Chapter 219

Chapter 219

Without realizing it, Cheng Miao bit at the dry skin that had suddenly lifted from her lips. Her gaze moved from Qi Jiajia to Qiudong.

“I think I dreamed last night.” She wasn’t entirely sure.

She looked at Qi Jiajia, who wasn’t sure either.

Then she looked at Qiudong. He didn’t speak, just watched her quietly.

Meeting his eyes, she somehow understood what he meant. He had dreamed too, and he didn’t remember either.

Cheng Miao organized her thoughts. When the first group had initially received grass bracelets, none had mentioned dreams. Looking back, they probably just hadn’t paid attention.

Even among the second group, few remembered. The impressions were simply too faint.

They had to break through quickly. Otherwise, once the illnesses became severe later on, they would be in trouble.

Half the players were ill now. Even Lin Zhu’s lips were a little pale. He was still clearheaded, but much weaker.

Thanks to their physical fitness, Qin Musong and Zhu Cong didn’t yet seem seriously affected.

Chang Qing had no illness in the conventional sense. But according to Miao Jie, he hadn’t slept for several days because he was too excited.

Heavy dark circles hung beneath his eyes, which shone with an unhealthy light. He looked more frightening than the other sick people.

Song Guoqiang and Zhao Jiangong ached all over and hadn’t even gotten out of bed that morning.

Tan Wu was as frail as ever. Cheng Miao kept feeling that in another instant, she would go from pale to transparent.

One slight oddity was Tan Ge. He should have received his bracelet at the same time as Cheng Miao, yet he looked worse than the others in that group.

Seeing her puzzled gaze on him, he looked away and lowered his head.

Freckles had no strength at all. Yang Ke had carried her outside, and only after she’d spent a long time in the sun did she recover a little.

Of course, some people were essentially unaffected, such as Zu Gehan.

But his overwhelming strength made everyone take that for granted.

Cheng Miao paced around the well.

The grass bracelets couldn’t simply appear from nowhere. Mini Lin was sure nobody had come into the courtyard. Combined with the possibility that they’d all had dreams they couldn’t remember…

She was fairly certain the so-called protective grass bracelets were delivered through dreams.

Then, according to Lin Zhu, Zu Gehan, and Qin Musong, they had dreamed repeatedly over those three days, and the contents had grown clearer.

Zu Gehan in particular could now remember everything that had happened in his dreams.

As their dreams grew clearer, their illnesses had worsened.

Then the second group received grass bracelets. The first group stopped dreaming, but their symptoms didn’t improve.

If Cheng Miao was right, the second group would now begin dreaming every day as well, until the dreams became clear and they too fell seriously ill.

Yet even people who had received bracelets at the same time were sick to different degrees.

Qin Musong and Zhu Cong could be described as exceptionally robust. But Song Guoqiang and Zhao Jiangong, though they didn’t look particularly bright, were physically healthy too.

At least much healthier than Chang Qing and Tan Wu, yet those two men were considerably sicker.

Why was that…?

Cheng Miao crouched in front of Lin Zhu. “Lin Zhu, I know you don’t feel well, but I need you to help me remember carefully.”

He pressed his lips together and nodded earnestly. Mini Lin stood beside him, holding his bowl of water.

“When you first dreamed, was it like that final dream in the cave?”
Lin Zhu narrowed his eyes and thought hard until his head hurt. Only then did he answer uncertainly, “I think so. I really can’t remember the details, but there was the sound of water.”

Water… the trickling sound inside the cave.

Qin Musong nodded too. He had some impression of it as well.

“All right.” Bracing her hands on her knees, Cheng Miao continued. “We already know the Tree Deity asks whether you have a wish. Was that true earlier too?”

This time, even after thinking for ages, the two of them, Freckles, and Tan Wu couldn’t remember. Zu Gehan shrugged too. “I really don’t remember that.”

Cheng Miao wasn’t discouraged. She kept questioning the first group. “Think carefully about this next question. In your earlier dreams, did you have the right to choose and express yourselves?”

“In other words, in that last clear dream, you were personally experiencing everything. Before that, were you spectators, or were you able to get into character?”

They all frowned and thought for a long while. Surprise flashed through Zu Gehan’s gaze as he watched Cheng Miao, then turned to appreciation.

“In the first few dreams, there was no right to choose. Only as the days passed did we gradually become the person in the dream.” This was the first time Zu Gehan had seriously shared clues with her.

As a cleared player, he had little interest in clearing instances, so he generally didn’t participate.

But Cheng Miao’s reaching the crucial point so quickly made him see her in a new light.

From what he’d observed, this instance might have cost more than half the players their lives. Even a total wipeout was possible.

Now, though…

Since Cheng Miao had thought this far, he didn’t mind giving her an answer they would figure out sooner or later.

Her eyes flickered, and she nodded to him.

After receiving the same answer from the others, she slowly let out a long breath.

“I think I understand.”

As everyone immediately gathered around, she stepped forward a little to shade Qi Jiajia from the sun.

“From the moment we receive grass bracelets in our dreams, we experience the same dream each day. It gradually becomes clearer, and we gain more choice and autonomy inside it.”

“Then, at a certain point, we can answer the Tree Deity’s question about our wishes. The differing symptoms among the first group should be caused by their different answers to that question.”

She looked at Lin Zhu. “I know Lin Zhu. He might answer, but he certainly wouldn’t believe it in his heart.”

Then she turned to Qin Musong. “As for Brother Qin, his resolve is even stronger than Lin Zhu’s. Xin Xin, though, may really have believed too readily and answered.”

Freckles nodded. “Yes. I don’t remember what I answered, but I remember having a feeling in the dream that I trusted this person very much.”

Cheng Miao relaxed a little. “That’s it. The dream is the deity’s territory. It must be able to influence your judgment to some degree. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, none of you would tell a deity inside an instance what’s in your heart.”

Tan Wu glanced at her brother and pressed her lips together. “Then those two men inside…”

Wang Yang’s face was pale. He knew his teammates best. All muscle and no brains, they must have answered without thinking. They might even have entertained some thoughts about that extraordinarily beautiful Tree Deity.

No wonder they couldn’t get out of bed now.

“Then what do we do?” The second group hadn’t experienced much discomfort, but they had friends in the first group. Besides, their turn would always come.

Cheng Miao gazed somberly at the distant mountains. “Find that cave.”