Vol. 2 Chapter 33 – Deep Sea Sacrificial Town. (12)

After Lei Yingzhe entered the room, he saw Madame Solari calmly grooming herself in front of the mirror.

“Apologies, madame, sorry to bother you uninvited…”

‘Madame Solari’ interrupted him. “If you know it’s presumptuous, why bother me?”

Lei Yingzhe hesitated for a moment before saying, “Please don’t be upset. I need to report something to you.”

‘Madame Solari’ fixed a scrutinizing gaze on him. After a long pause, she slowly said, “You know my rules. Anyone who comes to the second floor without permission must be thrown into the dungeon.”

Lei Yingzhe calmly took out a Rubik’s cube. “Scapegoat Cube. It can take one punishment on your behalf.”

‘Madame Solari’ raised an eyebrow and flicked her hand casually. The cube settled softly into her palm. “Very well, I’ll give you one chance.”

Lei Yingzhe: “……”

Each square of his Rubik’s Cube could take the blame once, and so far, he’d only used it three times.

The previous Madame Solari had certainly never shown this kind of personality or ability…

Lei Yingzhe became more careful. He cleared his throat gently and asked, “Do you still remember anything from before arriving in Solari Town?”

‘Madame Solari’ looked at him with a somewhat subtle expression.

Yin Liuming, hiding behind the curtain, also raised his eyebrows slightly.

As expected, Lei Yingzhe also suspected that Madame Solari was the dreamer.

‘Madame Solari’ replied nonchalantly, “Haven’t you already figured out everything that happened before I came to the town?”

Lei Yingzhe said, “What we hear from others is just how they see you, but is the life you lived before coming to Solari Town really the same as what the townspeople say?”

Madame Solari stopped briefly while combing her hair.

“Perhaps you don’t know, but your butler is actually the townspeople’s leader. The robbery you encountered when you first arrived in town was orchestrated by him, all to gain your trust and get into the Solari Manor.” Lei Yingzhe pulled a voice recorder from his pocket and pressed the play button.

Inside, disordered, aged voices emerged, resembling Ralph’s tone, the lantern bearer. He seemed to confess how he carefully planned to win the trust of the woman arriving in town and secretly poisoned her wine with hallucinogenic and hypnotic substances. This caused her to forget her past and fully become Madame Solari.

Madame Solari’s expression gradually disappeared.

Lei Yingzhe studied her expression and asked with a smile, “Madame, have you remembered anything?”

‘Madame Solari’ said indifferently, “No.”

“Perhaps you need a little help to clear the poisons from your body.” Lei Yingzhe quietly moved closer, speaking softly. “If you’re willing to trust me…”

“I don’t.”

‘Madame Solari’ suddenly lifted her comb to defend herself. “Why are you getting so close? Are you trying to take advantage of my beauty?”

Lei Yingzhe: “…….”

He had no choice but to step back two steps, just in case Madame Solari sent him to the dungeon.

Fortunately, he anticipated a possible conflict with the other party and prepared accordingly…

Before Lei Yingzhe could take the prop from his pocket, he heard Madame Solari continue, “Where are your hands? Raise them and don’t move.”

Lei Yingzhe stiffened for a moment, then raised his hand as instructed.

—It was fine; he had plenty of points, and even a last-minute exchange would still…

“If something abruptly appears in your hand. Am I allowed to assume you’re trying to attack me?”

Lei Yingzhe: “……”

This was his first time encountering such a difficult NPC.

“What else do you know?”

Those words implied that Lei Yingzhe had discovered something extraordinary.

Lei Yingzhe felt as though he was under interrogation, making him even more cautious. “Madame, there’s no need to be so guarded with me. Our interests should align.”

‘Madame Solari’ got up, softly brushed her palms, and paused for a moment before speaking. “You’re telling me all this. What is it that you want?”

Lei Yingzhe said sincerely, “I just hope you can step out of the shadows and confront reality. Everything in the dream is an illusion; even if you achieve what you desire temporarily, what you possess is ultimately emptiness. Your true self might still be in a coma, and what you’re searching for should be found in the real world.”

‘Madame Solari’ gazed at Lei Yingzhe with her pale, glowing eyes before calmly saying, “Let me consider it.”

“Perhaps you need me to help you recover your past memories…” Lei Yingzhe shook his hand gently, showing he meant no harm. “I believe it would certainly be of help to you.”

‘Madame Solari’ fell silent.

Yin Liuming stood behind the curtain, waiting for Shen Lou to drive Lei Yingzhe out, while also contemplating Lei Yingzhe’s words.

From Chu Dong’s ‘Fresh Flowers Scorched Earth Campus,’ he had already guessed that the dream instances chosen by the Nightmare Game were all dreams dreamt by real people in the real world.

They were lost in their dreams, fulfilling long-standing wishes and achieving their ideals, reluctant to wake up and return to reality, thus sealing themselves within the dream.

The Nightmare Game sent players into these dreams, and what it called ‘clearing the level’ was actually unraveling the dreamer’s obsession, in other words, destroying the dream and forcing the dreamer to wake up from the illusion.

To the dreamers, the players might be their nightmares, turning their sweet dreams into terrifying ones.

—But who created these rules in the first place? And how did they find those dreamers who could never wake up?

—Could it be, quite literally, that the Nightmare is controlling the game?

Yin Liuming hadn’t figured it out yet when he heard Shen Lou say, “There’s no harm in trying.”

Yin Liuming froze for a moment.

—Shen Lou wants to try Lei Yingzhe’s way to awaken memories?

But he wasn’t truly Madame Solari…

Yin Liuming suddenly realized.

According to Shen Lou, he also lost all memory of the past. He only vaguely recalled wanting to destroy the world, then being stopped by someone, and ultimately being sealed inside the illustration book.

A strange sensation arose in his chest. He couldn’t distinguish whether it was nervousness or something deeper.

Yin Liuming raised one finger and softly hooked open a slit in the curtain, peering toward the center of the room.

Lei Yingzhe held up a device resembling a phone with an earphone cable and handed the earphones to ‘Madame Solari’. “Madame, once you wear the earphones, the memories you’ve forgotten will be played back here.”

‘Madame Solari’ was about to put them on when she glanced at Lei Yingzhe.

Lei Yingzhe very tactfully turned around.

Only then did Madame Solari put on the earphones with satisfaction.

From Yin Liuming’s perspective, he couldn’t see what was on the screen. He could only see Shen Lou’s expression, which was still that same nonchalant look. Occasionally, he raised an eyebrow as if he were watching a boring movie.

What memory did Shen Lou see?

Was it Madame Solari’s or Shen Lou’s?

Just as doubt emerged in Yin Liuming’s mind, he felt an itch on his neck, as if something had poked him twice.

He turned his head and saw the little gemstone mermaid clinging to his shoulder, nervously pointing upward at an angle.

Yin Liuming looked up and noticed a faint shadow on the ceiling silently moving toward ‘Madame Solari.’

The figure’s pattern almost perfectly matched the ceiling’s design, clearly showing it was deliberately disguised.

Lei Yingzhe pretended not to notice, subtly raising his hand in a faint gesture.

Yin Liuming narrowed his eyes.

As expected, Lei Yingzhe had no intention of betting everything so easily on awakening Madame Solari’s memory.

He silently mouthed a “thank you” to the gemstone mermaid on his shoulder. The tiny mermaid blushed and floated away behind a nearby vase.

Yin Liuming’s gaze fixed on the mirror in front of ‘Madame Solari.’ He pointed his finger, and a small flame sparked in the reflected corner of the mirror.

As the flames burst into life, ‘Madame Solari’ rose and waved her hand softly. Startled, the player hanging from the ceiling screamed and dropped to the ground.

‘Madame Solari’ approached the player, lightly stepping on his shoulder, her voice tinged with amusement. “Is this your way of showing sincerity?”

Lei Yingzhe was stunned, but quickly regained his composure and said calmly, “I don’t know him.”

‘Madame Solari’ let out a soft, mocking laugh, but her expression turned cold in an instant. “Get out.”

Lei Yingzhe slightly furrowed his brows. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the other person continue coldly, “My manor does not consist only of the dungeon.”

It was unwise to fully anger the dreamer, as the primary goal of this visit was to help Madame Solari recall her memories of the real world…

Lei Yingzhe thought for a moment, then chose to yield. He raised his hands and slowly backed out of Madame Solari’s room.

After he and the player on the ground exited together, the door slammed shut with a loud bang.

The player’s face showed some tension. “Yingzhe, I apologize for messing things up.”

“It’s fine. As long as she recovers her memory, it’s acceptable success.”

As Lei Yingzhe concluded his comforting words, his expression shifted to something slightly peculiar.

—Madame Solari… didn’t seem to return the prop to him?

“Never thought Madame Solari would be like this in private.” The player sounded a bit shaken. “Looks like there were some errors in the information we gathered.”

Lei Yingzhe mulled over what had just happened, his eyes narrowing slightly.

……

Yin Liuming emerged from behind the curtains in the room.

Shen Lou stepped forward and left Madame Solari’s body, a slight sneer on his handsome, unnaturally pale-blue face.

Yin Liuming looked at Madame Solari lying on the sofa and gently furrowed his brows. “What happened to Madame Solari?”

“Just finished removing the poisons. She’ll wake up soon.”

Yin Liuming looked at Shen Lou, thought for a moment, but still didn’t ask.

Instead, Shen Lou spoke up himself, “That prop probably isn’t of much use.”

Yin Liuming was a bit surprised. “What did you see?”

Shen Lou thought for a moment. “Seafood.”

Yin Liuming: “???”

“It looks like a seafood farm. Some jellyfish, fish, shrimp, that kind of thing.” Shen Lou said casually. “There were also some giant scallops. They looked like they’d taste pretty good.”

A blank expression appeared on Yin Liuming’s face.

After quite a while, he finally asked, “Have you ever eaten seafood?”

Shen Lou: “…Based on what I remember so far, no.”

He was merely an NPC in the Nightmare Game. How could he have eaten seafood?

Yin Liuming looked at Shen Lou with some suspicion, unsure whether Shen Lou was lying, if the prop really had a problem, or perhaps, for Shen Lou, the only memory worth recalling was seafood…

“And your face even showed up.” Shen Lou tossed the headphones aside with mild disgust. “Is this thing fabricating based on my current memory? How could it possibly awaken Madame Solari with that?”

Madame Solari lost her memory because she drank poison every day. This alone could only bring back Madame Solari’s memories, but it couldn’t truly awaken her.

Of course, perhaps Lei Yingzhe only meant to access her memories and didn’t care if Madame Solari could recall them.

At that moment, Madame Solari let out a faint groan from the side, holding her forehead as she sat up. “My head hurts…”

She sat up straight, staring blankly at Yin Liuming and Shen Lou before her. Gradually, her expression changed to shock. “Who are you? Why are you in my room?”

Yin Liuming parted his lips, just about to speak, when the scene in front of him suddenly blurred and shifted.

Shackles, floor tiles, dry straw, and iron bars.

—A dungeon.

Yin Liuming: “……”

He waited in place for a while, but Shen Lou did not appear.

It seemed Shen Lou’s earlier claim about not being able to leave the illustration book was somewhat exaggerated.

Yin Liuming, with a blank expression, unlocked his shackles alone and then went upstairs to the second floor again.

Back in Madame Solari’s room, just as Yin Liuming was about to speak, he heard Madame Solari say apologetically, “Sorry, I was a little too impulsive earlier.”

Yin Liuming was momentarily taken aback.

Madame Solari pointed to Shen Lou, who was floating lazily nearby. “Your guardian spirit already explained things to me. I also remembered a lot… and I haven’t thanked you yet for helping to cleanse the poisons from my body.”

Shen Lou raised an eyebrow at him.

Yin Liuming was silent for a moment before asking, “Madame, have you remembered anything?”

Madame Solari softly brushed the gemstone mermaid next to her, a hint of bitterness flickering across her face. “If I’m not mistaken, I may already be dead.”

“Why?”

“I’m a jewelry designer in real life. For the past few months, I’ve been stuck in a creative rut with no inspiration, so I decided to travel and sightsee for a while.” A bitter smile appeared on Madame Solari’s youthful face. “I chartered a small cruise ship from Brunei Port to explore the coastal waters. The sailors on board began discussing foreign customs, and I became curious, asking a few questions. As we talked, I ended up revealing my identity, and… some other things.”

Yin Liuming vaguely guessed the ending.

“I thought those sailors were honest and decent men, but at night they tied me up, hung me from the deck, took all the valuables I had, and threatened that I would die at sea if I didn’t give them a huge sum of money. They assumed that as a jewelry designer, I must be carrying a lot of gems… but who would travel around with precious valuables on them?”

A flicker of fear crossed Madame Solari’s eyes as her fingers clenched her skirt. “My last memory is being thrown into the sea.”

The salty seawater covering her head and the suffocating feeling of being unable to breathe once again seemed to envelop Madame Solari.

Yin Liuming noticed Madame Solari’s stiffness and poured her a cup of hot tea.

After drinking it, Madame Solari visibly calmed down and smiled with gratitude. She joked with herself, saying, “Look at how useless I am. Even after dying, I just can’t let go. I insist on staying alive in this dream.”

She set down her teacup and softly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Sorry for causing you all so much trouble. Are you trying to break this dream? Is there anything I can help with?”

Yin Liuming was quite surprised. “You intend to help us?”

The dreams of the dead shouldn’t be able to resolve their obsessions so easily, should they?

Madame Solari let out a sigh. “People can’t keep dreaming forever.”

Yin Liuming furrowed his brows.

Based on what it sounds like now, this dream did seem to match up with Madame Solari’s real-life experiences.

The townspeople and the eerie village embody the sailors responsible for Madame Solari’s death, and the desire to see the real sun symbolizes her longing to emerge from the dark sea and survive.

Yin Liuming dove beneath the wall of water at the edge of the ocean and finally emerged from the forest soil, reflecting Madame Solari’s desire to return to life.

Therefore, the townspeople were all bizarre, shape-shifting tentacle creatures, and the true offerings needed for the sacrificial ritual were actually these very townspeople.

But Yin Liuming still sensed something was wrong.

Compared to the previous dream, Chu Dong had complete control over most areas of the Fresh Flowers Scorched Earth Campus because those were all evolutions of her own dream. Even though she was also bound by the rules of her dream, those rules clearly favored her.

But the rules of Solari Town, except inside the manor, could be said to work entirely against Madame Solari.

Even the manor had been infiltrated by a butler, who used the poison of the Deep Sea Hunting Bug to drug Madame Solari, making her truly believe she was one of the residents of Solari Town.

What was even stranger was that, since Madame Solari’s obsession had created this dream, she should logically be deeply fixated on life and death. Yet after a few words of conversation, although her death saddened her, she didn’t show any extreme reaction.

If Madame Solari had already accepted life and death, then this dream should have fallen apart by now.

Yin Liuming crossed his arms and thought for a moment, then suddenly said, “Have you ever considered that maybe you didn’t actually die in reality?”

Madame Solari was momentarily stunned.

“If you had died at sea and longed for resurrection because of it, then the ones responsible for your death—the sailors, the townspeople—should be the ones you suppress, not like what’s happening now…”

Yin Liuming indicated the teacup. “The butler intentionally poisoned you to make sure you forget everything from the real world. If he were merely an NPC in your dream, would he trouble himself so much?”

“You mean…”

“There probably isn’t only you in this dream.” Yin Liuming looked directly at Madame Solari. “The other person is the true source of all the strange things happening here.”

Madame Solari stared blankly for a while before asking instinctively, “Who is it?”

“I think he might be your butler,” Yin Liuming said. “Do you remember who he is?”

“I do remember that face; he was the sailor who threw me into the sea.” Madame Solari still looked confused. “But… why do you say I might not be dead yet?”

“For two people’s dreams to merge, their obsessions must connect at some point. Your obsession is being thrown into the sea, driven by the fear of life and death. But according to what you said, those sailors were experienced criminals who robbed and killed at sea. Would one of them have such a deep obsession with killing a helpless target, so intense that it becomes a dream?”

Yin Liuming shook his head. “More likely, he himself was also in a near-drowning state, which is what gave him something in common with you.”

Madame Solari looked even more confused.

“This dream is full of malice toward you.” Yin Liuming looked around. “The contrast between the manor and the town shows their hatred and even jealousy toward you. I’m guessing that not long after you fell into the water, a navy patrol ship spotted them, defeated them, and rescued you from the sea.”

When the navy clashed with the pirates, casualties were inevitable. It was even possible that an entire pirate ship had been sunk.

In reality, Madame Solari should have survived the ordeal unharmed. However, she was ensnared by a vengeful spirit unwilling to perish, and the dream world became linked with her fate, forcefully dragging her down and trapping her in this illusory town.

If no player ever breaks this dream, Madame Solari’s life in the real world will slowly fade away, until she truly sinks to the bottom of a sea of death.

“As for now, it’s still not too late.”

Madame Solari’s eyes slowly brightened, showing a hint of disbelief. Then she took a deep breath and said, “Even if you’re lying to me, I can only take this one gamble.”

Yin Liuming smiled. “You won’t lose.”

……

During the usual evening gathering in the dining hall, Yin Liuming noticed that two additional players were unexpectedly missing.

The other players looked solemn, and some of them were clearly injured.

Even Lei Yingzhe had bloodstains on his lower abdomen. His face was pale as he treated his wounds, as if he had come from a fierce battle.

“What happened?”

Lei Yingzhe’s expression was grim. “The butler ate the rest of the townspeople while we weren’t paying attention.”

Mi Anpei shivered. “Ate them?”

Some of the players looked nauseated but couldn’t vomit. “That’s right. He ate them.”

Right before their eyes, he devoured those living people, bite after bite, even swallowing the tentacles he tore from their heads!

A player cursed, “It was those two bastards who removed the prop binding the townspeople! Damn it, what’s there to steal from a bunch of penniless wretches?”

Yin Liuming looked around and saw that two familiar players were missing, the two greedy fools who had once tried to steal Madame Solari’s jewelry.

Last time, they were caught by Madame Solari while trying to steal jewels from the second floor of the manor and still hadn’t learned their lesson. This time, they tried to steal again, and it cost them their lives.

“What is the butler’s condition now?”

“The butler devoured the other townspeople and transformed.” Lei Yingzhe’s expression also looked grim. “We used props and worked together, but still couldn’t catch it. Its strength has now exceeded everyone present.”

Those monstrous tentacle creatures already had slightly greater combat power than the players. As their leader, the butler, devouring its kind, had become so powerful that even Lei Yingzhe had no choice but to retreat for now.

“What do we do now?” One of the players asked with a pale face. “Are we just going to wait here?”

“Yeah, what if it comes in? Wouldn’t we all die then?”

Who would’ve thought that when they were so close to ending the dream, the situation would suddenly take a sharp turn?

In their hearts, they were cursing those two ‘take-everything-that-isn’t-nailed-down¹[T/N: “财不走空” is a slang phrase referring to people who never leave behind any valuables, often used jokingly for loot-hungry or greedy behavior in games.]‘ type players to death.

“The butler has already shed his butler identity, so he probably won’t enter the manor again,” Lei Yingzhe analyzed. “Madame Solari has already seen through his disguise. If he steps into the manor now, she’ll definitely target him.”

“But don’t we have to bring him to the stone pillar to complete the mission? How are we supposed to do that?”

Yin Liuming gently tapped his finger on the table and said, “Everyone, I have a method, but I’ll need your help.”

“What method?”

“Bring in outside reinforcements.”

The players were confused. “Outside reinforcements?”

Who?

The crisp sound of high heels striking the wooden floor echoed at the entrance of the dining room.

Madame Solari, wearing a deep purple gown, entered gracefully. “Me.”

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  [T/N: “财不走空” is a slang phrase referring to people who never leave behind any valuables, often used jokingly for loot-hungry or greedy behavior in games.]