A beam of sword energy plunged into the darkness.
Soon after, strange sounds could be heard.
Then, a monster, identical to the previous praying mantis, was seen being slain by the sword energy of the bronze ancient sword.
"Do you really think I'm still at my original strength?"
Ning Beichen snorted coldly. Without even glancing at the monster on the ground, he continued to walk into the dark area.
Soon, Ning Beichen encountered multiple ambushes from monsters in the dark area, but he easily eliminated them all.
"What kind of hellish place is this?"
Linglong was just an ordinary girl, her only skill being her proficiency in thievery. This couldn't possibly be her world with such perverted monsters.
As Ning Beichen walked, he pondered in his mind. Suddenly, he remembered the little girl in the red dress.
While thinking, Ning Beichen's brow suddenly twitched. Recalling the events that happened to Linglong that day, he thought,
"Something's not right. This is definitely not Linglong's world!"
"Could it be..."
"The Ominousness."
"That little girl in the red dress is the Ominousness!"
Memories and images in Ning Beichen's mind began to connect. Soon, Ning Beichen deduced an answer based on these connections.
"That day, the Ominousness should have invaded Linglong. But something happened, causing the Ominousness not to succeed in taking over? Or perhaps something happened during the invasion of Linglong's body that led to this situation."
"This means that Linglong's consciousness has not yet been devoured or merged by the Ominousness, or Linglong's consciousness is being protected by something. Otherwise, Linglong, who was invaded by the Ominousness, would have already woken up..."
"However, the awakened Linglong would naturally no longer be Linglong, but the Ominousness."
Thinking this, Ning Beichen suddenly took a deep breath.
Because he remembered the peculiar jade stone that Linglong always wore around her neck.
Ning Beichen had asked her before. Linglong said the jade stone was a family heirloom, passed down through generations, and only from mother to daughter, never to son. It was said to ward off evil spirits, dispel miasma, and protect the wearer.
"If the Ominousness didn't succeed, could it be related to the jade pendant Linglong wears?"
Many thoughts arose in Ning Beichen's mind.
From the dark area to the little girl in the red dress, then connecting it to the Ominousness in the uninhabited area of the Sahara Desert, and finally to a jade pendant worn around Linglong's neck, everything began to link together.
This was not random speculation or fantasy, but a powerful deductive ability, with clear traces to follow.
Just as Ning Beichen was organizing his deductions, he suddenly saw a beam of light appear in the dark area, attracting his attention. Ning Beichen immediately walked towards the source of the light.
When he reached the place of light, he found it strange that all the darkness behind him had vanished. Then, a bright garden materialized before his eyes, shocking Ning Beichen.
The garden before him was like a completely different world from the previous decaying realm. If the front was hell, then this place was heaven.
As Ning Beichen stood in a daze, he suddenly heard bursts of laughter from within the garden. Then, Ning Beichen saw Linglong.
When Ning Beichen saw Linglong, she was swinging on a swing in the garden, and the laughter came from her.
Beside her were a middle-aged couple, and Ning Beichen heard Linglong call them Father and Mother.
"Linglong."
Ning Beichen excitedly called out to her.
"Ning Beichen, why are you here?"
Linglong, sitting on the swing, saw Ning Beichen and immediately showed a surprised expression. She then jumped off the swing and happily walked towards Ning Beichen.
"Linglong, you..."
Before Ning Beichen could finish speaking, he saw Linglong already approaching, pulling his hand and saying,
"Ning Beichen, come quickly. These are my father and mother."
Without another word, Linglong pulled Ning Beichen to the middle-aged couple and introduced him enthusiastically.
However, Ning Beichen's expression grew heavier, with no hint of joy on his face.
Because Linglong's parents had passed away when she was very young, and she had always been alone. How could she have parents? The middle-aged couple before her appearing in her world could only mean one thing.
That this pair of parents was something she had conjured up herself.
Next, the woman, with great enthusiasm, hosted Ning Beichen. Ning Beichen even shared a meal with them.
Seeing how incredibly happy Linglong appeared, and the doting affection of the middle-aged couple towards her, Ning Beichen's heart felt heavy.
It seemed that Linglong's reluctance to wake up was not solely due to the Ominousness, but also because she herself did not want to wake up.
But a dream is a dream, and fantasy is just fantasy, not reality. Bodies eventually die, and consciousness can also dissipate. If Linglong was not brought back to reality, she might never wake up.
"Linglong, wake up. Your parents died long ago. They are just figments of your imagination."
Ning Beichen knew his words were cruel, but he had to say them.
"Ning Beichen, what are you saying? How could they be figments of my imagination? You're joking, aren't you?"
Linglong playfully hit Ning Beichen, speaking with a smile. Clearly, she did not believe Ning Beichen's words at all.
"It's true. When you were ten years old, your family of three was in a car accident while on vacation. Your parents died on the spot, and only you survived. Don't you remember?"
Although these words were cruel to Linglong, Ning Beichen had to say them.
"Impossible, Ning Beichen, you're not joking, I..."
"I..."
Just as Linglong was about to retort and scold Ning Beichen, a scene suddenly appeared in her memory.
It was a sweltering summer, on a highway, with a ten-car pile-up. Flames and screams filled the air. Among them, a white car was crushed sideways by a overturned dirt truck loaded with gravel.
The driver of the white car was crushed to death, and the woman lay in a pool of blood, buried under tons of gravel. However, she used her own body to protect a little girl beneath her. And this little girl was the ten-year-old Linglong.
"No!"
"It's not true!"
Linglong suddenly cried out, her eyes rolling back, her hands clutching her head as she trembled.
The middle-aged couple who had been present moments ago had vanished.
Ning Beichen quickly hugged her and comforted her, saying,
"Linglong, don't be afraid. I'm here. I'm here to save you."
"Daddy, Mommy..."
Linglong sobbed uncontrollably in Ning Beichen's embrace, crying harder and harder.
At this moment, Ning Beichen suddenly thought of the dark area before, and a sudden realization dawned on him.
"Could the dark area I passed through earlier actually be the deepest part of Linglong's heart?"