Chapter 203: Dream Addiction
by xennovel“Addicted?”
Lu Xin didn’t feel anything particularly special when he first heard Vice President Xiao’s story.
Just having nightmares seemed somewhat acceptable to him…
But hearing Vice President Xiao’s last sentence he suddenly realized where the problem lay.
Meeting Lu Xin’s gaze Vice President Xiao helplessly ran a hand through his hair.
His hairstyle which looked like it had been carefully washed and styled that morning immediately became messy.
Then he let out a long sigh taking a deep drag from his cigarette, “Every day that person forces me to eat…”
“Eat that kind of thing.”
“Although it’s an incredibly terrifying dream I… my tastes were still forcibly changed.”
“Some say you don’t actually have a sense of taste in dreams but that’s false. We just rarely remember the tastes from dreams when we’re awake. But when you’re truly in the dream no matter how absurd it is everything feels real. Every day in that dream I’m made to eat my… eat that thing in various ways. And I taste an indescribable deliciousness I can’t forget even after waking up.”
“During that time I started frantically eating meat. I tried all kinds but… it wasn’t enough.”
Having blurted it all out he stopped exhausted. His bloodshot eyes locked onto Lu Xin as he whispered, “No food in reality can compare to the taste I experienced in my dreams. Compared to what I ate there everything in the real world is bland tasteless… like chewing wood. So… so I actually started looking forward to falling asleep.”
“…”
Lu Xin nodded calmly, “That does sound a bit frightening.”
Vice President Xiao looked up at Lu Xin wanting to say something but just sighed again.
“Everything in the dream stopped scaring me but one day I was terrified by my real self…”
Vice President Xiao’s eyes filled with panic and fear, “Because every day I eat that kind of thing in my dream but I can’t eat it when I wake up. This desire it seems to accumulate growing stronger day by day. One day when I went home to eat with my father and the others my younger brother and sister came to play with me. While I was holding them a terrifying thought suddenly occurred to me…”
“I…”
He abruptly looked up at Lu Xin his face tense and panicked.
But amidst the panic there was a strange glint of greed, “I had a very strong impulse to… them…”
Knowing he hadn’t actually done it Lu Xin simply nodded calmly.
“After realizing I had that thought I was terrified…”
Seeing Lu Xin didn’t respond Vice President Xiao slowly continued, “From then on I started going home as little as possible. I used to go home almost every day but now I stay at the company whenever I can. Even if I have to go back I try my best to avoid my brother and sister. I really can’t stand that feeling suddenly surging up inside me…”
Lu Xin expressed his approval, “You did the right thing.”
“But this doesn’t solve the problem…”
Vice President Xiao’s agitation slowly faded replaced only by deepening exhaustion. “I can’t avoid my brother and sister forever. You might know my family situation… My mother passed away but my stepmother treats me very well. My father’s getting old and he really dotes on my younger siblings. His biggest worry is that we siblings won’t get along in the future.”
“I’m much older than my brother and sister. If I were truly selfish they wouldn’t stand a chance against me. But if Father divides the family business among us prematurely in this competitive environment our company’s competitiveness will weaken…”
“So Father also values whether I will genuinely take care of my younger siblings…”
“Honestly the reason I’ve progressed so smoothly in the company is because Father and my stepmother trust me. They know I care for my brother and sister and wouldn’t possibly treat them badly. Otherwise my stepmother might have started causing trouble for me long ago…”
“I’m actually very grateful to her in my heart and I really like the harmony in our family.”
“But frustratingly I keep having these dreams and I feel myself becoming increasingly abnormal.”
“I don’t even dare tell them about this dare not tell anyone…”
“I just worry that if word accidentally gets out I might immediately fall into irreparable ruin…”
As he spoke it seemed difficult even to mention. He fell silent for a long while before sighing deeply, “This time if Father and Stepmother weren’t going to the Main City together to handle the family relocation registration leaving my younger brother and sister who are still studying in the Second Satellite City in my care I wouldn’t have allowed myself to be so close to them. And just yesterday I really…”
“I was truly scared. I didn’t even dare stay in their hotel. The more they wanted to bother me the more scared I became of myself. Luckily for some reason some police officers came by to investigate something. I conveniently went with them to stay at the Security Hall for a night…”
“…”
Vice President Xiao rambled on incessantly his face pale hair disheveled his complex eyes filled with the look of someone on the verge of collapse.
Lu Xin wasn’t in the mood to pay attention just silently thinking about the problem he described.
Having the same dream every day eating his own younger brother and sister even gradually becoming addicted…
…What kind of problem was this?
What kind of Pollution Source had he encountered?
But could the Pollution Source’s influence on the surroundings really be limited to just one person?
Or perhaps it could be his entire family.
If so…
Lu Xin thought slowly for a moment recalling a type of Ability User called “Dream Weaver.”
Could such an Ability User be influencing him?
…
…
“You… why did you stop talking?”
Vice President Xiao having spoken for a while didn’t hear Lu Xin’s reply.
Looking up he saw Lu Xin frowning thoughtfully and panicked, “Is there no hope for me?”
“Hm?”
Lu Xin paused for a second then shook his head, “No I was thinking about something else.”
Vice President Xiao looked at him pleadingly, “You said you have experience dealing with this kind of thing so…”
Lu Xin thought for a moment then said, “Wait a minute. I need to make a call first.”
After saying that he picked up his bag and turned to walk out of the office.
*Rustle…*
As he stepped out of the office countless eyes instantly focused on Lu Xin.
All his colleagues stared blankly at him eyes full of curiosity.
Especially Director Liu who because his office was occupied was currently squeezed into Lu Xin’s small cubicle. He shot his head up looking first at Lu Xin then towards the office terrified that blood might flow out or a body might fall…
…He had been waiting the whole time for gunshots from the office his heart fraught with anxiety.
…
…
Lu Xin preoccupied ignored them and went straight to the stairwell.
Taking out a cigarette from the metal box Vice President Xiao had given him he lit it and dialed a number.
“Mr. Lone Soldier good morning…”
Han Bing’s voice sounded as pleasant as ever.
“Oh oh good morning…”
Lu Xin hastily returned the greeting paused for a moment then managed, “Have you had breakfast yet?”
“I have.”
Han Bing replied with a smile adding, “I had small wontons.”
“Good that’s good…”
Lu Xin composed himself not continuing the breakfast discussion and lowered his voice, “That Vice President Xiao I mentioned yesterday came to the company looking for me today… Don’t worry he doesn’t seem to be a psychopathic killer and I didn’t ‘deal with’ him… He’s like this because for the past month he’s been having a strange dream. Every night he’s forced to eat his…”
After describing it as briefly as possible he slowly asked, “So what do you think is going on in this situation?”
“Dream Weaver-type Ability User?”
Han Bing reacted quickly calmly stating, “It sounds like he’s under intense psychological suggestion creating a distorted desire.”
“Right.”
Lu Xin said, “I thought that might be it too. So I have a question…”
Han Bing’s voice was soft, “Mr. Lone Soldier if it really is a Dream Weaver-type Ability User influencing him then the situation is quite serious. Moreover Dream Weaver-types are different from others; they belong to the Influence-type… very difficult to deal with…”
“Influence-type?”
Lu Xin was taken aback upon hearing this.
He vaguely felt he had heard it somewhere before.
Han Bing quickly explained, “This is also part of the Ability User training you’ll learn about it soon.”
“Regarding the increasing number of Ability Users appearing after the Red Moon incident one of our practices is documentation. Every time a new ability is discovered it’s recorded named and shared among the Alliance.”
“But due to the rarity and distortion of many abilities our records are often incomplete.”
“Sometimes we only capture one aspect or partial characteristics of an ability making it difficult to categorize properly.”
“Therefore we also group abilities with similar properties together. This way even if we can’t immediately investigate the complete abilities of certain opponents or strange creatures we can make general inferences and references based on their category.”
“Dream Weaver-type and Hypnosis-type are classified as Influence-type because their primary abilities involve affecting the opponent.”
“While Princess-type and Puppet-type both involve controlling or manipulating others so they belong to the Dominion-type.”
“Additionally there are Distortion-type Horror-type Hell-type and so on…”
“…”
“So complicated…”
Lu Xin finally understood remembering that Qin Ran from Happy Town seemed to have mentioned something like this.
He subconsciously asked, “Then what’s the Destruction group?”
Han Bing paused for a moment then smiled, “What Destruction group? There doesn’t seem to be such a category.”
“Oh okay.”
Lu Xin figured he might have misremembered and wasn’t concerned. After a slight pause he said, “But that’s not what I wanted to ask.”
“Hm?”
A small question mark likely appeared above Han Bing’s head on the other end.
Lu Xin still felt a bit embarrassed his face flushing slightly but he asked anyway: “Um…”
“If I take this case it will count as a mission right?”
“How much is the payment?”
“…”
Han Bing paused for a moment then laughed happily, “Mr. Lone Soldier dealing with law-breaking Ability Users is different from handling Pollution Sources you know? Because if these Ability Users who break the law aren’t restrained they often use their abilities to cause significant chaos in Qinggang City. So handling matters related to them carries a minimum payment of fifty thousand…”
*Flick!*
Lu Xin flicked off the long ash from his cigarette a smile spreading across his face: “Okay.”