Chapter 44 Swallowed
The quaint black oil painting frame floats in the dark dream world, and the doll girl sealed in the painting is full of question marks about the current situation.
"This shouldn't be happening! I've already broken free from this thing's control, and I even have a body in the real world!" Irene circled around in the painting. "I'm fine with having to carry this painting with me when I'm 'out there', just like it's an extra piece of luggage. But how come things are even worse in the dream world... In theory, shouldn't we be freer after entering a dream?"
She raised her head and looked straight at Yu Sheng.
"If you ask me, who should I ask? I also think you should be freer after entering the dream," Yu Sheng spread his hands, "I wanted to see what you look like at 1.67 meters tall, but you turned out to be a paper man."
Irene seemed very annoyed and had no interest in arguing with Yu Sheng anymore. After circling the chair in the painting for who knows how many times, she finally resigned herself to sitting back on the chair. She grabbed the furry teddy bear and began to rub it hard in her arms.
"Now I'm locked up with this guy again... But it's okay. At least I have the ability to move freely in the real world. The dream world is not that important. Well, not that important."
"...Sometimes I envy your optimism." Yu Sheng sighed sincerely.
Irene bared her teeth at him immediately, but her threats were never very intimidating, either in reality or in dreams.
Yu Sheng walked around the oil painting floating in the air and came to the sleeping silver fox.
"What's next? Or will it be the same as last time, where I lie on her tail? And then we sink together?"
"It's the same as last time, but this time, the connection will be more 'direct'. I will find a way to keep Hu Li's consciousness close to awake, so that it will be easier for you to communicate with her and perceive the situation around her later," Irene said, floating next to Yu Sheng. "But at the same time, 'Hunger' will also notice you and will come to you... I can't help you with what happens after this. The contact and struggle at the consciousness level can only rely on you."
At this point, she paused, as if to reassure Yu Sheng, and added, "But I can be your last line of defense. Once I sense that your mind is rapidly destabilizing, I will forcefully 'pull' you out. It will still be as uncomfortable as the last time you woke up suddenly. You'd better be mentally prepared."
"...To be honest, I really don't want to do it again," Yu Sheng sighed, but nodded quickly, his previous determination not wavering at all, "Okay, let's get started."
He once again found a safe depression between the fox's big tails, and then caught Irene who jumped directly from mid-air. They, one man and one painting, leaned on the fox's tail and sank again in this drowsy dream.
Maybe it was because of the connection foundation from the last time, but the second sinking process was faster and smoother than Yu Sheng had imagined. He only felt a moment of trance in front of his eyes, and when his vision stabilized, he had already seen the figure of the fox girl.
She was squatting quietly among the rubble, staring blankly at something in front of her.
Yu Sheng's perspective came behind Hu Li and he looked forward along the other's line of sight——
He saw a huge piece of wreckage, which looked like the aftermath of a large aircraft crash. Between the twisted metal skeleton and the broken deck, one could still vaguely see its former grandeur, and there was a faint glow, like a lingering spiritual breath, slowly drifting among the shattered wreckage.
The entire wreckage fell at the foot of the mountain. After the collapse, the molten rock almost swallowed it up and merged it into a part of the mountain. Even if you just take a look, you can see what a shocking impact it was back then.
If the people who were on board it were ordinary humans, there would probably be no survivors at all.
Yu Sheng looked at the crash site in astonishment, but he did not forget the original purpose of his visit. He approached the fox girl and spoke softly to avoid scaring her: "Hu Li."
The ears on Hu Li's head suddenly pricked up, and then he stood up suddenly and looked around, as if he wanted to see the source of the sound. After searching in vain, he hesitantly responded: "... Benefactor?"
"It's me. Don't look for me anymore. I'm communicating directly with your consciousness."
"My benefactor! You are really here! I thought I heard it wrong last time... My benefactor? What's going on?" Hu Li showed a look of surprise. She still subconsciously searched around with her eyes. "I was in a daze in the valley, but suddenly I came to this place. Am I dreaming? Is this a dream?"
"Yes, I... I used some tricks to force your dream. Only in this way can I contact you - but now is not the time to explain the details," Yu Sheng said quickly, "Listen, Hu Li, I want to save you, and I need to open a special door for this. This requires your cooperation - do you believe me?"
"Come, save me?" Hu Li was stunned for a moment, then suddenly reacted and immediately shook his head, "Don't, don't come over, benefactor, you finally got out, this valley is very strange, it's hard to escape once you get in! You, don't come! Don't..."
Yu Sheng interrupted the panicking girl: "I have a way! Hu Li, listen, I have a way, I have found a stable way to enter and exit the valley, now I just need your help to open the door, don't worry about the monster, I can deal with it - do you understand? I am very powerful, and I found a helper this time, which is also very... well, powerful."
Yu Sheng tried to comfort Hu Li and put her mind at ease, but Hu Li's face showed a trace of confusion. Her thinking was slow and it seemed that she had a hard time following Yu Sheng's words. After a long while, she didn't know how much she understood, and she asked doubtfully: "So, the benefactor is also an immortal?"
Yu Sheng had no idea how Hu Li's thinking jumped to this step.
But he could be.
"A very powerful immortal." He tried to make his voice sound more reliable.
Then the fox girl started laughing.
"My benefactor, what do you want me to do?"
"You don't have to do anything. Just use your heart to feel your surroundings. You will feel someone is watching you from the bottom of your heart, or even someone is looking at you through your eyes. Don't resist. That's me."
"Yeah, okay."
Yu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief. The negotiation with Hu Li was easier than he had imagined. Then... he only had to face the second problem.
"Erin," he whispered in his heart, "Let's get started."
The next second, accompanied by a slight trance, Yu Sheng felt an indescribable... pull.
A completely new "connection" appeared, established between him and Hu Li. Unlike the implicit connection previously established through blood, he could clearly feel that this newly established connection was stronger and more... violent.
Part of his consciousness was directly out of control and integrated into a series of new perceptions, as if his nerves were suddenly connected to a whole set of extra limbs. Although the transmitted sensations were a bit vague and delayed, he still... began to feel the aura around Hu Li.
Cold and decayed, with a stench of decay and decay, the wind stirred in the valley and blew through the dark woods.
The night is eternal and hunger is everlasting.
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The fox girl stood in the woods, her eyes wide open, trying to look around.
In fact, she didn't understand what her benefactor was doing, nor did she know whether it was right to just stare and observe her surroundings. She just tried to complete what Yu Sheng had asked her to do according to her own understanding.
Then, she felt the "connection" that her benefactor had mentioned.
She was startled, but she sensed no ill will.
Hu Li has always been able to keenly sense even the slightest hint of malice, but this time, no malice came from him.
She just felt a little relieved, and even... her stomach didn't seem so hungry anymore.
…
The moment the overwhelming hunger and the tide of madness suppressed within the hunger surged towards him, Yu Sheng seemed to sense a huge wave crashing down on him - like a collapsed mountain in the dark night. The hunger and madness seemed substantial, like a huge shadow, like solidified darkness, which almost instantly submerged every inch of his perception.
Yu Sheng didn't even have time to call Irene's name. He just tried hard to remember the "characteristics" of the valley that Hu Li had told him at the critical moment, and then he was completely submerged by this violent black tide.
However, deep in the black tide, he found that he was still awake.
Hunger gnawed at his soul, and it withered and died. Yu Sheng watched "himself" being devoured in the blink of an eye in the dark frenzy, and his perspective was like that of an indifferent bystander.
Hunger subsided, and the withered and dead soul woke up again. Yu Sheng opened his eyes in the darkness. For a moment, he was not even sure whether he had experienced "death" again, or just had an illusion of being swallowed for a moment.
He wandered in the depths of darkness, unable to feel the passage of time, nor the end of space, and was not even sure if he was really moving.
He could only feel... someone's eyes were always on him.
It's not just a line of sight, but this entire dark chaos is part of that line of sight.
He was like a tiny grain of sand, only as big as a needle tip, being stared at and drowned by endless hungry gazes.
After an unknown amount of time, he finally caught a glimpse of a huge floating limb, or shadow, in the depths of the darkness.
(End of this chapter)
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