An idea sprouted in the depths of Zhou Kai's heart.
Go back. Pry off the surveillance footage.
But Zhou Kai immediately strangled this foolish thought, diving into the corner's shadows without looking back.
He flagged down a taxi, gave the address, and slid into the back seat.
"That piece of cloth..." Zhou Kai leaned against the door, propping his head with his hand, his brows tightly furrowed.
The scene at the accident site replayed endlessly in his mind.
On the dented edge of the bumper hung a small scrap of tattered cloth.
The instant his gaze focused, white vapor rose from the cloth's edge, dissolving like dry ice.
A chill climbed from his tailbone up to the back of his neck.
Instinct warned him that he had once again stepped into some indescribable quagmire.
The consequence of staying at the scene would be a one-day tour of the police station, or an overnight stay if his luck was bad.
Tonight, he couldn't afford that.
"I'm just a passerby. I didn't leave any loose ends."
The bus surveillance wasn't networked; destroy the hard drive, and theoretically, he could erase himself.
But that was only in theory.
Under the Crimson Star's all-encompassing net, wanting to vanish from the face of the earth?
Dream on.
Leave the surveillance, and I'm just an unlucky eyewitness.
Destroy it, and I'm the prime suspect.
Zhou Kai exhaled a turbid breath; instantly, a layer of white fog formed on the car window.
Hopefully this mess wouldn't come knocking so soon.
After returning home, Zhou Kai locked the door.
As usual, he twisted the broom and mop handles together to simulate the weight of a two-handed sword.
The opening stance of Soraka Swordsmanship.
As he practiced continuously, physical exhaustion crashed against his will like waves of tide.
The poles ground against his palms, burning hot, while sweat trickled down from his brows.
With every thrust, his deltoids, triceps, arm flexors... all cried out in protest under the unbearable load.
It wasn't until nine-thirty in the evening that a line of icy subtitles finally popped up at the edge of his vision.
[Soraka Swordsmanship EXP +1]
"Senior Brother Chen was right. You really have to train this thing like your life depends on it."
Zhou Kai disassembled his precious broom-sword and scanned his home vigilantly.
Window gaps, door locks, dust on the floor—after inspecting everything, he lay down on the bed and began to meditate.
The buff effects were receding like the tide; exhaustion drove his physical condition to rock bottom, and his spirit finally bowed to his flesh.
Zhou Kai set his alarm and sank into sleep amidst meditation.
Six points of general experience sat idle in his interface.
Zhou Kai weighed his options repeatedly and decided to leave them untouched for now.
At a critical moment, upgrading an item could turn the tables more than upgrading a skill.
...
"Little Chu, don't be afraid."
"This is my credentials... You can think of us as... special police officers."
Huang Zhang flashed a black leather wallet in front of Chu Siwen.
The girl's eyes were full of vigilance and disbelief.
"Bureau of Abnormal Affairs? You think I haven't read web novels?"
"Let me go! You kidnappers!"
"I have to go to work! I'll get docked pay for being late! Ahhh!"
Chu Siwen screamed herself hoarse.
One day of absence, two days of wages deducted—how was she supposed to pay for food this month?
She'd only been working a few days?
In Chu Siwen's bedroom, Ding San, Huang Zhang, and several others surrounded the girl tied to the chair.
A young woman named Ye Zi sat in the living room, her fingers flying across a laptop keyboard. On the screen was a document.
[Western Mountain City July No. 11 Nightmare Syndrome Patient Record:]
Scrolling up, the directory was densely packed.
Every month there were no fewer than two cases, and sometimes dozens.
Ding San scoffed, folding her arms. "That's enough, Old Huang. Save your breath."
"If she won't sleep, force-feed her sleeping pills. She won't die."
"Come out. We need to talk."
Ding San threw a glance toward Bak Hyoyun sitting nearby.
The young man's eyes were sharp; he immediately understood. "Don't worry, Sister San. I'll know if she even blinks."
Ding San dragged the still-hesitant Huang Zhang out of the bedroom and said coldly, "It's normal not to believe the first time. Die a few times in the dream, and even Jesus would believe."
"We've done everything we can, taught her the rules for survival... If she's courting death herself, no one can stop her."
"Life and death are up to fate."
Huang Zhang's voice was muffled, as if a clot of grease were stuck in his throat. "I understand."
Ding San looked out the window. Her gaze lingered half a second on a black shadow that flashed across a distant residential building's rooftop, then she yanked the curtains shut.
She turned around, her voice even colder. "To be honest, I actually hope all Nightmare Syndrome patients die clean before they become Walkers."
Huang Zhang, Ye Zi, and Bak Hyoyun's gazes all shot over simultaneously.
If the bureau heard these words, Sister San's position would be over.
Ding San explained, "If patients die in the dream, the corpse is intact, with no loose ends."
"But once they become Walkers... if they die then, no one can say what might come out with them."
Huang Zhang knew Ding San was bringing up that internal thesis again—[The Truth of Nightmare Walkers: The Infection Source Hypothesis of Abnormal Invasion].
"In the end, that's only a hypothesis."
"Hypothesis?"
Ding San's seductive red lips gleamed with a cold purple under the warm light.
"Then guess why, when we discover patients, it's 'assistance,' but when we find wild Walkers, we have to coordinate with the violence department to 'control' them?"
"Those things are more dangerous than you imagine!"
"How can you be sure their way of becoming a Walker is clean? How can you be sure... that the one who came back from the dream is still the original him?"
Ding San flicked her fingertip, tearing off the obnoxious cartoon sticker from Huang Zhang's shirt corner.
With a ripping sound, it was as if she had torn away his last scrap of warmth.
"Do I need to remind you every single day?"
"Think about your daughter... You joined Dreamless so that this plague would never have another victim."
"If I were you, that ridiculous bottom line would've been buried along with Wenwen the day she died!"
"Stop playing house with little girls. Get to work, understand?"
Ding San grabbed Huang Zhang by the collar and shoved him back into the bedroom.
Huang Zhang stumbled, nearly falling right in front of Chu Siwen.
Chu Siwen shrank back in terror. "Mister, d-don't come over here."
Huang Zhang shook his head. The last trace of hesitation in his eyes died out.
He pulled a deck of playing cards and an old-fashioned pocket watch from inside his clothes.
None of the core members of the Dreamless organization were ordinary people.
Ye Zi was a top-tier hacker; Ding San was a madwoman forged in Southeast Asia's underground fighting rings.
And him?
"I'm a detective, and also a hypnotist."
Huang Zhang drew the Ace of Diamonds.
He gently pressed the playing card against Chu Siwen's forehead, his voice becoming low and magnetic.
"Nightmare survival rules... Now, memorize every word I say."
"First, stay away from light sources. If you can see the light, so can the monsters."
"Second, don't open books. Knowledge is a cursed eye."
"..."
"Find your identity proof... activate a node... Only by finding the anchor can you become a Walker and survive!"
"Chu Siwen, sleep."
"To the sleepless dream that will eventually end."
...
Buzz buzz buzz!
At twelve o'clock on the dot, Zhou Kai's phone released a faint electric shock.
But Zhou Kai had no reaction. He lay on his back, sleeping like the dead, yet with incredibly steady and rhythmic breathing.
A chill seeped out from beneath the mattress, climbing throughout the room like vines.
His consciousness was long gone from this place.
[The long night... begins]
[Summoned One, welcome... back]
At No. 777 Soraka Town, the fireplace and the nursery simultaneously popped up dialogue boxes.
Announcing the prologue of a sleepless night to his thin, solitary figure.