Gate of Slumber

With the conversation exhausted, the group found vacant rooms to rest in one after another. Lu Li lay on the bed, reflecting on the various events of this game instance—from the initial plunge into the water to the Mermaid Princess's request, the subsequent journey to the Witch's small village, the tasks assigned by the Witch, the Ghoul caves there, and the Mermaid Princess's behavior upon their return. Lu Li couldn't shake the feeling that he had forgotten something.

What exactly is it? As Lu Li was drifting off to sleep, he quickly scanned his memories. Suddenly, he froze. He finally realized what was amiss: the matter concerning the Dream of Delusion.

In the first game instance, Lu Li had come into contact with the Dream of Delusion, and later, he had discovered faint traces of it in the real world. However, before entering this instance, Lu Li had intended to test the scale of the Dream of Delusion here, yet he had only just remembered it now.

Something has been shielding my memory, preventing me from recalling this. Lu Li was not a forgetful person, yet during his several breaks, he hadn't thought of the Dream of Delusion at all. Still, a sense of unease had been slowly accumulating until it finally surfaced just now.

This situation is... Lu Li traced his memories back to the plunge into the water upon entering the instance. Recalling the moment he gazed into the abyss from beneath the surface, he realized that something had indeed flowed into his body. He surmised that this must have been what caused his memories regarding the Dream of Delusion to be sealed.

Then, why seal the memories of the Dream of Delusion? Lu Li thought with interest. Normally, even if players visited the Dream of Delusion, they would only assume it was a special rule of that world. Unless aided by the instance, they would be unable to touch the Dream of Delusion, whereas Lu Li, relying on his intuition, had successfully grasped the sensation of the Dream of Delusion opening, gaining the preliminary ability to enter it autonomously.

Thinking more was useless. Lu Li lay down to rest and emptied his mind. Before long, his consciousness began to blur. As he was about to fall asleep, that fleeting sensation arrived once more. Lu Li seized it, shifted his consciousness, and the next moment, he arrived in a peculiar place.

The surroundings were pitch black, save for a single point of light not far ahead. There stood a gate, flanked by two massive stone statues of dog heads. They looked seventy percent similar to the Ghouls Lu Li had encountered earlier; or rather, in terms of aura and appearance, these monsters were more like Ghouls in the true sense. The ones Lu Li had encountered before were merely mass-produced items created through curios; perhaps those products would only reach this level after feeding on flesh-fungi for several years.

Judging by the feel of it, this didn't seem to be the Dream of Delusion itself; it would be more accurate to call it a rift between dreams and reality. Lu Li slowly approached the gate. It was covered in strange, intricate patterns that held no meaning, yet seemed to possess every meaning—like the babbling of a dream, an incomprehensible, extreme chaos. This was the Gate of Slumber, connecting dreams to reality. A massive influx of seemingly meaningless information flooded Lu Li's mind.

Humans with strange psychic talents had the potential to arrive here. Most of them, the moment they saw the gate, would be driven mad by the deluge of meaningless information and forced to retreat. Upon returning to reality, that madness would hide beneath the surface, gradually consuming them until they fell into total chaos and died in a self-destructive frenzy.

A few, however, withstood the chaotic information brought by the gate and even extracted useful knowledge from it. They used this information to transform themselves, achieving feats impossible for ordinary people. In fact, this was the origin of the world's earliest Witches, inherited from the Gate of Slumber within the dream.

The few who attempted to approach the gate would be killed by the Ghouls guarding it, becoming their food. Throughout history, only a handful of elites had passed the Ghouls' trial to enter the gate and meet the Lord of Dreams.

In other words, the Dream of Delusion in this world has been claimed by some entity? Lu Li set down the stone tablet in his hand. He had found it placed not far ahead after recovering from the influx of information. It recorded details about the gate ahead and even issued an invitation to anyone who could read the tablet, claiming that those who could see it were talented individuals with special qualities who could join them, followed by contact information.

Lu Li silently estimated his own strength and realized that choosing to approach the gate now would be suicide. The Ghouls guarding the gate were nothing like the ones Lu Li had killed; these two had lived for who knows how long, usually remaining as stone statues on either side of the gate, waiting for challengers. Each of them possessed terrifying strength sufficient to kill the current Lu Li in an instant.

Thinking this, Lu Li silently chose to give up. As his consciousness faded, just before falling into a true sleep, Lu Li glanced at the gate one last time. He felt that one day, he would return here. At that moment, an eye opened on the gate and locked gazes with Lu Li. It seemed as if a voice echoed in his mind, yet it also seemed as if there was nothing at all.

Lu Li suddenly sat up to see Hu Wenxu pushing open the door. Hu Wenxu's face was expressionless as he said flatly, "It's about time. The Mermaid Princess is departing. We need to intercept the Prince before he enters the city, so we must leave early to find a good spot."

"Understood." Lu Li patted his head. The memory of going to the rift of dreams was crystal clear, but most of the seemingly useless information the gate had transmitted to him had been lost, leaving only a tiny fragment. At this moment, those fragments of information in his mind coalesced, and Lu Li strangely understood their meaning: it was a spell, or rather, a ritual.

The effect of this spell was to alter the nature of water, infusing it with a peculiar "worm." Drinking this altered water could rapidly heal most bodily injuries, but the "worms" within the water would also enter the person's body, slowly mutating them and hollowing them out into a nest for the "worms." If consumed in excess, the "worms" would even devour the person's entire personality, at which point the individual would transform into a monster.

Although this spell could be a death trap, its effects were remarkably potent; it was something that could save a life in a critical moment. Using it a few times might cause bodily mutation, but it wasn't a major issue.

This was the information Lu Li had gleaned from the spell. As for its specific efficacy, he would have to test it. Meanwhile, the Mermaid Princess and her group were ready, preparing to set out under the cover of night to find a hidden spot outside the port city and intercept Prince William...