The pond

The sight of her carrying a schoolbag and moving around like a primary school girl made Lin Yu feel slightly uncomfortable.

He was fine while sitting, but now that he's stood up and started walking, this long-lost feeling of "frailty" made Lin Yu sigh with emotion...

"This dream was incredibly realistic."

After all, Lin Yu has been a relatively healthy person since childhood. Although he is not particularly good at sports, his physical fitness and athletic ability have always been good.

He's the type of student who, during his middle school years, would be encouraged by his teachers to participate in some less popular or team events at his class's sports meet.

After joining the "Death game," Lin Yu had already given himself a five-fold physical enhancement as a "soldier," which was essentially permanent. So he hadn't experienced what it felt like to have a "weak" body for a long time.

Now, in this Nightmare, Lin Yu can clearly feel that he is trapped in the body of an elementary school girl!

At the same time, this also reflects the power of the "God of Shadows and Nightmare and Pain" in this respect—in the Nightmare dreamscapes He creates, even the blessing of the "Death game" no longer exists.

Lin Yu couldn't even sense the [Item Space] or access any [Item].

The last time I had this feeling... was in the "Gray Domain"!

However, the principle behind the Gray Domain is simply to make Lin Yu forget his identity as a "Player" and forget that he can access the [Item] in the [Item Space]. It's a manipulation at the cognitive level.

But within this Nightmare, Lin Yu clearly knew who he was, yet he still couldn't sense the existence of his [Item Space].

That makes sense... because "dreams" are inherently distorted and warped.

What's more, it's a Nightmare from which you can't wake up!

In short...

Lin Yu is now like a driver who has driven a top-of-the-line sports car and then returned to driving a three-wheeled electric tricycle, Player has experienced expensive professional e-sports peripherals and then switched back to a ten-yuan no-name mouse. He just feels very uncomfortable.

Although the little girl's steps were quite light, it only took her about ten steps and less than twenty seconds to move from inside the classroom to the outside corridor.

However, for Lin Yu, who was used to being able to jump over it with a single leap, this time was indeed long enough to make him somewhat irritable and anxious.

The loud, shrill laughter and noise from other children outside made Lin Yu increasingly irritable and unhappy.

"It's so noisy..."

"This body is far too weak!"

Two voices alternated in Lin Yu 'Lin Yu mind, making him feel increasingly anxious.

He stepped out of the classroom and looked toward the source of the noise.

A group of seven or eight boys, who all looked to be at most second or third graders, were gathered in front of a small pond in the schoolyard outside the corridor, doing something unknown.

"How annoying!"

Lin Yu thought to himself, then shook his head, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and prepared to ignore them and leave.

But...

Just as Lin Yu turned around, he heard the elementary school boys behind him cheer once again.

"Yeah!"

The noisy, clamorous sounds made Lin Yu feel an increasingly nameless anger rising within him.

At the same time...

He keenly caught a subtle sound mixed in with the cheers—a soft "plop," a soft "plop."

That was the sound of pebbles hitting the water.

Were those elementary school boys throwing pebbles into the pond?

"That's so childish."

Lin Yu muttered to himself.

But thinking of this, he couldn't help but slow down his steps and instead headed towards the direction where they were gathering.

They didn't explain why... Perhaps it was driven by their own unease, a desire to let people investigate what unsettling things they were doing.

As Lin Yu approached, he couldn't help but shout out.

"Hey, hey--what are you doing!"

Why are they all gathered around the pond?!

The little girl shouted with a strong voice, sounding like a little adult.

These words also attracted the attention of the elementary school boys wearing school uniforms and red scarves. They all turned around and, upon seeing that it was Xia Yue, the boys, some clutching pebbles and others holding tree branches, all showed grinning expressions.

"It's Xia Yue —it's Class Study Committee Member Xia here!"

"Class Study Committee Member Xia, we were just having fun!"

They explained absentmindedly, seemingly somewhat wary of Xia Yue —but not much.

After all, Xia Yue is just another child her age.

When these people turned to look back at Lin Yu, they revealed the scene in the pond that they had originally enclosed.

In that pond... there was a yellow dog, soaking wet, struggling to tread the water.

This yellow dog doesn't look very big, but it can swim—however, every time it tries to get close to the edge of the pond, a boy will use a stone or a branch to push it away or send it back.

"Go! Go!"

Every time the dog was chased away and frantically spun around in the water, the boys would burst into cheerful laughter, as if they had seen something very funny.

Seeing this scene, Lin Yu felt even more agitated.

He understood where his earlier unease had come from; he even understood why this unfamiliar pond and its surroundings had become a "Nightmare."

This is not a fabrication by the God of Shadows, but a real "childhood trauma" Memory.

Although Lin Yu is not the real Xia Yue, at this moment, in this Nightmare, while being regarded as Xia Yue by the God of Shadows, the creator of this Nightmare, he also touched upon some truths about Xia Yue's Memory and the Nightmare.

The Authority "Nightmare" truly found Xia Yue's "Nightmare" within the realm of "Nightmare" and presented it to Lin Yu.

Lin Yu could now vaguely sense...

The problem lies in this "pond"—when he sees it, his anxiety reaches its peak—and at the same time, a barely perceptible sense of fear arises.

Lin Yu also realized...

It seems that whenever I empty my mind, I unconsciously replicate Xia Yue's behavior from back then.

"Stop! What you're doing is absolutely wrong!"

"It's so pitiful!"

The little girl spoke sternly, stopping their behavior.

Because of their overwhelming presence, the elementary school boys were even momentarily intimidated.

"We were just messing around with it..."

"Yes, it's fine. Dogs can swim!"

But soon, the boy in the middle who was leading the group, the one who looked the most mischievous, also spoke up with a grin.

"Class Study Committee Member Xia, and this is a stray dog—stray dogs are supposed to be culled!"

"What if we let it bite people at school? We're doing a public service!"

With this leader of the group re-establishing the tone, the other boys quickly changed their tune, going from being somewhat submissive to becoming assertive again.

"Yes... we're doing a good deed!"

"Yes, if you don't take care of a dog, it will bite!"

That's not a stray dog; it's a mongrel that the gatekeeper keeps free-range.

A voice emerged from the depths of my heart.

Lin Yu, or rather Xia Yue back then, became even more agitated upon hearing their rebuttals, and her lips trembled with anger.

However, Xia Yue, being a primary school girl, was clearly not the clever or argumentative type. She was so angry that she trembled all over, and then she couldn't help but rush forward.

"Stop! Stop!"

She snatched a branch from the boy who was closest to the pond and then started waving it around.

The boys were startled by Xia Yue's sudden action and quickly backed away.

That is, this distance...

The dog in the pond seized the opportunity to run ashore, not even bothering to shake off the water, and immediately ran away, still soaking wet.

Xia Yue felt a little relieved watching this scene—but then she immediately tensed up again.

The boy who had just argued with Xia Yue seemed to have lost face because the dog had run away. Of course, it could also be that the behavior of elementary school boys is inherently unpredictable and chaotic. He looked at the running dog, frowned, and then snatched the pebble from his friend's hand.

"Give me!"

As he spoke, he threw the dog at the one that was too exhausted from being in the water for too long and whose fur was too heavy to run very fast!

"Aww--!"

A pebble struck the dog's hind leg, causing it to let out a whimper.

Then, just as the boy was about to throw the second piece...

"I told you to stop!"

Xia Yue dropped the branch she was holding and rushed over to shove him.

"Ouch—you hit me—you hit me!"

"I'm hitting you!"

The two elementary school students quickly started fighting—although Xia Yue looked very thin, she was surprisingly strong.

During elementary school, the strength difference between boys and girls is not obvious, and sometimes girls even have the upper hand.

The two were struggling for a long time, while the surrounding elementary school boys watched, each hesitant about whether to help or try to break up the fight.

Until...

"Thump!"

The Xia Yue fell into the water.

Lin Yu watched as the bewildered and panicked boy stood on the bank, feeling the cold, slightly fishy pond water engulf him, followed by the suffocating sensation of choking on water.

"So that's how it is... So this is Xia Yue's 'childhood Nightmare,' a near-death experience of drowning?"

The lack of oxygen caused his consciousness to begin to blur, but this did not prevent Lin Yu from thinking.

And just as he reached this conclusion and prepared to take back control of the body...

"Boom!"

Suddenly, a thunderclap exploded.

In the pitch-black rainy night, Lin Yu was still soaking wet—but now, he was suddenly standing on the edge of the pond, no longer drowning or suffocating.

In the depths of the pond not far away, floated the dog and the... corpse of the boy who had been on the shore.