Chapter 151

Chapter 151: Boys' Dormitory 5

My first lie, caught by You Guang! Panic! How can I talk my way out of this and calm him down?

You licked your parched lips, stammering, "It's not like I don't remember *anything* at all. And... and the dream's content isn't important. Let's just find that anomaly first—"

"I'll root it out."

You Guang stared intently at you, his gaze carrying an unspoken, heavy pressure.

After a moment of silence, you sheepishly nodded, "Okay."

He said nothing, only watched you.

You awkwardly scooted to the edge of the bed. Just as you were about to get up, his voice, now cold and hard, came from beside you.

"You're hiding something from me."

"While you were asleep, you experienced some very particular emotions."

You froze.

Even in your sleep, You Guang's mask could sense your emotional fluctuations.

A bone-chilling cold spread, creeping over every inch of your skin, making it involuntarily tighten and your hairs stand on end.

"What was it?"

He moved around the bedpost that separated you, leaning his face closer, as if trying to discern every subtle expression on your face.

You kept your face turned away, not daring to look at his expression.

A suffocating sense of tension and unease.

Like being slowly coiled and constricted by a giant serpent in the dark, paralyzed and unable to move within its tightening grip.

You hadn't figured out how to answer.

Someone in the dorm rolled over, making a rustling sound, then sat up, pulling their blanket tighter, their voice thick with sleep: "Ugh... it's so cold today. Chang'an, you guys are up so early—"

The voice abruptly cut off.

At the same moment, darkness swallowed your vision. You opened your eyes but saw nothing—only endless black.

This was You Guang's abyss.

The darkness surged, constantly encroaching upon your position, eager to devour you, yet always stopping just before touching you, repelled inch by painful inch, maintaining a fragile calm that could shatter with the slightest tremor.

It was brimming with extreme restraint and suppression.

"Baby, how could you lie to me?"

His voice whispered in your ear.

He seemed even closer now, his tone carrying a hint of chill, like a cold wind seeping into your ears.

It's over.

Things were heading in the worst possible direction.

Your heart sank. You blindly fumbled around in the dark, guided by memory, until a cold hand took yours, and you held it firmly.

"No, I wasn't trying to lie to you."

He didn't answer, his icy hand silently tightening its grip on yours until it hurt.

You let out a sigh and confessed, "It could manipulate my dreams. I couldn’t control myself in the dream, and I was afraid you’d get angry, so I didn’t know how to tell you."

You Guang would believe what you said now—you were certain of it, because you were utterly sincere at this moment, and he would surely sense it all.

The painful grip on your hand eased slightly.

"In your dream, you were... joyful."

He searched for a long moment for the right word before settling on "joyful," his voice tinged with accusation.

Your voice quivered with a hint of grievance: "The emotions and thoughts in the dream were all manipulated."

"I know." He paused. "I know. If it weren't like that..."

The unspoken words seemed to lead to a dark abyss, a single glimpse of which would pull you in, forever falling.

As long as he understood.

Your anxious heart gradually calmed.

A moment later.

"...You lied to me."

His tone softened slightly, and the pervasive darkness no longer felt turbulent or dangerous—but he clearly wasn't ready to forgive you easily.

"I was wrong." You quickly admitted your mistake and promised, "From now on, I'll tell you everything clearly, absolutely nothing hidden."

"Good."

He uttered a single word, devoid of discernible emotion.

You could feel him close by, as if he was holding you, yet also as if he wasn't.

As if he *was* this darkness, enveloping you completely.

Time lost all meaning.

"You Guang?"

"Hm." His voice came from behind your ear, very close.

"We should go to class."

When You Guang didn't respond for a while, you were about to ask again when you heard him speak: "What were you doing in the dream?"

The sudden question caught you off guard. You opened your mouth, then skillfully evaded the core of the question: "Just attending class at school."

"With whom?"

"That anomaly."

The moment the words left your lips, you heard him let out a soft snort, and a wave of guilt washed over you.

As soon as the guilt faded, you sensed something was wrong.

You Guang must have sensed your emotions.

One day, you had to completely sever this ability of the mask!

Sure enough.

"Just that?"

The darkness around you tightened, creating a distinct sense of confinement.

Resigned, you honestly confessed everything: "It slipped me a note in class, and the teacher caught us. Right before I woke up, it said it would stay with me forever."

You Guang paused, then let out a cold, gritted laugh: "Stay... with you... forever?"

Each word was so chilling it seemed to pierce bone and flesh. The surrounding temperature plummeted again as the abyss transformed into massive whirlpools, their domineering pull coming from all directions, churning and swirling, threatening to tear anything caught within to shreds.

Even though You Guang had long blocked your ability to sense his emotions through the mask, you could still feel his rage at this moment.

A rage that threatened to consume everything.

The anomaly that entered your dream not only said it would stay with you forever but also manipulated you into feeling anticipation and joy towards it in the dream. Just thinking about it, you completely understood You Guang's fury.

But you had to stop his emotions from escalating.

"Don't be angry. I only need you."

The tearing pull of the surrounding whirlpools softened considerably. Cold, slender fingers traced your cheek from behind—clearly, he was pleased with your answer.

You simply closed your eyes, a smile spreading across your face in the darkness: "It'll come back. Let's deal with it, okay?"

"Okay."

The whirlpools gradually stilled.

"If we don't go to class soon, school will be over." You caught the fingers tracing your face.

"...We've finished our curriculum. We can pass the exams without attending class."

You Guang said it with an air of perfect justification, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

You wanted to say something to persuade him to study hard, but then you reconsidered. As an anomaly, he had diligently attended school for years solely because of you. Now that he had learned what he needed, a little slacking off was fine.

Moreover, not going to class was probably a pretense; the real reason was that he didn't want to let you leave this abyss-like place.

You pondered for a few seconds, then said earnestly, "You Guang, I'm hungry."

"What do you want to eat?" he asked.

"You haven't gone to get the breakfast Mom made yet, have you?"

You distinctly felt his fingers stiffen, and you couldn't help but feel a little smug.

"Wait for me here."

As soon as he spoke, the surrounding darkness receded—but your vision didn't brighten. For a moment, you thought you'd gone blind, only to realize You Guang had brought you into a pitch-black room. You were standing on a staircase inside, the surroundings so dim that you could barely make out the outlines of walls and some scattered junk in the corners.

This wasn't the dorm at all.

Your brow furrowed slightly. "Where is this?"

"I'll be right back." He didn't answer, leaving you with those words as he vanished up the stairs.

You carefully examined the room. It had a damp, musty smell. The staircase led upward to a rusted iron door that wouldn't budge—it was likely locked.

In the corner, wooden planks and empty bags were piled up. The bags still contained traces of sand and some dry, shriveled, almost unidentifiable food items, resembling potatoes or sweet potatoes.

Frowning, you dropped the food you'd been examining and brushed the dust from your fingers. You could almost certainly conclude that this place was an underground storage room, long unused and covered in thick dust.

You turned around and looked behind you.

You Guang stood on the stairs, having returned, now holding a bowl and chopsticks.

You raised an eyebrow at him, your voice tinged with a strange amusement: "You're not actually going to lock me in here, are you?"