My Healing Games

Chapter 974 The Dream That Is Least Like a Nightmare
"Coffee, cigarettes, and alcohol are all bitter, yet they are addictive. Even when love torments you to the point of heartbreak, some people are still willing to keep hitting the wall, like moths drawn to a flame. Why is that?"

Zhang Mingli was driving and smoking. He was a swearing lunatic with extremely poor manners who had just burned down his own house, but as he slowly approached the finish line, he became somewhat silent.

"My first love shattered all my illusions about love, it hurt me a lot, and it made me very realistic. Who wasn't a teenager once? Didn't we all go through that?"

"I was overthinking things from the very beginning, you know? When you start fantasizing about how wonderful love is, you've already lost. Your true colors have been revealed."

"Life is full of mundane things like firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea. Love doesn't need a reason, but maintaining love requires methods."

"Someone like me, who loves with sheer courage, what does he know about methods? The love that was embraced with passion in the first place will eventually be lost as the passion cools down."

"Damn it, we've gone off on a tangent again." Zhang Mingli's words only represented his personal opinion. His eyes were fixed on the dark road ahead, where there was no light, and he could only rely on the navigation to keep moving forward.

From this perspective, it's clear that even after all these years, he hasn't changed much; he's still the same person who loves with sheer courage.

“I think true love should be a two-way street, a willingness between two people.” Han Fei looked at his hands: “How should I put it? It’s like she’s the best chef, and I’m the best ingredient. I’m willing to become the most delicious meat on her table, and eventually become one with her.”

"I think your problem might be even bigger than Teacher Zhang's." Huang Ying exhaled a smoke ring and sighed softly. There were three people in the car, and two of them seemed to be acting strangely.

"You have eleven girlfriends, are you really willing to be put on the dinner table by them?" Zhang Mingli felt that Han Fei had no respect for love.

"How do you know I wasn't put on the chopping block? I was already fish on the chopping block, powerless to resist, but then something happened, and they entered my body and merged with me in a special way." Han Fei didn't go into details, omitting some things he considered unnecessary.

"You ate them???"

The three people in the car fell silent as they listened to soothing music.

"What kind of love do you think is true love?" Han Fei broke the silence, looking at the other two.

"Don't look at me, I have no plans to date for now." Huang Ying waved his hand. He didn't want to get involved. He knew that saying too much would only lead to trouble, and once he left the nightmare, he might be snatched away by the hatred of someone who liked to use a knife.

"Love is pain! The more pain you feel when you lose it, the deeper the love was. Love that can't be regained is more painful than death!" Zhang Mingli smoked one cigarette after another, his emotions rising again.

"Why do you always associate pain with love? Don't you think that kind of thinking is perverted?" Han Fei replied, puzzled.

"I'm not as perverted as you! You want to be eaten by your own wife? Holy crap, who's the pervert between us?!" Zhang Mingli tossed Huang Ying a cigarette: "Dude, you tell me the truth?"

"I'm just curious, why do you have such thoughts? Isn't love about mutual affection and the desire to create a beautiful life together?" Brother Huang said timidly, feeling a bit out of place here.

"Love isn't as wonderful as you think."

"Yes, love is not as simple as you think."

Han Fei and Zhang Mingli spoke at about the same time. They had different views on love, but they had one thing in common: they had rarely been loved before.

Perhaps it was this point that made Zhang Mingli willing to continue talking with Han Fei.

“One of you has never been in a relationship, and the other has been in too many. Compared to you, I should be considered a senior, right?” Zhang Mingli slowed down the car a little. “What I said is actually based on my own experience. There’s no embellishment whatsoever. My first relationship ended without a trace. The person I regarded as sunshine left me. Life was without the sun. Wasn’t that painful? Actually, I could still accept the pain of the first relationship, but the second one was beyond my capacity to bear. That’s why I did all sorts of things that you can’t understand. Because I had to reach the end, I had to see her.”

"You and your second wife loved each other so much, why did she leave you?" Huang Ying felt that Zhang Mingli's words were somewhat contradictory.

“She…” Zhang Mingli took a deep drag of his cigarette, the smoke burning as it passed through his lungs: “Do you know? After losing her, just thinking about anything related to her makes me very sad and in pain! I can tell you about my first relationship as I please, but I need to prepare myself mentally for a long time before I can tell you her story.”

"She is not the most beautiful girl in the world, but she is my whole world."

"She never asked me for perfume, lipstick, or clothes, but she liked to snatch the snacks I bought. She really is like a child, or rather, I am also a child in front of her, a child who doesn't think about anything, doesn't regret anything, and can be happy about anything."

“I didn’t see her as the sunshine in my life, and she never seemed too dazzling. I was never sure what she meant to me. When I finally realized it, I found that my life had become her, and she had become an inseparable part of my life.”

"I don't know if you've ever had that experience, but I have. When I'm with her, even doing something boring and insignificant makes me feel incredibly satisfied and happy."

"That day, the first snow fell in Xinhu. She wrapped herself in a quilt and ran to the window, staring blankly at the snowflakes. I sat with her, and we counted the snowflakes all afternoon until there was a little snow in the potted plants on the balcony."

“I have experienced many things in my life, ups and downs, but I have forgotten many things. However, I remember the little things I did with her.”

"I was late for the movie and went to the wrong theater. I was still guessing who the main character was after watching for ten minutes. On our one-year anniversary, I wanted to surprise her. I secretly went to her city, and she secretly went to the city where I work. At six o'clock in the afternoon, we were in each other's cities, standing downstairs, texting each other and asking each other to look down. Later, we caught the last train and met at an unfamiliar transfer station between the two cities."

"Even though it was a completely unfamiliar third city, and I didn't know anyone around me, I felt incredibly warm and welcoming when I saw each other."

“There are many similar things: the first time we held hands, the first time we cooked together, the first time we went to the park, the first time we got a cat, the first time we gave each other a gift. I remember everything about her very clearly.”

“We’ve argued over trivial things, but whenever I see her crying with grievance, I feel like I’m an utterly wicked bastard, the most despicable sinner in the entire universe. Whenever I apologize to her, she always ignores me angrily unless I take her out to eat something delicious.”

"Was there ever a moment in your lives when you truly felt for each other?"

"To be honest, every moment I spent living with her made me feel incredibly at peace and comfortable."

"No matter how bad things are going through or how terrible the trouble is, as long as I think of her, I will cheer up. I know she is waiting for me."

Zhang Mingli repeatedly emphasized one thing: he knew his wife was waiting for him.

From his words, it's clear that Zhang Mingli truly cherishes his wife, so why did they separate?
Exhaling a puff of smoke, Zhang Mingli coughed violently.

Smoking is harmful to health, and every smoker knows that, but when they think of that person, they still unconsciously light up a cigarette.

The road ahead grew darker and darker, and the road conditions worsened, becoming rugged and bumpy, with deep valleys on either side. Yet Zhang Mingli floored the accelerator, his navigation system indicating that he was nearing the end.

The ghosts appearing on the night road are becoming increasingly terrifying. The resentment on their bodies has begun to develop in the direction of hatred. The seemingly ordinary night road is gradually becoming distorted. This car seems to be driving on the back of a nightmare, and the end of the road is a bottomless abyss.

The window was bleeding, and the glass was covered with cracks. It seemed that this was not the first time Zhang Mingli had driven this road at night, but this time he had a reason to drive through it.

As his body gradually weakened, Zhang Mingli stopped paying attention to the demons and monsters on both sides of the road. But when he crossed a dark bridge, he suddenly saw a school bus full of elementary school students driving out of the shadows.

That vehicle must have belonged to some unscrupulous after-school care center; it was crammed with many small stools, severely overloaded.

"You're almost at the finish line, don't meddle in other people's business." Han Fei knew this was a nightmare, and he had a bad feeling, so he decisively spoke up to remind him.

Zhang Mingli nodded, but his gaze unconsciously drifted towards the school bus.

The school bus driver's eyes were sewn shut with black life ropes, his body was covered in dream dust, and dense veins emerged from his arms and clung to the steering wheel.

The children in the bus were unaware of the approaching danger, playing and frolicking together, their faces adorned with the purest smiles.

These children are simply dressed and come from relatively poor families, which is why they choose the cheapest daycare center.

The two vehicles were traveling in opposite directions. The school bus driver seemed to be possessed by a ghost, or as if he had just woken up from a deep sleep. As he was going down the bridge, the vehicle suddenly went out of control, and the school bus full of students crashed directly into Zhang Mingli!
"I***!"

The road leading to the bridge is very narrow. If Zhang Mingli avoids the school bus, he will most likely fall into the valley. If he doesn't, he will definitely collide with the school bus, and both of them may fall into the valley.

Faced with a black school bus full of students and without even seat belts, Zhang Mingli reacted instinctively within a second or two. He jerked the steering wheel and almost deliberately drove into the valley!
"What a terrible thing!"

The ghostly markings that broke the rules of the nightmare instantly lit up, and an aura of calamity surged out of the car. Da Nie was already moving very fast, but the car still crashed into the trees beside the deep valley. Da Nie then used his body to protect the car.

The giant monster that appeared outside the car also let out a heart-wrenching scream. It was the first time Han Fei had ever heard the giant monster wail in such pain.

He looked back and saw that the giant monster standing outside the car was covered with fine black blood vessels, and countless dream dusts were poured into its body!
This nightmare seems harmless because it is Zhang Mingli who gets off the bus. If either Han Fei or Huang Ying gets off the bus, what awaits them is the revenge that Meng has been preparing for a long time!
The dream dust poured into the body of the Great Evil carried an indescribable aura. This nightmare was definitely a trap set by the dream. After Zhang Mingli got off the car, the nightmare world would not change much. The dream wanted to use this to numb Han Fei. Once Han Fei couldn't hold back and got off, the cunning and vicious dream would immediately make its move!

The ninth level of nightmares is actually extremely dangerous; this level of nightmares is only gentle to Zhang Mingli.

The car window shattered, and Da Nie, enduring excruciating pain, dragged the car back onto the road. After only a dozen seconds outside the car, Da Nie's skin was torn open, and black blood containing soul poison dripped everywhere.

For the first time, without Han Fei's prompting, Da Nie hurriedly burrowed back into the ghost pattern. The nightmare was vast, but only its master's ghost pattern was its true home.

"Even the tough-skinned Da Nie almost couldn't withstand it. If Brother Huang and I went out, we'd probably turn to ashes."

After the vehicle came to a complete stop, Zhang Mingli suddenly fell silent.

Han Fei leaned over to look at the driver's seat. Zhang Mingli's neck and face were covered in shards of glass, and a broken, thick tree branch was embedded in his body: "Did these things really happen?"

Raising his hand, Zhang Mingli pointed to the car's navigation system, then to Han Fei: "Could you... help me drive down..."

"Okay, no problem!" Han Fei lowered the driver's seat, and he and Huang Ying helped Zhang Mingli with his wounds. Then they moved Zhang Mingli to the passenger seat, making Han Fei the new driver of the night bus.

"We must reach the finish line, don't let her go." Zhang Mingli's voice was broken. He was the master of nightmares, and his dream was the least like a nightmare.

(End of this chapter)