Chapter 116: Life Gate

Luo Feng.

A steady voice, like a clear spring, washed away the rotten, damp air in Luo Feng's dream and reached his eardrums.

Luo Feng shuddered violently.

He was being stared down by the upside-down nun, extreme fear making him forget to breathe.

But this sudden voice had no trace of weirdness; instead, it brought an indescribable sense of calm.

"Who?" Luo Feng let out a hoarse gasp, his voice filled with the instinct to survive. He didn't turn back, but that voice was crystal clear in his mind, like a whisper.

In reality, at the bedside of the dormitory, Nie Yang and L nervously stared at Luo Feng's vital signs data.

In Luo Feng's throat, what had been merely a trapped beast's whimper now truly uttered a muffled syllable.

"He's speaking!" L's voice also rarely carried a hint of urgency.

"Luo Feng, I am Liu Can." In the dream, Liu Can's voice rang out again, carrying the elegance of a university professor, yet with an unquestionable calm, "You are now trapped in a dream, a nightmare designed specifically to kill you."

"As long as you die in the dream...... you will also die accordingly in reality."

Luo Feng's heart clenched violently. A dream that can kill?!

His voice trembled, "Is that nun real? Am I going to be killed?!"

"Don't be afraid." Liu Can's voice had no ripple, like a divine needle calming the sea, "I know it feels real, but it is indeed a dream. And in reality, I am trying to intervene in your dream to help you wake up."

Luo Feng paused. Save him? From this hellish dream?

In despair, he grasped at a straw.

"I... I what should I do?" He asked almost incoherently.

"Tell me, what do you see now?" Liu Can guided, his voice neither hurried nor agitated, yet like a lighthouse, it gave Luo Feng's confused mind direction.

Luo Feng jerked his head up; the nun's pallid face was right before him. He screamed, then quickly described: "It... it is hanging upside down! A white face, no color, smiling at me! I am now in a storage room, behind me are furniture covered with white cloth, I knocked over a coat rack, hanging with black nun's robes, stained with blood!"

In reality, Liu Can furrowed his brow slightly, he picked up the tablet Nie Yang handed him, which displayed Luo Feng's report.

The report stated that Luo Feng had recently watched a horror film, "Eighth: Ghost Nun."

Luo Feng's dream environment matched the movie scenes from "Eighth: Ghost Nun."

"A typical fear projection." Liu Can murmured softly, then refocused his attention on Luo Feng in the dream, "Luo Feng, remember, this is a constructed dream. Its illogical points are your 'Life Gate' to escape. Observe carefully, is there anything that feels off?"

"Off?" Luo Feng, terrified out of his wits by the Eighth: Ghost Nun, had no capacity to notice anything off. But Liu Can's words were like a warning bell, forcing his brain to calm a bit amidst extreme panic.

"That grinning ghost face—don't mind it; since it doesn't attack you immediately, it indicates it's not yet substantive, perhaps merely an illusion. Quickly look for loopholes." Liu Can's voice rang again, tone carrying unquestionable firmness, "Focus your attention!"

Upon hearing, Luo Feng suppressed his fear and took a deep breath.

He stared fixedly at the storage room's walls, the peeling plaster, the fallen bricks.

At that moment, he saw a row of wooden boxes covered with white cloth, on which a few crooked characters were written—"Haibin Daxue Chuwujian."

"Is this... Haibin Daxue?" Luo Feng startled.

"What's wrong? Anything off?" Liu Can seized the opportunity, his tone gaining a hint of guidance.

"I... the place I am in is clearly an old manor, everywhere Western-style paintings. When I entered, the corridor on both sides hung Western-style portraits!" Luo Feng's voice carried the excitement of discovering the truth, "But this box says Haibin Daxue!"

"Good, this is the loophole!" Liu Can's voice rose slightly, "Keep looking, any more inconsistencies?"

Luo Feng immediately searched along the wall. The Eighth: Ghost Nun's grim face had already approached; he could even feel its breath.

But Liu Can's line "Don't mind it, it's just an illusion" now acted like a spell, forcing Luo Feng to suppress his inner fear and concentrate all his attention on finding the "Life Gate."

Luo Feng rushed out of the storage room, once again arriving at that long corridor. The portraits on both sides of the corridor still hung, the gazes in the paintings still weird.

"I've seen many paintings, Liu Can!" Luo Feng panted, voice trembling with tears, "These paintings... they are watching me!"

"Don't mind the paintings! Is there anything you've seen before that shouldn't be here?" Liu Can's voice was as calm as a machine, precisely capturing each of Luo Feng's words.

Luo Feng shook his head desperately; just then, he caught a glimpse in the glass window beside the corridor, reflecting him and a huge shadow beside him.

Black nun's robes, pallid face.

But when Luo Feng looked at his own side, he found nothing.

At that moment, Luo Feng felt his heart about to explode.

"Don't be disturbed, look at the ceiling, look at the floor, look at any detail!" Liu Can warned sternly, his tone carrying a hint of urgency, "It's trying to control your fear, don't fall for it!"

Luo Feng heeded the warning, jerking his head up. On the ceiling, the crystal chandelier emitted a dim yellow light, covered with spiderwebs. At that moment, his gaze was drawn to a corner.

In that corner, there was a patch of cement repair, on the repair, red paint wrote a crooked character—"Tear down."

"I saw it! A 'Tear down' character!" Luo Feng shouted like a madman, "On the ceiling! Fresh cement patch, with a 'Tear down' character! This doesn't fit an ancient manor at all!"

"Great! Keep looking!" Liu Can's voice carried clear approval, "Remember, the more chaotic this dream, the more you can see the designer's haste and roughness."

Luo Feng gradually stopped being dominated by fear. He pressed against the wall, running while staring fixedly at everything around him.

The Eighth: Ghost Nun seemed to sense Luo Feng's change; the ambient eerie sounds grew sharper, cold winds gusting intermittently.

Meanwhile, behind Luo Feng, a huge pale hand emerged, its nails sharp as blades, about to grab his collar.

"There's a door behind me! I've never entered it before!" Luo Feng shouted, he discovered at the end of the corridor an iron door clashing with the surroundings, its surface bearing a half-torn advertisement flyer.

"Exactly, this is the sole 'Place of Inconsistency' that can interact with you! Enter! This is your 'Life Gate'!" Liu Can's voice seemed to carry some kind of power, instantly piercing Luo Feng's inner fear.

Luo Feng exerted all his strength, violently pushing open that iron door!

"Whoosh—"

He rushed in. The giant hand behind him was blocked by an invisible barrier outside the iron door, unable to enter.

Luo Feng was sucked in by a tremendous force, the scene before him instantly collapsing!

Those ancient paintings, rotten walls, all seemed pixelated, began to twist and flicker violently, then shattered into countless fragments.

The dream, like a punctured balloon, rapidly deflated.

Luo Feng felt his body continuously falling, the wind whistling past his ears, along with the sound of something being swiftly torn apart.

He didn't know how long it had been; when the falling sensation ceased, he snapped his eyes open!

Dormitory.

Familiar dormitory ceiling.

Luo Feng shot up, gasping heavily. He touched his face, sweat covering it, his heart still pounding, but the feeling of being chased had vanished.

He succeeded! He really woke up!

The immense joy of surviving a disaster surged into his heart. Luo Feng couldn't help laughing; he thought it was the most wonderful sound he had ever heard in his life.

He turned his head to look outside; moonlight streamed gently through the window into the dormitory.

Everything had returned to normal.

"Huuu..." Luo Feng exhaled deeply, feeling his whole body relax; all the previous terror turned to nothing.

But just as he turned his head to look at another bed, the smile on his face froze instantly.

His roommate was standing beside his bed at that moment.

The roommate lowered his head, and the moonlight stretched his shadow long.

In his hand, he gripped a...... Boning Knife flashing with cold light.

The blade of the Boning Knife, in the cold moonlight, reflected Luo Feng's face, whose expression was gradually turning fearful.

The roommate smiled weirdly, raised the knife in his hand, and stabbed fiercely at Luo Feng.