Chapter 522: The Endless, Bizarre City

The nightmare's voice sounded both male and female, echoing from all directions at once. At his command, the swaying dark figures in the heavy fog wheeled around and gave close chase.

Not daring to slacken for an instant, I grabbed Chu Men and sprinted toward the location in my memory.

The dark figures caught up to us several times. Their bodies were as light as slips of paper and blindingly fast; the moment they reached me, they tried to plaster themselves onto my skin. Had the Plush Bear on my back not intervened at the critical moments, our escape would have been far harder.

I sprinted at full speed. Before long, the main gate of Heaven's Gate loomed ahead. The fog shrouded everything; I didn't realize until I reached the entrance that it was packed with orphans.

Swaying bodies, pair after pair of vacant eyes—there were simply too many of them!

"How could we possibly get through this? Should we take another route?" I skidded to a halt, a trace of despair in my eyes.

"This is the only way out. Dreams are constructed from memories, and in the Dream Realm, only a door recognized by memory is an exit." Words of blood surfaced on my arm. The Plush Bear's message reminded me of what I had encountered in Huang Xue's dream; doors often carried special meaning in dreams.

"I'll deal with them. I'm leaving Ye Bing to you—you must rescue her. Also, be careful: this nightmare in Heaven's Gate didn't come from the Deep Dream Layer. He entered from reality alongside Ye Bing. To kill him for good, you'll have to deal with him in reality."

A peculiar emotion bled through the Plush Bear's jagged words of blood. A flash of insight hit me the moment I finished reading them. "You mean Ye Bing brought this nightmare in from reality?"

At Xinhu High School, Ye Bing had fallen victim to Lu Xing's scheme, which channeled a wisp of will from the peerless fiend beneath the Bridge No. 3 Crematorium into her body. It fused that fiend's will with Ye Bing's mourning apparel, hanging guest, and mourning door destiny pattern to stand in my way. Had the Blood Fox not been so overwhelmingly powerful that it beat him straight into a deep slumber, he probably would have taken complete control of Ye Bing's body by now and started plotting to free his suppressed main body at the Bridge No. 3 Crematorium.

"So this so-called nightmare is actually him!" Knowing the nightmare's true identity meant I could strike right at the root of the problem—the only piece of good news I'd gotten since entering the Dream Realm.

"Do you have anything else to ask? If not, take your friend and head to that city on the edge of the Dream Realm." The Plush Bear's body began to change—every stitched gash burst open, and red threads shot out from inside.

"I do!" Reading between the lines, I could tell the Plush Bear was about to risk everything, so I hurriedly asked, "Can you tell me why Elder Chen appeared as the Faceless Man in your dream?"

"There's no time left! I'll tell you once you rescue Ye Bing! Run!" The jagged words of blood melted into the red threads. The Plush Bear's body shriveled before my very eyes, as though all the power it had accumulated over the years was erupting in this single moment.

Whip-like red threads filled my vision, piercing every orphan at the gate and pinning them in place. Even knowing this was a dream, the sight was still spine-chilling.

Dragging Chu Men behind me, I bolted for the main gate of Heaven's Gate. The children in our path stared with dead, fish-like eyes; they strained to stop me, but the red threads held them fast where they stood.

"Stop them!" the nightmare's shrill voice rang out from behind. Chu Men and I burst through the main gate and raced toward the city built on the edge of the Dream Realm without daring to look back.

Beyond the orphanage lay nothing but barren wasteland. Because the owner of the Dream Realm had only hazy memories of these places, everything felt unreal. Even the weeds and tree branches stood completely motionless, as if artificially made.

I dragged Chu Men along at a dead sprint. The Plush Bear on my back didn't stir at all, as though that outburst had drained it completely dry.

After we had run over a hundred meters, Chu Men's voice suddenly called out from behind me.

"Streamer, slow down. That nightmare isn't chasing us."

"That guy holds a grudge over the smallest slight—he won't give up that easily..." Because it was Chu Men's voice, I let my guard down. Just as I was about to slow my pace and look back, a sharp prick like a needle stung my hand.

The sharp pain made me look down instinctively, only to see a line of blood-red words surfacing on my arm: Whatever you do, don't look back!

"What does that mean?"

A terrible premonition gripped me. Picking up speed, I pulled out my Live Show Phone and aimed it behind me—and one look left me drenched in cold sweat!

Two Chu Mens were following behind me! I was gripping the arm of one as he panted heavily half a step back, while the other wore a hideous, twisted expression, his face pressed right against the back of my head!

"He caught up already?! He actually took on Chu Men's appearance, mimicking even his voice and the way he addresses me down to the last detail!"

I clamped down tighter on Chu Men's arm, not daring to let go, and pushed my speed even faster.

"Streamer, we're safe now. Let's take a break."

"Huh? Streamer, is there something on your back?"

"Stop. I can't run anymore."

...

Line after line—the more he spoke, the faster I ran. The road ahead grew increasingly illusory, taking on an unreal haze. Memories began to blur from this point on; I had reached the very edge of the Dream Realm!

"Don't stop! Charge straight in!" Blood-red words surfaced on my skin. Knowing the nightmare was right on my heels, I could only grit my teeth and follow the Plush Bear's orders.

The barren dirt path underfoot gave way to a concrete road. Before I knew it, buildings tall and short had begun rising on both sides. Their shapes were bizarre and their architectural style utterly unconventional—though "absurd" might be a more fitting word.

The voice behind me had long since vanished, yet I still didn't dare look back. I sprinted wildly through the strange city until my legs gave out, and only then did I pull out my phone to aim it behind me.

"I should've shaken off the nightmare by now, right?"

Only one Chu Men remained behind me, his arm still gripped tightly in my hand. Breathing a sigh of relief, I turned around and gave our secret signal. Only after he returned it did I finally let my guard down.

"We're safe for now."

"Safe my ass! Where the hell did you drag me? Just look at this architecture—this doesn't look like Ye Bing's Dream Realm at all." I had dragged Chu Men along at a dead sprint before he could even figure out what was happening, pulling him blindly into the Deep Dream Layer with me. Truth be told, I felt a bit guilty toward this livestream viewer.

I gave a dry cough and tried my best to steady myself. "If I'm not mistaken, this city on the edge of the Dream Realm lies somewhere between the Deep Dream Layer and the Middle Dream Layer."

"What? Between the Deep Dream Layer and the Middle Dream Layer? No way, we need to leave right now! If we actually enter the Deep Dream Layer, we'll never make it back!" Chu Men's reaction was even more intense than I had expected.

"I'm afraid it's already too late." I pointed behind Chu Men. The road we had come from was gone; as far as the eye could see lay nothing but an endless expanse of city.

"The way out is gone..." I drew in a breath. I hadn't expected things to turn out like this either. "Still, we can't give up. There's still hope."

Chu Men stood frozen on the concrete road, staring blankly behind him. Forking streets that led who knew where crisscrossed in every direction, and bizarre buildings blocked our line of sight. Only by standing inside this city could anyone truly feel that crushing despair. "We're done for. There's no getting out of here."

The normal way to unravel a Dream Realm was to follow the memories of its owner, tracking down landmark events to find a door capable of bridging the Dream Realm.

Yet this city where Chu Men and I were now trapped had nothing whatsoever to do with Ye Bing's memories, leaving us with no idea where to even begin.

"Calm down." I patted Chu Men on the shoulder. At this point, all we could do was pull ourselves together and face it head-on. "Whether this is the Deep Dream Layer or not, at least we're still alive and our minds are still clear. As long as we haven't lost ourselves, there's still hope."

Ever since I became a live show streamer, the word "despair" had followed me everywhere, staring at me at every moment—yet it had never once broken me.

Chu Men was no ordinary person either. Taking a deep breath, he quickly composed himself. "Getting to enter the Deep Dream Layer in my lifetime actually fulfills a dream of mine. In fact, my original life plan was to use scientific instruments to find a way into the Deep Dream Layer, and then, when my lifespan neared its end, undergo deep hypnosis to send my consciousness into the Deep Dream Layer—achieving an unconventional form of immortality. I just didn't expect to reach that ultimate goal ahead of schedule."

"Self-hypnosis? An unconventional immortality? Everyone calls you a genius, but you sound more like a lunatic to me!" Chu Men's words startled me; only now did I realize that his ultimate goal in researching the Dream Realm was to make his consciousness immortal.

"Oh, give me a break." Chu Men gave a helpless laugh. "Ever since I met you, I've realized deep down just how normal, average, and ordinary I truly am!"