novelraw Chapter 403 - 278 The Woman in White
Chapter 403 - 278 The Woman in White
Bai Qiusheng couldn’t possibly have returned.
Before leaving the house this morning, Li Banfeng had seen him. Even if he had taken a train immediately, it was impossible for him to appear in Zhengjing Village at this time.
This Bai Qiusheng is a fake!
Li Banfeng asked, "Qiusheng, when did you come back?"
Bai Qiusheng looked up and said, "I have a stomachache, Seventh Master. I’ll talk about it later!"
With that, Bai Qiusheng dashed into the latrine beside the film studio and shut the door.
Just as Li Banfeng was about to follow, Ma Wu stopped him. "Seventh Master, you haven’t told us why you returned?"
"I took a train and then..."
Seventh Master? Ma Wu is calling me Seventh Master?
Li Banfeng took a half step back and said with a smile, "Guess why I returned?"
This Ma Wu is also a fake!
Ma Wu glanced at the camera. "We’ve run out of film. I’ll go see if there are any left."
With that, Ma Wu sprinted to the warehouse by the lake and shut the door.
"Don’t go!" Li Banfeng pursued him for a couple of steps, then saw Zuo Wugang approaching, wearing a blue vest. "Seventh Master, what happened to Old Five just now? He seemed so flustered."
"He’s not... I mean, we ran out of film, and he went to find some more."
Zuo Wugang called Ma Wu Old Five.
Li Banfeng was on the verge of drawing his Sickle.
He kept reminding himself not to act rashly.
He surveyed every person around him. He could no longer distinguish who was real and who was fake.
Li Banfeng didn’t say anything more and quickly walked along the small road in the village.
Ah Qin came towards him, wearing a green cheongsam, and greeted Li Banfeng cheerfully, "Qi Lang, you’re back?"
"Yes, I am back," Li Banfeng replied, the corners of his mouth turning up in a forced smile.
Ah Qin is calling me Qi Lang?
Ever since returning to Zhengjing Village, everyone who spoke to Li Banfeng, except for Qiaocui, seemed to be impostors.
Is Qiaocui still at the entrance to the village?
Li Banfeng ran quickly to the village entrance and found that Qiaocui was gone.
What’s going on here?
Initially, there seemed to be two possibilities.
The first possibility was that Zhengjing Village had been occupied.
It was entirely plausible that someone would want to occupy Zhengjing Village, given that many would covet the territory in the New Land spanning ten miles.
But after occupying Zhengjing Village, why would they disguise themselves as its original inhabitants? What would be the purpose of that?
This was easy to verify.
Li Banfeng pulled out his dagger, sliced open his palm, and as blood dripped to the ground, he murmured, "Someone has invaded my territory."
He waited anxiously, but Shui Yongquan did not appear.
This confirmed one thing.
This is not Zhengjing Village!
An Illusionary Realm? I’ve walked into an Illusionary Realm!
When did I enter the Illusionary Realm?
Was it when I started to feel the road was familiar?
Who set up this Illusionary Realm?
That old lunatic who thought he was a train?
Li Banfeng took a careful look at the surroundings. Every building here, including every blade of grass and tree, was exactly like Zhengjing Village.
That old man couldn’t possibly know so much about Zhengjing Village.
Is it someone who has been to Zhengjing Village?
Of those who have been to Zhengjing Village, who could create such a vast Illusionary Realm?
Sun Tiecheng?
It seems there’s only...
I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. I’ll go into the Portable Residence and ask my wife.
Just as Li Banfeng was about to use the key, his thoughts shifted, and he immediately dismissed the idea of returning to the Portable Residence.
If I’m truly in an Illusionary Realm, what state am I in right now?
Is it possible that I’m aimlessly wandering in a wilderness with someone following me all the time?
If I take out the key now, the secret of the Portable Residence will be exposed.
This person could kill me and take possession of everything I have, including my identity.
Who could this person be?
No matter who it is, I need to leave this place first.
Li Banfeng was thinking of leaving what appeared to be "Zhengjing Village." He had taken a few steps when he stopped again.
If I’m truly in an Illusionary Realm, it’s definitely not going to be so easy to leave this place.
Walking like this, it’s highly likely I won’t make it out. If I continue blindly, I might even encounter more unknown dangers.
To escape this Illusionary Realm, I must find its creator. Even if I can’t defeat him, I need to be wary of him.
Who are the people very familiar with Zhengjing Village?
To what extent are they familiar with it?
Li Banfeng went to the council hall and noticed two inconspicuous scratches on the wall.
When the Windmill Phonograph was being dismantled, Xiao Chuanzi had accidentally left some scratches on the wall. To avoid detection, he had tried covering them up, but Li Banfeng caught him red-handed.
Actually, Xiao Chuanzi’s craftsmanship was quite good. Even Ma Wu had not noticed these two scratches.
The person who created the Illusionary Realm had even replicated these scratches. Could it be Xiao Chuanzi?
Was this young man, who operated a road roller, actually a hermit with exceptional abilities?
If that were true, he hid himself too well.
In this Illusionary Realm, is it possible to see Xiao Chuanzi?
Li Banfeng exited the council hall and wandered around the village for a long time. He didn’t see Xiao Chuanzi, only Xiao Genzi.
"Seventh Master, you’re back." Xiao Genzi greeted him as diligently as ever with a simple salutation and continued scouring for Golden Juice with his spoon.
As an illusory construct, Xiao Genzi showed no flaws, proving the realm’s creator was very familiar with Xiao Genzi.
Could it really be Xiao Chuanzi?
But thinking about it, the logic didn’t add up.
Xiao Chuanzi was also very familiar with Ma Wu and Zuo Wugang. He couldn’t possibly have gotten their forms of address wrong.
I should ask this "Xiao Genzi" a few questions, see if I can get some clues from him.
Li Banfeng looked around, but Xiao Genzi had suddenly disappeared.
Where did he go?
Did the illusion of Xiao Genzi vanish?
Li Banfeng continued searching for clues within the Illusionary Realm until, unwittingly, he reached his own house.
After hesitating for a moment, he pushed open the door and went in.
The furnishings inside were identical to those in his real house.
Few people in Zhengjing Village could enter Li Banfeng’s house.
Who created this Illusionary Realm?
Beads of sweat trickled down his cheeks as a new hypothesis formed in Li Banfeng’s mind.
He got on his back, crawled under the bed, and spotted a groove between the floorboards.
He had left this groove himself. After entering the Portable Residence, he could accurately toss the key into the groove. Its purpose was to safeguard the key.
This meant only one person knew the location of this groove.
That person was Li Banfeng himself.
What does this imply?
Who created the Illusionary Realm?
It was Li Banfeng himself.
How could I possibly create an Illusionary Realm for myself?
Even if Li Banfeng had gone mad and started harming himself, he didn’t know Illusion Technique. It would have been impossible for him to create such a realistic Illusionary Realm.
Li Banfeng sat in the room, his face constantly twisting.
He worried about his condition, suspecting he might be having an episode.
Should he return to the Portable Residence?
Where exactly am I now?
If I’m truly in some wilderness, that wouldn’t be too bad. But if I’m in a residential building, I fear there will be a bloodbath.
Yet this doesn’t seem like an illness.
Li Banfeng felt he hadn’t lost control.
Could there be another possibility?
I did create this Illusionary Realm, but not using Illusion Technique?
Li Banfeng sat on the bed, deep in thought for a long time.
He picked up a pen from the table and wrote three words on the bedsheet: ’I’m not crazy.’
Li Banfeng closed his eyes for a little over two seconds. When he opened them again, the three words had become five: ’Somewhat crazy, a little.’
Closing his eyes once more, upon looking again, the five words had changed to four: ’That bit doesn’t count.’
Li Banfeng wasn’t insane. He knew what was happening.
The text was changing on its own.
He thought about what had happened earlier. Eagerly searching for someone, only for them to be impossible to find. This kind of situation often occurred in one particular context.
"This is a dream," Li Banfeng muttered softly, "I am dreaming."
"HEHEHE!"
A woman’s laughter reached his ears, seeming to come from outside the window.
Li Banfeng immediately pushed open the window but saw no one, only a white garment drifting in mid-air.
"Realizing it’s a dream means you’ve passed the first test."
Li Banfeng shouted, "Who are you?"
"I am someone, just one person. Find me and tell me loudly that you’ve found me, and I will let you go. Don’t guess randomly. Guess wrong just once, and you’ll be trapped here forever."
After the laughter, the white garment floating in mid-air suddenly vanished.
Li Banfeng rushed out of his room, searching everywhere for a person wearing white clothes.
He searched from one end of the village to the other, from the territory of Shui Yongquan to that of Qiu Luoye. Li Banfeng looked everywhere but never found a person in white clothing, not even a white Strange Monster.
Sitting on the hillside, Li Banfeng panted heavily.
For Li Banfeng, traversing the Hundred Miles of Land a few times was no difficult task.
But this was a dream, and in dreams, people tired incredibly easily.
Where had the person in white clothes gone?
Had anyone worn white clothes before?
Can I refrain from searching for that woman in white?
Being trapped in a dream, can’t I think of a way to wake myself up?
Li Banfeng forced himself to suddenly open his eyes.
He tried several times, to no avail.
Slap myself?
Useless.
The wound on his hand still faintly ached. Mere pain couldn’t wake him up.
After sitting in silence for a while, a thought abruptly interrupted Li Banfeng’s thoughts.
It was an urgent, strong sensation.
Seek Fortune and Avoid Disaster?
No.
It was the urge to pee.
Li Banfeng hadn’t used the latrine since leaving home that morning.
Everyone knew you must never urinate in a dream.
Get up and walk around, it’ll pass if I walk.
After a few steps, Li Banfeng didn’t feel any better; the urge to urinate grew stronger.
In such a dangerous dream, why care about such things?
So what if I pee? I’ll just have my wife wash a pair of trousers.
If I’m afraid my wife will laugh, I can just throw these trousers away at worst.
Let me see if there’s a latrine nearby.
Relying on memory, Li Banfeng found a dry latrine in the woods. He pushed open the door, successfully relieved himself, and the anxiety and frustration weighing on his mind instantly vanished.
These trousers are definitely ruined now.
Strange, why was I looking for a latrine?
Couldn’t I have just gone anywhere?
Am I afraid of being embarrassed?
That’s not right, this is my dream.
In a dream, why would I care about losing face?
Perhaps because he’d emptied his bladder, Li Banfeng now felt hungry.
Feeling hungry in a dream was common. However, it was highly unlikely to find a place to eat, and even if one did, the food would probably be inedible.
Li Banfeng had intended to endure it. But when he descended the slope and returned to Zhengjing Village, he actually found a restaurant.
When did this restaurant open?
The aroma of delicious food wafted out. Li Banfeng couldn’t resist the temptation, went in, ordered two small dishes, and ate his fill.
And surprisingly, he actually felt full.
How could you possibly feel full in a dream?
Must be an illusion, right?
Just as Li Banfeng was preparing to pay for the meal, he saw Ma Wu walk into the restaurant.
He had changed into a blue suit and sat beside Li Banfeng. "Old Qi, good, you’re here too. Let’s look at the script together."
He called him Old Qi!
The address was correct.
Zuo Wugang also entered the restaurant. His blue vest had been replaced with a purple short jacket.
"Master Wu, I can’t act, so please don’t put me on the spot."
The address was also correct.
Ah Qin sat beside Ma Wu and stealthily gave him a peck on the cheek. Her green cheongsam had changed to a red dress.
She smiled at Li Banfeng and said, "Boss Ye, I’ve cooked a few dishes. Would you and Wulang like to come over to my place tonight?"
Ah Qin had accompanied Li Banfeng to Black Stone Slope, so it was indeed correct for her to call him Boss Ye.
Everyone’s details were correct. Could it be that I had already broken free from the dream?
And what about the woman in white?
Everyone’s clothes had changed color, yet not a single person wore white!
White...
White clothing...
Why am I looking for white clothing?
Li Banfeng blinked, suddenly realizing something.
Finding that woman had nothing to do with white clothes.
I’ve seen her, and not just once.
He scanned the people nearby. There were only two kinds of people here.
This is my dream. I’ve just been using the wrong method.
This is my dream. Only those within my line of sight exist in the dream.
I don’t have to find her. She must follow me.
Xiao Genzi approached, carrying a bucket, with Xiao Chuanzi in coarse work clothes following him.
The moment they saw Li Banfeng and were about to speak, he shouted, "No one speak! Not a single word!"
PS: If the talking continued, that woman would never be found.