Chapter 5

Night.

The moonlight was like gauze.

Lin Sheng still lay on the bed.

His entire body was rigid and unable to move; the tendons in his hands and feet felt as if they had been frozen stiff, hard as rock.

The only things he could barely move were his fingers and his head. This was the result of all the effort he had put in over these past few days.

Tap, tap, tap.

The footsteps came again.

Lin Sheng's expression remained calm as he tried his best to empty his mind.

After so many nightmares, he knew very well that he could not go on like this.

Two consecutive weeks of severe sleep deprivation had caused his daily routine and physical condition to deteriorate to an abysmal level.

"Lin Sheng."

Suddenly, it felt as if some voice was calling him.

Lin Sheng's expression stiffened.

"Lin Sheng."

The voice seemed to drift from a vast, empty distance, filled with an inexplicable sorrow.

But this was clearly just a bedroom, an ordinary room of less than six square meters.

"Lin Sheng."

The voice came again.

Lin Sheng gritted his teeth, struggling to steady his heart, which was gradually accelerating.

Through his many experiences, he had discovered a pattern.

Once he panicked in the dream, the footsteps would inevitably grow faster and closer, and his control over his own body would become increasingly worse.

Don't be afraid.

Lin Sheng turned his head to the side and glanced at the girl in the white dress sitting at the desk on his left.

Then, he closed his eyes.

Deep breath.

Eyes open.

Whoosh!!

A pale woman's face was directly in front of his, almost touching the tip of his nose, staring straight at him.

The distance between them was no more than a palm's width.

The woman's terrified eyes were wide open, as if she had seen something of extreme horror.

But in a sudden blur, Lin Sheng looked again, only to find that the woman's face had vanished.

The girl in the white dress remained sitting at the desk with her back to him, motionless.

His whole body trembled as he struggled to control his body, which had been startled by the sudden fright.

Tap, tap, tap.

The footsteps were drawing closer.

"Lin Sheng." The calling voice was also getting nearer.

Click.

Suddenly, the bedroom door slowly creaked open.

Lin Sheng fought to control his body and his inner emotions.

Tap, tap, tap.

The footsteps drew closer, slowly entering the room and stopping at the foot of his bed.

Lin Sheng could clearly feel that the entity was watching him, wearing some kind of mysterious smile, a cold and dead emotion.

Inexplicably, he suddenly felt the entity reach out a hand, slowly inching closer and closer toward his quilt.

Inch by inch.

Closer and closer.

"Lin Sheng!!"

Suddenly, a scream rang out right beside Lin Sheng's ear, sending a jolt of numbness through his entire body.

"If I'm going to die, we're dying together!!"

With no time to think, he wore a ferocious expression and, gathering every ounce of his strength, he threw off the quilt.

Puff!!

Amidst a dull thud, Lin Sheng rose and reached out toward the figure at the foot of the bed.

"Ah!!!!"

A piercing scream tore through the air.

Lin Sheng's vision blurred, the world spinning dizzily before his eyes until he could no longer see a thing.

Thud.

He seemed to have collided with something, yet he also seemed to have grasped nothing at all.

Hah... hah... hah...

He did not know how much time had passed, but Lin Sheng breathed slowly as his vision gradually returned.

He realized he had somehow gotten out of bed and was standing before the desk, his right hand firmly gripping the right shoulder of the woman in the white dress.

Pfft.

In an instant, the woman in the white dress, who had been facing away from him, collapsed like a punctured skin, shriveling up until only a set of clothes remained, draped over the chair.

Lin Sheng's hand grasped at empty air, and he froze, stunned in place.

He lowered his head to inspect the clothes, but they behaved like melting white wax; within a few seconds, they dissolved and evaporated, vanishing completely.

Did I... did I succeed? A sense of inexplicable relief welled up in Lin Sheng's heart.

He gasped for air while glancing around his surroundings.

He was still in his bedroom, yet something about it felt wrong.

The details in some corners were blurry, though the desk, bed, floor, ceiling, and chandelier remained sharp and detailed.

Lin Sheng reached out to touch the chair, but he felt nothing, as if he were wearing thick gloves that dulled his sense of touch.

Am I still dreaming? He suddenly realized.

According to the information he had researched, one way to determine if you were in a dream was to observe the details.

He thought for a moment, then leaned down to examine the grain patterns on the wooden chair.

On the black wood, the curved patterns did not look like wood grain at all, but rather like the simplified drawings of some strange animal.

The patterns belonged to a creature Lin Sheng felt familiar with, yet he could not name it.

It seems I really am in a dream. A strange excitement stirred in Lin Sheng's heart.

The fear he had felt moments ago had vanished without a trace.

He tested his movements and found he could move about freely.

The bedroom was identical to the one in his real life.

A bookshelf, a bed, a desk, and a wooden chair.

Only the details in the corners remained blurred, as if pixelated, impossible to see clearly.

Lin Sheng steadied his emotions and slowly looked toward the foot of the bed.

The owner of the footsteps that should have been there was gone, leaving the space empty.

The bedroom door stood ajar, and through the gap, he could see a narrow corridor bathed in a dark red glow.

Lin Sheng paused, then slowly moved toward it, pulled the door open, and stepped out, one cautious step at a time.

He felt as though every step he took was on cotton—heavy, yet devoid of any tactile sensation.

Once out of the bedroom, Lin Sheng walked slowly down the corridor.

Even though it was the hallway of his own home, it gave him the illusion of walking on a soft, plush carpet.

He turned his head to look out through the glass window on the left side of the corridor.

Outside the window was a flowing, dark red substance.

It looked like some kind of thick, viscous liquid, moving silently and slowly.

He reached out to touch it, but again, he felt nothing.

This must be the nature of the dream. I remember that whenever I dreamed in the past, I couldn't feel anything when I touched objects.

The thought flashed through Lin Sheng's mind. He did not stop, however; he pulled his hand back and continued walking down the corridor.

His home in the dream was exactly the same as his home in reality, with the same layout and structure.

The corridor was only a dozen meters long; at the end, the kitchen was to the left and the living room to the right.

Lin Sheng walked to the space between the living room and the kitchen, peering left and right.

Which way should I go? In the dream, his consciousness was not entirely clear; it felt as if there were a layer of fog separating him from reality.

Moreover, he had a feeling that he had to concentrate to remain in this dream; if he let his guard down, he might wake up instantly and leave it behind forever.

After a few seconds of hesitation, Lin Sheng walked to the left, toward the kitchen.

He wanted to see if the dishes and leftovers from the day were still there.

Whenever they had leftovers, they would leave them on the table, covered by a mesh food tent.

Lin Sheng reached out and gently pushed open the kitchen door, his eyes widening slightly in surprise.

Inside the kitchen, the sink, dining table, and cutting board were all neatly arranged in their proper places. The white tiles on the walls were pristine and intact, and the floor was covered in black and white checkered tiles, with the vegetables bought earlier that day resting in one corner.

A few bright red carrots had spilled out of their bag, a bundle of emerald-green cabbage still held tiny droplets of water, and two round tomatoes looked just like apples. It was said that these were a new variety of tomato, richer in nutrients.

Everything here is the same as in reality. But, what is this? Lin Sheng stared blankly past the groceries, his gaze landing on a crack in the wall on the right side of the kitchen.

There shouldn't have been a crack there.

Yet now, a dark, jagged fissure over a meter high and half a meter wide had split the wall on the right.

Inside the crack, black mist churned faintly, deep and gloomy, like a passageway.