Seizing Dreams

The sandstorm blotted out the sky. Yu Hao remembered the scene he had seen in the Golden Crow Wheel. The entire desert was covered by massive air masses. After just taking a few steps, Yu Hao’s entire body was about to be submerged in sand. Without wings, he couldn’t fly either, so he could only arduously make his way forward.

Yu Hao would end up eating a mouthful of sand if he opened his mouth, so he couldn’t shout either. He could only take off his basketball tank and cover his face with it as a mask for his mouth and nose; his naked skin was scraped by the gritty sand until it hurt.

After experiencing several dreams, Yu Hao was becoming more and more alert of his surrounding environment. He was always on guard against any danger that might appear within the sandstorm. The show Fu Liqun liked watching the most in their dormitory was《The Walking Dead》, so please don’t let any more zombies appear this time……just as he was on tenterhooks, he heard another gunshot in the distance. He was much closer now.

Meanwhile, something seemed to be flying through the sandstorm.

Yu Hao stopped immediately. He swung both hands out to his sides, revealing two daggers — this is great! I can summon my weapons! Looks like in Fu Liqun’s dream, he still has a certain amount of fighting strength!

It seemed as if something swept by behind him again. Yu Hao suddenly turned around, and saw an indistinct shadow.

Yu Hao, “……”

Yu Hao felt like he was almost trapped in an encirclement by enemies hiding in the sandstorm, but he hadn’t even managed to identify his enemies yet. All he could hear were continuous ‘buzzing‘ sounds, like someone was holding a high-voltage transformer and was currently closing in on him slowly from all sides.

A reporter’s intuition reminded him of the approaching danger. Another gunshot blared in the distance. Yu Hao immediately dashed towards the sound of the gunshot, and within an instant, something strange lunged towards him from behind!

Yu Hao let out a loud cry — an acute, piercing pain could be felt on his back, as if he had just been pricked by a needle. He turned his head around abruptly and saw pitch-black wings flapping directly onto his face! Yu Hao leapt up, spun around in mid air, and brandished his daggers. With a sharp ‘hissing‘ cry, the wings were torn apart, and he suddenly saw a strange figure ——

—— it was a stranger’s face, yet his eyes were bulging outwards exaggeratedly like an insect’s and had compound eyes, while its mouth constituted a sharp steel pipe. It had a human body, was stark naked, had bristles that grew all over from its chest to its lower abdomen, and its gender couldn’t be discerned. It even had bat wings that stuck out from its back.

Yu Hao instantly felt disgusted and roared, “Get lost!”

Yu Hao swung out a dagger and cut off the mouthpart of that ‘flying mosquito man.’ Black mucus sprayed onto his shoulder and neck. Yu Hao grabbed a fistful of sand and forcefully scrubbed himself a few times while he ran; even more flying mosquito men pounced forward. Yu Hao shouted as he dashed madly towards the direction of the gunshot.

‘Buzzing‘ sounds were getting closer and closer. Yu Hao stepped on air and rolled down a sandy slope. A gunshot blared again ten meters away. Yu Hao shouted, “It’s me!”

Two ‘bang bang’s sounded; light pillars broke through the sandstorm and shot the pursuers behind Yu Hao until mucus flew in all directions. Chen Yekai shouted from within the storm, “Get down!”

Yu Hao protected his head with both hands and rolled down the sand slope.The sand slope was littered with hard rocks that scraped his shoulders and back until they suffered a burning pain. A hand immediately grabbed his wrist and pulled him up. Chen Yekai’s voice rang out, “It’s okay now!” As he spoke, he pulled Yu Hao along as they dashed along the ground under the sand slope.

Yu Hao shouted, “What was that?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you!” Chen Yekai answered loudly. He pushed Yu Hao in front of him and asked him to run quickly while he covered the rear. The ground was covered in rocks everywhere, and the storm had subsided a little. Chen Yekai covered Yu Hao’s back, and the two started running along the rocky beach.

“Where’s Zhou Sheng?!”

“I don’t know!” Chen Yekai said, “It’s too dangerous here! The gunshots lured all the enemies over! Find someplace safe!”

Yu Hao realised that they were flanked by sand slopes on both sides, so they could only flee through the lowlands at the bottom. Chen Yekai took care of a few monsters and ran in front of Yu Hao. They traversed through the rubble; there was a gap at the bottom, and Chen Yekai said, “Get inside!”

Yu Hao was bending over to squeeze in when a flying mosquito man appeared beside him. It suddenly grabbed Chen Yekai’s ankle, and Chen Yekai abruptly knocked into Yu Hao’s back before getting dragged into the sky. Whether it was too late or not, Yu Hao couldn’t be concerned about hiding anymore and leapt onto a rock.

The flying mosquito men all around them appeared to have received a signal — all of them flew up at almost the same time and lunged towards Chen Yekai! Yu Hao spun both daggers between his fingers, swung out, and his daggers flew out of his hands.

Within the blink of an eye, Chen Yekai was already surrounded by the flying mosquito men; the disgusting monsters were all bundled into a huge ball. Yu Hao’s daggers flew over and made several turns back and forth with a whoosh.

Yu Hao, “!!!”

Yu Hao never knew that his daggers could change directions in the air as he wished; this was an ability he had never realised before. The flying mosquito men ball collapsed in an instant as the daggers cut everywhere, and Chen Yekai fell down again!

Yu Hao took a sudden big stride forward to catch him, Chen Yekai fell heavily on Yu Hao. This time, it was Yu Hao’s turn to drag him. He shouted, “Go!”

Chen Yekai staggered as he was dragged by Yu Hao, and they rushed into the cave. Yu Hao picked up Chen Yekai’s gun and fired two shots outside, then bent forward and pushed him into the cave. The storm instantly quieted a little. Chen Yekai leaned against the rock wall and kept gasping for breath. Yu Hao handed the gun back to him and summoned his daggers back. Just as he was about to say something, Chen Yekai warned, “Be careful!” Then he fired several shots in succession behind Yu Hao.

A flying mosquito man had squeezed in. Yu Hao felt a hand grab him from behind and immediately lunged forward. Chen Yekai pulled his arm, threw him back, wielded his gun, and fired in bursts. He hit the rocks above the cave; the rocks fell down with a loud rumble and crushed the flying mosquito man that was halfway through squeezing in.

Silence fell upon their surroundings, only the sounds of Yu Hao and Chen Yekai’s breathing could be heard in the cave.

“Could you get some light?” Chen Yekai said amidst the silence.

Only then did Yu Hao remember. He unsheathed his daggers that emitted a warm light and illuminated the cave. Chen Yekai’s face looked pale under the illumination. Yu Hao looked at the place they had come from — that flying mosquito man had already been crushed to death, and its mucus had spilled into a huge puddle.

“What the hell is that?” Yu Hao still had lingering fears in his heart.

Chen Yekai shook his head. While kneeling on one knee, he said, “Move the light over a little.”

Instead of the Great Chieftain appearance he took on in Chichén Itzá, he was now wearing a white shirt and black suit pants, just like a college student. He reached out and pulled the flying mosquito man’s mouthpart, then broke off that monster corpse’s neck with one shot, yanking its whole head off.

Yu Hao exploded in an instant, “Don’t bring it over!”

Chen Yekai was amused, “You’re actually afraid of bugs? I thought you weren’t afraid of anything.”

Yu Hao really wasn’t afraid of anything, but the key point was that that thing was truly too disgusting! Insect blood vessels and mucus still remained on its neck; its head was both like a fly and a mosquito, the sharpness of its mouthpart was unparalleled, and bristles covered its face.

“We need to figure out what the enemy is.” Chen Yekai said, “Look, it’s a bit like a mosquito that’s been enlarged several times, yet it’s also like a fly.”

“Stop talking about it……” Yu Hao said, “It’s too disgusting.”

“Look at the wound on my back.” Chen Yekai said to Yu Hao.

“Are you alright?” Yu Hao asked worriedly. He lifted his daggers gently, and they floated into the air, like little lamps within the cave that illuminated his and Chen Yekai’s surroundings.

Chen Yekai had his back facing Yu Hao, “Is it poisoned?”

“No.” Yu Hao inspected the bite wound on Chen Yekai’s body. The flying mosquito man’s mouthpart was extremely sharp; one jab would lead to one hole, and it had torn quite a lot of holes in Chen Yekai’s shirt. Every wound was slightly white now. Chen Yekai unbuttoned his shirt and took it off to let Yu Hao see his back, revealing his fair and beautiful back muscles.

Every time Yu hao saw Chen Yekai’s image in dreams, he would always think that he had a very good figure. Still, Zhou Sheng’s figure was the one he likes best after all, so he doesn’t really drool at the sight of Chen Yekai. Besides, Chen Yekai was usually too serious. To Yu Hao, seeing him bare chested was like looking at a family member, it wouldn’t stir up any urges within him.

Yu Hao wore his basketball tank and tried to release his ability. Chen Yekai’s wound began to heal gradually without any scars left behind.

“I have the power to heal in Gege’s dream.” Yu Hao said.

“Un.” Chen Yekai’s back heaved along with his breathing. He held his shirt with one hand, “It’s much better now; it sucked quite a bit of my blood just now.”

“Let me look at the front.” Yu Hao said.

Chen Yekai answered, “My front is fine, my legs are fine too.”

So Yu Hao took the shirt in his hand and shook it open to let Chen Yekai wear it. Chen Yekai fastened his buttons in the darkness, “This means that Fu Liqun thinks you can heal.”

“Yes.” Yu Hao nodded. He was about to explain to Chen Yekai when he said, “Zhou Sheng has already told me a lot about the principles that the dream worlds operate on, so I can roughly understand them. Let’s go, we can’t waste too much time here.”

The ‘buzzing‘ sounds had disappeared; the flying mosquito men outside had dispersed. Yu Hao shifted to the rocks to look outside; gritty sand was still pouring in with each gust of wind. He looked up to survey the surroundings and pondered about what kind of place this was. Chen Yekai understood his expression and explained on his own initiative, “This is an inland river that dried up. Walk along the bedrock, there’s another exit.”

There was a faint breeze in the cave.

“We need to find Zhou Sheng as soon as possible.” Yu Hao said, “We don’t know where Zhou Sheng is yet.”

Chen Yekai said, “Can you wake yourself up? Go to reality and ask Zhou Sheng?”

Yu Hao said, “I can’t.” Zhou Sheng hadn’t taught him how to wake himself up yet, Yu Hao can only wake other people up. He said, “But I can wake you up.”

“Wake me up, I’ll call Zhou Sheng.” Chen Yekai said, “And ask him where he is.”

Yu Hao simulated the scene in Liang Jinmin’s dream in his mind and drew a silvery-white light aperture. His hand went through the aperture and pressed against Chen Yekai’s forehead. Chen Yekai disintegrated into light particles with a whoosh and disappeared.

Yu Hao sat down at one side and thought about what to do next. However, his surroundings shook, and he woke up in his bed.

At four o’clock in the morning, Zhou Sheng answered his vibrating phone. He turned on loudspeaker, shook Yu Hao awake, and talked with Chen Yekai.

“I appeared in his safe haven.” Zhou Sheng said, “The form his safe haven took is the house we rented together, but there’s no one inside, I’m very sure of that.”

Yu Hao yawned and got out of bed to pee. Chen Yekai had already clearly explained everything that happened through the phone. Zhou Sheng said, “As soon as I came out, all I saw were sandstorms. But I could see the gate of a city. Let’s think of a way to gather there.”

Chen Yekai said, “Okay, I don’t think Liqun will sleep for too long. If he wakes up at 7am, then we still have three more hours at most.”

Zhou Sheng said, “If we haven’t found him by then, let’s just go to the south first.”

Chen Yekai hung up and sent a simple map over, where a rough position had been marked. It was extremely sloppy. Yu Hao drank water at one side, and he and Zhou Sheng looked at each other. Yu Hao passed the cup of water to Zhou Sheng, Zhou Sheng drank it and patted the bed to ask him to get on, then he hugged Yu Hao from behind.

Yu Hao said, “You’ll wake up once I move.”

Zhou Sheng said, “If that vampire monster attacks your back, you’ll feel safer if I’m hugging you from behind, and you won’t get ambushed easily……” Then he pressed against Yu Hao’s forehead with one hand and whispered into his ear, “Good night.”

A light flashed, and Yu Hao returned to the dark rock cave once again. Chen Yekai wasn’t there yet, so he was probably trying his best to fall asleep. He waited for a long time before the light in his surroundings began gathering towards a certain position, forming Chen Yekai’s body.

This was Yu Hao’s first time seeing a person’s consciousness being summoned into a dreamscape. He watched curiously for a while, until the light flashed again, and Chen Yekai appeared.

“You fall asleep so fast.” Yu Hao said, “If it wasn’t for Zhou Sheng’s ‘good night,’ I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all.”

Chen Yekai answered, “I haven’t been sleeping much recently, so I fell asleep quite quickly. Let’s go.”

They had confirmed that Zhou Sheng was okay. Yu Hao directed his daggers to fly in front of them and illuminate the passage. Chen Yekai took the lead. He looked down at his sleeve, but his watch didn’t exist, and they couldn’t confirm what time it was in the dream.

“We have less than three hours.” Chen Yekai looked back and said to Yu Hao, “Hopefully, he won’t wake up too early. I’ve already bought the tickets for you two. The flight is at 8:20. We’ll go to Anlu together.”

Yu Hao turned his head sideways to study Chen Yekai. He asked, “Why do you take this form in Gege’s dream?”

Chen Yekai looked very small in his white shirt and black suit pants. He shrugged, “Maybe he thinks I’m like a ‘senior’?”

Yu Hao nodded, he did seem to have that kind of impression. He said, “My weapon seems to have obtained a new ability. See, it can move around.”

The daggers moved along with Yu Hao’s hand that was conducting it and began revolving within the cave like two boomerangs in perpetual motion.

“That’s because my flying scalpel was taken away by you.” Chen Yekai said seriously, “So your dagger has the ability to be controlled by one’s consciousness.”

“Ah!” Yu Hao remembered now. He hadn’t returned the flying scalpel to Chen Yekai yet and had been constantly holding onto it. He also forgot to return it before entering Fu Liqun’s dream.

“Then what do I do?” Yu Hao was instantly dumbstruck. The flying scalpel had turned into his daggers? But there were still two daggers, there aren’t any extra ah. Did they merge?

“You don’t need to do anything.” Chen Yekai casually said, “Use it ba.” Then he looked up at the exit of the cave passage. He got into a horse stance with a steady footing, placed both hands in front of him, and said, “Come.”

Yu Hao stepped onto Chen Yekai’s hands and was pushed up to the exit above by him, then lay down to pull Chen Yekai up.