Chapter 269 Obsession

Chapter 269 Obsession

Chapter 269 Obsession
Hearing Bai Zhi's affirmation, Ning Zhe felt relieved that Jue Yuan was successful.

After being killed by the ghost in the lobby on the first floor, Spencer was indeed assimilated into one of them, and was indeed stamped with the thought that "I must protect Cynthia and Kachiya".

It’s a pity that Ning Zhe is no longer Cynthia, he is now Auror.

"Wait a minute, Ningzhe, the one ahead is..."

Noticing the direction Ning Zhe was heading, Bai Zhi hesitated a little, and her wrist, which was held in his hand, struggled slightly: "There is a ghost ahead."

"I know." Ning Zhe did not slow down at all and had no intention of stopping.

After leaving the fire scene, in front of the main entrance of the banquet hall is a circular terrace surrounded by guardrails. Standing on the edge of the guardrail and looking out, the layout of the entire castle is in full view, including the towers, execution grounds, lecture rooms, cleansing halls... that we passed by before.

There is an arc-shaped corridor on each side of the terrace, surrounding the blazing banquet hall in the middle. The corridor goes deep into the main body of the bell tower, and leads to the "grand corridor" connecting the ground and the second floor.

At this moment, the arc-shaped corridor was dotted with light, but it was not the firelight from the banquet hall, but candlelight floating in the air. In the halo, hunched figures holding candles were vaguely visible. They were like ghosts wandering in a cemetery, wandering in the quiet corridor, as if the fire that burned the entire central banquet hall had never happened.

Bai Zhi came up from the grand corridor and walked carefully through the curved corridor before arriving at the banquet hall. She knew how dangerous this road was, so she was so frightened.

The reason why Ning Zhe dared to take this path was because he had seen the structural drawings of Vanessa Castle.

"This way." Ning Zhe took Bai Zhi's hand and climbed over the railing, stepping on the protruding eaves of the bell tower wall.

Bai Zhi climbed over the guardrail carrying two corpse oil lamps and squatted on the eaves with Ning Zhe, leaning against the wall with their backs lowered. On the corridor behind them, a candle flame floated faintly in the air.

A cool breeze blew up the girl's golden hair. Bai Zhi raised her hand to tuck her messy hair behind her ears. Ning Zhe looked at her red fingertips and slightly trembling shoulders, and asked softly, "Are you cold?"

"Cold." Bai Zhi nodded.

"I'm cold too." Ning Zhe also nodded: "But when I was on the ground before, I didn't feel cold, how about you?"

"Me too." Bai Zhi thought for a moment and said, "I climbed up from a large corridor. I didn't feel anything when I was on the ground, but every time I climbed a few steps, the temperature around me seemed to get lower. By the time I climbed to the second floor, it was so cold that my teeth started to chatter."

"It's similar to mine." After listening to Bai Zhi's description, Ning Zhe's guess in his heart became more certain: "I came up from a vertical shaft, which is faster than your speed of climbing stairs, so the temperature dropped faster and more obviously."

When he was in the tower before, he was also shivering in the cold wind, but Ning Zhe didn't notice it at the time, thinking it was because the wind was strong at high altitudes, and Cynthia was menstruating and felt a little weak. After going down to the ground, he was attracted by the execution ground with the guillotine and the apricot leaf scripture in the lecture room, so he didn't notice that the feeling of coldness had disappeared without a trace.

It was not until now, combined with the similar experiences of Bai Zhi and I, that the little details that were overlooked at the time surfaced.

[In Vanessa Castle, the higher you are, the lower the temperature will be. 】

"It's gone." Ning Zhe looked back at the corridor behind him. The candle floating in the air had bypassed the terrace and went somewhere else. He immediately stood up and took the corpse oil lamp that originally belonged to Cynthia from Bai Zhi.

After opening a crack in the covering, the light inside was still on. Ning Zhe walked to the edge of the eaves holding the corpse oil lamp. The dim light illuminated several protruding wooden beams on the outside of the castle wall, with half a broken brick resting on top of them.

"The eaves of this bell tower were originally connected. After the flood, it was rebuilt and made into the current style with eaves only under the windows and guardrails. This is to prevent thieves and also because they can't find wooden beams of the same grade."

As Ning Zhe spoke, he held the guardrail with one hand and stepped on the wooden beam to test its firmness. Then he put his other foot on it and used a few wooden beams as footholds to walk from the eaves under the guardrail to another eaves under the window not far away.

"OK, come here." Ning Zhe made an OK gesture from a distance.

Bai Zhi lit the corpse oil lamp, held on to the wall with one hand, and walked carefully over the wooden beam like Ning Zhe, leaning her back against the wall, and squatting under the window with him.

In the corridor inside the window, a figure holding a candle was looming.

"How do you know there is a road here?" Bai Zhi asked in a low voice.

"After I woke up, I went to look up information about this castle and looked at the new and old versions of the design drawings." Ning Zhe did not hide anything from her.

"Huh?" Bai Zhi opened her eyes wide, her eyes full of surprise: "So you didn't lie to me, you can really come back with a different identity... So it's possible to survive being killed by a ghost in a dream?"

"No, they will. If a person is killed, he will die." Ning Zhe shook his head and said, "The reason why I didn't die is because I paid the price of death in another way."

"Is that so..." Bai Zhi felt a little disappointed.

Surprised, she was also a little confused. She poked Ning Zhe's shoulder with a finger and asked curiously, "Since Ning Zhe has already woken up, why do you want to go back into the dream?" She didn't know what price Ning Zhe paid after being killed by the ghost, but it must have been not easy. Therefore, Bai Zhi was a little curious. Since Ning Zhe had finally escaped from the nightmare, why didn't he choose to stay in the safe real world and wait for the nightmare to end, but instead took the initiative to come back here?

Is there any reason?

"I want to find out the truth about the strange events that happened in this castle." Ning Zhe looked up at the window above his head. Faint firelight was scattered from the inside of the glass. The ghost had not left yet.

After a pause, he continued, "This castle is called Vanessa Castle. It is located in the United States of Europe, in the northern part of the Apennine Peninsula. I am on my way to the United States of Europe right now. You should know what I am talking about."

Bai Zhi tilted her head and understood what he meant.

'Inspiration' is predictive, just like she sensed the special feeling in the Bishuiwan Manor and sensed the 'God Who Cannot Be Looked At Directly' on the highway outside the Ancient Monument Town. The reason why Ning Zhe is in this nightmare now may mean that soon after waking up, he will encounter this strange incident in reality.

So, Ning Zhe took the initiative to return to the dream in order to find out the truth about the strange incident in Vanessa Castle in advance and prepare for the response in reality? This statement is not unreasonable, but...

"But something's wrong?" Bai Zhi hugged her knees and said, "You've already woken up. Now that you're awake, Ning Zhe, you can first find a way to investigate the intelligence and information about Vanessa Castle in reality, and then consider going back to dream after you've made all the necessary preparations."

Ning Zhe was stunned: "Is... is that so?"

"That's it." Bai Zhi nodded vigorously and said, "Reality is certain, it is there, visible and tangible, while dreams are uncertain.

As far as I know, given your personality, Ningzhe, you should prioritize the established facts before trying to take a chance on those uncertain probabilistic events.

Besides, the useful information collected from the investigation in reality may also be helpful in dreams, right?"

Instead of doing what I do now, looking up some information and a house structure diagram, and then rushing back to sleep.

Listening to Bai Zhi's explanation, Ning Zhe frowned slightly and his expression gradually became solemn.

She was right. He was indeed the kind of pragmatist who would grab what he could grab first. Whether in Hejia Village, Bishuiwan Manor, Yundu or other places, he always adhered to this principle and never wavered.

But this time, he made a choice that was completely contrary to his original self. Without being fully prepared in reality, he began to blindly pursue solving the puzzle in the illusory dream and finding the answer, losing sight of the main point...

"Of course, it could be that I'm overthinking it." Bai Zhi hugged her knees and looked down at the rose garden below, saying, "I believe that Ning Zhe, you would not do anything without a purpose. You must have your own reasons for being so anxious to return to the dream, right?"

Was it because the strange incident was blocked, so that no other information about Vanessa Castle could be found in reality? Or was there some other reason that urged him to enter the dream as soon as possible? Only Ning Zhe himself knew.

Ning Zhe silently clenched his hands into fists, and then silently unclenched them.

Of course he knew what the reason was.

"Jueyuan..." Ning Zhe gritted his teeth slightly.

When he crossed the execution ground and entered the lecture room as Cynthia, when he read the creation theory of the sleeping god in the "Apricot Leaf Sutra", when he met Baizhi and Spencer in the laundry room... Jue Yuan's influence was subtle and unknowing, and a certain desire in Ning Zhe's heart was quietly magnified.

That desire is called - 'desire for knowledge'.

"Jie Yuan impressed me with the idea that 'I must solve the mystery in the castle.'"

Ning Zhe confirmed it again and again, and found that he could not let himself think of "ignoring this dream" no matter what. He had already made up his mind: "When I didn't know, Jue Yuan was already influencing me..."

Ning Zhe exhaled slowly and raised his head. The girl next to him was looking at him curiously, her beautiful blue eyes seemed to be able to speak.

"Why are you so anxious to return to this nightmare?" Bai Zhi lowered her voice and said, "Well... I'm just asking. You don't have to answer. You must have your own reasons..."

"For you." Ning Zhe interrupted her: "I have a way to pay the price and escape from the dream, but you can't. When I wake up, you are still trapped in this nightmare, and you are in danger because of me."

If it weren't for me, Bai Zhi would still be squatting in the corner of the laundry room, silently blending into the background. She wouldn't light the corpse oil lamp, wouldn't enter the bell tower, and wouldn't be in danger like she is now.

"You didn't have to go through this. I asked you to leave the laundry room." Ning Zhe gave his own reason, even though he didn't believe it himself: "I couldn't leave you in my dream, so I came back to find you, that's it."

"Eh...?" Bai Zhi stood there in a daze, forgetting even to blink.

(End of this chapter)