Nightmare’s Call

As soon as he got home, Lin Sheng quickly wolfed down his dinner and gave an excuse to sleep early. He returned to his room once he brushed his teeth.

After the unusual happenings in his dream the day before, Lin Sheng was rather excited to dream again that night.

He changed into his tracksuit and sports shoes, then lay sideways in bed. He began to relax and memorize his political textbooks.

Ten minutes later, he started to feel sleepy.

As he closed his eyes, he could feel his consciousness sink into a deep abyss…

*Clack!*

The box near his chest rolled to the ground.

Lin Sheng quickly got up and held his blade tightly while he scanned his surroundings.

He was sitting along the edge of the bed his room, and next to his feet was the metal box that he had been holding on to earlier.

There was still a sea of crimson darkness outside his bedroom. Nothing was visible.

A bizarre silence and calmness permeated throughout the area.

As he stood up, Lin Sheng reflexively looked at the alarm clock by the bed’s headboard.

The needles on the alarm clock had stopped at the twelve o’clock position, neither one of them ticking anymore.

“Don’t tell me I can’t return to Blackfeather City any longer?” He picked up his sword and looked around.

There were minor chips on the edge of the sword’s blade, but aside from that, things were not very different from when he was last in Blackfeather City.

Then there was the box.

Lin Sheng peered around and only found himself in the room. The door and windows were locked.

He finally bent down and pressed the lock of the box.

There were a few deep gashes on the lock, which resulted from his hacking with black sword earlier.

One of the deeper gashes had torn halfway into the lock.

Lin Sheng pondered a bit before he lifted his sword and aimed for the gash.

*Clang!*

He struck hard.

With a rip of the air, the extremely sharp corrupted blade bit into the gash again, and deeper did it bite.

“It’s working!” The moment Lin Sheng saw the effect after he pulled his blade away, he readied himself for the second strike.

Five strikes were delivered one after another. Finally, the yellow lock broke and clattered as it fell on the ground.

Lin Sheng quickly picked up the lock and squatted to open the box.

Suddenly, his eyes widened as he seemingly saw someone standing outside his room window.

The figure had been staring at him for a while with an impassive look.

“Who’s there?” Lin Sheng looked up but found nothing there when he did so.

Yet, his instincts told him that there were other entities besides him here…

He quickly swept his gaze across the place and gripped his sword tightly as he picked the box up and placed it on the study table.

He then opened the box.

*Clack.*

The top cover knocked against the table’s surface with an audible clack.

Lin Sheng’s gaze was immediately caught by the items in the box.

There was a dagger with a wavy blade, a leather scroll, and a mysterious brown rock.

Those three items were the most eye-catching inside the box.

Other than that, there were a couple of currencies with carvings of feathers and a soaring eagle on them.

Lin Sheng grabbed the scroll and unbound it. With a slip, the brown scroll opened, and the first line on the scroll elated him.

“Details of the Beckoning Ritual.”

Beneath that was an illustration of the matrix, a diagram made out of two overlapping diamonds.

Along the spaces within the diagram were all kinds of runes.

However, Lin Sheng was not interested in that, but the materials needed for the ritual. There were detailed drawings for every material required.

“Ten Blackblooms, one standard unit of gold, nine standard units of silver powder, ten standard units of red crystal powder, one standard unit of the user’s blood.”

“Blackbloom…” Lin Sheng had never studied plants and was not sure if there was such a thing. He just needed to remember the picture on the scroll and search for it online once he woke up.

“Aside from the Blackbloom, I have the rest, but this is much more expensive than before… Ten bloody units of red crystal powder…”

The moment Lin Sheng saw the requirements, his heart skipped a beat.

He could only hope that man-made crystals would work, or else he would have to settle for some lower-quality ones…

The activation chant was on the scroll, and it seemed like it was in Ancient Rehn; Lin Sheng repeated it a couple of times and only stopped once he managed to get a grasp of it.

He then carefully placed the scroll in his shirt for safekeeping.

It was impossible for him to memorize the activation chant in such a short time, so he had to bring it along with him.

As for the rest of the items, he did not touch them. He just left them there.

After he closed the box, he placed it underneath his bed before he picked his sword up.

Only then did he have the time to take a measure of his surroundings.

“I remember the first time, just right before I entered Blackfeather City in the dream realm; it was here, through a rift in my own house.”

Lin Sheng gently pushed the door open and walked out to the corridor.

On the side of the corridor was a window that bled crimson light.

As he closed the door, Lin Sheng carefully walked along the corridor toward the intersection between the living room and kitchen.

He immediately turned into the kitchen. The last time he got to Blackfeather City, it was through the rift in the kitchen.

Yet, the kitchen wall was now unscathed without any signs of a rift.

Lin Sheng slowly made his way in the kitchen with his sword in hand.

After checking around, he did not find any rifts in the kitchen wall. It was spotless, just as it was in reality.

If not for the moving red light outside the kitchen window, Lin Sheng would have mistaken it for reality.

After he left the kitchen, he entered the bathroom.

It was normal there as well.

Lin Sheng turned the faucet on, and only a few droplets came out before the hissing of air current followed.

He then turned off the faucet and headed toward the hall.

The hall was all quiet. The sofa, television, cupboards, and even the calendar hanging on the door were the same as they were in reality.

The air was still, as though the time there had been still for a very, very long time.

Lin Sheng walked toward the TV and held his hand out to press the switch, trying to see if the TV was operable or not.

All of a sudden, a knock on the door echoed across the hall.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

Lin Sheng immediately tensed up. This was his dream, and it had been silent right up to the sudden knock on the door.

“Anyone home?”

A gentle female voice came from outside.

Lin Sheng took a deep breath and slowly made his way to the door.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

The knocking rang out again.

“I’m Auntie Chen from the opposite house. Open up, I’m here to give you something.”

Lin Sheng reached out and pushed the lid over the peephole, placing his eye on it.

There was nothing but roiling black mist outside, and a middle-aged lady was actually standing in the middle of it.

That familiar face and smile… It really was Auntie Chen!

*Knock, knock, knock.*

“Anyone home?”

Lin Sheng noticed that the woman’s eyes moved a little before looking at the peephole.

“Is there no one home? I’m coming in, then?

“I’m coming in, then?

“Coming in, then?”

Lin Sheng took a few steps back and clenched his fist as a sense of mortal danger closed in on him.