“Under normal circumstances, no.”
Ding San said it with deep concern.
Before her words had even faded, she had already pulled open the car door and slipped inside first.
Huang Zhang and Li Xiangqian exchanged a glance, then quickly followed her onto the bus.
“What about the surveillance footage? Can’t you pull it up?” Huang Zhang was still somewhat baffled by their grave expressions, and asked casually.
Hearing this, Li Xiangqian glanced at him.
He lowered his voice and said, “It’s very strange. All the surveillance records in the area, including those of this bus, have been wiped clean. That’s why I suspect it’s that thing Third Sister mentioned.”
That thing.
Huang Zhang clicked his tongue.
Ding San and these locals really did keep things hidden from outsiders like them.
Up until now, aside from knowing that Ding San’s personality was so contradictory she seemed like a lunatic, and that she might have fought underground matches in Southeast Asia, Huang Zhang’s understanding of her was not even as deep as his understanding of that kid named Zhou Kai.
Bored out of his mind, he paced around the carriage.
After making two rounds, he felt a little tired, so he plopped down on the last row of seats.
His hand subconsciously landed on the armrest beside him.
Hm?
Huang Zhang’s movement froze.
He frowned in surprise and suspicion, rubbing his fingers back and forth over the cold metal armrest several times.
This steel pipe… why was it flat?
He unlocked his phone, and the strong beam of the flashlight shot out instantly.
The beam landed on the armrest. The originally round steel pipe had actually been forcibly pinched into an oval shape for a certain section, and the width of the indentation was almost identical to his palm.
Pinched flat?
This was an old-model bus, built so solidly it could be driven like an armored vehicle. The armrest steel pipe was as thick as three fingers.
What kind of person could have such monstrous grip strength?
“Maybe I’m overthinking it…”
Huang Zhang laughed self-mockingly, feeling that his conjecture was absurd enough to be laughable.
How could a normal person possibly knead a solid steel pipe like it was clay?
What terrifying grip strength would that take…
Besides, if someone really had that ability, why would they still squeeze onto a bus?
Ding San noticed the light on his side and turned her head. “Found something?”
Huang Zhang shook his head and turned off the flashlight. “Nothing.”
He changed the subject and asked bluntly, “What exactly is that Shen?”
Li Xiangqian’s phone beam shone straight down onto the floor. The metal flooring reflected a deathly pale light, making several people’s faces look sinister and distorted.
A suffocating silence fell over the carriage.
After a long time, Ding San finally let out a long sigh and said, “If it really is that thing…”
“It means an unregistered Nightmare Walker died inside a nightmare.”
“Huang Zhang, I advise you to confirm it. Number Seven… is he still alive?”
Huang Zhang raised his head in astonishment.
Ding San never did explain what the “Shen” actually was, but for some reason, when that word left her mouth, Huang Zhang only felt a chill rising from the soles of his feet, sending goosebumps all over his body.
It was definitely something that could doom all of them beyond redemption.
“You still insist he’s a Walker… Fine. I’ll go take a look at daybreak.”
Huang Zhang suppressed the indescribable sense of horror in his heart and nodded.
In the end, this eerie bus failed to provide any more clues.
The appearance of the suspected “Shen” was like flowers in a mirror and the moon reflected in water, leaving behind no evidence that could be tracked.
But Ding San still relied on that beastlike intuition of hers and gave Li Xiangqian an order: “Old Li, increase the patrols again… Nights in Xishan are only going to become more and more unsafe.”
Li Xiangqian had always trusted Ding San’s judgment. He coughed lightly twice and replied, “I’ll write the report when I get back.”
At three in the morning, Xishan City fell completely silent.
Ding San and the others prepared to return to the police station, scrounge up some breakfast, and then disband.
This life of day and night turned upside down had already become a habit carved into their bones, for them, and for frontline officers like Li Xiangqian.
Habit?
How could a person ever grow used to hell?
They were merely doing all they could, then leaving the rest to fate…
At the same time, in Chu Siwen’s home, Ye Zi received a text message from Ding San.
She stared silently at the screen for a moment, then opened an encrypted folder.
The folder was named “Shen.” She clicked open one of the documents inside and typed a line of record into it: Suspected appearance.
She opened the other documents and flipped back and forth through them, her gaze occasionally passing over the laptop screen to land on Park Hyoyun, who was dozing by the bed, and on the pale-faced girl lying on the bed. Her struggle in the dream was clearly not going too well.
【Shen: Nightmare monster】
【Cause of appearance: Unknown. Early theories believed it to be a pictomorphic martial artist who suffered qi deviation. Recent research leans toward another possibility: a Nightmare Walker who died in a nightmare.】
【Note: When patients of Nightmare Syndrome die, their real-world manifestations are mostly organ failure, cardiac arrest, and so on. When a Nightmare Walker dies, their body completely disappears from the real world.】
【Whether the “Shen” is connected to the spread of Nightmare Syndrome remains to be verified.】
…
【Character: Zhou Kai】
【Status: Corroded, clear-headed】
【Skills: Mixed Martial Arts lv3 (0/50), Light Footwork lv3 (10/50), Soraka Swordsmanship lv2 (5/25), Occultism lv1 (0/15), Falcon Strike Lv1 (8/15)】
【Items: Residence Certificate, Bloodstained Hatchet, Morning Star Notes (III, II), Moonlight Orchid Seeds (Plump), Moonlight Orchid Amulet (Old)】
【General Experience Points: 16】
Zhou Kai had already awakened from the nightmare.
That final stretch of holding out had not produced any unexpected trouble.
He had practiced steadily in the shelter, and several of his skills had improved slightly.
Splash!
Cold water rushed over his face.
The bone-piercing chill instantly dragged him out of the lingering discomfort of the dream, and with the enhancement of clear-headedness, he became even more awake.
He glanced at himself in the mirror, who appeared no different from usual, grabbed a towel, and wiped his face haphazardly.
With both hands braced against the rust-streaked washstand, Zhou Kai breathed deeply, his chest rising and falling violently.
The man in the mirror had firmer and more defined muscle lines, and his shoulders had broadened quite a bit.
His facial features seemed to have been carved anew by a blade, sharp and cold.
The tempering of martial arts in reality, and the life-and-death battles in the nightmare, were pushing him to grow and become stronger at an astonishing speed.
Aside from the lingering agony of being torn apart by chariots that seemed to still remain at the ends of his nerves, reminding him every moment of the despair of the nightmare…
Truly, truly…
There was nothing abnormal.
Bang!
Zhou Kai punched the rusty metal washstand, producing a muffled sound.
He lowered his head. When he raised it again, most of the coldness and hostility in his eyes had already faded.
In their place was a scorching brilliance.
“No matter what, I made it through tonight. Next comes a full seven days of rest.”
“Every day, every night, I’m becoming stronger.”
“One day, these so-called nightmares will no longer mean despair to me!”
Thinking of the future,
Zhou Kai’s mood suddenly improved. His mind was filled to the brim with what he needed to do next.
He needed a new weapon, and he needed to find new crops that could be planted in the nursery.
He had to contact his university classmates on the other side of the ocean, had to make money and make his real life more comfortable, so that it could feed back into the nightmare world and give him even greater assistance.
“Advance steadily, and seek speed within slowness.”
Zhou Kai moved his muscles and bones, letting the last trace of chill brought by the nightmare roll out of his body.
For the first time in a long while, he felt a sense of ease and lay straight down on the bed.
Senior Brother Chen Ping was right. In martial arts cultivation, one had to alternate tension and relaxation in proper measure.
The same applied to anything.
Physical fatigue was easy to dispel, but if the string of the spirit was pulled too tight, it would snap.
He needed a good sleep. He needed a hearty meal, to let the color and warmth of real life neutralize the cold and torment of the dream.
Lying on the bed, Zhou Kai’s thoughts drifted for a while, and soon he fell into a deep sleep.
This sleep was utterly satisfying.