Chapter 132: Dreams Originate From the Heart

Holding the Underworld Live Show Phone, I repeatedly reread the text message. Compared to my previous ones, this broadcast had a fundamental difference.

'Use the Paulownia Mulberry Talisman to enter Huang Xue's Dream Realm? Am I supposed to broadcast a dream?' I didn't understand the Underworld Live Show's intent, nor did I know how to use the Paulownia Mulberry Talisman. This broadcast felt doomed to fail before it even began.

'My remaining points are less than ten, so I can't opt out of the broadcast. If I fail tonight, will I end up like Xia Chi?'

'After struggling for so long, is there still no way to change the final outcome?'

Unwilling to give up, I carefully recalled the voice on the phone and the contents of the text message.

'I must have met the person who called me somewhere before. His voice was incredibly familiar.'

'Hated by everyone, forced to choose between suicide and killing them all—who fits these conditions?'

'Unforgivable, those who have been hurt will eventually become a Nightmare—what do these words mean?'

After a moment of thought, a name slowly surfaced in my mind. 'Could it be him? But isn't he already dead?'

There were still four hours until the broadcast began. I needed to seize every second to prepare. 'This broadcast is tied to the Dream Realm. Dreams are so illusory, and it doesn't seem like anyone around me knows how to interpret them.'

Just as I started to feel frustrated, the image of a girl flashed through my mind.

'Sakurako! Right, she can see ghosts in her sleep. She must know something about the Dream Realm.'

Packing the phone and all the broadcasting tools into the Black Leather Suitcase, I left Bai Qi to guard the house while I took a taxi to the Blues Bar.

After a ten-minute drive, I stepped into the bar. The place was already a chaotic frenzy. Off-duty white-collar workers and permed students were partying wildly on the dance floor, burning off their excess hormones.

Pushing through the crowd, I reached the bar.

"Sir, what can I get you?"

"Where's your boss? I need to see her." Led by a waiter, I walked into a private room deep inside the bar, which was far quieter than the chaos outside.

"Boss, someone's here for you." The waiter and I stood dumbfounded at the door. Wearing thigh-high black stockings, Onitsuka Ayaka was lounging seductively on the sofa. She held a slim cigarette in one hand and an elementary school math textbook in the other, frowning as she checked Sakurako's homework.

"Could your posture for checking homework be any more seductive?" Carrying the Black Leather Suitcase into the room, I was short on time and got straight to the point. "Boss, I have a few questions for you about Sakurako."

Onitsuka Ayaka waved the waiter away. She got up lazily to close the door, shooting me a bewitching glance. "Speak. What kind of designs do you have on Sakurako now?"

"Be reasonable. That sounded incredibly sketchy and shows a complete lack of trust in me." Still holding the Black Leather Suitcase, I had just sat down on the sofa when someone tugged at my shirt. Turning my head, I saw Sakurako obediently handing me a glass of juice.

"Flirting right in front of me. Gao Jian, it's not that I don't trust you; I just don't trust any male creature." Onitsuka Ayaka slipped off her high heels and sat on my other side. A slender cigarette rested between her red lips. Her eyes were alluring, her fingers slowly twirling the cigarette.

"Stop right there!" My body stiffened, and I quickly pulled away from this dangerous woman.

"Words are deceptive, but the body expresses everything honestly." Onitsuka Ayaka sometimes truly seemed like a fox spirit. Every move she made carried a captivating magic.

"I'm here on urgent business today, so please show a little restraint." The fifth broadcast was about to begin; I didn't have the time to waste around here.

I gently picked Sakurako up and set her on my lap. "Kiddo, I'm going to ask you a few things, and you need to answer honestly."

Organizing my thoughts, I began. "I have that talisman that was tucked inside your notebook. Do you know how to use it?"

Sakurako shook her head. She picked up a pen and paper from the table and wrote, "I don't know. I just feel like that item is very important to me."

"After discovering your special ability, have you ever tried to actively enter someone else's Dream Realm?"

"I've tried, but it depends on the person. I can't guarantee a hundred percent success rate."

"What exactly is a dream to you? Can you describe it for me?"

"Very real. It's like another world."

Sakurako's answer caught me off guard. Her view on dreams was completely different from the mainstream consensus.

"Why the sudden interest in the Dream Realm? Young people should live in the present." Onitsuka Ayaka placed her cigarette on the table and exhaled a puff of smoke. "When I took Sakurako to see a doctor in the past, a hypnotist told me that dreams are the manifestation of the subconscious. They are a reliable path to it. A dream is a virtual fulfillment of desires, repressed subconscious urges or wishes appearing in the brain in an altered form. These impulses and desires, which are unacceptable to social morals while awake, are repressed and cannot surface. But during sleep, the vigilance of consciousness relaxes, allowing these urges and desires to express themselves."

"A dream is the embodiment of the subconscious?" The Dream Realm was an existence that couldn't be analyzed with logic, so I didn't quite understand.

"Who knows? I also met a Japanese monk once. He said that our normal perception of the world's phenomena is due to the six roots: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. They constantly attract the six external elements of form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and dharma, which in turn produce all sorts of cognitive functions."

"But when we sleep at night, our eyes no longer see, and our ears no longer hear. The other five roots stop working, leaving only the mind to remain active on its own. Therefore, you could say that dreams originate from the heart."

"Dreams will dig up the deepest secrets in your heart. In a dream, you have nowhere to hide."

I nodded, half-understanding. This mother and daughter both seemed to know a lot about the Dream Realm. I wanted to ask more, but there really wasn't enough time.

I grabbed the Black Leather Suitcase with one hand and scooped up Sakurako with the other. "Boss, it's an emergency. I'm borrowing Sakurako for the night. Don't worry, I'll definitely bring her back in one piece tomorrow."

Realizing I wasn't joking and was actually walking out the door with Sakurako, Onitsuka Ayaka quickly jumped up and chased after me without even putting her shoes on. "What exactly happened? Explain yourself! Gao Jian! Get back here!"

Ear-piercing heavy metal music drowned out Onitsuka Ayaka's voice. I didn't dare look back as I carried Sakurako into a taxi. "Driver, to the Jingying Sanatorium."

The Underworld Live Show had left a loophole for this broadcast: it didn't prohibit streaming with someone else. After all, this was an unimaginable dream broadcast. The Underworld Live Show probably never expected that I would find a girl capable of entering the Dream Realm to act as my helper.

When forced into a corner, every little bit of strength was precious. Moreover, Sakurako was very familiar with the Dream Realm. Having her with me put my mind at ease.

By the time we arrived at the Jingying Sanatorium, it was already ten o'clock at night. After paying the fare, Sakurako and I walked down the empty cherry blossom avenue. The sanatorium at night gave off an inexplicable sense of terror.

'I paid attention during my last visit. There are two shifts of Security Guards where Huang Xue stays, with a camera every fifty meters. But the perimeter wall isn't high. If we climb over from the side and avoid the pond, we should be able to sneak in without alerting anyone.'

After wasting another hour or so, Sakurako and I finally bypassed the surveillance and snuck into Huang Xue's room.

It wasn't as luxurious as I had imagined; the decor was quite simple. Huang Xue was already asleep. Holding Sakurako's hand, I walked over to her side.

Huang Xue was breathtakingly beautiful in her sleep. Her fragile beauty made it impossible to harbor any frivolous thoughts.

I checked my watch; it was already past eleven at night. Standing beside Huang Xue's bed, I took out the Underworld Live Show Phone, turned on the camera function, and plugged in the Portable Encoding Stick.

"Image acquisition in progress..."

"Bullet chat connecting..."

"Data stable, do you want to start the broadcast?"

"Yes."

"Welcome Teletubbies Died of Murder to the live broadcast room, welcome Master Tieling Biao to the live broadcast room, welcome..."

Once the video feed cleared up, the viewer count easily broke past a hundred. I flashed a long-absent smile at the phone screen.

"Welcome, everyone, to the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room. Before we start today's stream, I must tell you all something. This broadcast will enter a Dream Realm to search for a lost truth. So, no matter what you see during the stream, don't be surprised, because it is only a dream."