Chapter 68: Chapter 50: A Nightmare?
These were all places he had visited in this lifetime. He should have recognized them at a glance. Yet for some reason, this world that had felt so familiar just seconds ago now seemed utterly alien. It was as if all his past experiences were a lie, as if they had never truly existed. A look of confusion unconsciously filled Sean’s eyes, and a dull ache throbbed in his head.
Until the "train" arrived at the station.
Sean’s vision cleared.
He and Koni had traveled from the city center to a hospital.
Sean instinctively looked up and saw a sign on the wall.
[Obstetrics and Gynecology]
"Hurry, hurry! She’s in labor! Get the nutrient solution ready..."
Several masked nurses rushed a pregnant woman on a gurney into the delivery room.
"Do you remember this hospital?" Koni asked.
Sean looked at the family members waiting anxiously by the door, then frowned and shook his head. "I have no memory of this place at all."
"Maybe it’s because you never came back here after you grew up," Koni said.
It was the same for her; she couldn’t remember what the hospital she was born in looked like either.
"Are you saying this is a scene from my birth?" Sean asked.
"Mhm," Koni nodded, then added, "To be precise, it’s a scene simulated from the memories in your mind."
A person can’t see their surroundings before they’re born. Any description of this hospital in Sean’s mind could only have come from his parents. But more than twenty years had passed, and he’d long forgotten what they told him. He had never returned to the hospital since, which would explain why he didn’t recognize it.
"No, when I say I have no memory, I’m not just talking about the hospital. It’s the people, too," Sean said.
Logically, the people waiting outside the delivery room should be the pregnant woman’s relatives—his father and grandparents. But they felt like complete strangers to Sean. Although he and Koni were standing behind the group and couldn’t see their faces, Sean was certain of one thing—
"They’re not my family."
The feeling was wrong. He didn’t feel that sense of kinship, the connection of blood.
Besides, that wasn’t the main point.
The main point was that he and Koni were still in his current lifetime.
But Koni had a different opinion. She told Sean with great certainty, "I just turned the timeline back five hundred years."
"Five hundred years?" Sean was slightly taken aback. "Then why are we in a hospital?"
"Because we’ve reached the end of your memories, Mr. Sean," Koni replied.
Five hundred years was just a number used to adjust the time. Its significance wasn’t the specific year, but the fact that Koni, as a Dream Builder, had pushed the timeline back as far as it would go. The fact that it stopped at this hospital meant Sean had no earlier memories. This was the beginning of his life.
The facts were right in front of her. As incredible as it seemed, Koni had to believe that Sean was really just an ordinary Awakened. He had no so-called past life. His ability to raise his Tier so quickly and gain the statue’s approval was all due to his own Talent and potential.
He was a true genius.
This was undoubtedly high praise.
To be born an ordinary person yet advance in his Cultivation faster than a Reshaper—the story would make a whole crowd of Wizards’ jaws drop.
But Sean still felt something was wrong.
’If I really don’t have a past life, if I’m not Carl Black, then why can I control the statue?’
’And why doesn’t the Sanctuary of Truth place any restrictions on me?’
’It doesn’t make sense.’
Sean surveyed the hospital and asked the young woman, "Are you sure this memory was pulled from my mind?"
Koni was certain. "It’s not mixed with any other factors."
To ensure the purity of the dream and not affect its authenticity, she had even sealed off her own deepest memories.
Sean actually believed Koni—the girl had no reason to lie to him—but he still felt there was something strange about this hospital.
"Because you don’t think they’re your family?" Koni tilted her head, delivering the most hurtful speculation with the most adorable expression. "Is it possible, Mr. Sean, that you’re not actually your parents’ biological child?"
Sean: "?"
Koni continued, "For some reason, your biological family had to give you up to be raised by someone else. Your adoptive parents, not wanting to hurt you, chose to hide the truth. They made up a white lie, telling you that you were born in this hospital. And so, the memory of this hospital exists in your past."
That would explain everything.
Sean: "..."
’She’s surprisingly sharp,’ he thought. ’Coming up with a plausible explanation so quickly... her mind works fast.’
But he rejected the idea.
"But there are no other possibilities," Koni said, not intending to hurt Sean. She was analyzing the situation seriously. "Otherwise, you tell me, what should the family in your memory look like?"
The moment she finished speaking, the hallway lights suddenly went out.
The entire hospital was plunged into darkness in an instant. The only light came from the eerie green glow of an emergency exit sign around the corner.
Koni jumped in fright and asked Sean nervously, "Did you turn off the lights?"
"It wasn’t me." Sean was also taken aback by the sudden change. To have his vision suddenly go black was pretty damn scary.
Koni placed a hand on her chest, calming her racing heart. "Maybe it’s a power outage."
Sean wasn’t controlling the dream, and neither was she. That meant this scene was probably something that "really happened" when he was born, according to his parents.
"No, that’s not right."
The strange feeling in Sean’s heart intensified. He asked, "Do you hear anyone screaming?"
Koni listened carefully. "I don’t think so?"
"That’s why it’s not right." Sean’s brow furrowed. "A hospital this big, with so many patients... if there was a sudden power outage, how could no one be panicking or crying for help?"
Koni froze. Hearing what Sean said, she realized it wasn’t just the electricity that had cut out—it was the sound, too.
The hospital was now silent—so silent it was downright eerie. In the faint light of the exit sign, she could see the family members outside the delivery room still waiting anxiously, as if nothing had happened. They were still encouraging and comforting one another, but she couldn’t hear a single sound.
An inexplicable chill ran down Koni’s spine.
A bizarre and absurd illusion suddenly formed in her mind.
’She and Sean couldn’t hear the people in the dream... but could the people in the dream hear her and Sean?’
At that moment, it felt as if the roles of the observers and the observed had been reversed. It wasn’t the hospital that had lost power—it was her and Sean.
Goosebumps pricked up one by one on the skin of Koni’s arms, hidden beneath her sleeves.
The dream seemed to sense her thoughts. The next second—
The family members outside the delivery room suddenly stopped their interactions and slowly turned their heads.
Under the dim green light of the exit sign were five faces with no eyes, no noses, and no mouths—completely blank and as flat as paper.
Koni: "!!!"
She screamed in terror, "Mr. Sean!"
Sean hadn’t been that scared initially, but her scream sent a cold sweat breaking out over his skin.
Feeling the girl’s tight grip on his arm, he forced himself to remain calm. "Don’t panic. You probably just grabbed the wrong Dream Potion."
Grabbing the Nightmare Potion instead of the Natural Dream Potion.
Koni wanted to tell Sean that, despite her age, she was a mature Dream Builder who wouldn’t make such a rookie mistake. ’But if I didn’t grab the wrong Magic Potion, then how could something so terrifying happen??’
’Please don’t tell me Sean’s adoptive parents really look like that!’
At that moment, Koni had no idea that something even stranger was yet to come.
Just as she and Sean were trying to think of any possible explanation, the door to the delivery room opened.
A nurse walked out holding an infant, her face filled with a relieved smile. She said to the family members, "Congratulations, it’s a healthy boy."
The faceless family members turned their heads back toward her.
The hallway lights flickered back on, and the usual noisy bustle of the hospital returned to their ears.
The dream world, which had been on the verge of spiraling out of control, seemed to return to normal.
Just as Koni was about to breathe a sigh of relief, her peripheral vision followed the family’s gaze, and her eyes shot wide open again. Her heart skipped a beat.
The nurse was indeed holding a baby boy, and he was very healthy.
But the baby’s face was Sean’s current face!
As if sensing Koni’s gaze, the baby boy opened his eyes, the corners of his lips curled up, and he smiled at her.
Koni: "!!!"
’Help!’
...
