Chapter 538: The Method of Escape

"I don't like working with strangers." Chen Jiuge looked at Chu Men, then at me. "Is he a friend of yours?"

"I'm a livestream viewer of his, and also Ye Bing's attending physician. You can call me Dr. Chu." Chu Men's attitude was tepid. He clearly didn't think much of the man standing in front of him. That almost instinctive aversion made me pay closer attention.

Here in the Dream Realm, the presence of nightmares meant no one around you could be fully trusted. Naturally, I kept my guard up.

"Livestream viewer?" Chen Jiuge chewed on the term. "You two met through a livestream? That's not a very funny joke."

"It's the truth, whether you believe it or not." I stood beside Chu Men, but my eyes flicked to Chen Jiuge's phone screen. It was completely dead. Aside from the video feed itself, there wasn't a single chat message rolling past. "Your popularity doesn't look so great, does it?"

As if I had struck a nerve, the smile on Chen Jiuge's face grew a little strained. "I just muted the whole channel. When I work, I don't like people telling me what to do."

"A global mute? The platform has a feature like that?" My own channel didn't seem to have anything of the sort. Clearly, Chen Jiuge had been a Streamer just as long as I had, if not longer, and had unlocked far more features. I was surprised, though I kept my face perfectly blank. "Higher popularity means more points. Why torture yourself? Why throw away perfectly good points?"

I stole a quick glance. His channel's popularity metric sat at a measly two thousand or so. My own livestream, by contrast, had skyrocketed ever since that Paper Boat appeared. It had shattered the ten-thousand mark for the first time in history and finally stabilized at around thirteen thousand.

"They treat us like circus monkeys, watching us perform for their amusement. But aren't we just treating them as tools to farm points? We both get what we want. Everyone is in it for their own benefit. There's no need to bow and scrape to pander to them." Chen Jiuge still wore that same smile, but I caught the icy undercurrent hiding beneath it. When it came to livestream viewers, our attitudes couldn't have been more different.

I didn't bother arguing with him. How he ran his channel was his business. But when it came to treating my livestream viewers, my stance would never change. I would never forget what happened during that broadcast when I was a city-wide fugitive. When the entire city turned its back on me, the viewers were the ones who stood by my side. And later, when the Jiang family came after me, it was the viewers who helped me beat those twenty-one criminal charges.

They shared my secrets during my streams. They rode out life-and-death stakes with me, watched me scrape my way out of danger, and witnessed me walking the razor's edge to survive one deadly game after another.

Whether they cheered me on or hurled insults, no matter the final outcome, they were the only ones walking with me through the midnight shadows.

At the thought, I glanced over at my own chat.

Teletubbies Died of Murder tipped the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room 2 Underworld Coins: "Is the Streamer named Xia Chi? I could've sworn he said his name was Lu Xing during the last broadcast."

Jiangcheng Old Driver: "Maybe this is just what being a man is about. The Streamer's name depends entirely on the type of girl standing next to him. Today's model is a bit special—she gives off major married-woman vibes! Everyone keep quiet, grab your notebooks, and study the Streamer's moves. They might come in handy someday!"

"Are we driving into the gutter again? I've got my college entrance exams coming up, damn it! Watching this every day is tanking my grades!"

King of Bad Movies: "How could a livestream as pure as ours ever go off the rails? Come on everyone, let's brainstorm and help the Streamer out. I feel like he's trapped in a very dangerous predicament right now! Did you guys hear what that creep across from him just said? He wants to hunt down Target A! The letter 'A' isn't just a random letter; it has a very special meaning!"

I narrowed my eyes at the King of Bad Movies' message. Great minds think alike. I had tried to deduce the meaning behind the letter 'A' myself, though without much success. Seeing a viewer bring it up now sparked a faint glimmer of anticipation.

King of Bad Movies: "Since I run a film studio, I'll analyze this for everyone from a professional perspective. The letter 'A' most likely stands for adult films! You know, AVs. Those Japanese girls, doing it all over the place, crying out 'yamete, yamete'..."

I looked away halfway through the message. Honestly, I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.

I let out a dry cough and was just about to introduce Chu Men, but Chen Jiuge took a sudden step back, as if sensing something off in my tone.

Seeing how guarded he was, I simply shut my mouth. "Can we leave now?"

"Hold on. There's one more place I need to check." Chen Jiuge hurried down the corridor, scanning the doors on either side. He went straight to the final room at the very end of the hall. Only after seeing that the door was locked—its plum-blossom cylinder perfectly intact with no signs of tampering—did a faint, almost imperceptible smile touch his lips. He turned back around. "We can go now."

He seemed incredibly confident that no one could open that door, satisfied to leave after a single glance. It left me completely in the dark about what he was actually planning.

'Was he here for the Flower of the Dream Realm?' I wondered. 'He probably has no idea I possess the Plum Blossom Pendant. If he actually goes inside and finds the place completely cleaned out, is he going to lose his mind?'

I shook my head, dispelling the thoughts. I strongly disliked Chen Jiuge. His smile made my skin crawl. What did it matter to me if he lost his mind?

Once the Dream Wing Gu broke from its cocoon and completed its breakthrough, I would be standing in an invincible position.

Chu Men and Ye Bing trailed behind us, while Chen Jiuge and I walked side by side near the front, trading the intel we had gathered.

I kept the mysterious woman a secret. Instead, I only told him about the Clock Tower, the scattered thoughts, and a few of my theories regarding the Lightless District.

Chen Jiuge, on the other hand, had gathered far more information than I had. He had clearly researched the Deep Dream Layer extensively; this didn't seem like his first time visiting this place at all.

Through our conversation, I learned that the Deep Dream Layer was practically boundless. No one knew how it had formed. Perhaps, in the very beginning, it had merely been a single person's dream. But for whatever reason, it had started continuously absorbing discarded memories and emotions, slowly expanding over countless years until it became the realm it was today.

Trying to find the edge and walk right out of the Deep Dream Layer was simply impossible.

According to Chen Jiuge, the Deep Dream Layer was divided into an inner and an outer zone. Like an iceberg drifting in the ocean, the part exposed on the surface was only a tiny fraction of the whole.

We were currently standing in the outermost periphery of the Deep Dream Layer. We hadn't even scratched the surface of its true darkness. According to him, the truly twisted, horrifying memories were all active near the center of the Deep Dream Layer, where all sorts of negative emotions fermented. That place was dozens of times more terrifying than hell itself.

As we made our way out of the fifth underground floor and approached the exit of Small Building No. 44, Chen Jiuge seemed to come to a sudden realization. He picked up his pace and signaled for me to follow him.

Once we were far enough away from Chu Men and Ye Bing, Chen Jiuge even went so far as to put his phone away. His behavior was strange, incredibly guarded. "Honest people do not speak in riddles. We're both Streamers. The best option we have right now is to cooperate, finish the task together, and escape the Dream Realm."

"Haven't we been cooperating this whole time?" I curled my lip. Hearing the phrase 'honest people do not speak in riddles' come out of Chen Jiuge's mouth just sounded wrong.

"I'm talking about genuine cooperation." Chen Jiuge pitched his voice so low that I had to lean in to hear him. "Livestreaming from the Deep Dream Layer is insanely difficult. It's easily one of the hardest missions the Live Show offers. If we keep plotting against each other, neither of us is going to make it out alive."

"What are you getting at?" I asked, looking at him with mild amusement as I waited for him to elaborate.

"There were outsiders around earlier, so there was a lot I couldn't say. The truth is, I know a method to escape the Deep Dream Layer..." Chen Jiuge cut himself off mid-sentence. The corners of his mouth ticked up into that deeply irritating smile. "I can tell you, but I need to see your sincerity first."

"My sincerity?" I caught his drift immediately. An exchange of information required equal value; Chen Jiuge refused to take a bad deal. "Alright. It wasn't exactly convenient for me to talk earlier, either. After entering the Deep Dream Layer, I actually ran into that Target A you mentioned. I know where you can find her."

"Impossible! If you really saw her, how are you still standing here without a scratch on you? That woman harbors a deep grudge against the Live Show," Chen Jiuge blurted out without hesitation.

"I have the answer right here. It's up to you whether you want to listen and believe it or not." I moved my own phone away as well, making absolutely sure that no one else could eavesdrop on our conversation.

Two or three seconds passed before Chen Jiuge finally gritted his teeth. "Fine. Let's trade. You tell me everything you know about Target A, and I'll tell you how to leave the Deep Dream Layer."

"Are you sure about that?" I still didn't trust him. I held a hand out. "Now it's time to show me your sincerity."

Chen Jiuge hesitated for a moment before finally speaking. "Then I'll go first. The Deep Dream Layer is massive, like a city with no boundaries. If we try to walk out on foot, we'll lose ourselves long before we ever reach the edge. Not to mention, this place is crawling with all sorts of terrifying monsters. Those scattered thoughts and nightmares you brought up are just the most common ones."

"I know all that. Can we skip to the point?" I was confident in my own ability to escape the Dream Realm, but I had no way of bringing Chu Men and Ye Bing with me. Because of that, I was highly interested in whatever method he had.

"The architecture in the Deep Dream Layer is divided into districts. Every district contains one special building, and at the very top of that building, you will always find a mirror."

Chen Jiuge's words slowly drew me in. I had, in fact, stumbled across a setup exactly like that before.

"Mirrors reflect reality. In the Dream Realm, mirrors carry a special significance—they represent the boundary between illusion and reality. They're one of the foundational cornerstones of this world." Chen Jiuge's voice dropped even lower, and I found myself hanging on his every word. "Most of these mirrors house the most terrifying monsters in their respective districts. But a tiny handful of them actually connect to another world. They might lead back to reality, or to someone's Middle Dream Layer. Or, of course, they might lead straight into the absolute depths of the Dream Realm..."