Lin Xue opened her eyes in a daze.
Before her was a stairway leading underground. Judging by the signs flashing with colored lights on either side, this was an old underground arcade.
"So the core of this dream is an arcade?" Lin Xue pondered for a moment, then headed down the stairs without much hesitation.
The instant she stepped through the arcade entrance, it felt as though she had entered an isolated dimension.
Dim lights flickered in the cramped space, creating a mysterious, oppressive atmosphere. A faint smell of tobacco and alcohol hung in the air, mingling into a distinctive, somewhat unpleasant odor.
The arcade was bustling with noise. Video game sound effects, players' curses, the clatter of keyboards... the sounds intertwined, filling every corner of the hall.
Lin Xue stepped aside to avoid the crowd and walked into the darkened hall, searching the people with her gaze.
Vivian had said they would enter the dreams of people they knew. Lin Xue was unsure who among her acquaintances liked visiting places like this. In any case, her first priority was to find the dream's owner.
Finding the dream's owner was not as difficult as she had imagined. Lin Xue casually scanned the figures in the hall, and her gaze soon settled on a little boy wearing a baseball cap.
Unlike the other players, who gathered in twos and threes, this little boy was the only person alone in the entire hall, sitting by himself at a machine in the corner.
Of course, numbers alone proved nothing. The more obvious distinction was actually the art style: the other players only repeated a few actions and lines, looking exactly like lazily made NPCs in a game. Only this little boy was a real player, every movement revealing the liveliness of a living