The “Dream Eater” is an A-level pollutant. Lu Yan had read its file on the forum.

Just as Awakened are divided into Combat, Support, and Special types, pollutants have their own classifications: Spiritual, Biochemical, and Special. Without a doubt, the Dream Eater is a Spiritual pollutant.

Its true physical state is unknown. It creates a dense fog that shrouds a certain area; the edge of the fog has a low pollution value, while the closer one gets to the Dream Eater, the higher the value becomes. The peak pollution value is 7200, and the trough is 200.

The Dream Eater craves panicked souls and feeds by dragging victims into dreams—where death in the dream is death in reality. Research indicates that the Dream Eater’s dreamscapes are not created from thin air; they are sourced from the real memories of others.

Abilities: Hypnosis, Dream Entry.

The System had no choice but to go into standby mode. Strictly speaking, it is also a spiritual-type entity. As a mass of consciousness inside someone else’s mental space, it would be as conspicuous as a flashbang. If it attracted the Dream Eater, Lu Yan’s fate would be miserable.

The detector on Lu Yan’s wrist was still functioning, displaying a value of 3.2. This showed that Lu Yan’s heart wasn’t as tranquil as his expression suggested; at the very least, he had been startled by 0.1 worth of fear. The local pollution value here was 270.

Lu Yan observed through the glass. “The fatal wound is a gunshot to the chest. Clothes are intact; no other injuries,” he muttered to himself. “The way to break the dream is to wake the dreamer, but whose dream is this?”

Lu Yan didn’t know if this Lin Sinan was the real Lin Sinan. He hoped not.

The sky had fully brightened. Lu Yan didn’t know whether he should get out of the car. He was afraid of a “door-opening death”—the dream might be fake, but the person (the pollutant) was real.

However, Lu Yan didn’t hesitate for long because his watch suddenly vibrated. He looked down and found the digits on the dial were spiraling wildly:

[Pollution value 3000… 4000…]

The value soared until it rested at 9999. The detector’s maximum reading was 9999. Clearly, something was coming, and it was getting close. The atmosphere became stifling, accompanied by a scorching smell of sulfur. It was agonizing; within ten seconds, Lu Yan’s throat was dry and painful.

This reading far exceeded that of a standard Dream Eater. Either the previous data was wrong, the Dream Eater had evolved, or this wasn’t the Dream Eater at all, but something else.

Lu Yan wasn’t curious about it. He gripped his dagger tightly, slowing his breathing as much as possible to minimize his presence. But the pollutant didn’t leave as Lu Yan had hoped. It stopped in front of the car door. From Lu Yan’s angle, he could only see a section of a suit and a blood-stained white shirt collar. In terms of physique, it seemed normal—an adult male. A hand reached out to the door handle.

Lu Yan’s nerves were pulled taut. Almost the instant he heard the latch click, he opened the other door and bolted. But such a struggle was useless against an unknown pollutant. A thin iron chain tethered to his ankle jerked him backward.

The world spun. Lu Yan slammed into the ground at the pollutant’s feet. The sulfur smell in his nostrils was so thick he felt he had lost his sense of smell entirely. He looked up at the figure before him.

A male, aged about thirty. Exposed skin bore burn marks leading to carbonization. His hands, in particular, had melted away, revealing raw, blood-red flesh. Ignoring the gruesome wounds, his face alone could be called handsome.

This was not good news. Research institutes had long established that the more human a pollutant appeared, the higher its pollution level, and they usually possessed two forms. Lu Yan was certain he had never seen this pollutant before, nor had he seen it in the database. That meant any Awakened who had encountered it were already dead, unable to even pass back useful intelligence.

The figure slowly raised a crimson hand, radiating a scorching heat. Lu Yan knelt there, breathless from the suffocating sulfur. Am I going to die?

The thought flickered through his mind, but unexpectedly, he felt no fear. To him, death was a form of tranquility.

However, the hand touched Lu Yan’s cheek with surprising gentleness. It was hot, but not enough to scald him.

“Little sister, why did you run so far this time?” the pollutant asked. The voice was surprisingly clear, like spring water hitting mountain rock. “I’ve been looking for you for so long. Thank goodness you’re okay. Otherwise, how could big brother go on living alone?”

Lu Yan’s expression froze. In a flash of insight, he understood what the System meant by “you aren’t the nameless schoolgirl.” In this dream, he was this pollutant’s “little sister.”

Lu Yan rummaged through his pockets and found a student ID card. The name was “Lu Yan” (a different character for Yan), the photo had been torn off, and the edge bore a stamp from “M City No. 3 Middle School.” The date was 2111. Ten years ago—a special date for Lu Yan. It was the year his father began his own transmutation.

He didn’t know the pollutant’s name, so since the other party called him “little sister,” Lu Yan begrudgingly nicknamed him “Big Brother.” Based on the burns and the lingering scent of sulfur, Big Brother’s transmutation was fire-related. Additionally, he carried a chain as a weapon.

Lu Yan was buckled into the passenger seat, and the pollutant was driving in a surprisingly human manner. The road was bumpy; Lin Sinan’s corpse was jostled, falling out into a ditch, which made Lu Yan feel quite sad.

Perhaps because he stared at the spot where Lin Sinan had been for too long, the air pressure around “Big Brother” suddenly plummeted.

“Is he that little bastard you were having an online romance with? Is that why you ran away this time, to see him?” Big Brother suppressed his rage, flooring the gas pedal. “You’re only in high school! You don’t think about studying, just dating! Can’t you date whenever? Why does it have to be during your studies?”

“I was in H City preparing for a lawsuit, and when the nanny said you were gone, I took the first flight back to find you—I might even miss the trial because of this! Why are you so inconsiderate!”

“I admit, it was wrong of me to make your boyfriends transfer schools. But why can’t you understand my good intentions? When can you just be obedient? If you keep acting like this, Mom and Dad would be heartbroken in the afterlife.”

Lu Yan: “…”

He didn’t realize the “little sister” had such a colorful romantic life.

Lin Sinan’s car was modified and high-performance. With the pedal to the metal, the speed was no different from taking off. Along the roadside, they passed corpses charred into charcoal, struggling to crawl on the road as if trying to grab onto something.

Lu Yan had worked in the emergency department, meaning he knew a bit about surgery. He had seen his share of burn victims. The most memorable were those from a tanker explosion. Because of the heat, their skin had melted, some bodies bloated and oozing pus, others with eyelids completely destroyed, leaving only red, fleshy membranes. Sometimes, surgeons had to perform tracheotomies just to keep them breathing. The saddest part was that even in that much pain, the patients remained conscious.

Big Brother didn’t reveal much, but Lu Yan could infer quite a bit. Big Brother’s profession was likely a lawyer or a judge. With their parents gone, he and his sister relied on each other, leaving him to juggle the roles of father, mother, and brother. Consequently, he had developed an extreme need to control and protect his sister. He was a typical “Chinese parent,” and by high school, his relationship with his rebellious sister had hit a communication wall. The love he gave was too heavy—constantly harping on “what I gave up for you”—heavy enough to crush the heart of a teenage girl under the weight of guilt.

Lu Yan couldn’t yet determine if Big Brother was the owner of the dream. He began to miss the System terribly; if it were here, he’d probably know the color of Big Brother’s underwear by now.

Because he was too close to the pollution source, the detector on Lu Yan’s wrist had already issued three warnings. His mutation level was rising at a steady rate. At this speed, Lu Yan would only survive for two days in this dungeon. His current spiritual threshold was too low; even if the pollutant didn’t intentionally release pollution, he would inevitably be contaminated. This was the reason Ji Wen’s assessment report noted he was “unfit for contact with the Tyrant.”

After driving for over an hour, they stopped at a hillside villa complex. The villas were gray and white, standing like tombstones. Big Brother’s chain remained tethered to Lu Yan’s ankle. Big Brother walked fast, but luckily the chain was long enough for Lu Yan to keep up.

It was morning, but the surroundings were unnervingly quiet. Not even animal noises. The front door swung open and slammed shut with a heavy thud. It was clearly a wealthy household—a two-story western-style house with a garden and garage. Big Brother dragged Lu Yan toward the second floor.

In the bedroom, Lu Yan couldn’t help but frown. The room was large, at least 30 square meters, with an en-suite bathroom. However, the windows were barred with iron grilles, and the corners of the room featured several massive eyeballs that rotated constantly—they seemed alive. Lu Yan realized these were likely surveillance cameras.

But that wasn’t the worst part. Inside the room, the pale yellow wallpaper was plastered with fresh, bright red blood. In the very center were several bloody handprints, and scrawled in a crooked, shaky hand was a single line of blood-red text: HELP ME.

The stench of blood was so strong it could overpower the scent of sulfur, yet Big Brother seemed completely unaware.

“Stay in your room and reflect on your behavior,” Big Brother said, locking the chain to the headboard. “I’m going out to see a client. I’ll be back later.”

He reached out and gently ruffled Lu Yan’s hair. Lu Yan didn’t dodge. Big Brother’s mood clearly improved, and a smile hung on his lips.

However, as he reached the door, Big Brother suddenly turned around, as if remembering something, and said offhandedly: “Little sister is so strange today. Why haven’t you scolded me yet?”

Turns out he’s also a masochist.