Chapter 49 - 46: The Soon-to-be-Slain Dream Descender

Chapter 49: Chapter 46: The Soon-to-be-Slain Dream Descender

Baijiang City, Chaoyang District.

A small clinic, hidden in a bustling market district.

The clinic wasn’t an illegal operation—it had a proper business license. But it did indeed handle some business that couldn’t see the light of day.

In the clinic’s basement, a young man in a white coat and glasses was looking at the haggard patient before him.

The patient’s shirt was open, revealing a large, cyan, spiderweb-like mark on his chest. The mark seemed to be composed of countless blood vessels, and it was still throbbing faintly.

The doctor spoke. "Sorry, but this is damage caused by Curse Object erosion. Surgical removal is useless; it might even cause the damage to spread. I’ve prescribed you a few bottles of painkillers and stimulants. Just bear with it. If you can endure one or two months without using a Curse Object, the damage will start to heal."

The doctor’s diagnosis caused the color to drain from Li Wei’s face, leaving him increasingly pale.

His voice was hoarse. "Is there... no other way, Doctor?"

’How could I possibly not use a Curse Object?’

A Dream Descender had to face a Nightmare every few days, or at most every ten-odd days. Without a Curse Object, how was he supposed to survive in the perilous Nightmare World?

The doctor adjusted his glasses. "Of course there is. As long as you can bring me a Treasure Medicine, like a Heart-Subduing Fruit or Heat-Reducing Grass, I can concoct a potion for you that will take effect in three to five days."

Li Wei clenched his fists, then let them fall open limply. He stumbled out of the clinic, completely devastated.

"Treasure Medicine?" he murmured.

He had been a Dream Descender for three months. Relying on his own caution, decisiveness, and development of his Curse Objects, Li Wei had managed to get through one Nightmare after another without any major incidents.

He was now a Dream Descender at the Peak of Fusion Stage. He possessed one Lifebound Complete Curse Object, one Incomplete Level Curse Object, and some Ordinary Materials.

Among independent Senior Dream Descenders, he was already considered one of the more well-off ones.

If things had gone smoothly, Li Wei was confident he could have broken through to the Control Stage after just two or three more Nightmares.

Then, he would be able to survive more comfortably in the Nightmare World. He might even have been able to join a major Dream Descender organization as a mid-level member.

Everything had been heading in the right direction.

Until...

Yesterday!

Li Wei had clearly made it through the Nightmare successfully, but he’d been careless and was caught in the backlash of a Nightmare disaster that bled into reality. Affected by the bizarre fallout and the erosion from his Curse Object, he was reduced to his current haggard state.

In his current physical and mental state, if he were to fall into a Nightmare, he had almost no confidence he would survive!

’I have to get treatment! But Dr. Wu was clear—I need a Treasure Medicine to recover quickly.’

Dr. Wu’s Dream Descender clinic had been open for over a year now.

Li Wei didn’t know how powerful Dr. Wu was, but he had to be strong. There was no reason, and no need, for him to lie.

But...

’Treasure Medicine! Where am I supposed to find a Treasure Medicine?’

’I’ve saved up a fair amount these past three months, but...’

’Buy a Treasure Medicine? It’s not enough!’

’Buy one on the black market? I definitely couldn’t afford it. Healing-type Treasure Medicines have always been the most valuable kind!’

’Ask the Countermeasures Bureau for help?’

Li Wei shook his head. ’The Countermeasures Bureau would never use a precious Treasure Medicine potion on me. And in my current mental state, they might just lock me up for being a ’potential public menace’!’

Although the Countermeasures Bureau seemed to have a decent reputation, Li Wei absolutely refused to gamble when his own life was on the line.

He started making phone calls.

Over the past few months, he had met a few other Dream Descenders through the black market and the Mutual Aid Association.

He was on pretty good terms with a couple of them.

He called Brother Wang, with whom he had cleared a Nightmare before.

"Hey, is that Brother Wang? I was hoping to borrow some Dream... oh, I see."

"Hey, Brother Huang, you free to meet up tonight? I have something I need to talk about..."

Li Wei silently hung up the phone.

It wasn’t just that he couldn’t borrow any Dream Dust; the Dream Descenders he knew were all avoiding him.

He even called the director of the local Mutual Aid Association.

"Ah, Li Wei. You know as well as I do, the Mutual Aid Association is essentially just a loose organization. Everyone’s got their own pressures to survive; it’s not easy for anyone. How about this: I’ll ask around for you, see if there are any methods to control the erosion. I’m sure an outstanding young man like you can definitely pull through this ordeal."

Li Wei walked down the street, completely dejected.

One day,

Two days,

Three days,

Li Wei couldn’t borrow any Dream Dust, and he couldn’t find any Treasure Medicine.

Because of his unstable mental state over the past few days, the Curse Object erosion on his body had worsened.

Li Wei’s body grew heavier. His eyes were bloodshot, and his hair was a mess. Even pedestrians on the street would shy away from him.

"How did it come to this?"

"I worked so hard to get through all the previous Nightmares."

"I was just a hair’s breadth away from the Control Stage. The hardest part was almost over."

"But..."

And then, suddenly, he was crushed.

Crushed without any warning.

’This must be what it means to be a Dream Descender.’

Li Wei lay on his bed. The bed boards felt cold and hard, and they were damp, carrying a salty, fishy smell.

He suddenly realized something was wrong. When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in his bedroom, but clearly in a damp, cold underpass beneath a bridge.

’How did I end up sleeping under a bridge?’

"No, that’s not right! It’s a Nightmare!"

"I’ve fallen into a Nightmare!"

Even though he had experienced this kind of sudden fall into a dream before, a chill ran through Li Wei’s entire body.

After all, this time, he had absolutely no confidence.

Li Wei staggered onward, walking along a damp riverbank. In the distance, the river flowed murkily. The sky was blanketed in haze, and wisps of gray fog drifted about.

And on his chest, the erosive mark was still trembling, sending waves of tearing pain through him.

Li Wei felt the urge to just give up and die. But then he thought of his parents with their graying temples, and the grief they would feel burying their own son, and the will to live surged through him once more.

But his will to live was still not enough to escape the cold, hard reality.

He was dying.

After using his Curse Object one more time to escape danger, Li Wei collapsed to the ground.

An illusion seemed to appear before his eyes.

A shop had appeared, with a sign standing in front of it.

"This establishment provides reliable, safe shelter, as well as self-service food and drinks."

"Safe Zone Fee: 100g of Dream Dust."

’One hundred grams of Dream Dust?’

Dream Descenders were all accustomed to keeping Dream Dust on their person. At the very least, they would store some in a Dream Curse Object that had fused with their body, to prevent being caught without any available Dream Dust during a sudden fall into a dream.

But,

one hundred grams of Dream Dust was no small amount!

Although a Dream Descender was guaranteed to get over a hundred grams of Dream Dust from a single Nightmare,

getting through a Nightmare always required using Curse Objects, and each use consumed several, or even a dozen, grams of Dream Dust. Dream Descenders also usually needed to buy supplements to make up for the physical toll. Developing and fusing Curse Objects consumed massive amounts of Dream Dust as well.

And that wasn’t even mentioning the cost of buying things like Dream Materials, Dream Equipment, or recovery medicine.

Li Wei had been a Dream Descender for three months and experienced a total of 17 Nightmares, but he only had a little over a hundred grams of Dream Dust in his pocket.

The most valuable thing he had on him was the Incomplete Curse Object he’d found in a Nightmare once.

100g. It was very expensive.

If he spent this hundred grams of Dream Dust, he wouldn’t even have enough left to use his Curse Objects more than a few times.

Then again, he couldn’t use his Curse Objects many more times anyway.

Li Wei walked to the shop’s entrance and took out a small square box containing his Dream Dust.

Inside the box, the Dream Dust dissolved into smoke, particle by particle. After about two-thirds of it was consumed, the shop door creaked open.

Li Wei staggered inside.

He entered a clean, cozy shop filled with melodious music.

A middle-aged man dressed in a butler’s suit spoke. "Welcome to the Safe Zone, friend. From this moment on, you will no longer be slain by the Nightmare."