"You let go of me!" Qingtan cried out in a panic as Xiao Yan grabbed her arm. She yanked herself free with surprising force and immediately darted behind Lin Xiao and the others. Xiao Yan frowned slightly. He hadn't realized that in this illusion, his strength had been suppressed to something around the level of a Dou Zhe. Otherwise, there was no way Qingtan could have escaped his grip so easily.
"Who are you, and why are you trying to take our Qingtan away?" Lin Xiao and his wife immediately stepped in front of her, shielding her protectively. Lin Dong, standing nearby, fixed Xiao Yan with a hostile glare.
Xiao Yan ignored the others. If he had access to his full strength, he would've already taken Qingtan away by force. The real problem wasn't these illusions—it was Qingtan's refusal to follow him.
"Miss Qingtan, I understand this is hard for you to accept all at once. But you need to understand something clearly—this world is fake. The real world is outside, and I believe with your strength, you must have sensed something off. If you stay in this place too long, it'll be the end for you," Xiao Yan said slowly, his voice calm and steady.
His gaze passed over Lin Xiao's family and settled firmly on Qingtan. Upon hearing his words, her body trembled slightly. Over the past few days, she had been haunted by a dream—vague yet strangely vivid. Could it be that the dream was actually reality?
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Lin Dong suddenly shouted, cutting Xiao Yan off. He looked about ready to roll up his sleeves and fight. It took Lin Xiao's full effort to restrain him.
"Real or fake, if you say one more word here, don't blame us for being impolite!" Lin Xiao snapped.
"I'm not the one you should ask. She knows the truth better than you," Xiao Yan said coldly. "Even if you can't distinguish real from false, surely you still remember Lin Jing? She's waiting for you outside. If you stay here lost in a dream, who's going to take care of your precious niece? Don't forget what you promised her parents."
"Lin Jing..." Qingtan muttered in a daze, her eyes blank as she clutched her head. Pain twisted across her face.
Seeing this, Xiao Yan exhaled quietly. 'Good... at least Lin Jing still matters to her. As long as that bond is strong, there's still a chance to bring her back.'
But just as he was about to press further, Lin Xiao stepped between them again.
"Qingtan, don't listen to this lunatic. He says our world is fake, that your dream is real? Ridiculous! Do you really believe we're not real?"
"No! You're not fake!" Qingtan quickly shook her head, tears brimming in her eyes.
"I don't know who you are or where you came from, but please leave. You're not welcome here!" Lin Xiao barked before Xiao Yan could speak again. Lin Dong's fists clenched tightly, and the hostility in his eyes sharpened—he looked ready to strike at any moment.
Xiao Yan's brows knit together. "So you really won't come with me, Miss Qingtan?"
She bit her lip hard and said with quiet resolve, "Even if what you say is true... that the dream is real and this is fake, I still won't go with you. That world is too painful. I don't want to go back. I'm sorry... but I choose to stay here. At least here, I have a home."
Xiao Yan sighed. "As expected..."
Without another word, he turned and walked away decisively. He understood clearly that anything he said now would be meaningless. This illusion was too perfect—too warm and comforting. For Qingtan, the pain of reality couldn't compare. Faced with the choice, she preferred to drown in this perfect lie.
If this version of Qingtan had retained her mature willpower, she might've snapped herself out of the illusion by now. But under the influence of the Eternal Illusion Demon Flower, her mentality had regressed to her teenage years. To such a young mind, it was nearly impossible to accept that everything around her was false.
'Looks like I'll have to push harder. Time to make this illusion collapse on itself...'
The best way to break a dream was to make the dreamer feel something was off. Once they started questioning the illusion, they would begin to wake. But the dream crafted by the Eternal Illusion Demon Flower was overwhelmingly powerful. And Qingtan's mind had regressed so far that she wouldn't even notice if something didn't add up.
Even worse, even if she did sense something strange, she might choose to ignore it, convincing herself everything was fine. That was the hardest part.
So the most effective method was to destroy the illusion directly—disrupt its perfection, force the dream to crumble. To do that, the best way was to make the characters in the illusion behave in ways that contradicted how Qingtan remembered them. Only then would she be forced to admit to herself that something was wrong.
But that would take far too long.
'And I'm not staying here any longer than I have to,' Xiao Yan thought darkly. 'I don't even know how those fake people normally act, so how am I supposed to make them act out of character?'
In the end, Xiao Yan decided to take the simplest route.
'This world is too beautiful for her. That's the problem. So let's destroy that beauty.'
Under any other circumstance, if someone wanted to throw away their life, Xiao Yan wouldn't have bothered to stop them. But Qingtan still owed him ten billion Xuan Yuan Pills. That changed everything.
'And once I do wake her up, I'm definitely charging interest,' he thought coldly.
He turned and walked against the crowd, leaving the little town behind. Stopping just outside its entrance, he glanced up at the sign: "Qingyang Town." A small smile touched the corners of his mouth as he looked back at the modest but vibrant town.
'Come to think of it, I've never done a full-scale massacre in this lifetime...'
His fingers flexed.
'Well then, might as well start here. This Qingyang Town... is a little too civilized for my taste.'
(End of Chapter)
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