The man sat in the cockpit, leisurely sipping his coffee, seemingly unperturbed. The pirates who rushed in, armed with AKs, were like air to him; he only glanced up when Petru entered.
This is very abnormal.
Generally speaking, no matter how many storms they have weathered, the crew members of ocean-going freighters will be very nervous when they encounter pirates, either fighting desperately or kneeling down and begging for mercy.
Petru also encountered calm captains who would negotiate with him neither servilely nor arrogantly, offering reasonable terms to ensure the safety of their crew and cargo. These men and ships usually had some influence, and their vessels often possessed safeguards that would deter robbers, such as self-destruct mechanisms. (And _picture_book)
But the man in front of him didn't seem to have any intention of negotiating; his eyes were full of disdain, like a world football champion watching a group of children play football. And these children's skills were so bad that he didn't even want to watch them anymore, until Petru came on the field—this kid looked like he could juggle the ball a few times!
It's already quite strange for one person to operate a large cargo ship, let alone be so calm when facing pirates; there must be something unusual about this ship.
Petru was not a reckless man. When he realized this, he immediately prepared to retreat. He was bold when he needed to be, and he fought desperately when he needed to be, but he was also cautious when he needed to be. If he hadn't been like that, he wouldn't be alive today; he would have been thrown into the Gulf of Aden to feed the fish long ago.
He immediately turned around and walked out.
From the moment he stepped into the cockpit, the moment the man glanced at him, the moment he sensed something was wrong, to the moment he decided to turn around, no more than two seconds had passed. The hatch should have been just half a meter behind him; one step back would have put him back on the deck outside the bridge.
However, when he turned around, the cabin door behind him was gone. The deck outside the cabin, the ship's side, the sea outside the ship, and the distant sky were all gone.
Before me was a dark and damp room. Light streamed in through the skylight in the roof, revealing moldy walls.
Lawiye was tied to a cross at the front of the house, and a strong, shirtless man was whipping her. Lawiye's clothes were torn to shreds, and her bare skin was covered with wounds, some of which were bleeding fresh blood, while others were covered with ugly scabs, like the scales of a devil.
Petru's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but exclaim: Lawiye!
Almost at the same time, a clear thought arose in his mind, impacting his consciousness. He realized this wasn't real; it was a dream!
Petru has had the ability to have lucid dreams since childhood. He still remembers many of the dreams he had as a child because they are so similar to his real-life experiences that it's hard to tell them apart. He was once depressed because of this and unable to communicate normally with others. It wasn't until much later that he met his spiritual mentor— Pastor —in a mercenary group.
"Pastor" was the mentor's nickname during his military service, because he enjoyed providing psychological counseling. He taught Petru about lucid dreaming and trained him to control his dreams. The Pastor said that this spiritual power was a gift from God, and only those favored by God could possess it.
The Pastor was a remarkable man; he could not only control dreams but also enter other people's dreams. However, before he could teach Petru how to enter dreams, he was killed by a sniper during a military operation.
Petru had already learned to control his dreams under the Pastor's guidance, and with further progress in his training, he could learn even more. According to the Pastor, reaching the pinnacle of his training would allow him to approach God.
But the Pastor died.
The Pastor's death dealt a severe blow to Petru. He realized that no matter how strong his Mental Power was, it couldn't withstand a single shot from Barrett. Mental training required a huge price to pay, and with the Pastor's death, he didn't know how to train next. Therefore, he gave up on further progressing on the path of mental cultivation.
In any case, the Mental Power he had already learned was enough for him. He could control his dreams and no longer have those awful, indistinguishable dreams; he became more acute in battle, especially his intuitive judgment of danger, which was also his secret weapon for turning danger into safety many times.
During his later military and pirate career, Petru also encountered some people with special mental abilities, but none of them were as powerful as the Pastor.
He hadn't experienced being mentally controlled or hypnotized into a dream for a long time.
So, when he first stepped onto the ship's living deck and approached the bridge, although he sensed something was amiss, he didn't think much of it. But when he entered the bridge and made eye contact with the man holding the coffee, he still couldn't imagine that the other man was hypnotizing him, and possibly all the pirates who had boarded the ship as well.
Petru had only a gut feeling that the ship was strange and dangerous. It wasn't until he tried to turn back and saw Lawiye being tortured that he realized he had been hypnotized and was dreaming.
If it were an ordinary person, the dream would collapse upon realizing this. At that point, they might wake up, or the hypnotist might notice their mental abilities and launch a more sophisticated mental attack. In any case, Petru knew that his opponent wouldn't let him wake up alive, thus giving them a chance to fire.
But Petru is no ordinary person; he has received spiritual training. His Mental Power may not be strong, but as the Pastor said, he is extremely talented and has unlimited potential.
He knew he had met a master; those before him had probably been killed by him just as stealthily, and he might even have used dream manipulation to make the pirates commit suicide.
While thinking about these things, Petru was also considering countermeasures.
He decided to stay in the dream for now, pretending he wasn't aware of anything. Of course, the subconscious in a dream doesn't lie, so if the other person was watching him in his dream, he couldn't keep up the act.
Fortunately, that person didn't enter his dream. Perhaps there were too many pirates for him to keep track of; perhaps the pirates simply didn't bother to come in and see what these ant-like people were dreaming about; perhaps he was preparing further psychological attacks, such as making these dreaming pirates kill each other.
Petru once heard Pastor say that a truly strong person can make a group of people share the same dream, and can also combine a person's dream with their actual environment, making the dreamer seem like they are sleepwalking, and even bystanders can hardly distinguish between reality and illusion. But such spiritually strong people are extremely rare; they are all people who are close to gods.
Petru tried his best to hide his true thoughts and prevent his Mental Power from fluctuating too much. So he let the dream unfold without actively interfering.
The executioner was still lashing the whip forcefully, and Lawiye's screams echoed in his ears. Petru called out Lawiye's name as he walked towards the execution site.
However, at this moment, the dream took an unexpected turn—
The sound of the whip lashing flesh still echoed, but now Petru himself was wielding it. He waved the whip numbly yet with a hint of excitement, while Lawiye's screams turned into groans, his voice even carrying a strange sense of satisfaction.
Was this a subconscious thought, or was God playing a joke? Petru was almost shocked by this scene to the point that his dream collapsed, but he managed to control himself.
The most important thing now is how to escape this dream.
Should I struggle awake and immediately shoot that person, or continue dreaming and wait for my chance?