Chapter 44: Engulfed

Chapter 44: Engulfed

The ancient black oil painting frame floated in the gloomy dream world, and the doll girl sealed within the painting was completely baffled by the current situation.

“This shouldn’t be happening! I’ve already broken free from this thing’s control, and I even got a body in the real world!” Irene paced circles and circles inside the painting. “I accepted having to carry this painting around outside, I just treated it like extra luggage. But why is the situation even worse in the dream world...? Theoretically, shouldn’t I be freer after entering a dream?”

She raised her head and stared directly at Yu Sheng.

“If you’re asking me, who am I supposed to ask? I also thought you’d be freer after entering a dream,” Yu Sheng said, spreading his hands. “I was even hoping to see what you looked like at one meter sixty-seven, but you’re still a paper person.”

Irene looked extremely irritated. She did not even have the mood to bicker with Yu Sheng. After circling the chair inside the painting who knew how many times, she finally resigned herself and sat back down. Then she grabbed the fluffy teddy bear and kneaded it furiously in her arms.

“Now I’m locked up with this thing again... Though, I guess it’s fine. At least I really can move freely in the real world now. The dream world isn’t that important. Yeah, not that important.”

“...Sometimes I really envy your optimism,” Yu Sheng remarked sincerely.

Irene immediately bared her teeth at him, but whether in reality or in dreams, her threats had never possessed much intimidation.

Yu Sheng stepped around the floating painting and came before the sleeping silver fox.

“What next? Same as last time? I lie on her tail, and then the two of us sink down together?”

“Same as last time, but this time the connection will be more direct. I’ll try to keep Hu Li’s consciousness in a near-awake state, which will make it easier for you to communicate with her and later perceive the surroundings around her,” Irene said as she floated to Yu Sheng’s side. “But at the same time, Hunger will notice you. It will come looking for you. After that, I won’t be able to help. Contact and conflict on the level of consciousness can only be handled by yourself.”

At that point she paused, then added something as if to reassure him:

“However, I can serve as the final safeguard. If I detect your mind becoming rapidly unstable, I’ll forcibly drag you out. It’ll hurt just as much as that violent awakening last time, so you’d better prepare yourself mentally.”

“...Honestly, I really don’t want to go through that again,” Yu Sheng sighed at once.

Nevertheless, he quickly nodded. His earlier determination had not wavered in the slightest.

“Alright. Let’s begin.”

Once again, he found a comfortable depression between Hu Li’s large tails. Then he caught Irene as she jumped directly down from midair. One man and one painting leaned against the fox tails and once more sank downward through the dim dream world.

Perhaps because the previous connection had laid a foundation, the process of sinking down for the second time was even faster and smoother than Yu Sheng had expected.

He only felt his vision blur briefly. By the time his perspective stabilized, he had already seen the figure of the demon fox girl.

She was quietly crouching among a field of broken stones, blankly staring at something ahead.

Yu Sheng’s perspective moved behind Hu Li. Following her line of sight forward, he saw,

a gigantic wreck.

It looked like the remains of some large flying vessel after a crash. Amid the twisted metal framework and shattered decks, traces of its former grandeur could still be discerned. Faint radiance drifted slowly through the shattered wreckage like lingering spiritual energy.

The entire wreck had crashed at the foot of a mountain. The mountain rock, which had collapsed and then melted afterward, had nearly swallowed and fused with it, making it part of the mountain itself. A single glance was enough to reveal how astonishing the impact had been.

If ordinary humans had been aboard it, perhaps there would have been no survivors at all.

Yu Sheng cast a startled glance at the crash site, but he did not forget the purpose of his visit. He approached the demon fox girl and spoke softly so as not to startle her.

“Hu Li.”

The ears atop Hu Li’s head instantly sprang upright. She jumped to her feet and looked around frantically, trying to locate the source of the voice. Only after failing to find it did she respond hesitantly.

“...Benefactor?”

“It’s me. Stop looking. I’m communicating directly with your consciousness.”

“Benefactor! It really is you! I thought I heard wrong last time... Benefactor? What is happening?” Delight appeared on Hu Li’s face. She still instinctively searched the surroundings with her eyes. “I... I was daydreaming in the Valley, but then suddenly I came to this place. Am I dreaming? Is this a dream?”

“Yes. I... used a certain method to forcibly guide your dream. This is the only way I can contact you. But now isn’t the time to explain the details,” Yu Sheng said quickly. “Listen, Hu Li. I’m going to save you. To do that, I need to open a special door, and I need your cooperation. Do you trust me?”

“Save... me?”

Hu Li froze momentarily. Then realization suddenly dawned on her, and she immediately shook her head.

“No, don’t come! Benefactor, you worked so hard to get out. That Valley is extremely strange. Once you enter, it’s very difficult to escape! You... don’t come! Absolutely don’t...”

Yu Sheng interrupted the increasingly anxious girl.

“I have a way! Hu Li, listen, I have a way. I’ve already found a stable method of entering and leaving that Valley. Now I only need your help to open that door. Don’t worry about that monster. I can handle it. Understand? I’m very powerful. And this time I even found a helper who’s also... well, very powerful.”

Yu Sheng did his best to reassure Hu Li and make her put her mind at ease.

Yet confusion lingered on Hu Li’s face. Her thoughts were sluggish, and it seemed difficult for her to keep up with Yu Sheng’s words. After a long while, and perhaps without understanding much of what he had said, she finally asked in puzzlement:

“So... Benefactor is also an immortal?”

Yu Sheng had absolutely no idea how Hu Li’s thoughts had leaped to that conclusion.

But he could be one.

“A very powerful immortal,” he said, trying to make his voice sound as dependable as possible.

The demon fox girl immediately smiled.

“Benefactor, what do you need me to do?”

“You don’t need to do anything. Just carefully perceive your surroundings from now on. You’ll feel someone peering into your heart, and you may even feel someone looking around through your eyes. Don’t resist it. That’s me.”

“Mhm, alright.”

Yu Sheng quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Negotiating with Hu Li had gone even more smoothly than he had expected.

That meant there was only the second problem left to face.

“Irene,” he called softly in his mind. Let’s begin.

The next second, accompanied by a slight dizziness, Yu Sheng felt an indescribable...

pull.

An entirely new connection had appeared between him and Hu Li.

Unlike the subtle link previously established through blood, this newly formed connection was noticeably stronger, and also more... violent.

Part of his consciousness directly slipped beyond his control and merged into a series of entirely new perceptions. It was like suddenly connecting his nerves to an entire extra set of limbs. Although the sensations being transmitted were somewhat blurred and sluggish, he nevertheless...

began to sense the aura surrounding Hu Li.

Cold.

Decayed.

Carrying the rotten stench of universal decline.

The wind stirred through the Valley, blowing through the dark forest.

The night was eternal.

Hunger endured forever.

The demon fox girl stood in the forest, her eyes wide as she looked around with all her effort.

In truth, she had no idea what her benefactor was doing. Nor did she know whether simply staring at her surroundings like this was the correct thing to do.

She was merely trying to accomplish the task Yu Sheng had assigned her, according to her own understanding.

Then she felt the connection her benefactor had mentioned.

She jumped in surprise.

But she sensed no malice.

Hu Li had always been exceptionally sensitive to even the faintest traces of malice.

Yet this time, none came.

Instead, she felt a slight sense of reassurance.

Even...

her stomach no longer seemed quite so hungry.

The instant that overwhelming hunger and the tide of madness buried within its depths surged toward him, Yu Sheng felt as though an enormous wave had crashed directly over him.

Like a collapsing mountain within a pitch-black night sky. Hunger and madness became almost tangible, like a colossal shadow, like solidified darkness. In an instant they drowned nearly every fragment of his perception.

Yu Sheng did not even have time to call Irene’s name.

At the final critical moment, he only managed to memorize the characteristics of the Valley being transmitted from Hu Li before the black tide of madness swallowed him completely.

Yet within the depths of that black tide, he discovered that he remained conscious.

Hunger gnawed at his soul.

His soul withered and died.

Within the dark torrent, Yu Sheng watched himself be devoured in the blink of an eye.

And his perspective was that of a cold, detached observer.

The hunger receded.

The withered, dead soul awakened once more.

Yu Sheng opened his eyes within the darkness and could not determine whether he had experienced another death, or merely suffered the illusion of being consumed for a moment.

He wandered through the depths of darkness.

He could not sense the passage of time.

He could not sense the limits of space.

He could not even be certain whether he was truly moving.

He could only feel...

that a gaze remained fixed upon him.

Not a single gaze.

Rather, the entire dark chaos itself was part of that gaze.

He was like a tiny grain of dust no larger than a needle’s tip, watched and submerged by the boundless gaze of Hunger.

Then, after an unknown length of time had passed, he finally glimpsed within the depths of the darkness...

enormous drifting limbs.

Or perhaps shadows.