Chapter 208: The Green Door

“Where is this…?”

Lu Xin’s heart clenched violently.

He couldn’t quite place the specific emotion he felt.

The place felt both familiar and yet completely unrecognizable, like a memory he couldn’t grasp.

The only thing certain was the intensely complex feeling stirring within him.

The calmness he’d gained from borrowing “Mom’s vision” seemed to evaporate instantly.

A sense of dread he hadn’t felt in a long time crept into his heart.

The feeling was so overwhelmingly oppressive that he instinctively wanted to take deep breaths to maintain his composure.

He looked up and saw the corridor stretching ahead. About seven or eight meters away stood a pale green wooden door, shut tight. Through its narrow window he could glimpse what looked like a spacious experimental area beyond.

…

…

An immense curiosity suddenly bloomed in Lu Xin’s mind.

Driven by an unknown impulse and desire he felt an urgent need to understand everything within this dreamscape.

He lifted his heavy feet and slowly started walking forward.

But just as he took the first step he felt a force pulling him back.

“Snap, snap, snap, snap…”

A series of crisp sounds echoed in his ears—someone was snapping their fingers repeatedly, applying some sort of suggestion.

Simultaneously the world around him began to tremble, cracks appearing everywhere.

It resembled a television screen about to shatter, the image fracturing like broken glass.

Lu Xin quickly raised his hand and saw the white shadow.

It materialized in the air behind him, head jerking upwards. Beneath its disheveled hair he could see its expression—one of terror and confusion. It scrambled backward desperately, trying to escape this world at all costs.

It seemed even the shadow hadn’t expected its own subconscious to create such a place.

Logically this should have been the moment it attacked him, but instead it felt an instinctual fear.

So now it struggled, fighting desperately to get out.

And because it wanted to leave this world began to destabilize.

After all this world was built upon its power and Lu Xin’s subconscious.

…

…

“Hwaa…”

Just as this world was about to collapse Lu Xin suddenly spun around and grabbed.

Though the shadow was far away his outstretched hand somehow latched onto it firmly. Ignoring its struggles he forcefully dragged it in front of him, holding onto it with a strength he’d never exerted before.

Caught in his grip the white shadow emanated palpable fear.

“Since you’re here, stay with me a little longer…”

Lu Xin spoke softly to the shadow in his hand. His tone was gentle but allowed no refusal.

Once he had hold of it the world began to stabilize again.

Ignoring what he now held Lu Xin just focused on ensuring it couldn’t escape, then continued walking forward.

In his hand the white shadow trembled and writhed ceaselessly.

It had never felt such terror, nor witnessed such an absurd scene. Even as mere residual mental power it remembered that anyone previously influenced had desperately tried to escape the dreamscape and return to reality—a basic survival instinct. Yet this time it was the shadow wanting to leave while the dreamer insisted on staying…

Crucially the dreamer’s will was too strong; the shadow was no match for him.

It was suppressed within the very dream it had helped create.

Or perhaps, kidnapped…

…

…

Lu Xin had no time to ponder the companion’s thoughts; he was solely focused on exploring this world.

Whether it was because this was a dreamscape or for some other reason he couldn’t tell.

The air around him seemed thick with countless distorting forces blurring his vision.

Gusts of cold wind rushed relentlessly from the depths of the corridor swirling around Lu Xin.

It felt as if many unseen things were encircling him.

The corridor wasn’t wide and the surrounding space wasn’t large.

But Lu Xin could clearly sense countless eyes fixed intently on him from places he couldn’t see.

They weren’t hostile, but fearful. Lu Xin could perceive that the owners of those gazes were trembling, watching him with extreme panic, too terrified to flee, emitting silent screams he couldn’t hear.

In stark contrast to him was the ‘It’ he held captive in his hand.

Being incidentally stared at by those countless eyes seemed to inflict indescribable terror or torture upon it.

Its body flickered like a shadow under numerous shifting light sources.

Under their glare it continuously distorted, disintegrated, and then reformed.

With each transformation it seemed to diminish slightly.

…

…

Lu Xin walked slowly, sensing the emptiness of the corridor.

The various sounds vanished strangely as he approached.

But then they would reappear abruptly when he least expected.

Reaching the end of the corridor he gently pushed open the slightly ajar door. The lights beyond flickered on instantly.

Lu Xin could even hear the buzzing hum of electricity flowing through incandescent bulbs.

As soon as he pushed the door open Lu Xin saw a dark, messy shape on the floor.

His heart skipped a beat. Looking closer he realized it was a contorted human body.

Covered in some black substance its original features were obscured. He could only tell it was a man wearing a white coat his body twisted into a bizarre shape. His mouth gaped open still conveying the terror he felt before death.

Lu Xin observed him for a moment, noticing a chest badge on the white coat.

On the partially obscured badge he could vaguely make out words like “Red Moon” “Project” and “Research”.

Lu Xin made no attempt to pick it up. He looked up slightly and saw a row of tightly shut room doors ahead—like prison cells or perhaps patient wards. Many of the ward doors however were already open swinging listlessly in the breeze.

Near some doorways lay overturned metal racks surrounded by scattered pills piled on the floor.

Other doorways were splattered with blood and scratch marks, clearly made by fingernails, could be seen on the doors themselves.

…

…

Feeling somewhat bewildered Lu Xin strained his eyes and saw three more doors further down.

These weren’t open; they remained tightly closed.

The feeling of excitement or perhaps tension intensified within him.

Lu Xin strode forward feeling his legs tremble uncontrollably.

He reached the first closed door.

Then he pressed his face against the door’s window suppressing the turbulent emotions surging within him and peered carefully inside.

The room was pitch black. Using only the light from the corridor he could make out various pieces of equipment and an operating table. In a corner he thought he saw torn plush toys scattered haphazardly on the floor.

A strange emotion like a rising flame intensified fiercely.

Lu Xin sensed that the cruel Dream Weaver-type shadow he forcibly held preventing its escape was now at the peak of its terror. It struggled frantically throwing a tantrum desperately wanting to flee.

But Lu Xin held onto it with all his might forcing it to help stabilize this dreamscape.

He then stood on tiptoe continuing to peer into the world behind the closed door subconsciously searching for something.

He felt there had to be something in this room…

“Shua!”

Just then in the window Lu Xin was pressed against a pair of eyes suddenly appeared.

They were upside-down eyes completely white.

At that exact moment Lu Xin felt an intense sense of familiarity.

Even a strange sorrow surged into his mind instantly overwhelming all his consciousness.

…

…

But also at that moment Lu Xin’s hand suddenly felt empty.

Simultaneously a sharp pain shot through his head and the world around him began to crumble inch by inch.

He was returning to the real world.

The shadow he had been forcefully holding onto had completely vanished.

Creating such a dreamscape seemed to consume a massive amount of its power. Being forcibly held by Lu Xin unable to withdraw meant Lu Xin had borrowed its power to stay in that dream for about twenty seconds. Those twenty seconds were sustained by consuming its energy. Finally just as Lu Xin saw those eyes its mental power ran out completely.

Lu Xin started hearing crying sounds a woman’s shouts and the bodyguards’ pleas from outside the door.

He looked around realizing he was back in reality.

He instinctively glanced at his watch only to find that less than three seconds had actually passed.

Just moments ago when the pale hand grabbed him he had fired a shot at the female secretary. Consequently within these three seconds she was now lying on the floor crying out loudly slipping into a semi-conscious state unable to do anything to him. Outside the door the bodyguards hearing the gunshot had scrambled for cover on either side shouting: “Please control yourself…”

“Firing a gun in the city is illegal…”

“The Security Hall is already on their way you still have a chance to turn back…”

“Don’t get agitated.”

…

Everything was still under his control but Lu Xin suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of loss.

After a long moment he slumped down onto the chair feeling dejected.

Although what he had just experienced was only a dream and incredibly brief the feeling lingered persistently shrouding him.

He sat there for quite a while before slowly coming back to his senses feeling something strange about his eyes.

He subconsciously reached up and gently touched the corner of his eye finding his fingertip moist with a clear liquid.

He had been crying…