Chapter 1 "Thud!"

The knock came again, the rhythm exactly the same as before, the intervals precise.

It was hard to imagine a person controlling rhythm with such precision. Could it be my aunt? Zhang Yuanqing's head throbbed, his mind a haze. He was about to get out of bed and open the door, but the moment he lifted the covers, his body stiffened.

He suddenly realized...

There was no sound of footsteps outside the door.

Yes, no footsteps. Before the knocking started, he hadn't heard any movement at all. And for a Level 2 Night Watcher, at such close range, even if the door offered some soundproofing, it shouldn't have completely blocked his hearing.

Not an ordinary person!

Zhang Yuanqing raised a hand, pressing against his throbbing head, and thought:

Has someone found out my real identity? Have they come knocking? Dark Rose, or someone from Black Impermanence, or the Taiyi Sect?

In that moment, his body tensed, adrenaline flooding his system, briefly suppressing the headache.

"No matter which faction it is, breaking into my house at this hour, they don't come in peace. I can't fight them here, it'll affect my aunt and the others. I need to find a way to lure them out..."

Just then, the knocking stopped. Then, Zhang Yuanqing saw the doorknob slowly turning.

"Click."

With the soft click of the latch, the bedroom door creaked open a crack, revealing a thick, inky darkness.

Zhang Yuanqing stared intently at the opening, his muscles coiled. He still didn't sense the enemy's aura, but cold sweat broke out on his back.

"Bang!" Suddenly, a dark-skinned hand reached in from the gap, gripped the doorframe, and pushed the door wide open.

As the door was violently shoved open, Zhang Yuanqing finally saw the uninvited guest.

It was a disheveled woman, draped in a filthy white cloak that dragged on the ground.

Her posture was strange, crooked, as if her limbs had been mismatched on a doll.

Her jet-black right hand held a rusty cleaver, the blade facing behind her.

Thick, tangled hair obscured her face, and between the strands, drops of black blood dripped incessantly.

This, this appearance had a strange sense of déjà vu, as if he'd seen it somewhere before... Zhang Yuanqing suddenly realized, a woman in white, a killer? The vengeful spirit from the daytime text message?

That wasn't a prank?!

His face was filled with astonishment. He never expected that a spam text message he received during the day would actually be real?

This was so unexpected. But, if it's a vengeful spirit, I'm not afraid... He was thinking this when the woman in white, a killer, walked clumsily and quickly, rushed towards him.

Her posture was very odd, as if she were walking backwards. As she moved, her body twisted and turned, her limbs contorting in unnatural ways.

"Hmph!" Dark light surged in Zhang Yuanqing's eyes as he mobilized the power of Taiyin...

His face suddenly changed, because he realized he had lost the ability imprinted in his genes, lost his suppression of vengeful spirits.

At this moment, the woman in white, a killer, trembled and staggered backwards, raising the cleaver high. Her right arm twisted one hundred and eighty degrees with a "crack," the blade facing Zhang Yuanqing, and suddenly chopped down.

Zhang Yuanqing rolled off the bed. "Du, du, du..."

The cleaver chased after him, hacking gashes in the bed.

Zhang Yuanqing rolled from the bed to the floor, his face growing increasingly grim, because not only had he lost his skills, but his physical abilities had also returned to the level of an ordinary person.

He had completely reverted to his original form.

He couldn't help but think of the description in the text message. This is a dream?!

It's not that my skills have disappeared, but that I'm in a nightmare. My skills, my items, none of them can be used.

Not having time to think, a flicker in the corner of his eye warned him that the vengeful spirit, wrapped in her dirty robe, was once again raising her knife.

Zhang Yuanqing rolled again, hearing the sound of splintering wood next to his ear. If this strike landed, he would be separated from his body on the spot.

With both hands on the ground, he pushed himself up and rushed towards the living room.

Rushed to the entrance, rushed to the security door.

He had to escape this house.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't turn the handle of the security door. The latch seemed to have rusted shut inside.

A whistling sound came from behind him. Without thinking, Zhang Yuanqing ducked sharply.

"Shu, shu, shu!"

The cleaver flew, embedding itself in the security door.

The cleaver can also be thrown? Zhang Yuanqing swallowed, subconsciously wanting to pull out the cleaver to counter the vengeful spirit. He raised his head sharply and found that the cleaver was gone. Only a deep knife mark remained on the security door.

And the woman in white, a killer, was holding the cleaver again, backing away as she ran towards him.

Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing took two or three steps to the dining table, picked up a high-backed chair, and fiercely swung it to meet the cleaver.

The high-backed chair in his hand shattered with a "crack". The cleaver smashed the chair and struck Zhang Yuanqing's chest.

Intense pain instantly followed. The rusty blade split open his chest, severing several ribs.

And in the dream, he had lost his ability to heal.

Zhang Yuanqing smelled the scent of death, staggering a few steps, leaning against the edge of the dining table.

The woman in white, a killer, trembled and stumbled forward, raising the cleaver high. Zhang Yuanqing dodged sharply, and the rusty cleaver slammed into the dining table with a "du," burying itself deep.

The woman in white, a killer, pulled several times, but couldn't pull it out.

Seizing the opportunity, Zhang Yuanqing endured the pain in his chest, grabbed the high-backed chair beside him, and mustered all his strength, slamming it into the vengeful spirit's waist.

"Bang!"

The woman in white, a killer's, waist instantly broke, her waist twisted grotesquely, falling to the ground.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

The vengeful spirit lying on the ground twitched, her head turned to the left, her hands and feet moving in opposite directions, her left knee facing right, her right knee facing left, like a doll that had been haphazardly assembled.

In the sound of "crack, crack" of bones, her waist snapped back, her lower body stood up, her upper body dragging on the ground.

"! Seeing this scene, Zhang Yuanqing's scalp tingled, covering the knife wound on his chest, and stumbled back to the bedroom.

This thing can't be killed.

Back in the room, he locked the door and staggered to the window. Zhang Yuanqing opened the window and looked out. Outside was pitch black, no streetlights, no cars, and no nearby residential buildings.

If he were in the real world, he would risk jumping to the air conditioner's outdoor unit.

But this is a dream.

Not to mention whether jumping out of the window could save him, what if the ending of jumping out of the window was death?

What to do?

He can't escape the dream, and he can't kill the vengeful spirit. Skills and items can't be used... Zhang Yuanqing was in a desperate situation.

Even more fatal was that the blood from his chest couldn't be stopped at all. If this continued, in less than ten minutes, he would die from his injuries.

If he died in the dream, what would happen in reality?

He didn't dare to think about it.

Who wants to kill me? I remember that dreams are the domain of illusionists, but I have no grudges with illusionists, and I have no intersection...

At this moment, the doorknob moved, and after finding that the door could not be opened, the vengeful spirit outside seemed very irritable, turning the doorknob with a "crack, crack".

After a few seconds, it stopped again, seemingly giving up on opening the door.

Suddenly, with a loud "clang", half of the cleaver protruded from the door panel.

It's hacking the door... Despair welled up in Zhang Yuanqing's eyes. He glanced at the dark window, considering whether to jump out and take a gamble.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

The cleaver struck again and again, and the door panel was gradually chopped apart, the gap becoming larger and larger.

Finally, in a sound, the door panel shattered, and the disheveled vengeful spirit, holding a knife, strode in with a strange posture.

ps: I was dizzy yesterday, very sleepy, and woke up to find it was almost noon. I quickly ate a few mouthfuls of food and started coding.

The word count is a little less, please forgive me, I will make it up at night.