An ancient black oil painting frame floated in the dark dream world. The doll girl sealed in the oil painting was completely baffled by the current situation.
"This shouldn't be! I've already escaped its control, and I even have a body in the real world!" Irene circled around in the oil painting. "I'll admit that I have to carry this painting around when I'm 'outside,' and just treat it as extra luggage. But how did the situation get worse in the dream world… shouldn't I be more free after entering a dream?"
She looked up and stared at Yu Sheng.
"If you ask me, who should I ask? I also think you should be freer after entering a dream," Yu Sheng spread his hands. "I was looking forward to seeing what you looked like at 1.67 meters tall, but you're still a 2D character."
Irene seemed very annoyed and had lost the mood to bicker with Yu Sheng. After circling the chair in the painting for an unknown number of times, she finally resigned herself to sitting back on the chair. She then casually grabbed the fluffy teddy bear and kneaded it in her arms.
"Now I'm locked up with this guy again… but, well, at least I have the ability to move freely in the real world. The dream world is not that important. Yes, not that important."
"…Sometimes I'm quite envious of your optimism," Yu Sheng said with sincere emotion.
Irene immediately bared her teeth at him, but whether in reality or in a dream, her bared-teeth threats never had any deterrent force.
Yu Sheng then walked around the oil painting floating in the air and came to the sleeping silver fox.
"What's next? Is it the same as last time? I lie on her tail, and then we 'sink' together?"
"It's the same as last time, but this time, the connection will be more 'direct.' I will try to keep Hu Li's consciousness in a state close to waking, so that it's convenient for you to communicate with her and to perceive her surroundings later," Irene said, floating to Yu Sheng's side. "But at the same time, 'Hunger' will also notice you. It will come for you… after that, I can't help you. The contact and struggle on the level of consciousness can only be relied on by yourself."
Speaking of this, she paused, and as if to reassure Yu Sheng, she added, "But I can be the last resort. Once I sense that your mind is rapidly destabilizing, I will forcibly 'drag' you out. It will be as uncomfortable as waking up violently last time. You'd better be mentally prepared."
"…Seriously, I really don't want to go through that again," Yu Sheng sighed, but he still nodded quickly. His previous determination had not wavered at all. "Alright, then let's start."
He once again found a stable depression between Hu Li's large tails, and then caught Irene who had jumped down from mid-air. One person and one painting, leaning against the fox's tail, sank down again in this drowsy dream.
It was unknown whether it was because of the connection established last time, but the process of this second sinking was faster and smoother than Yu Sheng had imagined. He almost only felt a blur in front of his eyes, and when his vision stabilized, he had already seen the figure of the fox demon girl.
She was squatting quietly among the rubble, staring blankly at something in front of her.
Yu Sheng's perspective came to Hu Li's back, and he followed her gaze forward—
He saw a huge wreckage, which looked like a large aircraft had crashed. Between the twisted metal frame and the broken deck, its former grandeur could still be vaguely seen. And there was a faint brilliance, like an undissipated spiritual breath, slowly wandering among the shattered wreckage.
The entire wreckage had fallen at the foot of the mountain. After collapsing and melting, the mountain rocks had almost swallowed and fused it into a part of the mountain. Even just a glance could tell how amazing the impact was back then.
If those on board at that time were all ordinary humans, there probably would have been no survivors.
Yu Sheng looked at the crash site in astonishment, but he did not forget his original purpose here. He approached the fox demon girl and spoke softly to avoid startling her, "Hu Li."
The ears on Hu Li's head instantly perked up. Then she stood up abruptly and looked around, as if trying to see the source of the voice. After searching to no avail, she said hesitantly, "…Benefactor?"
"It's me. Don't look for me. I'm directly connecting with your consciousness."
"Benefactor! You're really here! I thought I heard wrong last time… Benefactor? What, what's going on?" Hu Li's face showed a look of surprise. She still subconsciously searched her surroundings with her eyes. "I, I was in a daze in the valley, but suddenly I arrived at this place. I, I'm dreaming? Am I dreaming?"
"Yes, I… used some means on my side to forcibly guide your dream. Only in this situation can I contact you—but now is not the time to explain the details," Yu Sheng said quickly. "Listen, Hu Li, I'm going to save you. To do this, I need to open a special door, and this requires your cooperation—do you believe me?"
"Come, save me?" Hu Li was stunned for a moment, and suddenly reacted, and immediately shook her head. "Don't, don't come. Benefactor, you just got out. This valley is very strange. It's very difficult to escape once you get in! You, don't come! Definitely not…"
Yu Sheng interrupted the somewhat flustered girl, "I have a way! Hu Li, listen, I have a way. I have already found a way to stably enter and exit that valley. Now I just need your help to cooperate in opening that door. Don't worry about that monster. I can deal with it—do you understand? I'm very powerful, and I've also found a helper this time. She's also… well, powerful."
Yu Sheng tried to appease Hu Li, trying to make her feel at ease. But a trace of confusion appeared on Hu Li's face. Her thinking was slow, and it seemed that it was very difficult for her to keep up with Yu Sheng's words. After a long while, it was unknown how much she understood, she finally said with confusion, "So, benefactor is also an immortal?"
Yu Sheng had no idea how Hu Li's thinking had jumped to this step.
But he could be.
"A very powerful immortal," he tried to make his voice sound reliable.
So the fox demon girl smiled.
"Benefactor, what do you want me to do?"
"You don't need to do anything. Just be mindful of your surroundings for a while. You will feel someone peeping in your mind, and even feel someone looking around through your eyes—don't resist. That's me."
"Yes, okay."
Yu Sheng let out a slight sigh of relief in his heart. The negotiation with Hu Li was easier than he had imagined. Then… he only needed to face the second problem.
"Irene," he called out softly in his mind. "Let's begin."
The next second, with a slight trance, Yu Sheng felt an indescribable… traction.
A new "connection" appeared, established between him and Hu Li. Unlike the obscure connection established through blood before, he could clearly feel that the newly established connection was stronger and also… more brutal.
A part of his consciousness was directly out of his control and was fused into a series of new perceptions, as if his nerves had suddenly been connected to a whole set of extra limbs. Although the feeling transmitted was somewhat vague and delayed, he still… began to feel the aura around Hu Li.
Cold, decaying, with a stench of all things declining. The wind was turbulent in the valley, blowing through the dark forest.
The night was eternal, and hunger was long-lasting.
The fox demon girl stood in the forest, her eyes wide open as she tried to look around.
She actually didn't understand what her benefactor was doing at all, nor did she know whether it was right to just stare around like this. She just tried to complete the task Yu Sheng had instructed her to do according to her own understanding.
Then, she felt the "connection" that her benefactor had mentioned.
She was startled, but she did not feel any malice.
Hu Li had always been able to keenly feel even the slightest malice, but this time, no malice was transmitted.
She only felt a little at ease, and even… her stomach didn't seem to be so hungry anymore.
…
The moment the overwhelming feeling of hunger and the tide of madness suppressed deep within the hunger rushed towards him, Yu Sheng seemed to perceive a huge wave crashing down on him—like a collapsing mountain in the dark night. Hunger and madness were like substance, like a huge shadow, like solidified darkness, almost instantly submerging every inch of his perception.
Yu Sheng didn't even have time to call out Irene's name. He just tried his best to remember the "feature" of the valley transmitted from Hu Li at the critical moment, and then was completely submerged by this frantic black tide.
However, in the depths of the black tide, he found that he was still maintaining his consciousness.
Hunger bit at his soul, and his soul withered and died. Yu Sheng watched "himself" being devoured in the blink of an eye in the dark tide, and his perspective was like a cold bystander.
Hunger receded, and the withered and dead soul woke up again. Yu Sheng opened his eyes in the darkness. For a moment, he was even unsure whether he had experienced another "death," or if it was just a fleeting illusion of being devoured.
He wandered in the depths of the darkness, unable to feel the passage of time or the end of space. He was not even sure if he was really moving.
He could only feel… that a gaze was always on him.
It was not one gaze, but this entire dark chaos was a part of that gaze.
He was like a grain of sand as small as a needlepoint, being watched and submerged by a boundless gaze of hunger.
Then, after an unknown amount of time, he finally caught a glimpse of… a huge floating limb, or shadow, in the depths of the darkness.