Detective Agency of the Bizarre -
Chapter 838 - 31. Despair Prison
Chapter 838: 31. Despair Prison
The surging darkness pervades the underground rock strata.
The scourge of malevolent spirits cannot reach here, allowing Lu Li to escape unharmed in the darkness.
Sitting up pulls at the wound on his chest, Lu Li raises his hand to touch it, an indescribable pain surging into his mind.
No oil lamp to fill, and no bandages.
Unable to determine if this is reality or the fourth layer of the Emerald Dream, Lu Li removes his clothing, tearing his shirt to wrap around his chest.
Due to the intense tearing sensation of the wound, Lu Li bandages it slowly, and after a few minutes, a layer of fine sweat appears on his forehead.
At least from the real feeling of pain, it feels no different from reality now.
After simply bandaging the wound, Lu Li fumbles through his pockets.
The Doomsday Apocalypse piece and Strange Currency are still there, along with the Shilling turned to mush in the water.
No tools or light sources.
Lu Li looks towards the underground river from which a clamor emanates, implying that after going into the water, he may have only one chance.
If he fails to find an exit, Lu Li will get lost in the underground river.
But staying here won’t improve the situation, nor will it end this layer of the Emerald Dream.
Though the Emerald Dream is realistic enough, and the conditions of each layer make it hard to distinguish reality from illusion, it harbors a fatal flaw.
The more dreams there are, the more cracks appear.
Unless sensory memories are obscured or altered, as long as the Emerald Dream continues for a few layers, anyone will inevitably wonder: Am I in a new layer of the dream?
But reality might also suddenly arrive in a certain layer.
For instance, what if everything beyond the underground is just Lu Li’s fantasy while unconscious?
All Lu Li can do is remain cautious and face each layer of Jade Paradise with reason.
Meanwhile, pray that the body in the real world does not vanish.
Before the symptoms of hypothermia set in, Lu Li moves to the edge of a rock in the darkness, the splashes from the underground river icy cold.
Once his body adapts to the bone-chilling currents, Lu Li slips into the underground river.
The turbulent waters scour his body, the icy numbness masking intense pain. Lu Li calms his breathing, takes a deep breath, and dives to the riverbed, heading towards the exit imprinted in his memory.
A minute later, Lu Li reaches the exit, but stretching out his arm, he only feels even more torrential currents and a narrow gap only wide enough for an arm to go through.
The terrain of the rock strata has changed.
Lu Li moves two meters along the exit, but to no avail, and has no choice but to retreat from the exit before running out of air, returning to the rock strata.
With no campfire to guide his way, Lu Li can only go with the flow, raising his arm to sense when it emerges into the air.
A chill suddenly brushes past his fingertips, fleetingly. Lu Li attempts to stabilize and stand, but he fails, the turbulence and buoyancy knocking him over, his hands gripping the rock but slipping off due to its smoothness—
Lu Li exhales the scant air he has left.
He missed the rock strata.
In the underground river’s darkness, Lu Li is carried downstream, washed away by the current, having long lost his sense of direction.
The narrowing rock walls trap Lu Li, but he does not find a place to breathe.
The suffocating sensation envelops Lu Li, lack of oxygen making it hard to think. He can only do one last thing: rip off the bandage, and punch hard at the wound in his chest—
Suddenly, a bright light engulfs Lu Li, pushing away the attached water, dispelling the cold, drying his body—
When the light fades, Lu Li is safely seated on a sofa.
The maid, like a bride, stands beside him.
She did not fall, and the coffee did not spill.
Like a drowning man rescued, Lu Li gasps a few breaths, observing the surrounding environment.
After leaving the fourth layer of the dream, did he return to the third layer of the dream?
"Another layer of Emerald Dream?" Lu Li gazes at the Count before the fireplace.
"No, you are in reality. What you just experienced was merely an illusion." The Count interlaces his fingers, speaking slowly: "A little trick to verify what you said wasn’t false. You indeed demonstrated the ability to escape illusions. However..."
The Count leans forward, observing Lu Li with interest: "How are you so sure that was the Emerald Dream? You know, no one has come out of the Emerald Dream alive."
The maid sets down the coffee cup and steps back from the hall.
"That’s what my companion said before being attacked." Lu Li’s thoughts detach from the nightmarish underground, calming his breath. "And there are many layers of dreams. Every time a dream layer breaks, the surroundings turn into fog with a refreshing scent."
"That does sound like the Emerald Dream."
The Count leans back into the sofa, being a ghost, the sofa doesn’t sink: "You’re not one of the convoy, so I can’t blame you for that. Quite the opposite, I should be grateful you brought back news. As an apology for pulling you into the illusion rashly, what would you like?"
Lu Li calmly states: "Answers to some questions."
"Questions? I thought you’d want more practical things like wealth, food, power..." The Count gestures for Lu Li to speak: "Young man, state your questions."
"Is the Emerald Dream a kind of strangeness?"
"Obviously." The Count spreads his palms. "However, the Emerald Dream is not a type of anomaly hostile to us."
After speaking, he waits for Lu Li to retort with something like "If that’s not hostile, then what is?" But he remains silent.
The Count has no choice but to continue: "You might wonder why the Emerald Dream that attacked you isn’t hostile..."
"There is a group of children. Compared to the distant sky, the ground is closer and more interesting to them. One child takes pleasure in killing ants, seeking them out every day, digging up their nests to kill them all."
"Another child is indifferent to ants, unconcerned with the ants dragging food past his feet, or those crushed under his steps."
"One child shows great interest in ants, lying beside their nests all day observing their habits, occasionally teasing them with his hand."
"One child loves these tiny beings, even creating an ant nest for them to live in..."
"The Emerald Dream is the third child. It is interested in our actions, hence it attacks us."
"No matter how long you experience in the dream, only a moment passes in reality?"
"No, no, no. According to the few experiences of those released by the Emerald Dream, a day in the dream is also a day in reality."
Lu Li lowers his gaze at this answer: "The body left in reality won’t be attacked by anomalies."
"Of course not. As I mentioned before, the Emerald Dream does not derive pleasure from killing us... As long as you are in the Emerald Dream, as long as it retains interest in you, there is no need to worry about being killed by an anomaly."
"One last question." Lu Li calmly asks: "How do I know if this is a new layer of the Emerald Dream or the real world."
"Does it matter?" The Count gazes at Lu Li. "Can you distinguish what is true from false?"
"Perhaps the Weird Times never occurred, and some calamity just dragged us into a dream. Perhaps we are merely characters in some literary work, our every action predetermined. Perhaps we are all soaked in the vats of mad scientists, using our brains for scientific experiments...
"In such circumstances, we can only tell ourselves."
He tapped his finger lightly on his eye socket.
"What you see is the truth."
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