Chapter 40: Nightmare
Ji Jue felt like someone was pushing him around roughly, and he was kicked, beaten, and cursed at after being cornered at the back door of a classroom.
Then, he went back to the time when he couldn’t pay his tuition, got thrown out by the teacher, and had to wander the streets like a stray dog. He was crying helplessly and drifting in despair until he finally faced reality, humbled himself, and went door to door to beg for work or a place to stay.
Ji Jue saw himself being sent to a foster family, where he endured domestic abuse. Then, he was thrown into a hospital with his body covered in severe burns when he had been on the verge of death.
It was like... suddenly he had gone back ten years.
Nightmare’s rewind didn’t stop. It surged forward violently, brutally digging through every fragment of Ji Jue’s past, until at last, it broke through every barrier and effortlessly seized the very core of despair.
“Found it.” Nightmare grinned viciously, dragging out the true nightmare hidden deep within those memories and forcing it open once more.
The blue sky turned into a scorched dome, and crimson firelight reflected off heavy, leaden black clouds. The earth split apart, with sparks rising and falling across the charred ground. As wails and cries faded into silence within the ruins, blazing flames consumed the wreckage of a train carriage.
Ji Jue was swallowed by his memories once again. And yet, he was calm, so calm it made Nightmare uneasy. This wasn’t some lucid dream you could escape just by realizing you were in fact dreaming. This wasn’t an illusion that lost its power once seen through, either. This was real, the source of pain itself, a vicious technique meant to drag its target straight into the abyss.
And yet, there was no fear nor despair on Ji Jue’s face, only a kind of quiet calm that sent a faint chill down Nightmare’s spine, as if he had simply gone home, or as if he were back on a soft bed. He casually looked around, letting the painful memories swallow him whole as he walked forward at ease. Eventually, he sat down on the ruins.
Ji Jue scratched his cheek and let out a soft sigh. “Man, this is embarrassing. Just the other day I was saying I might not come back here again... didn’t think I’d get dragged back here so soon.”
No one answered him. Only from somewhere far away, a faint song echoed, repeating endlessly.
The unseen tapirus suddenly lost its power and fell into the dust as a cold wind howled past, carrying with it countless cries of the dead.
Snapped out of his shock, Nightmare lowered his head and looked at the dirt and ash covering his hands. He instinctively took a step back, only to stumble and fall to the ground.
Dazed, he looked around. His control over the dream... had been taken away.
“What the hell is going on?!”
He scrambled to his feet, trying to seize back control, only to see a faint silver light spreading across the ground. Its intricate, circuit-like patterns formed a solemn outline, like an invisible net that had completely trapped him inside.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick...
A phantom sound echoed in his ears clearly.
And just like that, time, which had stood still, began to flow backward. Everything that had been buried reemerged. Amid the scorched earth and ashes, blurred silhouettes and broken bodies took shape again. They rose from death, wailing, shrieking, praying, and screaming in rage.
In the end, they all turned. All the people—no, all those things—turned to look at the stunned tapirus.
On their charred, shattered faces, there were no eyes. Only two pitch-black hollows, like tunnels leading into the abyss. And yet, from within those empty voids, a blazing light surged forth, as if mountains were set ablaze, as if oceans began to boil, as if the heavens and the earth were tearing apart under a tide of destruction.
That was a true catastrophe. Amid the intruder’s final, terrified scream, the world-ending disaster from ten years ago once again rose from the far edge of the earth. Real despair and destruction surged forward with overwhelming force.
When a nightmare broke, it vanished like a bubble bursting. When a soul was reduced to ash, it was no different.
This was the dream eater’s end.
***
“Sir? Sir?” Late at night, outside the airport’s private lounge, the attendant knocked on the door again, gently calling out, “Your flight is about to depart, sir. Can you hear me? Sir?”
She got no response, and her call was met only with silence.
When the door was finally pushed open, a scream of terror rang out. Chaos spread quickly, and the area was soon sealed off, cordoned with barriers. The police who arrived raised their cameras and took pictures of the scene inside.
The man on the sofa had long since stopped breathing. His stiff expression was completely twisted, frozen forever in the fear and despair of his final moments, never to fade.
“Looks like sudden death during a dream.” The forensic doctor who rushed over pulled off his gloves and gave his conclusion. But before leaving, he couldn’t help turning back for one last look at the body, which was curled up and twisted in on itself.
It just didn’t make sense. Why did the corpse look like it had been burned to death?
***
When Ji Jue opened his eyes again, warm, gentle sunlight was streaming in through the window. Birds sang on the branches, spreading their wings and flying into the sky.
In that indescribable quiet, he lay on the floor and slowly stretched, letting out a comfortable groan. It had been a long time since he’d slept this well.
He’d been exhausted.
Last night, he hadn’t even noticed when he fell asleep. He’d spent the whole night on the floor, yet somehow didn’t feel sore or stiff at all. Instead, he felt refreshed and fully rested, completely at peace.
It felt like he’d had a really long dream, but it was all a blur. He couldn’t remember any of it. Still, judging by how well-rested he felt, it had to have been a good dream.
But when he raised his hand, he suddenly froze. On the dial, the progress bar for 1 was already half-filled in gold!
It was over fifty percent gold?! Before going to sleep, it had only been at around thirty percent. How did it jump so much overnight? Was balancing work and rest really this effective?
Ji Jue scratched his head, baffled. No way some fierce ghost had actually entered his dream and force-fed him power, right?
A twenty percent jump just from sleeping... Was this really possible, despite how ridiculous it seemed?
This is completely absurd. But hey, I like it. Give me more!
Humming to himself and swaying his hips, he finished washing up and tidying himself, then stepped outside. The sun was shining brightly with not a cloud in sight. It was the perfect weather for working hard, grinding progress, and scavenging junk!
Another happy day of working was about to begin.
Not long after stepping out, he spotted someone nearby. The guy looked haggard, pale, like he didn’t have long left to live. The moment he saw Ji Jue walk out, his expression changed, as if he’d just seen a ghost.
Probably sick or something.
Ji Jue gave him a sympathetic glance with his hands in his pockets and strolled off leisurely.
After they passed each other, Qi Qin remained frozen in place, staring wide-eyed at Ji Jue’s back as the boy disappeared into the distance, and wondering if he was hallucinating.
Anyone targeted by Nightmare should have ended up in a mental hospital the next day at best after being tortured like that. So how the hell was this guy still out here, lively as ever, going off to do manual labor?
Something wasn’t right.
He had a bad feeling something was off. Looking down, he scrolled through the messages on his phone. Many of the texts he’d sent were all unread, and he had yet to receive a single reply.
Something’s wrong, something’s wrong, something’s wrong! This is seriously not right!!! What the hell is going on?
He wished he could grab that bastard by the collar and whip him with a belt until he was unrecognizable.
Damn it, I waited all night! Did it work or not? Say something!
But no matter how much he called, spammed messages, or sent emails, there was no response, as if the guy was dead.
“You’d better actually be dead, you piece of shit,” Qi Qin muttered, his eyes bloodshot.
At this point, with the other side playing dead and refusing to respond, how could he not get it? That bastard had probably discovered something big last night and ran for it the moment he got it!
If he really just ran, that’d be one thing. The real problem was if he realized the info he had was valuable and decided to shop around and sell it to the highest bidder!
But what exactly had he uncovered? No one knew. And time was running out...
“So this is how you want to play it, huh? Fine. Then go die!” Without hesitation, Qi Qin dialed a number. “Boss, something’s wrong. Nightmare’s gone.”
After explaining the situation, the old man on the other end fell into stunned silence, barely holding back his fury. Something shattered.
“Useless trash! If you’ve got a death wish, go buy yourself a coffin and be done with it. Why drag me into this?! Why are you only telling me this now?!”
Qi Qin’s face twitched as he opened his mouth, then closed it again. He hadn’t expected that a casual probe would hook up a catch this big. Now not only was the rod about to snap, he himself was about to get dragged into the sea.
The worst part was that now that Nightmare had run, they couldn’t even tell what exactly they’d hooked. It could be worthless trash, or it could be a man-eating shark that wouldn’t stop until it tasted blood.
Whether it was “Ji Jue might be that Chosen One who’s been stirring half of Haizhou into chaos these past days,” or “he’s secretly been involved with that woman Wen for years, maybe even has a kid with her,” they couldn’t afford to stall any longer.
If Nightmare sold the information and Wen Wen caught wind of it and became alert, they might never get another chance. Even if it was just a possibility, if something went wrong, would “those people” let them off the hook?
That was ridiculous. Guys like Qi Qin and Jiang Jin were like gutter rats scraping leftovers, and they existed to do dirty work for the big shots. If they were useful, they’d be kept around. If not, they’d be replaced without a second thought.
They were as disposable as chamber pots. If they couldn't do the job well, someone else would.
Jiang Jin took a deep breath. “Act now. Get someone to catch that kid first. I’ll contact the Heart Core Chosen One and dig up everything on him.”
Qi Qin hesitated. “But he stays at Ye Xian’s workshop every day. If she finds out—”
Jiang Jin finally snapped. “He’s just an apprentice, not her damn son. We only call her Master to show her respect, but what if we stopped caring? You think she’d dare make a move?! Besides, can’t you just lure him out? Is this your first day on the job? Do I have to teach you everything?!”
Click.
The call ended just like that. Listening to the harsh dial tone, Qi Qin shivered as if he’d fallen into an ice pit.
A vicious glint surfaced in his eyes as he dialed another number.
