Chapter 758: Dreams Like Drugs

Lin Dongxue received a call and hurried down the hill, finding Chen Shi dragging Xin Bai toward the town’s police station. Xin Bai was whining like a child, saying, “Wait, wait, we can talk this out,” and squatting every few steps.

They stopped a few steps away from the police station, outside a noodle shop specializing in pork intestines. A policeman standing guard at the station glanced their way. Lin Dongxue approached and said, “The fire’s out. It wasn’t too big, but the archives are all burned.”

“You didn’t expect it was him, did you?” Chen Shi barked at Xin Bai. “Why did you start the fire?”

Xin Bai stammered, unable to answer. Chen Shi sneered, dragging him into the noodle shop and asking the owner for a plate of raw pork intestines. Placing it in front of Xin Bai, he said, “If you can eat this, I won’t pursue the matter. I’ll let you go.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

Xin Bai began eating, but after a few bites, he gagged and looked miserable. “Can we settle this without going to the station? I’ll pay for the damages.”

“Coward!” Chen Shi seethed. “That depends on your confession.”

“Last… last night, I had a dream. I saw the Dream Master. She said she could give me a beautiful dream if I did something for her.”

“And you just agreed?”

“You know I can’t resist temptation. Fantasy is my whole life. If I could dream at will, it would be like having another life. So I agreed. Afterward, I suddenly found myself in this town. The streets, the mountains—everything was the same. She told me to burn the school archives. I rehearsed it in the dream. After setting the fire, she warned me to keep my promise or she would make sure I never dream again. Then I had the most wonderful dream of my life. I was the protagonist of a feel-good urban novel. The dream was so vivid I had my own consciousness. It was amazing! I spent three days in the dream!” Xin Bai smiled blissfully. “When I woke up, I felt a deep sense of loss. I even thought about buying sleeping pills to continue dreaming. Everything in the dream was so clear. If I didn’t keep my promise, she would ensure I never dream again. So I took the bus here and did what I had to do.”

Chen Shi looked at him with contempt, pointing to the plate of intestines. “Eat more!”

Xin Bai obediently took a few more bites, then turned away to retch. “It’s so disgusting. Can’t I at least have some wasabi with it?”

“You’re such a disappointment. How could you betray us so easily? Do you know what you’ve done?”

“I burned an archive room.”

“Do you know how important that archive room was to us?”

Xin Bai hung his head in silence. Lin Dongxue scolded, “Mr. Bai, how can you have no principles?”

“It’s not that I lack principles. The offer was too tempting. If it were you…”

“I’m not like you!”

Xin Bai lowered his head in shame. Chen Shi asked, “Were you the one who broke into my house last night?”

“What? I didn’t go anywhere last night. I was in my bed the whole time.”

Chen Shi asked Lin Dongxue, “What’s the penalty for arson?”

“In his case, three to ten years.”

“No, no, no!” Xin Bai panicked, waving his hands. “Let’s settle this privately. I’ll pay the school for the damages. Just don’t press charges.”

“Anyway, you could continue dreaming in prison,” Chen Shi taunted.

They took Xin Bai back to the school and explained the situation, saying he had been manipulated by a bad influence and didn’t know what he was doing. The school agreed to settle privately. Xin Bai emptied his savings, the result of a year’s worth of writing, paying for the damages with a pained expression.

Chen Shi told Xin Bai to stay put while he and Lin Dongxue checked the charred archives room to see if anything could be salvaged.

The files on the shelves were reduced to ashes. After searching, they were covered in soot. Suddenly, Lin Dongxue called out. She had found a half-burned photo beneath the ashes.

The photo showed a girl in a tattered school uniform standing at the edge of a group of happy students, her expression gloomy. To their surprise, she looked exactly like the little girl they had seen before.

“How is this possible?” Lin Dongxue was shocked.

“Maybe they’re related,” Chen Shi speculated.

“Even if they are mother and daughter, the resemblance is uncanny. Could they be the same person? The teacher said she didn’t menstruate at fifteen. It might not be just malnutrition but a pituitary problem that stunted her growth.”

Chen Shi nodded. “If that’s the case, it would explain why Chen Fengde had seen her.”

They confirmed with the teacher, who didn’t recognize the girl but said the graduation photo likely belonged to her class.

“Do you know where she lived?” Chen Shi asked.

“I don’t. I only heard rumors. You should ask around the town.”

As they left the school, Chen Shi showed Xin Bai the photo. Xin Bai was startled, “That’s her! The Dream Master! She looks just like in my dream.”

“Do you want to gather intel in your dream to redeem yourself?”

“Sure! Right now?” Xin Bai was eager.

Chen Shi took him to an inn, rented a room, and Xin Bai immediately flopped onto the bed, saying, “I’ll find the clues in my dream!” He fell asleep within a minute, a happy expression on his face.

“I can’t believe it. Being addicted to dreams is like being addicted to drugs,” Lin Dongxue said, astonished.

“Dreams can be like drugs—intensely pleasurable and easy to fall into… He won’t be running off here.”

“So, your plan is to ‘park’ him here?”

“No, I’m conducting an experiment. I don’t believe the Dream Master can grant dreams. I think his dreams are induced.”

“Induced how?”

“We’ll know when he wakes up,” Chen Shi said with a mysterious smile.

They decided to gather information at the county police station.

Regarding the mysterious girl, the police produced two files. The girl was registered as Han Meng, without a surname, because her grandparents doubted she was their blood relative. Her name was given by a female officer when she started elementary school.

One file detailed the strange death of a student in her class named Gao Lei. He didn’t come home after school one day. His family searched and eventually found his body at the school.

Gao Lei had buried his head in the long jump pit, suffocating himself. His body was bent over, legs standing, head deep in the sand, hands on the ground in a bizarre triangle.

“A janitor was so scared he was bedridden for three months,” the officer said.

No external injuries or signs of coercion were found on Gao Lei. Given the technology limitations of the time, many tests couldn’t be done. The file concluded with one line: “Gao Lei likely committed suicide.”

To understand why Gao Lei might have committed suicide, the police conducted numerous interviews. Some classmates mentioned that Gao Lei frequently bullied Han Meng.