Zheng felt a layer of ice froze over his heart. He charged out the next instant without another thought. Yet, the human figure had already been dragged to the window. The girl cried miserably as she fell off the window. Zheng wasn’t able to grab her despite his speed. He did not stop right here. Zheng charged to the window and leaped off.
But there was nothing outside. The girl that was dragged away was no where to be seen. Everything that happened seemed as though it was his illusion. Zheng landed on the ground. There was not a single drop of blood. He stood on the street alone.
(How could that have been possible? I saw he fell off the window. It was less than a second between that and me reaching the window. How could she disappear in such a short amount of time? Impossible!)
A frightened expression overtook his face. He quickly turned his head around to look at the window. A shiver ran down his spine as he saw a man stood on where he was. The man had a burned face, wore a black hat, black and white striped clothes, and a pair of scissor like gloves, with five blades extended out from between th fingers. The man was holding a girl. Those blades were slicing away her skin and flesh. In his creepy laughter, the girl slowly thinned into a skeleton.
“Ah!” Zheng felt a wave of shock and anger. He did not fear the demon in reality. He could smash him into paste with Destruction if he had to. However, the moment he activated Explosion, bang!
He looked to the side and saw the people he was familiar with. He was lying on shattered pieces of a bed. The bed collapsed from the force exerted by Explosion. Zheng jumped up at once without exiting Explosion. Barely anyone there saw how he came near them.
“Where is this place? What time is it?” Zheng asked in a rush. His body was still tensed and in alert in case these people were disguised by Freddy.
The others looked to each other before Kampa said, “It’s eight in the morning already, in the hotel we stayed in.”
Zheng held his hand over his forehead and looked around. The environment superimposed with the memory of his room. It took several seconds for his mind to register. He was sweating by this time. “That was hard to imagine. I actually fell asleep last night. I couldn’t even know what time I fell asleep. Oh, the five of you…”
Zheng turned to the girls. Yet, he only saw four girls standing there. The one named MoLi was gone. He immediately realized what he experienced wasn’t a mere illusion. He witnessed a girl died after he fell asleep. That girl was MoLi.
“She died?”
The response from the rest of the team was out of his expectation. They looked at him weird. Xuan said after a while of silence. “We don’t have a person named MoLi. We have three newbies in this movie, ShuLan, Ouyan Wei, and LiuYu. Then there’s the eleven veterans.”
“Impossible!” Zheng stared at his team with his eyes wide open. His Qi and Blood Energy were ready to be activated the second anyone here reacted incorrectly. This must still be in the dream. How could the team forget the newbie? Or was it his memory that was altered?
Yet, no one did anything strange. Heng and YinKong looked at him weird as they sensed the movement of Qi and Blood Energy from him. YinKong entered a defensive stance. Zheng appeared the most suspicious among the team.
(No. If this is a dream, I wouldn’t be able to use Qi and Blood Energy. The energies prove this isn’t a dream. Then why did they say there’s no one named MoLi? Is my memories wrong? Was I in a dream the whole time before?)
Panic struck Zheng the more he pondered. Things that were unknown and mythical were the most terrifying. You wouldn’t be scared when you have a clear view of them.
The rest of the team recognized something wasn’t right with Zheng. HongLu walked over to him and asked, “What happened? You don’t seem right.”
Zheng returned with a bitter smile. He didn’t know how to reply. The light shining through the windows grew brighter. He said, “Let’s go have breakfast. I will tell you what happened last night.”
The team looked to each other again then followed Zheng to the dining hall. Once everyone sat down by the table, Zheng slowly narrated. He then compared the experience of the team and found out they remembered everything else that had happened, such as when they discussed their plans, went looking for the city, and returned to this town. The only memory that was lost was MoLi.
“Zheng.” LiuYu carefully said. “There really isn’t a person named MoLi. I get along well with the other two girls. No one knows this newcomer. Did Freddy deceived you in your dream?”
Zheng thought for a moment then shook his head. “I originally thought you were the ones that are deceived by Freddy and I am the only one with intact memory. However, since none of you remember her, it could be that I am deceived. We don’t have…”
“There’s a person named MoLi!” HongLu suddenly cried. His reaction shocked the rest of the team. They all turned to look at him.
HongLu twirled his hair. His glance moved through the team then stopped at Xuan and Zheng. He pulled off a string of hair and said, “Zheng, you still remember this girl right?”
Zheng nodded. Despite everyone denying MoLi’s existence, she did exist in his memory. His increased stats further allowed him to vividly remember her face and voice. He was more certain of it as he nodded.
HongLu said, “Then don’t forget her… I suspect we are currently in a dream.”Everyone except Xuan was shocked as they turned to look at him. YinKong pricked her finger with the dining knife. A drop of blood came out. She licked the blood and said, “I can feel pain.”
HongLu nodded, “I know we can feel pain… My question is, what is reality?”
The team looked confused. HongLu continued, “Reality is what our brain sees. If our brain doesn’t detect something, and if we couldn’t calculate its existence or detect it with instruments, we will not be able to determine whether it exists or not. Similarly, as long as our brain sends the pain signal, we will feel the pain even without any injury. Why can’t this be a dream?
“When God puts us into a movie world, does God pick a random location that’s related to the plot in some way? Why couldn’t God have directly put us into a dream? Perhaps we are in this dream the moment we left the barrier. If that’s the case, a lot of questions can be explained, such as why we returned to the town in a inconceivable way.”
Zheng quickly asked, “Then why do I have the memory of the newbie and you don’t?”
“Maybe because your mental state is special, maybe because you are strong, or maybe because you witnessed her death… There’ are too many possibilities. We forgot about her and you didn’t… I have one important thing I need to let you know. Don’t forget anyone here, no matter who that person is. If we are in a dream, how does this world exist? It exists upon our memories and our memories of each other. MoLi hasn’t been killed, only forgotten. When we all forget her, she would cease to exist. I think this is Freddy’s intention. Killed, forgotten, terror. Until we break apart mentally and no one remembers no one. Team China will be done!” HongLu said.