Chapter 1 The Ashes Murmuring for Help

Objectively speaking, Duncan wasn't an expert in the supernatural, nor did he have much knowledge of the subjects concerning dreams and the spiritual realm, but he still vaguely judged that the scene presented on this street should be more than just Shirley's "dream vision." The ashes whispering for help gave him a strange sense of déjà vu—he thought of the factory, of the people in that factory who had been burned to ashes in the fire, hidden behind the curtain.

Of course, the ashes in the factory hadn't cried out for help—those ashes had given him a more direct and intense signal: they had allowed him to directly see the "echoes" of the fire eleven years ago. Subconsciously, Duncan believed that there was some connection between the ashes on this street in Shirley's dream and the ashes in that factory.

He raised his head and looked around. In the swaying, dim red light, the whole street presented a scene of devastation after a fire. Countless piles of ashes drifted in the falling sparks and dust, and suspicious black shadows were imprinted on the nearby walls.

"You were only six years old back then. Even if your subconscious observed a lot, it shouldn't be enough to support such a huge dream—and to create these ashes calling for help in the dream, as well as such a large phantom in the distance," Duncan said softly, and his voice made Shirley, who was a little nervous, feel a little more at ease.

Shirley raised her head and looked at Duncan standing next to her—the current "Mr. Duncan" was different from the way she usually saw him. He presented himself here as a gloomy and majestic captain. To be honest, he looked quite scary. Even without A Gou's "True Sight," she could feel a deep pressure from him. But in this nightmare that was becoming increasingly unfamiliar to her, such a powerful presence could still give her some peace of mind: at least for now, this presence was on her side.

"Let's move forward and see how far the dream can extend," Duncan's voice suddenly came from beside her. Shirley was stunned for a moment, then quickly grabbed A Gou and followed his footsteps.

Amidst the murmuring cries for help from countless piles of ashes, the two of them and a dog passed through the street covered in embers and sparks, gradually heading towards the group of twisted, swaying shadowy buildings.

They walked on the street for an unknown amount of time. Duncan was carefully observing the changes in the nearby scenery along the way, and what surprised him was that the scenery on this street was the same as ever.

No more twisted phantoms appeared, nor did things become more blurred, bizarre, or have the kind of "dangerous dream creations" that A Gou described. Duncan suddenly stopped, his brow furrowed slightly.

"Mr. Duncan?" Shirley cast a curious look. "Did you discover something again?"

"...How far have we left the 'origin'?" Duncan raised his head, looking back in the direction he and Shirley had come from. The house where they had started had disappeared into the hazy red mist.

"'Origin'?" Shirley was stunned for a moment. "Oh, you mean the room where I was dreaming? It should... be quite far already. I think we've walked at least half a block."

"Shirley, something's not right," A Gou suddenly reacted, looking nervously at the surrounding fog, its voice low. "Let's stop for a moment." Shirley hadn't reacted yet, and she looked puzzled: "What's wrong?"

"A dream is based on the dreamer's subconscious cognition as its 'center.' Your cognitive basis in this dream is that room, and all your memories and emotions are in that room," A Gou explained quickly. "The area outside the room is the 'deductive supplement' of the dream. In theory, the further away from that room you get, the more these deductively supplemented scenes will deviate from reason and common sense. The edge of the dream will become more and more absurd and dangerous, and there may even be cliffs that disappear out of nowhere. But we've walked so far... and this dream is still continuing!" Duncan nodded slightly as he listened—he didn't have A Gou's clear and complete theoretical knowledge, but his guess was similar.

Shirley finally understood, and she took a light breath: "So... I should have walked out of my dream domain a long time ago. Theoretically, it should either be twisted beyond recognition here, or it should be a void... So where are we now? Is this still my dream~?!" No one could answer Shirley's question, and Duncan could only look around with a thoughtful expression.

Everywhere he looked, there were burned and charred streets. The fire-ravaged district was like an ugly scar, deeply slashing across the city-state, and this trace of fire extended to the end of his vision, he didn't know how many more blocks it penetrated ahead.

He looked in another direction and saw some tall buildings near the district, including a factory's distillation tower that pierced straight into the sky in the smoke and mist. The surface of the high tower was covered with winding pipes and a gaunt framework, like a peculiar mountain.

Duncan couldn't help but stare at the tall distillation tower, thinking that if he stood on that distillation tower, he might be able to overlook the entire fire.

Suddenly, his eyes froze. The scene that Nina had described to him appeared in his mind: a high place, overlooking the city after the fire, the streets like a scar, running through the entire city-state... This was the scene Nina had seen in her dream—but from a different perspective!

An astonishing guess instantly popped into Duncan's mind, and he turned to look at Shirley: "We... may have entered another dream."

"Another dream?" Shirley was stunned. "Whose dream?"

"Nina's—come with me," Duncan said briefly, then strode towards the direction of the distillation tower.

He didn't summon I-Yi in the dream to "take him," because he didn't know if the pigeon could enter this dream through spiritual realm travel like him, and secondly, he needed I-Yi to "stand guard" outside, monitoring whether other supernatural forces were interfering with his actions. Fortunately, the distillation tower was not far from this district, it was in a factory next door, and there was a straight alley connecting the two districts.

Shirley followed in a daze, she didn't understand why Mr. Duncan said that she had walked into Nina's dream. Duncan, on the other hand, walked quickly while looking up at the high tower from time to time.

He was trying to find Nina's figure. If this was really Nina's dream, then her figure should be standing on that distillation tower—it was already the tallest building visible here, and its position perfectly matched the conditions for overlooking the entire fire.

But until the two of them and a dog were about to arrive at the factory, Duncan didn't see any figure on the distillation tower.

He was a little puzzled, but before he could think more about it, a strange sense of being watched suddenly came from not far away, which made him suddenly stop.

Duncan raised his head and looked in the direction he felt something. In his vision, a tall, thin figure wearing a strange black long coat and holding a large black umbrella appeared at the corner of the street at some unknown time!

In this dream world full of fire traces, with embers still burning on the streets, it was extremely strange to suddenly see such an umbrella-toting weirdo. This time, not only Duncan saw the figure, but even Shirley next to him suddenly stopped.

"There's someone over there!" Shirley exclaimed.

"You saw it too?" Duncan asked subconsciously, and at the moment his voice fell, a vague, eerie gurgling sound suddenly came from the direction of the figure not far away.

It was not any language known to Duncan, and even the overly complex and twisted vibrato and heavy echoes in the voice made him suspect that it was not any kind of language at all, but he still heard a hint of astonishment in the voice—the umbrella-toting "weirdo" seemed very surprised, as if he had never thought he would see a few "uninvited guests" wandering around here. And at the moment the gurgling sound fell, the strange figure holding the umbrella suddenly moved!

Duncan didn't see what the other party did, but the corner of his eye keenly noticed that several black shadows suddenly窜出來 from under the hem of the other party's long coat. Those were actually pure "shadows," which rapidly rushed towards here along the nearby walls and streets. Then the umbrella-toting figure in the distance disappeared out of thin air. The next second, his body reappeared with the help of one of the rapidly窜來的 shadows, directly pouncing on Shirley as if teleporting!

But Shirley had already reacted at this time. In sync with the Netherhound, she also had the same quick reaction speed as the Netherhound. At the moment the figure had just condensed and had not had time to make a move, she had already raised her right hand—

"Anyway, it's definitely right to have a fight first!" The girl shouted, with a strange excitement. The dark chain in her hand squeaked, and she swung A Gou around and slammed it towards the opposite side.