The Only Player in ‘Child of Stardust’
Chapter 182 - 131: Illusion Dream

Chapter 182: Chapter 131: Illusion Dream

The class dismissal bell rang, and the classroom immediately turned chaotic as the students began packing their bags.

Zhou Yuan stood there, bewildered, with a dazed look on his face. Instinctively, he scanned the entire classroom with a wary gaze, only for a perplexing thought to arise in his mind: Why was he so on edge?

"Hey, what’s up with you?" The girl sitting next to him noticed his odd status and waved her hand in front of his face. "Had a nightmare?"

"No..." Zhou Yuan rubbed his face. "It just feels like I forgot something very important, but I can’t remember what it is no matter how hard I try."

"Must’ve slept too much. You slept through three classes straight until the end of school. Didn’t you sleep last night?" The girl asked as she packed her bag.

Zhou Yuan couldn’t help but recall last night’s scene—a drunk man causing a ruckus at home, wailing and shouting nonsensically until 3 a.m., making it impossible for him to get any sleep.

"I had insomnia," he replied helplessly.

"No wonder." The girl handed him a sticky note with today’s homework neatly written on it. "I noted down the homework for you."

"Oh, oh, thanks."

Soon, Zhou Yuan slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the classroom. He headed to the bike parking area, slowly pushing his bike toward the school gate.

But he had only just exited the gate when he suddenly stopped in his tracks, eyes wide in disbelief at the scene before him.

Two bizarre, non-human figures stood by the roadside. One was burly, engulfed in roaring flames so intense they distorted the air around it. The other was tall and thin, covered in sharp, gleaming spikes that emitted a chilling light.

Even more horrifying was that these two monsters had the faces of his parents!

Zhou Yuan was terrified, breaking out in a cold sweat. What on earth were these things? Why did it seem like the people around him couldn’t see them?

"Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost? We came to pick you up, and you’re still not happy?" The female monster rolled her eyes. "Park your bike at the school gate. We’re taking you out for dinner."

Terrified, Zhou Yuan stammered, "I... I have a stomachache. I’ll pass on dinner. You two go ahead. I need to use the restroom!"

With that, he hurriedly pushed his bike back into the school.

"Hey..." The female monster tried to call out to him, but Zhou Yuan paid no attention.

And so, he stayed in the school playground restroom until nightfall.

Only when most of the teachers had left did he cautiously push his bike to the school’s gate and looked around.

The two monsters were gone.

Zhou Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, but he still hadn’t shaken off the fear in his heart. What on earth were those things?

The bodies of monsters bearing the faces of his parents, perfectly humanlike, and the people around couldn’t detect them at all...

Was he mentally ill?

But he felt perfectly sane. There’s no way he would hallucinate... Zhou Yuan shook his head and decided to go home.

·

Half an hour later, Zhou Yuan opened the door to his home.

The lights were on, and two distorted, grotesque figures were sitting in the dining room, eating takeaway food from a restaurant.

The two monsters turned to look at him when they heard the door open.

Zhou Yuan’s breath caught.

"Come and eat. We got this food just for you," the female monster suddenly said.

The table was laden with a feast, but Zhou Yuan looked uncomfortable. "I think I have gastroenteritis. I’m nauseous and I can’t eat anything."

"Damn it, you’re always so troublesome." The male monster cursed. "Come over and eat, or you won’t get any dinner tonight."

Zhou Yuan weakly replied, "I’m so nauseous, I really can’t eat."

With that, he forced a painful expression, tossed his bag aside, and hurried into the bathroom.

Are you kidding? Even if there weren’t anything wrong, who could eat with two monsters staring at them?

Zhou Yuan squatted in the bathroom for half an hour, contemplating life for thirty minutes before he limped out.

When he exited the restroom, he noticed the male monster sitting on the sofa watching TV, and the dining table was spotless.

"I’ve thrown it away. You can go hungry tonight. Try eating anything if you dare," the male monster spat venomously, glaring at him.

Zhou Yuan shivered, quickly grabbed his bag, and fled to his room.

He didn’t see the female monster in the living room. If these two monsters really were his parents, then she must’ve gone out to play cards.

In his bedroom, Zhou Yuan took out his phone and Googled if he really had a mental illness.

"Schizophrenia? No way..."

"Why does it even say cancer? And in the late stages? Are these diagnostics reliable?"

"Forget it, I’m done looking."

He tossed aside his phone. When he checked the time, he saw it was nine o’clock, so he quickly began doing his homework.

He finished his homework a little past ten, washed up quickly, and went to bed full of questions, though he couldn’t fall asleep. He was afraid the two monsters might suddenly burst in to kill him.

The next day after school, his parents still looked like monsters, but nothing else had changed.

Zhou Yuan could only force himself to stay calm, telling himself, you have to adapt.

After all, if he admitted he had a mental illness, the two monsters would certainly curse him again. Rather than bringing trouble on himself, it was better to say nothing.

And so, time flew by, and before he knew it, the high school entrance exams arrived. Zhou Yuan gradually adapted to his parents’ monstrous appearances.

During the exam, Zhou Yuan performed well enough to get into a decent high school, but his parents refused to let him continue his education.

"Your studies are average at best. What’s the point of continuing? Go straight to work and make money to pay off loans," the male monster bluntly said.

"Arguing is useless. We won’t pay for your school fees. Just look at the lousy high school you got into. What’s the point of going? How did I end up with such a fool for a child?" The female monster sneered bitterly.