Chapter 187 Dream Eater

The moment the explosion sounded, Gu Shen fell heavily to the ground. Perhaps it was because he had pierced through Zhou Yexin's body, or perhaps it was because of Zhou Yu's words, he suddenly realized...

This was all a dream.

A game.

And this game, from the beginning, was unequal, because the person who set the rules was a liar.

Xiao deceived the entire Federation, the entire Dadu.

Even if "Transcendence" was a divinely granted power born from trampling on order, there was still a balance and constraint in the dark.

That "Fire Thief" in Zhongzhou could steal transcendent power, but was subject to all sorts of shackles.

Similarly, a power as strong as [Dream Annihilation], capable of destroying reality in a dream, consumed a large amount of the user's mental power with each activation... If one wanted to cause large-scale destruction, then the master of [Dream Annihilation] would probably burn himself out in an instant.

Gu Shen woke up.

He slowly stood up and looked at the scene after the fire.

"Girl," "Dora"... All the figures had disappeared.

In the Deep Sea archives, this accident ended here, with no follow-up.

But the Zhou Yu case, a ten-year-old lead... reconnected in Gu Shen's mind.

"The explosion is not the end..."

Gu Shen murmured softly, "The explosion is the beginning... Your battle with Zhou Yu has only just begun after the explosion..."

He looked towards the collapsed villa amidst the smoke and dust. A figure had gathered there at some point, sitting on a throne of blood and fire, a layer of garbled code flowing all over its body. It was impossible to tell if it was male or female, but its face wore a high, upturned smile, like a capital letter V.

The one on the blood-fire throne was very interested, listening for Gu Shen to continue.

"All along, Deep Sea has sealed the archives of [Dream Annihilation]... because such power will only bring panic to people. Even the members of the Three Institutes, who are also Transcendents, cannot resist the power of [Dream Annihilation] when it is truly unleashed."

Gu Shen whispered, "But... is [Dream Annihilation] really as the archives say?"

He smiled, feeling like a fool.

Looking back now, the rabbit doll in the first dream was already a fairly obvious hint... A doll that was originally dilapidated and stained with dirt was not directly destroyed in the explosion, but became brand new.

And the explosion just happened to stop at the girl's feet... How could there be such a coincidence?

All of this... was because of [Dream Annihilation].

Zhou Yu activated [Dream Annihilation] the moment the explosion occurred. This ability was indeed as recorded in the Deep Sea archives, possessing unparalleled lethality, like an indestructible sword.

But in the hands of a father, [Dream Annihilation] was no longer a sword, but an impenetrable "shield."

When reality is shattered, where is safe?

Dreams.

And [Dream Annihilation], when developed to its extreme, can switch dreams and reality... Zhou Yexin and Dora were able to survive the explosion, not because of luck, but because they were taken into [Dream Annihilation] in that instant.

And the reason why the Transcendents of the Three Institutes believed that this case was just an accident... was also because of the complete activation of [Dream Annihilation] in a desperate moment.

Zhou Yu disappeared from this world.

...

...

"[Dream Annihilation]... If you had truly mastered such power, then today's game wouldn't need to be played," Gu Shen said softly. "I would concede."

"But clearly, you haven't."

No one appeared in this dream.

"You just took Zhou Yu's body... You can't control his [Dream Annihilation] ability at all... Even this dream is not under your control, because a despicable competitor like you could never let me see the correct revelation."

Recalling the battle at Freedom Auditorium, Xiao only used physical skills.

All the details pointed to one thing...

He couldn't use [Dream Annihilation]. This mass hypnosis was a gamble, betting that with the "hostages" in Freedom Auditorium, the Grand Arbiter would not dare to act rashly.

From this point of view, Xiao won the bet.

If Mr. Shu had chosen to act earlier, everything would have ended by now.

Gu Shen looked at the figure sitting on the blood-fire throne and said coldly, "You seem to have always wanted to pull me into a mental dream, and you even sent me a compass, not just for the so-called game, right?"

"..."

The familiar clapping sound rang out from the throne.

Xiao's figure was shrouded in a flickering array of data characters.

His laughter sounded mechanical and eerie: "I've had my eye on you for a long time... Now I know, I wasn't wrong. You are a chosen one more outstanding than them all."

Gu Shen was expressionless.

"Okay... I admit..."

"There's no [Dream Annihilation], no [Game]. These are all fabrications of my own."

Xiao smiled and said, "So even if the music ends in reality, no one will die in the auditorium... because my target has always been you."

"For some reason... when I see you, I always have a particularly strong desire..." Xiao stroked his chin, his voice slow, with a hint of confusion, "I want to... devour you..."

The chilling V-shaped smile on that face widened on both sides.

"I want to... devour that wisp of fire between your eyebrows..."

Having said that.

Xiao on the blood-fire throne was no longer human. He was like a small mountain of water constantly flowing, with data constantly collapsing and gushing out in this dream.

"You got rid of 'Zhou Yu'... using such methods?"

Gu Shen said calmly, "Immersing yourself in the dream and then swallowing the other person."

"...Of course."

Mechanical echoes of data came from all directions, and one could tell that Xiao was laughing.

Gu Shen looked at his feet.

The ground was sunken and turned into quicksand made of data. Even if he did nothing, he couldn't stop the trend of sinking bit by bit.

"Using the Freedom Dance to hypnotize Dadu, I think the Evergreen Foundation must have more than just this one action tonight, right?" The quicksand had already reached his chest, but Gu Shen still spoke calmly, "Machines never sleep. Even if everyone in Dadu falls asleep, Deep Sea will still be monitoring the city... The believers of the Evergreen Foundation wouldn't dare to blatantly appear on the streets with explosives. So what you can do is likely in the blind spots of supervision that Deep Sea can't reach."

"Do you really see yourself as the savior of Dadu?" Xiao couldn't help but laugh.

"..." Gu Shen was silent for a moment, then asked one last question: "Since you can mobilize Deep Sea's power, then do you know that the third dream I interpreted in the audit team was 'The Cage of the Wraith'?"

Xiao was stunned.

In the mechanical quicksand, a confused question sounded: "What exactly are you trying to say?"

A long pause.

The quicksand, full of the power of mental devouring, had already submerged to his chest.

"...Sorry, about what you just said about being a savior."

Gu Shen said calmly, with an expressionless face, "I didn't think so before, but now... I really think I am."

"Boom!"

A roar sounded!

The blazing fire had wanted to burst out from between his eyebrows countless times... Due to Mr. Shu's warning on Yuandan Street, this impulse had been suppressed by Gu Shen again and again.

At this moment, Gu Shen finally stopped suppressing the blazing fire.

A wisp of fire flickered out from between his eyebrows.

Instantly!

It turned into a滔天火海 (tao tian huo hai - overwhelming sea of fire)!