Chapter 88

Chapter 88

Tu Nan turned her head stiffly toward the door.

The iron door was being pounded with a loud thudding sound. The person knocking was so strong that the door itself seemed to shake visibly.

“Who would it be at this hour?” He Ling asked, sounding puzzled.

She stood up, intending to open the door.

Tu Nan froze for a moment. To be safe, she immediately scrambled off the bed.

If the person outside or He Ling suddenly turned violent, she needed a chance to escape.

Her mind was a mess. She had no idea what was happening.

Why had He Ling’s eyes suddenly vanished? More importantly, why didn’t He Ling seem to notice?

In that short span of time, He Ling had already reached the door.

Tu Nan stood a few paces away, her nerves taut as she stared fixedly at He Ling.

He Ling opened the door. Standing there was a figure with her head bowed and long hair-seemingly a girl. However, most of her body was blocked by He Ling, so Tu Nan couldn’t see her clearly at first.

She tried to look past He Ling to see the newcomer, but only caught a glimpse of an exceptionally pale wrist with a red string tied around it.

He Ling looked at the person before her, remaining silent and motionless for a long time.

“…Who is at the door?”

After a long silence, Tu Nan finally couldn’t help but ask.

He Ling didn’t answer. To Tu Nan’s surprise, she noticed He Ling’s body had begun to tremble.

“What’s going on?” An ominous premonition welled up in her heart.

“Where are… your eyes?” the person at the door suddenly asked.

The voice undoubtedly belonged to a young woman. Curiously, although she was asking a question, there was no hint of confusion in her tone.

“Ah… is it because you knew they were useless that… your eyes disappeared?”

He Ling’s trembling grew even more violent.

Tu Nan involuntarily took two steps back.

Who was this woman at the door?

“Ling, why… aren’t you speaking?”

The woman asked strangely, reaching out as if to touch He Ling’s cheek.

“Aaaaah!” He Ling suddenly let out a piercing scream.

The scream felt like a needle stabbing into Tu Nan’s brain. She frowned and instinctively covered her ears, but it was useless; the shrill shriek still made her temples throb painfully.

“Why! Why!” He Ling screamed shrilly. “Aren’t you dead? Why are you showing up again!”

“Because…”

The woman said something. Tu Nan bit the tip of her tongue, using the pain to force herself to stay conscious as she tried to hear the words. However, the woman’s voice was too faint, drowned out by He Ling’s hysterical screaming.

The woman’s hand finally touched He Ling’s eye sockets.

“What a beautiful pair of eyes,” she said. “A pity…”

She seemed to let out a sigh.

He Ling stumbled back several steps.

Because of this, Tu Nan was finally able to see the woman’s face clearly.

She was a very young woman, appearing to be around the same age as He Ling, with large eyes and a very sweet, cute appearance.

Tu Nan only had time for a blurry glance before He Ling rushed to the desk. Despite having no eyes, she accurately pulled open the desk drawer and fumbled out a Dagger.

The cold light glinted off the blade; it looked incredibly sharp.

Tu Nan watched helplessly as He Ling, without a moment’s hesitation, plunged the Dagger into her own chest.

Tu Nan’s eyes widened in shock.

Crimson blood spread across He Ling’s chest.

He Ling looked toward the woman at the door, her lips curling into a weird smile.

…

“Thud, thud, thud.”
The sound of knocking suddenly rang in Tu Nan’s ears.

Where was that knocking coming from?

Tu Nan looked toward the door. The Woman was still standing there, perfectly still, watching He Ling with a sorrowful gaze.

Suddenly, she felt the ground sway.

Tu Nan looked down in surprise; the floor was actually trembling.

What was happening…?

Before she could react, a massive crack split the ground open, swallowing her instantly.

*

A violent sensation of weightlessness caused Tu Nan to snap her eyes open.

She lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, lost in thought.

That had undoubtedly been another dream.

She didn’t believe she would suddenly start having such bizarre dreams for no reason.

This dream was unusual; it seemed to involve He Ling, and many of the details were worth pondering.

However, what she wanted to know most right now was-

Was the place she was in currently still a dream?

Tu Nan took a deep breath and sat up from the bed.

This time, she didn’t call out to He Ling. Instead, she got straight out of bed and walked over to He Ling, who was still studying hard at the desk.

He Ling had her back to her and didn’t seem to notice her approach, remaining intensely focused on the book spread out on the desk.

Steeling herself, Tu Nan reached out and tapped her on the shoulder.

He Ling paused for a moment and turned around.

Tu Nan involuntarily held her breath.

He Ling’s face finally came into view. To her surprise, this time, He Ling’s face looked no different from a normal person’s.

Her eyes were seated properly in their sockets, and the horrific sights from the previous two times did not appear.

Tu Nan couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

“What is it?” He Ling asked.

“Nothing.” Tu Nan gave her a small smile. “I’ve already woken up from a nap, but you’re still studying. Don’t you need to rest?”

He Ling hesitated, a flash of irritability crossing her features. “I have to take care of patients during the day, so I don’t have time to read. I can only do it at night.”

“If you don’t have anything important, don’t interrupt my studying.”

Tu Nan offered a quick “sorry,” and only then did He Ling turn back around.

She checked the time; it was already five in the morning. She stopped looking at He Ling and began to observe her surroundings instead.

Even though He Ling’s face was normal, it didn’t necessarily mean this was the real world.

She used to have poor sleep occasionally and had experienced similar recurring dreams. The terrifying part of such dreams was that as you woke up over and over, the boundary between the dream and reality became increasingly blurred. Waking up from a dream repeatedly made it very easy for a person to become confused about their own perceptions.

And now, she was undoubtedly doubting the world she was in.

Her current situation was different from the “Princess and the Pea” Instance. From the very beginning, “Princess and the Pea” was a world built within a dream; there, the dream was equivalent to reality.

But now, she was trapped within a false dream.

As long as it was a dream, there would inevitably be differences from reality.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t familiar with this place, so she couldn’t spot any abnormalities right away.

Tu Nan quickly scanned the room, then stepped into the bathroom and suddenly froze.

This place was completely different from the bathroom she had seen before going to sleep.

When she had entered earlier, it was damp and dark, with moss even growing in the corners. But now, it was clean and bright, almost comparable to a five-star hotel.

So…

It was still a dream.

The moment that thought surfaced, Tu Nan fell into darkness once again.