Nightmare Assault

Down the distance was a bus station. It was empty. There was no bus or workers on duty. The sky was cloudly and raining slightly. A small group of people gathered around the spacious platform. There were around five of them. They should be travellers. The age of the station was visible from the exposed brick platform and the decrepit roof that was leaking in places. This meant that the travellers all gathered at the same corner to avoid the rain.

Currently, the travellers were all looking in the same direction. In the rain, about 30 metres away, there was a man with an umbrella. The man was motionless and had remained like that for ten minutes already.

As the travellers whispered to each other, the man suddenly moved towards the platform.

As he got closer, they confirmed that he was a man. He had a balanced body and a handsome face. He wore a jacket that was several sizes too large for him and… a pair of patterned sleeping pants and cartoon fuzzy slippers.

The slippers were drenched from the rain. They squished with each step that he took.

Jiang Cheng, who arrived there in his dream, put away the umbrella and looked at the people gathered before him.

A tiny and pure-looking girl asked carefully, “Are you new?”

“Don’t ask stupid questions.” A muscular man with a bushy beard glanced at the girl. His eyes lingered on Jiang Cheng’s fuzzy slippers for a moment before moving away. He looked at Jiang Cheng like he was assessing his prey. Then, he added, “An interesting newbie. He’s so calm even though he’s here.”

There were five of them in total. Jiang Cheng temporarily didn’t see anyone else.

Other than the pure girl and the bearded man, there was a woman around 35 with a pair of thin lips. The woman had a beauty spot next to her lips, and her looks were average.

There was a balding man around 50 who looked rather salacious.

Lastly, there was a young man who dressed like a government worker. His hair was smoothed down in place. Different from the others, the young man appeared like he had just cried. There were traces of tears at the corners of his eyes. His body was also bent over abnormally.

Jiang Cheng scanned their faces before settling on the bearded man, “Where is this?”

“We call it the dream realm because every visitor came here through their dream.” The man answered. “Through a black iron door that doesn’t exist.”

Jiang Cheng nodded. This was similar to his experience. “What do we need to do?”

“Based on the scenario, find the clues and complete the mission. Try to survive.” He pointed at the rain and said, “The dream realm is merely what the first people who arrived here called this place.

“What is this place and why is it here? We can’t answer you because we also don’t know.

“You only need to know that once you open that door in your dream, you might see a village, a skyscraper, a forest, a snow field or even a wasteland.

“Everything that might appear in real life might show up behind the door.”

“Everything in real life might show up behind the door?” Jiang Cheng asked to confirm.

“Yes.”

“Then, how is this place different from our world or is the world behind the door our world?” Jiang Cheng put forth a logical yet difficult question.

“Will you find another similar version of yourself in the real world?” The bearded man said gruffily.

His words sounded absurd but Jiang Cheng understood it. “Do you mean someone had encountered their… doppelganger in the world behind the door”

“Yes.”

It was unclear if the man felt fear from talking about it or he felt it was a waste of time to discuss that with a newbie but he ended the subject.

“So, will we return to the real world once we complete the mission?”

The man nodded and turned back to the rain. The rain turned heavier. The whole world was a palette of grey.

“Newbie.” The woman with the beauty spot suddenly turned to him and said, “You’ll be wiped out in the real world if you die here. Aren’t you scared?”

“To be precise, you’ll disappear in real life,” Jiang Cheng corrected.

The woman slowly widened her eyes as she studied Jiang Cheng with interest. “You’re both new but you’re much more interesting than this trash who only knows how to cry.” She gave the young man a side-eye. The disgust in her eyes was plain to see. The young man shivered from her gaze. The woman scoffed before she turned back to Jiang Cheng, “If you survive this scenario, I don’t mind being friends with you.”

Jiang Cheng ignored her and turned to the bearded man. The man stood at the edge of the rain. His eyes wandered the horizon, and his brows were knotted in worry.

“You’re waiting for someone.” Jiang Cheng concluded.

The man turned around and gasped in shock, “How did you know?”

“Hmm… I also know the person you’re waiting for is a fatty with amazing dexterity.”

“Newbie, I’m more and more interested in you!” The man’s expression was beyond amazed. “There’s indeed someone who is still not here. That’s why the mission hasn’t started, but I want to know… How did you tell? And you knew details like the person is a fatty who is dexterous?!”

Jiang Cheng didn’t answer the man but walked to his side. He turned to a direction outside the station, cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Hey… It’s safe here! Come out now! We’re waiting for you!”

As he finished, a man bounced through the rain from a few metres away. As everyone looked on in awe, he raced towards the platform. His rotund body floated over the puddles and leaped into the air before landing gracefully on the platform.

Everyone was thinking the same thing, ‘What a dexterous fatty!’

Once the fatty landed, he stared at the jacket Jiang Cheng was wearing. He was only wearing a khaki shirt and it was soaked. He was shivering from the cold.

“Can you…”

“No!” Jiang Cheng instantly interrupted the fatty, and pulled the jacket tighter around his body.

“What… is going on?” The balding man asked from the confusion.

“We met on the road. I came to scout the way for him. The price is a jacket and an umbrella.” Jiang Cheng admitted.

The shivering fatty didn’t look so well but no one paid him any attention. Only the girl pitied him and lent him a thin shawl to put around his neck.