Dream Ghost

In the training room, Su Wanning stood opposite Lin Ye, her hands hanging naturally at her sides. Silver threads slowly drooped from her fingertips, like molten metal solidifying in the air.

"The rules are simple," she said. "You attack, I defend. Your goal is to touch my body. My goal is to trap you for thirty seconds."

"Can't we use Devour?"

"I can't use that. I can only use the rule rift and perception extension." Su Wanning smiled slightly. "Don't worry, I'll suppress my strength to the early stage of a Dream Controller, which is about the same as your peak Dream Enterer."

Lin Ye didn't say much, and slightly lowered his body.

His senses were fully activated. Every detail of the training room was in his mind—the metallic texture of the walls, the pipes under the floor, the flow of air. And Su Wanning.

She had twelve silver threads in total. Six were woven into a net between her hands, four were wrapped around her waist and legs for defense, and two were hidden in the corners of the ceiling, ready to fall at any moment.

Lin Ye did not rush forward immediately.

He is analyzing.

Su Wanning's silk threads are her primary weapon, but also her primary weakness. The threads require sustained mental energy to maintain; if she attacks from multiple directions simultaneously, her attention will be diverted.

Lin Ye made a move.

He didn't rush towards Su Wanning, but instead rushed towards her left side—where there was only one defensive thread. Su Wanning's threads moved instantly, and three threads flew in from her right to intercept them.

Lin Ye suddenly stopped.

His senses had already detected the movement of the threads. His sudden stop was not blind, but precisely positioned just outside the intersection of the three threads—a visual and perceptual "blind spot" where the three threads were just out of reach.

Su Wanning narrowed her eyes slightly, clearly not expecting Lin Ye to find her defensive weakness so quickly.

Lin Ye changed direction again, this time rushing towards her right.

Su Wanning adjusted the threads quickly, mobilizing all twelve to weave an almost impenetrable net. But Lin Ye's rules had already cracked—he saw gaps between the threads. Not physical gaps, but gaps in the rules themselves. Su Wanning's thread rule was "weave a net to trap the target," but the definition of a "net" is finite. When the net is too large, the spaces between the grids become loopholes.

Lin Ye passed between the two grids.

Su Wanning took a step back, but Lin Ye was faster than she expected. His hand was already in front of her—

stopped.

Because his feet were tangled.

There weren't two, but three threads hidden in the corner of the ceiling. The third one remained perfectly still, glued to the ceiling, and Lin Ye's extended perception couldn't distinguish it from the stationary pipes.

"Fifteen seconds," Su Wanning said. "You almost touched me."

Lin Ye looked down at the silk thread wrapped around his ankle and nodded.

"Again."

In the second sparring session, Lin Ye did not rush to attack.

He stood in the center of the training room and closed his eyes.

Perception extended. Instead of scanning moving objects, he scanned "stationary" objects. There were three threads on the ceiling, two of which he had already noticed. The third—he carefully examined its shape, temperature, and subtle changes in airflow—did indeed resemble a pipe, but while pipes had smooth surfaces, the thread had faint patterns on its surface.

found it.

Lin Ye opened his eyes; this time, he didn't take a detour.

He walked straight toward Su Wanning.

Su Wanning's silk threads wove into a net, blocking his way. Lin Ye didn't dodge; he reached out and grabbed one of the threads.

Su Wanning was stunned for a moment.

"You can't grasp it," she said. "The threads are woven from spiritual power, not physical objects—"

But she stopped halfway through her sentence.

Because Lin Ye did indeed catch him.

It wasn't a physical grasp, but rather the rule crack that "fixed" the rules of the thread. The essence of the thread is "weaving," and Lin Ye's rule crack created a small "contradiction" on it—"weaving" and "stillness" coexisted, and the thread didn't know which command to execute, so it got stuck.

Su Wanning's other threads were still moving, but one thread was missing, creating a gap in the net.

Lin Ye passed through the gap and touched Su Wanning's shoulder.

"Twenty-two seconds." Chen Xuan's voice came from the monitor at the entrance of the training room. "You've improved."

Su Wanning retracted the silk thread, looked at Lin Ye, and had a complicated expression.

"Did you just... secure my threads?" she asked.

"I suppose so," Lin Ye said. "I created a contradiction in the thread using rule cracks. Your thread's rule is 'weaving,' and I added a 'static' rule to it. The two rules conflict, and it got stuck."

"This isn't a crack in the rules," Chen Xuan said as he entered the training room. "This is interference with the rules."

Is there a difference?

"Yes." Chen Xuan walked up to Lin Ye. "A rule crack is 'finding' a loophole in the rules, while rule interference is 'creating' a loophole in the rules. The former is the observer, and the latter is the participant. The fact that you can interfere with the rules means that your rule analysis ability is no longer just 'understanding' the rules, but has begun to 'influence' the rules."

He glanced at his watch.

"Ten-minute break, then we'll continue. Today's goal is to get you proficient in rule-based intervention."

Lin Ye walked to the corner of the training room and picked up a bottle of water.

Su Wanning followed and sat down next to him.

"You learn things very quickly," she said.

"Because there are only thirty days."

"It's not just because of that." Su Wanning looked at him. "You have a... intuition for rules. Most people spend months or even years learning to analyze rules before they can get a feel for them. You seem to be born with the ability to 'see' the rules."

"Maybe it's because I've 'seen' things that others can't since I was little." Lin Ye took a sip of water. "When I was little, I thought it was an illusion, then I thought it was a talent, and now—I don't know what to call it."

"Just call me 'you' is fine," Su Wanning said. "No need for labels."

Lin Ye glanced at her but didn't say anything.

Ten minutes later, the training continued.

This time, Chen Xuan personally took to the stage.

"I don't use threads, nor do I use any dream abilities," he said. "I only use my body. You have to touch me within thirty seconds."

"It's that simple?"

"It's that simple." Chen Xuan smiled slightly. "Let's begin."

Lin Ye rushed forward.

He wasn't slow, but Chen Xuan was faster. Not supernatural speed, but pure physical prowess—a man in his forties, moving more agilely than a twenty-year-old. Every time Lin Ye reached out, Chen Xuan dodged perfectly, with only slight movements, but he just couldn't touch him.

Twenty seconds passed. Lin Ye hadn't touched her even once.

He stopped and took a breath.

"You're seeing with your eyes," Chen Xuan said. "Don't use your eyes. Extend your senses."

"I've been using it."

"No, you're using your sensory extension to 'confirm' my location, and then using your eyes to 'aim.' You're relying too much on vision," Chen Xuan said. "Sensory extension isn't an auxiliary tool; it's your eyes themselves. Turn off your vision and use only your sensory extension."

Lin Ye closed his eyes.

His senses were fully extended. Chen Xuan's location was clearly visible in his mind—not as an image, but as a more direct "knowing." He knew that Chen Xuan's right foot was slightly forward, with his weight on his left foot; he knew that Chen Xuan's right hand was two centimeters higher than his left; he knew that Chen Xuan's breathing rate was sixteen times per minute.

He rushed forward again.

This time, he didn't "aim" at Chen Xuan's body, but rather "sensed" Chen Xuan's next move. When Chen Xuan's right foot moved slightly, Lin Ye knew he was going to dodge to the left; when Chen Xuan's shoulder lowered, Lin Ye knew he was going to bend over.

He stretched out his hand.

It touched Chen Xuan's chest.

"Twenty-five seconds," Chen Xuan said. "That's enough."

Lin Ye opened his eyes and found himself less than half a meter away from Chen Xuan, his right hand pressed against Chen Xuan's chest.

"Extended perception is not just about 'seeing'," Chen Xuan said, "but about 'predicting'. What you need to learn is not to see what others are doing, but to know what others will do."

The training lasted all day.

By evening, Lin Ye was able to use rule interference to fix Su Wanning's threads in a one-on-one situation, and use his perception to predict Chen Xuan's movement trajectory. His fragment level hadn't increased, but his combat ability was at least twice as strong as yesterday.

"Take a break," Chen Xuan said. "We'll continue tomorrow."

As Lin Ye was packing his things to leave, Chen Xuan called out to him.

"Wait a moment."

He took a USB drive out of his pocket and handed it to Lin Ye.

"What is this?"

"After I enter the Dream Continent, if you encounter any problems you can't solve, open this," Chen Xuan said. "Inside, there are some... experiences I've accumulated over the years. Not training content, but some more personal things."

"Why aren't you telling me now?"

"Because some things are useless to say, you can only understand them by experiencing them yourself." Chen Xuan patted his shoulder, "If I don't come back in three days, this USB drive will be my will."

Lin Ye held the USB drive without saying a word.

"Don't look at me like that." Chen Xuan smiled. "I've been to the Dream Continent four times, and I've come back alive every time. The fifth time won't be any different."

He turned and left.

Lin Ye stood in the training room, watching Chen Xuan's figure disappear at the end of the corridor.

Su Wanning walked over and said softly, "He always says this before he goes to the Dream Continent."

"every time?"

"This is the third time," Su Wanning said. "Each time he says it's the 'last time.' But every time there's a new mission, he still goes."

Why is he so persistent?

"Because of his daughter." Su Wanning's voice was very soft. "Five years ago, his daughter was corrupted by a dream creature in her dream and became a vegetable. Captain Chen has been looking for that creature, wanting to kill it to avenge his daughter. Later, he found out about the Dream Continent and believed that the creature came from the Dream Continent. Since then, he has been following this lead."

Lin Ye recalled Chen Xuan's expression every time he mentioned the Dream Continent—not fear, not excitement, but something deeper.

That's an obsession.

"So he wasn't investigating Gu Yan's whereabouts," Lin Ye said. "He was going to find that creature."

"The two are not contradictory," Su Wanning said. "That creature might be related to the 'awakened thing' that Gu Yan mentioned. Captain Chen believes that if we find the root cause, we can find a way to save his daughter."

Lin Ye put the USB drive into his pocket.

"Let's go," he said. "We have training tomorrow."

It was already dark when we left the association headquarters.

Lin Ye didn't let Su Wanning see him off. He said he wanted to take a walk, and Su Wanning hesitated for a moment before not insisting.

The night breeze was cool, and there weren't many people on the streets. Lin Ye's perception was fully extended, and everything within a 100-meter radius was under his surveillance.

He walked for about ten minutes and then stopped.

The perception extension detected an abnormal signal.

About eighty meters to his left rear, there was a person. The person stood motionless in the shade of a roadside tree. It wasn't just ordinary standing—his breathing was very slow, his heart rate was very low, as if he was deliberately controlling his body to make himself "disappear" into the environment.

Lin Ye did not turn around.

He continued walking forward, pretending not to have noticed anything. But his senses had locked onto the person.

That person moved.

Instead of walking towards Lin Ye, they walked in the opposite direction. Their pace was neither fast nor slow, as if they were just passing by.

But Lin Ye noticed a detail: the man's pace was exactly the same as Lin Ye's. When Lin Ye was fast, he was fast. When Lin Ye was slow, he was slow. Like a precise mirror image.

Lin Ye turned into a small alley.

That person didn't come in.

Lin Ye's senses swept across the alley—there was no one else. He leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and pushed his senses to their limits.

A hundred meters away, the person stood on the opposite side of the alley entrance, with their back to him.

Then he turned around.

Lin Ye couldn't see his face—his extended senses could perceive a person's shape, temperature, and movement, but not the details of facial features. But he could feel that the person was "looking" at him.

It's not about seeing with your eyes. It's about extending your senses in the same way as him.

That person was also a dreamer.

Moreover, his rank is higher than his.

The man stood there for a few seconds, then turned and walked away. This time, his pace wasn't synchronized with Lin Ye's.

he's gone.

Lin Ye stood there, his heart pounding.

It wasn't fear. It was alertness.

Someone is following him. It's not someone from that organization—if it were, they wouldn't have left so easily. So who is it? Someone from the association? Or some other force?

He took out his phone and sent a message to Su Wanning:

"Someone is following me. The one who entered my dream is of a higher level than me."

Su Wanning's reply popped up almost immediately:

"Where are you? Don't move, I'm coming to find you."

Lin Ye sent his location.

He leaned against the wall, waiting for Su Wanning to arrive.

But before that, his phone vibrated again.

A text message from an unknown number:

"Don't worry, I'm not your enemy. I just want to see what kind of person Chen Xuan has his eye on."

"—The Mohists"

Lin Ye stared at the name on the screen.

Mohist. Gu Yan's code name.

But wasn't he missing? Shouldn't he be in the Dream Continent?

Lin Ye dialed back, but the phone displayed "The number you dialed is not in service".

He stood in the alley, a cool night breeze blowing by.

Gu Yan in the real world.

He is not dead.

They were not trapped in the Dream Continent.

He stayed outside, watching everything.