Chapter 290: Chapter 286: Sword Holder [3]

This was similar to the two Dream Eyes he had just acquired: Mirror Person and Bone Shattering Hammer.

With the former, using it caused the figure in a mirror to take on his own appearance. Once it reached a certain limit, that figure would crawl out and replace him.

With the latter, using it would cause his own bones to shatter.

However, because Hu Qi used his Yang Fire in conjunction with his Spirit Devouring Talent to directly absorb them, he could use them without any of these side effects.

Hu Qi gave it a glance and paid it no more mind.

He stepped forward, reached out, and pulled the backpack off the man’s back.

After opening it, he ignored all the junk inside, and his gaze landed on a pale golden object.

Only when Hu Qi held it in his hand did he realize what it was.

It was a box, one forged from pure gold.

Its surface was wrapped in a layer of gold foil.

Hu Qi peeled off the outer layer of gold foil.

A frigid, sinister aura immediately seeped out from the seams of the box.

When he opened the box, a red string resembling a bracelet lay quietly inside. The string was covered in dark spots, like long-dried bloodstains.

Hu Qi had seen this object on the woman in the red dress. It was the very same string that had been tied around her calf.

Sure enough, the instant the item was revealed, a translucent figure of a woman in a red dress with an inverted head suddenly appeared five meters to Hu Qi’s side.

Clearly, this was the Dream Eye of the Nightmare.

Seeing the red-dressed woman’s figure about to fully manifest, Hu Qi snatched the red string and clenched it in his fist.

Dark red Yang Fire erupted from his hand.

In an instant, the string was completely refined and absorbed by Hu Qi.

After Hu Qi had done all this, the inverted, red-dressed woman who had just been about to appear faded away.

Suddenly, Hu Qi froze.

At that moment, the faint sound of a woman’s weeping echoed in his ears. Gruesome, bloody images flashed before his eyes—shocking piles of dismembered corpses lay on the ground, and his own reflection in the puddles at his feet began to warp bizarrely.

"Hmph!"

Hu Qi’s brow furrowed. He let out a cold snort and immediately began to circulate the Crimson Sun Demon Elephant Flame Prison Skill.

The Yang Fire enveloped his body.

In an instant, the disturbing auditory hallucinations and horrific images vanished without a trace, as if they had never been there at all.

Hu Qi considered it for a moment and quickly figured out the cause. ’It’s probably because I absorbed three Dream Eyes in such a short period of time.’

’The Dream Eyes of this world feel far too strange,’ he thought. ’They seem to be saturated with so many negative emotions.’

’Even though I don’t have to pay a price to use them, I still can’t completely avoid this kind of interference.’

’Looks like after this is over, I’ll have to modify and enhance the Crimson Sun Demon Elephant Flame Prison Skill as soon as possible to eliminate this hidden weakness.’

With this in mind, his gaze fell upon Wei Fan, who was still lying on the ground. He crouched down and reached out, intending to dig the strange and powerful Dream Eye out of the man’s eye.

However, just as his hand was about to make contact, his arm froze stiff.

Wei Fan’s right eye had suddenly snapped open. Resembling a clock, it radiated a cold, bizarre aura as it stared fixedly at Hu Qi.

His other eye remained tightly shut, and his body was still lying limply on the ground, completely motionless.

Clearly, the Dream Eye was acting on its own.

Hu Qi felt an intense chill crawl up his spine. It was a powerful premonition: if he moved his hand any further, something absolutely terrifying would occur, and this body of his would face certain death.

An ordinary person might have dismissed it as a mere illusion. But as a Peak Martial Arts Family, one who also possessed an Apostle Level Essence of the Divine Soul, he knew better. This was no illusion. It was a sudden intuition, a premonition of imminent danger.

Moreover, this sense of danger wasn’t just coming from the bizarre Dream Eye in Wei Fan’s right eye, but from the world itself.

Hu Qi looked up at the sky. The mist and dark clouds, which had scattered after he’d slain the Raincoat Butcher, were now showing signs of gathering once more.

’A Child of Celestial Destiny, is he?’

The corners of his lips twitched into a meaningful smile.

’Fine,’ he thought. ’I’ll let you have this one.’

He withdrew his hand and stood up. His figure gradually faded, eventually disappearing on the spot.

At the same time, Wei Fan’s strange Clock Dream Eye slowly closed.

...

An unknown amount of time passed before Wei Fan finally regained a sliver of consciousness.

His body felt incredibly heavy, and his head throbbed with unbearable pain.

After a long moment, he struggled to open eyelids that felt as heavy as lead.

The first thing he saw was the white ceiling above him. The air was filled with the pungent smell of disinfectant.

His head was killing him. He subconsciously reached up to rub it, but his movement tugged on the IV line beside him, causing a slight rattle.

"Oh, you’re finally awake!"

A pleasant voice sounded from nearby.

Wei Fan looked toward the source of the voice and saw a young woman in a white nurse’s uniform.

She had been dozing in the blue chair beside his bed, but she immediately looked up when she noticed Wei Fan move.

She was wearing a surgical mask, so he couldn’t see her face clearly, but judging by her delicate eyebrows, he could guess that she was quite pretty.

"How are you feeling? Is there any discomfort?" the nurse asked softly. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"I... how did I get here?"

Wei Fan didn’t answer her question, asking one of his own with a frown.

"This is the Qishan City First People’s Hospital. Someone brought you in. They said there was a severe gas leak in your apartment building... a lot of people didn’t make it."

At this, she seemed to remember something and quickly got to her feet.

"Oh, right. Wait here for just a moment, okay?"

With that, she turned and hurried out of the room.

Wei Fan glanced around the room.

It was a private room; there were no other patients.

His gaze then fell on a white backpack sitting nearby, and he paused.

He reached for the backpack and opened it. A quick scan of the contents made his expression darken. The golden box he used to contain the Dream Eye of the inverted, red-dressed woman was gone.

It was obvious he’d been ambushed. In all likelihood, his attacker was the same person who had resolved the Mirror Person and Rain Butcher Nightmares.

He had anticipated this, but he still couldn’t stop a surge of killing intent from rising within him.

’That damned bastard,’ he fumed internally. ’If I ever get my hands on him, I’ll cut him into a thousand pieces.’

Never in his past life or this one had he, Wei Fan, suffered such a stifling, humiliating loss.

Just then, footsteps approached the door.

A moment later, the closed door was pushed open from the outside.

Aside from the nurse who had just left, a middle-aged man in a white suit stood behind her.

But that wasn’t what Wei Fan focused on. His gaze was fixed on the yellow cane in the man’s hand.

’Clearly,’ he thought, ’that cane is a Dream Eye.’

"You can leave us. This gentleman and I have a few things to discuss," the man said with a smile.

"Of course. Just call me if you need anything."

The nurse nodded, her expression respectful.

’Clearly, this man’s status is high,’ Wei Fan noted.

She exited the room, closing the door behind her.

Seeing this, Wei Fan’s eyes flickered.

He already had some suspicions about the man’s identity.

"Hello. You’re Wei Fan, correct?" Zhou Ze began. "My name is Zhou Ze. I’m the person in charge of Qishan City. Or, to put it simply, you could say I’m the top official here."

His gaze fell upon Wei Fan, scrutinizing him.

"Now, I need to ask you about what happened in Building 18 of the Happiness Garden District. I hope you will answer truthfully."