Beginning with the Ubume Bird
Chapter 707 - Chapter 707 Chapter 15 Black Dream

Chapter 707: Chapter 15 Black Dream Chapter 707: Chapter 15 Black Dream “He’s usually all right to me.”

After a long time, Mou Yong could only squeeze out this sentence.

Night fell, and various electric vehicles passed by on the sidewalk. The lights from the vehicles and the neon signs obscured the dim starlight.

Mou Gang became more curious about Li Yan.

“What’s your relationship with him?”

Mou Yong tilted his head.

“You could say we are friends. He got injured recently, right? I came to visit, but it might not have been a good time.”

As Li Yan spoke, he let out a ring of smoke, which drifted with the cold wind into the aging electrical box…

Crackle~

Suddenly, a burst of blue electrical sparks flashed, and all the lights in the building dimmed at once.

Li Yan and Mou Gang’s faces were instantly plunged into darkness, with only the glowing ember of the cigarette giving off some light. Li Yan’s eyes widened. He was already half-crouching on the ground when he suddenly braced himself with his left hand and leaned back. At the same time, he didn’t forget to push down on Mou Gang’s head.

The still burning red ember cleanly split in two, its halves falling to the ground along with drifting sparks.

Snap~

The lights came back on; it was just a voltage instability. The whole event lasted no more than a second.

Mou Gang was oblivious. Suddenly, Li Yan lifted him by the collar.

“What are you doing?”

At first, the boy was both shocked and angry, but a glance from Li Yan and the unintentional chill in his eyes rendered him speechless.

Li Yan’s neck now sported a crooked, four-inch-long wound, from which blood like tiny serpents streamed into the collar of his shirt. He didn’t bother to wipe it off, and lifting the boy, he went upstairs, banging on a door with a recognized number plate. It took only a breath’s time, with no response from inside. Li Yan then slapped the lock and broke it, and the old iron door creaked open. As it did, a red shadow, swift as a striking snake, shot towards him.

Li Yan was fearless and reached out his hand, wrapped in Disaster Water, to grab it.

“Stop!”

Li Yan recognized Yang Zheng’s voice. Just as the words fell, the red shadow and Li Yan’s Disaster Water made contact, creating an explosion like concentrated acid, filling the air with choking white smoke.

Bai Xiao retracted her red tentacles, hastily buttoning up her coat. She had intended to wear a long-necked sweater underneath but now couldn’t be bothered. Her neck and chest were exposed, showing a lot of pale skin. She glared at Li Yan, her expression a mix of embarrassment and annoyance,

Li Yan gasped and immediately turned away. However, Mou Yong, suspended in the air, raised an eyebrow.

“It’s you.”

Yang Zheng, lying on the couch, frowned,

“I was originally here to visit you, but someone attacked me while I was smoking downstairs. I was worried you might be in danger, so I acted in haste. Don’t take it the wrong way.”

Li Yan said with a muffled voice, his back turned.

“Hmph!”

Bai Xiao huffed heavily. She clumsily stuffed her sweater into her purse, tied up her hair, and muttered with a sulky voice: “I’m leaving.”

With that, she left through the door, giving Li Yan a glare before she went.

“Hey, call me when you get home, okay?”

Yang Zheng followed dryly to the door, watching Bai Xiao leave. She ignored him, responding only by slamming the door loudly behind her.

Only then did Yang Zheng turn back around with bloodshot eyes, his expression weary and frustrated: “Who are you? And why did you come here?”

“He brought you a gift.”

Mou Yong added.

…

“So, someone attacked you.”

Yang Zheng put several bottles of milk on the table, as his home had neither tea nor liquor.

Li Yan gently touched his neck where a scab had formed over the wound, which slanted sharply across his skin. If Li Yan and Mou Gang, squatting by the door, were a pair of door gods, this oblique slash could have decapitated both the larger and the smaller door gods in an instant.

“You didn’t see the person?”

Li Yan shook his head. The attacker missed with one strike and then fled thousands of miles away in an instant. By the time the lantern lit up, the assailant had already escaped, and the whole process took less than a second, just like ‘Yao Li’s Exemplar’ sword technique.

The adversary was also a master swordsman, at least above 90% proficiency.

“There are quite a few in the Yan Zhao Club with swordsmanship above 90%, but their styles don’t match.”

Yang Zheng reminisced.

Li Yan sent messages to the other colleagues involved in the previous incident.

Zhao Xin didn’t answer…

Ren Ni didn’t answer…

Wan Die didn’t answer…

Jin Ye didn’t answer…

Li Yan grew increasingly agitated until finally, the call connected with Yu Shiqie.

“Hello~ Is something up?”

Li Yan actually found the voice on the other end of the call soothing at this moment.

“It’s good that you’re okay.”

Subtle sounds of water came from the other end of the call. After Li Yan explained the situation thoroughly, Yu Shiqie responded after a while, “Since the October Resolution passed, conflicts related to Yan Fu travelers have quadrupled around the country. In less than two months, the number of illegally registered traveler organizations has approached triple digits. Jiao Chong’s manpower was already stretched thin. If a few lives from the Yan Zhao Club were lost now, it would indeed be difficult to investigate afterward.”

“I can’t figure out when I offended someone again.”

Li Yan wrapped his arms around his shoulders.

“I’ve heard some rumors. Some believe that the expansion decision made during the October Hall Session was rash and unwise. The conflicts from these two months and the collapse of prices are clear evidence. A lot of tangible evidence has surfaced indicating that individuals close to the Ten Masters have been embezzling public funds for personal gain. There’re also rumors that during the most recent grand hall session, Scales Lord Zhuo Jiu and other masters had a big row over loans. It was all quite unpleasant. Anyone benefited from Tao Zhu’s loans is now under scrutiny, with the main accusers being Si Wenji from Third Eye Global, Weiyue Yan under Su Ling, and…”

“And us?”

Li Yan somewhat understood.

“Exactly. Many question whether killing a peak member of the Six Ministries is sufficient reason for Tao Zhu to issue over ten million in loans. They even believe that these loans are the spark for the current price collapse. Many lower-level travelers are seething with resentment. They’re treating this loan scenario as an internal scandal of the Yan Zhao Club. You don’t need to worry though, you’ve never been very popular in the Yan Zhao Club.”

“Heh, at least now there’s a clear target for the blame. I understand.”

Li Yan didn’t say more and ended the call with Yu Shiqie.

At the same time, Yang Zheng was also in touch with someone else. After listening for a while, he said, “Ren Ni had an accident. He was able to enter Yan Fu because of his innate ability to open Root Stem Channels, but without Hou Tu’s aid, this ability entails certain risks on its own. Today at noon, while he was normally assisting some new unaffiliated travelers in opening a channel, something went wrong. Ren Ni was seriously injured, and several novices on their first Yan Fu mission were swept into the Leaf Sea by the maelstrom and are presumed dead.”

“Likewise for Wan Die, she was attacked and has been in a coma since. The attacker didn’t kill her, but all of her treasured mechanical creations were destroyed, including a legendary Wooden Flow Box. Inside the box lived three thousand Wooden Flow Soldiers capable of erecting a skyscraper in an hour, and they were all wiped out.”

“Zhao Xin is in the middle of the next Yan Fu incident, and the situation is unclear.”

“What about Jin Ye?”

Li Yan added a question.

“He’s fine, but there have been severe fluctuations in auction house prices lately, and he normally moves a large amount of goods and materials. He incurred significant losses because of the fluctuation.”

“So did the knife.”

Li Yan silently mulled over the situation.

The assailant was a swordmanship expert, Wan Die’s summoned creature was destroyed, and Ren Ni was injured due to loss of control of his abilities. Was this a provocation?

Li Yan was actually a bit excited. He had wanted to exchange martial arts with the swordsmanship experts of the Yan Zhao Club but hadn’t found a way in. Now that the opportunity had literally come knocking, he was naturally thrilled.

“But you need to be careful, right now, you couldn’t even beat that kid. Getting beaten at a time like this would be frustrating.”

Li Yan said to Yang Zheng.

“I know, I’ll be careful.”

“I came here to give this to you.”

Li Yan pushed a paper bag containing two bottles of Maotai in front of Yang Zheng, which contained a small glass bottle between them.

[Soul-forgiving Golden Soup](Oral ingestion)

“It might be useful to you.”

Li Yan said.

Yang Zheng picked up the glass bottle and weighed it, chuckling. “Okay, thanks. If there is anything I can help with, just give me a word.”

“No need to mention it, is the kid yours?”

“A relative’s child.”

The night grew deep, and Mou Yong had gone to bed to sleep, only his eyelashes gently flittering.

“His…”

Li Yan pointed at his heart.

Yang Zheng nodded. The heart is not like limbs; other than a mechanical heart, Mou Yong is just a frail child. The difficulty of treatment is much higher; at least Li Yan’s green-skin technology absolutely couldn’t save this child.

However, Yang Zheng wasn’t planning to cure him.

“I plan to wait until he’s a bit older, and directly send him into Yan Fu. What he becomes, will be up to his fate.”

“Getting into Yan Fu isn’t necessarily a good thing.”

Everyone judges by their own standard, but Li Yan didn’t think so. The bizarre dangers of the Great Yan Fu were enjoyable for him, but that might not be the case for others.

Yang Zheng took a deep breath: “That’s up to him.”

“Eh.” Li Yan suddenly looked like he remembered something: “Didn’t we forget someone?”

“Damn.” Yang Zheng slapped his thigh: “Mo has already left Yan Fu, how do we contact him?”

————————

Bang!

Wang Xyang opened the door and saw an extremely enchanting woman he had never seen before.

“You here?”

Wang Xyang nodded familiarly as if they were old acquaintances. He turned around: “Want some water?”

The woman shook her head.

“Don’t be nervous. Zhao brother is a friend of mine.” Wang Xyang took off his shirt: “How long have you been in this business?”

The woman was taken aback, then laughed until she trembled. She said coyly: “You’re more interesting than I thought.”

“Is that so?”

Mo had already stripped off his upper body.

The woman rested her chin on her hands, playing with a pen on Mo’s table: “Actually, I wouldn’t mind having a little relationship with you. But, I don’t have much time.”

“`

“Actually, I don’t need much time…”

Mo couldn’t finish his sentence; a black spider descended from the sky and devoured his head in one bite, its sharp fangs sinking into Mo’s neck, as blood spattered everywhere.

With the corpse hitting the ground, the woman continued rocking her crossed legs, talking to herself indifferently, “This is just a warning, I’m not joking.”

The giant spider on the ceiling chewed on the skull, with blood and brain matter dripping down, the deep red from the neck wound alarmingly profuse.

“I actually wanted to meet Mr. Wang more naturally, but I observed you for three days. You never took a step out of this rented room, indulging only in porn games and surfing the net, ordering takeout for every meal. I really had no choice but to visit you uninvited.”

“…”

No one responded.

Knock knock knock~

Unexpectedly, there came a knocking at the door at this time.

The woman narrowed her eyes, a cold smirk forming on her lips, “I’m curious to see what trick you’re going to pull.”

With a flick of her wrist, the door swung open by itself, revealing a heavily made-up woman standing outside. Not even her thick foundation could hide her swollen eye bags. She instantly saw the headless body and toppled to the ground with a thud, her shaking legs quickly growing wet beneath her.

“Murder, there’s been a murder…”

The glamorous woman watched as if viewing a play, allowing the other to flee.

About two hours later, a police car stopped downstairs. Several uniformed officers, armed and ready, ascended the building.

“Manipulating dreams is an extremely dangerous ability that tests the mind. Dreams are crafted by the dreamer, not mere illusions, but reflections of the dreamer’s innermost thoughts. Thus, the Dream Demon cannot fully control the content of the dream, only react spontaneously.”

The glamorous woman continued speaking to the corpse.

“The dream itself has a set of victory and defeat rules entirely different from reality; the dream can be restarted anytime, not bound by matter, time or space. The outcome between the dreamer and the Dream Demon largely depends on the strength of their minds.”

“This is not to say that the Dream Demon fears intelligent people. In fact, the more you think, the more problems arise. What the Dream Demon really fears,”

She extended a finger, “are simple-minded creatures without complex thoughts, whether these creatures can penetrate the illusion or not. As long as they possess the capacity to eliminate anything within their reach, the Dream Demon isn’t exempt; it has to play a role in the dream. Such mindless monsters can easily kill the Dream Demon without ever realizing it.”

“It seems, as long as one is resolute, they can do the same. But that’s not true. The more powerful the Dream Demon, the more complex the dreams they can weave. If you break through Hell, there’s still the human world. Humans have seven emotions and six desires, fear, respect, love; the dream is not something you can break by comforting yourself with ‘it’s all fake, just kill everything.’ Once there’s a sliver of self-doubt deep inside, even if you kill everything, you’re still destined to wander in ruins for life, unable to escape, which is also the victory of the Dream Demon.”

“But that’s the resort of insects and brutes, which I disdain to employ.”

The police burst in and immediately aimed their guns at the seated woman.

The woman stretched her hand towards the door, “There’s another way, find the role the Dream Demon is playing and kill it in one strike. This tests the Dream Demon’s ability to weave dreams and its acting skills. I’m very much looking forward to Mr. Wang’s performance.”

But she immediately froze. Lifting her head, she saw that the ceiling was empty, while the beheaded corpse still lay on the floor. An officer pounced, pinning the woman to the ground. She did not resist throughout, just quivering her lips, “How is this possible?”

On the evening of December 13, XX15 year, a murder occurred in Rongcheng. The victim, a 28-year-old male named Wang Xyang, lived alone for years. Case records show that prior to the incident, Wang, through an acquaintance, had invited a call girl, Sun Mou, to provide him with sexual services. When Sun Mou arrived, Wang had already been murdered. The killer was Zhao Hongxia, with a history of mental illness. Three days before the incident, she flew from Hucheng to Rongcheng on flight JS8205 and killed Wang at his doorstep.

After numerous investigations, Zhao Hongxia confessed to the murder of Wang. However, the victim’s head was never found.

The case was officially closed in XX18 year.

Rongcheng Hongyang District Police Station.

…

“Hello?”

Early in the morning, Mo yawned as he answered the phone.

“If I hadn’t remembered giving you my number, I almost couldn’t have reached you.” Li Yan’s voice came from the phone.

“Mhm, I know, hey don’t worry. I’m not like you with enemies everywhere, who would bother to come looking for trouble with me, eh? No, nothing at all.”

Mo removed the toothbrush from his mouth, “Don’t worry, they won’t be able to keep this up for long.”

“`