Chapter 529: Telephone Booth

"It's just a telephone booth. Is there really a need to get so excited?" Chu Men didn't know what the appearance of a telephone booth signified. Since it involved the Underworld Live Show, I didn't explain it to him in detail. Instead, I smiled and patted his shoulder. "Old Chu, you've studied dreams extensively. Do you know what a telephone booth symbolizes in a dream?"

"Dreaming of a public telephone usually means the dreamer is hoping for some kind of news. The imagery is fairly neutral—neither inherently good nor bad," Chu Men answered casually.

"Since a telephone booth represents hope and information, what reason do we have not to check it out?" My mood lifted. After memorizing all the unique buildings in the vicinity, I continued, "It wasn't a completely fruitless trip. At the very least, it gave us a direction. We'll head to the telephone booth first, and then go check out that Lightless District."

"Black is the absolute worst color in a dream. You know there are tigers in the mountains, yet you're marching straight toward them." Chu Men stood behind me. He seemed to have a fear of heights and didn't dare step too close to the giant clock. "Forget it. I'll humor your madness to the end today and see every sight there is. It'll make this trip—and this life—worthwhile."

"The situation hasn't reached that level of pessimism yet. There will be a chance to turn things around." Very few people could enter the Deep Dream Layer, and even fewer had ever witnessed this bizarre spectacle. Before leaving, I pointed my phone's camera at the city below. "Fellow livestream viewers, what you are seeing right now is a scene from the Deep Dream Layer. This bizarre, kaleidoscopic city is piled high with lost memories. I've already tossed my own life and death out the window. Next, I'm going to take you on a proper tour to experience the mysteries of the Dream Realm."

Pausing for a moment, I mimicked the mysterious woman. Gripping the twisted rebar, I stepped up to the giant clock, planted my foot on its thickest hand, and climbed to the very top like an extreme sports athlete. "Maybe I'll sink into this dream forever. Maybe you all will forget me. But at the very least, we've witnessed this brilliant scenery together, and this magnificence is one of a kind!"

Standing at the highest point of the nineteenth floor, I used the Live Show Phone to capture the entire city. The strange, exaggerated architectural styles, the black-and-white sky, and the Thoughts and other monsters that occasionally flashed through the streets and alleys—all of it left the livestream viewers in the broadcast room thoroughly shocked.

King of Bad Movies: "These special effects are so fucking awesome!"

"Yeah, seriously! This wide shot! It's invincible!"

Teletubbies Died of Murder tipped the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room 99 Underworld Coins: "Don't ask me why I'm watching this stream on my knees!"

Master Tieling Biao tipped the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room 1 Yuanbao: "Streamer, is that sketchy-looking guy next to you your manager?"

King of Bad Movies tipped the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room a Paper Boat!!!

"Give us a chance, Streamer! Our Worst Film Studio sincerely invites you to join us! For a talent and team like yours, doing live streams is a complete waste of your potential."

"Holy shit! A Paper Boat?! That's the first time I've ever seen this kind of gift!"

"It even has special effects!"

A white dragon boat drifted across the live stream. This sudden, massive tip completely exceeded my expectations.

Originally, I had just wanted to imitate the mysterious woman, act cool for a moment, and leave immediately. I never expected an unexpected harvest like this.

King of Bad Movies: "Streamer, I'm your hardcore fan! I watch every single one of your streams! My studio is right in Xinhu City. You can find it just by asking around when you get the chance. We have an incredibly good reputation in the industry!"

Reading the chat message from King of Bad Movies, I nodded. "Don't worry. Your username already tells me that your studio's reputation absolutely couldn't be 'bad.' I'll definitely visit when I have the time."

One Paper Boat was equivalent to a hundred Yuanbao. During the Live Show's final evaluation, it would give me at least ten extra points! Just for those ten points alone, I absolutely had to go meet the man in person.

'To dare tip a Paper Boat... according to the Live Show's tipping rules, this guy is probably in danger.' Out of moral obligation, I felt the need to talk to him face-to-face and give him a warning. However, the prerequisite for all of this was escaping the Dream Realm.

The Paper Boat tip was just an unexpected little interlude. Gripping my phone, I left the building with Chu Men.

No accidents occurred on our way down. Most of the doors inside the high-rise had been smashed open, leaving the interiors completely empty. The Thoughts had flown away long ago.

"We were pretty lucky to hit the perfect time window. If we'd been any later and waited for the Thoughts to return, getting downstairs would have been difficult." After escaping the building, I followed the route I'd memorized earlier, weaving through the streets.

Once outside the building, Chu Men and I distinctly felt that the dream city had undergone some kind of change. It was as if the place had come alive. Those buildings, which had stood for an unknown number of years, became even more eerie, looking like monsters with their maws wide open, waiting for prey to walk right in.

"Streamer, I keep feeling like we're being followed." Chu Men kept glancing over his shoulder, looking all around, but he found nothing.

"Speed up!" That feeling of being spied on lingered in my mind, impossible to shake off. I used the Judging Eye to scan the area but gained nothing, so I had to give up.

"It seems I still underestimated the danger of the Deep Dream Layer. Let's just hope it's not some bizarre entity." I still had quite a few trump cards up my sleeve. We hadn't reached a dead end just yet.

Since our tracks were already exposed and we couldn't evade those hidden, prying eyes, Chu Men and I didn't bother hiding anymore. We sprinted wildly down the street.

"Streamer, we can't just keep going like this. I think we should find a safe place to hide first," Chu Men said. He was like a startled bird, suspecting everything he saw. In truth, I couldn't blame him. In this completely alien world, there was absolutely nothing to rely on, and lethal danger could be lurking anywhere.

"I'm afraid it's too late for that." My eyes narrowed. I said this because I noticed that the humanoid shadows on the walls seemed to be moving along with Chu Men and me!

"These abandoned memories seem to have come alive." I lowered my voice, doing my best to look calm so the humanoid shadows wouldn't notice anything amiss.

"Every street and alley in this city is covered in humanoid shadows. If all of them come alive, we won't have anywhere to hide!" Chu Men frowned deeply. He realized he had severely underestimated the horrors of the Deep Dream Layer.

"They're just abandoned memory fragments. In terms of threat, they shouldn't be as dangerous as the Thoughts, let alone the nightmares." While I was comforting Chu Men, the humanoid shadows on the walls had begun moving visibly. They grew increasingly distinct, like water stains seeping out from inside the walls.

"Hurry!"

We didn't dare stop, sprinting at full speed. Along the way, Chu Men and I also encountered drifting Thoughts, but we narrowly managed to shake them off.

Twenty minutes later, we finally arrived at the three-way intersection. Looking at the telephone booth, which completely clashed with its surroundings, I actually felt a trace of nervousness.

When I was looking down at the city from the high-rise earlier, I had observed everything carefully using the Judging Eye, yet I only found this single telephone booth. This meant that even in the Deep Dream Layer, the telephone booth was a highly unique and unusual existence.

'Is there any chance that Ye Bing and Xia Qingzhi called me from this very telephone booth?' If this assumption held true, then Ye Bing and Xia Qingzhi were likely somewhere close by. As long as I searched the surrounding area, I might be able to find them!

The telephone booth stood dead in the center of the intersection. There were no buildings nearby to block the line of sight, so walking over would easily expose me. But at this point, I couldn't afford to worry about that. I had Chu Men hide in a three-story blue building to the side first. Glancing around to ensure no Thoughts were prowling about, I decisively dashed toward the telephone booth in the center of the intersection.

'A three-way intersection in a dream should represent choices and confusion. Yet this telephone booth is placed right in the middle of it. What does that signify?' I pulled open the glass door and stepped inside. It was a classic cabinet-style booth, enclosed by glass on all sides with a single telephone mounted vertically in the center.

"This phone is pretty interesting." I picked up the receiver and held it to my ear. I could hear a beeping busy tone, which meant the phone was fully functional.

I looked down at the keypad. Aside from the basic numbers, there were two extra function keys. One said 'Speaker,' and the other said 'Message.'

'A very ordinary phone, but I don't know if it can actually make a call.' Back when I was being hunted by the whole city, I had memorized a lot of phone numbers from my mobile. This was the perfect time to test them out. 'Old Liu has masterful Daoist skills and is full of righteous energy. He's never done a guilty deed in his life. Calling him shouldn't cause any problems.'

I casually punched in Blind Liu's phone number. After waiting for a moment, the busy tone continued buzzing in my ear.

Then I tried several other numbers, including Ye Bing's, but none of them went through.

'Could it be that this phone doesn't work like a normal one?' Holding the receiver, I stared at the function keys. With a "give it a try" mentality, I pressed the 'Message' button.

The instant the key was pressed, the busy tone in the receiver vanished.

I took a deep breath, focusing all my attention and tensing my nerves. Two or three seconds later, a familiar voice echoed from the receiver.

"Is anyone there? If you can hear this recording, please don't hang up, and please don't leave immediately. I mean no harm. I just hope you can listen to me for a few words. I seem to have forgotten a lot of things. I don't fit into this world at all. I always feel like I come from somewhere else. It's a very strange feeling, as if I'm sleepwalking..."

The message was very long. After listening to it carefully, I actually calmed down. 'This is Ye Bing's voice. However, time flows differently between the Deep Dream Layer and reality. She's been stuck in this place for so long that she seems to have even forgotten her own name.'

I hung up the phone and stood frozen in the booth. 'How am I supposed to find her? Searching for a nearly amnesiac woman in this massive dream city is just too difficult.'

'Forget it, why am I overthinking this? I can barely protect myself right now. Even if I found Ye Bing, I'd have no way to bring her out.' I turned around, ready to leave, but then another question struck me. How did Ye Bing manage to call the Underworld Live Show? How did she know the number for the Live Show Phone? How could she possibly know something that even I, the Streamer, didn't know?

I picked up the receiver again, my fingers brushing over the keypad. 'Did someone tell her? Or could it be...'

Figuring I had nothing to lose, I dialed my own phone number.