Chapter 953: Dream

The three players from Absolute Truth were shocked when they saw Han Fei stab the kid without hesitation. However, when they saw the body parts inside the boy's chest, they changed their minds.

"The evil in your hearts pushed the kid to his end." Han Fei reached his hand into the kid in red's chest. He pulled out the kid's head. "You named him alien and made fun of him. Compared to him, you are more like monsters."

The rest of the kids were scared. They quickly scattered, but how could they outrun Han Fei? Han Fei chased after kids at the abandoned site like an evil boss. This scene affected the other players deeply. Internet Addict regretted raising his voice at Han Fei.

All the kids had their chests cut open in five minutes. The body parts were pieced together to form a deformed boy.

The boy had a silly smile on his face as he sat in the nightmare. He liked to look at the stars and would mumble at the night sky. It was why his parents named him Lee Xing. After the boy appeared, the two buildings stopped shaking. The boy was the core of this nightmare.

Han Fei removed his jacket and covered it over the boy's body. He sat beside him. "What did you see?"

The kids who bullied him collapsed to the ground, but Lee Xing didn't care. He kept his head up, looking at the sky. "I... am looking for the stars. Why aren't there any stars here?"

The kid was surrounded by malice, but he never wanted to take revenge. He didn't even look at the people who bullied him. He was still waiting for the stars to appear.

"In the nightmare, everyone like you is a star. You light up the night and show the way for the travelers." Han Fei touched Lee Xing's head. He wanted to use healing persona on Lee Xing but he realized there was no need to.

"I-I don't understand." Lee Xing grabbed the coat Han Fei gave him. He looked at Han Fei curiously. "Can I be your friend? I know many things about stars. My parents promised me that when I grow up, they'll give me a real telescope. Then, we can go star-gazing together."

"Of course."

"Then, we're friends now!"

"Yes."

Lee Xing made his first and last friend. The edge of the nightmare unraveled. Lee Xing's body blurred. Until the end, he didn't hurt anyone. "It's getting late. I should go."

"Goodbye, my friend."

"Goodbye... Right! I still don't know your name!"

"My name is Han Fei."

Before he could finish, Dream surged into Han Fei's body. When he opened his eyes, they were back in the hospital. Bai Xian and the three Absolute Truth players were close to him.

"We've cleared the fourth layer?!" The three players from Absolute Truth were excited. The fatality rate for Absolute Truth when they attempted the fourth layer was higher than 50 percent. This time, they cleared it without any casualties!

"We can do this due to that special player." The three players' attitudes toward Han Fei shifted. They thanked Han Fei seriously, "We were too dumb. Thank you for carrying us! Sorry... Are you two part of any guild?"

Han Fei nodded. "Happiness Neighborhood, Han Fei."

"Happiness Neighborhood, Bai Xian." Even though Brother Bai didn't really do anything, he still held his chest high.

"Happiness Neighborhood? Huang Yin's first neighborhood?!" Internet Addict widened his eyes. He wanted to slap himself.

"Is there something else? We need to keep on going." After Han Fei said that, the three players from Absolute Truth and Bai Xian's eyes twitched.

"Aren't you going to rest?" Internet Addict finally understood his distance to the first guild. He was afraid that Han Fei was about to escape. He grabbed him and asked, "Brother, I feel like your way of thinking is different from ours. Can you tell us how you do that? For example, how did you know Lee Xing was hidden inside the six kids? I believe normal players wouldn't think that way."

After Internet Addict said that, he felt rather embarrassed. Why would Han Fei share his secrets with others?

"It's actually very simple." Han Fei didn't hide anything. The more people who could clear the nightmare, the easier the overall nightmare would be. "Everything inside the nightmare will worsen with them. However, everything in that nightmare was normal. This can only mean that the mutation happened in some place harder for us to see, like in the hearts of those children."

Internet Addict nodded. "Makes sense."

"You have to understand something. No matter how absurd these nightmares are, they are twisted from existing stuff." Han Fei said seriously. "The scarier it gets, the closer you are to the truth. I hope you can remember that, and I hope you can go further in the nightmare."

Hearing Han Fei's blessing, Internet Addict felt worse. Han Fei was ready to share his experience, but he treated him so badly at first.

"If there's nothing else, we're going to the next layer. See you again." Han Fei held Bai Xian's hand. He knew the three players from Absolute Truth were watching. He was too shy to run, so he forced himself to follow Han Fei. Seeing how fearless Han Fei and Bai Xian were, the three players sighed. "Even the two players from Happiness Neighborhood are already so impressive. How scary is the guild leader, Huang Yin?"

"Why aren't the three leaving?" Bai Xian was waiting for the three to leave so he could escape, but he couldn't when the three players were still watching. "Are they crazy?"

"Han Fei, can you walk slower? There's no need to rush!

"I just remembered I forgot to close the door of the guild warehouse.

"Just how much stamina you have that you can drag me with just one hand?

"I'm your senior. Isn't it a bit impolite for you to drag me along like this? Let go and we'll compete in speed."

Vertigo came. The grey mist disappeared. Han Fei and Bai Xian appeared in the fifth layer.

This was a black room. There was no door or window. There were two beds in the middle of the room. One normal and the other strange.

"Shouldn't the nightmare get bigger? How come this one is so small?" Bai Xian walked to the bed. He noticed something strange on the bed. "Han Fei, look!"

Han Fei noticed his body change when he entered the fifth layer. The ghost tattoo became clearer after it consumed two layers of nightmares. The limitation the nightmare had on Han Fei lowered too.

"The nightmare gets harder, but I'll become stronger too...." Han Fei came to the side of the bed.

The bed on the left was normal. It was a single bed. It had a spider lily and a handwritten invitation. Han Fei opened the invitation and frowned.

"For all the people struggling in the nightmare, congratulations on clearing the first level of the dream. Now, I'll give you a choice.

"There are two beds before you. Sleep on the bed on the left, and you'll accept the dream. When the dream covers the whole city, you'll return to real life safely. You don't need to do anything. You just need to sleep.

"If you choose the bed on the right, you'll sink further into scarier nightmares. You'll encounter more ghosts and experience greater torture.

"Now, you can make your chance. Don't feel pressured. You will be given a chance to pick every five layers."

The left bed represented sweet dreams, while the bed on the right represented the nightmare. The left bed meant siding with Dream. When Dream won, these players would wake up; the players could only leave after the players destroyed the altars if they picked the nightmare.

The fifth layer looked normal and vicious. Dream's invitation was simple, but it was filled with traps.

First, the invitation didn't say what would happen to the player after they chose to sleep on the left bed. Was there a possibility that the player would become Dream's puppet?

The players would have a chance to rethink their choices every five layers. If they picked the normal bed, they might not wake up again. Therefore, this choice was singular. It was only to lure the players who chose to nightmare bed.

The nightmares would only get crueler. It would make the players feel greater despair. Once that happened, people might do something irrational. However, this choice was irreversible.

The fifth layer looked like a choice, but it was actually Dream's plan to separate the players so that they would fight against one another.

In this world, most people were kind. Before the threat of death, they would side with the winners. If players like Han Fei couldn't give people hope, then some might embrace the hope given by Dream.

The previous nightmares didn't give Han Fei fear, but this nightmare brought him chills. He put down the invitation. Han Fei and Bai Xian walked to the ghost bed. Weeping came from under the bed. Shadows were crawling too. The sheets were stained with blood.

"How can one not have a nightmare sleeping on a bed like this?" Bai Xian grumbled, but he still chose the ghost bed.

"Different choices mean opposite fate. After clearing the fifth layer, we need to spread this news and inform them of the severity of this situation. We need to tell them Dream's conspiracy." Han Fei didn't plan to hide anything. The two made a choice. Scary images and illusions appeared in the dark room. The bed turned into the mouth of a giant beast and swallowed them.

Their minds sunk into deeper despair.

They opened their eyes and returned to the hospital. Han Fei didn't move forward. He thought back to the things he saw in the fifth layer. "All players should pick the ghost bed, but some would be curious about the normal bed."

"I don't think Dream will live up to its promise. It is an entity that created so many nightmares. I don't think we should attempt the ghost bed." Bai Xian sighed. The fifth layer was just a choice. It wasn't hard for someone with a firm determination like him.

"I do wish for a specific player to attempt the normal bed." Han Fei believed it was time to contact Shen Luo. "Having a knife stabbed into the back of one's head shouldn't affect one's gaming ability, right? Furthermore, Shen Luo was almost killed by Dream's people. He should want revenge."

"Won't it be too dangerous for that player?" Bai Xian was worried.

"It's alright. He'll always survive." Han Fei and Bai Xian retreated from the hospital. They opened the chat lobby and glanced at the data. Now, there were four top guilds who had reached the fifth layer of the nightmare, but no one pushed further. They were all thinking about the choice.

"Absolute Truth, Happiness Neighborhood, Merchant Union, Deep Space Tech, these are all top ten guilds!" Bai Xian clicked on the chat. "Should we contact them to see what they'd do next?"

"Sure." After leaving the hospital, Han Fei received a message from the president of the Merchant Union. It felt like Ah Qi had told the president everything. "The merchants have sharp intuition."

Merchant Union had a lot of funds and connections; Absolute Truth had knowledge of the game; Deep Space Tech was actually a combination of many different guilds. After the game was locked, they announced themselves to be technicians sent by Deep Space Tech into the game. The company wouldn't abandon the players and would bring everyone out. This guild immediately shot up into the ranking.

"Huang Yin temporarily can't be here. I'll take his place to communicate with the other guilds." Han Fei sent an invitation to all the top 100 guilds as the vice president of Happiness Neighborhood. He shared his opinion on the nightmare and invited all the guild leaders to lead at the central pavilion at noon. He'd also explain the situation to all the players then.

Deep Space Tech was the first to respond. Their most important goal was PR, so they supported Han Fei fully.

Info and items had to flow to have value. The Merchant Union understood the importance of cooperation, so they agreed too.

The other guild leaders also agreed to Han Fei's invitation. An emergency meeting about the nightmare would happen in Perfect Life. This was also Han Fei's first time appearing before the surface world.

"Han Fei, do you need me to get some friends to bulk up the event?" Bai Xian knew that Happiness Neighborhood had more ghosts than humans.

"We have enough attendants." Han Fei shut down the lobby. He turned back to look at the hospital. "Why isn't Wu Chang out yet?"