Due to the world being so beyond perfect, in a sense that it lived up to how she imagined a Western setting before, Wendy woke from the half-year-long trance and realized that she was in a dream.None of the beautiful weather, castles, dresses, and jewelries given to her was real.
Most likely, her parents and William were the product of imagination too, materialized and breathed lives through an unknown means by something she didn"t know.
She wondered. Was this how transmigrators or reincarnators truly got into another world? The place, its grandeur, and the happiness it could bring to the person living in the dream were actually all lies?
It was a heartbreaking realization.
Even though Wendy was glad that she had woken up and was no longer under the misconception that she was a girl living a princess-like life, she couldn"t help feeling regret as the wonders and conveniences she experienced in this very realistic dream was way beyond what the real world could give her.
As she thought of this, her grasp of the quill pen tightened. The room was not brightly illuminated and so she could see the shadows of the gently shaking feathers dancing to an unknown rhythm.
She watched the scene with a blank face. The solid and smooth sensation in her hand that was gripping the writing tool made her recall again that she was fooled by this world due to how real it appeared to all her senses.
"Every single detail of this dream is so vivid... Yet I perfectly know that I don"t have the ability to recreate or create this in my own imagination."
Her chest heaved up so much longer than usual before she released the breath that was held for so long. Cold sweat ran down her spine. When she hugged herself, it was a very painful feeling realizing that even the warmth her senses could perceive was also fake.
The question was how did all of these happen?
She recalled hearing a warm and hypnotic voice before she got into this puzzling situation. Therefore, she subconsciously voiced out,
"... Am I cursed?"
...
In the world outside the dream...
It was already the fourth day since Wendy entered a comatose state. Like always, Ver was next to her. The man had to thank his system that it could also purify his exterior, or else, he would have stunk badly by now for not bathing for four days.
Since the happenstances this early morning, Ver had turned somehow quiet, mostly silently watching over the sleeping woman. From time to time, his heart would jump out of his chest whenever he felt like he saw her lashes or fingers moving. But unlike earlier where he almost fought it out with the doctor, he only calmly looked at how things would unfold.
Of course, never did he stop hoping for the woman to open her eyes.
Sometimes he would still talk to Wendy, treating her not like a patient, but a naughty girl who kept pretending that she was asleep.
Out of a sudden, a voice rang, seemingly coming out of nowhere. The being inside his brain couldn"t help but remind him because it was worried by how scant the points they had at hands were. It was not even a million.
Ver sighed but didn"t answer.
He also knew the severity of the situation. The other two who he just became acquainted with crossed his mind. They were currently doing their part of the plan.
As for Ver, he was on standby until the day of the operation.
To be honest both individuals were not people he trusted yet.
He disliked the thought that he would have to help a stranger level up, especially if that stranger had threatened him with death more than three times.
He also didn"t like the sound of working with a guy who claimed that he was the true host backer of Wendy.
"Why couldn"t that f*cking ghost just die?" he resentfully asked for the hundredth time, or maybe already more than that since he lost track of the count.
Blame his unfocused mind and the pain in his chest that seemingly wanting to kill him every second over and over again.
The young man stood up, his face looked icy cold as he looked up to the ceiling and stopped the drops threatening to run down.
He didn"t really believe that a man was not allowed to cry no matter how dire and hopeless the situation he was. It might sound gay and shameful, but for the past days, he couldn"t even recall how many times he shed tears. Of course, it was still embarra.s.sing, so if it could be stopped, he should try to do so.
Nevertheless, this was how much he loved Wendy Gomez. The affection he had for her was so pure and strong that he couldn"t properly breathe as he watched her unconscious, battling a battle she was most likely not aware of.
"I"ll head out now." Ver finally resolved to temporarily part with the girl. This had to be done if he wanted to vanquish the evil being that had entangled itself with Wendy"s subconscious.
"Please look after her closely." He pleaded Jone when he stopped by the doorway.
The old secretary did not miss the sincerity in the young man"s eyes. He nodded.
Though not totally relieved, the system user only flashed a slight smile and then marched out.
He was now in his quest to arm himself to the teeth before tomorrow comes. As to how he would do so, there were uncountable ways. And it started when after reaching the deserted and shadowy part of the hall, he teleported out for a location that holds many pieces of garbage that he could recycle as points.
...
Whether a coincidence or not, a few minutes after the self-proclaimed guardian and lover of Wendy went out to farm points, a new one came to the townhouse, parking his expensive vehicle in front of it.
Lunchtime had just pa.s.sed. Instead of returning to his gigantic office, he drove towards here, all to meet the person keeping his fiancée away from him.
No expression could be seen from his face when he climbed out of his car and closed it. From inside the first floor, the middle-aged female housekeeper came out in a hurry to greet him. But before she could say a thing, he raised his hand to signal her not to bother.
"Who are upstairs?"
"Master, it"s only Sir Jone and Sir Ver," the aged woman respectfully replied, unaware that the latter was no longer in the house.
Gio nodded. He stopped the other from accompanying him on the second floor. What he planned to do doesn"t need an extra pair of eyes.
When he got to the place, he found that only his former secretary was there, the younger man the maid called Sir Vir was not around.
Without putting much importance to that, he approached the sleeping woman on the bed. Jone was by his side, curiously watching what he would do.
But actually, Gio didn"t plan on doing anything apart from confirming what Sofony had told him yesterday.
He narrowed his eyes.
"... Quite unbelievable. I can feel the presence of the system in her. So it"s really a ghost? Or just an AI pretending to be a ghost?"
Even with the wealth of knowledge from his acquired memories, he couldn"t find anything about a spirit turning into an immoral host. However, it didn"t mean that there was no possibility of this happening.
Maybe he only hadn"t heard of it before because those ghostly immoral hosts had already possessed a body by then and kept the secret to themselves.
Right now, in front of him, a ghost possession was slowly happening. If his guess was correct, the ent.i.ty was trying to trap the girl"s mind through an illusion.
He had no idea what ghostly beings could do, but since they could directly touch somebody"s subconscious, it should be not improbable for them to create worlds inside there and exhaust the mind and soul of the body"s true owner through making them live there and experience various kinds of nightmares there.
Which one had been employed by the unwanted ent.i.ty?
Gio crossed his arms and chuckled.
Without regards to the person nearby who would be able to hear him weirdly talking to it, he opened his mouth,
"Whoever you are that is trying to take over her body, this will probably the last time that I will try to converse with you, so listen closely and don"t pretend that you can"t sense my presence nor hear me."
The man temporarily paused. After spending quite a lot of time with Sofony, he picked up a trick or two about Hypnotism so he had the older man next to him shut down his senses. The only reason he didn"t ask Jone to leave was to serve as a witness that he didn"t do anything improper to this friend of his fiancée.
After that, he continued speaking, acting nonchalantly yet his presence shout loud volumes of the hidden danger his whole person posed,
"I"m sure you"re now trying your best to speed up the death of this woman"s spirit. Is it through a never-ending nightmare? Or wonderful dreams that will make her want to never wake up? I don"t know."
"But if I were you, stop now while you still can. If you don"t heed my warning, you won"t have to worry about getting purified. I"ll personally bring you to my woman"s father."
"If he hears me bringing a live ghost specimen who can help in his research about souls, I wonder how he"ll react. Surely, it will be quite beneficial for me, impression. But how about you?"
"You better cooperate, or else, I"ll toss you to that madman to serve as his lab rat."
"Just a heads up, he"s most likely equivalent to a Level 9 host, a lunatic who would cross any lines to revive his wife. Who knows what he will do to something like you who seem like a key to a critical breakthrough?"
Gio saw no change to the person lying unconscious before him. Was the unusual half-host being stubborn? Or it wanted to respond but couldn"t due to having to maintain the ability casted?
"So Fred is not scary enough for a ghost..."
A second later, a glint flickered across his eyes.
There was actually a change, but not with the person herself.
It was the part of the woman"s shadow that was initially projected as an incomplete dark shape above the shadow of the bed.
Thankfully, Gio was the only one in the room fully conscious to witness this since the sight had been quite spooky, looking like it was a scene straight out of an Eastern horror movie.
The man upon seeing this grinned.
Finally, a reaction from the ghost.
...
...
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