Forbidden Nightmare

Chapter 4 The Sea of ​​Abes

Li Nanke returned to the bedroom on the second floor, lay on the bed and tried to fall asleep to restore his energy.

Last night's work caused his brain neurons to work at high capacity, causing him to fall into a state of fatigue, while his body was well-rested and full of energy. This contradictory state made him toss and turn and he couldn't fall asleep.

It was not until I took two pills of zopiclone that I began to feel sleepy.

Due to his long-term high-synchronization dream-making work, sleep disorders have occurred many times. At first, melatonin and other sleeping aids were still effective, but as time went by, these drugs could no longer produce a good effect on him.

At this point, Li Nanke has started taking more powerful sedatives and hypnotic drugs, and is gradually increasing the dosage.

"After all, your body is your own. You can't keep abusing it like this. Once I earn enough money for the special medicine, I'll quit doing this..."

As I was daydreaming, my eyelids gradually drooped...

……

City of Redemption, Crisis Control Bureau.

In this extravagant and glamorous city that never sleeps, even the feared Tax Inspection Bureau, Riot Squad and Intelligence Bureau cannot escape the coverage of neon advertisements.

However, there is no 3D holographic projection advertisement near the Crisis Control Bureau. This is because the Crisis Control Bureau is closely associated with a series of chilling words - taboo, disaster, death, loss of control...

The interior of this towering steel building is brightly lit and has never been turned off, not even now.

The conference room located deep underground in the building was extremely secluded. The seats at the long table were empty, with only Director Anderson standing at the end of the table with a heavy expression.

There was a stack of documents next to him, and the word "Top Secret" was printed on the document that was spread out.

[Item Number: █-018]

[Project alias: The Great Other Shore]

[Danger Level: ██ Level]

[Containment location: ████████████]

[Containment Measures: There are no active counter containment measures. When the taboo object finds a suitable host after large-scale infection, the taboo disaster will stop. The host selection conditions are unknown. ]

【项目描述：2130年6月01日，█—018号禁忌物‘大彼岸’首次于荒野A01安全区出现，并爆发相关禁忌灾难。】

[Humans who fall into the forbidden disaster will fall into a deep sleep without knowing it (and cannot be awakened by any means), and will inevitably suffer sudden brain death in their sleep.]

【‘大彼岸’以斐波那契数列的传染形式，随着爆发次数逐渐递增传染人数，1、1、2、3、5、8、13、21、34……】

[The transmission of this taboo is not limited by distance, but it is suspected that it will preferentially infect humans in nearby areas. There is no stable pattern in the interval between the outbreaks of the taboo. According to observations, the shortest interval between outbreaks is 1 second, and the longest interval between outbreaks is 48 hours. Due to the limited observation time, the accuracy of this data is questionable. ]

[After the taboos broke out continuously in the A01 safe zone, more than 10 people suddenly died of brain death within days. Even if the infected escaped from the area, they would inevitably die of brain death in their sleep.]

[Until the first case of infection without death appears, the taboo disaster is quelled, and large-scale infection stops. ]

[Except for retaining some instinctive nerve reflexes and the ability to metabolize substances and energy, this case has completely lost its cognitive ability, has no active activities, and the EEG shows a spurious waveform. According to medical examinations, this case is in a vegetative state (PVS). ]

[The Redemption City Branch of the Crisis Management Bureau announced that the forbidden object No. █-018 has been passively contained. The host's vital signs must be maintained to maintain the containment status.]

【…】

【…】

【项目日志：2140年9月30日晚23点19分，个例宿主突发性脑死亡，丧失所有生命体征……收容失败！！！】

Following a few "beep, beep" electronic prompt sounds, a series of azure blue holographic projections of people appeared beside the long table in the conference room.

安德森局长看了一眼墙上的电子钟，2140年10月1日，AM06:00。

He took a deep breath and began to report to those figures...

……

The linen curtains were covered with dirty stains and patches of oil. Light squeezed out from the gaps in the curtains, forming a pale, long shadow in the room, which just happened to shine on the face of the black-haired, yellow-skinned young man, causing him to slowly open his eyes.

Li Nanke raised his hand to block the light and sat up in a daze.

The thin bedding on the bed was black and moldy, with a distinct smell of dampness similar to the return of the south wind. A kerosene lamp that had long been extinguished hung beside the bed. Empty wine bottles, tangled fishing lines and other objects were scattered in the corner of the old house.

Taking a deep breath, I could smell the salty water vapor and the faint smell of blood in the air. The sound of rain could be heard outside the window. "This is not my bedroom!"

Looking at the old furnishings around him that were obviously behind the times, Li Nanke felt as if a basin of ice water was poured over him from head to toe, and all his sleepiness disappeared in the blink of an eye.

A robotic voice that was indistinguishable between male and female was heard, and bloody words appeared before my eyes line by line.

[Dream: 'The Sea of ​​Abes']

[Dream details: Abbes was a small settlement built on the port of the western continent in the Middle Ages. Originally, shipbuilding was the main export industry, and fisheries were also developed. However, after the country's long war of faith, the town of Abbes gradually declined and gradually disappeared from the map.]

[At the end of the 19th century, an explorer accidentally stepped into this town that was submerged by the tide of the times, but for some reason, the explorer finally fled the town like crazy. No, the explorer was crazy! Maybe he accidentally glimpsed the horrible secret of the town...]

[When the church learned of this, they suspected that there was a heresy hidden in the remote town, and immediately sent armed monks to investigate.]

[The church is indisputably powerful, possessing technology far beyond the current era. ]

[The giant steam airship that dominates the sky, the arc spray gun with dense electrodes and magnetic coils exposed, the thermite gun that can spray ultra-high temperature metal rain, the bloody chain sword that terrifies countless heretics... and the extraordinary power possessed by the armed monks! ]

[In this old age of chimneys and steam, in this new world where piety and evil are intertwined, as a monk apprentice... do you also want to peek into the horrible secrets of Abbes Town? ]

As the dream synchronization information appeared, a strange memory quickly flooded into my mind.

William Adams, one of the church's apprentice friars at arms.

The church ordered the armed monks to go to the town of Abbess, but the Grand Master believed that this was an insignificant investigation and that the armed monks should focus their operations on the increasingly fierce front line of the war of faith.

Therefore, the Grand Master only sent two official armed monks and five monk apprentices.

Led by an armed monk, the investigation of Abbes Town was used as a test for the monk apprentices to be promoted to full-time monks.

"Abes Town... is that black dream."

Li Nanke had a bad look on his face. He had no recollection of how he entered the dark dream. He only remembered taking sleeping pills and preparing to have a good rest.

The most important thing is that he didn't wear the dream synchronizer before going to bed!
He checked his body out of habit, and suddenly, an extremely bad feeling came over him.

A knee-length black windbreaker, a leather rain cape of the same color, a gray vest and shirt, a pointed triangular winged hat and black leather boots, a complicated military belt buckle wrapped around his waist, and a half-covered black mask on his face...

These attire, which came from those of a monk apprentice, wrapped around a very familiar body.

Black hair, yellow skin, tall, thin and young.

The constant numbness in his limbs and torso, and the dull suffocating pain in his lungs when he breathed, tortured him day and night.

Moreover, this extremely familiar physical feeling is stronger and deeper than in reality, and more... clear and real!
The one in the dark dream was not William Adams, but Li Nanke.

This dark dream constructed his real body!

"Interrupt synchronization and exit the dream!" Li Nanke did not hesitate and immediately called the interruption program to intervene in the dream.

However, the expected prompt tone "Synchronization is being interrupted..." did not sound.

He tried many times, but the interrupt program seemed to be lost and there was no response at all.

Not only does the interrupt program fail, but even the synchronization rate value cannot be displayed.

Li Nanke carefully felt his body and realized that he must be in an extremely high synchronization rate range.

However, no matter how many methods he tried, he couldn't reduce the synchronization rate even a little bit!
The synchronization rate cannot be reduced, which means that the second method of autonomous disconnection fails.

In the past, when creating dreams, Li Nanke would make sufficient preparations. He would first enter the dream experience multiple times with a low synchronization rate until he understood the specific circumstances of the dream and ensured that there would be no mistakes during the transformation. Only then would he officially begin transcribing the dream with a high synchronization rate.

In this way, the risk of dreaming can be avoided to the greatest extent.

However, the sudden unexpected situation now caused the risk level of this dark dream to rise sharply, to a level that he could not afford at all.

"I entered a dark dream without my knowledge, and used my own body to replace the protagonist of the dream. I couldn't even wake up the interrupt program to intervene, nor could I reduce the synchronization rate..."

"This black dream is definitely not as simple as a man-made dream!"

(End of this chapter)