My daughter has been possessed.

Chapter 57 Truth and Falsehood

"How can I get out of here?! I can't wait any longer, or things will only get worse."

Chen Zhenghai stood in the courtyard of a self-built house, looking around anxiously.

Although his perception of the passage of time was very inaccurate in the dream, he estimated that he had been trapped here for an hour.

This made Chen Zhenghai feel uneasy, and he intuitively felt that this might not be a coincidence.

As an investigator with the sequence "Insight", his ability is to be sensitive to everything and to see the root of a problem.

So after entering the dream, Chen Zhenghai quickly realized that he was in a dream, and at the same time felt slightly frightened.

He discovered that the scene in his dream was actually a case he had handled before.

This case is very bloody. A teenager awakened and transformed into a "snake man," losing his rationality and devouring his entire family.

When their team arrived at the scene, half of the family's bodies had already been digested by the snake-man. The house and yard were filled with bones and the snake-man's vomit, making the scene a horrific sight.

However, because Lu Guan, a member of the team, was present at the time, and because the snake-man needed time to digest after devouring a human, making it difficult for him to move, he was quickly killed by Lu Guan.

Chen Zhenghai did nothing at the time; he was simply trying to control his trembling body out of fear.

He has been afraid of snakes since he was a child, and it is a kind of instinctive fear from the deepest part of his heart, because when he was a child he witnessed his uncle being swallowed alive by a python.

So no matter what kind of snake it is, just seeing it now makes Chen Zhenghai tremble with fear and want to run away.

Fortunately, he reacted very quickly and knew that he was in a dream. Even though he was very scared, he remained calm after seeing the terrifying snake-man.

He had already locked the snake-man in the bedroom inside the house, while he ran outside into the yard.

But Chen Zhenghai had just tried to leave, but he couldn't open the gate or climb over the wall.

The gate seemed fake, and no matter how he climbed, the wall was always more than a meter away from his head, and he could never reach it.

This indicates that these places are not the exit from the dream.

Having no other choice, Chen Zhenghai returned to the house and searched everywhere before fixing his gaze on the bedroom where the snake-man was locked.

At that moment, he thought of the wardrobe.

In a typical scenario, the wardrobe is one of the easiest places to hide in an idealized setting, along with under the bed, hidden corners, and so on.

But Chen Zhenghai's abilities told him that the exit was most likely in the wardrobe.

Use this dream to trap yourself, then let something appear that terrifies you, and this thing happens to block the exit of the dream.

In Chen Zhenghai's view, all of this was not such a coincidence.

His gaze shifted downwards, landing on the crack in the locked bedroom door, where a thick, viscous liquid with a strong, bloody smell was slowly seeping out. The grotesque and terrifying image of the snake-man from earlier flashed through his mind.

He shivered violently, but Chen Zhenghai steeled himself, took out an ordinary-looking silver key, and inserted it into the bedroom lock.

He gripped the doorknob with one hand and turned the key with the other.

The moment the door opened, he gritted his teeth and rushed inside.

……

"Do I have to say it now?" Chen Zhenghai looked at Li Jiuhe in surprise.

Li Jiuhe nodded: "Everyone here has already told us how they got here, except for you."

Chen Zhenghai gave Li Jiuhe a wink, signaling him to talk about this later.

Li Jiuhe understood what he meant, but pretended not to see it: "If that's the case, why aren't you patting my shoulder now?"

This is Chen Zhenghai's habitual action. When trying to get close to someone or to build a relationship, he usually does this subconsciously.

Chen Zhenghai was stunned. His wrist had already been grabbed by Li Jiuhe, and the force was like an iron hoop, making it impossible for him to break free.

Li Jiuhe sneered, "I thought it would take some time to investigate, but I didn't expect to meet you so soon!"

"Let go! Stop grabbing me, what are you doing?!" Chen Zhenghai exclaimed in shock and anger.

This scene stunned the four people nearby, who had no idea why the two people who knew each other would suddenly start fighting.

How could Li Jiuhe let go? Instead, he reached out with his other hand and grabbed Chen Zhenghai by the neck.

During this process, he discovered that although his strength was not as great as it was in the real world, it was still far beyond that of ordinary people.

Just as he was about to pin the guy to the ground, his hands suddenly went empty, and "Chen Zhenghai" vanished into thin air.

This scene startled the four people, who cried out in alarm and quickly retreated.

Li Jiuhe, having lost sight of his target, collapsed to the ground. He immediately stood up and looked around.

At the end of the corridor, where he had just appeared, Chen Zhenghai was standing, looking around in surprise before fixing his gaze on this side.

"Where...where did he go!" The young woman immediately pointed to Chen Zhenghai not far away and reminded Li Jiuhe.

Li Jiuhe quickly stepped forward, and when he saw the look in Chen Zhenghai's eyes, his heart skipped a beat.

As he approached his opponent, he didn't attack again, but quickly said, "Prove to me that you are the real Chen Zhenghai."

Chen Zhenghai looked surprised, but he quickly realized what was happening and calmed down.

He reached out to pat Li Jiuhe's shoulder, but hesitated for a moment and did not complete the action. He simply said, "I'm afraid of snakes. In the dream just now, there was a 'snake man,' which was obviously meant to restrain me and deliberately blocked the exit of the dream, preventing me from leaving."

Chen Zhenghai was very clever. Just from Li Jiuhe's question, he knew that the other party had most likely encountered another version of himself.

Moreover, the person impersonating him must have been very convincing, making it difficult to distinguish; he must be the Nightmare One.

Furthermore, Chen Zhenghai didn't know whether the Nightmare Master, while discerning each person's dreams, would also know that person's other memories.

If we can understand this, then his current recounting of past events does not prove that he is the real Chen Zhenghai.

Only by truthfully recounting what just happened can we let Li Jiuhe make his own judgment.

However, Li Jiuhe was familiar with his unfinished habitual movements.

He smiled and nodded slightly: "This explanation... is barely acceptable, but we still need to observe it further."

Chen Zhenghai smiled and asked, "What's the situation now?"

Li Jiuhe looked troubled: "It's not easy. This guy should have absolute control over this place. We just fell asleep, and he already discovered our intentions. Moreover, our first dream was obviously altered, so we can't investigate secretly at all now."

Chen Zhenghai naturally noticed this as well.

A slight smile played on his lips: "Then there's no need to hide it anymore, let's investigate openly."