Volume One: Entering the City for the First Time Chapter Sixty-One: Encounter and Schemes

The next morning, Lu Yi, gnawing on a steamed bun and carrying breakfast, made his way toward Xu Anxuan’s hospital room. As he passed through the still-quiet first floor, he caught sight of a familiar figure—Jia Jun.

Jia Jun was dressed extremely casually, even wearing slippers, clearly not someone who had just arrived. Lu Yi frowned and walked over to him. “Jia Jun,” he called out, waving his hand.

Jia Jun was startled to hear Lu Yi’s voice. He looked at Lu Yi with a complicated expression, as if he wanted to turn and flee, but in the end, he stood his ground. “It’s me. You’re that…,” Jia Jun said, searching his memory for Lu Yi’s name.

“My name is Lu Yi,” Lu Yi replied with a smile. “I didn’t expect to run into you here. What are you doing in this hospital?”

At this, Jia Jun fell silent. Clearly, he hadn’t expected to see Lu Yi so early and wasn’t yet prepared with a plausible explanation. Seeing his reaction, Lu Yi could guess most of the truth. He lifted the breakfast in his hand. “By the way, Xu Anxuan, who went into the mission with you all, woke up not long ago. Do you want to visit her?”

Jia Jun’s face remained impassive, almost indifferent. “Is that so? I suppose I should go see her, then.”

After exchanging a few perfunctory words with Xu Anxuan, Jia Jun stood to take his leave. Throughout, Lu Yi watched the conversation from the side, sensing a deep undercurrent of distrust among the group. Of course, this distrust could be said to have been triggered by Lu Yi himself, but at its root, it had been sown by the repeated divisions among Li Xinran and the others since the beginning of the mission. This incident had only brought those hidden cracks to the surface.

“Lu Yi, what’s going on? Why is Jia Jun in this hospital?” Li Xinran asked nervously at the door, making sure no acquaintances were nearby before closing it behind her.

“Our whereabouts may have been exposed. Look at Jia Jun’s attire—it’s obvious he hasn’t just arrived. And I suspect it’s not just him; the others are probably here as well,” Lu Yi replied, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully.

“How is that possible?” Li Xinran exclaimed. “If he didn’t just get here, then he must have arrived yesterday or even earlier. We only came the night before last—how could they have known where to find us?”

“As long as someone’s been tracking us, like Dong Xingteng’s surveillance…” Lu Yi trailed off. But Dong Xingteng wasn’t that type of person; with his lone-wolf attitude, even if he could track Lu Yi, he’d keep it to himself. What about Fang Hao? But Lu Yi quickly dismissed the idea—Fang Hao would hardly care about newcomers.

“In that case, why don’t I call them and see what they say?” Xu Anxuan suggested.

Looking at Xu Anxuan, Lu Yi thought of other ways their location might have been discovered. He was suddenly aware of how many oversights he’d made. Still, after a moment’s consideration, he nodded to Xu Anxuan.

“No use. None of them are answering,” Xu Anxuan soon reported after hanging up.

“In that case, Jia Jun must have tipped them off. That proves one thing—they’re all in this hospital,” Lu Yi said, glancing out the window, a trace of worry in his eyes.

It was already the sixth day of the mission, with just over a day left before it ended, and he still hadn’t uncovered the crisis buried in this mission line.

After a brief moment of thought, he said, “Here’s what we’ll do. Xinran, you stay here and watch over things. I’ll go look for your classmates.”

When Li Xinran agreed, Lu Yi rose and headed for the door, reminding them, “If anything seems off, contact me immediately.”

Lu Yi cast an extra glance at Li Xinran. “If you sense anything unusual, call through the team channel.”

In the blink of an eye, the morning passed. Lu Yi came back to Xu Anxuan’s room carrying three meals. Seeing the sweat on his brow, Li Xinran quickly poured him a glass of water and asked, “Any luck?”

Lu Yi shook his head. “Let’s eat first. After you both rest, I’ll go out again this afternoon.”

“Lu Yi, maybe we should just give up. If they don’t want to see us, why keep searching for them?” Li Xinran tried to persuade him.

“No, this hospital isn’t as simple as it seems. I’m worried about unforeseen changes, so I have to find them,” Lu Yi replied firmly.

“Don’t worry about us. Just go look for them,” Xu Anxuan said, drawing both Lu Yi’s and Li Xinran’s attention.

Xu Anxuan smiled brightly. “You wouldn’t believe it, but I took a nap earlier and dreamed again. Just like before, something malicious was at work in my dream, but this time I managed to defeat it.”

“Wow, Anxuan, you’re amazing!” Li Xinran exclaimed, sitting down beside her in awe.

“Xinran, they’re really not as frightening as we think. It’s only our own fear that makes them seem invincible. As long as you face them head-on and use every means at your disposal, there’s always a way through,” Xu Anxuan said with a reassuring smile.

Hearing her words, Lu Yi felt as if he had grasped something, though it was still shrouded in mist, as if there was some barrier he couldn’t quite see through.

“In that case, Lu Yi, don’t worry about us. Just do what you need to do,” Li Xinran said, apparently encouraged by Xu Anxuan’s words.

“Alright.” Lu Yi nodded firmly.

Lu Ningyu yawned and sat up from the table. “Xiaowen, Jia Jun, during my nap I had another strange dream—I was being chased by a giant caterpillar.”

As she spoke, goosebumps rose on her arms, and she shivered at the memory.

“Me too. I’ve been having nightmares since last night. Just now, I dreamed about a beautiful, cheap dress I’d bought. Then it started swelling up on its own, as if someone invisible was wearing it, and it chased me all over the place. What’s going on?” Xiaowen complained.

“So this is where all of you are.” At that moment, the door opened from the outside, and in stepped Lu Yi.

Everyone in the room looked at him coldly. Lu Ningyu was especially blunt. “What are you doing here?”

“I overheard your conversation just now. Let me be clear—this hospital isn’t clean. There’s a force here that drags people into dreams,” Lu Yi said, ignoring their attitudes and getting straight to the point.

“Who are you trying to scare?” Jia Jun scoffed. “If there really was something like that, would you be so kind as to warn us? Wouldn’t you have run off with Li Xinran ages ago?”

The others nodded in agreement. Lu Yi scanned the room and asked, “Where’s Fang Hao? And the senior trial-taker?”

“How should we know where Fang Hao went? Maybe he’s hiding even deeper. As for the senior, don’t you know? In the safe house you chose, senior trial-takers can’t enter,” Xiaowen said mockingly.

Lu Yi was surprised; he truly hadn’t known that senior trial-takers couldn’t enter this hospital. As for the idea that Fang Hao might be hiding, Lu Yi dismissed it with a smile—someone as meticulous as Fang Hao would never come here just to hide.

Nevertheless, Lu Yi tried calling for Fang Hao several times through the team channel, but received no response.

Returning to himself, Lu Yi looked at everyone. “I know you don’t believe me, so let me prove it. Has anyone here been injured in a dream?”

“I have. I was cut on the arm by a chainsaw, so what?” Jia Jun replied in a skeptical tone.

“Then in reality, you should have a similar wound on your arm.” With that, Lu Yi stepped forward and grabbed Jia Jun’s arm.

“What are you doing?” Lu Ningyu shouted.

“There’s nothing,” Lu Yi said in disbelief as he examined Jia Jun’s smooth arm.

How could this be? Li Xinran and Xu Anxuan’s injuries in dreams had always left marks in reality. He himself was likely an exception due to body enhancements or internal energy. So why was Jia Jun unaffected?

“Is what you’re saying true?” Lu Yi fixed Jia Jun with a suspicious look.

Jia Jun shoved Lu Yi aside. “Do you think I’m like you? In the dream, it wasn’t just my arm—I was hurt on my back too.” He turned to show Lu Yi. “See anything?” Lu Yi was silent.

“Hmph. This place is safe now. We were just too tense before, which led to a few nightmares, and now you come here spouting nonsense. Get out!” Jia Jun said.

Lu Yi looked deeply at everyone in the room. Since he couldn’t prove himself, there was no reason to stay. Without a word, he turned and left.

Meanwhile, elsewhere—

“Captain, I don’t understand. Since that’s a safe house, why did you tell the newcomers? Now we’ll have to bear all the risk ourselves,” the burly team member complained to Ao Huang.

Ao Huang chuckled. “Of course I know that. But I see farther than you do. Tell me, is it better for us if those newcomers are sacrificed now, or if they share the burden of the final crisis with us?”

The big man paused, then replied, “Of course, it’s better if they help us with the final crisis. But Captain, if that’s the newcomers’ safe house, why would they ever leave once inside?”

A sinister smile appeared on Ao Huang’s face. “If you can think of that, so can I. That’s why I had Xia Rong cast a fear spell on them, making them constantly see terrifying things. On the last day, I’ll trigger the spell fully. Do you think they’ll dare stay there then?”

Seeing the big man still looking puzzled, Xia Rong added, “The Captain is leaving the easier crises to us so we can get used to them, but pushing the hardest moments onto the newcomers.”

“Brilliant, truly brilliant,” the big man said, suddenly enlightened.

Ao Huang grinned again. “Who knows—those newcomers might even bring us back a few lost lambs in the end.”