Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

Chapter 340: 337, Nowhere to Escape

What are dreams?

Memories, perceptions, fantasies deep within the subconscious.

So nightmares are the things within a person’s subconscious that he is most resistant to, most afraid to confront.

As a human, Du Wei had things he was resistant to as well.

But fear meant nothing to him.

Which is why he was calm and rational, why he treated fear as a tool.

Once he had entered Tom’s dream, he always maintained a subtle attitude, steering events in the direction he wanted.

Freddy was not as smart as he had imagined.

Nor did he understand him as much.

Therefore, from the very beginning, Freddy posed no threat to him at all.

The ability to kill in someone’s dream, though seemingly unsolvable,

was predicated on wether it could actually kill Du Wei.

“I will be your nightmare.”

“Whether you are a nightmare or something else, you cannot escape me.”

Passing through the hazy, dim fog, Du Wei arrived in front of a huge banyan tree.

The leaves were lush, the trunk upright, many branches drooping to the ground.

On the main trunk of the banyan, a brand-new street sign was nailed, reading—Elm Street.

Du Wei stood quietly under the tree with his Black Umbrella, looking straight ahead.

Down the street were many buildings, houses as well as shops, and even some repair shops.

People bustled about, coming and going, and the atmosphere was lively.

Some were even drunk and crazed, urinating wherever they pleased.

Backward yet oh so real.

“Is this Elm Street from twenty years ago?”

Du Wei asked himself, then answered, “No, this is a fictitious dream.”

After speaking, he said calmly again, “I know you’re hiding in there, you’re afraid of me aren’t you?”

“You can’t understand why I can find you.”

“Just like I can’t understand why people are afraid of you.”

“Seemingly terrifying, yet fatally flawed.”

“People are always afraid of ethereal entities because they can’t convince themselves to face them.”

His words fell on deaf ears, eliciting no response.

Elm Street was uncannily real, to the point where someone, after hearing Du Wei’s words, came over and looked at him with strange eyes.

As if to say, this guy must be an idiot.

But Du Wei didn’t care; he put away his Flintlock Gun and drew the pistol he hadn’t used in a long time.

He flipped off the safety.

Du Wei walked into Elm Street and aimed his gun at a passerby, pulling the trigger without hesitation.

Bang…

The man screamed, falling into a pool of blood, his mouth open in agonized moans.

Even the smell of blood was thick in his nostrils.

Too real for words.

In an instant, following the gunshot, Elm Street plunged into chaos, the residents screaming and fleeing.

Curses and pleas for help filled the air.

Some even ran straight into the nearest shop, slamming the door shut, peering out through the cracks in the windows, their mouths covered as they watched Du Wei outside.

To these people, Du Wei was the epitome of a deranged killer.

Shrouded under a Black Umbrella, masked, wielding a pistol and wreaking havoc.

A brutal trampler of life, he was practically a demon.

Du Wei walked on, firing his gun at random.

Although his marksmanship wasn’t great, it was enough to cause chaos.

Every now and then, someone would fall into a bloody heap.

If this were reality, Du Wei’s actions would be utterly appalling; he would undoubtedly be locked up in the most dangerous prison to die there.

But this was a dream…

He emptied his magazine and casually took bullets from his backpack, slowly reloading them.

During this process, someone began to resist unwillingly, running out from their hiding spot and started shooting at Du Wei with a gun.

But Du Wei didn’t even dodge; he just walked on.

Bang…

A bullet pierced through his chest.

But aside from that, nothing happened.

No blood, no wounds…

That person screamed in tremble, threw the gun away trying to escape, but stumbled by accident, and fell seated on the ground: “Devil… you are a devil…”

Standing in front of the person, Du Wei looked down with calm eyes: “For Evil Spirits, fear makes them far more terrifying, the reverse is completely different.”

“I originally thought you could control nightmares, just like Pennywise, creating illusions that would make me afraid.”

“But you can only kill people in dreams.”

“Once you enter someone else’s dream, you can start your killing spree, but fear itself is you.”

“So there’s a prerequisite, the other person must know of your existence, the more dreadful they think you are, the more you can use their dreams to act recklessly.”

“Do you think my analysis is correct?”

Du Wei pointed the gun at the person’s head and said softly, “You see, you’re even more afraid of me now…”

The person was indeed scared to the extreme, trembling uncontrollably due to immense fear, not being able to run away at all.

“Please spare me, your Excellency…”

The fear of death made the person plead.

But Du Wei was unaffected, he simply pulled the trigger directly.

Boom… a sound.

The bullet blew the person’s head apart, blood splattered on the white mask, adding a hint of bloodiness and ferocity.

Du Wei calmly said, “In psychology, dreams always remain elusive, I don’t know much about this area, but I am certain of one thing, Elm Street disappeared in a big fire twenty years ago.”

“Yet what I see is an intact Elm Street, so it does not match my knowledge.”

“I fired twelve shots in total, one was empty, eleven shots killed six people, the remaining four were seriously injured.”

“But aside from that?”

“Nothing happened.”

As he said this, Du Wei touched the blood on the mask, feeling the moist sensation on his fingertips, still slightly warm.

“Seemingly real, yet illusory.”

“The logic here cannot sustain itself, I must say, you’ve disappointed me.”

As the words fell.

The entire Elm Street began to turn illusory, the bloodstains vanished, and the fog became hazy.

A cloud moved aside, and the obscured moonlight shone on the ground, revealing the true nature of this place.

Looking around, all the buildings and the ground bore traces of the fire’s aftermath.

Those who had been shot just moments ago vanished without a trace.

Du Wei wasn’t surprised; he turned to look behind him.

In the mist behind him, the silhouette of someone wearing a top hat with a vicious, sharp Right Hand became clearer and clearer.

The next second.

Freddy’s face, burnt by fire, emerged from the mist and darkly questioned, “Why?”

Du Wei said indifferently, “You want to ask why I knew this wasn’t the real Elm Street, right? Actually, it’s very simple. Although I don’t know the principle behind your retained consciousness, that doesn’t stop me from thinking highly of your intelligence.”

“Since your tricks are useless against me, you would surely set up some for me, like giving me a dream about Elm Street, then laying some traps inside to try and kill me.”

“And no one in this world knows Elm Street better than you.”

“Thinking from your perspective on how to deal with me, I’ve already thought out all your tactics, but sadly, they are useless against me.”

Freddy roared somberly, “How can there be someone like you in this world… no, you’re not even human, you’re the devil.”

Du Wei said calmly, “That’s only for you, do you still want to keep running?”

Freddy sneered, “That’s a good idea, devil my Lord.”

It turned and ran.

Du Wei calmly watched it disappear into the distance, with no intention of chasing after it.

Time slowly passed by.@@novelbin@@

After a while, in the mist behind Du Wei, a humanoid silhouette slowly emerged, it extended its sharp claws, slowly reaching for the Black Umbrella.

COMMENT
0 comment

Vote
3 left

SEND GIFT