Love in a mental hospital

Chapter 324: I can dream anytime, but——

"You are quite narcissistic." Yan Hanxiang said with a smile.

"Me?" Gu Ran was puzzled.

"Before in Germany, that psychopath said that if you practiced martial arts, you could beat so-and-so. Today, the Buddha also said that you have a good talent."

"Being good at fighting doesn't matter." Gu Ran smiled helplessly, "What matters is character and ability."

Yan Hanxiang was amused by him: "Sure enough, he is very confident in fighting. Don't look at him~"

The last sentence was directed to Zhuang Jing, who was concentrating on staring at the lotus seeds in her hand and probably didn't even hear the conversation between her and Gu Ran.

Zhuang Jing came back to her senses and smiled apologetically.

She looked at Gu Ran, full of satisfaction: "You did a good job."

Gu Ran didn't say anything, but just smiled brightly. Helping Zhuang Jing was his greatest wish, motivation and reward.

Zhuang Jing and Gu Ran dug a hole on the hillside and prepared to plant lotus seeds in it.

“If I can eat lotus seeds before I die, can I really achieve eternal life in my dreams?” Yan Hanxiang held the lotus seeds and smelled their scent.

"If I could really live forever, I would cherish my current life even more because we only have one chance to live," said Gu Ran.

"That makes sense. Our youth has just begun." Yan Hanxiang said.

Zhuang Jing, who was digging the soil with her hands, smiled and asked her, "Do you smell anything?"

"It's just the ordinary smell of lotus seeds, nothing special."

After digging the hole, Zhuang Jing brought water and Yan Hanxiang handed her the lotus seeds, and she planted them with her own hands.

"The barren grass plain, the mythical tent, the mythical highway, all these combined together make the lotus seeds sprout. I wonder how many secrets the dream world has." Gu Ran sighed as he looked at the green sprouts.

"You kid," Yan Hanxiang looked at him, "even if you want to dream, you have to control yourself and don't indulge in it. Besides, there might be danger in the dream."

"I can transform into a black dragon at any time now." Gu Ran glanced at the black bird on his shoulder, "However, if I didn't dream about you, I wouldn't 'adventure', I would only 'travel'."

"That's good to know. I don't know if I can open up a piece of land in my dream, so that I don't have to buy a garden in Tianhai Villa to take care of it." Yan Hanxiang herself is also looking forward to the future.

"It should be possible after lifting Tianyuan." Gu Ran was not sure either.

Zhuang Jing didn't say anything, but from her smiling face, it can be seen that she also has imaginations about the future.

Yan Hanxiang clapped his hand on his shoulder: "Come on!"

"Okay!" Gu Ran replied.

It's not just about trying your best, but you must do it.

The lotus may not bloom during one's lifetime, so the method of 'lifting Tianyuan to gain eternal life in dreams' is more reliable - provided that the information is true.

No matter what, the future is promising.

"Everything in real life should remain the same. Don't reveal any flaws. It's okay if people in China know about it, but we should be afraid if people abroad know about it," Zhuang Jing warned seriously.

Not to mention eternal life in dreams, even the various parapsychologies that may be gained during the exploration process are enough to make anyone excited.

In today's era of international turmoil, it is always better to be cautious.

The three of them left [Blooming Paradise]. Zhuang Jing and Yan Hanxiang did not try to keep Gu Ran and asked him to go back.

As soon as he left, Zhuang Jing said to Yan Hanxiang, "Do you still have the perfume you bought last time?"

"What perfume?" Yan Hanxiang asked with a smile, even though she knew the answer.

Without younger generations, their way of getting along is a bit like that of He Qingyan and Su Qing.

"Peking University." Zhuang Jing was not embarrassed.

"Yes, but compared to last time, there is no improvement. We may still lose our memories and delay Gu Ran's 'trip'. It may even make the perfume ineffective this time."

"It's not safe to leave him alone."

"Then—use?"

"Yeah." Zhuang Jing nodded.

Gu Ran left Zhuang Jing's study and went directly to the library on the third floor, where Su Qing, He Qingyan and Chen Ke were chatting and laughing.

"Get out, get out. Let's talk about some girlish topics. Men, get out!" He Qingyan smiled and waved her hand to let him go.

"Okay, okay, you guys chat." Gu Ran said with a smile.

He just came to take a look and didn't want to get involved. He wanted to study the Black Dragon Dream more.

Despite this, after returning to his own room on the first floor, Gu Ran still resisted the urge to fall asleep immediately.

He reads, takes a bath, writes in his diary, and then goes to bed when it is time to go to bed.

◇

Gu Ran opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling in front of him.

He tried to get up, but felt severe pain all over his body, as if an invisible hand was pushing him back down.

'What's wrong? ' he thought in great pain.

In the spring of his second year in college, he went hiking on an ancient trail with Yan Hanxiang and Zhuang Jing. While walking in the almost wilderness mountains, it suddenly started to drizzle and the place was covered with thick fog.

The forest was dense, so the rain was not a big deal as we didn’t need an umbrella. However, the already difficult-to-identify route became even more blurred, and I didn’t see any ribbons left behind by the hiking team for a long time.

It seems like you missed a step?
Gu Ran was in so much pain that he couldn't concentrate and his temples were covered with cold sweat.

".Are you awake yet?"

"Don't worry, the villagers have checked him out and he's fine."

The sound came from near and then faded away. As the darkness was lifted, two slender figures appeared before his eyes. They were his girlfriend Yan Hanxiang and his good friend Zhuang Jing.

"Gu Ran!" Yan Hanxiang immediately came over to support him.

Zhuang Jing also showed a look of surprise.

"We." Gu Ran endured the pain, ".What's wrong?"

"Have you lost your memory?" Yan Hanxiang asked subconsciously, and then said, "We got lost in the mountains and deviated from the hiking route. Fortunately, we walked into the village in the mountains."

"What about my body?" Gu Ran was sweating from the pain, but he tried his best to endure it.

"When you were about to enter the village, you slipped and fell." Zhuang Jing said gently.

How could he fall like this? It was as if his soul was pulled out, beaten, and then stuffed back into his body - as long as he tried to control his body, his soul would feel severe pain, as if he was crushing the table with the wound.

Yan Hanxiang used a towel to wipe Gu Ran's sweat carefully.

As the sweat was wiped away, Gu Ran's pain also eased, but his strength also became weaker and weaker. For a moment, it was difficult to tell whether the pain was relieved or he was in so much pain that he had no strength to feel it.

"Eat something." Zhuang Jing peeled an orange and handed it to Gu Ran. Gu Ran could only look at it.

"Xiao Jing, please feed him directly." Yan Hanxiang was wiping the sweat off Gu Ran and couldn't free her hands.

After a slight hesitation, Zhuang Jing pinched a slice of orange with her slender fingers and handed it to Gu Ran's mouth.

Gu Ran opened his mouth and Zhuang Jing fed the orange into his mouth, gently rubbing his lips with her fingertips.

Gu Ran closed his mouth, the sweet orange juice moistened his mouth, his brows relaxed a little, and he felt a little more energetic.

After Zhuang Jing confirmed that he had eaten the first petal, she handed him the second petal.

After eating the fourth clove, Gu Ran finally had the strength to speak: "Thank you."

His body felt refreshed, and after eating, he fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up again, he was fine except for feeling a little weak.

There was no one in the house, and the furnishings made it hard to tell whether it was a remote village or an ancient place.

He got up from the bed and pushed open the wooden door, which creaked.

The scene outside the house is also confusing. Is this an ancient village or a remote area? No, wait, it could also be a scenic spot that uses this as a selling point.

He wanted to go out for a walk, but he was worried that Yan Hanxiang and Zhuang Jing wouldn't be able to find him when they came back.

After some hesitation, I decided to stand there and wait.

Looking around, he saw a field in front of him, surrounded by four mud houses of different sizes.

There was a child in the venue who used a wooden stick as a horse and clamped it between his legs. Sometimes he looked like a general traveling across the world, sometimes he seemed to be being chased, and sometimes he was rushing to somewhere with a serious expression.

A nostalgic scene.

But there is always an indescribable sense of strangeness, as if something is wrong.

Is this kid taking his game so seriously that it looks weird? No.

Is it because there are four mud houses, so there should be a lot of people, but only the child is playing? No.

neither.

Gu Ran looked at the child's shadow for a while, then his eyes swept over the shadows of all objects.

Something is wrong. What is wrong is the shadow.

All the shadows are like hard solids, as if they were shadows deliberately drawn in a painting, condensed in that position, with actual weight, and no different from the shadows themselves.

Gu Ran felt an inexplicable chill.

Voices were heard in the distance, and seven or eight people walked up from the path at the bottom of the slope. Yan Hanxiang and Zhuang Jing were among them. They talked in low voices, and there was worry on their beautiful faces.

"Gu Ran!" After seeing him, the two of them smiled in surprise and walked towards him quickly.

Gu Ran also smiled.

"Are you feeling better?" Yan Hanxiang supported him.

"Yeah." Gu Ran smiled, "It's just that I don't have enough strength."

"I'm glad you're okay." Zhuang Jing smiled gently.

Gu Ran glanced at her, and seemed to remember the sweetness of oranges again, before asking, "What's wrong? Your expressions don't look right."

"Three families nearby have also lost their way in the fog. They can't find other people in the village, and they don't know when the fog will disappear. Or whether this place will still be where it is in reality." Yan Hanxiang said worriedly.

".What?" Gu Ran was stunned for a moment.

"We may have fallen from reality." Zhuang Jing said calmly. She has bright eyes and a calm heart.

Gu Ran suspected that he had not woken up yet, or that although his body had improved a little, his ability to understand had not recovered.

No matter how thick the fog is, how can people in a village not find each other? The place where I grew up is just like my body. I should be able to find the way in the dark.

Also, what's with the falling out of reality? Is that a metaphor?

"We must leave here as soon as possible, otherwise we will suffer irreversible effects." Zhuang Jing continued.

"They plan to organize a ceremony," Yan Hanxiang looked at the six villagers and lowered her voice to whisper in Gu Ran's ear, "Let one person summon the nightmare and find a way to get out of the fog."

Gu Ran understood that he must be dreaming.

The real me is still lying in the room.

At this time, a man came over and said, "Three, for fairness, you also have to participate in the summoning ceremony, and the person with the highest spirituality will be responsible for summoning the nightmare."

"Okay." Zhuang Jing responded, "But can I forget about my friend? He is injured. Even if he summons a nightmare, he doesn't have the energy or sufficient reaction control."

The man looked at Gu Ran. His face was pale, his lips were wrinkled as if he had been soaked in water for a long time, and his whole body was exhausted like a piece of white paper.

The man discussed with the other five people for a while and decided to let Gu Ran withdraw.

"What nightmare?" Gu Ran asked Yan Hanxiang with confusion on his face.

"Don't worry about it, just have a good rest." Yan Hanxiang ordered.

After a while, Gu Ran sat on the doorstep, watching Zhuang Jing, Yan Hanxiang and six villagers perform the summoning ceremony.

They raised their heads and looked at the sun in the sky.

Gu Ran also raised his head. A black sun was hanging in the sky. Judging from the position, it should be early afternoon.

The so-called summoning ceremony, is it to see who sneezes first? Gu Ran played a joke on himself.

He lowered his head, his body was weak, and he felt dizzy even when he raised his head.

In fact, he really wanted to ask what was going on, but he felt so pale in his heart that he couldn't muster the energy to ask.

The child 'stopped his horse' and looked at the black sun in the sky with the adults.

"Hello." Gu Ran spoke.

The villagers said nothing.

"Hello." Gu Ran spoke again.

"You can't be distracted during the summoning ceremony. Don't talk." Yan Hanxiang said.

"Hey!" Gu Ran finally mustered up some thought and strength, and shouted, "There's something wrong with this kid!"

Everyone subconsciously turned around, and in the child's shadow, a huge shadow centipede poked its head out, shaking its body.

The centipede fully emerged, three meters long.

The child's shadow turned into a thin line, connecting the child and the centipede.

"Who is he?!" The villagers looked at the child in horror.

".Ah?" Gu Ran was even more confused.

"It's the residents in the deeper part of the dream!" Zhuang Jing's face was solemn. After she finished speaking, she turned her head to look at the black sun in the sky, unable to hide her anxiety.

"Run!"

"Don't panic, work together, there is still hope!"

The child withdrew his gaze from the black sun and looked at the villagers with an excited smile.

He held the stick under his crotch with both hands and shouted, "Go!"

The child stretched out his legs and charged on his horse.

The three-meter centipede swooped out and pierced through the man. The man stood there in shock, his body becoming transparent.

"No," the man said, "Save me. Save me."

He struggled as if drowning, but his body disappeared irretrievably.

The child laughed, clenched the stick with both hands, and charged again excitedly.

"Run!" Yan Hanxiang pulled Zhuang Jing up, avoided the centipede, and ran towards Gu Ran who was trying to stand up.

During the brief time when the three of them were reunited, the child rode his bamboo horse to chase the last villager.

"Hurry up!" Yan Hanxiang said anxiously.

"I can't leave!" Zhuang Jing looked at the sun in the sky.

"What's going on?" Gu Ran was puzzled.

"Drive~"

Gu Ran felt Yan Hanxiang's body suddenly tense up. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a child riding a bamboo horse coming up the slope with a three-meter-long giant centipede swimming behind him.

"Whoa~" The child reined in his horse and stopped in the middle of the field, looking at them, like two generals of two armies confronting each other.

The child slowly revealed a bloody smile, and then: "Go!"

He rushed forward, and it only took a moment for the centipede to move from stillness to movement, and it also only took a moment for it to appear in front of Gu Ran and the others from a distance.

Yan Hanxiang took a step forward and stood in front of Gu Ran to protect him.

Bang!
The centipede was pierced, and a long spear pierced out from Zhuang Jing's shadow.

A warrior in full armor, riding a strong horse also covered in iron armor, slowly emerged in the shadows and stood behind Zhuang Jing.

The child showed an expression of confusion and pain. The centipede turned back into a shadow. The child's body became transparent and disappeared like the villagers.

"Dead?" Gu Ran asked.

"Strictly speaking, it's falling into a deeper dream." Zhuang Jing's tone returned to calm.

"Xiao Jing." Yan Hanxiang looked at her worriedly.

"fine."

The knight suddenly swung his spear again and stabbed forward to the left, with a serious expression on his face.

"What's wrong again?" Gu Ran was puzzled.

"The person who summons the nightmare will be pulled into the dream by the weight of the nightmare until a balance is reached. Xiaojing can now see dreams that we cannot see." Yan Hanxiang explained very quickly.

What's the matter?

"Not for now." Zhuang Jing turned around and looked at Gu Ran, "Can you leave? Try to hold on. We must leave here as soon as possible."

"I--"

"Han Xiang!" Zhuang Jing's face suddenly changed.

Gu Ran looked over and saw Yan Hanxiang's beautiful face gazing at the black sun. Behind her, her shadow and Gu Ran's were standing side by side, and a nightmare was rising.

----

《Personal Diary》: October 12, Monday, Jinghai

You can dream if you want to, but you can’t control what you dream about. Isn’t that wrong, Buddha?

Remember: Danger is relative. If you don't touch the nightmare, you won't fall into the dream, unless you encounter an accident.

(End of this chapter)