Bai Qiusheng couldn’t possibly have returned.
Before leaving the house this morning, Li Banfeng had seen him. Even if he had taken a train immediately, it was impossible for him to appear in Zhengjing Village at this time.
Li Banfeng asked, "Qiusheng, when did you come back?"
Bai Qiusheng looked up and said, "I have a stomachache, Seventh Master. I’ll talk about it later!"
With that, Bai Qiusheng dashed into the latrine beside the film studio and shut the door.
Just as Li Banfeng was about to follow, Ma Wu stopped him. "Seventh Master, you haven’t told us why you returned?"
"I took a train and then..."
Li Banfeng took a half step back and said with a smile, "Guess why I returned?"
Ma Wu glanced at the camera. "We’ve run out of film. I’ll go see if there are any left."
With that, Ma Wu sprinted to the warehouse by the lake and shut the door.
"Don’t go!" Li Banfeng pursued him for a couple of steps, then saw Zuo Wugang approaching, wearing a blue vest. "Seventh Master, what happened to Old Five just now? He seemed so flustered."
"He’s not... I mean, we ran out of film, and he went to find some more."
Zuo Wugang called Ma Wu Old Five.
Li Banfeng was on the verge of drawing his Sickle.
He kept reminding himself not to act rashly.
He surveyed every person around him. He could no longer distinguish who was real and who was fake.
Li Banfeng didn’t say anything more and quickly walked along the small road in the village.
Ah Qin came towards him, wearing a green cheongsam, and greeted Li Banfeng cheerfully, "Qi Lang, you’re back?"
"Yes, I am back," Li Banfeng replied, the corners of his mouth turning up in a forced smile.
Ever since returning to Zhengjing Village, everyone who spoke to Li Banfeng, except for Qiaocui, seemed to be impostors.
Li Banfeng ran quickly to the village entrance and found that Qiaocui was gone.
Initially, there seemed to be two possibilities.
The first possibility was that Zhengjing Village had been occupied.
It was entirely plausible that someone would want to occupy Zhengjing Village, given that many would covet the territory in the New Land spanning ten miles.
But after occupying Zhengjing Village, why would they disguise themselves as its original inhabitants? What would be the purpose of that?
This was easy to verify.
Li Banfeng pulled out his dagger, sliced open his palm, and as blood dripped to the ground, he murmured, "Someone has invaded my territory."
He waited anxiously, but Shui Yongquan did not appear.
This confirmed one thing.
Li Banfeng took a careful look at the surroundings. Every building here, including every blade of grass and tree, was exactly like Zhengjing Village.
That old man couldn’t possibly know so much about Zhengjing Village.
Just as Li Banfeng was about to use the key, his thoughts shifted, and he immediately dismissed the idea of returning to the Portable Residence.
Li Banfeng was thinking of leaving what appeared to be "Zhengjing Village." He had taken a few steps when he stopped again.
Li Banfeng went to the council hall and noticed two inconspicuous scratches on the wall.
When the Windmill Phonograph was being dismantled, Xiao Chuanzi had accidentally left some scratches on the wall. To avoid detection, he had tried covering them up, but Li Banfeng caught him red-handed.
Actually, Xiao Chuanzi’s craftsmanship was quite good. Even Ma Wu had not noticed these two scratches.
Li Banfeng exited the council 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 greeted him as diligently as ever with a simple salutation and continued scouring for Golden Juice with his spoon.
As an illusory construct, Xiao Genzi showed no flaws, proving the realm’s creator was very familiar with Xiao Genzi.
Xiao Chuanzi was also very familiar with Ma Wu and Zuo Wugang. He couldn’t possibly have gotten their forms of address wrong.
Li Banfeng looked around, but Xiao Genzi had suddenly disappeared.
Li Banfeng continued searching for clues within the Illusionary Realm until, unwittingly, he reached his own house.
After hesitating for a moment, he pushed open the door and went in.
The furnishings inside were identical to those in his real house.
Few people in Zhengjing Village could enter Li Banfeng’s house.
Beads of sweat trickled down his cheeks as a new hypothesis formed in Li Banfeng’s mind.
He got on his back, crawled under the bed, and spotted a groove between the floorboards.
He had left this groove himself. After entering the Portable Residence, he could accurately toss the key into the groove. Its purpose was to safeguard the key.
This meant only one person knew the location of this groove.
That person was Li Banfeng himself.
Even if Li Banfeng had gone mad and started harming himself, he didn’t know Illusion Technique. It would have been impossible for him to create such a realistic Illusionary Realm.
Li Banfeng sat in the room, his face constantly twisting.
He worried about his condition, suspecting he might be having an episode.
Li Banfeng felt he hadn’t lost control.
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 crazy.’
Li Banfeng closed his eyes for a little over two seconds. When he opened them again, the three words had become five: ’Somewhat crazy, a little.’
Closing his eyes once more, upon looking again, the five words had changed to four: ’That bit doesn’t count.’
Li Banfeng wasn’t insane. He knew what was happening.
The text was changing on its own.
He thought about what had happened earlier. Eagerly searching for someone, only for them to be impossible to find. This kind of situation often occurred in one particular context.
"This is a dream," Li Banfeng muttered softly, "I am dreaming."
"HEHEHE!"
A woman’s laughter reached his ears, seeming to come from outside the window.
Li Banfeng immediately pushed open the window but saw no one, only a white garment drifting in mid-air.
"Realizing it’s a dream means you’ve passed the first test."
Li Banfeng shouted, "Who are you?"
"I am someone, just one person. Find me and tell me loudly that you’ve found me, and I will let you go. Don’t guess randomly. Guess wrong just once, and you’ll be trapped here forever."
After the laughter, the white garment floating in mid-air suddenly vanished.
Li Banfeng rushed out of his room, searching everywhere for a person wearing white clothes.
He searched from one end of the village to the other, from the territory of Shui Yongquan to that of Qiu Luoye. Li Banfeng looked everywhere but never found a person in white clothing, not even a white Strange Monster.
Sitting on the hillside, Li Banfeng panted heavily.
For Li Banfeng, traversing the Hundred Miles of Land a few times was no difficult task.
But this was a dream, and in dreams, people tired incredibly easily.
Li Banfeng forced himself to suddenly open his eyes.
He tried several times, to no avail.
The wound on his hand still faintly ached. Mere pain couldn’t wake him up.
After sitting in silence for a while, a thought abruptly interrupted Li Banfeng’s thoughts.
It was an urgent, strong sensation.
Li Banfeng hadn’t used the latrine since leaving home that morning.
Everyone knew you must never urinate in a dream.
After a few steps, Li Banfeng didn’t feel any better; the urge to urinate grew stronger.
Relying on memory, Li Banfeng found a dry latrine in the woods. He pushed open the door, successfully relieved himself, and the anxiety and frustration weighing on his mind instantly vanished.
Perhaps because he’d emptied his bladder, Li Banfeng now felt hungry.
Feeling hungry in a dream was common. However, it was highly unlikely to find a place to eat, and even if one did, the food would probably be inedible.
Li Banfeng had intended to endure it. But when he descended the slope and returned to Zhengjing Village, he actually found a restaurant.
The aroma of delicious food wafted out. Li Banfeng couldn’t resist the temptation, went in, ordered two small dishes, and ate his fill.
And surprisingly, he actually felt full.
Just as Li Banfeng was preparing to pay for the meal, he saw Ma Wu walk into the restaurant.
He had changed into a blue suit and sat beside Li Banfeng. "Old Qi, good, you’re here too. Let’s look at the script together."
Zuo Wugang also entered the restaurant. His blue vest had been replaced with a purple short jacket.
"Master Wu, I can’t act, so please don’t put me on the spot."
Ah Qin sat beside Ma Wu and stealthily gave him a peck on the cheek. Her green cheongsam had changed to a red dress.
She smiled at Li Banfeng and said, "Boss Ye, I’ve cooked a few dishes. Would you and Wulang like to come over to my place tonight?"
Ah Qin had accompanied Li Banfeng to Black Stone Slope, so it was indeed correct for her to call him Boss Ye.
Everyone’s clothes had changed color, yet not a single person wore white!
Li Banfeng blinked, suddenly realizing something.
He scanned the people nearby. There were only two kinds of people here.
Xiao Genzi approached, carrying a bucket, with Xiao Chuanzi in coarse work clothes following him.
The moment they saw Li Banfeng and were about to speak, he shouted, "No one speak! Not a single word!"
PS: If the talking continued, that woman would never be found.