Nightmare Despair

Chapter 9 Nightmare Syndrome

In the mall.

The early morning crowds included members of the Falcon Wing Boxing Gym.

Zhou Kai used a clever trick to make the pursuer mistake him for someone else.

The motion-activated lights in the fire escape were long broken, making it easy for Zhou Kai, with his light and agile movements, to hide himself.

The stalker clearly didn't take a college student seriously, and his repeated negligence led him into Zhou Kai's carefully laid trap.

……

The man was tightly bound from behind by Zhou Kai's arms, his face turning a deep purplish-red.

He frantically patted Zhou Kai's arm.

Zhou Kai's gaze swept over the surveillance camera in the corner, his voice calm and even: "The security guards can only arrive within five minutes at the earliest. And your brain will suffer irreversible damage from suffocation in fifteen seconds."

"Tell me, who are you, and why are you following me?"

The man made a hissing sound as he struggled against Zhou Kai, a Level 2 mixed martial artist.

He managed to squeeze out a few words: "We... mean no harm... we just... want to talk..."

Zhou Kai's eyes were cold, but the muscles in his arms were even more taut.

The man's struggles weakened instantly, and his body went limp like a lump of mud.

Only after confirming that he posed no threat in the short term did Zhou Kai release his grip as if throwing away trash.

breathe……

Cough!

The man lay on his back, greedily inhaling the stale air in the stairwell. His purplish-red face finally regained some color amidst his violent coughing.

He saw stars and felt as if he had been shoved into a washing machine and spun around at high speed for ten minutes, his whole world spinning around him.

Zhou Kai squatted down, expressionlessly removed the miniature earpiece from his ear, and put it on his own ear. An anxious call could be heard coming from inside.

Then he asked, "Tell me, what is your purpose?"

The man was dressed in simple casual clothes, his beard was neatly trimmed, and he was in his thirties—the kind of man that would make girls who like the mature, older man look unable to resist.

Unfortunately, he looks good but is useless; he's not very strong and clearly hasn't received any professional training.

His voice trembled as he uttered a name that made Zhou Kai's pupils shrink: "We contacted you...we are..."

"【No Dreams】"

Upon hearing those two words, Zhou Kai turned and left.

It's as if getting involved with this organization will bring some kind of misfortune.

"I've told you before, I'm not the person you're looking for, get lost."

"If you follow me again next time, it won't be your breathing that breaks, it will be your neck."

He took off his headphones, listened to the futile cries inside, and with a snap of his fingers, the plastic casing cracked crisply. He casually tossed the remains into the trash can in the corner.

Zhou Kai flung open the fire escape door and strode away.

He heard the security guard's shouts behind him, but he had already merged into the crowd in the mall, like a drop of water merging into the ocean, disappearing in an instant.

The man knew the situation was bad. Dragging his weak legs, he shakily climbed up to the second floor to rejoin his teammates.

"Old Huang!"

A young man swiftly caught Huang Zhang, his face filled with astonishment: "Who did this to you?"

"That college student?"

"Aren't you a private investigator?"

What about your family's martial arts skills?

Huang Zhang gave a wry smile and waved his hand, "Damn it, don't even mention it, this is a tough one, let's get out of here."

……

Inside the boxing gym.

Lu Yan smiled with satisfaction as she watched a young man stand next to Zhou Kai.

"My brother has a girlfriend, that's great. I won't bother him today."

The young man next to Zhou Kai was about the same height and build as him, but looked more mature and had a slightly protruding chin.

His name is Ma Yifan. "Dude, that's awesome! Did you run into some trouble?"

Ma Yifan looked at Zhou Kai with surprise, his eyes full of gossip.

He didn't go to the fire escape to wait for someone for no reason; he went there purely because Zhou Kai tricked him.

Zhou Kai's statement was simple and blunt.

“My ex-girlfriend’s brother is demanding a dowry of 20 yuan from me. I just graduated, where am I going to get that much? Brother, can you help me out? I’m looking for a chance to run away.”

Ma Yifan was a kind-hearted man. Upon hearing about this, he thought for a moment that there was no danger involved, and readily agreed.

When pressed for answers, Zhou Kai simply shook his head, his face serious: "You can't judge a book by its cover, who knows?"

"By the way, thanks for today. I'll treat you to dinner another day."

Ma Yifan grinned: "Hey, it's nothing..."

Training began quickly, and Chen Ping was still the instructor.

During a break between groups, Chen Ping suddenly walked up to Zhou Kai, his face stern, but his voice conveyed a hint of approval: "Not bad."

"Since you've already made it to five days, keep it up in the future."

"Practicing martial arts is a lifelong endeavor. Diligence leads to mastery while idleness leads to ruin. If you only practice sporadically, you will never amount to anything."

Zhou Kai thought to himself, "If I didn't have the control panel, that would really make sense."

He didn't refute it, he just nodded seriously.

"I understand, Coach Chen."

Chen Ping nodded: "Before the lunch break, I'll personally guide you through the movements a few times."

"Thank you, Coach!"

Amidst the envious and jealous gazes of the surrounding members, Zhou Kai bowed slightly to Chen Ping.

……

Aside from mastering fighting techniques, for beginners, increasing strength is always the most effective way to improve their skills.

After three sets of bench presses, Zhou Kai stared blankly at the hooks hanging on the 80-kilogram weight plates.

He is 184cm tall and weighs 73kg. When he first came here, his maximum bench press weight was only 60kg. In just a few days, he has increased it by a third.

Zhou Kai understood that this rocket-like progress, the improvement in his fighting skills, and the baptism of the fireplace firelight were all indispensable.

After a few minutes' break, Zhou Kai continued.

As my vest was soaked with sweat, information about the "non-profit organization" [Dreamless] surfaced like sediment, and I recalled it.

After dying three times in his dreams and becoming increasingly weak, Zhou Kai finally took it seriously and started searching for information about nightmares online.

Eventually, he found a website that provided a detailed description of nightmares.

The individual continuously dies within the same dream, while their physical body weakens in sync. Ultimately, they die within five to nine days from multiple organ failure, cardiac arrest, or brain death.

Although the medical community does not yet recognize it, for those who have witnessed family members and friends die from nightmares, this deadly disease, which is like the Grim Reaper, does indeed exist.

The "No Dreams" organization is a non-profit organization active on this website that claims to provide free funeral arrangements for nightmare sufferers.

Judging from their philosophy alone, Zhou Kai has a pretty good impression of them.

After waking up from his fourth dream, Zhou Kai suddenly received a series of messages from "Wumeng" (meaning "no dream").

These bastards actually managed to find his IP address and extract his personal information by following the internet connection.

How could this guy be a good person?

Zhou Kai immediately stated that he had only stumbled upon the post by chance and that it had absolutely nothing to do with his nightmares.

But they... still wouldn't let it go, and today they even came to my door and followed me!

Zhou Kai's eyes turned cold, almost exactly the same as when he faced that mutated monster.

Bang!
Equipment returned to its original position.

Zhou Kai was panting heavily, his chest heaving violently more than ten times, before he slowly sat up and got off the bench press chair.

For now, the only option regarding the Dreamless Organization is to remain unchanged and wait for all changes to come.

If I can survive for nine days, or even longer, I should be able to make them back down.

There are only two most important things right now...

To survive, and to live better, we must earn money and become stronger!
(End of this chapter)