Lin Ye couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a dream.

Dreams were always something vague and ambiguous like that.

But this dream felt different. Because he clearly remembered where this place was, and why he was here.

Lin Ye climbed out of bed in his rented room. His phone rang with an alarm tone. He glanced at the screen—it was 7:10 AM on a Monday. He had to clock in at the department before 7:55 AM to avoid being late.

“A dream so real it’s annoying.”

Lin Ye got dressed and walked to the window. Outside was a somewhat unfamiliar residential complex. Even though he hadn’t been away for long, he felt like an entire lifetime had passed.

Breakfast was a few cheap little pastries he was long sick of, and some bargain bottled water that cost ten bucks a case.

The first time he drank that kind of water, Lin Ye had twisted the bottle into a pretzel, spilling half of it all over his sleeve.

Now, he could control the force he used to unscrew the cap.

After finishing a breakfast that barely filled his stomach, Lin Ye did a quick wash by the sink, put on his coat, and left the rented room.

Passing through the dimly lit hallway, Lin Ye walked out of the stairwell entrance. The hospital was only separated from his rental by one street, so he usually walked to the department.

There were plenty of food stalls along the street. Lin Ye hurried toward the hospital, inhaling the aroma of breakfast. Up until now, he hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Except for the thing above his head.

The reason Lin Ye was acting so normal in the dream was because there was no spiritual energy or mental energy here. Right now, he was completely ordinary. A single dagger could stab him to death.

If this wasn’t just his own dream world, then keeping a low profile was the right move.

Although this dream world was created by his Special Ability, that ability wasn’t something he could control. Anything could happen here.

And since this world seemed to maintain a normal order, understanding its rules was his unique advantage.

Lin Ye pretended not to see the shadow above his head and continued moving toward the hospital.

It was a giant octopus phantom that filled the entire sky. Its body was covered in enormous tendrils that occasionally twitched in the air.

It seemed to be sleeping. Or maybe, it was dreaming.

Lin Ye had no idea what was going on. Logically, this should be his turf, but he couldn’t even use spiritual energy. He had no clue what that octopus phantom in the sky represented.

Just as Lin Ye was thinking about what to do, his peripheral vision caught something strange.

It was a humanoid creature with an octopus head.

Lin Ye shifted his gaze slightly, but there was only an ordinary human there—no octopus head at all.

He didn’t think he had misseen it. There was definitely some kind of problem here.

Lin Ye quickened his pace. He needed to get out of here as fast as possible.

But before he could get far, screams erupted behind him. Lin Ye didn’t turn back. Instead, he charged straight through the hospital entrance.

This place was seriously bad news. Lin Ye worked at the largest hospital in the city center. At this hour, the area was packed with cars and pedestrians—nowhere was empty.

Thinking back to a similar experience he’d had before, Lin Ye sprinted toward the hospital’s administrative building at top speed. At this time of day, only that place had few people around.

The noise behind him grew more chaotic. Car horns, bystanders’ shouts, victims’ screams… all kinds of sounds mixed together. The chaos was spreading outward.

It took him two minutes to reach the administrative building. There wasn’t a single person here. The surroundings were dead quiet.

Lin Ye entered the building. The security guard was a middle-aged man in his forties.

“I’m here to drop off some documents. I’ll be going back to work in a bit.”

Lin Ye pulled out his phone and showed the guard the clock-in app. The guard let him into the building.

Just then, screams suddenly erupted from outside the administrative building. The guard looked toward the door in confusion. Lin Ye quickly walked to the elevator and pressed the up button.

The elevator happened to be on the first floor. Lin Ye stepped in and pressed the button for the top floor.

Just as the elevator doors were closing, Lin Ye saw a monster with an octopus head pounce on the security guard. Tendrils stabbed into the guard’s head.

The monster turned its head toward the elevator and locked eyes with Lin Ye right before the doors shut.

Thump!

Thump, thump, thump!

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!

The elevator went up. Heavy pounding sounded on the elevator doors from below.

Just from the sound, Lin Ye knew he had no chance of fighting that monster head-on. Its strength was far beyond what someone like him—an ordinary person who got winded after running a few steps—could handle.

‘So this really is just a dream world, huh?!’

Lin Ye thought he’d have some advantage here, but the monsters in this place had no idea who he was.

The elevator stopped at the top floor. Lin Ye stepped out. The top floor was just a very long corridor lined with various offices on both sides.

Most of these offices were locked. Lin Ye walked quickly down the hallway. Just then, a door to one of the offices ahead opened. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

A woman in her forties stepped out, holding a teacup.

Lin Ye rushed over and pulled the woman into the office, locking the door behind him.

“What are you doing?”

The woman said in a somewhat sharp voice.

“Shh! I’m a doctor at this hospital. Haven’t you noticed what’s happening outside?”

Lin Ye replied in a low voice.

“What’s happening? I still have a meeting to go to. Get out of here now, or I’ll call security!”

The woman found Lin Ye highly suspicious. She pulled out her phone and directly dialed the security department.

“Take a look out the window and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.”

Lin Ye walked over to the window. He actually wasn’t sure about the specifics of what was happening either. Without his spiritual perception ability, he could only gather information through his five senses.

The woman ignored Lin Ye. She opened the door and ran straight out. She felt there was something off about him.

Lin Ye didn’t stop her. He observed the situation outside the window. By now, most of the hospital grounds had fallen into chaos. Many octopus-headed people were running around inside the hospital, attacking nearby humans.

He also noticed something else. Some things that looked like fountains had appeared on the ground. Those ‘fountains’ were spraying a light red liquid all around.

Lin Ye turned around and locked the door. He planned to wait until the chaos died down before leaving.

“Help!”

A terrified cry for help rang out from outside the door—the woman. But the plea quickly turned into a sharp, piercing scream.

Lin Ye certainly wasn’t going to open the door. He didn’t know what was up with the people in this dream world, but he’d already given her one chance.

The scream cut off abruptly. Lin Ye returned to the window. Even though this was the fifth floor, he could escape through the windowsill. That was still much better than being cornered here by the monsters.