Chapter 88: Guiding Light

Pain. It hurt. It hurt so much.

Chen Ran and the Young Inheritor were both jolted awake by the sheer agony. One had been shot in the left shoulder, while the other had taken bullets to the thigh and back.

Chen Ran forced himself to sit up, his mind completely blank. It took a long moment of rest before the memories of what had just happened came rushing back.

He had been driving a stolen car, engaged in a furious high-speed chase with the Men in Black. In the end, his rear tires were blown out, sending the vehicle crashing through a bridge railing.

The Young Inheritor also remembered how he had ended up trapped like a rat in a barrel inside Chen Ran's house.

He cast an astonished glance at Chen Ran.

'This guy is incredibly decisive.'

'The moment he learned the Men in Black were after him, he immediately fled the house. He is a man of action who solves problems the second they arise.'

'A battle of wits is just like a clash of armies.'

'Judging by his style, he perfectly embodies the methods of the School of Military Momentum. When he meets a mountain, he cuts through it; when he meets water, he dams it; when he meets a formation, he breaks it. His primary approach is to counter infinite variables with infinite adaptability.'

'The quintessential representative of the School of Military Momentum is Xiang Yu, which means Chen Ran also possesses a glaring flaw in his personality...'

'He is far too arrogant!'

Having figured this out, the Young Inheritor knew exactly how to lay his traps for Chen Ran.

Chen Ran glanced at the youth, whose eyes were darting around thoughtfully even as he lay on the ground, and asked curiously, "When I appeared in the house scenario created by the Escape Room Game earlier, how come I did not see you?"

"I was in the guest bedroom."

'The guest bedroom?'

'Obviously, I had already run, yet he stayed behind. Even if he was shot and unable to move, he should have made a sound to let me know he was there. Instead, he kept entirely quiet and offered no warning. In all likelihood, he was hoping for a stroke of luck.'

'However, hoping for luck often causes people to overlook a lot of crucial information. For instance, the Men in Black split into two groups. The ones chasing me were lured away, but the ones chasing him would never have followed me.'

'It is a classic case of deceiving oneself.'

Realizing this, Chen Ran looked at the Young Inheritor as if he were staring at a lamb waiting for slaughter.

They both withdrew their gazes and immediately checked their Watches to record the time.

Only then did they take a moment to survey their surroundings.

They were on a Cruise Ship sailing across the open ocean, currently lying right on the deck.

A short distance away, a large crowd seemed to be hosting a party. Men and women mingled and toasted each other, all dressed impeccably. The men wore sharp suits, while the women donned expensive evening gowns.

The Cruise Ship was massive; Chen Ran figured even the Titanic could not have been much grander than this.

He helped the youth up, intentionally avoiding the crowd as they stealthily slipped inside the cabin.

Both of them were instantly stunned by the sight within. This was not a mere cabin; it looked like a massive shopping mall.

It spanned a total of six floors.

Each floor featured several distinct zones, including bars, Casinos, ballrooms, and more.

The place was bustling with noise.

Waiters weaved back and forth, balancing trays in their hands.

The two hid behind an obstruction, not daring to poke their heads out for fear of being discovered.

"There should be a ship doctor on board," the severely weakened youth whispered a reminder.

Chen Ran looked down at their blood-soaked clothes, then over toward the guest room area.

'Let us just pick a random unlucky bastard.'

A short while later.

They sneaked into the guest corridors and knocked on the door of the room situated at the very end.

"Who is it?"

The door opened, revealing a Noble-looking Youth with an undeniable air of wealth and arrogance.

Seeing no one outside, the youth was just about to shut the door when Chen Ran, hiding against the wall, used his functional right arm to violently shove the Young Inheritor forward, sending the Noble-looking Youth crashing to the floor.

Chen Ran immediately slipped into the room, locked the door, and drew his Liar-Slayer, aiming it directly at the Noble-looking Youth.

The Noble-looking Youth had clearly seen the world, for the moment he laid eyes on the gun, he threw his hands up with a terrified expression.

Chen Ran wasted no words on him, viciously slamming the butt of the gun into the Noble-looking Youth's forehead.

Once, twice, three times...

Before long, the Noble-looking Youth was knocked completely unconscious.

"Wait, were you... some sort of ruthless outlaw before you came here?" The Young Inheritor was startled by his sheer brutality.

"Hesitation only leads to disaster. Besides, this is not the real world. Everyone in here is just a construct created by the Escape Room Game. There is no such thing as being too cruel."

"..." The Young Inheritor fell silent.

'This is definitely the style of the School of Military Momentum!'

Chen Ran yanked the bedsheets off and tore them into long strips. He stripped the Noble-looking Youth of his clothes and shoes, then hogtied him securely.

After a moment of thought, he pulled off the Noble-looking Youth's socks and stuffed them into the unconscious man's mouth.

Once all this was done.

He collapsed onto the bed in exhaustion, then suddenly remarked out of the blue, "Have you noticed that in this scenario, the Men in Black have not shown up yet?"

"Yeah," the youth nodded. "First, we need to figure out exactly what kind of existence the Men in Black are."

"Then we have to deduce things from the very beginning. First off, sitting in the chairs previously always caused dizziness, but we did not experience any dizziness this time."

"Which means we either appeared in the virtual world instantaneously, or we simply forgot the process of being dizzy."

The youth nodded in agreement. "So, the question is, under what circumstances would we bypass the dizziness or possibly forget the entire dizzying process?"

'A dream?'

'A dream?'

They both thought of this at almost the exact same time, yet neither spoke it aloud.

'Connecting this to the previous two scenarios...'

'Is this like Inception?'

'But how do we prove it?'

'We fall asleep every time we switch scenarios. That is piece of evidence number one.'

'Second is the time factor. We stayed in the first scenario for an hour, and in the second scenario for twelve minutes. This perfectly aligns with the concept in Inception where time flows at different rates depending on the depth of the dream layer.'

'In Inception, there are four dream layers in total. In the first layer, the target's subconscious creates a self-defense mechanism, manifesting as a group of people who hunt down the film's protagonists.'

'This also mirrors our situation of being hunted by the Men in Black perfectly.'

'The Men in Black are actually the subconscious self-defense mechanism of the invaded mind, attempting to expel the intruders from the dream.'

'There were two groups of Men in Black before. One group was trying to expel me, and the other was trying to expel the youth.'

'Which means the group of Men in Black hunting the youth was my brain's defense mechanism, and the group hunting me was the Young Inheritor's defense mechanism!'

'In other words, the two of us are simultaneously invading each other's dreams!'

'This is a shared dreamscape!'

Reaching this point in his deductions, Chen Ran looked at the youth without batting an eye and asked, "Your dream in life would not happen to be becoming an actor, would it?"

The youth blanked for a moment, then retorted, "Your dream would not happen to be hiding in your room writing novels every day, would it?"

Neither of them spoke another word.

But inwardly, they were incredibly shocked. This hellish Escape Room Game was actually a real-life Inception!

'In Inception, the main cast could create scenarios within the dream and even change their own appearances...'

With this thought in mind.

The two of them closed their eyes and concentrated, attempting to construct a dreamscape—like transforming their current room into The Hospital.

However, they both seemed to have failed.

Chen Ran sighed and said, "Judging by the five-fold time difference between the last two scenarios, we are likely going to be stuck here for five hours. We need to deal with our wounds first."

As he spoke, he slipped into the Noble-looking Youth's clothes, rummaging through the pockets.

He found a thousand bucks.

"My Liar-Slayer cannot be fired casually like a regular Pistol. It can only be used to catch people off guard. If we want the ship's doctor to extract our Bullets and bandage our wounds, I am afraid this thousand bucks is going to be a little short..."

"It is a bit short. But everyone uses mobile payments these days; very few carry cash." The youth pointed to the phone resting on the nightstand.

Chen Ran picked up the phone and used the Noble-looking Youth's fingerprint to unlock it, but...

There were no payment apps installed.

'It seems there are dual operating systems. The payment apps must be hidden in the system accessed via password...'

"What do you plan to do?"

Facing the question, Chen Ran did not answer. Instead, he simply straightened his newly acquired clothes and smoothed his hair.

"You keep watch here. I am going out to earn some medical fees."

With that, he stepped out of the room and headed straight for the Casino area. A thousand bucks...

He exchanged it for ten Poker Chips.

He arrived at a Texas Hold'em table to observe, finding quite a crowd gathered around.

The banker was the dealer.

The player was a beautiful woman.

The onlookers could place bets on either the banker or the player to win. Chen Ran was in no rush to place his bet.

He eventually locked his gaze onto a red-faced, middle-aged fat man in the betting crowd. This guy managed to lose eight or nine times out of every ten bets he placed.

A new round began. This time, the fat man bet on the banker to win, so Chen Ran...

Bet on the player to win!

In the end, the player won.

Another round started. The fat man bet on the player to win, so Chen Ran bet on the banker.

In the end, the banker won.

Looking at his doubled Poker Chips, Chen Ran mused that the most brilliant gambling technique of all...

...was betting on momentum.

The middle-aged fat man had the face of a chronic loser; his momentum could not possibly sink any lower.

A new round began.

The fat man bet on the banker, so Chen Ran bet on the player. However, right before the Cards were dealt, the fat man changed his mind and moved his Poker Chips from the banker to the player.

Chen Ran immediately followed suit, shifting his Poker Chips from the player to the banker.

This action caused the middle-aged fat man to fly into a rage. He pointed furiously at Chen Ran.

"I have put up with your bullshit for way too long! Do you think I am your fucking guiding light?"