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Feudalism, weddings...?

The two words suddenly became connected in Bai Miao's mind.

Hu Muyao's Aleph-level item is called "Joyful Funeral," and its design is a head covering similar to a red veil, with copper coin masks strung together with red thread below the eyes.

Moreover, Hu Muyao's spiritual body is also very special, possessing movement details that others do not have.

And it seemed like she knew I was watching her.

In other words, my current dream is a combination of a part of my memories and Hu Muyao's first copy?

Even after leaving a dungeon where you can obtain an Aleph-level item, will it still have some impact on the person who knocks on the door?

Bai Miao's first thought was that Hu Muyao's abnormal mental state was caused by that copy.

So far, Bai Miao has no strategy to escape this nightmare and can only treat it as a repeating version of the story for now.

That's what makes it a perfect match for one's major; Bai Miao has even cleared Aleph-level dungeons before.

Moreover, compared to Hu Muyao, Bai Miao possesses various professional knowledge in folk customs, feng shui, and other areas that she lacks.

These were all things Bai Miao had accumulated during the chaos in Qingqiu.

The art of observing qi was unusable; even the psychoanalyst Bai Miao had tried it, but couldn't discern anything.

The damage caused by nightmares was far greater than Bai Miao had imagined.

"Damn it, don't let me catch you next time."

The last thing that couldn't afford to play this game was the Heavenly Dao.

In order to obtain a title for Tu Shanqing, most of the Heavenly Dao's fortune was sacrificed, causing the Heavenly Dao to begin to backfire.

Bai Miao sat idly in the room, pondering what kind of information he could get from his brother-in-law tomorrow.

"The wedding was supposed to be a major part of this nightmare. According to the custom, the bride would arrive in a red sedan chair, and the groom would greet her on the way. There would also be wedding pranks and other traditional customs..."

The journey to marry the bride is unlikely to be peaceful.

But the thing Bai Miao least wanted to encounter was that while he was having a wedding, someone else was having a funeral.

There just happens to be a reservoir nearby. If the person who died was a drowned ghost, that wouldn't be fun.

Bai Miao knew many folk taboos, and since Hu Muyao's place was an Aleph-level copy, he had to consider the worst-case scenario.

The feng shui of the mountains was something Bai Miao couldn't change on his own. The only thing he could do was to find out as much as possible about the affairs of each family in the village and choose a suitable wedding day for himself.

To be honest, what Bai Miao least wants to face is a high-difficulty dungeon with a Chinese background.

As the sun gradually set, Bai Miao's mother opened the door, wiped the sweat from her brow, and returned home.

Seeing Bai Miao staying obediently at home, she nodded slightly: "Chop the firewood, then start a fire to cook rice."

Bai Miao did as instructed.

"What would you do if I were a girl?"

Bai Miao wondered what Hu Muyao's mother's attitude was when they were in the dungeon.

"Are you out of your mind again? Girls, girls are just a money-loser! The dowry I'm giving you for your wedding will be several times that amount in the dowry they'll bring! If you were a girl, I'd sell you to the Liu family!"

Upon hearing this, Bai Miao became even more suspicious of the bride's identity.

Who would marry their daughter to a fool?

Although matchmakers and family members came to inspect the place, given its already terrible reputation, they were still willing to come and see for themselves.

This is somewhat too hasty.

However, the Liu family's place should be a bit more hellish.

Bai Miao decided to wait for his brother-in-law to come over tomorrow so that he could assess him and he could also take the opportunity to assess his family's situation.

After falling asleep at night, Bai Miao felt his consciousness rising. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted by an unfamiliar yet modern ceiling.

Electrodes were strapped to his wrists to detect his pulse and heart rate, and there were also electrodes on his head to collect brain signals.

"Um?!"

Even Bai Miao's heart skipped a beat at that moment.

[Skill selection required?]

Congratulations on acquiring the skill: Aerial Splits

I'm back?

This abstract skill is just perfect.

Furthermore, the person knocking on the door can log in online, seemingly take out items, and check their own status.

The Crimson Trial from the dungeon "Shadow of Yar" has arrived.

[Test Objective: Escape the Nightmare (No Time Limit)]

"Draft?"

Bai Miao cursed inwardly.

This nightmare didn't end with my own death, but rather it lasted for days?

If you spend a day in a dream, will you wake up?

What will I encounter if I progress further?

Before I could even think, the door to the ward was pushed open forcefully.

Bai Miao saw Zhao Wanyang running towards him and reached out to pinch her cheek.

"You're awake? You scared us to death! You've been asleep for two days!"

"Two days?"

"Yes, after we ate KFC together, you didn't come to class the next day. I sent you messages but you didn't reply to anything, so I came to your house. Oh, right, I got the combination lock password from the official people. They assured me that they would only enter your house in an emergency. They asked me to tell you that you don't mind that they know your password."

Bai Miao waved his hand, indicating that now was not the time to concern himself with such details.

"Where is Hu Muyao? I need to talk to her."

Zhao Wanyang exploded: "How could she have time to care about you? Can't you tell me what's wrong? Or do you think I'm incapable of solving the problems you're facing?"

"She only came to see you twice in the last two days, and the first thing you asked me when you woke up was where she went? How was I supposed to know!"

Bai Miao was speechless, realizing he had said the wrong thing: "I... I mean, I've encountered a Crimson-level trial. Remember Nightmare Syndrome? The one I told you about that I cured in Yar City. Now the culprit behind Nightmare Syndrome can't take it anymore and has come looking for me. And the nightmare content is related to the first instance Hu Muyao experienced... I don't know when I'll fall asleep again, so I wanted to ask her about the specific details of the instance."

"Um... thank you for taking care of me these past two days. I just woke up from a nightmare and my mind is still a little foggy. I thought everyone else was here, so I apologize."

Zhao Wanyang snorted: "You can just ask her on the Knock on the Door network."

"I just feel that it's not really appropriate for me to be chatting with other girls in private while you're around..."

Chapter 209 Hu Muyao's Strategy

Zhao Wanyang wasn't fooled by Bai Miao's glib tongue: "Alright, alright, I'll let you contact her, okay? You're making it sound like I'm some kind of unreasonable person."

Before Bai Miao could contact Hu Muyao through the Knock on the Door network, more people entered the ward one after another.

There were official knockers, and there was also Yu Yingcai.

Hu Muyao also came along.

Skillful.

"Bai Miao, you're awake. What happened? With your current health, you shouldn't have slept for this long."

Faced with Yu Yingcai's attention, Bai Miao briefly recounted his experience.

After listening, Hu Muyao crossed his arms slightly and said with great remorse, "I'm sorry... I didn't handle the situation in the instance perfectly, leaving such a big hidden danger..."

"It's not your problem. I was chased across realms by this scoundrel. The most important thing right now is to figure out the plot of your first instance."

How could a dungeon that yields Aleph-level items be cleared perfectly in one go?

In a Chinese context, it would be quite an achievement to have survived.

"The dungeon is called 'Xi Sang', the 'Xi' in 'double happiness'. The setting is a rural village. In short, the person knocking on the door is assigned to a ghost marriage. They must either break off the engagement before the ghost marriage takes place, or they must overcome the risks of the ghost marriage. If they successfully survive the ghost marriage, they will receive the Aleph-level item 'Xi Sang'."

"A ghost marriage? In the story, wasn't your mother always trying to marry you off? And even hiring a matchmaker?"

Bai Miao felt something was wrong. Given the wicked mother in the dream, how could she be willing to marry a dead person?

Dead people cannot have children.

"No, I was sold to the Liu family in the next village right from the start. Their son drowned while catching fish in the reservoir a few days ago, and they wanted to get married before the burial."

Oh no, it's true that development really does differ between genders.

Bai Miao thought for a moment, then chatted with Hu Muyao about the details of the village.

For example, the general structure of the houses in the village, as well as the water source, living conditions, etc.

In the end, the two found that they were all pretty much the same.

However, all the villagers in Hu Muyao's instance are NPCs, and there are no real-life prototypes based on her own memories.

"This is troublesome. I don't even know what the woman's name is... Does this dungeon seem to have been designed from the beginning with two scenarios for male and female knockers?"

Bai Miao thought to himself that this instance was most likely another door generated by someone who knocked on the door.

"Let me tell you all the details about the Liu family; it might come in handy..."

Hu Muyao knew everything about the Liu family, from the number of people in the family to the layout of the house and how many dogs and pigs they kept.

"Do you have a pen? Tell me what you want me to draw, and see if this is right."

Bai Miao was very knowledgeable about feng shui and architecture, and drawing an aerial layout of the Liu family mansion was no problem for him.

"Let's start with the main gate..."

To help the two of them generate map details, Hu Muyao sat beside the hospital bed, helping Bai Miao construct the drawing little by little.

This drawing took more than two hours.

After the map was completed, Bai Miao also gasped.

This also made Bai Miao realize that Hu Muyao's ability to pass the test was definitely not just due to luck.