Chapter 14 Don't Think About It! (12)

The sound of water droplets was also transmitted from the phone to the ears of the three people in room 417. Everyone was unable to move, only able to hear the continuous "drip" "drip" sound, as if water were overflowing from a pool non-stop... At a certain moment, a faint sob emerged, as if someone had awakened. The weak sob quickly turned into fearful cries, followed by muffled pleas for help and sounds of struggling in water. No one could move; everyone could only listen with bated breath, waiting. Liu Yi and Jia Qing were already crying; they recognized that faint female voice - it was Wang Yueran's voice! Xia Jing looked at the clock hanging on the wall; its face shrouded in a dim green glow, its second hand mercilessly ticking forward without any intention of stopping.."Help...sob..." Amidst the sounds of water, Wang Yueran's cries gradually became more desperate and weak. A few seconds later, her sobs and chaotic sounds disappeared completely - as if she had stopped struggling altogether. Jia Qing and Liu Yi felt uneasy. The phones now only emitted the relentless "drip" "drip" sound which pounded on everyone's hearts one after another - cruelly revealing just how silent this moment truly was. Xia Jing's black eyes remained unmoving in the night sky. The second hand continued to turn and turn... until it reached midnight: zero hours, zero minutes, thirty-nine seconds.- Everyone was released from their confinement ahead of time!

　　Before Jia Qing and Liu Yi could react, there was a hurried knock on the door. Xia Jing rushed to open it, and Song Yang pulled in the old lady. After closing the door, he quickly said, "Wang Yueran has disappeared!" Liu Yi and Jia Qing were shocked: "What?"

The old lady was also very anxious: "Just now, she was in my arms. At midnight, she fell asleep. Dieying also came, and I couldn't move. Then I saw a bubble suddenly emerge from the air and cover her completely." At this moment, the old lady's clothes were all wet. Song Yang whispered, "After Wang Yueran woke up and started struggling. At thirty seconds in she suddenly stopped moving. At thirty-nine seconds she disappeared right before our eyes, then the bubble crashed to the ground completely. We can move now." Jia Qing's face turned pale: "Is she dead?".

"Death wouldn't cause a player to disappear*** as he lightly laughed. "She is a clever girl; this sudden association with death came very abruptly, but she bravely tried to face her fear and successfully escaped from this dream world." Jia Qing and Liu Yi asked: "Escaped?" "After just passing midnight again earlier," Xia Jing continued, "we have already entered Wang Yueran's dream world. If I'm not mistaken, she has escaped from this dream world and should be in Jin Nan's dream world by now." Jia Qing was dumbfounded: "She escaped from her own dream world? Then what about us?" - How come they are left behind instead?

　　Just then, the knocking on the door sounded once more. Tonight, there were too many knocks on the door and, with the urgent situation, everyone was very irritable. Jia Qing cursed directly "damn", which made the NPC outside go crazy. "At this late hour, why aren't you sleeping? What are you all doing here gathering!? Open the door! Open it for me!" The knocking was very loud and urgent, like beating a drum in everyone's hearts. Jia Qing was going crazy: "What should we do now, Brother Yang and Brother Jing?!"

Song Yang pondered for a moment and then said, "Every night, one player is chosen. Every dream that occurs at night revolves around the fear of that player. So—" Xia Jing narrowed his eyes and said, "Their fears are the key to leaving this dream world, and also our key." The two confirmed each other's thoughts. Xia Jing told Jia Qing, Liu Yi, and the old lady, "We need to imagine Wang Yueran's source of fear in our minds. When that blister descends upon each person, don't panic; remember clearly that this is a dream and everything is false. Then open your mouth and breathe normally."

　　Jia Qing and Liu Yi opened their mouths wide, obviously unable to accept this extreme approach for the time being. However, the NPCs outside, seeing that they didn't come to open the door, had started banging on it, making a "thud thud" sound. The dormitory door was very thin, and if nothing unexpected happened, it would be smashed in just a few hits. If the NPCs broke in and clashed with them, it would be even more troublesome! Song Yang pressed Jia Qing's dazed head and spoke with a serious tone: "Did you hear me? Do as Xia Jing said. Even if you don't believe him, you have to believe me, okay?" Jia Qing came back to his senses and his eyes turned red. Because of fear, he was trembling all over but still nodded heavily while also pulling Liu Yi along: "Come on, let's follow Brother Yang and Brother Jing!" Song Yang also brought the old lady closer.

Corrected sentence:

Jia Qing and Liu Yi opened their mouths wide; clearly unable to accept this extreme approach at the moment. However, outside NPCs began banging on the dormitory door when they didn't open it themselves - creating a "thud thud" sound. The thin door seemed likely to be smashed in just a few hits unless something unexpected happened. If the NPCs broke in and clashed with them,it would be even more troublesome! Song Yang pressed Jia Qing's dazed head and spoke seriously: "Did you hear me? Do as Xia Jing said.Even if you don't believe him,you have to believe me,right?" Jia Qing regained his senses,his eyes turning red from fear.He trembled but nodded heavily,pulling Liu Yi along:"Come on,Let's follow Brother Yangand Brother Jing!"SongYang also broughtthe old lady closer..

　　Five people gathered together, and Xia Jing was unmoved by the crazy knocking on the door. He lowered his eyes and spoke calmly as if narrating a bedtime story. "You just choked on water, with a lingering soreness and suffocating feeling in your throat. You start to fear water, and involuntarily begin to imagine the sensation of being enveloped by water, invaded through your mouth and nose..." Among the five present, not everyone is afraid of water. Liu Yi, Jia Qing, Song Yang, and the old lady have all learned how to swim. Liu Yi has even learned diving. Water is not their greatest source of fear. However, perhaps it's the tense atmosphere that amplifies their fears or because this world was built by Wang Yueran's fear of water; when they imagine that cold sensation in their minds, they unknowingly find themselves all trapped inside an inexplicably huge water bubble. The icy cold water envelops them."Drip" "Drip" "Drip"..

The bubble is a few centimeters above ground level as droplets continuously fall from it. However, for these five people, all sounds had been cut off by the water. Their field of vision began to distort and sway. Jia Qing and Liu Yi subconsciously held their breath, the old lady hesitated and then closed her eyes, while Song Yang and Xia Jing opened their mouths together and took a deep breath. Xia Jing tilted his head back, presenting a fragile posture in the water ripples with his slender neck. His expression was calm and joyful, reflecting the joy of finally reaching the climax of the story... Unlike the creator of dreams who must first fall into a deep sleep before creating dreams. In the moments after waking up, people are confused and disoriented.

　　They suddenly realized that the most frightening thing was right in front of them, and they felt the approach of death. They struggled as fear climbed up their bodies from their feet, wrapping them entirely. Before they even realized it, they might have been killed by fear in the dream. However, for challengers of dreams, the situation is different. They already know the core source of fear in this dream and are prepared to face this challenge with clarity. So when everything officially begins, despite a momentary panic, they see their brave partners around them maintaining composure and taking deep breaths... Jia Qing and Liu Yi glanced at each other, gritted their teeth, and breathed heavily with an "if we die then so be it" attitude. At first water rushed into their mouths and noses; they began to choke on water and struggle. Jia Qing shouted in the water: "This is fake...this is fake!" His muffled voice reached Liu Yi's ears through waves of water. Liu Yi closed her eyes; her heart was pounding fiercely. This is all just a dream; it's fake; Wang Yueran has already faced her fears and left here successfully - this can work... Strangely enough, as this thought arose within him, he suddenly could breathe normally again....

　　Liu Yi woke up from the dormitory immediately and found himself sitting on a stool in room 417, with Jia Qing sitting opposite him and Xia Jing standing in the middle of the dormitory. The three of them were holding their phones, maintaining their positions before entering zero hour. Jia Qing still had a blank look on her face, and Xia Jing was the first to put down her phone and run to open the door. Song Yang and Grandma pulled Wang Yueran into the room and quickly closed the door! Wang Yueran was unharmed all over; she exclaimed excitedly, "We did it! We all succeeded!" Just now, when Wang Yueran was being attacked by water balloons and almost suffocating to death, she suddenly remembered what Xia Jing had said before she fell asleep. She told herself that since there was no turning back anyway, why not give it a try? She opened her mouth and told herself that everything was fake; as long as she faced her fear, she could leave the dream world! Then she found that the water balloons disappeared and she could breathe again! However, there was only one person left in the dormitory - herself! Three seconds later, Song Yang and Grandma suddenly appeared beside her! Xia Jing looked at the luminous clock and said,"We stayed in your dream world for three minutes but returned to Jin Nan's world after zero hour passed for three seconds." However Jin Nan's dream world is a time-reversed world so they actually spent more than two hours in Jin Nan's world.

　　Jia Qing asked subconsciously, "Oh my, is someone going to have another dream?" This time even Liu Yi was smarter than him: "It's already past midnight, and no one is dreaming. This means that as long as we start walking back along the nested dream world, no one will have dreams again because we have started to 'gradually wake up'!" As the words fell, the banging on the door sounded again, and the teacher NPC outside began to shout angrily: "It's late at night. Why are you not sleeping? What are you doing gathering here!? Open the door! Open it for me!" Wang Yueran whispered, "We still need to continue moving forward, right? Let's get started quickly!" "By the way," added Liu Yi, "in this world Jin Nan's fear comes from bugs!" His face twisted in disgust.