After that, the man began searching everywhere for an exorcist, all while trying to stay awake by resorting to various forms of self-harm. He showed Lu Li the scars from cuts on his arms and burns on his body, where ugly scabs crawled across his skin like centipedes.
He had done it all to keep himself from falling asleep.
Over several days, the man had visited nurous exorcists, but none of them could find any trace of the supernatural on him. It was only after three days—today—that he finally found Lu Li.
This ant the last ti he had slept was three days ago.
It also ant he was on the verge of despairing of ever finding help—Lu Li was not widely known among exorcists.
The man was trembling and swaying, partly from the cold, partly from an overwhelming exhaustion.
"They're right. There's no trace of the supernatural on you," Lu Li stated. Neither he nor Anna had detected any malevolent force in the unfortunate man. "However, many anomalies are difficult to detect. I need to know the details."
"What do you want to know?"
In the eyes of the man, who stood on the brink of despair, a glimr of hope ignited.
"The content of your dreams, if you can still rember them."
"Of course... Even though so were a while ago, I rember parts as if they were real..." The man lowered his head again, sinking into his mories.
"But I don't know how to describe them... There's no logic to these dreams. Sotis they're fragnts of soone else's life, sotis I'm floating in the sea, sotis I see sothing incomprehensible, and other tis, everything is just like reality. I'm living a normal life, as if I've suddenly taken over soone's body..."
The man explained to Lu Li that in his dreams, he was fully conscious and able to think. Most of the dreams were like normal ones—strange and disjointed. The only difference was that he knew he was dreaming.
These chaotic dreams usually ca first, their duration tied to the total length of his sleep. The longer the sleep, the longer the chaotic part lasted. After a while, the dream world would beco relatively stable.
For instance, a basic logic would begin to erge.
However, as the man told Lu Li, many... oddities, or gaps, still occurred. For example, he might suddenly change from a man into a woman, or he would suddenly find it difficult to run, or even to walk. At tis, he could even briefly fly into the air.
Fragnts of the chaotic dreams would sotis intrude upon these relatively normal ones, until the dream neared its end and dissolved back into chaos, after which the man would wake up.
The chaotic dreams were like the vocal parts in an opera.
Or, to put it in terms Lu Li might understand better: the opening credits, the main episode, the comrcials, and the end credits of a television series.
"Do you die in your dreams?"
"Yes! No..." the man first cried out without thinking, then added uncertainly, "I die, but then I co back to life..."
"And what happens after you co back to life?"
"Sotis a new dream begins, and sotis the old one continues."
"Aren't the people in the dream surprised?"
The man froze. Fear, replacing the despair in his eyes, crept into his voice. "So of them are..."
Most of the ti, the people in his dreams didn't notice anything strange, but there were tis when he died because of one of those "gaps"—for instance, suddenly realizing he could fly, soaring hundreds of ters into the air, only to lose control and plumt. After he returned, those around him would scatter in terror, screaming.
One incident, in particular, was seared into his mory.
He had been part of a group of adventurers. Once, when he and a companion set out on a search, a chaotic dream began. After a series of bizarre visions, he returned to the normal dream, only for his companion to ask where he had disappeared to.
Such oddities could make a person's skin crawl, even by a warm fireplace.
Lu Li fell into thought.
It was difficult to say whether these were fignts of the man's imagination or sothing real.
On Earth, he would have confidently called it a psychological problem, but here...
"Have you noticed anything unusual in your dreams, or received any ssages?"
After asking, Lu Li paused, then added, "Don't tell
the answer. If yes, nod. If no, shake your head."
He wanted to rule out the possibility that the dreams themselves were a source of contamination.
The man hesitantly shook his head.
"Have any strange marks appeared on your body?"
"In the dream, or..."
"In reality."
"No. I did all this to myself."
After a mont's thought, Lu Li said calmly, "I don't see any leads."
The despair on the man's face beca almost palpable.
"You have two options: go to the Night's Watch or the Investigators, or you can sleep here so I can observe you."
"The Night's Watch... I know about them, but who are the Investigators? Can they cure ?!"
"I don't know. If they can't help you either, then there is, perhaps, only one way left."
Lu Li uncapped his pen and looked at the man. "I can give you the addresses for the Night's Watch and the Investigators."
The Investigators didn't mind visits or questions from ordinary people. During their entrance exam, for instance, candidates had openly brought civilians to their headquarters. The Investigators only kept their location hidden because they didn't want any unnecessary trouble—they didn't have ti to constantly deal with civilians.
"Only one... What is it...?"
The man seed to guess, but he asked anyway.
"Exactly what you're thinking. Death."
Seeing the man's hesitation, Lu Li continued, "Don't forget, I said 'perhaps.' No one knows if eternal rest ans freedom from endless dreams."
The thought of finding no peace even after death inspired the deepest kind of terror.
"If I sleep here... will you find the cause?" the man asked, his voice trembling, his fists clenched inside his damp sleeves.
"I don't know."
Lu Li wrote down the addresses and placed the slip of paper on the table in front of the man, watching him calmly.
From the kitchen ca the rhythmic chop of a knife against a cutting board.
"You'll cure , right?" the man asked through clenched teeth.
"I will try to find a solution."
The man made his decision. "I'll agree to the treatnt... here."
Perhaps it was Lu Li's mysteriousness and his unwavering calm that convinced the man to spend a few hours—or a few years—of sleep in this place.
"You can lie down on the sofa."
Lu Li stood up and walked over to the sofa with the man.
The sounds from the kitchen had stopped. As he settled onto the sofa, the man didn't notice a blanket silently slipping off a chair and floating into the bedroom.
It was the blanket she and Lu Li used.
The man lay down, looking uncertainly at Lu Li, who stood before the sofa. Soon, his eyelids began to droop, and his breathing evened out.
He fell asleep quickly.
It was as if sothing had been waiting for him to drift into slumber.
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