When she saw the two weather-beaten sixty-something elders, Zheng Wuyou silently cursed, Damn this nightmare! What the hell!
Honestly, most elderly people in here had only one possible ending...
"Those bastards! They even dragged old people in here!"
Though the guy in the plaid shirt hadn't said who he meant, his eyes stayed fixed on Yuan Ling next to him.
"..."
"You've got some nerve. Your current task is to grow a brain."
Yuan Ling had been about to continue arguing with everyone, but the youth with lip piercing—who had been trying to test the substance beneath the bamboo raft—interrupted her.
At some point, he'd already lain down on the raft, legs crossed as it rocked from side to side.
"Grandma, I've only taken part once more than you have. I don't know exactly what's going on either. I have a sofa here, and the raft isn't far away. Bring Grandpa over and sit down."
Putting on what little courtesy she had, Zheng Wuyou smiled and stood up, intending to offer her sofa to the two white-haired elders across from her.
To her surprise, the two elders waved her off, declining her kind offer.
The old man, dressed in a loose silver tai chi uniform, stroked his short beard and said solemnly, "That young lady said this should be your reward. Don't worry about me and my old woman. I lead the Wu Family Class every day. I'm fit as a fiddle."
His words caught everyone's attention. All eyes turned to the dignified old man.
The Wu Family Class...
Zheng Wuyou realized she might have underestimated him...
"Then what did you mean when you said you were going for a follow-up?"
The old woman gently nudged her husband and said helplessly, "The old man wouldn't listen. A few days ago, he insisted on fighting a young fellow and pulled a muscle."
Realizing she'd jumped to conclusions, Zheng Wuyou stood on the bamboo raft and awkwardly scratched her head, preparing to tell the old man next door what to watch out for, based on what she'd learned yesterday.
Just then, another bamboo raft drifted out from the spot where they had appeared, swaying gently.
Once again, it drew everyone's attention.
Sitting on it was someone Zheng Wuyou knew, though not very well.
He was Miao Laisheng's friend...
The artist, Ben Yu.
Then another raft drifted out behind him, carrying a man with not a single hair on his head, smooth as a braised egg.
His skin was dark and shiny. Either he spent all year bathing by the sea, or he was definitely a sports major.
"Welcome, Dream Experience Officers. I'm the NPC for Countdown Nightmare. As the name suggests, Countdown Nightmare..."
It seemed that once everyone had arrived, this NPC's speech automatically began.
As Zheng Wuyou listened to the same old NPC introduction, she couldn't help feeling puzzled.
At least, so far,
things were unfolding step by step just as they had the previous night.
But why had Ben Yu been grouped with her?
Where had Yunting, Wushen, and... Miao Laisheng been sent?
Yuan Ling stared in disbelief at Ben Yu, who had drifted out of nowhere, a hint of confusion in her eyes.
Seeing that not all the familiar faces were here, she couldn't help wondering:
If they really kept the promise they'd made in the suite and chose the same option despite being in different voids,
what would happen?
Would it mean they'd meet in the same dream?
Or would it be like separate servers in a game: all in the same dream, but split into different "rooms,"
unable to actually meet?
The question left Yuan Ling deep in thought.
It was like the rules of a game. Drawing on the games she'd played, she reasoned through the various possibilities.
"Please choose your sub-dream."
Perhaps because Yuan Ling had warned them right from the moment they entered the dream, no one questioned the so-called NPC or the strange setting this time.
Nor did an NPC appear on the scene.
Something seemed different.
The NPC's spiel went on mechanically, like a listening-comprehension test.
Until the final sentence.
"To ensure compatibility, the nightmare has assigned the team its first group of senior Experience Officers. First-group Dream Experience Officers, please enter the dream and report the facts truthfully."
The last four words stood out like bold text in a document. The NPC emphasized them,
each word pressing down on Zheng Wuyou's heart...
Damn!
Those words were clearly telling everyone:
If anything happens to you in there, it's because those damn senior players didn't tell you!
Ben Yu had caught the meaning too. He shook his head and looked pointedly at the conspicuous sofa.
"10..."
"9..."
The countdown appeared again, right on cue...
This time, Zheng Wuyou wouldn't let what happened last time happen again.
She exchanged a glance with Yuan Ling, and together they pressed their hands against the second screen.
Even though she'd only seen it for two seconds, she still remembered the description on the screen.
A beautiful, dreamlike world where anything was possible, a world filled with love and dreams.
Another blinding flash of white split open the screen before her, as if sweeping away the entire darkness.
The light was so harsh that everyone squeezed their eyes shut.
They were plunged into chaos once more.
Everyone landed safely on the ground.
That's right, everyone landed on the ground. Looking at the white hard bench beneath her, which had replaced the pink sofa, Zheng Wuyou had no idea how many curses she'd hurled, every one of them packed with colorful language.
My butt!
The dream hadn't said they'd keep their original positions when they came in this time!
Damn it all!
The one who had it worst was the youth with lip piercing, who'd been lying on the bamboo raft. His head slammed hard against the floor, which looked like it was tiled, with a loud thud.
At the same time, he let out a pig-like howl.
Zheng Wuyou looked around. Everyone was too busy worrying about their surroundings to spare them a glance, rubbing the parts of their bodies that had taken the worst hits.
Only the wavy-haired woman, who'd landed on the sole bed, kept complaining as she smoothed her hair, as though her appearance would always matter most.
Zheng Wuyou didn't know where she'd ended up this time. The moment she opened her eyes and took in the world, she knew they'd left their original world behind...
As far as the eye could see, everything was black and white...
Black lines sliced through solid expanses of white like blades, dividing them into scenes, including the one they'd just entered.
The desk, the cabinets—everything was just lines.
It was like a messy sketch on a drawing that someone had erased and redrawn over and over.
The place was full of chaos and uncertainty.
Black and white lines intertwined, forming complicated, distorted patterns that made her eyes swim.
Black lines covered the shadows on the walls, floor, and ceiling, as though the whole world were a simple line drawing.
They, too, seemed to have been assimilated upon entering, rendered in black and white and stripped of their original colors.
Their bodies, which should have been three-dimensional, had been reduced to a few lines showing their shadows and outlines in this Black and White World.
Here, no one could hide their expressions, because the lines showed them clearly.
It was as if they'd stumbled into a place that didn't belong to them.
The stark contrast left Yuan Ling feeling both fascinated and uneasy, as if she were trapped in an unreal dream.
Zheng Wuyou frowned speechlessly. The only mark between her brows was two vertical lines: -_-||.
She looked at her left arm. No matter which way she turned it, all she could see were two lines.
Wasn't this what they called being reduced to another dimension?!
If she had to describe their current state,
they'd all turned into stick figures drawn on a sheet of paper...
This dream was completely beyond her comprehension. Every corner of this sharply divided black-and-white room seemed to hide danger.
The others gradually adjusted to the intense light and opened their eyes, only to freeze in shock at the sight before them.
"What the hell, what happened to me?!"
"What is this?!"
It seemed everyone had recovered from the glare, and the room erupted into a noisy argument.
Several colorful letters in wildly different fonts gradually appeared on the ceiling, as if they wanted to join in the fight.
Sweet Dream
Before you continue