Chapter 570: Nightmare

    Gu Luoxin was awakened in the middle of the night by the phone buzzing beside his pillow.

    He was actually not much of a deep sleeper, but the physical and mental exhaustion in the past four days had taken quite a huge toll on him and he ended up sleeping like a log. Even after his mind groggily registered that it was his phone, his eyelids were still unwilling to open as though they had been stuck together with hot glue.

    If it wasn’t because the vibration stopped for a while before starting all over again, he wouldn’t have bothered with it since it wasn’t his alarm anyway.

    Who could be so idle to bombard someone with calls at such ungodly time in the morning?! He swore if it wasn’t something important...!

    Annoyed, Gu Luoxin blindly groped around for his phone before bringing it close to his face, cracking one of his eyes open by a tiniest slit. It took him a few seconds before he managed to make out the name on the screen.

    Pig Haohao is calling...

    So it was that stinky pig, Shang Hao!

    Their friendship could be dated back to junior high, and he was one of Gu Luoxin’s bestest friends. Despite applying to two different majors, they had maintained quite a good relationship until now, even though Gu Luoxin had started hanging out with him less and less since he entered the Nightmare Cycle.

    Shang Hao was quite childish and playful in nature so Gu Luoxin wouldn’t put it past him to play such an annoying prank without a rhyme or reason. In his mind, he was already thinking of 108 ways he would beat the other person up until he kneeled down and called out father.

    Swiping the green button, he barked out in a sleepy voice, "What is it?! If you call me just because you can’t sleep, I will kill you!"

    There was no response from the other side, only the sharp whistle of the wind and the faint, uneven sound of restrained breathing as if someone was in a highly agitated state.

    "Xinxin..."

    Gu Luoxin had almost slipped back into the dreamland at this point, but Shang Hao’s voice dragged him back to reality. He had never heard the young man’s voice like that before— feeble and choked, as though he was desperately holding back his tears. The Shang Hao he knew was a person who could still invite him out to eat noodles after being beaten black and blue by his mother for failing an exam. He was that laid-back and carefree. When had he ever shown such a vulnerability?

    Furthermore, the whistling wind in the background sounded a little suspicious to Gu Luoxin. Was he outside? Why would he be outside at a time like this instead of sleeping in his room?

    Gu Luoxin furrowed his brow and began to push himself into a sitting position, but before he could speak, Shang Hao preempted him. This time, his words tumbled out in a rush, driven by sheer terror and frenzied incredulity,

    "I think... I think something’s wrong with me. I just had a nightmare... yes, a very realistic nightmare. There are ghosts and monsters... haha... it sounds ridiculous but I swear I’m not lying!" his voice abruptly choked up. "The people around me were all dying— they’re all dead, killed by monsters! And I... I also... Xinxin, it’s only a dream, right? T–Tell me, I’m still dreaming, am I not?!!" In the end, he was so worked up that his voice nearly morphed into a hysterical howl.

    Gu Luoxin’s mind blanked out, and the last traces of sleepiness evaporated from his system in an instant. It felt as if someone had poured a bucket of icy water above his head, jolting him wide awake. Shang Hao’s incoherent words might sound like a sleep-addled ramble to others, but it couldn’t be more familiar to Gu Luoxin.

    Ghosts and monsters? People died one after another?

    Wasn’t that... the Nightmare Cycle?

    Gu Luoxin began to tremble, his complexion turning ashen. No, no, no, this was impossible. H–How could Shang Hao be dragged into the Nightmare Cycle, after all the effort he put into keeping some distance between them? Didn’t they all say that as long as you stayed away, your friends and family would be safe? So how...?!

    "W–Where are you?" Gu Luoxin did not even realize how shaky his voice was right now. The room was warm and cozy, yet his entire body was drenched in cold sweat, and even his teeth were chattering uncontrollably. A bone-deep fear engulfed him from head to toe, making him feel as if ice shards had merged into his bloodstreams and drained away the last bit of warmth in his body.

    He forced the words out through his constricted throat, "Where are you right now, Shang Hao?! TELL ME!!"

    Still with the phone clasped to his ear, he rolled out of the bed in a frantic rush, nearly tripping over the blanket tangled around his feet, and stumbled all the way to the door. Without even bothering to grab a coat or putting on shoes, he flung the door open and bolted down the hallway, rushing toward Shang Hao’s dorm room which was on a different floor.

    The icy floor bit into his bare feet and turned his limbs frozen, yet for Gu Luoxin, nothing— nothing could be colder than his heart right now.

    On the other end of the call, Shang Hao did not seem to have heard his question. Faint laughter bubbled up his throat— weak and tinged with madness. "Yes, this must be a dream... haha I can’t even control my body anymore, this can only be a dream. As long as everything is over, I can wake up... I will wake up..."

    "SHANG HAO!" Gu Luoxin hollered, his voice ricocheting off the walls and shattering the tranquility of the night. Then as if he’d lost his strength, his tone softened and he began to plead with a sob in his voice, "Don’t scare me, okay? Where are you? I’ll come to you now. You have to wait— you have to wait for me... I beg you!"

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    A/N: Shang Hao, xinxin’s bestie, has once made a brief appearance in ch 394 - Always Crying ^^ not the villain Shang LOL