Mysterious traces, a false truth

"?????"

Qian Lai blinked twice, profound confusion showing through his drunken gaze. "Wait, why did we all spend a day in the Detention Room, but you're the one who knows... hic!"

An ill-timed drunken hiccup interrupted his question. After taking a moment to process it, Qian Lai simply asked, "Where... where is it?"

"Outside... the Sanatorium."

"???" The young man frowned, the confusion in his eyes deepening. "We can't get out without finding the key, and now you're saying it's outside?"

His vision blurred. Qian Lai rallied himself and shook his head. By the time his sight cleared again, Yu Qing had already displayed his system panel in front of him.

The boy bent down and raised his long fingers, pointing at the clearly listed information as he explained, "This instance is, at its core, Xu Han's dream. We're inside his dream right now. Look here..."

Yu Qing pointed at Xu Tang's Diary. "It says here that Dad and Mom had an argument. Dad said that if Mom kept dieting, she'd become 'a bag of bones.' That young nurse at the front desk really does turn into a skeleton at night-a 'bag of bones.'"

Qian Lai sat up a little straighter, growing more serious.

Yu Qing continued, "Here, Xu Tang asked whether Dad could buy the entire Sanatorium once he had money. And the dream encompasses the entire Sanatorium."

"That strange Sprinkler Granny we saw was actually from a story Xu Han told Xu Tang. That story existed in his memories, then manifested through his dream."

The system information flipped to the next page. Yu Qing continued, "According to the Diary we found on the ninth floor, the director was conducting a mysterious ritual to worship Angel. Before these people were turned into animals, they all endured inhuman torture."

"They didn't dare speak loudly, because they would be whipped the moment they made a sound."

"Xu Han went through that too, so..." Yu Qing looked at Qian Lai. "When you shouted in the corridor at the beginning, whips lashed out of the walls to hit you."

"That proves that, in Xu Han's mind, those whips were everywhere. That's why they took on this distorted form in his dream."

Understanding dawned on Qian Lai, and he sat even straighter.

To sober himself up, he even raised a hand and pinched hard between his brows twice. "You're saying Xu Han was conditioned like that too?"

"Yes."

"But..." Qian Lai objected. "He wasn't turned into an animal."

"Xu Han is the priest," Yu Qing said. "Judging by the arrangement of the Twelve Zodiac Animals beneath the Angel statue outside, Xu Han is the priest presiding over this ritual."

"That's why he still has a human form."

Qian Lai lowered his gaze, considered this for a moment, then motioned for him to continue.

Yu Qing touched the system again and scrolled down a page. "The sacrifices have to be conditioned."

"First, they're taken to the cafeteria to eat human flesh. After they finish, the lights go out, and Cafeteria Granny changes clothes and dresses up as a ghost to scare them."

"If I'm right..."

Yu Qing turned to the four female ghosts sitting in a row nearby and asked, "When Cafeteria Granny scared you, she wore a long black wig and a red dress."

His words seemed to strike too close to home. The female ghosts' terrifying memories resurfaced, and they froze, shuddering instinctively.

A moment later, they all nodded three times in unison.

"Then that settles it!" The corners of Yu Qing's lips lifted. "Xu Han was scared that way too. In his mind, what was truly frightening was that outfit, not Cafeteria Granny herself."

"That's why, in the dream, that outfit stood behind the serving window as though it were alive, dishing out food for us!"

Qian Lai lowered his eyes and thought for a long time before raising another objection. "But what if these are his memories? Memories that have been... distorted?"

"These aren't memories!"

Yu Qing insisted, "It's a dream!"

"Because when I was searching for information on the ninth floor earlier, I hit Xu Tang. I made Rabbit Girl cry, and the entire ninth floor started shaking."

"I tried to brace myself against the wall and stand up. Then the wall beneath my hand shattered."

"I saw dark purple light glimmering in an endless abyss."

Qian Lai lifted his eyes, his expression abruptly turning solemn, as though he finally believed Yu Qing's reasoning.

Yu Qing continued, "Also, when I came back to take a bath just now, Xu Han tried to kill me in the bathtub. At the bottom of the tub, where his hand reached out, I saw that same dark purple light."

Qian Lai came from an established family that had practiced the mystical arts for generations. No one knew better than he did that human dreams had colors-

Every person's dream was enveloped in a protective layer of color.

Pleasant dreams were wrapped in warm hues, with exceptionally beautiful dreams appearing red; nightmares were wrapped in cool hues, with exceptionally evil dreams turning pitch-black.

These warm or cool colors enveloped the dream and reflected its condition. Hidden within them was a "Dream Core" capable of controlling the entire dream.

A Dream Core was generally the size of a ping-pong ball and emitted white light, representing the dreamer's consciousness.

It was the key to opening the dream!

"So..." Qian Lai said, "We need to break through our current surroundings and go outside the dream to find the Dream Core."

"The Dream Core is the control center of the entire dream. The key could very well be inside it!"

Once he figured that out, his eyes suddenly lit up. He looked excitedly at Yu Qing. "This dream only contains the Sanatorium, so we'll smash through its walls and step outside the dream."

"Once we find the Dream Core, we can find the key and leave the instance."

Yu Qing hesitated-that had indeed been his initial thought.

If this was a dream, then logically, the key should be hidden inside the Dream Core.

Finding the key would let them clear the instance.

In a horror survival instance like this, the further they progressed, the more dangerous their experiences would inevitably become.

Just as, ever since a little while ago, Yu Qing had felt something following him, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, making his heart tremble and chilling his entire body.

But... no!

He kept feeling that something was wrong, but for the moment, he couldn't put his finger on it.

Judging by Xu Tang's Diary, Xu Han should have been a very good person. He was a good husband and a good father. However dangerous his nightmare might be, it couldn't possibly reach the extreme danger of a level-five instance.

I can't figure it out...

So the boy let out a soft breath. "For now... that's all."

"Then..." Qian Lai stood up. "Let's find somewhere to smash through a wall first!"

Under cover of night, Young Master Qian bought a large sledgehammer. Supported by several female ghosts, he drunkenly found a spot in the third-floor mezzanine where the wall was relatively thin.

Break through the wall, breach the dream, and they would be able to see the Dream Core!

Bzz, bzzzz-

Cafeteria Granny had been dead for some time, but the third-floor lights still kept flickering.

Thud!

Thud! Thud!

The heavy hammer struck the wall again and again, its grating noise masking some of the cold, slimy sounds behind them.

In the darkness, that red outfit drifted back and forth beneath a mass of black hair, constantly roaming in front of and behind the group.

Its hollow head pressed against someone's face from time to time, seemingly carrying on Cafeteria Granny's will by continuing to frighten people.

But...

Dozens of female ghosts in white clothing or hospital gowns stood beside Yu Qing and Qian Lai. They had been frightened by that outfit while alive. Now, their accumulated resentment could practically tear it to pieces.

Thud!

Thud! Thud!

Qian Lai had bought medicine to sober himself up. He swung at the wall again and again, cracking it a little, then a little more, drawing ever closer to the hope of escape.

At the same time, however, Yu Qing felt the chill behind him growing increasingly distinct.

Chitter, gurgle. Chitter, gurgle.

That slimy sound was no longer distant. This time, it was right beside his ear...

Right at the nape of his neck!

Clenching his hand, Yu Qing discreetly moved a step forward. It was no use. He couldn't shake it off anymore...

So he walked to the foot of the wall and tried to summon the Golden Needle, slowly, ever so slowly turning his head.

But unexpectedly, "Aaaaaah-!"

The female ghosts' piercing screams stabbed through his eardrums. The instant Yu Qing turned around, what filled his vision was actually...!!