Chapter 677: Entering the Door

"What's going on...?"

Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he closed his eyes once more.

He cast aside all his "beliefs," repeatedly telling himself in his mind that this was just a dream, that everything was fake, and that he had only had a nightmare. As soon as he opened his eyes, he could return to the real world.

But no matter how many times he opened his eyes, he was still in this blood-red city.

Every building in the city was pulsing, and the eyeballs in the sky kept staring at him. Even though the situation was so bizarre... it still felt undeniably real.

Yes, it was all too real, so real that he couldn't sever his own beliefs.

"Damn it..." Xiao Cheng shakily stood up, looking around in confusion. "This is just a dream... Let me out..."

He tried his best to shake his beliefs, but his brain was completely out of control. If there was anything more helpless in the world, it was knowing you were trapped in a "nightmare" with no way to wake up from it.

Xiao Cheng stood there, his gaze flickering for a moment, as a thought quietly emerged in his mind—

There wasn't no way out; there was still one last option.

Perhaps... only by helping Qi Xia rebuild his psychological defenses would there be a slim chance of escaping unscathed...

Xiao Cheng kept reassuring himself that maybe the city wasn't originally like this; it had just been ruined by external forces.

As long as he could find the "source," everything might still be salvageable.

But in this vast city... where could he find Qi Xia?

What kind of memories was Qi Xia experiencing in this dream?

Xiao Cheng slowly lifted his head and suddenly realized that while the situation was extremely difficult, it was also easier than he had imagined.

In the distance, a house made of flesh had a window glowing faintly. All the other windows in the building were pitch black, like black holes gouged into the flesh, but one on the fourth floor was lit up.

It seemed like a shadow was moving inside.

Everyone else here appeared motionless, so the one moving must be Qi Xia himself.

Xiao Cheng steadied himself and slowly walked toward the residential building.

The people along the roadside remained standing in place, their faces turned in various directions. No matter how Xiao Cheng moved, several of them were always facing him.

Although none of them had eyes, Xiao Cheng could still feel countless gazes upon him.

The pupil in the sky was also fixed on Xiao Cheng's steps, making him feel as if every step he took was part of a performance.

All the "people" in this world were the audience for this performance; they stood still, intently watching his every move.

This feeling made Xiao Cheng's whole body turn ice-cold, as if he would be swarmed and killed the moment he made a mistake.

Under the watch of countless individuals, Xiao Cheng trembled as he walked forward. Though the distance was only about a hundred meters, it felt like it drained all his strength.

Stepping on the slightly elastic, constantly pulsing ground, his legs wouldn't obey him. Finally reaching the residential building, he quickly reached out to steady himself on the doorframe for a rest, but the moment he touched it, he yanked his hand back as if electrocuted.

It was just too strange—these flesh structures were actually warm.

The instant his cold hand touched the wall, he felt a wave of warmth, which dealt another heavy blow to his fragile composure.

Was the building alive... or was the entire city alive?

He took a step back, looking up at the entrance door. It was entirely made of deep-red flesh, like the maw of some monster, quietly waiting for prey to walk in.

If Xiao Cheng had any other choice, he absolutely wouldn't enter that door, but the owner of this terrifying dream was inside, and he was the key to solving everything.

Xiao Cheng took a deep breath and walked straight in. The air temperature inside suddenly rose a few degrees, but his back was still soaked with cold sweat.

He remembered that the faint light came from a room on the fourth floor facing north, so he made his way up the stairs based on his memory.

The stairs felt even stranger; Xiao Cheng had only gone up a few steps when his scalp started tingling.

Although the stairs were also made of flesh, it seemed they had bones inside to hold their shape. Each step felt like stepping on ribs covered in raw meat, producing squelching sounds that made it impossible to think straight.

Xiao Cheng fought back his nausea and fear, finally reaching the door on the fourth floor.

Just looking at the security door in front of him raised countless questions in Xiao Cheng's mind.

Unlike the warm, sticky flesh everywhere else, this was a ordinary iron security door, even covered in spots of rust from years of wear.

The iron door seemed to have grown right into the flesh.

Was there something different about this place?

Xiao Cheng steadied his nerves and reached out with a trembling hand to knock on the iron door, but he forgot that he was in someone else's dream. The door didn't make a sound when struck.

As he had said himself, he wasn't the master of this dream, so it was hard for him to affect anything inside it.

Now, even something as simple as knocking was impossible.

"Hey!" Xiao Cheng switched tactics, shouting at the top of his lungs. "Is anyone there?!"

Qi Xia was the absolute ruler of this realm, but based on past experiences, the master of a dream often couldn't hear or see intruders. Maybe Xiao Cheng's control over "entering dreams" wasn't strong enough, or perhaps his "beliefs" weren't powerful enough to influence them.

As Xiao Cheng hesitated, a strange footsteps echoed from behind, sending chills down his spine. He quickly turned around.

There, a young girl in white clothes was carrying a plastic bag and stepping up the flesh-covered stairs one by one. She was different from the other people on the street—not only did she have delicate features, but she also looked a bit tired.

Though Xiao Cheng was full of doubts, he wisely stepped aside.

The girl didn't glance at him at all. She went straight to the fourth-floor door, pulled out a key from her handbag, and unlocked it.

"Xia, I'm back," she said.

She didn't close the door and walked inside carrying the plastic bags.

As the security door was about to shut, Xiao Cheng hurriedly tried to pull it, but then remembered he was in someone else's dream and couldn't even perform such an instinctive action. The door felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and he couldn't budge it.

So, he quickly darted inside just as the door was closing.