Chapter 76: BEGINNING OF HIS NIGHTMARES

That night, Li Yan fell into a dream so vivid that he could not tell he was dreaming. He found himself trapped in a dark, unfamiliar place with his wrists bound above his head. His feet barely touched the cold stone beneath him, while a dim crimson light illuminated the area just enough for him to see a tall figure standing several steps away.

The air was thick with the metallic smell of blood, and although Li Yan could not remember how he had arrived there or what he had done to deserve such treatment, an instinctive sense of fear had already begun to spread through his body as the figure slowly approached.

When the figure stepped into the crimson light, Li Yan’s fear immediately turned into disbelief, for the person standing before him was Hu Bai. It was unmistakably his fiancé, with the same handsome features and familiar face, yet something about him was completely wrong.

The Hu Bai, Li Yan knew was affectionate, shamelessly teasing, and occasionally overbearing, but there was always warmth hidden beneath those traits. The man in front of him had none of it. His dark eyes contained no affection or recognition, and his expression was so merciless that Li Yan could hardly believe he was looking at the same person who had once gently held his hand.

"You should have listened to me."

Li Yan barely had time to process those words before a whip struck across his back. The pain tore through his body, forcing a scream from his throat as he struggled against the restraints around his wrists. The person standing before him did not react to his scream.

Another strike landed almost immediately, followed by another, until Li Yan could barely remain conscious.

He tried to plead with Hu Bai to stop. He desperately hoped that the person he knew was still somewhere beneath that terrifying expression, but his pleas received no response. The merciless figure continued to beat him without hesitation, showing no sign that Li Yan’s suffering affected him in the slightest.

The torture became increasingly gruesome as the nightmare continued. Li Yan suffered injuries that should have ended his life, yet he remained conscious enough to experience every moment.

When he was already exhausted and barely able to lift his head, Hu Bai approached with a blade in his hand. Li Yan desperately tried to pull away, even though he knew the restraints made escape impossible.

The blade descended before he could do anything.

A terrible pain flashed through his body, and the next moment, Li Yan found himself staring at his own body lying several steps away. His severed head remained conscious on the cold stone while blood spread beneath him. Hu Bai stood beside his fallen body with the same emotionless expression, and Li Yan could do nothing except stare in horror at the person who had just killed him.

He thought death would finally bring an end to the nightmare, but darkness only surrounded him for a brief moment. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the same position with his wrists bound above his head. His body had been restored completely, and Hu Bai was standing before him exactly as he had been before the first torture began.

Li Yan’s heart filled with terror when he realized that nothing had changed. The same merciless expression appeared on Hu Bai’s face, and the torture began all over again.

There was no escape no matter what Li Yan did. Every time the nightmare brought him to death, he awakened again with his body restored and Hu Bai waiting to continue. He was beaten until he could no longer stand and flogged until his back was covered in blood. He was killed in ways that left him convinced each time that the nightmare had finally reached its end, only to return to the beginning moments later.

Li Yan screamed and pleaded until his voice became hoarse. He struggled against his restraints and eventually tried to fight back, but nothing changed. The person before him remained completely unmoved by everything he did, and the nightmare continued to drag him through one death after another.

The dream seemed to continue for an impossibly long time. Li Yan gradually lost track of how many times he had died, since every death was followed by another awakening and every awakening brought another round of torture. Death no longer felt like an escape, yet the nightmare refused to release him.

What affected him most was not merely the physical pain. It was the fact that the person inflicting it always wore Hu Bai’s face. Every time Li Yan looked into those cold eyes, he was forced to confront an image of someone he trusted behaving in a way he could never have imagined.

When Li Yan finally opened his eyes for real, he immediately realized that he was lying in his own bed. His breathing remained uneven as he stared at the familiar ceiling and tried to convince himself that everything he had experienced had only been a dream. His entire body was drenched in sweat, and he instinctively touched his neck before checking his arms, chest, and back.

There was not a single wound on him.

His body was completely intact, yet the nightmare had left him mentally exhausted. The memories remained painfully vivid, and he could still remember the blood, the pain, and the terrifying expression on Hu Bai’s face as though he had truly experienced everything. Even though Li Yan understood that the person in the dream had not been the Hu Bai he knew, that knowledge did little to erase the uneasiness left behind.

Li Yan slowly sat up and remained there for several moments while trying to calm himself. The lethargy weighing down his body made even that simple movement feel difficult, but he eventually forced himself out of bed and walked toward the kitchen to get some water. He moved more slowly than usual as he tried to push the nightmare from his mind, although every step seemed to bring another fragment of it back to him.

The dream had been far too vivid, and Li Yan sincerely hoped he would never experience anything like it again. By the time he reached the kitchen, he was still trying to shake off the lingering fear when Xiaoxiao noticed how pale and exhausted he looked and immediately turned toward him with concern.

"Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare? You were tossing and turning all night."