Chapter 27: The Evil Spirit Knight

After that, Fang Xiu tried a few more times, and even with a knife stuck in his thigh, he still entered the dream.

At this point, Fang Xiu understood that it seemed like Zhao Hao would have to rely on himself to get through this stage. As long as he could overcome his fear, he would survive.

....

"This is the safe passage!"

"The way out must be here!"

At that moment, Fang Xiu turned around and addressed Zhao Hao and the others: "Inside the safe passage lies a bizarre entity capable of inducing hallucinations. In the illusory realm, various terrifying phenomena will appear, and you may even mistakenly believe you've escaped the realm of the bizarre—but it's all an illusion.

To break free from the illusion, the only thing you must do is overcome your fear. The more afraid you are in the illusion, the faster you will die."

"What! There's another strange creature here!?" One of his colleagues panicked upon hearing this.

Judging by his expression, he seemed already terrified enough without even experiencing the illusion.

"Remember, everything you see is fake. Don't be afraid. That's the only way to survive," Fang Xiu instructed.

Zhao Hao nodded nervously. He knew Fang Xiu wouldn't lie to him.

"By the way, if you see Li Feifei in the illusion, you can pinch her. The fake and real feel different. That's the illusion's weakness."

Zhao Hao froze for a moment: "But… but I've never touched the real one before."

Fang Xiu ignored him and opened the door, entering the dream.

Fang Xiu was still experiencing the same dream as before. He had already tested it—in his dream, Zhao Hao and the others were all fake, meaning everyone was having different dreams.

He couldn't help Zhao Hao in the dream.

Since he knew it was a dream, Fang Xiu felt no fear at all, so he quickly broke free from the dream.

When he woke up, he didn't see the strange creature; instead, he saw Zhao Hao and the others lying awkwardly on the ground. At this point, they were still alive.

However, their condition was very poor. Fear was written all over their faces, and some were even beginning to convulse.

Zhao Hao was desperately choking himself, his face turning deathly pale, on the verge of suffocation.

Fang Xiu rushed over and pried his hands apart, allowing Zhao Hao to breathe freely again, though his condition remained dire.

"Damn it, wake up."

He nudged Zhao Hao, but it had no effect.

Smack, smack, smack!

A dozen or so slaps landed on Zhao Hao's face, but he still didn't wake up.

With no other choice, Fang Xiu took out a scalpel and stabbed Zhao Hao's thigh, even activating a bit of his pain ability. Zhao Hao's expression grew more agonized, but he still didn't wake up.

Moments later, Zhao Hao's head lolled to the side, and he was dead.

Then Fang Xiu also died.

Fang Xiu tried several more times, but no matter how he reminded them, Zhao Hao and the others always died in the dream, unable to overcome their fear.

Fang Xiu remained silent. He wanted to save Zhao Hao, but he couldn't.

He decided to try one last time. If it still didn't work, he would have to give up.

How could he help Zhao Hao overcome his fear?

He thought of a method: diverting attention. Since he couldn't overcome it, he would avoid it.

He had to find another strong emotion to dilute the fear.

Fear is an instinctive human emotion. To combat fear, one must rely on another instinctive emotion.

Reflecting on Zhao Hao's characteristics, he didn't seem to have any notable traits—he was unattractive, introverted, timid, a loser, and prone to daydreaming.

His only distinctive trait was his "specialty."

Specialty?

"Food and sex are natural desires."

This was also an instinctive emotion.

Fang Xiu felt he had found a breakthrough.

"Damn it, isn't your favorite movie the one where the beautiful teacher gives private lessons after school?"

Zhao Hao was instantly shocked: "Brother Xiu, how did you know? Did you sneak a peek at my phone?"

"Don't ask how I know. Just open your phone right now, turn the volume to maximum, and play the movie on speaker."

Zhao Hao began to doubt his own ears, stuttering as he spoke: "Xiu… Xiu Ge, are you joking? If you want to watch it, we can wait until we escape. Playing it out loud in public is no different from defecating in the street!"

"I'm not joking. This is to save your life. Play it immediately."

Seeing that Fang Xiu was serious, Zhao Hao reluctantly pulled out his treasured movie.

As the background music played, the eerie corridor seemed to lose some of its terrifying atmosphere.

Both colleagues stared at Zhao Hao with an odd expression.

Zhao Hao's expression was as awkward as could be, his face flushing red.

"You must watch it seriously, fully immerse yourself in the role of the student in the movie, get your blood pumping, and once you enter the illusion, don't worry about anything else—just close your eyes and immerse yourself completely. Only then can you overcome your fear."

Zhao Hao took a deep breath, nodded, and began to focus.

"You two should do the same—use something you're most interested in to distract yourselves and overcome your fear."

The other two clearly didn't have Zhao Hao's unique trait, and their phones were empty, so they could only watch with Zhao Hao.

It seems that while men's interests may vary in type, they are broadly similar.

Five minutes later, Fang Xiu glanced at Zhao Hao's tent and felt it was enough. As for the other two, there was no reaction at all.

It turned out that not just anyone could react when faced with fear.

However, Fang Xiu could only do so much. He then gave a few more instructions and led them into the door.

The dream came crashing in.

Fang Xiu quickly broke free from the dream and looked at Zhao Hao and the other two lying on the ground.

The two colleagues, as before, had horrifying expressions, as if they were enduring something terrible, with wounds suddenly appearing on their bodies.

In contrast, Zhao Hao, though still showing fear, had a hint of lechery mixed in, with his tent standing erect.

This made Fang Xiu quite relieved; it seemed that sometimes uniqueness wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

He recalled a casual conversation where Zhao Hao had mentioned that one afternoon after waking up, he found himself unable to open his eyes or move his body—he had been experiencing sleep paralysis.

In a daze, it seemed as though a white-clad female spirit was pressing down on him. His first reaction was fear, as the spirit's face was deathly pale, devoid of any color.

But his second reaction was to notice how beautiful she was. For some reason, he felt an urge to kiss her, so he puckered his lips, but just as he was about to touch her, he woke up, and the sleep paralysis ended.

Zhao Hao felt deeply regretful about this.

At the time, Fang Xiu thought Zhao Hao was joking, but now it seemed that the young man might actually be telling the truth.

He had truly seen the ghost's beauty and dared to act on it.

A modern-day Ning Caichen.

At that moment, the dream seemed to reach a critical point. Two colleagues tilted their necks and died instantly, blood flowing from their seven orifices.

As for Zhao Hao, the fear on his face grew more intense, and the tent was about to collapse.

But suddenly, Zhao Hao in his sleep let out a suppressed, labored growl, and the tent stood firm again. His hands unconsciously scratched at his chest, and he occasionally puckered his lips.