Yearning: Part 3

There was a smaller but equally lavish hall on the second floor.

All kinds of white bones lay on two rows of intricately-decorated display shelves.

Most of them were animal bones, but a few of them were probably oddly-shaped human bones.

However, Lin Sheng's eyes were not on the bones. Rather, they were on the silhouettes of three figures that were walking out of a bedroom.

With the help of the moonlight, he could see that the silhouettes were wearing the same black getup that Annie wore.

There were two females and a male. All of them were armed with either with a sword or a short flail.

The moment they saw Lin Sheng, they charged maniacally at him like hounds catching the scent of blood.

"Bloody hell!"

Lin Sheng looked up at them and darted forward, charging past the first person. The black sword in his hand flashed out like lightning and cut through the second person's neck before it blocked a flail attack from the third person.

*Clang!*

Lin Sheng's immense strength exploded outward while he swatted their weapons aside before he riposted with a horizontal strike.

The carpet was stained with a pool of blood.

Three bodies lay on the ground as blood gushed out of their necks.

Lin Sheng wiped the blood off his black blade and hid in a corner, allowing the three black strands from their bodies to diffuse into his body.

Following that, his body shuddered, and his head ached violently.

A massive amount of chaotic information was surging into his mind.

From the memory fragments, it appeared that all three of them were Kaarman's adopted children. They sparred with Annie often and were roughly in the same league as her.

What Lin Sheng did not expect was how his encounter with Annie was enough to tire him out and almost get him killed. However, after he had activated that ability, he could take all three of them so easily.

"This difference… Plus, the abilities of this trio seem a little different in the memory…"

After a moment, Lin Sheng recovered from the headache, and he frowned while he processed all of the information in his mind.

The Sacred Blood was at the end of its time limit, but thankfully for Lin Sheng, the side effect of the ability was not as bad in the dream as it was in reality.

He only felt slightly weakened, but that was about it.

"Annie and the three of them have all used this ritual sacrifice, and I've gotten the same Sacred Blood ability las one of them. But the scale of the strengthening doesn't seem to be that great."

Lin Sheng started to wonder. In the memories that he had obtained, the person who had received the Sacred Blood ability only experienced half the effect that Lin Sheng experienced.

He remembered that the moment he activated the Sacred Blood ability, his body strengthened many times over. Its explosiveness was without comparison.

"Forget it. Now's not the time for that. I need to find more information on the Beckoning ritual!"

He then followed the memories to Bard the brute's room.

It was closed but not locked.

Lin Sheng gently pushed the door open and remained alert as he made his way into the room.

There was a massive three-meter-long bed there, and by the edge of the wall was a cupboard as well as a set of table and chairs. Various white bones hung all over the wall.

Lin Sheng quickly walked to the table and pulled the drawer open.

There were three drawers in total, and within them were some scrolls along with a black metal plate.

The scrolls disintegrated the moment he touched them and were useless.

The black metal plate, on the other hand, had words inscribed on it, and Lin Sheng immediately read them.

"Father said that Blackfeather City would soon be dragged into the dream, and I cannot imagine what will happen then. I've decided. We will leave together the day after."

The writing was rather rushed, and Lin Sheng could imagine the panic that the writer may have felt.

"Dragged into the dream? What does that mean?"

He did not understand why this person would inscribe such words on a plate, but that was not important now.

Lin Sheng placed the plate into his pocket and started to rummage through the rest of the place.

Bard's room was very clean, and there were not many spaces to store things. Nevertheless, that did not faze Lin Sheng. He simply ran through Bard's memories.

Soon, he came to the bedside and pulled a small metal box out from the bottom of the bed.

The box was the size of one's palm, and there was a yellow lock on it.

Not having the time to find the key, Lin Sheng tried to break it with his sword, but the box and the lock were surprisingly tough. They could not be broken.

So, he simply took the box and left the room.

Weirdly enough, he had been on the second floor for quite some time now. Besides, the fight earlier should have certainly rung some alarm bells, yet no other monsters had appeared.

Lin Sheng held the box and stood at the mouth of the staircase for a moment.

He placed the box down before he looked left and right. He then cast his gaze on the staircase that led to the third floor.

From the memory fragments, he surmised that the people inside Kaarman's manor had expected a disaster to befall Blackfeather City, and they had planned to escape.

They would be dragged into the dream realm as stated on the metal plate.

Lin Sheng could not imagine it. If those words were true, then the entire city was being dragged into the dream. What a disaster…

Even when he had absorbed so many memories, he still did not dare believe that it was true.

After hesitating for a moment, he decided to go up to the third floor to have a look. Perhaps Sir Kaarman had already run away? Then it would be easy pickings for him.

However, the moment Lin Sheng lifted his leg, tension welled up within him.

The moonlight outside was obscured by thick roiling clouds as everything sank into absolute darkness.

Lin Sheng gripped his sword tightly. He suddenly felt fear, and he could sense that this darkness was different than the last.

Something was about to happen.

The moonlight on the carpet dimmed rapidly as darkness engulfed the area around him.

Shadows moved rapidly, swallowing everything they came into contact with. They approached Lin Sheng's feet very quickly.

He grabbed the box in a hurry and held on to his sword tightly. His back was against the wall until he was totally swallowed by the darkness.

One minute... Two minutes...

Ten minutes... Twenty minutes...

Lin Sheng did not know how much time had passed. Since the darkness arrived, there was no sight of the moonlight.

He stood still in the darkness.

Gradually, his stay in the dream came to its end, and it was time for him to wake up.

He noticed this and tried to walk forward.

However, just as he lifted his leg and stepped forward, the floor disappeared below him.

An unknown sense of falling overwhelmed him as he felt himself plummeting downward.

He was tumbling… falling…

Lin Sheng felt his senses dull and knew that he was about to wake up. He hugged the black sword and the box tightly.

The box was Bard's keepsake, and it could contain information pertaining to the Beckoning ritual, whereas his black sword was his only weapon.

After his experience in Blackfeather City, Lin Sheng no longer treated it as a simple, mysterious dream.

Although he would not really die in there, not dying was even better.

He had no idea how much time had passed before he regained consciousness. It looked like he was back in his bedroom.

He closed his eyes and could feel the weight of the blanket on top of him...

As well as the warm bedding beneath him.

He could now hear the ticking of the clock beside his ears.

He opened his eyes, and every sound around him immediately disappeared.

His room was crimson red like the sunset.

Lin Sheng turned to the side and took a look. The alarm clock was there, but its needles were not moving.

He peered around. The room was still his original room; only the light from the window was red, painting the room a bright crimson.

It was a silent, peaceful crimson, yet oddly unnerving.

Lin Sheng closed his eyes.

*Tick tock, tick tock…*

The sound of the clock rang in his ears again.

When he opened his eyes, it stopped.

He closed his eyes again, and the ticking started once more.

It was as if opening and closing his eyes were two different worlds altogether.