Chapter 426: Waking up late from a nightmare

It feels hazy and like a dream.

These people... were all the people he had seen die in the fog.

And the moment he saw this scene, Bai Yanliang's whole body went limp and he fell to the ground.

Qi Nian and a group of shadowy figures surrounded him, looking down at him with expressionless faces...

----

I had a dream.

In my dream, I often played with a big boy...

The sky was dim, the streets were old, and on the stage someone was singing an opera that I couldn't understand.

The older kids around me and I sat in the dark auditorium, staring at the stage intently and clapping our hands vigorously from time to time.

Until the sky grew darker and darker, until I came to my senses and found that the surroundings were unusually quiet, and the stage was also quiet.

The babbling, which was incomprehensible but still pleasant to the ear before, now seemed particularly irritating. The older child and I quickly turned around and looked left and right, and found that the huge auditorium had been empty for a long time, with only me and the older boy still sitting there.

Looking at the stage again, I saw the opera actors standing on the stage without saying a word, with their heads down. The light was clearly not flickering or dim, but it seemed to have become a lot colder, shining a pale light on the faces of the actors in the troupe. The heavy makeup on the actors' faces was like burnt candle wax, flowing down their cheeks.

At this moment, I felt my hand tighten. It turned out that the older child next to me grabbed me and dragged me out.

I don’t know how long I ran, but this old street seemed to have infinite length, stretching forward continuously. Until I could no longer run and my eyelids drooped from exhaustion, I still couldn’t get out.

Later, I woke up.

When I woke up again, I was back home.

Only then did I realize that it was the older child who ran back with me on his back.

And this older child is my brother, named Bai Yanren.

Our parents passed away early, and we were raised by our grandparents. Before we were fully grown, our grandfather, who was an alcoholic, passed away, leaving behind an old man with limited mobility and two brothers, one older and one younger.

After escaping from the opera troupe, I started to become weak and sickly. I started having unexplained nosebleeds and bleeding from the corners of my eyes, ears, and mouth. I went to the hospital for a checkup but they couldn't find any cause.

Grandma became more and more anxious, and her health deteriorated, and she finally passed away not long after.

Until she died, my grandmother was still cursing Bai Yanren, saying that it was all his fault that my body became like this.

Speaking of my brother Bai Yanren, he is also a strange person.

I am much younger than my brother, so I have heard about his various deeds almost since I was a child.

My brother is very smart. I can tell from what the neighbors say that he is what everyone calls the other people’s child.

Without too much effort in studying, you can still rank among the best. Physical fitness, height and appearance are all very good.

As for my family members, when my grandfather had not passed away yet, I was still very young and only remembered a few bits and pieces. My family always scolded my brother as a disaster star.

My brother is indeed very smart, but his intelligence seems to be a taboo in our family.

Later I got a general idea from my drunk grandfather.

It turns out that the early death of his parents was also due to his brother Bai Yanren.

According to my grandfather's incoherent narration after drinking, the situation at that time was somewhat similar to my experience.

It seems like my brother has a natural ability to sense some strange places, or rather, he is naturally close to some weird things.

When my brother was still very young and I was not yet born, he, a four or five-year-old child, left home alone and searched for something everywhere on the urbanized streets. He actually found a well that should not have existed in the city.

Mom and Dad were extremely anxious. They asked around and made inquiries from many sources before they finally found his exact location.

When my parents rushed over, my brother was actually trying to get into the well headfirst.

Mom and Dad rushed over, grabbed his feet and pulled him out.

But at this time, the four or five-year-old brother seemed to have something fallen into the well. He kept struggling and reaching towards the well.

While comforting him, his parents looked into the well.

At first glance, it was clear that there was a big problem.

The two were stunned on the spot, as if they had lost their souls, and returned home in a daze, holding the child.

After that, their physical condition deteriorated rapidly, and they had the same symptoms as me, first nosebleeds, then bleeding from all seven orifices, and finally their bodies began to "fade", turning into a strange grayish-white hue, and finally they died quietly. This process lasted for several years.

It was during this period that I was born.

The grandfather's drunken chatter seemed as if he had seen it with his own eyes, and perhaps it was true. After all, when they said the child was lost, many neighbors followed to look for him, so there should have been more than just the father and mother at the scene.

In short, because of this incident, my brother’s abnormal behavior became a concern for the whole family.

Under the careful observation of the family, many of my brother's behaviors seemed even more strange.

He always stared at some empty place for a long time.

He always likes to go into darkness, and the deeper the darkness, the more he likes it.

He always looks at his parents, grandparents, and even everyone he meets with strange eyes...

In the end, the impression my brother left on his family was completely different from the impression he left on his neighbors.

In the eyes of his neighbors, he is a good boy who works hard and has excellent grades.

But in the eyes of his family, he was a strange man who "seemed to have innate wisdom", had a creepy look in his eyes and was taciturn.

Later, when I became a little more sensible, I tried to ask my brother some questions.

"Brother, why do you always stare at some places for so long? There's obviously nothing there..."

"Yes, and there are many."

"Brother, why are you going to such a dark place?"

"Brother is looking for a way."

"Brother, why do you talk to yourself sometimes?"

"My brother is talking to someone else."

"..."

There are many more examples like this.

It was not until my parents, grandpa, and grandma passed away one after another that my brother gradually became "normal".

But at this time, my physical condition had reached its worst.

I started bleeding from all seven orifices.

And it's fading starting from the toes...

I remember that day my brother looked at me for a long time, and then said to me: "Yanliang, I will send you to a place where you will sleep for a while, but after you wake up, your body will be fine, okay?"

"Yes! I believe my brother."

"I believe brother!"

"I believe my brother..."

"Believe in my brother..."

These words echoed in my mind.

Bai Yanliang suddenly opened his eyes, and at the same time, he felt a sharp pain in his brain.

He could clearly feel that a strong tearing sensation was erupting from deep within his mind or somewhere within his soul.

Something strange was emerging in his body.

Along with the pain came the emergence of strange memories.

Bai Yanliang endured the severe pain, and finally an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.

In my mind, a child's voice echoed:
"Big brother? Who are you?"

He woke up.

The original owner of this body is the real Bai Yanliang.

woke up.

(End of this chapter)