"Is that a hypnotic smoke you're using, Psychologist?"
Xia De asked curiously as he pushed open the bedroom door and walked in. He was even more curious about how the Psychologist who exhaled the smoke was unaffected.
"No, this is my Miracle, 【Mist of the Sleeping Dragon】. Sometimes I also use it to assist patients with 'hypnotic' therapy. Don't worry, he's just an ordinary person. Unless we make a loud noise in his ear, he won't be waking up tonight."
The Psychologist said confidently.
Although Schneider had terrible luck, his professional skills were trustworthy.
After entering the somewhat narrow bedroom, the two of them separately checked the room to prevent other dangers when they entered the dream later. During this time, Luther Kinweiss, who was lying on the bed, showed no signs of waking up. Even when the two of them, after checking the room, separately placed their hands on his head in the darkness, the sleeping man still didn't wake up.
He closed his eyes, and under the silver moonlight, his face surprisingly bore a somewhat ferocious expression. Coupled with the terrifying red and swollen burn marks on his face and the large shadow his head cast on the pillow, this scene was indeed quite terrifying.
Schneider believed the other party was having a nightmare, and now was a good opportunity to enter the dream.
"These burn marks are really severe."
The Psychologist whispered. He and Xia De both pulled up chairs and sat on either side of the single bed.
Xia De extinguished the light on his fingertip and drank the dream-assisting potion the Psychologist handed him. The Psychologist then used a silver Ling Rune chain, which looked like a lady's bracelet, to bind Xia De's right hand to his left hand. On the Ling Rune chain, three Ling Runes—【Slumber】, 【Peaceful Sleep】, 【Dream】—repeated in a cycle. This was an alchemical item.
The Psychologist didn't need to go through such trouble to enter a dream alone, but to bring Xia De into the dream with him, these extra preparations were necessary.
After these preparations were made, the two people sitting on either side of the bed in the dark room placed their free hands, one on the left and one on the right, on Luther Kinweiss's forehead.
"Psychologist, why does it feel like we're performing some evil ritual?"
Xia De whispered, worried that Luther Kinweiss might suddenly open his eyes and be scared to death by the scene.
"Detective, don't talk nonsense. Now, relax your mind. I'm about to enter the dream. If there are no surprises, we should wake up in about ten to fifteen minutes in reality."
"What if there are surprises?"
Xia De asked again. The Psychologist looked up at him. In the almost completely dark environment with the curtains drawn, he seemed to see some silver light in Xia De's eyes:
"Hmm... How worried are you about encountering surprises? But if something unfortunate really happens, the exact time will be hard to say. But trust me, Detective, I'm a professional. Now, lie on the bed, close your eyes, and keep your body comfortable. Very good, one, two, three!"
His mind gradually became scattered, and a faint pulling sensation seemed to want to draw Xia De to a certain place. Xia De did not refuse this pull, and his consciousness became increasingly blurry.
In a trance, he seemed to be standing on a field path under the silver moon again, looking up at the vast night sky and the sea of stars. But as the surrounding temperature rose, the enormous silver moon disk overhead gradually disappeared, and a fiery red light gradually eroded and replaced the tranquil moonlight field path scenery.
The crackling sound of burning and the swaying flames gradually became clearer.
Xia De, whose consciousness had recovered, shivered, as if he had suddenly risen from underwater to the surface.
He breathed deeply, looking around, and found himself standing on a desolate street at night, with a raging fire in front of him, as if the house had been swallowed by a fire demon. The entire three-story building was ablaze, and the incoming heat waves and terrifying crackling sounds seemed to indicate that it was about to collapse.
In the dark night, the light from the flames was so blinding that his eyes could barely open.
Schneider was standing in front of Xia De, raising his palm to shield his eyes, squinting forward. The firelight reflected red on half of the Psychologist's face:
"It's a nightmare, a fire scene? As expected."
Xia De, on the other hand, looked down at his hands but didn't see the golden cracks:
"I remember you said that as long as I'm in a dream, I would..."
【Only in a deep dream will the traces of Divine Radiance be exposed. This dream does not belong to you; you can only interfere to a limited extent, so your soul's essence cannot be exposed.】
It seemed that even in someone else's dream, she was still with him.
"Got it."
He thought to himself, continuing to survey the fire scene around him that seemed to burn everything. It was easy to tell that this was a dream; such a large fire surprisingly didn't alarm the surrounding neighbors, and upon closer inspection of the burning building, the flames weren't continuously destroying the damaged structure; they were just burning there.
"Psychologist, what do we do now?"
Xia De asked softly. When he looked up at the higher part of the building, he saw a black figure flash across a burning window:
"What was that?"
He wondered, but the special environment of the dream greatly weakened the perception of outsiders, so the voice in his mind didn't provide an answer.
"I'll go find the dream's owner, Detective. Please wait a moment."
The Psychologist stood still with his eyes closed. Xia De continued to observe the burning flames in front of him. Although this was his first time entering a dream, this dream always gave him a strange feeling.
"Found him, upstairs... But this dream seems a bit strange. Why do I feel like there's something else besides us?"
The blue-eyed Psychologist said with some surprise. He didn't directly lead Xia De into the fire. Instead, he summoned his Destiny Ring, and the core Ling Rune 【Dream】 and the Ling Rune 【False Reality】 glowed simultaneously.
As the Miracle was used, a strange halo spread outwards from the brass ring. In the air, which had appeared somewhat distorted due to the heat, some black wisps now appeared.
Those black things looked extremely filthy and strange. They moved through matter and air like phantoms, and attempting to touch them only made the wisps pass through his fingers.
"What is this?"
Xia De asked in his mind again, but she still didn't give an answer, because Xia De hadn't touched these things at all.
"Psychologist, it looks like things are a bit strange here. Should we go find the dream's owner, or should we quit and give up now?"
Xia De asked Schneider for his opinion. The Psychologist frowned and thought for a moment, even sniffing towards the burning building in front of him as if trying to catch a scent:
"No need to quit. Different people's dreams indeed have different strange phenomena, especially since the other party is a talented individual in the midst of awakening. Moreover, if we encountered an enemy in reality, I might worry about an accident, but this is the world of dreams, and I am a professional."
His strong self-confidence also infected Xia De, who actually didn't want to give up either:
"Then how do we enter the fire?"
Dangers in dreams would also affect them.
"Leave it to me."
The 【Dream】 Ling Rune glowed again. As the Psychologist chanted an awkward incantation, a film of water enveloped Xia De. The heat was isolated outside, and at the same time, he felt as if he had become stronger.
"Miracle 【Blessing of the Dream Sprite】. Within an hour of dream-time, scene damage is greatly reduced, and the caster's strength is enhanced. Also, a side note: we, as outsiders in a dream, should avoid manipulating the dream even if we have the means, so as not to wake the dream's owner. We can use our Ring術士 powers, but do not attempt to use relics. Even if your mind is capable of simulating a relic, do not use it in a dream, otherwise it will cause the dream to shift in a more bizarre direction."
The Psychologist explained the basic rules of dream exploration and walked up the steps to the house. He grabbed the burning hot doorknob, turned it a few times with a clatter, and then turned to Xia De and said:
"Detective, you open the Door Key. Locks in dreams are even harder to open than in reality. If you weren't here, I'd probably have to search for clues around, understand the dream's theme and story background, to unlock the first Door Key."
"Psychologist, it sounds like each time we enter a dream, it's like playing a role-playing game with pre-set rules."
Xia De said, walking up the steps and touching the Door Key. He only felt a warm heat, and after slight resistance, the Door Key turned, and the door opened. According to the dream theory Xia De understood, the locks in dreams are actually "locks of the heart," and are also within the scope of the 【Key of the Door】's effect.
The Psychologist smiled:
"Role-playing? That's an interesting phrase. But it really is like a very real game. Psychologists are actually also Detectives in dreams. But compared to you Detectives who investigate the past, Detectives who investigate in dreams are slightly safer."
Seeing Xia De successfully open the Door Key, the Psychologist took a deep breath and regained his serious expression:
"Now, prepare for battle. Even if there are no other intruders besides us in the dream, this nightmare will certainly spontaneously generate some strange things to resist us."
"What happens if we get hurt in the dream?"
Xia De looked at the firelight inside the door, walked in, and the Psychologist followed behind him, the flames licking at both of them:
"Loss of spiritual power."
The hallway was blocked by a collapsed and burning shoe cabinet and coat rack. The Psychologist told Xia De, who was walking in front, to cut through the obstacles.
"What if we die in the dream? Will we also die in reality?"
Beyond the hallway was the living room, with stairs leading up on the other side of the living room. The crackling flames looked particularly terrifying; everything around them was bright, all fire, all heat waves. The heat waves distorted the air, making everything incredibly strange.
This was Xia De's first time deep inside a fire, and even though it was a fire in a dream, it was truly an eye-opener for him.
"No, no, Detective, don't underestimate me too much. death in a dream will force you to exit the dream, and then you'll have a headache for several days. During that time, your mental resistance will be greatly weakened, and the risk of losing control will increase, but you will absolutely not die directly."
The Psychologist said, then placed a hand on Xia De's shoulder to stop him from walking so fast:
"Look ahead."
In the burning flames, something resembling a charred corpse crawled on the ground. But upon closer inspection, it wasn't crawling; its body was facing upwards, with its hands and feet bent backward, touching the ground. When Xia De looked at it, the monster flailed its limbs on the ground and rushed towards Xia De and the Psychologist, carrying flames with it.
"Monsters in dreams display the dream owner's fears and thoughts. From this, it seems Luther Kinweiss saw these burned people during the fire back then."
The Psychologist told Xia De to step back, and he walked towards the burning dry corpse. When the two were still three steps away from colliding, the gaunt, charred corpse with its limbs bent backward suddenly leaped up in the fire and pounced towards the Psychologist's face.
But the Psychologist calmly raised his left hand, and as a transparent circular shield appeared in his hand, he swung his left hand upwards—
Bang!
The pouncing corpse was heavily struck by the shield and sent flying, crashing into a protruding stone brick in a collapsed corner of the living room, then dispersed into a cloud of black Ashes and disappeared.
"So weak?"
"This is just a talented individual's dream, not a Ring術士's dream."
The shield in the Psychologist's hand dissipated, and he shrugged:
"However, the closer we get to the dream's owner, the stronger the resistance we'll encounter, so we can't truly believe that this place is absolutely safe."
