Chapter 24: Dream

Zhang Zhiyin walked towards the man step by step.

The surrounding was soundless as if there were only two of them left in the world.

When he came behind him, the man still stood quietly. Wordless and silent, without saying anything; just like he had always been before.

Zhang Zhiyin gently put his arms around his waist and leaned his head on his back. He murmured, “Yin Nian…”

The name that hovered thousands of times on the tip of his tongue was finally vocalized out.

Yin Nian turned around quietly. He looked down at him with black eyes that were still without waves.

Zhang Zhiyin suddenly panicked.

This person in front of him… It was the real Yin Nian with a real presence, real breathing, and even had a heartbeat like any ordinary people.

He panicked and wanted to let go, but he was held back by the other party.

Yin Nian put his left hand behind him and held Zhang Zhiyin’s hand to keep him from moving. He put his right hand in front of him and slowly touched his face.

“Zhiyin…” He said. His voice was low and there was something unreal in his eyes.

Zhang Zhiyin lost control of his movements for a moment and looked at him in a daze. As if he suddenly did not know how to react to Dr. Y who could move and speak.

“Zhiyin.” Yin Nian called him again, and without waiting for his response, he lowered his head and kissed his lips. It was a gentle temptation with a hint of cautiousness—identical to what Zhang Zhiyin did to him countless times before in the dark abandoned laboratory.

Zhang Zhiyin did not move. With a trace of confusion, he quietly closed his eyes.

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The next morning, Zhang Zhiyin woke up in the shabby little bed in the base bedroom. Yin Xiaoxiang was nested on his neck, sleeping.

He turned around and examined himself. He found nothing unusual.

It seemed that last night was a dream, he dreamed of the real Dr. Y.

Zhang Zhiyin pressed his forehead that was accompanied by dizziness. He washed and went out for breakfast with a headache that seemed to arise from having insufficient rest.

When Dadao saw him, he quickly reported, “Captain, there is something wrong with the psychic zombie.”

“What’s wrong?” Breakfast was still the nutrient medicine. Zhang Zhiyin was not picky and ate together with everyone. He also casually asked this.

“I dreamed about my wife last night. It was very real, unlike a dream. I walked with her in the street. She tried on clothes and I carried her bag.” Speaking of this, his eyes went bitter and astringent. “But that was not true at all. My wife has been gone for a long time. Later, Xiao Jin found out that I wasn’t in the room. He asked the night watchers to come out and look for me before he found me sleepwalking on the way to that attic. They sent four people to restrain me and took me back.”

Xiao Jin added, “This should be a high-level mind interference that was attached to the body. It would wait until the person’s mental strength gets weaker, such as when they fall asleep, before creating an illusion based on the weakness of the human heart. Usually, it will be things or people the person is extremely afraid or desires, to achieve the purpose of controlling them. I haven’t gotten to that level yet. I heard it from the psychic ability users I’ve met before.”

And he looked at Zhang Zhiyin, “Captain… are you okay? Brother Dao said that you walked a little behind him yesterday, and you felt like someone was peeping at you. It’s reasonable to say that you have most likely been targeted.”

Me? Zhang Zhiyin pursed his lips and thought back to his dream.

In his dream, he held Y and was kissed by Y… More than once.

Later when he felt tired and sleepy, Yin Nian sat on the ground, let him lay on his lap and slept with him in his arms…

No matter how he thought about it, it was absolutely impossible in reality. It fitted well with Xiao Jin’s statement of “it will be things or people the person is extremely afraid of or desires”.

However, he woke up in his bed, so he should not have any problem. Or maybe because of his high ability level, his corresponding mental strength was relatively strong, the zombie could only let him have the dream, but it was unable to control him like Dadao.

But his self-confidence was shattered with the arrival of the leader and Lao Zhu.

The surveillance in the base had clearly recorded that he left the base in the middle of the night and did not return until dawn. Under the camera, his posture was peaceful and calm.

Everyone on duty last night was busy with the missing Dadao. No one noticed Zhang Zhiyin’s departure and it was not discovered until this morning.

No one knew what he did during his absence, including Zhang Zhiyin himself. Watching the surveillance video, he was stunned.

He dared not even confess what he had dreamed like Dadao.

He also could not keep saying that he did not know anything, but he had a dream that felt like reality. In the dream, he had been lovey-dovey with Dr. Y, because he had liked him for a long time.

He could only vaguely say that, like Dadao, he dreamed of being with his lover.

He was single when he appeared at the base, and no one at the base knew that he had a lover. But many people have noticed that on Zhang Zhiyin’s left ring finger was a simple and plain platinum ring—the one that Zhang Zhiyin mistook as the suit’s ring. After wearing the fashion items, the ring was not hidden like other parts of the suit, even after taking off other suits, the ring could not be taken off. Zhang Zhiyin himself has always regarded this as a system BUG, and he was not bothered about it.

At the end of the world, people were more prone to experience separation. Life and death were common. When they saw how Zhang Zhiyin did not want to say much, they all secretly guessed if he had some unforgettable sadness, so it was hard to question him more. But his disappearance last night without any of them knowing where he went was like □□, it caused everyone, including Zhang Zhiyin himself, to feel uneasy.

Anyway, the crux must be on the zombie itself. Finally, Zhang Zhiyin decided that it would be better to eliminate it as soon as possible today.

The only one who knew the truth blearily woke up and found itself locked up in the room again. With a whine, it sat down on Zhang Zhiyin’s pillow in a grieving manner.

The attic where the psychic zombie BOSS was located had a psychic field, in which within its boundary the effect of the BOSS’s ability would be amplified, while the players who were trapped in it would always be in a negative state of confusion.

In reality, the situation was even worse.

Zhang Zhiyin and Dadao still led the way. A bare, broken wooden ladder was connected to the entrance of the dark attic and a cold wind blew out from it as if it was some kind of foreboding indication of a bad omen.

Zhang Zhiyin stood at the entrance and looked at it for a long while. He restrained his anxiety and took the lead in climbing up.

However, as soon as he stepped on the old stairs leading to the narrow attic, it seemed as if he had stepped into deep darkness.

It was a long, dark corridor, with a faint light coming from the far end. He stood in the middle of the corridor, and darkness was on both sides of him. Looking around, he finally summoned the courage to go to one of the sides.

A figure appeared ahead. He stood against the light with his tall and slender figure. As his head was slightly lowered,  his features were blurred.

It’s Yin Nian.

Zhang Zhiyin’s eyes brightened. He began to run to him quickly and bumped straight into his arms, hugging him face to face like in that dream.

Looking up, he was about to say something, but he was horrified to find that the face was not Yin Nian’s face at all, but a decaying and fragmented corpse.

Subconsciously, he released his hand and waved an ice blade forward.

There was a shout in his ear, “Captain, wake up!”

Zhang Zhiyin suddenly opened his eyes and saw Dadao, Xiaojin, and the others surrounding him. The vines summoned by a wood ability user in the team were winding around the ice blade he had gathered to prevent him from releasing it.

It was mind interference. Once you step into the ability field of the zombie, it was hard not to be controlled by him. It was only when the members who stayed at the bottom saw the situation did they make the wood user summon vines to pull Zhang Zhiyin down from the top.

Zhang Zhiyin wiped the sweat on his forehead. In the game, as long as you step into the attic to fight the final BOSS, you would be forced to enter a negative state of “confusion” regardless of your level. Thus, you could see how strong this mental field was. But the players were always sober, they could make their characters replenish their HP, consume mind-clearing pills, and manipulate the characters rationally. They could calmly control the situation without experiencing the panic of being in a fantasy or having to face their peers’ swords. But the situation right now was much worse.

Their mood was also a bit heavy, they viewed Zhang Zhiyin as the strongest person among them, but now even the captain had difficulties overcoming this mind interference.

This was not a game, Zhang Zhiyin thought sadly. The big black hole in the attic was like a big mouth, silently mocking him.

Suddenly, there was a flash of inspiration. Since this was no longer a game, he would not have to confine himself to the rules of the game.

Could you tear an instance dungeon apart in the game? No. But now he could.

Since they could not overcome the interference of this field, it was better to tear it apart directly.

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