Transmigration; A Mother's Redemption and a perfect Wife.-Chapter 343; Having a nightmare

The vibrant, orderly world of the talent shows on one monitor and the grim silence of the interrogation feed on the other held Huo Ting Cheng’s focus in a precarious balance. The only softness in the room was the rhythmic sound of Tang Fei’s breathing from the sofa.

They went on for about forty minutes, Huo Wu was learning to balance things while Twilight assisted him.

Tang Fei’s breath has been stable and grounded but then, it suddenly hitched.

A small, broken whimper cut through the silence. Huo Ting Cheng’s head snapped up, his attention instantly ripped from the screens.

On the couch, Tang Fei had gone rigid. Her fingers twisted in the blanket, her knuckles turning white. A fine sheen of sweat glistened on her brow, and her head tossed fitfully against the cushion.

In the labyrinth of her nightmare, Tang Fei was burning.

Heat. It was the first and only reality. A blistering, suffocating wave that stole her breath. The world was an inferno of orange and crimson, a once-grand mansion now a skeletal pyre against a smoke-choked sky. The acrid smell of burning wood and something else, something sickly sweet, filled her lungs, the scent of searing flesh.

Her feet were rooted to the ground, surrounded by a grotesque carpet of the fallen fresh, not just corpses, but... all kinds of parts. A hand here, a limb there, all rendered unrecognizable by the concussive force of a blast. The earth was not soil, but a muddy paste of blood and ash.

Through the roaring fire and the screams echoing in her mind, a voice called her name. A male voice, desperate and fraying at the edges, laced with a pain so profound it felt physical.

"Fei... Fei...!"

She spun around, her heart hammering against her ribs, but she saw no one. Only the consuming fire. Yet the voice was achingly familiar, a sound that resonated in the deepest, most protected part of her soul.

And then she saw them.

Standing just beyond the ring of fire, untouched and shrouded in a sinister clarity, were the figures of her family. Their faces, usually masks of false affection, were now twisted into sneers of pure contempt. They pointed at her, their laughter a sharp, cruel counterpoint to the voice calling her name.

"You are the reason for his death today!" Her father’s voice rang out, cold and sharp as a blade, twisting her heart painfully.

"He is dying because of you..." her mother chimed in, her smile a venomous curve.

"It’s your fault... hahaha... You are so naive!" a sibling jeered. "Who told you we love you? You are a nobody... a tool!"

Their words lashed at her, each one a fresh wound. But the final blow came from them all in unison, a chorus of condemnation that shattered what was left of her dream-self.

"Because of your betrayal, you caused the death of the only person who truly loved you!"

The voice calling her name gave one last, agonized cry, and was abruptly silenced.

Back in the pentoffice, Tang Fei’s whimpers escalated into a choked, breathless scream. "No! Don’t..!"

In an instant, Huo Ting Cheng was there. He didn’t shake her awake, but gathered her into his arms, pulling her tightly against his chest. Her body trembled violently, drenched in cold sweat.

"Tang Fei," he said, his voice firm, an anchor in her storm. "Wake up. You are dreaming."

He repeated it, his hand cradling the back of her head, his other arm a solid band around her, holding the shattered pieces of her nightmare together. "It’s not real. You are safe with me."

On the opposite couch, Huo Wu had frozen, her tablet forgotten in his lap, his face etched with worry, and so was Twilight.

Tang Fei’s eyes flew open, wide with unseeing terror, gasping for air as if she’d been drowning. For a long moment, she stared into nothingness, the horrors of the dream still clinging to her. Then, her frantic gaze focused on Huo Ting Cheng’s face, on the solid reality of his jawline and the unwavering certainty in his eyes.

The terror broke. A ragged sob tore from her throat, and she buried her face in his shoulder, her hands fisting in his shirt as if he were the only thing keeping her from being swept back into the fire and blood she had just witnessed. She wept, for the phantom voice, for the searing betrayal, for the overwhelming guilt that the nightmare had made so vividly real.

Huo Ting Cheng held her, his posture a fortress against her pain. But over the top of her head, his eyes met Huo Wu’s. In their depths, the storm of his fury had been whipped into a silent, deadly hurricane. The nightmare was not just a dream; it was a ghost from her past, a wound that had been violently reopened.

And he would ensure that those responsible would learn the true meaning of hell.

"Shhh, it was a dream," Huo Ting Cheng murmured into her hair, his voice a low, steady vibration against her trembling form. "Only a dream. Just a dream..."

Tang Fei shook her head wildly, her fingers digging into his arms. "No... it wasn’t. It was... it was real. I felt it." She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to claw back the fading images. "The fire... the voices... they said... I caused..."

She faltered, her breath catching in a sob of frustration, "I can’t... I can’t remember anything! It’s all slipping away!" The harder she tried to grasp the specifics, the faster they dissolved into vague, terrifying feelings of guilt and betrayal. The effort sent a sharp, stabbing pain lancing through her temples. She cried out, her hands flying to clutch her head as if to keep it from splitting open.

Huo Ting Cheng’s expression tightened. He saw the torment in her eyes, the physical pain of a mind fighting against its own barriers. He couldn’t let her chase those ghosts, not now, not when she was so vulnerable.

"Tang Fei," he said, his voice commanding her attention. When her pain-glazed eyes met his, he didn’t offer words. Instead, he captured her mouth in a passionate, consuming kiss.