Is He Dreaming?
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The door to the room closes behind him. Du Yixin turns around to find a girl standing next to the door. She has long, black hair, pinned behind her head. There is a rhombus-shaped tattoo on her forehead. She is wearing a white gown with loose sleeves and a hemline resembling a Japanese miko.
Du Yixin doesn’t know whether she’s a friend or an enemy, so is on guard against her.
She puts her hands together to say, “do not misunderstand. I am merely here to help.”
“Who are you?”
“I am a player,” she says, then pulls on her collar a little, showing the Roman numeral ‘IV’ on her collarbone. Then she straightens her clothes to say, “I believe we have the same goal.”
Du Yixin puts his weapon away, but is still wary.
That is when the two mobs outside the house have converged. Du Yixin can see the flickers of the fire from outside the window here. They’re in some heated discussion after losing the suspicious person again.
The girl also looks outside and says, “let’s get to the details later. I’ll send them away, but please do not make any noise in the meantime.”
That is when the door is knocked on ferociously, as if trying to break it down, “who is inside? Open the door!”
The girl walks to the door to open it.
Du Yixin retreats onto the second floor, hiding at a corner where he can still see the first floor without being spotted.
She opens the door. The soldier interrogates her, “what took you so long!”
The girl leans forward to bow and explains, “apologies, but I was sleeping in my bedroom just now.”
“We’re pursuing a dangerous murderer. He disappeared here. Did you see anything?”
The girl shakes her head, “I do not know. It has been noisy outside so I didn’t pay much attention.”
The soldier then eyes her suspiciously and asks, “you didn’t hide the criminal, did you.”
The girl then takes a step back hearing that, and makes a gesture inviting them in.
The soldier then waves his men forward, and says, “search the house!”
Many men rush in to search every room. They quickly finish searching the first floor without finding anything, and are about to head upstairs.
Du Yixin hides into the room nearby. It’s a study.
What’s with that girl? Didn’t she say she was going to lead them away?
He looks around, and sees a window.
If worst comes to worst, he will have to jump out the window.
Looking down, though, he can see guards still on standby underneath it. Suddenly, the guard starts looking up, as if noticing his gaze.
Du Yixin immediately kneels down.
The footsteps are here already. Du Yixin looks around and hides under the desk.
The door to the study is kicked open. There’s——at least four or five of them from the footsteps.
The room is small enough that they can see nothing wrong at first glance. They’re about to search another room when someone says, “I’ll look over there.”
Under the cramped desk, he can’t even extend his legs fully. His shoes are right up against the corner of the desk, and one of his hands are on his mouth, muffling his breathing as much as possible. The other is holding onto a sharp sword.
The footsteps approach the desk. Du Yixin can see the greaves and sabaton stop right before the desk. Then, the person crouches down.
He’s going to find him.
Du Yixin is all ready to plunge the sword into the person’s eye when he realise he is looking funny. His gaze is all unfocused, as if he is looking at something behind him instead. Then he gets back up and reports, “all clear.”
Shortly after, all the footsteps fade into the distance as the soldiers have left the house.
Du Yixin climbs back out from the desk and looks down from the window to see the soldiers marching away now, searching elsewhere for him with the torches fading into the distance.
“They have departed.”
The girl says. Du Yixin turns around to see her entering the study.
“Why? They definitely saw me just now.”
“It’s my ability…” She pauses, then adds, “I can make them unable to see you; I apologise, but that is all I will say about it.”
So he didn’t actually need to hide? No wonder she just told him ‘not to make any noise’ instead of ‘hide.’
“I’m Mengli,” she says, “can I ask your name?”
“Du Yixin.”
They exchange their name and Mengli asks him about why he’s being chased. Du Yixin answers, “I was looking for someone,” then suddenly, he seems to think of something and heads to the bedroom opposite the study.
He can see the magic circle clearly from here.
The girl follows behind and asks, “what is it?”
“Did you see someone here tonight?” Du Yixin describes Ying Sheng’s appearance with “short dark hair, with a bat in his hand, and looks like a tough guy. He should have been there.”
Mengli is quiet for a short while before telling him, “I did see someone, but I am uncertain if that person is the same person you refer to.”
Du Yixin still wants to hear about the potential clue, “can you tell me more?”
Mengli says, looking like she’s trying to recall as much as possible, “since no commoners are allowed outdoors at night, I noticed him almost immediately. I believe he had a weapon on hand, as you said, it looked like a bat. He was not alone, though. There was someone else.”
It was probably the robed man. Du Yixin is highly convinced she saw what happened now, and asks, “did you see where they went?”
“The man holding the bat followed after the other person up the staircase. I do not know if they went elsewhere after that.”
Du Yixin seems shocked, and asks, “what was that?”
Mengli is about to repeat herself when the young man stops her, “wait, I mean, Ying Sheng left with the robed man? That makes no sense. They didn’t fight?”
“When I noticed them, they were already chatting, then they went up the stairs. Whether they fought or not,” Mengli shakes her head, and says, “I didn’t see.”
The robed man has his older brother’s face. Ying Sheng couldn’t possibly have been tricked by him, could he?
But even so, he should have came back for him at that point. Why did he follow the imposter?
Or, could it be…
Du Yixin looks back at Mengli. She looks calm.
He falls deep into thought. There is no reason for the person to lie. She even helped him lose those pursuers.
Noticing Du Yixin’s concern, Mengli asks, “are you perhaps wondering why I chose to help?”
“Eh?” Du Yixin blanks out for a moment. He kept thinking about Ying Sheng and forgot about that, but then he is curious too, and asks, “why?”
Mengli clasps her hands together and closes her eyes, saying, “I merely wish to leave here alive. For that, I need someone I can work with,” she asks, “can I join you?”
To leave here alive?
But their goal isn’t just to leave alive, but to defeat Fang Yanwu once and for all. If she followed them, it would be even more dangerous for her.
Du Yixin refuses, but he says, “if you do meet with danger from now on, I will definitely repay the favour.”
Mengli looks slightly disappointed, but she quickly adjusts herself and then tells him, “I understand. Then you can stay here for the night. It is best to leave only after sunrise.”
“…”
Although Du Yixin does want to find Ying Sheng and return to his older brother as soon as possible, but it really is dangerous outside right now. The soldiers are still patrolling and actively searching for him. He doesn’t want another chase.
By day, when everyone else is out and about, maybe he can sneak back there in the chaos.
He has to tell his older brother what happened so far, and decide their next course of action.
Du Yixin heads to a guest room to get some rest.
The next day, he was called awake. Right when he opens his eyes, he sees several faces floating in front of him. His head is throbbing in pain. While still in a daze, the person says, “it is time for you to leave.”
“You’re…” Du Yixin holds his forehead with his hand and narrows his eyes. The faces merge back into a single, familiar face. He then says, one syllable at a time, “Meng, li?”
Mengli has clasped her hand together inside her long loose sleeves, and bows, “good morning to you too. Have you slept well?”
“… Have I been asleep for long?”
Mengli answers, “for just long enough. The soldiers are still on standby, but have stopped searching for now. The residents are already on the street, so it would be a good time to leave,” she pauses, before asking, “or, would you like to stay?”
Du Yixin shakes his head. He leaves the bed as Mengli hands him some clothes.
“Please change into these.”
He would be more likely to be busted wearing the same clothes as yesterday, so he changes, and goes back down to the first floor. He opens the door.
Outside, people are walking past. Du Yixin reflexively ducks back inside, but it seems the person didn’t pay attention his way at all. He finally realises that they are all just residents of the upper floor.
The wild chase last night was as if but a dream now that everything is calm and peaceful,
Outside, the sky is blue and without a single cloud all the way to the horizon. There isn’t a sun, but only a giant ‘Eye of God’ glowing red on the top.
Du Yixin sees Mengli follow behind him. She says with a curtsy, “I will walk you back.”
“It’s alright. I can go back on my own.”
“With me here, I will be able to cover for you if you end up discovered. Do not worry, for I will only follow from afar.”
So Du Yixin decides not to stop her doing so anymore. He walks along the street, and looks back after a while to see her following some distance behind him. They do not look like they would know each other at all.
Du Yixin turns back to the front.
Strange. Why is she going to such lengths for him? Did she know him? But he would definitely remember someone dressed in such strange garments if he had seen one.
There aren’t many pedestrians, and they all cast their gaze quietly down on their own way. There’s almost nobody walking in pairs, and even those that are don’t talk with each other at all.
He can’t tell who are the NPCs and players among them.
Turning a corner, he sees soldiers marching his way. Du Yixin imitates the pedestrians, and looks quietly at the road. The soldiers march past him without incident.
Phew. Safe.
He sighs a little in relief. Then looks back at the road. He’ll be back at his older brother’s house soon enough. In front of the door, he takes a deep breath before pushing in.
The first floor looks the same. The white curtains are fluttering in the wind.
His older brother isn’t here.
After a brief while looking around the first floor, he goes to the second floor, and heads into the room where the robed man broke into. It’s still in chaos, with porcelain fragments from the vase on the floor.
He’s not in this room either.
Du Yixin leaves the room quietly. Perhaps because neither he nor Ying Sheng came back yesterday, so his older brother went out to search for them?
He is thinking as he opens the door to the next room.
Then, his breathing stops. His heart feels like it has stopped beating.
It is all red. Blood red. Painting the entire room——From the curtains, to the wall, to the carpet, to the bedsheets. His eyes are filled with and omnipresent, maddening red.
Du Heng is pinned to the wall. An iron nail as thick as a stake has stabbed into his chest, holding him in the air. The corpse’s eyes are widened in terror. The face and clothes are drenched in blood. The head is hanging off to the side, never to be lifted up again.
“?!”
The shocking scene made Du Yixin unable to react.
His head really hurts. Is he still dreaming?
He opens his mouth, but is unable to utter a single sound. He has put his hand on his forehead. His body is shaking profusely.
He must, still be dreaming.
Du Yixin takes a few steps back, but his legs give out and he falls to the ground. He cannot believe this.
He was still talking to him yesterday. He just ran outside after Ying Sheng. What in the world happened in the meantime?!
And his older brother. His amazing older brother. He couldn’t just die so tragically like that? Something must be wrong.
He is retreating. His body is moving backwards uncontrollably, until he runs into a pair of legs.
He lifts his head up blankly, and locks eyes with a man.
The man has the eyes of an eagle. Merely standing there, he projects a terror to his surroundings. The man is smiling right now, causing wrinkles to form about the corner of his eye.
“What’s wrong?”
TL’s notes: Do you remember a certain setting? When a Key-owner dies, their body will… well, anyway, you can draw your conclusion from that. Our poor Du Yixin couldn’t think in that moment, though.
Oriental Rabbit 
