Seizing Dreams

“Get ready for access to the integrator!”

“We’ve succeeded!”

“That kid’s self-consciousness is disappearing.”

In the underground research room, a huge EEG chart was displayed on the screen. Zhou Sheng’s brain waves were growing extremely weak, while Ren Chong’s wave bands had occupied the entire screen. Zhou Sheng, who was fastened onto the chair, was convulsing from head to toe, and bluish veins could be seen on his arms.

A leaf glowed with a golden light, its edges seeming to burn with a golden flame.

“Is this Zhou Sheng’s?” Yu Hao asked, “I must go into Zhou Sheng’s subconscious world.”

Golden Crow Wheel motioned for Yu Hao to stand on the leaf. The leaf emitted a faint light. Yu Hao noticed that there were several other leaves next to this leaf, and they were connected to Zhou Sheng’s leaf.

“What do the connected leaves represent?” Yu Hao asked.

“Spiritual connection.” Golden Crow Wheel answered.

Yu Hao, “Why are ours so far apart from each other?”

Golden Crow Wheel said, “This is the exit of your subconscious world.”

Yu Hao, “Oh that’s not far, I just didn’t recognise it…these leaves all look the same. Send me in ba.”

He stood at the entrance to Zhou Sheng’s subconscious and waited for the door to open, or for him to be transported in. But even after he waited for a long time, nothing happened.

“The conscious world is being disturbed,” Golden Crow Wheel said, “It’s impassable.”

Yu Hao, “……”

Golden Crow Wheel said, “You must return to the subconscious or surface consciousness world and wait for the disturbance to be removed. Time will not move here.”

“He’s on that machine now.” Yu Hao murmured, “In that case, it’s probably impossible to go into Ren Chong’s subconscious too. But how do I know when he’ll get off that machine?”

Golden Crow Wheel didn’t answer. Yu Hao took a deep breath and reminded himself not to panic.

“Can I enter the subconscious of someone who’s awake?”

“Can not enter when they’re awake.” Golden Crow Wheel answered.

So he can’t enter other people’s dreams either. Yu Hao still wanted to take a gamble. He asked, “Search ‘Zhao Liang’.”

“‘Sleeping’ was not found.” Golden Crow Wheel said.

“Ren Chong’s currently vying over the totem with him…” Yu Hao said, “Must think of a way to get them both off the machine and returned to reality too…My God, what should I do now? Wait, is Huang Ting still in his dream? Is he awake? Search for ‘Huang Ting’!”

Golden Crow Wheel turned around and didn’t walk too far away. He walked up to a leaf. Yu Hao said, “I want to enter his subconscious world!”

A door appeared on the leaf, and Yu Hao thought, that’s great!

“I still need your help.” Yu Hao held the door handle and said to Golden Crow Wheel.

“In your conscious world, you can use my functions within the scope of your permissions.” Golden Crow Wheel answered.

“See you.” Yu Hao suppressed the unease he felt and resolutely opened the door. An icy cold white mist could be seen beyond the door, and it suddenly sucked him into Huang Ting’s subconscious world!

“Huang Ting!” Yu Hao looked left and right. This conscious world did not collapse, so that is to say, Huang Ting was still in the dreamscape on the surface. A barrier appeared around him. He spread his wings and flew past the fog. According to the judgment imposed on the situation in his own subconscious world, he flew towards the bright side.

Many roaring, colossal monsters appeared in the fog. Yu Hao glided through quickly, and he avoided arms that sporadically reached out from within the fog to grab him. With one spurt of energy, he rushed out of the subconscious area!

The fog had already swallowed most of the maze, and it was currently corroding its way to the center. Yu Hao paid close attention to the surrounding mechanisms.

Fortunately, he was close to the center of the maze, so there weren’t as many mechanisms anymore. Yu Hao walked into the courtyard in the middle and suddenly saw that the pond in the courtyard had swirled into a black whirlpool. Huang Ting was walking toward the whirlpool from the shore.

“Huang Ting!” Yu Hao shouted. Huang Ting turned around, and terrifying screams could be heard within the whirlpool. Countless hands reached out from within, and they actually wanted to drag Huang Ting into the water!

“Yu Hao?” Huang Ting looked very calm as he stopped walking.

Behind him, a massive monster that seemed to be pieced together from many corpses slowly rose from the black whirlpool, and there were numerous hands dripping with blood as well. Like a scene from hell in an oil painting, it kept approaching Huang Ting.

Yu Hao spread his wings out and rushed forward. He shouted, “Huang Ting!’

For a moment, he could vaguely feel a sense of danger— Huang Ting was on the verge of losing control over his conscious world, just like how he faced the darkness beyond the Great Wall in the beginning and was about to jump down. It’s fortunate he came now, otherwise Huang Ting’s entire dreamscape would have completely collapsed!

Right when Yu Hao lunged at him, the monster behind Huang Ting roared madly and shot out viscous streams of blood that knocked Yu Hao squarely in his chest, sending him flying straight out and stuck him tightly to a wall! Yu Hao’s hands were parted, with a dagger in each of them, but he couldn’t even budge an inch.

“Wake up! Huang Ting!” Yu Hao shouted.

Huang Ting stood by the pond with his back to the giant, rotten corpse monster. He looked back.

“How does it feel like for someone’s life to end?” Huang Ting murmured, “It’s finally my turn today.”

Yu Hao, “……”

“I arrested someone before.” Huang Ting said to Yu Hao, “When he was handcuffed by me, he told me that I would die as well one day…I wasn’t the least bit afraid then. What I said was that, ‘I’m not afraid of death, but you are.'”

Yu Hao’s chest heaved fiercely. He saw the giant rotten monster stretching out dozens of bloody hands from behind to catch Huang Ting’s shoulders, wrists, and ankles, pulling him back and into its arms.

“Some people died because of you.” Yu Hao’s gasps eased, “But there are even more people who survived because of the choices you made, Huang Ting.”

Huang Ting answered, “But at this moment, the people I saved won’t come to save me. These bodily curses follow me relentlessly like my shadows. They’ve been accompanying me every night after I found out that I’m sick…”

“Yes, right?” Yu Hao couldn’t struggle anymore because of the sticky blood that enveloped his whole body. He spun the dagger between his fingers, grasped the blade, and said in a low voice, “I understand that feeling. You saved so many people, but in the end, no one can come to save you.”

“Yes.” Huang Ting said, “These days, I’ve always been wondering what on earth I’m living for…”

Yu Hao shouted, “When you do all these things! Isn’t it for the sake of not letting the pain you’ve experienced happen again to someone else?!”

Huang Ting fell silent and looked at Yu Hao. Yu Hao mustered all his strength to shout, “You’ve had enough of tasting the fear and feeling of facing death head-on. You’ve experienced this kind of reluctance and helplessness, but what you’ve been guarding all your life, wasn’t it because you didn’t want anyone else to experience that kind of feeling anymore?!”

Huang Ting’s eyes suddenly widened. Yu Hao said in a low voice, “Wake up! You can still fight! Even if you don’t have much time left, why don’t you liberate yourself once?! What about your principles? Your justice?! What’s the point of dying in such a stifling way?!”

After he spoke, Yu Hao’s five fingers clenched tightly, and his hand was instantly drenched in blood, then he opened them up again. Huang Ting extended a hand out, but his body still couldn’t avoid being dragged toward the rotten corpse giant!

The motorcade drove onto an elevated highway. Yu Hao, who was in deep sleep, suddenly grasped Fu Liqun’s hand tightly, then let go just as quickly.

“He sent us a signal!” Fu Liqun said.

“So fast?” Chen Yekai said, “It hasn’t even been fifteen minutes.”

Ou Qihang immediately threw the medicine into the back seat, then adjusted the passenger seat such that it lay flat. Chen Yekai drove the car off the elevated highway, then parked it by the road. He called Qin Guodong and asked him to send someone over to drive his car, then he said to Ou Qihang, “Go to the back.”

Chen Yekai was driving an SUV. Fu Liqun adjusted his seat and lay down. Ou Qihang was lying in the last row, and Chen Yekai went to the passenger seat. A colleague from the office came over. Chen Yekai said, “I’ll have to trouble you to drive.”

In the maze world, Huang Ting said, “I…This is a dream?”

Huang Ting was already in the firm grasp of the monster. Yu Hao took a deep breath and shouted, “Huang Ting! I know that in this world, no matter what we do, we may not get anything in return for it. In fact, everything you do may not even amount to anything from the very beginning!”

“But, you can’t leave yet.”

Dark clouds surged in the sky, revealing a gap in between. Silver white moonlight spilled through the clouds.

“Save one more soul ba.” Yu Hao said in a low voice, “Go all out one more time, because that’s what we’re living for. Regardless of whether we get anything in return, since there’s not much time left to live, why don’t you fight until the end of your life?”

Huang Ting’s pupils contracted, as if he had sobered up a little. He struggled fiercely, but he couldn’t break free from the fetters of the giant monster.

“Let me go!” Huang Ting roared angrily, “Yu Hao! Help me, quick!”

Yu Hao looked up at the sky. Three flashing figures were shooting toward the earth like meteors!”

“It’s not Zhou Sheng! It’s Huang Ting!” Chen Yekai shouted in the sky.

“Huang Ting!” Ou Qihang shouted.

“Huang Ting——!” Fu Liqun’s boiling armour was like a celestial fire shooting straight down from the sky.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh, three rays of light landed. A flying scalpel swept past and cut up the sticky blood that bound Yu Hao’s limbs. Fu Liqun wielded a long halberd, and riding on the momentum of his fall, he stomped onto the monster with one foot. Ou Qihang readied his cannon and fired a shot; the monster let out an anguished howl, and several corpses fell out. Fu Liqun slashed the monster’s body with his halberd and dragged Huang Ting out!

Yu Hao flexed his arms. Fu Liqun brought Huang Ting along with him to the edge of the pond.

“Why is it this dream?” Chen Yekai said, “Where’s Zhou Sheng?”

“There’s no time to explain!” Yu Hao said, “Help him seize his totem back first! Quick! It’s up to you now!”

Chen Yekai said, “Prepare to deal with the boss!”

“This boss shouldn’t be difficult to fight ba.” Ou Qihang retreated a little. “It should at least be easier to fight than the dragon in Liqun Ge’s dream.”

Fu Liqun, “Could you not mention my dark history?”

Yu Hao said, “Can you guys summon your mounts?”

Chen Yekai, “No, Zhou Sheng must be here for us to do so.”

Fu Liqun said, “Scheming white wolves then! Although Zhou Sheng isn’t around, we don’t need to be afraid of it!”

The corpse giant staggered and finally emerged from the pond. Its attention had been lured away by Ou Qihang’s cannon shots, and it walked towards them. Huang Ting said, “Where’s the totem?”

Yu Hao turned his head and glanced around. The moonlight landed, and within the mist above the pond, the faint outline of a symbol could be discerned.