12. Uncle's First Nightmare

“Welcome to the Nightmare System. Congratulations, host, you’ve unlocked the next level, now you are able to fabricate multiple emotions.”

Qi Le An was surprised to hear that, he was overjoyed that he had entered the next level already. He walked to the desk in the corner with great ease.

Qi Le An didn’t have a particular complicated family background or anything, his grandfather was a hard-working peasant with two sons, Qi Le An’s uncle and father, and Qi Le An’s grandmother passed away not long after his father was born. So his grandfather doted on his father even more than before, and he worked hard to support his father to get the best education within his ability.

Qi Le An’s father didn’t let his family down, he studied hard and he was selected into a gifted program when he was fifteen with a full scholarship, and he became a scientist after he graduated from university. Qi Le An was still young when his father passed away, but he did remember his father was a highly respected scientist.

Not only had Qi Le An’s father changed his own fate with knowledge and education, he had also changed his whole family’s fate, he had settled his father Qi Xiao Guo and his elder brother Qi Dazhu in the city as well. Everyone treated him with respect like he were the elder brother in the family.

Uncle feared this little brother, he was always meek and subservient in this little brother’s presence because all his monkey businesses couldn’t escape his little brother’s notice. Instead of Qi Le An’s grandfather who always scolded and beat him up, Uncle feared his little brother who was always so gentle and refined in manner the most.

Qi Le An smiled as he thought of that, ‘A good conscience is a soft pillow, but what pillow would someone like Uncle doesn’t have a good conscience sleep on... ...’

He started to fabricate Uncle’s nightmare write swiftly, and he thanked his father in his heart for having such great material.

This was the first time that Uncle spent a night at a nice hotel room, the mattress, the pillows, even the bed sheets, everything was so soft and velvety. He kept reminding himself that he should keep deposit that Qi Le An paid for him to himself the next day.

Uncle turned on the TV and started to eat sunflower seeds and smoking his cheap cigarettes. He sat on the sofa with an ankle on the knee, he beamed with smile and thought about how he would brag this to his friends.

Uncle yawned as the night grew late, he walked the the bed and fell asleep. Somehow in his sleep, he felt he wasn’t alone in the room, he opened his eyes only to find there was somebody who was staring at him by the bed.

Uncle woke suddenly with a start, there indeed was someone by the bed, to be accurate he had no idea whether that was someone or something... ...

It was Qi Le An’s late father, Uncle’s little brother Qi Xiao Guo, there were still blood stains on Qi Xiao Guo’s face, then he flashed a ghastly smile at Uncle, “Dazhu, my brother... ...”

That had scared the pants off Qi Dazhu, then he peed himself in bed... ...

“Dazhu... ...”

Qi Dazhu cringed in terror as he heard his brother’s calling, “What do you want? I didn’t kill you, plus I’ve burned more than enough joss paper for you, why are you here?”

Qi Xiao Guo smiled again, “My Little An, poor Little An... ...”

With that Qi Dazhu floated right in front of Qi Dazhu, they were merely an inch away from each other, Qi Dazhu screamed and leaned back. Qi Dazhu didn’t hit the wall, he hit something ice cold. He turned around to see what was going on, it was Qi Le An’s late mother, who died together with Qi Le An’s father in a plane crash.

Qi Dazhu cried out loud and opened his eyes abruptly!

He looked around and slowly realize that was just a nightmare, his heart kept fluttering with fear for so long. He turned on the TV to have some noise as evidence that he was just having a nightmare. Then he checked his phone, it was five thirty in the morning. Then he jumped out from his bed to turn on every light in the room.

‘How come I have dreamed about my brother and sister-in-law?’

‘That felt so real!’

Qi Dazhu couldn’t think straight, he drew the curtains and walked to the baloney and had cigarette, slowly he had regained his composure as he puffed heavily. He withdrew his phone and called Qi Le An directly despite the fact it was just five thirty in the morning.

Qi Le An was woken up by the call, he smiled and muted his phone, he slept until eight, he had breakfast in the canteen and got two steamed buns from the recycling desk for Uncle.

Qi Le An heard Uncle was arguing with the housekeeping lady as soon as the elevator door opened, “I paid good money for my room, how dare you give me a fine for smoking in my own room!”

Qi Le An slowed down and hid in the corner to observe.

Uncle’s door was wide open, the housekeeping lady was explaining to him, “Sir, this room is non-smoking room, the alarm was activated because of your own behavior, we are not responsible for that.”

Uncle now was soaking wet, he grabbed his phone and pointed his finger at the lady, “Do you know who I am! Tell you what, my nephew is a big star, don’t you dare mess with me!”

The housekeeping lady had lost her patience at this point, “Sir, I’m calling the police now if you refuse to pay the fine.”

With that two security guards who were standing behind the housekeeping lady made as if to step in, Uncle panicked so hard that he called Qi Le An again, but Qi Le An had already muted his phone. The two guards grabbed Uncle’s arms and started to drag him out of the room, Uncle screamed, “All right, all right, I’m paying the fine! I am!”

Qi Le An sneered, he was delighted to see that. Uncle shouldn’t have messed with the guards, because all the hotels near Glory had powerful connections.

Uncle fished five hundred yuan from his pocket and handed it to the housekeeping lady, the lady smiled at him and said, “Sir, the check-out time is eleven o’clock, which is half an hour later. And we will charge you half-day room rate for any delay.”

With that the housekeeping lady left with the bodyguards, they nodded and smiled at Qi Le An when they walked past him.

Uncle slammed the door in a huff, and Qi Le An didn’t walk to the door until he played a few rounds of Gluttonous Snake on his phone.

Knock knock.

“I’ve already paid my fine!” Uncle opened the door in a fury, he was dumbstruck for a second when he saw it was Qi Le An. Qi Le An raised his head and whispered in an apologetic tone, “I’m sorry, Uncle, I’m so late today, I dreamed about my mom and my dad last night.”

Uncle broke out in a cold sweat on hearing that.

Qi Le An walked inside, “Uncle, here, I bought you two buns from the canteen.”

Uncle put the buns aside and asked promptly, he asked with disbelief, “You’ve dreamed about your dad?”

Qi Le An nodded and smiled, “Yeah, they said they were doing great in the other world, and they told me that they had avenged me. But Uncle, what did they mean by that?”

Uncle turned pale as he heard that, he felt more restless now, “Really? They said that?”

Qi Le An nodded and opened his eyes wide, a very careful picture of innocence, “They told me they would ... ... punish anyone who bullies me ten times harder.”

Uncle’s eyes dilated with fear when he heard ‘ten times harder’. A teacup on the table happened to fall on the floor at that moment, Uncle trembled with fear as he heard the bang.

Then Uncle showed a fawning smile for the first time, “I... I have no idea either. An, how have you been? Is there anything you need?”

Qi Le An suppressed the laughter, “Honestly, I’m not doing well, I keep starving due to money problems.”

Uncle felt the nightmare he had last night was by no means a coincidence as he saw how sincere Qi Le An was, it must be a warning from Qi Xiao Guo!

There was a complex knot of emotions forming inside Uncle, then he took a deep breath like he had finally made up his mind, “An! Here, take the two hundred yuan!”

Qi Le An looked shocked, “Uncle! No! How can I take your money, plus, my aunt... ...”

Uncle stuffed the money into Qi Le An’s palm, “No one can say anything about this, an uncle gives his nephew some allowance, isn’t that a normal thing? If... if your dad talks to you in your dream again, just tell him that you are doing great and ask him to rest in peace.”

Qi Le An took the money and thanked Uncle.

Uncle’s smile turned so stiff at the moment, Qi Le An could tell Uncle’s heart was bleeding for the two hundred yuan. Uncle then started packing, Qi Le An asked him to stay for a few more days, but he kept shaking his head as he recalled what happened to him last night.

Qi Le An walked Uncle to the station, and to his surprise, Uncle paid for his own ticket and left without any drama.

Qi Le An showed a triumphant smile as he walked out from the station, he gave a homeless person five yuan and then went to a shop to buy an anonymous SIM card