Bai Yu walked up to the metal door and pressed a button on the wall with his phone. A device resembling a scanner extended out at once.
“Beep—Iris authentication in progress…”
“Authentication complete—”
“Checking physical condition—”
“Check complete—”
“Mr. Bai, welcome back.”
A mechanical voice sounded, and the door slowly opened.
“Holy shit! Bai Yu? What are you doing here? And who’s this beside you?” The two had just stepped into the metal city when a cry of surprise rang out from the side. A figure hurriedly rushed out of the security office and ran up to them. “Aren’t you on vacation? Why’d you suddenly come back? Did you end your leave early? And this is? Don’t tell me… you even found yourself a girlfriend while you were on vacation?”
Mo Fei’s height of one meter ninety-five made a stark contrast when he stood before the one-meter-sixty-three Lu Yueqi. Lu Yueqi looked toward Bai Yu with a red face, hoping he would explain, only to see Bai Yu helplessly press a hand to his forehead.
“If I’d known you were on duty today, I wouldn’t have come back,” Bai Yu said irritably. “Did you do something wrong again and get thrown over here by Captain An as punishment? Also, can you not go around randomly calling people your sister-in-law?”
Mo Fei, however, seemed not to have heard the first half at all. Whether intentionally or not, he continued, “True, judging by how shy and awkward you two are right now, you’re probably still just a young couple. Then I really can’t call her sister-in-law yet. I’ll have to wait until you’re married…”
“Bang!”
“Ow! Old Bai, why’d you hit me?” Mo Fei had taken a blow to the head.
“Me? I didn’t hit you. Maybe you were punished by the heavens for running your mouth.” Bai Yu clasped his hands behind his back, looking as though the matter had nothing to do with him. Then he bent slightly and leaned close to Mo Fei’s ear. “If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll have Captain An make you stay in this security office a few more days.”
“Hey! Don’t, bro! You’re my real brother! I don’t want to stay in this lousy place anymore.” Mo Fei looked aggrieved. With his height of a full head taller than Bai Yu paired with that wronged expression, it was rather comical.
“Come on. Let’s go to the registration office. I’ll take you to register your identity information,” Bai Yu said to Lu Yueqi, who was behind him trying hard to hold back her laughter.
“Coming,” Lu Yueqi answered.
“I’m coming too, I’m coming too!” Mo Fei shouted from the side. Then, as if remembering something, he called to the remaining people in the security office, “You guys work hard! I’m heading off first!”
“Brother Mo—” One person in the security office stretched out a hand to make him stay, but it froze midair as he watched Mo Fei follow Bai Yu away with great enthusiasm. In the end, he could only give up.
The three walked down the street and instantly became the center of attention, mainly because Mo Fei, this dazzling attention magnet, was far too eye-catching. He greeted this auntie, shook hands with that uncle, swaggering through the streets the whole way. It would have been hard not to draw attention. Bai Yu, beside him, could only try to lower his head even further.
“Ah, isn’t this Little Bai? Back from vacation?” The old man at the registration office, Hai Yin, looked at Bai Yu with a chuckle. Hai Yin had also once been an investigator at the Investigation Bureau. After retiring, he had come here to the registration office and found a job to make a living. Investigators like him, who could retire smoothly, were an extreme minority in the Investigation Bureau, and they basically received preferential treatment in all aspects of life.
“Mm. Something happened. This young lady is a Dreamwalker. Last time, after she was targeted by an Evil Nightmare, I saved her. I figured I’d bring her here to prevent her from being attacked by an Evil Nightmare again,” Bai Yu explained to Hai Yin.
“That really is quite dangerous. But don’t be afraid, young lady. Now that you’re here, you’ll be all right. Everyone will protect you well.” Hai Yin smiled at Lu Yueqi before him.
“Beep—” Mo Fei’s phone suddenly rang. He walked to the side and exchanged a few words with the person on the other end. Then his expression grew serious, and he said to Bai Yu, “Old Bai, the captain says there’s an urgent mission. We’re to assemble immediately. I’ll have to excuse myself first.” With that, Mo Fei turned to leave.
Bai Yu called after him. “I’ll go with you. It just so happens I’ve been on leave for so long, I should stretch my muscles a bit.”
He turned to Hai Yin again and said, “Uncle Hai, I’ll leave her registration procedures to you.”
“Got it. Hurry on,” Hai Yin said, waving at Bai Yu.
Inside an office in the central building of the Investigation Bureau, the captain of Investigation Team One, An Mu, was holding an emergency meeting.
“D-rank investigators have already been dispatched to seal off the scene. For now, the Evil Nightmare shows no signs of expanding further. Aside from those who were originally inside the Strange Dream Café, there have been no casualties.” At the round table, a man wearing black-framed glasses looked at his notebook as he spoke. “At present, we can confirm that the contaminating Evil Nightmare is a rule-distorting Evil Nightmare. Some information on the strange tale has already been transmitted back by the investigators on-site.”
The strange tale content at the shop entrance was projected onto the large screen:
Customer Rules:
1. There is only coffee in the café. If any other food or drink appears, please do not touch it.
2. The employees in black inside the café are trustworthy. Please purchase coffee from them.
3. There are no employees in red inside the café. Please do not purchase coffee from them.
4. Children are forbidden from entering the café.
5. If you see children, please ignore them. Do not agree to any of their requests.
6. If children are following closely behind you, please seek help from the employees in red inside the café.
7. There is no music being played inside the café. If you hear music, please seek help from an employee in red.
8. There are no restrooms inside the café.
9. If you see a restroom, please do not enter it.
The nine rules appeared on the large screen. The man with glasses continued, “These are all the rule hints we’ve obtained so far. There may be other rules inside the café, but it isn’t convenient for investigators to enter. If they go in, they may be directly drawn into the rules-based strange tale.”
“Why do these rules contradict each other? Lan Ce, are you sure you didn’t get something wrong?” A blond, blue-eyed man leaned half against his chair and voiced his doubts.
“This kind of situation is fairly common,” An Mu explained. “In rules-based strange tales, the rules displayed are not necessarily all true. At the same time, the rules that take effect may also change under different circumstances. This is one of the difficulties in handling this Evil Nightmare.”
“If only Bai Yu were here. Can we call him back?” the blond, blue-eyed man went on.
“Indeed, Bai Yu’s ability gives him a considerable advantage when dealing with this type of strange tale. But…” another person added.
An Mu shook his head and rejected the suggestion. “I’ve already called Mo Fei back. This mission can only be handled through our joint efforts. We can’t trouble Bai Yu again. You all saw his condition after his last mission. I can’t possibly let him go on another mission before he’s recovered. That would be too dangerous.”
The meeting room fell into silence.
Bai Yu’s investigative ability was obvious to all, and his Nightmare ability was also extremely powerful—just right for countering this strange tale. But as An Mu had said, Bai Yu was no longer in a condition suitable for missions. If he were forced to go out, they might not be able to resolve the Evil Nightmare that needed resolving, and instead end up nurturing a new and powerful Evil Nightmare.
On a rainy night one year ago, everyone in Team One waited quietly for the return of the strongest and most capable person on their team. What they saw instead was a shattered, mangled body. Bai Yu had collapsed in front of the central building, his eyes hollow and lifeless. According to the doctor who later treated him, Bai Yu being able to come back alive at all was a miracle in itself. He had lost nearly all signs of life, like an empty shell casually thrown onto the road.
The extent to which the Nightmare had ravaged his body had already reached its limit. In fact, if that same degree of damage had been inflicted on anyone else, they would long since have been reduced to white bones. If the members of Team One had not pleaded again and again, unwilling to acknowledge Bai Yu’s death, the doctor would not even have gone through the motions of saving him.
Yes, gone through the motions. Investigation Team One had brought in the best doctor in the Investigation Bureau, but even he had no idea where to begin. From the time Bai Yu was sent into the ward until his recovery, it could be said that he did nothing at all. Aside from his daily diagnoses, he had no idea how to save a person who was already dead. All of Bai Yu’s readings indicated that this was a corpse. No matter how good a doctor was, they could not bring the dead back to life. Yet one day, he saw all of Bai Yu’s readings return to normal. He saw Bai Yu able to move like an ordinary person.
The doctor had a conversation with Bai Yu, but regarding how he had come back to life, Bai Yu was never willing to speak. In the end, the doctor gave up continuing to ask. After all, this was a hero of the Nightmare Investigation Bureau. Since the other party was unwilling to talk, he must have had his reasons. After that, with the doctor’s help, Bai Yu voluntarily applied for leave on the grounds that his body had been excessively damaged by the Nightmare. Though it was called leave, it was actually not much different from early retirement. After all, they could not possibly make someone who had barely managed to come back to life go and fight with his life again.
And so, Bai Yu began his long vacation. He moved out of the Investigation Bureau headquarters, saying that he would recuperate outside on his own. Although An Mu repeatedly emphasized what would happen if the Nightmare inside Bai Yu went berserk, Bai Yu assured him with certainty that he could handle it. Because of this, the two prides of Investigation Team One even had a huge quarrel. The team members did not know the details of the argument. They only knew that in the end, Bai Yu won, and he received special approval to move into his own small villa.
After that, everyone basically stopped seeing Bai Yu. Although they still kept in touch, Team One was busy with missions, and it was impossible for them to see each other every day as they had before.
Team One still completed missions as efficiently as before. It was just that only they themselves knew how many more difficulties there were after losing their backbone.
“Knock, knock, knock—” A knock at the door interrupted everyone’s thoughts.
“Come in,” An Mu called toward the door.
“Creak—” The door was pushed open, and Mo Fei walked in first. “Look who I brought!”
Bai Yu entered the office right after him, closing the door behind him as he smiled and greeted everyone. “Long time no see!”