Chapter Twenty-Five: A Dull Thud, A Lifelong Dream

"Boom!"

The explosion thundered.

Space seemed to ripple, distorting as if a droplet of water seeped through, falling.

In the pitch-black surroundings, a figure tumbled from above, crashing to the ground. The shattered remains of a desk fell with him, as if dropped from the ceiling.

Zhang Changlin, his face bruised and swollen, lay sprawled on the floor, questioning the meaning of existence.

He had used the forbidden artifact, yet still suffered a beating—not because he couldn't fight, but because the shadow behind him, that cowardly spirit, had shrunk back into the forbidden device.

Zhang Changlin had no idea why.

Though he hadn’t fully unsealed its power, still—wasn’t this supposed to be one of the top hundred forbidden artifacts? Could it stop being so timid? How utterly humiliating! What happened to the dignity of a sequence-level forbidden artifact?

At this moment, Zhang Changlin began to form suspicions about that hand. That blood-red hand must be a forbidden artifact akin to a nightmare disaster—something immensely powerful, or else it could never suppress his own Sequence 98.

"Boss..."

"Well, if it isn’t the captain."

"A man fell from the sky… and it’s a big one."

...

Suddenly, voices echoed from all around.

Zhang Changlin froze.

He scrambled up, battered and bruised, and turned to see three desks and three familiar faces.

Zhao Lu, Si Nan, and Su Jiuming…

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, what a sweet little darling—oh, wait, it’s our big, burly captain," Su Jiuming smacked his lips, his words instantly provoking annoyance.

Zhao Lu and Si Nan both regarded Zhang Changlin’s battered state with shining eyes, struggling to suppress their laughter.

Rarely did they have the chance to see their usually imposing captain in such a sorry state.

Zhang Changlin: (／_＼)!

This was beyond embarrassing.

He felt so awkward, he might as well dig himself an entire apartment with his toes.

The stern persona he’d worked so hard to build had utterly collapsed in this instant.

"That blood-red hand was strong. I fought it for three hundred rounds… but in the end, I still got caught off-guard," he forced out an explanation before quickly changing the subject. "Cough, cough, what are you all doing here? Where is this place?"

Su Jiuming smiled coquettishly. "Punished, of course. That test paper was too hard. We tried to cheat and got slapped right into here."

Si Nan and Zhao Lu nodded in agreement.

Zhang Changlin was taken aback.

Then why weren’t they beaten up too? Why was he the only one injured?

Of course, he couldn’t voice these thoughts.

"Where’s Chen Xi?" Zhang Changlin wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, unwilling to give up—he wanted someone to commiserate with.

Si Nan pursed her lips, replying in a low tone, "She… she’s different from us."

"She’s a top student; she doesn’t need to cheat."

"So, she probably won’t get beaten up like you, Captain."

Zhang Changlin: "…"

...

...

Jiangling City.

First Girls’ High School.

Outside the school, the police chief on duty gripped his metal firearm, his expression turning grave.

Before his eyes, the entire perimeter of Jiangling First Girls’ High seemed to distort. Wave after wave of nightmare energy surged out from the campus, spreading like a rising tide, blanketing the surrounding residential district.

"Ma’am! Are you a Dreamwalker?" he called to the woman nearby. "The range of the nightmare disaster is expanding—can you help contain it?"

The chief was a seasoned veteran, having handled at least eighty to a hundred nightmare disasters before. He had a solid grasp of the situation.

The only hope for containing the expanding disaster lay with the Dreamwalkers present—only their power could temporarily restrain the spread.

Zhang Changlin’s Wildfire Squad had already sent out a distress signal when they entered the nightmare. The other Dreamwalker teams should be on their way.

But before they arrived, someone had to halt the expansion, or more and more people would be infected and dragged into the nightmare.

He turned to Su Xiaoyu, questioning her.

He’d seen her arrive with Zhang Changlin’s team—if she could travel with Dreamwalkers, she must be one herself.

Su Xiaoyu had not entered the nightmare with Du Fang.

Startled by the chief’s call, she snapped back to attention, flustered.

She was just an ordinary, low-ranking Dreamwalker—could she really contain the disaster? Was she capable?

In theory, every Dreamwalker possessed the ability to block the spread, regardless of strength. The main cost was dream energy; the more one had, the longer one could hold back the nightmare.

First, she needed to gauge the intensity of this second-layer nightmare.

Su Xiaoyu hurried over to the sophisticated instrument Chen Xi had left behind.

On the screen, crimson light flashed ominously…

"This… this is…" Though Su Xiaoyu was a rookie, she had received professional training.

"Red alert—this only occurs with high-grade nightmares!"

Her expression changed dramatically.

High-grade nightmares were defined as anything above Grade Seven of the Eerie Class. At this moment, the nightmare within Jiangling First Girls’ High had escalated to high grade—possibly Grade Seven, or even Grade Nine!

"It really is a double-layer nightmare… and the second layer might be Grade Nine Eerie?"

"Captain Zhang… you really are a menace!"

Panic and anxiety surged within Su Xiaoyu, but she couldn’t help griping internally.

Zhao Lu had always joked that Captain Zhang was cursed—but she hadn’t expected him to be this unlucky!

Was he descended from crows?

Suppressing her complaints, Su Xiaoyu quickly pulled out her Dreamwalker phone and dialed Wen Ji.

"Speak," Wen Ji’s cool voice came over the line.

"Senior Wen! Something’s happened…"

Su Xiaoyu immediately relayed the details.

"Zhang Changlin, that son of a… Is he stupid? He knew it was a double-layer nightmare and still went in without waiting for backup? Does he have any sense of his own bad luck?!"

"To hell with him!"

Wen Ji, upon hearing this, completely dropped her icy composure, cursing fluently and furiously.

Su Xiaoyu: "…"

Senior Wen, please maintain your image.

"What should I do? Do I need to try to hold back the nightmare?" Su Xiaoyu asked nervously.

Wen Ji instantly calmed.

"Wait for me."

"Don’t do anything rash—your grandfather asked me to look after you. You can’t get hurt."

"A high-grade Eerie nightmare will overpower your dream energy in less than a minute—you might even get swallowed into it."

"Let it expand. Wait for the other Dreamwalkers to arrive. Protect yourself and evacuate the danger zone immediately."

"I’m on my way."

The call ended abruptly.

Staring at the phone, Su Xiaoyu’s face showed a trace of bewilderment.

Was all she could do… just wait?

The police chief, having overheard Wen Ji’s words, looked disappointed. But he moved quickly: "Ma’am, please withdraw from the affected area immediately and secure your safety."

With that, he began organizing his officers to evacuate residents from the district threatened by the spreading nightmare.

Every person evacuated was one less at risk.

So far, there had been no civilian fatalities in this nightmare—perhaps the lethality was low?

Was waiting all they could do?

Su Xiaoyu felt lost. Her grandfather had arranged for her to work at the Dreamwalker Agency as a minor employee for her own safety.

But had she really become a Dreamwalker and joined the system just to live a life of mediocrity?

A sudden fire of defiance rose within her.

Gritting her teeth, she made up her mind.

From her bag, she drew three vials of sapphire-blue liquid.

"Five minutes," she whispered. "Just five minutes!"

She uncapped one vial and let the vaporous dream energy waft out.

Ever since she’d become Du Fang’s assistant, the cautious Su Xiaoyu had spent her allowance on three expensive doses of Dreamspring from the black market, always carrying them—just in case she ever needed to struggle for her life against that terrifying little girl.

If she were to die, she wouldn’t die a coward—she’d at least put up a fight.

That was her last scrap of dignity!

Dreamspring, a product harvested after conquering nightmares, could slowly strengthen one’s dream energy if inhaled, or quickly replenish it if drunk in one gulp. The latter method, however, came with side effects—muscle aches, weak legs, mental fog.

"Why did I become a Dreamwalker?"

"If I only wanted a safe, quiet life, I should’ve just gone home to take over the family business, hired a few Dreamwalkers, and lived in wealth and peace."

"But isn’t living all about chasing your dreams?"

With that, she turned to face the expanding nightmare. In the police chief’s stunned gaze, she downed the sapphire Dreamspring in one go.

The chief’s jaw dropped—he recognized Dreamspring.

One gulp—eight hundred thousand! She was literally fueling her dreams with money.

With eighty thousand yuan’s worth of Dreamspring burning in her veins, Su Xiaoyu pressed her finger to her brow. Dream energy flared, surging out like invisible waves, pushing back against the incoming tide of the nightmare.

Dream energy blazed. Her spirit roared.

She blocked the expanding nightmare.

Wiping her mouth, Su Xiaoyu gave a light laugh and tossed the empty vial aside.

It landed with a muffled thud.

A life’s dream, in a single act.

...

...

Jiangling First Girls’ High.

Exam Room 404.

Chen Xi sat in her seat, having finished the exam perfectly. The dream energy that had been binding her had fully dissipated—she could lift her head, she could move freely.

But at this moment, Chen Xi sat with her mouth agape, stunned as she stared at the seat in front of her.

Or rather, at the back of the person in that seat.

That figure was none other than… Du Fang.

A blood-red hand held Du Fang’s hand, guiding it across the exam paper.

Why was his treatment so different from the rest of them?

And on Du Fang’s desk sat Luo Luo, hugging a pink pig plushie, squatting atop it, gazing on in utter bliss.