Chapter 2 - Red Rain
Lin Jiao Yue abruptly sat up, gasping for air.
Large beads of cold sweat trickled down her forehead like rain.
At this moment, she looked as if she had just been fished out of water. The thin gauze on her back was soaked, clinging tightly to her delicate body, clearly outlining her curves.
Her chest felt as if it were filled with a heavy weight, making each breath a struggle.
After a long time, the indescribable pain finally subsided.
The young woman raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her eyelashes, panting and looking around in confusion. She found herself in a luxuriously decorated young woman's boudoir.
A fragrant aroma filled the room, rich and pleasant.
Judging from the familiar furnishings, this was clearly her own bedroom where she usually rested.
"A dream?"
Lin Jiao Yue lightly patted her forehead, her heart filled with doubt. The lingering stinging sensation of being shot in the head seemed to remain.
If it was a dream, why did it feel so real?
And that annoying man...
Wait, what did that man called 'Yan Shuang Ying' in the dream look like?
Lin Jiao Yue felt a bit dazed.
She desperately tried to recall, attempting to clarify her memory, but the harder she tried, the fainter the man's appearance became, even his figure turning blurry.
It felt as if a rag had wiped away part of her memory of the dream.
"It must have been a dream."
The young woman, unable to recall, sighed and lay back down heavily on the expensive golden-thread nanmu bed. The soft and fluffy embroidered pillow provided temporary relief to her weary mind.
Apart from the man's appearance, she could still remember other things from the dream.
The bright red wedding dress, the old bridal chamber, the sunset outside the window... and that terrifying demonic creature.
Even now, Lin Jiao Yue could still recall the foul smell of rotting flesh.
It was all so dreamlike, yet terrifyingly real.
Just as the young woman was lost in thought, a hurried sound of footsteps suddenly came from outside the door, along with a man's voice... It sounded like her father.
"Lord Leng, officers, this is my daughter's room."
As the door opened, the first person to enter was a man in luxurious clothes, about forty years old.
It was the renowned Landlord Lin of Dongqi County.
Unlike most wealthy patriarchs who were plump and stout, Landlord Lin looked rather thin and had a dark complexion. If not for his expensive clothes, he would have resembled an ordinary commoner.
At this moment, Landlord Lin's face was etched with deep exhaustion and worry.
He was clearly troubled by something.
The person he ushered in was a woman.
She wore a black, close-fitting attire with narrow sleeves, her figure slender and capable.
Her hair, simply tied up with a wooden hairpin, complemented her classic oval face with phoenix eyes and a pointed chin, creating an air of aloofness.
She resembled a beautiful yet sharp sword.
Behind the woman were two men, who, judging by their demeanor, were her subordinates.
"Lord Leng, my daughter has been plagued by nightmares since early this morning, speaking incoherently and unable to wake up. We've tried everything, from doctors to monks and Taoist priests, but nothing worked. If this continues, I fear my daughter—"
Landlord Lin's voice abruptly stopped.
He stared blankly at his daughter, who was looking at him with open eyes from the bed, and rubbed his eyes.
"Girl, you... you're awake!?"
"Yue Er!"
A woman outside the door heard her husband's words and hurriedly squeezed past the woman in the close-fitting attire. Upon seeing her conscious daughter, she burst into tears of joy and rushed over.
The woman was in her thirties, at the peak of her mature beauty, exuding a charming aura.
This woman was Lin Jiao Yue's mother—Mei Xing Er.
"Mother, what happened?"
Looking at her mother, whose face was stained with tears and who looked thinner, Lin Jiao Yue was filled with confusion.
The charming woman hugged the young woman tightly, her voice choked with distress and self-blame:
"My child, you scared me to death! Do you know you've been unconscious for almost a whole day? And you kept having nightmares, and we couldn't wake you up..."
Listening to her mother's anxious words, Lin Jiao Yue's expression was one of surprise.
"I was unconscious for so long?"
She looked up curiously at the strangers in the room.
"Who are they?"
"They are officers from the Night Patrol in Yun City," Mei Xing Er explained, wiping her tears.
"Hearing that you were plagued by nightmares and unconscious, they came to investigate."
The Night Patrol?
The young woman's eyes flickered as she curiously examined them.
After she and her friends were attacked by the demonic creature, officials from the government and the Night Patrol had come to inquire, but they weren't these people.
Judging by their aura, these people seemed to have a higher status than the previous ones.
Lin Jiao Yue had some understanding of the Night Patrol, this mysterious organization of the imperial court. They specialized in investigating and handling strange incidents, and everyone in the organization was said to be very capable.
Especially the demon slayers, who were said to be able to slay demons and eliminate monsters.
She wondered if this beautiful, cold-looking woman in front of her was a demon slayer.
As she was thinking, the aloof woman stepped forward.
Although the woman was beautiful, the invisible pressure she exuded made Lin Jiao Yue feel immense pressure. Not daring to meet her gaze, she subconsciously tightened the thin quilt around herself.
The woman in the close-fitting attire waved her hand, signaling Mei Xing Er to step aside, and then gently lifted Lin Jiao Yue's eyelids to examine her eyes.
Then, she extended a slender, jade-like finger and pressed it against the young woman's forehead. A faint white light immediately spread out from her fingertip.
Lin Jiao Yue suddenly felt a refreshing coolness wash over her body, extremely comfortable.
After a moment, the woman's cold and beautiful eyes flashed with a sharp glint like an ice blade, her expression grave.
"There are traces of a nightmare invasion..."
Hearing the words 'nightmare invasion,' the expressions of the two subordinates changed.
They knew what this implied.
The woman crossed her arms and pondered for a moment, then turned her head and instructed one of her subordinates, a short and stout man,
"Guo Gang, go get Little Rabbit."
"Yes!"
Guo Gang hurried out of the room.
Soon, a lively figure flitted into the boudoir.
"Sister Leng!"
The newcomer had a sweet and lovely round face, in the prime of her youth, with two ponytails, and exuded an air of youthful energy.
When she smiled, she revealed two pearly white front teeth, looking just like a cute rabbit.
Especially since she was holding a half-eaten carrot in her hand.
Her attire was also unique.
The skirt she wore was much shorter than ordinary women's dresses, with the ruffled, floral hem reaching just above her knees, revealing a pair of calves encased in tight leggings.
Paired with delicate ankle boots, she looked lively and charming.
This style of dress initially spread to the Great Zhen Dynasty from the Gulan Kingdom and, after being modified by skilled artisans, became quite popular among young women.
In fact, during the Tianwu era, that is, during the reign of the seventh emperor, the people of Great Zhen were no longer confined to traditional clothing.
Now, in the second year of Yuanfeng, clothing in the Central Plains had become even more diverse.
The appearance of the lively young woman lightened the originally solemn and oppressive atmosphere, like ice melting away. Landlord Lin and the others also breathed more easily.
Leng Xinnan tilted her chin slightly towards the bed and said calmly, "Go confirm it."
"Okay."
The young woman had already learned from Guo Gang about the 'nightmare' residue on Lin Jiao Yue. She casually tucked the half-eaten carrot into her skirt and stepped forward to observe.
Seeing Lin Jiao Yue staring blankly at her, the lively young woman smiled.
"Don't be nervous, I'm Meng Xiao Tu. You can just call me Little Rabbit."
But Lin Jiao Yue wasn't nervous; she was shocked.
Shocked by the other girl's physique.
How to put it, if compared to her own proportions, it was like the difference between a small hut and a luxurious mansion, completely incomparable.
She wondered what this girl named Meng Xiao Tu ate growing up to be so 'well-developed.'
It seemed like she could easily feed ten children.
Moreover, Meng Xiao Tu's figure wasn't the slender type of ordinary women. She looked fleshy, somewhat plump, with a petite and curvy figure.
But against the backdrop of her 'luxurious physique,' she appeared rather delicate.
Lin Jiao Yue, as a fellow girl, felt quite envious.
Meng Xiao Tu's actions were exactly the same as Leng Xinnan's during the previous examination. After checking the external symptoms, she extended a finger and gently pressed it against the center of Lin Jiao Yue's forehead.
The only difference was that the halo emanating from her fingertip was a pale purple.
Lin Jiao Yue felt as if she was enveloped by a warm aura, her whole body feeling light and airy, as if floating among soft clouds, drowsy.
"Eh?"
After a few seconds, Meng Xiao Tu furrowed her brows, her cute round face showing confusion.
She blinked her big, beautiful eyes and returned to Leng Xinnan's side.
"Sister Leng, there is indeed a 'nightmare' residue on her, but it has been removed. It's certain that a 'Dream Weaver' helped her. And this 'Dream Weaver' has profound skills, more powerful than me."
As she spoke, Meng Xiao Tu took out the remaining half of the carrot from her skirt and munched on it with a crunching sound.
"More powerful than you?"
Leng Xinnan's pupils constricted.
In the entire Yun City Prefecture, there were only seven registered 'Dream Weavers' in the Night Patrol, and the most powerful among them was Meng Xiao Tu. Could there be an even higher-level 'Dream Weaver' out there?
Who was this person?
Could it be someone from another branch?
But if it were a Night Patrol 'Dream Weaver' from elsewhere, they would definitely have notified them beforehand. Otherwise, if the higher-ups investigated, the consequences would be severe.
Leng Xinnan fell into deep thought.
The remaining subordinate, who had a scholarly air and was quite handsome, stepped forward and said in a low voice,
"Sister Leng, should we inform Lord Zhang Si?"
"Not yet."
Leng Xinnan waved her hand, walked to the bedside, stared at the young woman, and asked coldly, "What did you dream about?"
"Ah?"
Lin Jiao Yue didn't react for a moment.
Under the woman's cold gaze, the young woman stammered.
"I... I don't remember clearly."
Leng Xinnan continued to stare at her coldly, her sharp eyes seemingly able to pierce through the young woman's hidden secrets.
After a few seconds of stalemate, Lin Jiao Yue honestly replied,
"It's a bit blurry. I think I was kidnapped, and then a demonic creature wanted to attack me... A man saved me."
"A man? What was his name?"
"I think it was Yan Shuang Ying."
"Yan Shuang Ying?"
Leng Xinnan and the others frowned, trying to recall if there was such a person in the Night Patrol, but after thinking for a long time, they had no impression.
"What did he look like?" Leng Xinnan asked again.
"I don't remember."
Lin Jiao Yue shook her head vigorously and said with a wry smile, "I'm not lying to you. I really can't remember anything except the name."
Seeing that she didn't seem to be lying, Leng Xinnan finally withdrew her intimidating gaze.
The young woman also breathed a sigh of relief, the pressure suddenly decreasing.
But in the next second, the woman said, "Write down the details of your dream, as much as you can remember."
"...Understood."
Although she was unhappy with this Lord Leng's attitude, under her pressure, Lin Jiao Yue could only obediently agree, not daring to refuse.
She wondered if this cold woman would have any men who liked her.
It must be painful to be her subordinate.
The young woman looked at Meng Xiao Tu and the others, filled with sympathy.
"Landlord Lin, has anyone approached Miss Lin in the past two days?" Leng Xinnan looked at Landlord Lin.
Landlord Lin wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, recalling,
"Since my daughter fell unconscious, apart from the maids in the house, only the physician we invited and the monks and Taoist priests who came to perform the rituals have entered this room. However, I know all these people. The monks are from the Dustless Temple, the Taoist priests are from the White Crane Temple, and the physicians are all renowned doctors from the town and the county."
"Iron Ox, take Landlord Lin's statement and record everyone who came," Leng Xinnan ordered the scholarly-looking subordinate.
"Carefully question the other people in the house as well."
The man coughed softly and leaned closer to Leng Xinnan, whispering,
"Sister Leng, could you please not call me by my name directly in the future? You can call me Little Iron, or if you could call me Young Master Iron, that would be even better."
Unfortunately, the man's request was met with the female leader's cold indifference.
Helpless, Iron Ox could only give up.
He could only blame his parents for giving him such a 'rough' name, completely incompatible with his image as a refined gentleman.
While recording the statements of Landlord Lin and his daughter, Leng Xinnan paced slowly around the room with her arms crossed, carefully examining the young woman's boudoir, trying to find other clues.
Soon, her gaze settled on the dinner tray on the table.
There was a half-eaten bowl of bird's nest congee on the tray.
It had already gone cold.
Leng Xinnan picked up the porcelain bowl, brought it to her nose, and sniffed it before handing it to Guo Gang.
"Examine it."
Guo Gang swiftly took out a wooden box from his bosom. After opening it, he carefully picked up a crystal needle engraved with intricate patterns and dipped it into the congee.
After about a minute, he took out the crystal needle.
The tip of the needle had turned dark red.
Seeing this, Guo Gang's expression suddenly changed.
"As expected, there's 'Red Rain' in it!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the air in the room seemed to freeze instantly, and everyone's eyes focused on him. Landlord Lin turned pale and collapsed onto the floor.