Chapter 278: White-Clothed Woman

Bai Qiusheng couldn't possibly be back. Li Banfeng had seen him that morning before leaving; even if he had immediately boarded a train, he couldn't be in Zhengjing Village at this hour. This Bai Qiusheng was fake!

Li Banfeng asked, "Qiusheng, when did you get back?"

Bai Qiusheng looked up and replied, "My stomach hurts, Seventh Master, I'll talk later!" With that, Bai Qiusheng scurried into the outhouse next to the studio and closed the door.

Just as Li Banfeng was about to follow, Ma Wu stopped him and said, "Seventh Master, you haven't told us why you're back."

"I took a train, and then..."

Seventh Master? Ma Wu was calling *me* Seventh Master? Li Banfeng took half a step back and chuckled, "Guess why I'm back?" This Ma Wu was also fake!

Ma Wu glanced at the camera. "We're out of film. I'll go see if there's any left." With that, Ma Wu sprinted into the lakeside storeroom and shut the door.

"Don't go!" Li Banfeng chased for a couple of steps, then saw Zuo Wugang, wearing a green vest, approaching him. "Seventh Master, what was wrong with Old Fifth just now? He seemed so flustered."

"He's not... that, we ran out of film, so he went to look for some." Zuo Wugang called Ma Wu Old Fifth. Li Banfeng almost pulled out his sickle. He constantly reminded himself not to act rashly. He scanned everyone around him, unable to distinguish who was real and who was fake.

Li Banfeng said no more and walked quickly alone along the village path.

A-Qin, dressed in a green qipao, approached him with a smile. "Seventh Brother, you're back?"

"Yes, I'm back," Li Banfeng replied, forcing a smile. A-Qin called me Seventh Brother? Since returning to Zhengjing Village, it seemed everyone who had spoken to Li Banfeng, except Qiao Cui, was fake. Was Qiao Cui still at the village entrance?

Li Banfeng quickly ran to the village entrance and found Qiao Cui was gone.

What was going on? A preliminary analysis suggested two possibilities. The first possibility was that Zhengjing Village had been occupied. It was plausible that someone had occupied Zhengjing Village, as many would surely want the ten-mile plot in the new territory. But if they occupied it, why would they disguise themselves as the original residents? What was the purpose?

This was easy to verify. Li Banfeng drew his dagger and made a cut in his palm. Blood dripped onto the ground, and Li Banfeng murmured, "Someone has invaded my territory." He waited anxiously for a long time, but Shui Yongquan did not appear. This proved one thing: this was not Zhengjing Village!

An illusion? I've entered an illusion! When did I enter it? Since I started feeling like I knew the way? Who created this illusion? Was it the crazy old man who thought he was a train?

Li Banfeng carefully examined the surrounding scenery; every building, even every blade of grass and tree, was identical to Zhengjing Village. That old man couldn't possibly know Zhengjing Village so intimately. Was it someone who had visited Zhengjing Village? Among those who had visited Zhengjing Village, who could create such a vast illusion? Sun Tiecheng? It seemed only...

"Don't guess wildly. Go into the Portable Abode and ask my wife." Just as Li Banfeng was about to reach for his key, his thoughts shifted, and he immediately dismissed the idea of returning to the Portable Abode. If I'm truly in an illusion, what state am I in right now? Is it possible that I'm currently wandering aimlessly in a wilderness, with someone constantly following me? If I take out the key now, the secret of the Portable Abode will be exposed. This person could kill me, take everything I own, including my identity. Who could this person be? Whoever it is, I need to leave this place first.

Li Banfeng was about to leave the "Zhengjing Village" before him, but after a few steps, he stopped. If he was truly in an illusion, leaving wouldn't be so easy. Walking like this, he would likely not escape, and wandering aimlessly might even lead to more unknown dangers. To break free from the illusion, he had to find the person who created it. Even if he couldn't defeat them, he needed to be on guard.

Who were the people who knew Zhengjing Village exceptionally well? To what extent did they know it?

Li Banfeng went to the assembly hall and saw two inconspicuous scratches on the wall. When Xiao Chuanzi dismantled the windmill gramophone, he accidentally left some scratches on the wall. He tried to hide them, fearing they would be discovered, but Li Banfeng caught him in the act. In fact, Xiao Chuanzi's craftsmanship was quite good; even Ma Wu hadn't noticed these two scratches.

The person who created the illusion even replicated these two scratches. Could it be Xiao Chuanzi? Was this young man, who drove the road roller, actually a hidden master? If so, he was hiding his abilities very deeply.

Could he see Xiao Chuanzi in this illusion? Li Banfeng left the assembly hall and wandered around the village for a long time. He didn't see Xiao Chuanzi, only Xiao Genzi.

"Seventh Master, you're back." Xiao Genzi was as diligent as ever, simply greeting him and continuing to scoop up "golden liquid" with his spoon. As a character created within the illusion, Xiao Genzi showed no flaws, proving that the illusion's creator was very familiar with him. Could it really be Xiao Chuanzi? But thinking about it this way, the logic didn't add up. Xiao Chuanzi was also very familiar with Ma Wu and Zuo Wugang; he wouldn't have gotten their titles wrong. He decided to ask "Xiao Genzi" a few questions to see if he could extract any clues.

Li Banfeng looked around, and Xiao Genzi had suddenly vanished. Where did he go? Had Xiao Genzi's illusion disappeared?

Li Banfeng continued searching for clues within the illusion, unknowingly walking to his own room. After a moment of hesitation, he pushed open the door and entered. The furnishings in the room were identical to his real room. In Zhengjing Village, not many people could enter Li Banfeng's room. Who exactly created this illusion?

Sweat trickled down his cheeks, and Li Banfeng had a new guess. He lay on his back and slid under the bed, seeing a groove in the floorboards. This groove was his own creation. After entering the Portable Abode, he could accurately toss his key into it; the groove's purpose was to store the key. In other words, only one person knew the location of this groove. That person was Li Banfeng himself.

What did this mean? Who created the illusion? It was Li Banfeng himself. How could he create an illusion for himself? Even if Li Banfeng had gone mad and was engaging in self-harm, he didn't understand illusion magic himself, so he couldn't have made the illusion so realistic.

Li Banfeng sat in the room, his face contorting. He worried about his condition, suspecting he might be having an episode. Should I go back to the Portable Abode? Where exactly am I right now? If he were truly in a wilderness, the situation wouldn't be so bad. But if he were in a residential building, there might be a bloodbath. But this situation didn't feel like an illness. Li Banfeng felt he wasn't out of control. Was there another possibility? This illusion was indeed created by me, but not with illusion magic?

Li Banfeng sat on the bed, deep in thought for a long time. He picked up a pen from the table and wrote three words on the bedsheet: "I'm not mad." Li Banfeng closed his eyes for over two seconds. When he opened them again, the three words had changed to five: "A little bit maybe." He closed his eyes again, then reopened them to see the five words had changed to four: "That doesn't count."

Li Banfeng wasn't mad; he knew what was happening. There were words here that changed at any moment. Thinking back to what had happened earlier: people he urgently needed to find were always nowhere to be found. This kind of situation often occurred in one specific scenario.

"This is a dream," Li Banfeng murmured, "I'm dreaming."

"Hehehe!" A woman's laughter reached his ears, seemingly from outside the window. Li Banfeng immediately pushed open the window. He saw no one, only a white garment floating in mid-air.

"Knowing it's a dream means you've passed the first test."

Li Banfeng shouted, "Who are you?"

"I am a person, just me alone. Find me, tell me loudly that you've found me, and I'll let you go. Don't guess wildly; if you guess wrong even once, you'll stay here forever." After the laughter, the white garment floating in mid-air suddenly vanished.

Li Banfeng rushed out of his room, searching everywhere for someone wearing white clothes. From one end of the village to the other, from Shui Yongquan's territory to Qiu Luoye's, Li Banfeng searched everywhere but found no one wearing white, not even a white oddity.

Sitting on the hillside, Li Banfeng panted heavily. For Li Banfeng, walking a few circles around a hundred-mile radius was no challenge. But this was in a dream, and people in dreams tire extremely easily. Where did all the people wearing white clothes go? Had anyone been wearing white clothes before? Can I just not look for that woman in white? Since I'm trapped in a dream, can't I find a way to wake myself up?

Li Banfeng forced his eyes wide open. He tried several times, but it had no effect. Slap himself? Useless. The wound on his hand still throbbed faintly; mere pain wouldn't wake him up.

After sitting in silence for a long time, a thought interrupted Li Banfeng's train of thought. It was urgent and strong. Seeking good fortune and avoiding disaster? No. He needed to urinate. Since leaving in the morning, Li Banfeng hadn't been to the restroom. As is well known, one must never urinate in a dream. "Get up and walk around, that'll do it." After two steps, Li Banfeng didn't feel well; the urge to relieve himself grew even stronger. Trapped in such a dangerous dream, why bother with such concerns? If he peed, he'd just ask his wife to wash a pair of pants. If he was afraid his wife would mock him, at most he'd just discard the pants.

"Let me see if there's an outhouse nearby." Relying on memory, Li Banfeng found a dry toilet in the woods. He pushed the door open, successfully relieved himself, and the anxiety and vexation weighing on his mind instantly disappeared. These pants were definitely ruined. How strange. Why did I look for an outhouse? Couldn't I have just found any place to relieve myself? Afraid of losing face? That's not right; this is my dream. In a dream, why would I care about face?

Perhaps because his bladder was empty, Li Banfeng felt hungry. Feeling hungry in a dream was common, but he would most likely not find a place to eat, and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to eat. Li Banfeng originally intended to endure it, but once he came down the hillside and returned to Zhengjing Village, he actually found a restaurant. When did this restaurant open?

The aroma of food wafted out, and Li Banfeng couldn't resist the temptation. He went in, ordered two small dishes, and ate a full meal. And surprisingly, he was truly full. How could one feel full in a dream? It must be an illusion, right?

Just as Li Banfeng was about to pay, he suddenly saw Ma Wu enter the restaurant. He had changed into a blue suit and sat next to Li Banfeng. "Old Seventh, you're here too; let's look at the script together." He called him Old Seventh! The title was correct.

Zuo Wugang also entered the restaurant, his green vest replaced with a purple short jacket. "Fifth Master, I can't act, so please don't make it difficult for me." The title was correct here too.

A-Qin sat next to Ma Wu, secretly kissed him, and her green qipao had been replaced by a long red dress. She smiled at Li Banfeng. "Boss Ye, I've cooked a few small dishes. Would you like to come over to my place tonight with Fifth Young Master?" A-Qin had followed Li Banfeng to Black Stone Slope; her calling him Boss Ye was indeed correct.

Everyone's status was correct. Had he escaped the dream? What about the woman in white? Everyone's clothes had changed color, but not a single person was wearing white!

White... White clothes... Why was he looking for white clothes? Li Banfeng blinked, suddenly realizing something. Finding that woman had nothing to do with white clothes. He had seen her, and more than once. He scanned the people around him; there were only two kinds of people here. This was his dream; he had used the wrong method. This was his dream. Only what existed in his line of sight existed in the dream. He didn't need to look for her; she could only follow him.

Xiao Genzi walked over, carrying a bucket, followed by Xiao Chuanzi in his coarse work clothes. When the two saw Li Banfeng and were about to speak, Li Banfeng shouted, "Don't speak! Don't say a single word!"