On the top floor of Guyi Building, inside the presidential suite.
The bedroom doors and windows were tightly sealed, and dark curtains blocked out all light. Only a few medical instruments on either side of the bed and the monitoring camera mounted high on the ceiling emitted a faint red glow.
Outside the room, the assistants who had accompanied Chi Jianying upstairs stood before two projection screens. On the left was the live monitoring footage from inside the bedroom, and on the right was a command link to the East District Dream-Traveling Base.
“June 28, 203X, 21:21. Dream Traveler Chi Jianying requests the use of anesthetic gas.”
Through the base connection, a rugged, middle-aged man nodded: “Use is approved.”
The two assistants began operating their respective controls. Fifteen seconds later, a gas flow diagram appeared on the monitoring screen. The handsome man lying on the bed—his brow tightly furrowed and fists clenched—showed no signs of relaxing. The assistants glanced at the communication screen on the right, and with the middle-aged man’s silent nod of permission, they cautiously increased the dosage.
“21:22. Dream Traveler Chi Jianying has entered the dream state. All indicators are normal.”
After completing the procedure, an assistant couldn’t help reporting: “Chief, although Captain Chi’s metrics are fluctuating within the normal range, they are severely lower compared to his baseline. He has developed a resistance to this type of anesthesia, and deepening the dosage significantly impacts his cognitive abilities.”
Pu Xinluo, the general director of the East District Dream-Traveling Base, glanced back and asked, “How is the research on the new medication coming along?”
“Still in development, and the progress hasn’t been very smooth. To be honest, with a case like Captain Chi’s, he ultimately needs to overcome his psychological resistance himself,” the head of the R&D department replied. “We need to instantly make his primary personality lose consciousness while ensuring it doesn’t affect the actions of his secondary personality. That level of precision is very difficult to control.”
“Difficult to control or not, we have to do it! Staying in this state definitely won’t work,” Pu Xinluo instructed. “Also, we must make every effort to expand the dream-traveling ranks and broadly elevate our dream-traveling proficiency. Over the past two years, the frequency and scale of abnormal dreams have far exceeded the past, and the number of convergence points is constantly growing. If this continues, relying solely on our current manpower means we’ll work ourselves to death without being able to guarantee social order!”
He named several directors: “Accelerate the recruitment plan. Those with aptitude must be trained, and those operating in the wild must be persuaded, but we cannot afford to pad the numbers with unqualified recruits.”
“The problem is that expanding the ranks isn’t easy. People who can maintain clarity within a dream are already rare, and those who remain calm throughout are even scarcer,” complained the director in charge of recruitment. “Last time, we had a rookie shadow Captain Chi, but he woke up halfway through the dream-travel session and started crying and screaming that he quit. When we asked why, it turned out Captain Chi had killed him right out of the dream. Oh, why bother? He had the best overall aptitude out of this batch of rookies…”
Pu Xinluo fell silent for a moment before turning to ask, “Has the Passerby been contacted?”
“No. He has been missing for a long time this time, and the other districts don’t have any news either,” the director shrugged. “However, the Passerby is always elusive and can even turn invisible at will. When he appears depends entirely on his personal preference, leaving us in a passive position.”
“Keep trying to make contact, minimize hostility, and express our willingness to make appropriate concessions in pursuit of deep cooperation,” Pu Xinluo said. “Notify me the moment he shows up.”
With the work arrangements set, Pu Xinluo quickly shifted his focus back to the present. He looked at the other dark projection screen and activated his microphone: “Is Yin-Yang in position?”
“Within five seconds.”
An image quickly appeared on the monitor. A massive, dim spherical bubble filled the entire field of view, and after a brief adjustment, figures finally materialized within the frame.
A bald, middle-aged man cupped a tadpole-like creature in his palm, spun around like he was taking a selfie to showcase the people around him, and reported: “Dream Traveler He Shouwu in position.”
A buzz-cut young man perked up: “Dream Traveler Weiyang in position.”
A short, student-looking boy said nervously: “Dream Traveler Zefeng in position.”
A short-haired girl spoke: “Dream Traveler Mercury in position.”
The last voice was late to sound. The bald middle-aged man cast a stealthy glance at the handsome man in the distance who sat with a cold face and closed eyes, waiting anxiously.
Not long after, the eyes on that handsome face finally opened, and his voice carried zero inflection: “Dream Traveler Jiuying in position.”
The bald deputy captain, He Shouwu, hurriedly added: “Dream Team Nine is fully assembled, ready to enter the dream.”
They all dissolved into the dark spherical bubble, and when they opened their eyes again, the scene had shifted indoors.
“Damn, it really is a hospital.”
Weiyang shook his head slightly, scanning his surroundings with sharp vigilance: “Landing point: Hospital floor one, Department of Radiotherapy. The dreamscape is clear; no biological traces detected yet.”
“Team One and Team Three were wiped out and forced out, and Team Five’s situation is still unclear,” He Shouwu briefly summarized. “We need to note that our primary mission this time is to prevent the dream from expanding and avoid a collision with Convergence Point 22. Our secondary mission is to identify the dream owner and confirm his identity.”
“Uh… why?” the rookie Zefeng asked timidly. “Didn’t we only need to end the dream before?”
“Because the exact same dream has appeared twice already, and this is the third time,” He Shouwu said helplessly. “The first two times were encountered by other squads and remained within a controllable range, but this time the difficulty has skyrocketed. We’ve had similar situations in the past; rather than expending massive amounts of dream-traveling manpower to handle it, it’s more efficient to find the dreamer offline after confirming their identity and provide psychological counseling to eliminate this troublesome continuous dream once and for all.”
Zefeng experienced an epiphany, then hurriedly asked about another matter of personal concern: “Did they say what the method of death is in this dream?”
Weiyang gave him a look of disdain: “You haven’t even figured out how to do the job yet, and you’re already thinking about how to die.”
“Quiet.”
Before the words faded, team captain Jiuying suddenly issued a warning.
Using his detached hand, he blocked the nose and mouth of the overly chatty complainer, Weiyang. All the team members held their breath, their eyes wide as they stared fixedly at the viscous fluid slowly dripping from above.
It was a mass of grayish-black filth, thick and gooey like swamp muck, yet something was wrapped inside the mud, occasionally breaking the surface with an acidic, rotting bubble.
With a soft pop, a bubble burst, abruptly revealing half a pale, white face. From the neck down, nothing was left but bare bone, yet this person seemed to retain consciousness. His lips trembled violently, but his cries for help and shouts were entirely swallowed by the sludge.
After how long, the sludge digested the flesh and bone, spitting out a clump of damp clothing. Just as it prepared to slowly retract back to the upper level, it seemed to sense something. Suspended in the gaps between the floors like a living organism, it squirmed left and right, leaving behind several trails of sticky, foul-smelling slime.
It poked here and bumped there, but finding no new food to touch, the sludge finally retreated with a hint of reluctance.
The few individuals wearing clothing identical to the wet garments on the ground could finally let out a slight breath of relief.
“The method of death… now you know… it’s being digested and absorbed…” Weiyang never forgot to complain. “Though it probably doesn’t hurt, the psychological trauma is still pretty severe…”
If this scene had happened two months ago, Zefeng surely would have collapsed. Now, after a period of tempering, although his mindset was much steadier, he still felt utter despair: “Why is it another thing that doesn’t even look human?! I don’t want to be eaten by something grosser than a Slime!”
“Those are people from Team Five; looks like they were utterly routed too,” Deputy Captain He Shouwu reasoned calmly, looking toward Jiuying. “Captain, what should we do?”
Jiuying kept his eyes closed, pressing his knuckle against his brow to rub his glabella: “Split up.”
“You and Mercury observe the architecture, identify characteristics, and find the dream owner.”
“The rest of you come with me to stop the dream from expanding.”
As he spoke, he dug out one of his own eyes and tore off one of his own ears, placing them on He Shouwu.
“Maintain contact at all times.”
“Damn, physical detachment.”
Weiyang blurted out, then hurriedly covered his own loose mouth and hurried to catch up.
A three-person operation meant a streamlined team, and with the leader marching in silence, their pace accelerated considerably.
However, problems followed close behind.
The rookie Zefeng looked around in confusion: “…Why is it here again? Are we stuck in a loop?”
They had started from the empty radiotherapy department, passed countless clinic corridors, and after circling around, found themselves facing the familiar sign once more.
“It’s not the same place. Look, the digested clothes of that Team Five member aren’t here either. It should just be the dream owner’s subconscious causing them to repeat; he has a deep impression of this place,” Weiyang reminded him.
Among the dream-traveling team’s divisions of labor, his responsibility was to clarify locations and directions, ensuring that dream travelers wouldn’t get lost in the ever-changing dreamscape. His observation skills and sense of direction were always top-tier.
“Hiss… Do you think he has cancer?”
“Quite possibly, but that’s something for the deputy captain and the others to research.”
As Weiyang spoke, he noticed that the leading captain, Jiuying, was gradually slowing his pace. Thinking the captain had found a clue, he stopped as well.
Instead, Jiuying closed his sole remaining eye, pressed his brow once more, and stood motionless without a word.
“Why does the captain seem to be in a bad state today?” Zefeng muttered behind his hand. “He was full of energy when we bumped into him during dinner earlier, wasn’t he?”
“Most likely forced into sleep again. The anesthesia was increased to suppress his primary personality—pay attention, the captain is even more heartless at times like this.”
“Being a CEO by day and an assassin by night, so busy that his primary and secondary personalities have to fight over consciousness…” Zefeng, who desperately wished he had a secondary personality to go to work for him, felt deep admiration. “There’s no need to push yourself this hard!—Ahhh!!!”
He saw Jiuying snap his eyes open as a detached hand rapidly lunged toward him. Thinking his gossip behind the captain’s back had provoked him, the terror of having once been blasted out of a dream by Jiuying left him frozen. Yet the severed hand swept past his side, and the invisible dream space suddenly rippled—a figure had appeared there out of thin air.
The figure took a few steps back, putting some distance between himself, Zefeng, and Weiyang. His posture remained relaxed as he adjusted the brim of his hat, seemingly complaining: “I was just following behind.”
“Damn, Passerby?!”
Weiyang widened his eyes, staring speechlessly at the dream traveler before him who had no face yet could conceal his form and move around at will.
Passerby: “Mm-hm.”
Zefeng was stunned as well, stuttering nervously: “W-what are you doing here…”
“Passing by.”
Passerby gently massaged his temple. He had to admit that drinking really affected his state. Opening his eyes to find a hospital dream had already given him a slight headache, and now he was even less inclined to get his muddled brain working to figure out directions—which was why he wanted to hitch a ride to the center of the dream.
“You guys carry on, don’t mind me.”
—It was, absolutely, not because he was lost.