Chapter 12: I Successfully Escaped the Nightmare
“Brother—…”
The very first second my consciousness returned, I heard someone calling me.
“Brother…”
As the two calls echoed in my ears, I immediately sat up, shouting in a panic.
“…What happened? Was all that just a dream back home?”
No, but it felt so real…
The brief caress, the suffocating feeling of not being able to breathe, the coppery smell of blood and its sticky texture, my body, arms, head gradually turning cold… was all of that just a dream? I clasped my forehead, my mind a complete mess. The events I had just experienced were becoming increasingly blurry.
At that moment, Keling appeared before me, shaking her hand with a worried expression.
“Brother? What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”
My back was drenched in sweat, and my pajamas stuck uncomfortably to my skin.
I forced a smile, patted Keling’s head, and pretended nothing was wrong.
“I’m fine, I’m fine.”
“Mmm, anyway, let’s get up quickly. Mom’s already made breakfast!”
“Okay, I got it. I’ll get up now.”
“Then I’ll head down first, okay? Don’t go back to sleep!”
After Keling left the room, I closed my eyes again, not to sleep, but to recall the dream.
The details were somewhat blurred, but I still remembered the general course of events.
The feeling of memories slipping away was gone. Having successfully retained a part of the dream’s memory, I got up and checked my phone.
The time was 6: 36 AM.
That’s right, it was the same time I last checked my phone.
*Phew.* It was all just a dream.
I’m back home now.
I really don’t know why I’d have such a dream. Is it because I’ve been too stressed lately?
But thankfully, it was all just a dream. I’m in my home now, not in that bizarre mansion.
Come to think of it, how could such a strange place really exist? And now that I think about it, Lianbing, Xueqing, and Yuhui also appeared too suddenly.
…But it doesn’t matter.
It’s just a dream anyway. I’m home now, yes…
“This isn’t the manor…”
The moment I spoke the words, I felt a sense of déjà vu, which then turned into a sense of incongruity, making me frown.
I’ve said this before.
Wait, when I woke up ‘last time,’ I also seemed to have dreamt about going to work… And back then, how did I know that the place of work was a manor-style mansion?
In other words, was my previous dream the same as this one? Had I just forgotten it?
From where did the dream begin?
Have I been having similar dreams all along?
SF Light Novel
It’s all so confusing. I’ll wash my face first.
I left my room and walked into the bathroom, constantly thinking about what happened in the dream.
What if those dreams were foreshadowing upcoming events? Then should I make different choices?
But precognitive dreams are too far-fetched…
If the dream is already indistinguishable from reality… how would I know if I’m dreaming right now?
I thought I was dreaming when I woke up in the mansion.
As I was thinking, I suddenly smelled a strange odor, and my vision darkened. I quickly looked around.
I then realized I wasn’t in the bathroom, but in a dark, enclosed space.
The place was extraordinarily narrow and damp, as if it were about to collapse. My body was slowly sinking, a thick liquid submerging my feet, like being trapped in a swamp… about to be swallowed! A great sense of fear suddenly arose within me, and I struggled madly, reaching upwards with all my might, trying to escape the quagmire that was relentlessly pulling me in.
But it was all in vain. I sank deeper and deeper, the submerged parts of me becoming immobile until they lost all sensation.
Next, my head was submerged, leaving only one hand sticking out.
I desperately reached upwards, even if my arm was about to dislocate, I strained my body upwards.
Then I touched something soft.
I woke up instantly.
I had opened my eyes ‘again.’
The sensations of opening and closing my eyes had become extremely ambiguous. Waking up once more, I found myself lying in bed.
I felt hot, my body was burning, as if on fire.
The smell I had perceived earlier was still there, but now much stronger.
Is this… perfume? No, it was mixed with other indescribable scents, a smell that made me lose control of myself.
It’s difficult… It feels like I’m about to explode.
“Mmm—”
“Ah? Juncheng, you’re awake? Sorry, sorry, I moved too much and woke you up. I’m really sorry, *fu fu*….”
Through my distorted vision, she appeared, slightly out of focus.
Her hair was damp with sweat, her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were filled with pleasure as she swayed back and forth.
Unable to fully articulate her words, she placed her index finger on my lips.
“You can’t just call me ‘classmate,’ okay? We’re more than that now, *fu fu fu*…”
What… what is this?
As the sensations from all over my body registered in my mind, a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction also flooded my consciousness.
Was I… doing that with her?
…
This… feeling…
I’ve returned here again… This is wrong. Could it be that waking up at home just now was the dream?
If so, why wasn’t I killed by Lianbing, and instead, I’m here engaged in shameful acts with Lanhua?
What exactly happened?
“Luckily, I came in time. Otherwise, Juncheng, you would have died in the hands of that crazy Young Miss?”
She glanced disdainfully to the side, and I followed her gaze to the floor beside us.
That… Lianbing’s corpse. She was lying on the floor, partially dried up, with a very clear bullet hole in the back of her head, her skull pierced by a bullet.
The loud noise I heard just before I fainted… was it a gunshot?
And then, Lanhua killed Lianbing?
“But, it doesn’t matter anymore now~ Juncheng, I’ve already resolved all your worries for you. You don’t have to worry about those things anymore~”
“This place is really super convenient~ Ordinary people can’t get in at all. Only those who qualify can come and go from here… *fu*… This is our love nest. From now on, no one will ever bother us again…”
What is she talking about? Is she crazy?
“And, and, look.”
As if showing off her hunting trophies to her master, she wore a smug expression.
Lanhua picked up a laptop from beside her and pressed play.
The moment I saw it, I could feel my pupils dilate.
In a dimly lit room, the younger sisters were engaging in “procreation activities” with unfamiliar men.
Treating my precious younger sisters as toys, they acted like beasts, indulging themselves upon them.
Rage surged through me, and I gritted my teeth, my eyes widening to their limit.
Kill them.
All of them… kill them all!
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
“See, Juncheng, your wish has finally come true!”
…My wish?
The absurdity of it all prevented my anger from subsiding completely.
“The younger sisters no longer cling to ‘you, their brother,’ and can now fall in love with ‘other men.'”
“That…”
Although I did have such a thought… this isn’t what I wanted.
This isn’t the way I wanted it!
“See, aren’t they happy too? Aren’t they joyful? That doesn’t look like an expression of pain, does it? They consented willingly, right…..”
I was so stunned I couldn’t speak, while she looked at her own abdomen with loving eyes, gently stroking it as she spoke.
“I’m already pregnant with your child, Juncheng.”
“I found out yesterday with a pregnancy test, *fu fu*… After so much effort, it’s finally bearing fruit~”
So much effort…
Through her pupils, I saw my own reflection. Messy hair and stubble connecting to my sideburns, so thin I was just skin and bones.
How much time had passed… I had become like this.
“Please don’t leave ‘us’ again.”
She opened her arms and hugged me.
I heard the sound of something breaking.
My vision turned completely black, with only various sounds incessantly filling my ears.
The creaking of the bed, the sound of continuous splashing water, the seductive moans, and groans like leaking air.
My head ached, so much that I closed my eyes, or rather, I should have closed them.
Constantly immersed in sexual pleasure, I was exhausted, and something was being drained from me…
At this point, perhaps I have completely lost the ability to distinguish reality.
This is because, even though it’s a dream, the sense of reality is too strong.
It’s as if the dream and reality are alternating, a surreal feeling.
I couldn’t grasp the boundaries, nor did I know when it would end.
Everything around me became intensely dark; I couldn’t even tell if I had my eyes open or closed.
Previous memories flickered and replayed, blurring my perception, and at some point, they vanished from my mind as if fragmented.
My thoughts were forcibly interrupted, and after losing my train of thought, I began performing mechanical tasks.
Counting from zero, reciting the next number every three seconds, and repeating this process.
I could no longer feel my senses at all, just like when Kaoru Tsukiyose deprived me of my senses. I was unable to confirm my own existence.
But this time, I felt no fear whatsoever, nor did I simply fade away and disappear.
I simply ticked like a clock, precisely counting the next number.
Easily surpassing one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand…
These gave me ample time to convey to my gradually weary mind, ‘I am the only one left in this world.’
Severing contact with everyone.
Excluding all emotional factors.
This should be ‘what I am best at.’ Because that’s how I’ve lived all along.
Juncheng An’s way of life was to avoid contact with anyone, deeply isolate himself, and live alone in his own world.
Indifferent to others, and with no interest in them.
Coincidentally, I’ve lost the ability to see titles again.
So, I can return to my origins with this.
Recalling memories that others might consider lonely.
Everyone is unrelated to me.
No one cares about me, and similarly, I don’t care about anyone. I just need to lock myself up again, just like before… to seal my heart…
No, more securely than ever before.
This way, I can think more rationally.
Let’s analyze from the beginning.
First, I am dreaming now, that’s certain.
What’s unclear is from ‘what part’ did it become a dream.
But now I have a clue.
Looking back, I felt a sense of incongruity from them from the very beginning.
Their actions were all the worst-case scenarios I had imagined, the worst endings I had previously envisioned.
So, although I was surprised, I wasn’t shocked.
Yes, it was all my imagination.
Like the croissant that suddenly appeared in the dining room, it’s precisely because this is my own dream that those things I thought…
Once fear consumes one’s mind, people will continuously imagine worse situations; this is what’s called ‘scaring oneself.’
That’s the boundary between dreams and reality.
Generally, if you die in a dream or lose consciousness, you should return to reality.
But I am still trapped in the dream.
Someone made me fall asleep again.
At the very moment I was about to wake up from the shock, I was drawn back into the dream.
Someone ‘outside’ did this, and then made this dream so real.
Only one entity can do this…
A Nightmare.
Because they descend upon men while they sleep and have intercourse with them, consuming their vital energy.
Furthermore, they have the ability to infiltrate and control others’ dreams, which is why they are called Nightmares.
Extending this further, it’s not surprising that powerful Succubi possess hypnotic abilities that can induce ‘dream entry.’
And I have a Succubus by my side.
The moment I stepped through the mansion gate, I felt a dizzy spell. It happened when Lili called my name. More accurately, it happened after ‘she patted my shoulder.’ So, it’s most likely that everything that happened after that was a dream. Simply making me fall asleep is not harming me, or perhaps the punishment for merely making me sleep wasn’t severe, which is why Lili could make me wake up. However, what happened in the dream after that should be unrelated to her, because in this dream, she never appeared. Even though I was worried about her, she didn’t appear… This means that Teacher Lili was ‘ordered’ by someone to hypnotize me.
I wouldn’t imagine such things for no reason. There is another Succubus manipulating my dreams.
She is presenting my deepest fears one by one in this dream.
Her goal is to completely destroy my spirit.
So… why would she do such a thing?
…It’s very simple. Because I, and her daughter, have entered into a master-servant contract, she’s coming after me.
As soon as I spoke these words, the darkness before me rapidly receded, and all the ‘nightmares’ I had experienced until now shattered into pieces.
I appeared in a blank space. This time, when I opened my eyes, I saw… a woman who looked very much like Lili, only her attire was a bit too revealing. She also had horns on her head, and wings and a tail on her back, clearly indicating she was a Succubus.
[Ruthless Succubus]
[Nanalie Succubus Innocent]
“Hmph, I suppose your spirit is still… somewhat intact.”
Seeing her defiantly turn her face to the side, I knew.
I had successfully escaped the nightmare.
