Since the incident at the "Dreamland" toy factory, a month had quietly slipped by.
During this month, Lu Yueqi's life had undergone an earth-shaking transformation.
She had completely bid farewell to her identity as a supernatural streamer who chatted and laughed in front of the camera, throwing herself wholeheartedly into the Nightmare Investigation Bureau's grueling training.
Investigation Bureau Headquarters, B-7 Simulation Training Room.
This was a massive circular space where the scenery could be altered freely according to the settings.
At this moment, it had been transformed into a gloomy graveyard. Crooked tombstones, withered branches, thin mist continuously rising from the ground... These scenes together formed a deeply unsettling tableau.
Lu Yueqi stood alone in the center of this graveyard. She wore a custom-tailored dark gray combat uniform, her hair pulled back neatly into a high ponytail. Her charming face, which usually carried a hint of childishness, was now filled with focus and vigilance. Her breathing was steady and drawn-out, and the hand gripping the tactical flashlight no longer trembled as it had a month ago.
"Target approaching. Bearing seven o'clock, distance fifteen meters. Curb your emotional fluctuations; don't make yourself as conspicuous as a bonfire in the dead of night."
Bai Yu's voice, devoid of any emotion, came through clearly over the tactical earpiece.
At his words, Lu Yueqi took a deep breath and slowly closed her eyes. She didn't turn around, instead submerging her entire consciousness into her own perceptive world. She could clearly feel a frigid, malicious energy mass silently sliding toward her through the mist. It felt like an invisible venomous snake flicking its tongue, seeking out the weakest point in her spirit.
Fear still existed.
But after a month of hellish training, Lu Yueqi had learned to no longer be dominated by fear, instead treating it as her most precise alarm system.
She snapped her eyes open. A faint, ice-blue light flashed and vanished in the depths of her pupils.
*Hum—*
An invisible chill radiated outward from her like a transparent ripple. This cold didn't act on the physical level to lower temperatures, but rather manifested as "solitude" and "serenity" on the spiritual plane. The churning mist on the ground, infused with this chill, seemed to freeze over, stagnating for an instant.
And within that stagnant mist, a twisted, humanoid black shadow revealed its outline.
Now!
Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Yueqi spun around, her right hand simultaneously drawing a peculiar-looking silver pistol from the quick-draw holster at her waist.
It was the "Spirit Impact Tranquilizer Gun" specially made for her by Lan Ce, capable of firing her guided "Deep Cold" power in the form of a compressed energy beam.
*Bang!*
With a dull, low report, an ice-blue beam accurately struck the shadow.
*Hiss—*
The shadow let out a shrill, piercing screech, its body twisting violently as a layer of visible white frost condensed across its surface. Its movements became sluggish and stiff.
"Nice shot."
Bai Yu's brief praise came through the earpiece.
Lu Yueqi didn't relax in the slightest. She could feel that the malice hadn't dissipated; instead, it had grown more frenzied due to the injury.
*Roar!*
The shadow violently broke free of the frost's restraints, transforming into a black lightning bolt and lunging toward her several times faster than before!
Too fast! There was no time to dodge!
Lu Yueqi's pupils contracted abruptly as the shadow of death instantly enveloped her.
At this critical juncture, a far more burly figure blocked her path like a wall.
"Get the hell away from her!"
Mo Fei's trademark booming voice rang out like a thunderclap. The battle axe in his hand, flickering with high-frequency electrical light, whipped up a howling gale and slammed into the shadow with a force that could split mountains and shatter stones.
*Boom!*
The shadow didn't even have time to let out a death cry before it was completely cleaved into dissipating energy particles scattered across the air by this savage, unparalleled strike.
The scenery of the simulation training room receded like a tide, returning to its original bright metallic white.
"Hah... hah..." Lu Yueqi braced her hands on her knees, gasping for breath. Cold sweat had already soaked through the combat uniform on her back.
"Tch, your reflexes are still too slow. If this were actual combat, you'd be dead already." Mo Fei shouldered his battle axe and turned to speak to her. Though his tone was as brusque as ever, there was less of the initial doubt in his eyes, replaced by a hint of barely perceptible approval.
"Mo Fei, you were too impulsive." Bai Yu walked out of the control room. "This was her solo assessment."
"Assessment my ass!" Mo Fei glared. "That thing's final burst was B-class intensity energy. How do you expect a rookie to handle that? Is this training or murder?"
"Spirit contamination index peaked at 68.4%, heart rate fluctuations remained within safe thresholds, and 'Deep Cold' power guidance stability rate increased by 12.7%." Lan Ce's voice came from the other side. He pushed up his glasses, the tactical tablet in his hand displaying a series of complex data. "From a data perspective, her performance today was exemplary. As for the final outburst, that was a pressure test I added temporarily. Considering Bai Yu was present and the danger level inside the room was controllable, there was no risk involved. Congratulations, Lu Yueqi. You've passed the test."
Lu Yueqi looked up, somewhat dazedly, at everyone.
At that moment, the training room doors slid open, and Team Leader An Mu walked in with steady composure. Looking at the girl before him—exhausted, yet with a resolute gleam in her eyes—a rare smile appeared on his face.
"Welcome, Investigator Lu Yueqi." He said solemnly, "From today onward, you are no longer a probationary member. You are now an official member of Team One of the Nightmare Investigation Bureau."
In an instant, all of Lu Yueqi's exhaustion and lingering fear seemed to be dispelled by these words.
She stared blankly at An Mu, then looked at Mo Fei and Lan Ce, finally letting her gaze fall on Bai Yu.
Bai Yu's face still showed little expression, but there seemed to be a bit more warmth and a hint of a smile in his eyes than usual.
Lu Yueqi's eyes grew hot. She suddenly straightened her body and saluted with all her might—though somewhat nonstandard, it was filled with determination.
"Yes! Captain!"
...
Half an hour later, Team One's tactical conference room.
Lu Yueqi, who had just completed her official transfer, had been urgently summoned here before she could even change out of her combat uniform.
The solemn, oppressive atmosphere in the conference room was completely different from the relaxed mood after training had ended, immediately making her realize that a new mission was at hand.
"Vacation's over, everyone." An Mu sat in the main seat, his voice heavy. "Lan Ce, brief us on the situation."
Lan Ce nodded. His slender fingers tapped lightly on the virtual keyboard a few times, and the holographic projector in the center of the conference table immediately lit up, projecting an extremely complex star-map-like data model. At the center of the model was a node continuously flashing with a deep red light, labeled with: [Threat Source: Tower of Myriad Heads].
"The investigation into the 'Tower of Myriad Heads' has made some breakthrough progress this month." Lan Ce's voice was calm and clear. "By conducting a deep analysis of the symbols in the diary left behind by Lu Yueqi's maternal grandfather and cross-referencing them with the Bureau's highest-authority 'Class Omega' encrypted archive, 'Babel Tower,' we successfully traced an extremely important lead."
The projection switched, showing a photo of a man and his personal file.
The man was named Ruan Bo, around thirty years old, a freelance folklore investigator and ancient text researcher.
"Three months ago, Ruan Bo's close friend and partner, an archaeology graduate student named 'Fang Heng,' mysteriously disappeared after a field expedition. The prevailing theory at the time was an accident. But Ruan Bo didn't believe this conclusion, and he began investigating the mystery of Fang Heng's disappearance independently."
"While sorting through Fang Heng's belongings, he discovered a notebook also filled with bizarre symbols and records. According to our deciphering, before his disappearance, Fang Heng also seemed to have come into contact with forbidden knowledge related to the 'Tower of Myriad Heads,' and he had likely even performed some kind of ritual." Lan Ce's tone grew graver. "Ruan Bo is a genius. Relying on his own understanding of ancient occultism, he actually managed—without any external support—to follow the clues in the notebook alone and preliminarily touch upon the existence of the 'Tower of Myriad Heads.'"
"He realized the horror of this thing and surmised that his friend's disappearance was connected to it. Two weeks ago, he released an encrypted distress message to the outside through a very covert online channel. The message read: 'I am pursuing a living tower built from human memories and despair. It may have set its sights on me too. If I disappear, please follow this clue...'"
"This message was intercepted by our intelligence division's analysts. We immediately tried to contact Ruan Bo, but it was already too late."
Lan Ce swiped his finger through the air, and the holographic projection switched once more.
This time, what appeared before everyone was a massive, dilapidated building shrouded in thick fog.
It was an abandoned psychiatric hospital.
The architectural style was Gothic from the previous century. Towering clock towers, narrow and densely packed windows, and large swaths of dark green vines climbing the walls all made it look like an ancient castle imprisoning the souls of the dead.
"Anling Abandoned Psychiatric Hospital." Lan Ce's voice seemed to carry a chill as well. "Located in the Western Hills on the far outskirts of the city. According to the last signal we tracked, Ruan Bo disappeared right here. Moreover, this place has been completely enveloped by a Class S 'Deep Mental Nightmare.'"
Class S!
Lu Yueqi's heart sank sharply. Though she had just been made a full member, she clearly knew what this classification meant. The "Mountain God" of Luoshui Village was Class S. That was a battle that had nearly annihilated the entirety of Team One.
"What's the background of this psychiatric hospital?" An Mu asked in a deep voice.
"The background is very... 'clean.'" Lan Ce said. "Anling Psychiatric Hospital was established seventy years ago. It was once the city's largest mental health rehabilitation center. But thirty years ago, due to an accidental electrical fire, the entire hospital was burned down. The official report stated that all personnel perished in the fire. Since then, it has been completely abandoned."
"Accident?" Mo Fei sneered. "In a hellhole like this, you don't need to think hard to know it couldn't be as simple as an accident."
"Yes." Lan Ce nodded. "After reviewing the sealed archives from that year, we discovered some suspicious points. One month before the fire, the hospital submitted a requisition to the relevant departments for a large quantity of sedatives and restraining equipment—far exceeding normal amounts. At the same time, there was an anonymous whistleblower letter stating that the hospital's director, Wen Maoran, was conducting an illegal experiment called 'Memory Stripping Therapy.'"
"Memory stripping?" Bai Yu spoke up, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
"Correct." Lan Ce looked at him. "According to scattered documentation, Director Wen believed that the root of mental illness lay in painful memories. As long as these 'memory lesions' could be excised like surgery, patients could be completely cured. He seemed to be attempting to forcibly erase or alter patients' memories through certain drugs and high-intensity mental stimulation. I highly suspect that this fire was very likely the final result of the experiment spiraling out of control."
"So the nightmare here stems from twisted souls that were altered, stripped, and died in pain and despair?" Mo Fei's expression also turned ugly.
"You could put it that way. But it's far more complex than an ordinary resentment aggregate." Lan Ce called up the reconnaissance footage transmitted by the drone. "After our 'Nightingale' drone entered the red mist zone, all optical and thermal imaging equipment failed completely. Only the audio unit intermittently recorded some sounds."
A grating burst of static came from the conference room's sound system.
Then, amidst the noisy electrical current, some bizarre sounds rang out intermittently.
"...Don't come near me... You're not my mom..." A tender child's voice was crying.
"...Where's my face? Who took my face..." A woman was muttering neurotically to herself.
"...What day is it today? Did I take my medicine? Who am I?..." An aged voice was asking in confusion.
Then, all the voices disappeared, leaving only one sound.
It was the slow, rhythmic sound of wheelchair wheels rolling across aged flooring.
*Creak... creak... creak...*
That sound didn't seem to come from the speakers, but rather directly behind everyone's heads, making them all feel a chill crawling up their spines.
"The core characteristic of this 'Deep Mental Nightmare' is not physical attacks, but 'cognitive contamination' and 'memory assimilation.'" Lan Ce's voice pulled everyone back to reality from that eerie sound. "It will construct a massive 'Memory Prison.' Any sentient life entering its range will have its own memories gradually stripped, altered, overwritten, and replaced. You will slowly forget who you are, forget your purpose, and ultimately, your memories will be replaced by a segment of painful memories belonging to some deceased patient. You will become 'him,' forever remaining in this psychiatric hospital, repeating his final despair in life."
"One second before the drone went silent, it transmitted back a photo."
An extremely blurry yet utterly terrifying image appeared on the projection.
It was an endless corridor. On both sides of the corridor were tightly shut ward doors. And on the walls, ceiling, and floor of the corridor, densely packed and emerging were countless faces—painful, twisted, silently screaming.
"Ruan Bo has very likely already been 'assimilated.'" Lan Ce delivered his final conclusion.
The conference room fell deathly silent.
This was likely an enemy even more thorny than the one at Luoshui Village. Though Luoshui Village's rules had been fatal, they had at least followed traceable patterns.
But here, the enemy attacked your memories directly. Once your memories were contaminated, you would even forget that you were being attacked in the first place.
Bai Yu quietly looked at that photo of the corridor. The mark of the "Vortex Eye" on the back of his hand—so faint it was nearly invisible—transmitted a slight, icy tremor at this moment.
His pupils contracted slightly.
"Mission objectives," An Mu finally spoke, breaking the silence, his voice as firm as bedrock. "First, find and retrieve Ruan Bo, whether he's alive or dead. He is our only lead in pursuing the 'Tower of Myriad Heads.' Second, ascertain the core of this nightmare and assess whether it can be thoroughly eliminated. Third, and most importantly—everyone must come back completely intact."
He glanced at Lu Yueqi, his tone becoming exceptionally grave. "Lu Yueqi, the danger of this mission far exceeds what you can imagine. Your 'Deep Cold' power might be able to affect spiritual entities, but similarly, your spirit is also more susceptible to contamination. Are you certain you want to participate?"
This was a test for her, and also her last chance to back out.
Lu Yueqi's lips were somewhat pale, but she met Captain An Mu's gaze and nodded forcefully.
"I am... a member of Team One." She enunciated each word.
An Mu looked deeply at her, then slowly nodded. "Good. All members prepare. Target: Anling Psychiatric Hospital. We move out in twenty minutes."
...
The night was as dark as ink. A black special operations vehicle traveled along the winding mountain road leading to the Western Hills.
Outside the window were bottomless cliffs and dense forests rustling in the wind. The atmosphere inside the vehicle was oppressive to the extreme.
Lu Yueqi sat in her seat, both hands tightly gripping that "Spirit Impact Tranquilizer Gun."
Though she had already steeled herself mentally, the terrifying scenes Lan Ce had described still lingered in her mind like nightmares.
"Scared?"
Bai Yu's voice came from beside her.
Lu Yueqi turned her head and saw Bai Yu looking at her. His eyes were calm as still water, as if they weren't heading out to resolve a Class S nightmare incident, but merely going on an ordinary outing.
"A little..." Lu Yueqi answered honestly.
"Don't be so nervous. Focus your attention where it's needed. Remember, in a place like this, your memories might be your most vulnerable weak point." Bai Yu's voice was very soft, yet carried a reassuring power. "From now on, constantly repeat three things in your mind: your name, your purpose for coming here, and a memory you could never forget. Use it as an 'anchor point' for your spirit. Once you find your thoughts beginning to grow chaotic, immediately cast down this anchor and pull yourself back."
The deepest memory...
In Lu Yueqi's mind, she couldn't help but recall the images of Bai Yu pulling her back from the gates of hell twice before.
Looking at Bai Yu, she immediately felt much more at ease, then nodded forcefully. "I remember."
The vehicle finally stopped before an open space at the mountain peak.
Everyone exited the vehicle, and a strange smell of disinfectant instantly drilled into their nostrils.
Before them was the Anling Psychiatric Hospital, enveloped in a blood-colored mist.
It looked even more massive and dilapidated than in the photos.
The walls of the main building were covered with black marks left by the fire. The pitch-dark windows were like the hollow eye sockets of a massive beast, silently staring at these uninvited guests.
In the courtyard, the former garden had long since been devoured by wildly growing weeds. A statue of the Virgin Mary lay fallen in the grass. Half her face was covered in moss, while the other half revealed an expression of compassion that appeared especially bizarre and twisted.
The surroundings were dead silent; not even a single insect's chirp could be heard.
That blood-colored mist seemed to flow slowly as if alive, wrapping the entire building within an isolated barrier cut off from the world.
"Equipment check. Spiritual stability monitors, activate." An Mu issued the final command.
The devices on all five of their wrists lit up simultaneously, displaying green lights representing "stable."
"Remember, we are a single unit." An Mu looked around at his team members. "No matter what you see or hear, don't leave the team without authorization. Maintain communications, report your status at all times. Move out!"
The five of them moved in a combat formation toward that rust-covered wrought iron gate.
The gate was slightly ajar, as if wordlessly inviting them inside.
Mo Fei walked at the very front. He extended his tactical-gloved hand and slowly pushed open that dilapidated gate.
*Screech—*
The sound of metal grinding tore through the years of deathly silence here.
Behind the gate was a vast, dimly lit hall.
By the tactical lights on their helmets, they could see that the service counter in the center of the hall was already covered in thick dust. Large chunks of wall plaster had peeled away, revealing dark red brickwork inside that looked like dried bloodstains.
The mixed odor of disinfectant and medicine in the air was even stronger now, nearly enough to make one nauseous.
The five of them stepped into the hall one by one.
The instant Lu Yueqi's foot crossed the threshold.
*Bam!*
The heavy iron gate behind them slammed shut on its own without any external force!
The massive sound triggered a series of hollow echoes in the hall.
"On guard!" An Mu's voice rang out instantly.
Everyone immediately formed a circle back-to-back, vigilantly scanning their surroundings.
However, the hall remained completely empty, with only their own breathing and heartbeats.
Everything seemed to have returned to calm.
They were already trapped. The hunting game of memories had officially begun.
Right at this moment.
*Click... click... click...*
A crisp and highly rhythmic sound abruptly rang out from deep within the second-floor corridor above their heads.
It sounded like a glass marble being rhythmically tossed to the ground by an invisible hand in the dark, empty corridor.
Thanks to Qing She, Shuyou20240612112416239, Xing Ye Liu Feng, and Yue Qingchen for the monthly tickets (▽^*)⌒☆
Happy National Day @@