Call an Ambulance

After Lin Rui had "coaxed" her into leaving, Andrea still couldn't put her mind at ease.

The theatre was a little arena of fame and fortune, with no shortage of open strife, hidden struggles, vanity, and pretension.

She had introduced Lin Rui to the theatre's late-night food orders so his food truck could earn a little more. But Andrea hadn't expected the assistant manager in charge of miscellaneous affairs to take two hundred dollars out of seven hundred dollars in revenue.

In a normal food business, the gross margin was only around fifty percent. Taking "two hundred" out of "seven hundred" made this business little different from charity.

Andrea could understand Lin Rui's anger, but she hadn't expected an impulsive kid to emerge among the usually meek Asians, someone who started beating people without another word when he couldn't get his money.

That assistant manager was useless, too. He normally threw his weight around the theatre on the strength of his petty authority, putting up obstacles here and there and harassing the pretty actresses.

Andrea herself had been groped by that bastard several times, swallowing her anger without daring to speak. When Lin Rui beat him up, she had been delighted.

But after the delight came worry... if this beating cost her her job, things wouldn't be so good.

Although Lin Rui had guaranteed he could handle it, Andrea couldn't think of any way to resolve this without repercussions. Was that kid really going to stab the bastard to death?

After much hesitation, Andrea decided to go back and say a few more words to Lin Rui. At worst, she could give up the job, so long as no one died.

Or I could rally the actresses at the theatre and call the police first, accuse him of sexual harassment, and say Lin Rui only attacked that bastard to protect me.

But when Andrea returned to the prop area in the rear courtyard where the conflict had erupted, she didn't see Lin Rui. All she saw was the assistant manager leaning dazedly behind a backdrop, his eyes vacant.

"Frankie?" Seeing that the bastard wasn't dead, Andrea's heart settled back into place. She cautiously stepped forward and waved a hand, trying to get his attention.

The assistant manager stiffly raised his head and looked blankly at Andrea, saying hoarsely, "Who are you?"

Huh...?

Andrea didn't know whether to be shocked or pleased. The man before her seemed to have been beaten into amnesia. She immediately changed her tone and asked, "Mr. Frankie, your face is covered in injuries. What happened?"

Injuries?

Only then did the assistant manager feel the pain. His chest, in particular, had taken several vicious kicks from Lin Rui. His ribs might have been broken, and every breath was agonizing.

"Ah... what happened to me? Help me. I need to go to the hospital." The assistant manager held out his hand, wanting Andrea to help him up.

Andrea took two steps back instead. "Sorry, I'm not a medical professional. I'm not sure whether it's right to move you. I'll call you an ambulance right away."

"No, no, no...!" The word "ambulance" immediately sent the assistant manager into a frenzy. He endured the pain and tried to get up himself.

"Don't call an ambulance. I can get up myself. It's not bad enough to need an ambulance. Just drive me to the hospital."

"I think you're seriously injured." Andrea wasn't about to do that. She insisted on calling emergency services, secretly gloating even more. Idiot, today is your unlucky day.

Get ready to pay at least two thousand dollars in emergency medical fees. I hope your insurance is good enough, or you're really in for a treat this time!

The call connected...

"Hello, 911? This is the Gershwin Theatre on Broadway. We have an injured man who needs emergency assistance. He's having trouble breathing, has suffered severe blows to his head and chest, and has lost his memory. He needs advanced life support.

"Yes, yes, the kind with cardiac monitoring. Intubation for ventilation? He probably needs that. Please send your best medical personnel and equipment. Expedited service.

"What... a helicopter would be fastest?

"All right, we'll take that."

He was done for. This bill started at three thousand dollars, with no upper limit.

Before Andrea had finished her call, the assistant manager, who was lying on the ground trying to get up, was already shouting in agitation, "No...!"

But just then, gunfire suddenly erupted at the entrance on the theatre's second floor, a relentless series of bangs.

In Nightmare Space, people who harbored evil thoughts became more powerful.

As a demon hunter, Lin Rui moved beyond reality, forcibly dragging the fallen security guard on the theatre's second floor into the nightmare.

As though possessed, the dozing guard drew his gun without opening his eyes, aimed down the hallway, and pulled the trigger.

Gunshots rang out and bullets flew. The theatre staff near the hallway immediately scurried away with their hands over their heads, screaming as they pulled out their phones to report a shooting at the Gershwin Theatre.

At that moment, the fallen guard's soul had already separated from his body.

What Lin Rui faced in Nightmare Space was an ugly, bloated humanoid monster, like a "Tyrant" enhanced by the T-virus in Resident Evil.

He looked powerfully built, and the handgun in his palm had also changed shape, becoming a large-caliber rifle that looked immensely powerful. He aimed at Lin Rui and fired repeatedly.

Whenever the rifle fired in the nightmare, the guard's handgun fired in reality as well, making it look as though he were shooting wildly.

Only then did Lin Rui understand what the old priest had meant in Nightmare Space when he said, "Evil spirits are powerful"-even a mere fallen lackey was already an extremely terrifying existence.

The frost longsword carved out sharp blades of ice, but when they struck the fallen guard in his "Tyrant" form, they might as well have been scratching an itch.

Yet a single round from his opponent's powerful rifle shattered Lin Rui's icebound leather armor and sent him flying backward.

Fortunately, the enchantment provided by the witch Sophia had enhanced Lin Rui's spirit and agility, allowing him to dodge a little despite being outmatched in both strength and constitution.

Dodge... where could he dodge to?

To get the witch's help, of course!

His opponent had a gun. Wasn't charging in with a lousy little sword just courting death?

Luckily, this enchantment had also strengthened his leather armor with ice. Otherwise, that first hit would have turned the demon hunter into the demon's prey.

As Lin Rui bolted, the "Tyrant" guard happened to empty a magazine. His soul, trapped in the nightmare, had already been enraged beyond reason, and he pursued relentlessly.

His body in reality, meanwhile, stood up and roared blindly and wildly.

"Sophia, come out and help! This opponent is a little too strong. I can't beat him." Relying on his high agility, Lin Rui darted this way and that through Nightmare Space.

At that moment, Sophia Kaman's consciousness was still immersed in the magic tower constructed within her own mind, alone and lonely.

She imagined herself as a beautiful, powerful witch holding fast within a magic tower, standing apart and proud amid the darkness.

This was both a dream and a reflection of her inner world.

She had long since grown accustomed to this dream, but recently, a strange demon hunter had intruded into it.

In the dream, she seemed to share some kind of bond with the demon hunter. She hated his uninvited intrusion into her heart, yet also longed to speak with him in her dreams.

Whenever she woke, she could vaguely remember what had happened in the dream, but those memories were fleeting and would dissipate in a very short time.

No matter how she tried to recall them afterward, only a hazy impression remained-something very interesting seemed to have happened in the dream, but she couldn't remember any of the details or people.

Upon entering the dream this time, Sophia once again "resisted" the demon hunter's uninvited appearance and sternly warned him not to intrude into her heart at will again. But...

"Sophia, save me!"

"Give me a hand! Kill that big guy behind me."