Chapter 503: I Found You

Drip, drop...

The sound of dripping water came from above. Terror filled my eyes as I stared fixedly at the floor tiles in front of me. The water stains on them seemed completely random at first, but upon closer inspection, they formed a few crooked words.

"I found you!"

Fear slithered up my spine into my brain like a viper. My scalp went numb, and I shuddered. Before I could even react, a drop of freezing water fell from the ceiling onto the back of my neck. Like a rusty gear, my neck turned inch by inch as I raised my head to look behind me.

A wooden board on top of the modular cabinet had been pried open. Half of that terrifying Plush Bear's body had already squeezed inside!

Its mangled left hand hung exposed on the outside. Its head had split entirely in two; the front half dangled backward over its back, seemingly wedged in the gap at the top of the cabinet.

"If I had come out a minute—no, even a dozen seconds later..." My face turned ashen. I forcefully cut off the scenario playing out in my head, not daring to think any further.

'It's time to end this.' This was an incredibly rare opportunity. My mental fortitude was far stronger than an ordinary person's; it took me less than a second to shake off the terror. My will took over my body, making the most rational judgment possible.

Raising the cup in my hand, I didn't hesitate to splash the saltwater over the Plush Bear.

The filthy plush toy was already soaked through, so splashing saltwater on it shouldn't have made a visible difference. But strangely enough, the moment the motionless toy was doused, the rotting, spoiled cotton stuffing inside its body began to violently churn outward like a severed, writhing worm.

'Salt wards off evil. It seems this Plush Bear really is tainted!' I set the cup down, took a step forward, and forced down the fear in my heart. Opening my mouth, I spat out the saltwater I had been holding.

Working my numb tongue, I was just about to say the words "I won" when the unexpected happened.

Its stuffing and rice tumbling out, the saltwater-drenched Plush Bear shrank and dropped straight into the cabinet. It seemed my mouthful of saltwater hadn't hit it at all!

"Fuck!" I rarely swore during a broadcast, but this Dream Realm had driven me to my absolute wits' end. I was being targeted time and time again, as if it were intentionally forcing me to act according to the dream owner's memories.

My eyes instinctively darted toward the modular cabinet. But before my gaze even found the Plush Bear, something even worse happened.

The television flickered violently a few times, then the screen went black!

This Dream Realm seemed hellbent on testing my limits. The instant the light vanished, I pulled out the Underworld Live Show Phone and shone it at the cabinet doors. At this point, I didn't care if I exposed my position.

'To end the game properly, I first need to splash the saltwater from the cup onto the Plush Bear, then spit the water from my mouth onto it, and finally shout "I won" three times. When I spat the saltwater just now, the Plush Bear happened to drop into the cabinet. If I want to end the game according to the rules now, I have to mix another cup of saltwater.'

I had no idea who invented this game or what purpose each step served. I didn't have time to dwell on the reasons right now; I only wanted to break this Dream Realm as fast as possible.

In a mere two or three seconds, I formulated a plan. I kicked the cabinet door shut and bolted straight for the kitchen.

The biggest difference between me and those horror movie protagonists was that I absolutely never wasted a single second, let alone wasted time screaming and shouting about entirely meaningless things.

In the midst of this extreme danger, my focus was pushed to its peak. Relying on my memory and the faint light from my phone screen, I rushed into the kitchen.

The moment my foot crossed into the kitchen, the bedroom cabinet door silently opened. The Plush Bear, its body covered in knife gashes, crawled to the opening, its black button eyes locking dead onto me.

With tattered stuffing and red thread coiled around a fruit knife, it suddenly moved!

It crawled across the floor like a resentful, abandoned infant. With its ragdoll head dangling over its shoulder and cotton stuffing spilling from the middle of its face, it scrambled toward me! And it was fast!

'Where's the salt?!' In this life-or-death moment, the mental fortitude forged through countless broadcasts played a massive role. Although my inner terror was beyond words, it didn't affect my thoughts or my physical movements.

The Plush Bear was getting faster and faster! In the blink of an eye, it had crawled out of the bedroom and into the living room, propping up its body on its tattered limbs and leaving a long trail of water in its wake.

'Found it!' The apartment was pitch black, severely restricting my vision. Relying entirely on my memory from the first time I mixed the saltwater, my hands felt around the cutting board and found the bag of salt and the kettle.

Pouring the water, scattering the salt, and filling my mouth with it—the entire sequence was executed in one fluid motion. Holding the saltwater in my cheeks, I raised the Underworld Live Show Phone high, aiming it squarely at the kitchen doorway.

There was nothing there, but I knew the Plush Bear was definitely nearby.

With my mouth full of saltwater, I couldn't speak. In the midst of this silent standoff, the living room television returned to normal.

The screen flashed, bringing up a black-and-white image. Cast in its faint, cold glow, half a tattered doll head peeked out at a crooked angle right from behind the kitchen door.

'It actually got in? And hid behind the door?!' Without wasting a word, I strode over, spat the saltwater onto the Plush Bear, and immediately shouted three times—"I won!"

"Is the game over?" I picked up the meat cleaver from the cutting board, keeping a vigilant eye on the Plush Bear. "Nothing seems to have changed. Is it really over?"

I wanted nothing more than to walk over and hack the Plush Bear to pieces, but thinking about the sheer bizarreness of this Dream Realm, I fought down the urge and decided to stick to the game's rules.

The apartment kitchen still used an old-fashioned gas stove. I tried striking it a few times but couldn't get it to light. Heading to the living room, I found a lighter and a few books, piled them together, lit them, and then tossed the Plush Bear into the flames. But I suddenly realized a problem: the Plush Bear had soaked in the bathtub for nearly an hour. It simply wouldn't burn. The flames quickly died out, leaving a foul stench drifting through the apartment.

'This game actually set a trap at the very end. If you want to burn the Plush Bear, you have to dry it out first. And if there really is something unclean hiding inside it, the person playing this game would probably meet a gruesome end while waiting for it to dry.' Looking at the fire-blackened, increasingly hideous Plush Bear, I couldn't help but take two steps back.

'If the TV goes black again, will this Plush Bear get back up?' At that thought, I looked toward the television. The black-and-white broadcast was covered in a thick layer of static from signal interference. An ordinary person would have a hard time making out what was playing on the screen, but I was different. Possessing the Judging Eye, what I excelled at most was finding subtle changes in complex environments.

'The screen flickers slightly every 1.5 seconds. When it does, there seems to be something else mixed into the footage.' I walked up to the TV. After studying it closely, I finally confirmed that hidden within the black-and-white static was a little boy being physically punished. His lips moved continuously, as if he were trying to say something.

'I think I've seen this kid before.' Scrawny, short, hunched over—wasn't this the little boy I had spotted in Ye Bing's group photo?

'Why would he appear in Ye Bing's Dream Realm? Or is this actually his Dream Realm? No, that's not right! I clearly entered Ye Bing's Dream Realm. Why would this little boy show up? What exactly is his relationship with Ye Bing?' According to Ye Bing's records, the two of them had been in the same class from the start of elementary school all the way to graduation. All clues cut off right after they graduated elementary school. It seemed that right from that point on, this boy had thoroughly and completely vanished from Ye Bing's life without leaving a single trace.

'What is he saying?' I didn't know much about lip-reading, so I could only mimic his mouth movements. I tried sounding out a single word—"Nine?"

'The number nine, or the word for "long time"? Does it have a special meaning? Does it represent some kind of promise?' I really didn't dare make wild guesses about a child who dared to play hide-and-seek with a Plush Bear in the dead of night. His thought process was very likely entirely different from a normal person's.

I stood up and looked at the clock on the wall, suddenly noticing another problem. The clock had stopped; the time was frozen at 3:49 AM.

'Has time stopped? Or does the dream owner's memory just end at 3:49?' While I was still deep in my own thoughts, the television behind me went black again without any warning.

My body froze in place. I hurriedly used my phone to sweep the room for the Plush Bear's tracks.

'Where is it?' Only a long trail of water remained on the floor, stretching all the way to the living room door. I cautiously walked over, placed my hand on the handle, and gave it a gentle pull.

'The door opened!'