Chapter 19

Chapter 19

On the shoulder peeking out from beneath the quilt, a red mole was clearly visible.

Ning Shuo felt his scalp go numb.

He finally understood why An Sheng’s memory hadn’t failed him this time.

Or rather, it had failed, but only to the extent of making his memories chaotic; the general cause and effect remained intact.

This time, it wasn’t the memory that was primarily disturbed.

It was the woman’s face and the space-time of this dream.

Dreams were often disordered and erratic. If time and space were a bit skewed, the Master of the Dream wouldn’t perceive it as a problem.

Influenced by the Master of the Dream’s conviction that “this memory is correct,” Ning Shuo hadn’t immediately noticed the discrepancy between the timeline and the memory.

Furthermore, one often couldn’t see faces clearly in dreams, or would forget them upon seeing them. Thus, the woman’s face had been constantly shrouded in mist.

Sure enough, the moment he saw that mole, An Sheng’s expression changed instantly.

In a panic, he reached out to brush away the hair that covered nearly half of the woman’s face. Ning Shuo, inhabiting his body, watched as the layer of mist dissipated with An Sheng’s movements.

The woman was thin, yet one could still see the striking resemblance between her features and An Sheng’s.

An Sheng knelt by the woman’s bed, clearly hearing her lips move as she spoke: “I want to die.”

Distorted timelines overlapped. The woman who had been imprisoned by An Fu ten years ago appeared ten years later, but the one doing the imprisoning was no longer An Fu-it was An Sheng.

The boy who had once been protected by his mother had grown into a man of power. Yet, just like his father, he used his superior strength to oppress the weak, stopping at nothing to achieve his goals.

The law of the jungle was both glaring and realistic.

…

An Sheng couldn’t perceive that none of this was real.

If he couldn’t get out, Ning Shuo would be trapped in this dreamscape as well.

Ning Shuo frowned.

He couldn’t discern what had happened to the mother in the original story from An Sheng’s reaction.

“Tell me where my mother is, and I will naturally let you leave.”

Ning Shuo pondered for a moment and let out a soft sigh of relief.

So, it was just Little An Sheng looking for his mother.

Given the twisted nature of this Hypnosis Experiment, Ning Shuo began to realize where the flaw to escaping this dream lay.

An Sheng knelt on the floor, not even daring to look at the woman’s face. Suddenly, he threw himself onto her uncontrollably.

An Sheng heard himself burst into bitter sobs: “Mom! Forgive me!”

Ning Shuo apologized inwardly. He truly hadn’t done much of this “regretful pleading for forgiveness” business before, so he could only mimic what he’d seen in TV dramas.

Having been a man of power for many years, An Sheng still possessed a degree of caution. But before he could realize he was being controlled, another fact struck him out of nowhere-

As he lay against his mother, he couldn’t hear a heartbeat.

An Sheng froze. A memory he had deliberately avoided for the past decade suddenly flooded his mind.

…

An Sheng’s mother, Jing Yu, had died long ago from domestic violence.

The most desperate part was that An Fu, with his wealth and influence, had framed Jing Yu’s death as the result of an affair with another man who had turned violent.

An Sheng had watched his father in name only orchestrate the charges against Jing Yu.

For the past ten years, in order to become the perfect, rational heir in An Fu’s eyes, he hadn’t even visited Jing Yu’s grave.

Every time An Sheng refused to see the “vile woman” An Fu spoke of, An Fu would praise him for his rational cruelty, saying he was just like him.

Every time he received such praise, An Sheng would nod calmly and say, “I am your son. Who else would I take after?”

After returning to his room, An Sheng would look at his tightly locked cabinet, then lower his eyes and return to his studies.

Ten years later, An Sheng had arranged for his father to be committed to a psychiatric hospital on the grounds of mental illness.
An Fu pleaded, “I am your father. At least give me a quick end.” An Sheng replied with cold indifference, “‘The same brand of cruelty’-those were your words.

“However long you inflicted that brand on my mother, you will endure it for just as long.”

That form of address, one he hadn’t uttered in years, lingered in his mind for a few seconds.

An Sheng added maliciously, “Please… enjoy this cruelty to the fullest, Mr. An.”

…

An Sheng finally remembered that Jing Yu had long since passed away. He no longer needed to pretend he didn’t care about her over and over again just to evade the surveillance of his so-called father.

Nor did he have to search for his mother only within his dreams.

The dreamscape began to collapse. In a panic, An Sheng tried to open the cabinet that had been locked for years, but a hand caught his.

Jing Yu no longer looked as she did when she was seeking death; it was as if she had crossed ten years of time to recognize her child.

She smiled and touched An Sheng’s face. “Ah Sheng, you’ve grown into a big boy.”

Everything finally crumbled. The long-unopened cabinet shattered into fragments, along with its contents.

It was a photograph.

The photo had long since turned yellow, showing a woman gently embracing a cool-looking little boy.

There were only two people in it, yet it represented a warmth An Sheng had not felt for many years.

…

Having narrowly resolved the third trouble, Ning Shuo turned to the last one-

He believed Ning Wang could handle his own trouble and shouldn’t need him to intervene.

So, only the last one remained.

When Ning Shuo entered Ying Jian’s dream, Ying Jian was running.

Ning Shuo: ?

Aren’t you a lawyer?

Clearly, this situation was different from the others.

Based on Ning Shuo’s first impression of Ying Jian as a man of few words, seeing him running around in a suit the moment he entered the dream didn’t seem like him at all.

As if to answer Ning Shuo’s confusion, Ying Jian answered a phone call.

Before the person on the other end could speak, Ying Jian blurted out, “Don’t hurt my wife!”

There was a moment of silence on the other end, followed by a cold, sinister voice. “Lawyer Ying is quite clever to realize your wife was missing so quickly. I wonder…”

Ying Jian interrupted, “I know what you want. I’ll bring it. Just don’t lay a finger on her!”

Ning Shuo noticed Ying Jian was empty-handed and thought: *What are you bringing? Dauntless courage?*

Ying Jian ran to the parking lot and sped toward his destination.

Soon, he arrived at an abandoned factory.

This kidnapping was different from the “playing around” style of Tao Anqing. The main difference was that Tao Anqing had been sneakily indoors with someone else, whereas these kidnappers were waiting outside with a young woman tied up.

Looking at the setup, they clearly had no intention of letting the woman go.

Upon seeing Ying Jian, the kidnapper laughed maniacally. “Hahahaha! Ying Jian! Since you refused to let me off, I’m going to make your wife die right in front of your eyes!”

Ying Jian didn’t just stay in the car; he drove straight toward the kidnapper.

As the woman screamed, the kidnapper narrowly dodged the car, and the wife managed to break free from the kidnapper’s grasp.

The wife ran toward Ying Jian. He rushed out of the car, but suddenly, his pupils constricted.

A glinting blade was swinging toward his wife’s back. Ying Jian desperately shoved her out of the way. Seeing that Ying Jian was seeking his own death, the kidnapper redirected the blade, lunging straight for him.

Ying Jian thought he was finished. He screamed at his wife, “Ah Shu, run!!”

His body’s momentum was carrying him downward, making it impossible to dodge the attack. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for injury or even death.

In the next instant, Ying Jian’s eyes flew open in shock.

His leg… had lifted itself?!