Dream Ghost

On the third day of training, Lin Ye's fragment level increased to page (67%).

During these three days, he devoured at least one page-level creature each day—before leaving, Chen Xuan had left behind more than a dozen low-level dream creatures in the "biological bank" of the training room for Lin Ye to practice on. Each one had different rules: some attacked with sound, some with visual illusions, and some could briefly pause time.

Lin Ye uses rule analysis to find weaknesses each time, then uses rule interference to create loopholes, and finally devours them.

"Your absorption precision is getting higher and higher." Su Wanning looked at the data on the instrument. "The residual fragments have not increased; on the contrary, they have decreased from 0.6% to 0.4%."

"Because I understand them before I devour them," Lin Ye said. "Before, I would swallow them whole; now, I savor them slowly."

Su Wanning smiled, but the smile didn't last long.

Her gaze fell on the black monitor in the corner of the training room. It was Chen Xuan's "vital signs monitoring"—as long as he was in the Dream Continent, this screen would display his heart rate, brain waves, and state of consciousness in real time.

Over the past three days, the data has been fluctuating within the normal range.

But this morning, my heart rate suddenly dropped from 72 beats per minute to 55 beats per minute.

It's not the decrease in heart rate during sleep, but a slow, continuous decrease. It's like the body is gradually losing vitality.

"Something's not right with Captain Chen," Su Wanning said.

Lin Ye walked to the display screen and looked at the slowly descending curve.

"Could it be that we encountered something in the Dream Continent?"

"I don't know." Su Wanning bit her lip, "But his mental state is still within the normal range. At least it means he's still thinking and hasn't been controlled."

Lin Ye stared at the screen for a few seconds, then turned and walked towards the door of the training room.

"Where are you going?"

"Find Gu Yan."

"What? How are you going to find it?"

"He's been following me," Lin Ye said. "He's been with me every night on my way home for the past three days. The distance is getting closer and closer. Eighty meters the first day, sixty meters the second day, and only forty meters last night."

Su Wanning quickly caught up, "Why didn't you say so sooner?"

"Because he's testing me, and I'm testing him too." Lin Ye pushed open the training room door. "He approached very slowly, which means he's assessing whether I'm 'worth' meeting him. Captain Chen's data is abnormal today, I don't have time to wait."

He walked out of the association headquarters and stood on the steps at the entrance.

It was already dark. City lights flickered in the distance, while the nearby streets were empty and quiet.

Lin Ye closed his eyes, extending his perception to its limit.

One hundred meters. No.

One hundred and twenty meters. No.

One hundred and fifty meters. This is his current limit—beyond this range, his perception becomes blurred.

At the edge of perception, about 140 meters away, a faint signal appeared.

It wasn't a heat source. It wasn't movement. It was a more abstract "presence"—like someone "thought" in that location, which Lin Ye then sensed.

"He's over there." Lin Ye pointed east and started walking quickly.

Su Wanning followed behind him, the silver threads already faintly visible at her fingertips.

Lin Ye walked for about ten minutes.

The signal was sometimes strong and sometimes weak, as if someone was deliberately guiding him—the signal became stronger when he went in the right direction and disappeared when he went in the wrong direction.

Finally, the signal stopped at one place.

In the east of the city, there is an abandoned observatory.

Lin Ye stood in front of the observatory's main gate. The iron gate was half-closed, and it was pitch black inside. His senses swept across the interior—no heat source, no moving objects, nothing unusual.

But that signal came from here.

Lin Ye pushed open the iron gate and went inside.

Su Wanning followed behind him and whispered, "Be careful."

The observatory's main building is a domed structure with a small interior space. In the very center stands a rusty astronomical telescope, surrounded by dilapidated tables and chairs and yellowed books.

nobody.

But Lin Ye's extended senses told him that someone had just been here. There were footprints on the dust on the ground, and a faint trace of body heat remained in the air.

"He just left," Lin Ye said.

"That signal—"

Lin Ye's gaze fell on the telescope's stand.

There's something there.

A black envelope.

Lin Ye walked over and picked up the envelope. There was no name on the cover, only two words:

"Sleeper"

He opened the envelope; inside was a piece of paper. The handwriting on the paper was messy, but each word was written with great force, as if it were engraved:

"Lin Ye:"

"The fact that you found this place means you're ready to hear the truth."

"Chen Xuan entered the Dream Continent not to investigate any organization. He was looking for a way to save his daughter—to exchange his own life for hers."

"The organization's name is 'The Dream Weavers.' They don't create dream creatures; they're awakening something that's been sealed away for three thousand years—'Primal Fear.'"

"Your ability to devour is not a talent. It's part of that thing. It was shattered three thousand years ago, and the fragments scattered throughout human consciousness. You are the third fragment. Gu Yan is the fourth. The first and second have already been 'harvested' and fused back into the original body."

"If you don't offer a sacrifice in thirty days, they will come and take it."

"Chen Xuan will find the seal of 'Primal Fear' in three days. If he breaks the seal, everything will be brought forward."

"If you want to save him, if you want to live for thirty days, come to this place tomorrow at midnight."

An address was written on the back of the paper.

Abandoned crematorium in the west of the city.

Lin Ye folded the paper and put it in his pocket.

"What did you write?" Su Wanning asked.

Lin Ye was silent for a few seconds, then said, "A trap."

"What?"

"The contents of this letter are a mix of truth and falsehood. He said Chen Xuan went to rescue his daughter, which might be true. He said my ability is part of a fragment, which might also be true," Lin Ye said. "But he asked me to go to the crematorium in the west of the city—that place is too far, too remote, and too much like an ambush site. If he truly wanted to help me, he wouldn't have chosen that kind of place."

Are you going?

Lin Ye looked at the black envelope in his hand.

"go."

Why?

"Because he said Chen Xuan has three more days," Lin Ye said. "If that's true, I can't wait."

He turned and walked out of the observatory.

A night breeze blew by, carrying a hint of coolness.

Behind him, on the dome of the observatory, a figure stood quietly.

Gu Yan watched Lin Ye's departing figure, a slight smile playing on his lips.

He took out his phone and dialed a number.

"He's taken the bait."

An aged voice came from the other end of the phone: "Very good. Phase three initiated. Crematorium, tomorrow midnight. Prepare the 'container'."

"clear."

Gu Yan hung up the phone, crushed it in his hand, and the shards slipped through his fingers, scattering in the night wind.

He looked in the direction where Lin Ye had disappeared and muttered something under his breath:

"sorry."

Then he disappeared too.

The observatory returned to silence.

Only the rusty telescope turned slightly in the night breeze, as if it were watching something.

Association headquarters.

Su Wanning sat in the monitoring room, staring at Chen Xuan's vital signs data.

Heart rate: 52. Still decreasing.

She picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Dr. Jiang, Captain Chen's heart rate continues to drop and has fallen below the safe threshold."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.

"I've come to take a look."

Su Wanning hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair.

Her gaze fell on the black envelope on the table—Lin Ye had left it for her before he left, saying, "If I don't return before midnight tomorrow, give this to the association headquarters."

She picked up the envelope and took out the paper inside.

The handwriting on the paper slowly changed under her gaze.

It wasn't the letter Lin Ye had seen.

Instead, a new line of text:

"Su Wanning, your father is still alive. He is in the Forbidden Layer of the Dream Continent, in the Third Seal."

Su Wanning's fingers tightened suddenly.

Her father, the veteran hunter who disappeared three years ago.

The association declared him dead. She never gave up the search, but three years passed without any leads.

Now, this piece of paper tells her that he is in the Dream Continent.

She stared at the words, her heart racing.

But her reason told her: this was also a trap.

Gu Yan set different baits for both Lin Ye and her. Lin Ye's was "saving Chen Xuan," while hers was "finding her father."

He knows each and every one of them.

Su Wanning crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it into the trash can.

Then she stood up, picked up her coat, and walked out of the monitoring room.

She did not chase after Lin Ye.

She went in another direction.

Because she knew Lin Ye would go to the crematorium. And the place she was going to was one that Gu Yan hadn't written down—she was going to find the mysterious person who had met Gu Yan three years ago.

The man in the black trench coat and wide-brimmed hat.

She had a clue that Chen Xuan had left for her before he left:

"If Gu Yan reappears, go to the 'Old Times' café in the north of the city. Find a man named Lao Zhou. He knows more than I do."

Su Wanning started the car and drove towards the north of the city.

In the darkness, the two cars headed in different directions.

A white SUV, carrying Su Wanning, drove towards the north of the city.

A taxi carrying Lin Ye headed towards the west of the city.

Behind them, a figure stood on the rooftop of a tall building, overlooking the city's myriad lights.

A slight smile played on Gu Yan's lips.

"Sleeper," he whispered, "you will see the truth at midnight tomorrow."

"I hope you can handle it."

He turned and disappeared into the night.

The rooftop was empty, with only the night wind howling.