"Dong!"

The knock sounded again, the rhythm identical to the previous one, the intervals perfectly precise.

It was hard to imagine a person controlling rhythm with such precision. Was it Auntie? Zhang Yuanqing's head throbbed, his mind a haze. He was about to get out of bed and open the door when he froze as he lifted the blanket.

He suddenly realized,

The person outside the door, there were no footsteps.

Yes, no footsteps. Before the knock, he hadn't heard any movement. For a Level 2 Night Watcher, even with the door's weak soundproofing, it shouldn't completely block his hearing at such a close distance.

Not an ordinary person!!

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

Has someone found out my real identity? Coming to my door? Dark Rose, or someone from Black Impermanence, or the Taiyi Sect?

At that moment, his body tensed, adrenaline surged, briefly suppressing his headache.

"No matter which faction it is, sneaking into my house at this time, they don't come with good intentions. I can't fight them at home, it will affect Auntie 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 faint sound of the latch releasing, the bedroom door opened a crack with a "creak," revealing a thick, dark void.

Zhang Yuanqing stared intently at the open crack, his muscles tense. He still didn't sense the enemy's aura, and cold sweat soaked his back.

"Pa!" Suddenly, a dark-skinned hand reached in from the crack, grabbed the doorframe, and pushed the door wide open.

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

It was a woman with disheveled hair, draped in a dirty white cloak, stained with filth, that dragged to the ground.

Her posture was strange, crooked and twisted, like a doll whose limbs had been mismatched.

Her dark right hand held a rusty kitchen knife, 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, the woman in white who kills people? The vengeful spirit from the text message during the day?

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 difficult to defend against. However, if it's a vengeful spirit, I'm not afraid... He was thinking this when the woman in white at the door, with clumsy but swift steps, rushed toward him.

Her posture was strange, as if she were walking backward. As she moved, her body twisted awkwardly, her limbs contorted in illogical ways.

"Humph!" Dark shadows surged in Zhang Yuanqing's eyes as he mobilized the Power of Taiyin...

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

At this moment, the woman in white staggered backward, raised the kitchen knife high, her right arm rotated one hundred and eighty degrees with a "crack," the blade facing Zhang Yuanqing, and slashed down suddenly.

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

The kitchen knife chased after him, hacking out knife marks on the bed.

Zhang Yuanqing rolled from the bed to the floor, his face becoming increasingly grim because he had not only lost his skills but also regressed to ordinary human physical fitness.

Completely reduced 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, and my skills, my items, none of them can be used.

There was no time to think. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the vengeful spirit in its dirty robe raise the knife and strike again.

Zhang Yuanqing rolled again, hearing the sound of the wooden floor shattering beside him. If this knife hit him, he would be separated into pieces on the spot.

He braced himself with both hands, sprang up from the ground, and rushed quickly towards the living room.

He rushed towards the entrance, towards 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 be rusted shut inside.

A whooshing sound came from behind him. Without thinking, Zhang Yuanqing ducked suddenly.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The kitchen knife spun through the air and embedded itself in the security door.

The kitchen knife could be thrown? Zhang Yuanqing swallowed, subconsciously wanting to pull out the kitchen knife to counter the vengeful spirit. But when he looked up, he found that the kitchen knife was gone. Only a deep knife mark remained on the security door.

And the woman in white was once again holding the kitchen knife, running backward towards him.

Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing took two or three steps to the dining table, picked up a high-backed chair, and slammed it hard, facing the chopping kitchen knife.

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

Intense pain instantly surged, and the rusty blade opened his chest, breaking several ribs.

And in this dream, he had lost his self-healing ability.

Zhang Yuanqing smelled the scent of death, staggered a few steps, and leaned against the edge of the dining table.

The woman in white staggered forward, raised the kitchen knife high. Zhang Yuanqing suddenly sidestepped, and the rusty kitchen knife "thudded" into the dining table, embedding itself deeply.

The woman in white 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 to smash it hard against the vengeful spirit's waist.

"Pa!"

The woman in white's waist instantly broke, presenting a bizarre twist, and she fell to the ground.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

The vengeful spirit lying on the ground twitched, her head twisted to the left, her hands and feet moving in opposite directions, her left knee facing right, her right knee facing left, like a puppet that had been randomly pieced together.

With the sound of cracking bones, her waist bounced, and her lower body stood up, her upper body dragging on the ground.

"! Seeing this scene, Zhang Yuanqing's scalp tingled. Clutching the knife wound on his chest, he staggered and ran back to the bedroom.

This thing can't be killed.

Returning to the room, he locked the door and staggered back to the window. Zhang Yuanqing opened the window and looked out, a pitch-black scene outside. There were no streetlights, no vehicles, and he couldn't see any nearby residential buildings.

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

But this was a dream.

Putting aside whether jumping out of the window could save him, what if the consequence of jumping out of the window was death?

What to do?

He couldn't escape the dream, and he couldn't kill the vengeful spirit. His skills and items couldn't be used... Zhang Yuanqing was in despair.

Even more deadly, 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 dared not think about it.

Who wants to kill me? I remember dreams are the domain of Illusionists, but I have no feud or connection with Illusionists...

At this moment, the doorknob moved slightly. After discovering that the door couldn't be opened, the vengeful spirit outside seemed very irritable, twisting the handle with a "crackling" sound.

After a few seconds, it stopped again, seeming to give up on opening the door.

Suddenly, with a loud "thud," half of the kitchen knife protruded from the door panel.

It was hacking at the door... Despair surged in Zhang Yuanqing's eyes. He glanced at the dark window outside, considering whether to risk jumping out of the window to fight.

Thud, thud!

The kitchen knife was hacking again and again, and the door panel was gradually being hacked apart, the gap growing larger and larger.

Finally, with a "smash," the door panel shattered into pieces, and the disheveled vengeful spirit, carrying the knife, stepped in with an unnatural posture.

ps: I wasn't feeling well yesterday, and was particularly sleepy. I woke up and found it was almost noon, and hurriedly ate a few mouthfuls of rice before starting to write.

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

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