, maybe longer. His spirit became tired and sleepiness swept over his heart. In the midst of those strange noises, Lin Banxia closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep that he had not experienced in a long time.

This time, he didn’t even dream, he just slept peacefully.

When Lin Banxia woke up again, everything around him had disappeared. There were no sounds or images, nor was there land under his feet or the bright moon in the sky. He stood in a dark nothingness.

What do those changes mean? Did something happen to Xiaohua? Or did Xiaohua do something to this dream? When Lin Banxia was thinking this, he heard the cry of a child coming from the depths of the darkness. This sound startled Lin Banxia. He thought it was Xiaohua crying, and immediately moved toward the place the cry came from. However, when he got closer to the cry, he realized that it was not Xiaohua who was crying…

Lin Banxia looked for the sound and saw a cluster of light shining in the distance. It seemed to be a small window with only a faint light. In a completely dark environment, a little bit of light would attract everyone’s sight.

Lin Banxia started running towards it. He saw the window and the familiar single bed next to the window. Different from the small bed he saw in that room, there was a human with a weird face sitting on this bed. It had a hunched back and no facial features. It looked like a ball of meat that had been forcibly kneaded together. It was different from a human. In comparison, it didn’t look like a living thing at all. It held the pink bear in its arms, and its eyes seemed to stay on the mostly covered small window above its head.

Outside the window, a bright moon hung in the sky, its silver brilliance slanting down, like a gauze, falling gently on its face. It held the little bear in its arms, tilted its head up in addiction, and sobbed sadly. Then, someone entered the room, and Lin Banxia heard the human conversation. Unfortunately, the language was not in Chinese, so he couldn’t quite understand it, but from the tone of voice, he could tell that the person was not very friendly. The thing tightened its body and sobbed sadly.

Lin Banxia paused, hesitating whether to move forward. Just as he was hesitating, the small window that could barely see the sky that he had been staring at was blocked by something.

The only bit of light disappeared completely, and the whole world fell into darkness again.

It hid in the darkness, its desperate cries getting louder and louder, and eventually turned into a howl like the wind that often surrounded Lin Banxia. When Lin Banxia heard this cry, he realized that what he saw in front of him seemed to be the origin of the dream…

The wailing sound became louder and louder, and Lin Banxia felt that the ground under his feet began to soften again. Just when he thought he would fall from this dreamland again, a child’s voice suddenly sounded in the darkness ahead.

“Don’t cry.” It was a little girl’s voice. Her voice was as sweet as toffee, softly comforting the crying thing, “Don’t cry, I’m with you.”

It was Xiaohua’s voice. Lin Banxia’s eyes widened, trying to see what was happening in the darkness.

“Look, didn’t the window open again?” After Xiaohua finished speaking, the sealed window reopened, and the bright moon came into view again. Lin Banxia saw it under the moonlight… along with Xiaohua.

Xiaohua sat by the bed, hugging it tightly with her little hands, just like she did when she hugged the frightened Lin Banxia. She didn’t mind at all that it looked like a monster. Like a kitten, she used her own soft cheek to rub against its uneven skin soothingly.

“Don’t be afraid.” Xiaohua said, “Xiaohua is here.”

After Xiaohua said this, it began to shake violently all over, and clouds of black smoke poured out. Xiaohua didn’t care, but just hugged it harder.

Lin Banxia was a little worried when he saw this, and couldn’t help shouting: “Xiaohua…”

Xiaohua heard his call, blinked her eyes, turned around, and responded with a smile: “Brother.”

Lin Banxia wanted to walk over, but Xiaohua stopped him and said: “Brother, don’t come over, wait a moment, wait a moment.” She pressed her forehead against the thing, and said warmly, “Wait a moment, just a moment. That’s it.”

Lin Banxia had no choice but to stop.

The black mist completely wrapped Xiaohua and itself together. Then, its terrifying cry gradually became quieter, and its body began to gradually turn into the mist surrounding Xiaohua. The black mist enveloped Xiaohua’s body at first, and then gradually began to fade, as if it had been absorbed by her. In the end, only Xiaohua was left on the narrow bed. She raised her head and stared at the small window for a long time. Lin Banxia thought that time had frozen, but then she turned her head again and called to Lin Banxia, “Brother!”

When Lin Banxia saw that she was fine, he was immediately overjoyed. He ran towards Xiaohua and without caring about anything else, he hugged her. He finally remembered Xiaohua completely. He hugged the little girl tightly as if he wanted to press her into his body: “Xiaohua, you scared me to death!!”

Xiaohua groaned after being squeezed, and raised her little face and said sweetly: “Brother, don’t be afraid, Xiaohua is here.” As she said that, she rubbed Lin Banxia’s chest like she just rubbed the thing.

Lin Banxia was so touched that his heart softened. He still wanted to scold her and said, “What did you do to it?”

Xiaohua said: “Nothing, it was very scared, just like brother back then.” She said, “Xiaohua knows how to make it not afraid…”

Lin Banxia recalled the memories of those years. His nose felt a little sore, and he touched Xiaohua’s head: “Then where has it gone now?”

Xiaohua looked sad.

Lin Banxia said: “Why this expression?”

Xiaohua said: “I just didn’t expect…”

Lin Banxia said: “What didn’t you expect?”

Xiaohua said: “I didn’t expect that it was all fear.” She touched her belly, “It’s all gone…”

Lin Banxia understood Xiaohua’s meaning, but understanding it did not mean that he could accept it, so he stared at Xiaohua’s bulging belly in silence for a while, not knowing what to say.

Xiaohua was a little panicked by Lin Banxia’s silence. She hooked his fingers and said with round eyes: “Is brother angry with Xiaohua? Xiaohua doesn’t want this, but if it’s still there, brother can’t get out.”

Lin Banxia sighed: “Brother will never be angry with Xiaohua.” He hugged Xiaohua, and his soul felt complete, as if a missing part had been filled.

When Xiaohua heard this, she laughed happily: “I know that my brother likes Xiaohua the most.”

Lin Banxia said: “Then can we go out?”

Xiaohua said: “Although it is gone, the fulcrum of this world is still there. Only when the fulcrum completely disappears will this dream end.”

The fulcrum was Cui Gaoyu. Lin Banxia looked around the dark surroundings, wondering how to find Cui Gaoyu, who was in the unknown dream state, when he heard a clear clicking sound above his head. Lin Banxia and Xiaohua looked up together and found that the dark dome above their heads was cracking like glass, and faint light emitted from the cracks.

“It’s broken.” Xiaohua said.

 

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