Every candidate who was sent to Han Hai had their own surgical room. Gao Ming was given the first step of the treatment here.

The tapered fingers caressed the rough surface. Xuan Wen could see the flowing blood. She believed she had absolute rationality and would not be shaken, but her fingers still accidentally touched the control by the side. The hidden door in the room opened. It led into a dark corridor. Heavily-damaged dream entry devices lined the walls. From the exaggerated number of ruined devices, it could be seen that the users had attempted endless invalid actions in the nightmare.

Xuan Wen entered the corridor and opened the safe at the end. Many memory chips were lined neatly inside.

“If it can forgotten so easily, why would I make you give me such a promise?”

…

In Room 7009, Gao Ming stood in a world of chaos. He knew that he and Xuan Wen wouldn’t be swayed by emotions. They were both creatures of rationality. However, they lost control temporarily because there were too many departures and reunions.

Gao Ming closed his fists. He looked out the window. “At least for her, I am not a nightmare, right?”

Gao Ming left Room 7009. He was greeted by the sound of fighting from understairs and Xia Yang’s shrill cackle. The gentle Teacher Xia appeared to have run into troubles. As the master of the family, how could Gao Ming ignore his ‘tenant’ when the latter was being bullied?

“Let me see how Xuan Wen treats her patients.”

Perhaps it was an excuse to chase after Xuan Wen. Gao Ming darted up the stairs. The ‘no entry’ sign hung on the door. Gao Ming ignored it. He suddenly realised the eighth floor was not a treatment centre as labelled on the hospital map. All the rooms were installed with metal gates. They looked more like prison cells. Complicated devices were placed in the rooms. Gao Ming had not seen them at other hospitals. Instead of a place to save lives, this was a place to experiment on people’s lives.

Xia Yang’s laughter became more twisted. It was mixed with unclear howling. It didn’t sound like it could be made by a human being. It sounded like a wounded animal. After Gao Ming stepped into the corridor, the lights above his head switched colours as if he had triggered an alarm. The doors in the corridor shut down. The cameras in the corners were like red eyes staring at Gao Ming.

Two large nurses walked out of the nurse station. They looked friendly. They asked politely if Gao Ming were lost, but they carried tools that were meant for patients with severe mental illnesses.

“They have faded traces around their wrists. That is caused by a prolonged period of wearing the black bands. Are the staff members testers too?” Gao Ming kept moving forward. The two nurses raised the tools with bright smiles. As they passed by each other, the surveillance didn’t even capture Gao Ming’s movement, and the two nurses fell asleep. Then, their faces crunched up in fear.

Several minutes later, Gao Ming opened the door to Xia Yang’s room. The scent of disinfectant hit him. There were splattered drugs everywhere. There was no sick bed but a giant surgical table. Xia Yang was tied to it. Many drip bags were attached to his limbs. The doctors had to use this method to keep him alive because he refused to eat.

His muscles had atrophied. His pale skin was covered in wounds. His handsome features were ruined. Half of his face had been carved away. It was hard to consolidate this poor creature with the always-graceful Teacher Xia.

“Haha. Keep going!”

A harsh voice echoed from the corrupted voice box. Blood soaked the lips. Xia Yang’s mouth was fitted with an anti-biting device, so his voice had been greatly transformed.

“Why can’t he enter the dream? All the devices are running normally. They are moved from the main company today!” The three doctors operated the devices. They were confused.

“The superiors are very dissatisfied! Something has gone wrong with all thirteen candidates. The things that happened to Situ An cannot be allowed to be repeated! We have to figure out what happened to Xia Yang in his nightmare. We need to crack his memory in three days!”

“Shi Bo, we’ve attempted everything. This man will wake up on his own whenever he enters his dream. An anti-dream mechanism appears to have been inserted in his consciousness.” The young doctor sighed, “We’ve stolen nightmares from so many patients. Who would have thought we’d fail in his hands? Should we inform the superiors so we can dig his brain out to send to the Level Five Lab?”

“No! The candidate’s physical body is an instrumental part of Project Han Hai! They have to be alive to intervene in that dead city!” The aged doctor, Shi Bo, pierced pipes into the back of Xia Yang’s head. For the sake of convenience, they hollowed out a hole in Xia Yang’s skull.

Throughout this whole process, Xia Yang was awake. His laughter contained mockery. However, Xia Yang suddenly stopped laughing. He slowly raised his eyes to look behind Shi Bo.

“Why is it suddenly so quiet? Is the man dead?” The young doctor raised his bloody hands. He turned to look at Shi Bo. Then, he froze for a second. “Shi Bo, there’s someone behind you!”

The red tattoo spread to the back of Shi Bo’s neck like a red dragon. The fragrance of meat spread. Gao Ming’s chilling voice reverberated in the room. “How can you treat my colleague like this?”

Other than Xia Yang, the others were dumped into darkness. Their souls were consumed by nightmares.

The room became uncomfortably silent. Since Xia Yang’s head was fixed in place, Gao Ming had to walk to stand before him before Xia Yang could see him.

Xia Yang in bed couldn’t be more different than Xia Yang in Han Hai. One retained absolute grace before death. The other was like a pig waiting to be slaughtered.

Gao Ming’s figure appeared in Xia Yang’s eyes. Eventually, he made an ugly smile, “Aren’t we roommates? When did we become colleagues?”

“Do you still remember the things in Han Hai?” A lot of souls stood behind Gao Ming. They crashed at Xia Yang like a black sea.

“Have you turned all of the ghost stories I told you into reality?” Xia Yang had no fear in his eyes. He laughed excitedly like a child who had finally found the toy he liked.