Chapter 696: A Million Times for You (58)Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
An Xiaoning was still ill at ease when she lay in bed after taking a shower.
She constantly pondered the incident over and over again.
Since she had trouble sleeping, she decided to read the book her mentor had given to her, all the way until half past eleven that night.
Realizing that it was getting late, she switched off the lights and went to bed.
She had a dream.
In her dream, she was standing right outside the cave opening while the spirits inside were inviting her to enter.
She mustered up the courage and went inside boldly.
As soon as she stepped foot inside, she was surrounded by an eerie, chilly air, and she proceeded to walk toward the coffin slowly.
She wanted to open the coffin and see what was inside.
However, the coffin was tightly shut, and she could not manage to open it at all. She turned around and asked the spirits, “Who’s in there?”
The spirit did not answer her and, instead, continued to stare at her while smiling.
“Miss Jin, why don’t you open it and take a look at it yourself, if you’d like to know?”
“I can’t open it.”
“You can.”
An Xiaoning turned back around and scrutinized the coffin. She then exited the cave to grab some tools, which she then used to pry the coffin open.
She placed her hands firmly onto the coffin cover and pushed it with all her might.
Bright rays emitted from the coffin, and An Xiaoning woke up before she could even see clearly what was inside it.
Panting heavily, she fumbled about the side table for the switch and turned on the bedside lamp.
She leaned against the headboard, trying to calm herself down.
The dream felt too realistic.
She rarely dreamed, and all her dreams were either a form of premonition or simply meaningless.
She would have a meaningless dream only once in a blue moon.
The mere thought of the possibility of it being a premonition caused her hands to turn cold and clammy.
Recalling the way the spirits had addressed her in the dream, An Xiaoning muttered to herself, “Miss Jin?”
Although she knew that she ought not to go to that place again, An Xiaoning could not contain her curiosity and was extremely tempted to make a trip there.
She was both amazed and afraid.
She took a look at the time to see that it was already four o’clock in the morning.
Her dream actually took up so much time.
She did not feel like sleeping anymore.
Thus, she got out of bed and picked out a winter outfit from her closet, one that would allow her to move about easily.
She then took out a pair of anti-slip woven flats from the shoe cabinet and put them on.
After was.h.i.+ng up, she quickly put on some makeup and knocked on the door of the bedroom opposite hers.
Half awake, Lin Mingxi stared at the fully-dressed An Xiaoning and asked, “It’s not even daybreak yet. Where are you planning to go?”
“That spooky cave on the mountain.”
Lin Mingxi rubbed her eyes and became much more awake. “Huh?”
“I had a dream about it, so I’d like to go there to take a look.”
“Are you out of your mind? It’s such a spooky and dangerous place. You’d better not go. What if something happens to you?” said Lin Mingxi, who was trying to talk her out of it.
“That’s why I’m asking you to go with me. I’m too timid to go alone.”
Terror was written all over Lin Mingxi’s face. “Nah, I’m too scared. I’m ten times more timid than you when it comes to such stuff. Let Beicheng accompany you instead.”
“Get him to wake up.”
Lin Mingxi turned around to wake Gu Beicheng up.
Twenty minutes later, Gu Beicheng arrived downstairs with Lin Mingxi.
“Aren’t you going to sleep for a while longer?”
“I’ve thought about it. I think it’s better that I tag along with you guys. Although I’m really timid, there’s nothing… nothing to be afraid of with you two around,” said Lin Mingxi.
An Xiaoning gave her a pat on her shoulder and said, “Don’t force yourself.”
“I’m not… I’ll go with you guys. I can’t be scared since you two aren’t.”
“Don’t end up crying because you’re too scared. I won’t be giving you any tissues when that happens,” An Xiaoning teased with a smirk.
“Let’s go, I’m not such a coward.”
The trio set off to the mountain by car.
While on the way there, An Xiaoning glanced at Gu Beicheng, who was driving, and said, “Don’t you wanna know what I dreamed about last night?”
“Tell us about it.”
An Xiaoning told them exactly what she had dreamed about.
Gu Beicheng then said, “It sounds like they’re visiting you in your dreams to tell you something.”
Lin Mingxi inched forward and remarked, “I’m getting gooseb.u.mps from hearing what you said.”
An Xiaoning answered calmly, “No matter what it may be, I’ll just go take another look. Perhaps I’ll find something different this time. By the way, Mingxi, has your sister’s relations.h.i.+p with your parents improved yet?”
Shaking her head, Lin Mingxi answered, “No, she has never once returned to my parents’ home since the tiff. She’s ruthless enough to try and take my life. Why would she care about my parents? I’m sure she’s being serious about severing ties with them. She’s hurt them deeply and broke their hearts. But my parents simply refuse to believe that she would harm me because we’re still sisters at the end of the day.”
“Well, she’s still their biological child after all. Your parents must be devastated.”
“It’s all my sister’s fault for being too greedy. She was planning to pocket everything else and just give me a little benefit. What rights does she have to do that? I’m my parents’ daughter too. We ought to split the a.s.sets equally.”
“Your parents are very fair, though. That’s very remarkable,” said An Xiaoning.
“Yeah, but my sister still thinks that my parents are biased toward me.”
An Xiaoning checked the weather forecast on her mobile phone and said, “The weather forecast mentioned that it would snow yesterday but it didn’t. It’s predicted to snow again today, but I wonder if it really will.”
“I think it will. It’s been snowing for the past few days.”
As expected, it began snowing when they were halfway through the journey.
It was already past six o’clock by the time they arrived at their destination. The sky had turned bright, and the three of them alighted after parking the car at the foot of the mountain.
An Xiaoning carried a black plastic bag in her hand and proceeded along the path toward the mountain together with them.
“This road is too uneven and narrow,” Lin Mingxi criticized.
“It’s not very high either, we should reach the top soon enough.”
Noticing that Lin Mingxi was walking on an unsteady gait, Gu Beicheng grabbed her wrist and walked together with her slowly.
By the time they arrived at the peak, the sky was already brightly lit at past seven o’clock.
However, it was still pitch dark in the cave.
An Xiaoning whipped out a torchlight while still carrying the bag of items and walked toward the cave opening slowly. “Sorry to disturb, but I came here this time because I had a dream about you last night. I came here with the hope of communicating with you. Are you willing to show yourself?”
She was not sure if she would get a response and was merely trying her luck.
Lin Mingxi held her breath and grabbed onto Gu Beicheng’s arm with her trembling hands, not daring to move an inch at all.
A cool breeze blew past, after which a male voice said calmly, “Please come in, Miss Jin.”
Gu Beicheng and Lin Mingxi stared at each other in astonishment as they both simultaneously recalled An Xiaoning’s description of her dream, for that was exactly the way they had addressed her.
An Xiaoning was bewildered and could not tell if she was dreaming or not.
Lin Mingxi grabbed her arm and said softly, “Everyone who went inside ended up dead. You’d better not go in.”
An Xiaoning was stuck in a dilemma. It was understandable for her to be petrified since she was only human after all.
“I believe they won’t harm me.”
It was just her gut feeling, which made her feel particularly at ease.
Lin Mingxi refused to let go of her arm. “What if…”
An Xiaoning pushed Lin Mingxi’s hand away and entered the cave slowly without uttering a word.