Victor Duan's lower body gradually became translucent and slowly restored itself, and his complexion looked much better. I gazed at him, feeling somewhat exhausted.
"That's enough, Ethan Zhang."
Victor Duan spoke, smiling in satisfaction. I plopped down onto the floor, leaning against the side of the bed and watching him.
"Speak. What exactly happened?"
Victor Duan cursed viciously.
"Those bastards... Damn it, burning bridges after crossing them. I really didn't expect they'd treat me this way."
Then Victor Duan began to recount: Back then, Mona Ouyang discovered that the Horror Stories had completely changed and gained its own consciousness. She ordered Victor Duan to deal with the Horror Stories.
Because the Horror Stories was born in the Dream Realm, Mona Ouyang opened the Dream Realm and let Victor Duan go to its source to cast the Horror Stories into it. Anything born from the Dream Realm, as long as it is thrown into the source, will return to the Dream Realm itself and disappear completely.
"At that moment, the Horror Stories let out a mournful cry, repeatedly saying it had been abandoned. It had tried so hard to earn Mona Ouyang's approval, but now it was to be discarded."
As Victor Duan spoke, sadness flashed in his eyes. Little Victor's expression was also grim as he quietly sat beside Victor Duan. It seemed both of them were reminded of some sorrowful memory.
"At that time, I was moved by compassion and betrayed my leader, Mona Ouyang. I ran away from the Dream Realm with the Horror Stories. I was so afraid then, scared that Mona Ouyang would come after me. Maybe I was just being petty—Mona Ouyang never bothered with a small fry like me for hundreds of years."
Victor Duan spoke, sat up, and plopped down beside me, laughing.
"Really, I knew from the start that that lord, Mona Ouyang, was the sovereign at the top of the ghost world. He had enough tolerance to carry all the ghosts who followed him. He never cared about my betrayal. I was conflicted, wanting to go back and follow him, but I knew I'd already lost my place among Mona Ouyang's hundred ghosts."
Back then, the Ghost Path had already shifted to a tripartite standoff because of the seven ghost sovereigns: the Underworld, the ghost sovereigns, and the sects of the magic world. All sorts of connections made it hard for many ghosts to survive in such fierce conflict.
It was at that time that Victor Duan happened to encounter people from the Immortality Society. Back then, the Immortality Society was focused on searching for all sorts of strange things and techniques. They quickly set their sights on the Horror Stories in Victor Duan's possession. After thinking it over, Victor Duan knew he couldn't survive in the Ghost Path as it was, so he joined forces with the Immortality Society.
"My job at the time was just to help the Immortality Society deal with some slightly stronger ghosts. As for the Horror Stories, after they read it, they didn't look deeper into it. It was only in recent times that they started to notice the power hidden in the Horror Stories."
"Do you know where Ouyang Nan and Ouyang Chen are?" I asked.
Victor Duan shook his head.
"Finding them will be extremely difficult. Now the Horror Stories has completely become Ouyang Chen's. After all, he's of Ouyang blood, and the birth of the Horror Stories was the result of an agreement between Mona Ouyang and Ouyang Weng. What they want now is your Instinct, Ethan Zhang."
I nodded. Then Victor Duan told me that last time, after John Chou was trapped in the Horror Stories, they originally wanted to try to strip John Chou of his Instinct. However, the people from Ghost Syndicate, as well as Ouyang Chen who was manipulating things behind the scenes, already knew it was impossible. Their plan was to use John Chou to fight Mona Ouyang, so they could profit from the conflict.
"Heh, John Chou really is ruthless. We were all played by him."
I let out a sound of surprise, looking at Victor Duan.
"At that time, under Ouyang Chen's instructions, the Horror Stories established contact with Mona Ouyang and used capturing John Chou as bait to curry favor with Mona Ouyang. But it failed. Mona Ouyang didn't respond at all. Only then did they realize Mona Ouyang's power was starting to wane. It was at this moment that John Chou sensed the presence of the Endbringer. Using his Instinct, he broke through the Horror Stories and entered the Dream Realm. It seems John Chou is waiting for you!"
I raised my head with a sense of grievance, gazing at the sky. All I could think of was John Chou's half-smiling face. I couldn't help but sigh.
"Your Instinct is truly unique, Ethan Zhang—Coexistence. Only this Instinct can take the Endbringer away. To tell you the truth, Ouyang Nan is actually Ouyang Chen. The real Ouyang Nan has long been dead. The current Ouyang Nan is just a puppet controlled by Ouyang Chen. They need your Instinct for another purpose: to completely control the powerful force known as the Endbringer."
I looked at Victor Duan in shock. I mentioned the world inside the Dream Realm—Ouyang Nan was just a pedantic man, so everyone who entered from outside became like livestock, completely losing the will to resist.
"That's not it, Ethan Zhang. The Horror Stories needs a massive amount of consciousness to become reality. If the dream people and dream ghosts in the Dream Realm are the foundation of the story, then those outsiders who enter become the real, varied people in the story. Only then can it become reality. You've seen people devoured by dream ghosts—they didn't die. They entered the story, filling out the various roles."
"In other words, they want to drag the Dream Realm—and even those vegetative people in reality who have lost consciousness—into the Horror Stories, to create real stories and achieve their goal of immortality. Is that right?"
Now I completely understood the origin of the Horror Stories and what the Immortality Society wanted to do.
"Although I don't fully understand the Immortality Society, this method of achieving immortality is currently one of their few reliable options."
"Are there others?"
I was surprised and stood up.
"Ethan Zhang, you saved me, so let me give you some advice. When you get out this time, before you bare your fangs, don't try to go against the Immortality Society. Times have changed. In the past, the seven ghost sovereigns were absolute in the mortal world, but now it's different. The Immortality Society has figured them out completely. What the Immortality Society loves most is exploiting people's weaknesses until they can't fight back anymore."
I clenched my fists and looked at Victor Duan. This was already the third time I'd been warned not to go against the Immortality Society.
"There's no way I can just turn a blind eye," I replied immediately.
"Suit yourself, Ethan Zhang. I still have a way to return to the Dream Realm—consider it a bonus. I want to go back too. Even if it means death, I want to see Mona Ouyang again."
I saw a strange look on Victor Duan's face, as if he couldn't wait to see someone he'd long forgotten.
"Do you have any way to find Ouyang Chen?"
Victor Duan was silent for a long time.
"The only way is to deceive them—completely deceive them. But I'm afraid that's something you can hardly do, Ethan Zhang."
"How?"
"By going against your own Instinct."
I was furious and glared at Victor Duan. If I knew what to do, why would I ask you?
"As long as you make them truly believe you've done something against your Instinct, they'll probably show themselves. But it'll be dangerous. With your current strength, it's hard to defeat them."
To put it bluntly, there's no solution. I know very well that the people from the Immortality Society are probably also in the Horror Stories. If I run into them, I probably can't beat them. After thinking it over, I decided to just go back to sleep.
Then Little Victor opened the door to the room. I returned to the story, went upstairs, and back to my room. Immediately, I felt a chill. I released my ghost web slightly and sensed for a while. I found thirteen ghosts in the room, all hiding in the bathroom, toilet, and under the bed, ready to scare me at any moment.
But now the rooster had crowed, so they couldn't move. I just went back to my room, planning to sleep. As soon as I reached the bed, I immediately felt a ghost's hand reach out from under the bed. I smiled, stomped on its hand, and it cried out, quickly pulling back.
I pulled up the covers and went to sleep.
Early the next morning, as soon as the alarm rang, I got up, washed up, and—according to the memory of my role in the story—quickly went out, had breakfast, took the bus, and arrived at the company.
As soon as I stepped through the company door, I saw my coworkers all bleeding from their seven orifices, whimpering, their pale eyes staring at me. I blinked and, startled, cried out and fell to the floor.
"What's wrong, Ethan Zhang? It's so early in the morning."
Everything returned to normal. I smiled, got up, and sat at my desk. Thinking about it, this was only the fourth day. There would probably be terrifying visions all day to scare me, to keep me in fear. But now, I felt no fear at all. Still, I had to keep acting, keep playing along.
Sure enough, all day, whenever I went to the bathroom, the toilets elsewhere would flush automatically, making a loud watery noise. Following my character's psychology, I opened the door and found a human head in the toilet, mouth wide open. I pretended to be frightened and ran out.
Even in the cafeteria, the food I bought was all disgusting things. I could only keep pretending to be scared. This feeling was awful, and I was furious inside.
At the end of the workday, a few coworkers invited me out, but I refused decisively. Then the woman my character liked personally invited me. Helpless, I felt I had to agree, because I saw that she was possessed by a ghost.