Global Ghost Stories: I'm Investigating Ghosts in My Nightmare!

Chapter 2 Nightmare Investigation Bureau
"what--"

Lu Yueqi woke up from a nightmare, gasping for breath. She had dreamt again of the evil spirit who wanted to kill her last night.

She fainted after being embraced by a strange man last night, and she has no idea what happened afterward.

The morning sunlight shone on her face, making her feel much more awake.

Lu Yueqi looked around; the environment was so unfamiliar.

"Where am I? Am I alive?" Lu Yueqi looked at a potted plant on the balcony, a bookshelf with many books on it, and a spotless desk.

She slowly lifted the covers and slipped her feet into the white fluffy slippers that had been specially prepared for her by the bedside. The slippers fit her perfectly, as if the other person knew her very well.

Lu Yueqi gently opened the door and saw a man with black, tousled hair wearing a blue sweater sitting at the dining table enjoying breakfast. It was a very simple breakfast: two fried dough sticks, a poached egg, and a glass of milk.

The other person seemed to have noticed her as well, and nodded slightly.

"Good morning, everything's alright now. Come sit down and have breakfast with me, I've prepared some for you too."

Bai Yu pointed to the empty seat next to him, indicating that Lu Yueqi could sit wherever she wanted.

Lu Yueqi slowly walked to the table and asked Bai Yu, "Who are you? And where am I now?"

Bai Yu stopped chewing the fried dough stick in her mouth, swallowed it with milk, and said, "My name is Bai Yu, this is my home, and I saved you last night."

Lu Yueqi looked at her suspiciously: "You saved me?"

She looked the boy up and down. He wasn't exactly skinny, but he wasn't particularly strong either. How could he have saved her from the evil spirit?
But then I thought, who else could this person in front of me be but the one who carried me away last night?

"Yes, that's right. I saved you. You were unconscious last night, so it's normal that you didn't see what I look like." Bai Yu nodded.

Lu Yueqi scratched her head, bowed deeply, and said, "Thank you for saving me last night. I can never repay your life-saving grace. If you ever need my help in the future, just let me know, and I will do my best to help. Please continue eating, I won't bother you any longer."

Bai Yu's eyes slowly met Lu Yueqi's, then she shook her head: "You can't leave."

"Why?" Lu Yueqi asked疑惑地, wondering if she had just escaped one disaster and was now in new trouble. Although the other party was her savior, it was absolutely impossible for them to force her to stay.

Bai Yu placed a breakfast opposite her and gestured for Lu Yueqi to sit down and eat while they talked.

“You saw what happened last night. That ghost that wanted to kill you, we usually call these kinds of ghosts nightmares. They are evil spirits created by people’s nightmares going berserk. They will kill their host, that is, the person having the nightmare, in order to break free from control. But you also heard that they need a host. Why? Because they need the host to provide them with life energy.”

Bai Yu watched as Lu Yueqi sat down and then began to speak.

“But you’re not its host either, so why are you being targeted?” Bai Yu paused here. “Because after they killed their hosts, they broke free from control and began to infect this world. They still need life energy to maintain their survival, so you became their target. Because you can provide them with life energy, and you can provide more than ordinary people.”

"Wh...what do you mean? I don't understand." Lu Yueqi was completely confused. She understood that the ghost wanted to take her life so that she could become its nourishment, but why was she providing more life energy than others?

“We usually call people with special constitutions like yours ‘Dream Enterers.’ You actually have a nightmare within you, but you haven’t realized it. Your nightmare is still in a dormant stage, and its power is at its weakest at this time, but its attraction to other nightmares is deadly. It can provide a lot of life energy, so people like you are more likely to become targets of nightmares. That’s why I kept you here.”

Bai Yu paused, took another sip of milk, and then continued, "I am a member of the Nightmare Investigation Bureau, and what we do is solve all kinds of troubles caused by nightmares, and at the same time eliminate the hidden nightmares. Of course, it is impossible to do this with just a human body, so we also have to rely on the power of nightmares. That is to say, we need dreamers to communicate with the nightmares in their hearts, so as to use their power to fight against nightmares."

"There are naturally risks involved. The power of nightmares can have both mental and physical effects, and at the same time, using the power of nightmares can also erode the body..."

"What will happen in the end?" Lu Yueqi asked.

"The body is shattered, and the soul is scattered." Bai Yu tapped the table lightly with his fingers. "This situation is similar to the Nightmare killing the host directly, and after being released, it will also begin to infiltrate reality."

"Isn't that just treating the symptoms, not the root cause?" Lu Yueqi said, unable to understand. Using this method to solve the nightmare was a lose-lose situation.

"Do you have a better idea?" Bai Yu lowered his head slightly, so that no one could see his expression.

“I…” Lu Yueqi was speechless for a moment. “We have always only had one choice, and that is to fight them. No matter what our fate is, at least we can see that this world is still beautiful while we are still alive. If we take a step back, this world will be polluted a little more, until we can no longer stop it. Isn’t a futile struggle better than nothing?”

After Bai Yu finished speaking, she gently closed her eyes, seemingly giving Lu Yueqi time to think, or perhaps giving herself enough time to process those painful past experiences.

A moment later, Bai Yu opened her eyes and looked at Lu Yueqi, who was still in a daze: "Let's talk about your problem first."

"As I said before, you are the one who enters the dream, and what you have encountered this time will happen again and again in the future, so I hope you can stay."

Lu Yueqi pursed her lips: "Although I really want to help you, I feel that my abilities are still..."

“No, you misunderstood.” Bai Yu interrupted Lu Yueqi. “I didn’t mean I wanted you to join us, but I just wanted you to stay here. That way, at least I can protect you in time. You won’t be as lucky as you are this time every time a nightmare appears. The Investigation Bureau has a special place for dreamers like you who are willing to stay. You won’t be disturbed by nightmares there. At the same time, the Bureau will closely monitor the nightmare situation in your body and take timely measures.”

Lu Yueqi listened in silence.

"As for joining the Investigation Bureau, that's something for you to consider. It concerns your personal safety, and I can't offer any advice," Bai Yu continued. "Of course, personally, I don't want you to join, or rather, I don't want anyone to get involved. Everyone who joins the Investigation Bureau is essentially trading their life for a short time to delay the spread of the Nightmare."

“So, I am now…” Lu Yueqi looked up at Bai Yu.

"After breakfast, I'll take you to the Investigation Bureau headquarters to register, and then I'll help you move your things over. You can live in the Investigation Bureau's residential area from now on; it'll be safer there."

"Yes." Lu Yueqi nodded, understanding the danger of her current situation.

Just as Bai Yu was about to get up and leave, Lu Yueqi called him back.

"Mr. Bai, wait a moment."

"Ok?"

"Um, how did you find me last night, how did you know I would be in danger, and how did you know that the ghost was behind me?" Lu Yueqi asked several questions in a row.

Bai Yu chuckled softly: "Would you believe me if I said I'm your fan? Many of the horror stories you've collected have given me some clues."

"Huh?" Lu Yueqi froze on the spot, speechless with surprise. She felt as if the whole world was unreal, staring blankly at Bai Yu's departing figure. "Him? My fan? Those horror stories online can give him clues? Is it true?"

After finishing their meal, the two tidied up and set off.

The car headed towards the suburbs.

"So far? Don't you live inside the Investigation Bureau?" Lu Yueqi asked Bai Yu, who was driving beside her, as she looked out at the rural scenery. She had assumed that Bai Yu's home was on the outskirts of the city, and that the headquarters of the Nightmare Investigation Bureau would be nearby, but she hadn't expected it to be in an even more remote suburb.

"I don't live there. That was my own home before, and it's quite a distance from the Investigation Bureau," Bai Yu replied.

Lu Yueqi thought for a moment about the big house they had stayed in before and said, "I thought you would all live in that Investigation Bureau. After all, according to what you said, you should all have that Nightmare in your bodies. If a crisis like Nightmare invasion occurs, it would be easier to solve the problem if you live in the Investigation Bureau where there are more people."

"Hmm..." Bai Yu was silent for a while, "Just think of it as a little bit of my willfulness. Maybe I don't really like the feeling of being locked up inside."

Lu Yueqi glanced at Bai Yu's face, but seeing that the other party didn't seem to intend to continue, she gave up asking further questions.

The car fell silent again, and neither of them spoke to each other.

After about an hour's drive, the car finally came to a stop.

"We've arrived." Bai Yu unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car.

Looking at the massive metal door in front of her, with the endless metal walls on either side, Lu Yueqi couldn't help but sigh.

"This is the Nightmare Investigation Bureau?"

(End of this chapter)