Chapter 253: Chapter 221: Dream Ghost Strikes

He Buning dragged the unconscious Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu out of the collapsed courtyard, collapsing to the ground in exhaustion, dust falling off him and choking his lungs, causing a violent cough.

In Tianliang City, he couldn’t even move the unconscious Chi San, yet during the earthquake, he managed to drag Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu out of the house together, using all his strength.

He gasped heavily, forcing himself to stand, blood flowing down his arm, dripping from his fingertips to the ground, blossoming into green flames.

He Buning glanced around, his heart filled with fear.

The houses had collapsed, roads were ruptured, dust filled the sky, and as far as the eye could see, most of the buildings had already collapsed, a horrifying sight.

Yet in the city, there were no cries for help, only the howling cold wind and the occasional barking of dogs.

Dust covered He Buning’s thick eyelashes, making his vision blurry. He raised his hand to rub them, the sharp ringing in his ears and the dizziness in his brain making it almost impossible to think.

Another wave of aftershocks hit, the walls that hadn’t collapsed yet started falling again, and the rumbling sound was hair-raising.

How could Wangshan City experience such a severe earthquake without any warning?

He Buning felt something was amiss, looking towards the direction of the Evil Suppression Bureau at the foot of the mountain, then turned to glance at the fallen Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu.

There were no other buildings around, they would be fine for now.

As the aftershocks subsided slightly, He Buning immediately ran towards the Evil Suppression Bureau. With such a big commotion, it was impossible for General Cao, who was in charge of the Evil Ghost Bureau, to remain inactive for so long.

He Buning arrived at the entrance of the Evil Suppression Bureau, the aftershock caused the huge plaque above to fall, nearly hitting him. After dodging it, He Buning rushed into the front yard of the Evil Suppression Bureau, seeing the constables responsible for guarding lying unconscious in the courtyard.

Fortunately, they were in the yard, not crushed by the collapsed buildings around.

“General Cao!”

He Buning shouted loudly, although the people deep in the Evil Ghost Bureau couldn’t hear, perhaps someone else would.

The meeting hall was half-collapsed, He Buning crawled through the ruins, intending to take a shortcut through the meeting hall to the Evil Ghost Bureau, when he suddenly saw the map of Wangshan City on the side wall.

The map was marked with many red dots, indicating all the mysterious cases that happened in Wangshan City this year.

With just one look, He Buning was frozen on the spot.

Previously, it was as if he was blindfolded by a ghost, not noticing such an obvious problem. The red dots on the map were too orderly, as if planned, neatly distributed at key points throughout Wangshan City.

These were all junctions of the underground waterways and points of the underground Feng Shui formations.

This earthquake in Wangshan City was not a natural disaster, but man-made!

Another strong aftershock hit, the ground shaking, the half-collapsed rooftop showering bricks and tiles, a crack spread up the wall and quickly widened around.

He Buning rushed forward, tore the map off the wall, grabbed it in his hand, and ran out before the meeting hall completely collapsed.

The violent tremor caused He Buning to fall to the ground. Before he could get up, a chilling cracking sound came from behind.

He Buning turned his head in shock, seeing two cracks like dragons soaring into the sky, breaking through the upright mountain wall in a blink of an eye, rocks splintering, a large chunk of mountain rock fell like a giant stone sword, crashing down from the mountain.

Boom!

The dust surged violently, the ground was pierced by the boulder, and all the surrounding buildings collapsed towards it.

Underneath was the Evil Ghost Bureau!

He Buning’s heart pounded wildly, the earthquake was not a natural disaster; how could the one who orchestrated this earthquake not guard against the Evil Ghost Bureau and General Cao? For now, relying on General Cao seemed unlikely.

But General Cao wouldn’t die so easily. As long as he was around, the ghosts imprisoned in the Evil Ghost Bureau wouldn’t escape easily.

What was the purpose of the person causing this earthquake?

Meow——

A cat’s meow came from outside, He Buning’s pupils trembled, he immediately got up and ran outside. Before he could leave the Evil Suppression Bureau’s range, a black cat emerged from the rubble. Seeing him, the black cat even appeared to heave a sigh of relief.

Meow~

Xuan Yu turned back, called towards the outside, flicked its head, signaling He Buning to follow.

Xuan Yu led He Buning, avoiding areas prone to collapse, leaving the range of the Evil Suppression Bureau to the street outside, seeing Xia Chan unharmed, and Sang Mulan, similarly unconscious, carried by the Black Donkey.

“Brother Buning, please help my sister quickly, no matter how much I call her, she won’t wake up.”

Xia Chan trembled all over, unable to stop sobbing; her face was streaked with tears.

He Buning stepped forward and pulled a somewhat clean handkerchief from his sleeve, helping Xia Chan to wipe away her tears and dust before gently patting her shoulder in comfort.

“Don’t be afraid, it’ll be alright. Calm down first. If you keep crying, you won’t be able to catch your breath.”

Xia Chan nodded vigorously, trying hard to stop crying, “Little Chan won’t cry, Little Chan needs to save her sister, needs to go rescue Uncle Yushan. Little Chan won’t cry anymore, won’t cry.”

“Let’s find a safe place first.”

There was a large square in front of the Evil Suppression Bureau, which, though shaken to pieces, remained devoid of buildings except for the collapsed archway, making it comparatively safe.

With Xia Chan’s help, He Buning rescued Xiao Wu, Xiao Liu, and Cui Cheng, who lived opposite his home, as well as the constables guarding the front courtyard of the Evil Suppression Bureau, from the residence.

After carefully checking the condition of each person, He Buning confirmed that the situation was as he had anticipated.

“They are all trapped in the Dream Ghost’s dream.”

Being trapped by the Dream Ghost has a noticeable characteristic: they cannot be awakened, and their heartbeat sometimes accelerates and sometimes calms down, their eyes darting about like the reaction of encountering something terrifying, except the fright comes from the dream.

The dream can be more terrifying than reality because in the Dream Ghost’s nightmare everyone becomes powerless ordinary people.

“How can we kill the Dream Ghost?” Xia Chan asked nervously, as Xuan Yu also squatted beside her, staring intently at He Buning.

With a solemn expression, He Buning hadn’t replied yet when a suddenly sleeping constable kicked his legs, and his previously tense body relaxed. He Buning quickly approached to investigate.

His heartbeat and breathing had stopped, dying in the dream would lead to actual death, and after death, the soul would remain in the dream created by the Dream Ghost, becoming its Ghost Slave and continuing to bring fear to others.

“The Dream Ghost cannot be killed, but as long as you leave the dream, you are safe. To leave the dream, it relies on their own strength. The Dream Ghost lacks the ability to create dreams out of thin air; it is attracted by people who regularly have nightmares, parasites in those nightmares, constantly expanding them, and subsequently trapping others into those nightmares.”

“To break free from the nightmare, we must first find the person initially parasitized by the Dream Ghost, kill that person, and break the nightmare they crafted. The Dream Ghost’s dream will then show flaws, and they will be able to wake up, but…”

He Buning glanced around, observing that the city was eerily quiet without a single cry for help. Animals cannot be pulled into nightmares by Dream Ghosts. Xia Chan and he are awake due to their unique nature, akin to being half Evil People, naturally resistant to Dream Ghosts, much like Evil Spirits and Evil Ghosts do not invade dreams.

However, for the thirty thousand citizens within the city, they are likely all trapped in this nightmare, finding the source of the nightmare among these people is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

The Dream Ghost cases handled by the Evil Suppression Bureau in the past never woke naturally; all sleeping people must be gathered into one area, and set up quarantine lines ensuring there are no living people within a radius of a hundred miles. Once all the sleeping people have died, the Dream Ghost will naturally depart.

Sang Que’s body suddenly trembled, and Xia Chan exclaimed, hurriedly grabbing her sister’s wrist, “Sister, sister’s wrist seems to have stopped pulsating!”

Xia Chan’s face turned pale as He Buning quickly grabbed Sang Que’s wrist to investigate closely; the pulse indeed seemed to weaken, nearly vanishing, but was gradually recovering and showed no signs of death.

“It’s alright, maybe she encountered something terribly frightening. It’s a natural bodily reaction; her pulse is recovering, indicating she is freeing herself in the dream. No need to worry for now.”

“But… but can’t we do anything? Little Chan needs to help her sister, Little Chan must rescue her sister!”

In that moment, He Buning’s eyes brightened, “Little Chan, you’ve reminded me. There is something we can do, and it might save their lives!”

The curse!

As long as one is shrouded by the curse and regarded as prey by the Curse Ghost, until the curse is completed, the Dream Ghost cannot kill those trapped in nightmares.

Though this could cause them to experience increasingly terrifying events within their nightmare, should they not endure mentally, even awakening might result in madness.

But for now, it is the only action we can take.

He Buning turned to look at the ruins of the Evil Suppression Bureau, his brows furrowing as Xuan Yu seemed to grasp his intention, standing immediately to shake off dust, and placed a paw on He Buning’s hand.

Meow!

Instantly, He Buning understood Xuan Yu’s meaning; the secret vault at the Merit Office must have collapsed. Entering to retrieve yin objects capable of imposing a curse would not be easy, but if Xuan Yu went, however, some could surely be found.

Xia Chan flicked her hair to the front, “Little Chan can too, Little Chan’s hair can also find things.”

Looking at Xia Chan, He Buning then deeply understood what Sang Que had previously told him, Xia Chan is not a canary in need of protection, nor merely a child; besides being prone to crying and fond of eating, she can also be a powerful ally.

“Little Chan, your strength is greater than mine. I need you to first rescue the Day Travels and Night Travels of the Evil Suppression Bureau; tonight’s disaster is definitely not limited to quakes and Dream Ghosts. We need more people.”

As he said this, He Buning’s brow was tightly furrowed, aware that everyone in the city awaited rescue. However, given the urgent situation at hand, there are not enough yin objects to impose curses on everyone.

Wangshan City’s four-sided walls have surely collapsed, and in the dark night, it’s unknown how many Evil Spirits and Evil Ghosts are creeping this way, as Wangshan City is already meat on the chopping block for those Evil Spirits and Evil Ghosts.

Even if the civilians are awakened, surviving till dawn is unlikely, but rescuing those from the Day Travels and Night Travels ensures they can save more people.

At this moment, He Buning can only make a choice.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep