Chapter 760: The Same Method Again

Chen Shi said, “Actually, last night, I had a similar dream to yours. But I didn’t agree to anything the girl proposed. Doesn’t it strike you as odd? If she can ‘buy’ anyone with dreams, why didn’t she let me experience it first? It’s because this is all part of a hypnotic process, making you fall deeper step by step… Last night, while you were sleeping, someone was talking to you, guiding you into those dreams.”

Xin Bai gasped in fear, “You mean the Dream Lord appeared as a girl in your dream?”

“Was she different in yours?”

“She was a girl too, but a monster with tentacles for legs and strange symbols floating around her…”

“That’s exactly like the small statue you saw in the prison. For me, I first saw the girl, so the Dream Lord in my dream looked like her… This is all just a plot. Someone is trying to stop our investigation, which means we’re close to the truth.”

Xin Bai mumbled, “But that dream was really nice…”

“Wake up! Immersing yourself in dreams will turn you into a useless puppet, controlled by those dreams. That’s their method… Look at you, you haven’t even updated your writing in days!”

Xin Bai looked ashamed. “I’ll write today, I promise.”

Lin Dongxue asked, “Should we continue investigating here in the town or return to the city?”

“Back to the city. I don’t care about what happened in the past. Right now, the most important thing is to prevent any more murders.”

The three of them bought tickets for the last bus back home. Exhausted from the day, Chen Shi fell asleep on the bus. Half-awake, he heard someone whispering in his ear, “Wang Wu Chen Lu! Wang Wu Chen Lu!”

He jolted awake, finding himself back in that small dilapidated room with the TV playing “The Ring,” at its most eerie part.

“Damn it!”

He turned to run outside, seeing the sky covered in a blood-red hue, pressing down ominously. The town was in ruins, ashes from a great fire covering the ground.

People were kneeling on the streets, struggling, with blue flames bursting from their bodies. They screamed in agony. A burning person rushed at Chen Shi, who quickly dodged.

Everyone in the town was spontaneously combusting. The ashes on the ground were all that remained of them.

Driven by some force, he reached a place, a large platform made of house remnants. At the top, a girl in a school uniform, her face and hands covered in blood, knelt with her hands stretched towards the sky, her eyes filled with despair.

“Lastakih kunda, hatakiris, eikitsu sariya wakcho…”

With these strange words, a vortex appeared in the sky directly above the platform. From it emerged a half-naked woman with tentacles for legs and white, blank eyes.

The monster floated slowly towards the girl on the platform. Chen Shi noticed the girl was holding a pulsating red object, her chest gaping with a huge hole, dark blood staining her uniform.

“Master of dreams, I offer myself to you. Punish those who have harmed me!” The girl cried out into the storm.

As Chen Shi watched in horror, the monster wrapped its tentacles around the girl, hugging her with its upper body, placing its face gently on her forehead in a grotesque display of affection.

“This is the truth you seek. A poor girl sacrificed herself to gain the power to avenge her tormentors!”

A calm voice came from behind. Chen Shi turned to see the little girl in a white dress, holding a bouquet of blood-red flowers.

“Don’t try to deceive me with this. These are just fleeting thoughts from my mind…” Chen Shi pointed to the sky. “This is my dream, and dreams are always bizarre and exaggerated.”

The girl smiled faintly, “You’ll never understand that kind of hatred. It burns like flames, tearing your chest apart, making it hard to breathe!”

“No, I do understand. I’ve wanted to kill someone before, but living for revenge is a pathetic existence.”

“Have you ever asked yourself, where is Song Lang if you are Chen Shi? Did he disappear, or is he still in you, that wounded soul waking up when you sleep?”

Chen Shi looked at his hands and face. He was Chen Shi in this dream!

No, wait, why believe this?

He needed to wake up from this damned dream. He turned and ran, reaching a cliff. Without hesitation, he jumped. The falling sensation jolted him awake, sweating, finding himself on the bus with the sun heating his body. Lin Dongxue was looking at him in surprise.

“What happened?”

“Did anyone get off the bus just now?” Chen Shi asked.

“A thin man got off after you fell asleep.”

The same method again!!!

Chen Shi stood up, asking the driver to stop. The driver refused, so he sat back down, holding his head, still shaken by the dream.

Lin Dongxue handed him a wet wipe. “Here, wipe your sweat.”

“Thanks.” Chen Shi took it.

“You often have nightmares. Sometimes, I’m afraid to sleep with you. You yell in your sleep.”

“I… I have a troubled mind,” Chen Shi admitted with a wry smile.

“Don’t worry, I won’t ask. Tell me when you’re ready.” Lin Dongxue smiled.

“Thank you,” Chen Shi felt a warmth in his heart.

“By the way!” Lin Dongxue picked up her phone. “I just looked up Du Zilin. Do you know who he is? After graduating, he started his own business. By his thirties, he was worth over a hundred million. But that’s not why he’s famous. Have you heard of the 6.21 accident?”

Chen Shi thought for a moment. “I remember a driver who, without drinking, taking drugs, or driving tired, drove onto a sidewalk and killed thirteen people. The court presented a psychiatric report claiming he had acute transient psychosis, and he was only sentenced to ten years.”

“Exactly, that’s the case. The driver was Du Zilin. He’s well-known because of that… He’s been released early after three reductions in his sentence and is now in Long’an.”