Lucid Dreamer: Dream Hunt

CHAPTER ONE: A ROTTEN START

"Don't deal with those bastards from the Rectification Association. Those self-righteous guardians of dream justice? Nine out of ten are lunatics, absolute psychos. Disobey them, and one day you'll get yourself killed."

That gem of wisdom, picked up from some veteran Lucid Dreamer, was now playing on a vicious loop in Lu Ziyan's mind. He cursed himself. Why was he only remembering this now, with a blade practically at his throat? Why was he so damn unlucky?

By the time his senses fully returned, he found himself being half-dragged, half-pushed down a godforsaken, derelict hospital corridor by someone clad in the white uniform of the Rectification Association.

Whose fault was it? His own, for being an i***t.

For ordinary Lucid Dreamers, even the innocent ones, the Rectification Association was synonymous with "trouble." Most people would cross the entire width of a dream to avoid even a glimpse of a passing Rectifier, terrified of any interaction.

But him? Lu Ziyan? For some reason he couldn't fathom—some momentary lapse of judgment, some naive, high-schooler politeness—he had actually gone and greeted one!

And this was his reward. Dragged into this hellhole.

Suppressing his panic, Lu Ziyan scanned his surroundings. The place was unnervingly grim and decayed, likely the manifested nightmare of some psychopath.

Pale moonlight squeezed through the gaps of rusted iron window frames, casting long, distorted shadows across a floor thick with dust. Wall plaster peeled away in large patches, revealing the moldy blackness underneath, making his stomach turn. On the wall, a half-faded "No Smoking" sign flickered under faulty, dim lighting, its characters blurred into grotesque, twisting ink stains—like splatters of dirty blood.

"Listen! My career depends on this! Just do as I say—you have to follow my lead! Give me your contact info afterwards, and back in the real world, I'll treat you to an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet! The kind that costs three hundred for two!" The young Rectifier next to him hissed urgently, his volume control practically non-existent, betraying his nerves and excitement.

A herd of profane spirit animals stampeded through Lu Ziyan's mind. He glanced at the gleaming long knife in the other's hand and wisely swallowed all his refusals.

A three-hundred-yuan seafood buffet? Ha. He'd rather take two-fifty and a quick, painless death.

Steeling himself, Lu Ziyan tried to keep the tremor out of his voice, sounding like the tragic hero forced into a corner. "Th-that won't be necessary, Honorable Rectifier... What... what should I do?"

"There's an Asura, badly injured, fled into this area..."

"What?! An Asura?!" Lu Ziyan yelped, nearly jumping out of his skin. A cold sweat instantly drenched him.

"Shhh! Quiet! Keep your voice down!" The Rectifier hastily clamped a hand over his mouth, eyes darting nervously. "I represent the Association! I guarantee your safety!"

The hell you do! Lu Ziyan felt like crying. What was an Asura? They were bloodthirsty maniacs who hunted Lucid Dreamers in their sleep! Not long ago, he'd had a close encounter. Killing him would have been easier than squashing an ant. If a powerful Rectifier hadn't happened by and saved him, he'd already be dead.

Of course, that powerful Rectifier had later "shaken him down" for money in the real world—though, seeing he was a poor high school student, had only taken five hundred from his New Year's money "as a token."

But this young Rectifier in front of him now...

His shoulders were stiff, trying to mimic a tough-guy pose from TV, but the panic in his eyes was unmistakable. His gaze kept flitting to the knife in his hand and away again, lips pressed into a tight, anxious line. The forced calm couldn't hide the slight twitch in his cheek. He looked like a kid who'd just stolen an adult's toy and had no idea how to use it.

A bad feeling settled in Lu Ziyan's gut. "Honorable Rectifier, if I may ask... what is your strength rating?"

"Rated 'Mid-Step' just last month! You can rest easy, I have more than enough power to protect you!" The young man puffed out his chest, trying to appear more dependable.

Lu Ziyan's vision darkened. An internal scream pierced his mind.

Mid-Step? That was at least two whole tiers below the guy who'd saved him last time! It hit him now—that expert probably really had just been taking a symbolic "token" payment for saving his sorry hide. But this rookie? He wasn't just going to get himself killed, he was taking Lu Ziyan down with him!

An Asura had only one goal—to rip out its victim's heart and devour it.

Losing your heart in a dream meant true death. The dreamless would soon find their real-world bodies afflicted with a strange illness called "Bloodthirst Syndrome," withering away in agonizing pain.

"That Asura was severely wounded by my teacher, he's definitely hiding around here! He desperately needs to consume a heart to recover! You... you just act normal, wander around, check the corners! I'll be following right behind you, hidden in the shadows! When he can't resist and jumps out to attack you, I'll ambush him from behind—or the side! Anyway, we have the advantage!" The young Rectifier waved his hands animatedly, explaining his "perfect plan."

Hearing that there was a more powerful teacher involved, Lu Ziyan felt a wave of relief. Thank the heavens they hadn't completely abandoned him.

"Let me ask... where is your teacher right now?"

"Oh, he's with the main force. I led them off to search in the opposite direction..."

Lu Ziyan's face froze completely. He felt his own heart hang suspended in midair alongside those words... for a full three seconds... before plummeting and shattering on the ground.

"Huh? Why do you ask? And why are you making that face?" The Rectifier glared at him, displeased. "I told you, relax! I'm here! A single, heavily injured Asura is nothing! I'll cut him down before he knows what hit him!"

"But..."

"Stop dawdling! Move! Check that nurse's station up ahead, then keep going down the hall!" The Rectifier urged impatiently, his knife twitching slightly.

Lu Ziyan was utterly defeated. Dead if he did, dead if he didn't. If he refused now, that knife would probably find his gut in the next second. He had no choice but to grit his teeth and shuffle forward like a puppet on strings, mentally cursing every ancestor of the i***t beside him.

He prayed desperately that this rotten hospital was empty, that the rookie had the wrong place, faulty intel. But what if... what if the monster was really here? Lu Ziyan shook his head, not daring to follow that thought. He was afraid that just thinking it might make it real.

His mind a chaotic mess of fear and dwindling hope, Lu Ziyan dawdled his way to the nurse's station. The doors of the glass medicine cabinet hung crookedly, scattered syringes and vials covered in grime on the counter. A rusted needle was stabbed diagonally into a faded, yellowed patient record, silently mocking his misfortune.

The flickering fluorescent light above his head stubbornly flashed on and off, painting the corridor in shifting patches of light and dark, a perfect mirror of his own desperate, clinging hope.

Terrified, he glanced back, seeking some pathetic shred of courage from the Rectifier. But behind him, there was only an impenetrable, thick darkness. The guy who'd promised to protect him had melted perfectly into the distant shadows, silent as if he'd never existed.

A deathly stillness descended.

For a moment, standing there, he felt dizzy, wondering if it had all been a nightmare. No Rectifier, no Asura?

But he immediately dismissed the ridiculous thought. He was an experienced Lucid Dreamer, proficient at controlling his dreams. But this place felt utterly alien and deeply unwelcome. This was someone else's dream—and a terribly malicious, awful one at that!

He had to keep going, steeling himself to check the rooms one by one. His footsteps made faint creaks on the dusty floor, amplified by the hollow, dead silence of the hall into a nerve-wracking echo.

Only three rooms remained before the corner. He stopped at the one closest to the nurse's station. The wooden door was ajar. A gentle push, and the old hinges let out a piercing, loud screech— that made his heart lurch. The room was silent, just two hospital beds tilted against the wall, their sheets yellowed and brittle like pickled vegetables from eight hundred years ago. Not daring to linger, he held his breath and backed out.

The next room's door was rusted shut. Lu Ziyan found a discarded iron rod in the hallway and, with immense effort, pried the door open.

Whoosh—

As the door cracked open, a wave of suffocating, putrid mildew assaulted him, nearly knocking him out. Pinching his nose, fighting nausea, he peered inside. Two beds here as well. One mattress had a huge hole, revealing yellowed, matted stuffing. On the other bed lay a crumpled white lab coat, its hem trailing on the floor. In the dim light, it looked like a person standing rigidly by the bedside!

His heart leaped into his throat, a scream almost escaping before he realized it was just a coat. He caught his breath, only to find his back already soaked with cold sweat.

Too scary. Lu Ziyan's limbs felt weak with fear as he moved to the last room. He decided then: regardless of whether the Asura was inside or not, after this final check, he was turning right around to report back to that useless Rectifier!

If he stayed any longer, he'd die of a heart attack before the Asura even got to him.

Unexpectedly, the door to the last room slid open smoothly, without a sound.

The sight inside made him pause.

This room was unnervingly clean and tidy! The walls were snow-white, as if freshly painted, the sheets pristine and neatly pressed. A stark contrast to the rot and decay outside.

"What's going on? This doesn't fit..." Lu Ziyan muttered to himself.

But the next second, his gaze locked onto something.

Leaning against the wall was... a thing.

It was roughly two meters tall, vaguely humanoid. You could make out the rough contours of eyes and a nose on its head, but its whole body was a mass of swollen, crimson, faintly pulsating rotten flesh!

Lu Ziyan's heart dropped. He'd seen something like this before! Only those fallen Asuras twisted themselves into such horrifying, disgusting forms! Partly to hide their true identities, partly just to terrorize unlucky prey like him!

His heart instantly hammered in his throat, feeling like the fragile organ was about to leap right out of his mouth!

The lump of rotting flesh seemed to sense his presence too, slowly... turning its gaze towards him.

That single look made every hair on Lu Ziyan's body stand on end. He belatedly realized his hands and feet were shaking violently, completely out of his control! The gaze was cold and viscous, filled with pure malice, like an intangible boning knife instantly dismantling all his mental defenses.

This thing was too terrifying! Its mere aura was enough to strip away all will to act!

He tried to swallow, but found his throat frozen, incapable of even that simple motion. Crushed by immense fear, his body had utterly betrayed him. He couldn't even manage a step to run!

The Asura... moved.

It took a step, then another, slow and deliberate, closing the distance towards Lu Ziyan. The movement seemed labored, yet carried an inexorable, despair-inducing pressure.

Lu Ziyan knew, with crystal clarity, that every step the Asura took brought his death closer. Soon, he would die in this bizarre dream. And death here meant the end of his real life. Within two months, his body would succumb to Bloodthirst Syndrome, withering in agony. The college entrance exam? His future? All gone. He might as well drop out tomorrow and go home to wait for death.

It's over... His mind began uncontrollably replaying his life...

Flashes of his short existence sped past: being late for school for the first time and standing in punishment; getting caught copying homework for the first time; using his saved allowance to buy his mom a Mother's Day gift; the exhilaration of first successfully controlling a dream, becoming a Lucid Dreamer; and, just minutes ago, himself, like an i***t, actively greeting that Rectifier...

Rectifier? Screw you and your Rectifiers! If that bastard hadn't tricked him into this hellhole, he wouldn't be in this mess! The more he thought, the more regret and resentment boiled within him. He hadn't even had a chance to live his life properly! Even the most mundane, ordinary existence was ten thousand times better than dying for no reason in his senior year of high school!

An intensely fishy, rotten stench hit his face, making his stomach churn.

Just as expected, the Asura now in front of him lifted him as easily as plucking a chick. Its other rotting hand precisely, coldly, plunged into his chest and yanked—

An indescribable void and chill exploded from his chest, rapidly spreading through his entire body! Unbearable agony and bone-deep cold seized every inch of his skin, accompanied by a feeling of utter, hopeless weakness. He could feel his body rapidly disintegrating.

"No... strength left to go on..." The Asura—or rather, the lump of flesh—actually emitted a vague, broken voice, as if muttering to itself. "But the thing I swore to protect... must... be protected..."

Are you insane?! You're dying and you're taking me with you?! If you want to die, just die quietly alone! Don't drag me down! The heartless Lu Ziyan wanted to roar and curse, but his body was frozen. He couldn't even open his mouth.

The Asura tilted its head back and swallowed Lu Ziyan's still faintly beating heart.

It seemed to regain a sliver of strength, breathing heavily for a few moments.

Then, its indistinct face turned to Lu Ziyan.

Lu Ziyan stared, stunned. From within that mass of rot, he thought he saw a trace of unspeakable... sorrow? A tragic hero's grief, cut down before his time, mixed with the poignancy of a warrior at the end of his road.

"Whoever... you are..." The Asura's voice was a hoarse rasp. "I beg you... you must... protect this heart... Don't let the Association dogs... get it... It is our... only hope..."

"Everything... is for... our 'Lord's'... return..."

Before Lu Ziyan could process the staggering information, something even more unbelievable happened—the Asura plunged its hand into its own chest, wrenching out a lump of still faintly pulsating rotten flesh—its own heart!

Then, it shoved this ominous, rotting heart directly into Lu Ziyan's empty chest cavity!

Lu Ziyan's thoughts ground to a complete halt, utterly unable to comprehend what was happening. This Asura that had just stolen his heart had, in the blink of an eye, given him its own?!

The heart in a dream was the core organ, condensed from the dreamer's spirit and will. Losing your own heart meant the absolute death of the dream body.

The Asura released its grip. Lu Ziyan fell to the cold floor like a discarded sack of trash.

The back of his head hit the ground, pain blooming behind his eyes. But he had no energy left to care about that. The "rotten heart" placed inside him wasn't beating, wasn't pumping blood. His heartless body was rapidly growing cold, his consciousness scattering like a retreating tide, sinking into endless darkness.

Squelch.

A dull thud sounded beside him. The Asura, now truly heartless, could no longer maintain any form, dissolving into a motionless, ugly pile of mud-like flesh on the floor.

Lu Ziyan didn't care anymore.

He had lost even the ability to hold onto that last shred of awareness.