Under the pressure, Zhou Ming gritted his teeth and held on, his face contorted in pain, unwilling to kneel or bow his head.
He couldn’t forget, would never forget! It was that entity that killed Zhou Ming’s parents; it also caused that disaster. Jiang Jialielie’s parents, enthusiastic neighbors, friends who played games together… all the relatives and friends in Zhou Ming’s hometown died because of it.
“You can’t run, human!”
The monster’s voice seemed to come from the deep sea, hoarse and harsh, with a strong fishy smell.
“Your time has come!”
Zhou Ming wanted to fight back, but his body was completely immobile, and he could only watch as that entity extended its tentacles, approaching little by little.
Five meters. Four meters. Three meters.
Suddenly, the world began to collapse, and the monster that was about to touch him vanished in an instant.
The alarm clock rang. Zhou Ming sat up suddenly from bed, still shaken, cold sweat soaking his clothes. That entity capable of triggering a beast tide was definitely not simple—at least at the Windstream level, no match for someone as weak as him.
He didn’t know the entity’s abilities. When he was rescued, he was already in the hospital and hadn’t seen it fight the convoy. He only knew the source of the disaster hadn’t been eliminated, which was why he always wanted to get stronger.
Unexpectedly, before he could go find it, it came to him first.
The situation just now must have been a dream. Then, its ability might be related to the mind. Zhou Ming speculated secretly that with his current strength, he simply couldn’t resist.
Moreover, that was a rare conscious entity.
It could have killed him directly, but instead chose to torment him this way…
‘Could it be that its ability only works in dreams?’
But even so, to kill him, it wouldn’t need to go to such trouble.
A Flowing Wind-level entity’s single attack would be enough to erase him.
‘So… was it deliberately letting him go? Like a beast toying with its prey, making him despair little by little in fear, and then completely destroying him?’
Although Zhou Ming was one of the few survivors of that beast tide, he shouldn’t be targeted like this, right?
‘Wait, Jialie!’
Zhou Ming quickly called Jiang Jialielie to confirm she was safe.
No answer.
Jiang Jialielie and Zhou Ming had a good relationship. Logically, if she felt unwell, she would definitely contact him. But now he couldn’t reach her, making him uneasy.
He quickly changed clothes, didn’t bother washing up, and rushed to the girls’ dormitory building to wait for Jiang Jialielie’s roommate.
He didn’t wait long before he saw her roommate come downstairs, looking sleepy, obviously just woke up.
“Where’s Jiang Jialielie?”
“Oh, she said she wasn’t feeling well this morning, asked for leave from the counselor, and then went back to sleep.”
“She didn’t tell you anything else?”
“No.”
“Could you please go upstairs and call her down?”
She nodded and went back into the dormitory building.
Soon, Jiang Jialielie came down with sleepy eyes, looking exhausted.
“What’s wrong?”
Her eyelids drooped as she forced herself to ask.
“Jialie, did you dream last night about the entity that caused the beast tide in our hometown?”
“No.”
Jiang Jialielie shook her head, clearly not paying much attention. She hadn’t slept well last night and had caught a slight cold. After asking for leave in the morning, she went back to sleep, not even having the energy to contact Zhou Ming.
“Anything else?”
“No, go back and rest. Contact me if anything comes up.”
Watching her leave, Zhou Ming frowned.
‘Could it be… he was overthinking? Just an ordinary nightmare?’
But still, after reporting to Jingquan Union, he should tell the captain about the situation. Maybe the organization had relevant records.
After reporting, Zhou Ming followed Zhang Chuanlei and others to start their shift. On the way, he couldn’t help asking:
“Captain, is it possible that some beast’s abilities affect dreams?”
“Hard to say. Abilities are varied; anything could appear. Why?”
“I had a dream last night. I dreamed about the entity that caused the beast tide in my hometown. It said to me—”
“‘You can’t run, human! Your time has come!'”
“Then it slowly approached me, and I woke up.”
“Were you injured?”
“No.”
“Did anyone else dream about that thing?”
“Probably not.”
“Kid, I know you’re eager for revenge, but don’t be paranoid. Without evidence, just treat it as a dream.”
Zhang Chuanlei patted his shoulder and advised earnestly:
“Mental control abilities usually leave traces. Since there’s no report, it’s probably just an ordinary dream.”
“Besides, the Jingquan Union has a device running 24/7 specifically to detect whether members are under mental influence.”
Zhou Ming rubbed his nose and changed the subject:
“Then why was that machine developed?”
“Because there’s a special person in the Sequence Society whose ability is to read thoughts. Governments and the Jingquan Union take it very seriously, so they developed the detection device to counter it.”
“That powerful?”
Zhou Ming suddenly became interested.
“I’ve seen records in the archives before. It seems to be a father-son duo.” Zhang Chuanlei recalled. “But that kid has mental issues.”
“What kind of issues?”
“Passively hearing the thoughts of people around him, leading to paranoid, irritable behavior and abnormal conduct.”
Zhou Ming was taken aback.
‘This ability… isn’t it exactly the same as Gadelia’s?’
‘Could she be the person in that file?’
But he quickly dismissed the idea.
‘If she were truly that dangerous, she would have been strictly controlled and couldn’t move freely like now.’
‘Besides, there are many people with similar abilities in the world. He shouldn’t suspect her just because of this.’
However…
“What’s that person’s name?”
“I think it was—Gadelia Roderigus.”