Chapter 92: Nightmare
[Shameless.]
The Parchment commented on this.
“So what?” Lu Jinzhao put away the Wooden Box, saying with a cold expression.
[You violated the Contract.]
The Parchment pointed accusingly.
[You have no Spirit of Contract.]
Lu Jinzhao did not agree with this: “Didn’t I shed blood?”
[You took advantage of me!]
The Parchment produced an exclamation mark, as if emphasizing the point.
“Didn’t you take advantage of me?” Lu Jinzhao retorted.
[Can that be the same?]
The Parchment declared righteously.
[Moreover, what we’re talking about now is the fact that you violated the Contract.]
As it spoke, the conversation circled back again.
Lu Jinzhao sighed once more; although the Parchment was malicious, its Brain really wasn’t very sharp.
“Do you care so much about this?”
[Of course, if you have no Credit, how can I continue transacting with you?]
“Then we just won’t transact anymore in the future?” Lu Jinzhao said matter-of-factly.
[?]
The Parchment produced a question mark again and paused for a moment.
[No.]
[Once the Transaction begins, it must continue; the Contract has already been established.]
It wanted to devour Lu Jinzhao’s Soul and occupy her Body—how could it possibly stop the Transaction?
“But I have no Spirit of Contract.” Lu Jinzhao continued, “I just violated a Contract moments ago.”
[It was too weak to collect the subsequent Reward, but I’m different.]
[Don’t even think about doing that to me!]
Lu Jinzhao’s expression turned strange for a moment, then she said, “Isn’t that its problem then? It’s useless—what does that have to do with me? Why are you scolding me?”
[?]
“Are you deliberately picking a fight?”
[?]
“I knew you weren’t anything good.”
[I’m not, so are you anything good?]
After the Parchment finished, as if provoking, it produced another line of text.
[Are you a good person now? Can you even be considered human now?]
The Parchment said it word by word, full of Malice.
In Lu Jinzhao’s view, it was already somewhat exasperated.
The Parchment’s counterattack completely failed to hit Lu Jinzhao; instead, it let her see that the other party was quite alert about her violating the Contract.
Since it was alert, that meant, in the Parchment’s view, her display of having no Spirit of Contract might affect transactions with it?
Lu Jinzhao was in a great mood at this moment.
This Stupid Object had unwittingly exposed its own Weakness.
“So, just as someone with Fate can confront ghosts to a certain extent, perhaps someone with Fate who is Powerful enough can also suppress the Supernatural Item they use.”
Even, if not Fate, but a sufficiently Powerful Supernatural Item, it could suppress the Parchment.
That was really… great.
As long as there was a way forward, she could try to walk it.
She just didn’t know what it would take to suppress this Parchment?
While pondering, Lu Jinzhao took out the Iron Box from the drawer.
She had possessed this thing for some time already, but had always been clueless about it.
However, upon seeing her take out this thing, the Parchment, which had temporarily not wanted to deal with her, popped up again.
[Are you planning to give it to me?]
Lu Jinzhao’s mouth twitched: “What Nightmare are you dreaming of?”
[I don’t dream.]
[Do you want to have a Nightmare? I can make it happen for you.]
Lu Jinzhao was speechless: “As expected, it was you behind it.”
Those bizarre, Terrifying Nightmares indeed had something to do with the Parchment.
“What do you want to do?”
“Rely on those dreams to scare me to death?”
[That would be best.]
The Parchment simply answered this way, without further explanation.
It never lied; when it didn’t answer, it was because it didn’t want to say, didn’t want her to know.
If it was just to let the dreams scare her, what was there that couldn’t be said?
This Idiot would even smugly tell her directly with Blood Script.
Its current evasion was instead suspicious.
What was the purpose of those dreams?
Lu Jinzhao tried to recall those Nightmares, but couldn’t remember the scenes in the dreams, only vaguely recalling the Chilling and despairing atmosphere in the dream.
“Then if you’re so capable, make me have a Nightmare again tonight.”
Lu Jinzhao suddenly said.
She actually hated those Nightmares a lot—that immersive feeling, as if she would really die in the dream, made her fearful afterward, but… she had glimpsed something suspicious from the Parchment’s attitude.
Now in Reality, she could be a bit Bold.
The Parchment didn’t speak, but when drowsiness came and Lu Jinzhao lay back on the bed to Rest, the moment she closed her eyes, she felt a heart-palpitating sense of weightlessness, and then, unprepared, stepped into dreamland.
Lucid Dream.
She had them sometimes.
Just like now, she knew she was Lu Jinzhao, that she was in a dream.
“Looks like the Parchment fell for the provocation.”
After all, it was a Stupid Object; with a little prodding, it followed her Thought.
However, although she realized she was dreaming, she didn’t have much “Control.”
Her Line of Sight was Blurry, able to see only less than a meter ahead, and it was looking at her feet.
She was wearing strange Clothes, like a Wedding Dress, with red embroidered shoes on her feet—things that often appeared in horror films, Dangerous and ominous.
Underfoot was an uneven Dirt Road—Countryside?
Lu Jinzhao’s mind had no “background information”; she could only guess herself.
Perhaps because of the dream, her Brain was a bit sluggish, able to think only of simple things.
Her Body kept moving forward; the road underfoot seemed unchanged, and she only knew she was walking on a rural path.
“.”
Someone beside her was speaking, but indistinctly, as if through an old Television, the Sound Blurry into a mass.
Lu Jinzhao didn’t respond—or rather, the person she was inhabiting in the dream didn’t respond.
The person beside her also stopped speaking.
Silence spread.
The next Instant, the scene Changed.
She arrived Inside a Room.
This was indeed the Countryside, because at this moment, Lu Jinzhao’s Line of Sight suddenly switched to third person.
She saw a Woman sitting Inside the Room; she couldn’t see her face clearly, but intuitively it was “herself” from earlier on the path.
Her Clothes had changed to very everyday Clothing, sitting by the bed, head lowered looking at the Ground.
Black long hair slid down her cheeks, covering her face and Expression.
This Room was very old, with a tiled roof, small Window that wasn’t very airy, and naturally insufficient light.
A Chilling sense permeated Inside the Room; the wooden bed left enough space under it, and for some reason, Lu Jinzhao’s gaze was drawn to the pitch-black area under the bed.
She kept looking down, down, the perspective zooming in closer and closer, approaching the Woman sitting on the bed—she still couldn’t see her face or Expression—and approaching the decayed wooden bed and the pitch-black bed bottom.
Then, in the Blurry light, she saw something crouching under the bed; just as she “looked” in, it made Eye contact with her.
In an Instant, Lu Jinzhao’s mind received an Answer.
It was a ghost, waiting for its prey.
There’s more today, but it’ll be late.
My schedule has been all over the place these past few days, making the writing time mysterious too.
