Whispering Verse

Hidden in the raging fire in the living room were many charred corpses with arms and legs bent like spiders.

The doctor's magic technique [Shield of Heart's Light] developed from the core spiritual rune of [Light of the Heart], cooperates with Shade's moonlight sword. The two walked side by side, always on guard against monsters that suddenly jumped out of the sea of ​​fire. Their strength is indeed not strong. Almost as soon as they are touched by the moonlight sword, they will immediately turn into flying ash.

"Detective, have you noticed? The barely identifiable appearance of the corpses, as well as the burning clothes on their bodies, are all different, and they are not randomly put together. This shows that these corpses are most likely the ones the dream owner once saw in a real fire. Arrived."

The doctor reminded and asked Shade:

"Do you remember how many monsters we have encountered so far?"

At this time, the two of them had arrived at the stairs on the first floor. Shade held a sword in his right hand and recalled in the sea of ​​fire:

"17."

"It seems that there was a real problem with the fire three years ago."

This kind of corpse with bent limbs only exists on the first floor. After climbing up the stairs, which were all on fire, a new dream monster appeared.

Every time they stepped on the stairs, a transparent bandaged hand might suddenly stretch out from the wall on one side of the stairs, trying to push them downstairs. But the strength of these hands is not very strong, and they can be easily cut off by the moonlight slash.

"The appearance of this kind of monster means that the owner of the dream saw someone being pushed down the stairs during the fire. Judging from the appearance of the monster with only one pair of hands instead of a specific image, it is very likely that those hands were Luther. Kim Weiss’s own.”

The doctor then analyzed that he had broken into the dreams of many people and was able to use the abnormalities in dreams to infer the thoughts of the dream owner.

“So, was Luther King Weiss really a fire killer and a murderer?”

Shade asked curiously.

"Detective, if you are really curious, we can ask him later."

The passage from the stairs to the corridor on the second floor was blocked by collapsed stone slabs, but there was no need for Shade and the doctor to enter there, so they continued to climb the stairs to the third floor.

But on the second-floor landing, there stood a new obstacle.

This time the monster is a humanoid creature with no head, wrapped in a black coat, with eight hands on both sides of the body, holding a table knife, a pistol, a glass bottle filled with powder, a handkerchief, a rope, and a metal sweater needle. The last two hands were empty, but there were red liquid dripping from them, much like blood.

"A typical image of a murderer, but without a head, it means that the owner of the dream is unwilling to let the murderer's face appear here."

The doctor stood on the burning stairs and continued his analysis:

"If the murderer is not the owner of the dream, fear will not lead to forgetfulness, but will lead to more bizarre shapes. Of course, just inferring what happened before the fire is not enough. I think it is really necessary to ask later. .”

Shade nodded. He noticed that although the flames were more fierce at higher levels, the higher they went upward, the weaker the surrounding light became. The blazing flames were swarming around, but the light of the flames was getting dimmer.

"I'll deal with it."

Shade said, walking towards the front past the doctor standing sideways on the stairs.

Throwing his right hand forward, the arc-shaped light blade flew upwards. The headless black-clothed monster waved the knife in his hand. When Shade's moonlight was chopped into pieces, one of its hands was completely broken.

"Still not strong."

Shade thought in his mind, pulled out the moonlight sword with his right hand, and then jumped up suddenly. The whole person disappeared out of thin air, and then appeared on top of the black-clothed monster.

He held the sword in one hand and jumped downwards. He thought he could smash the monster with one sword, but he didn't expect the headless eight-armed monster to lift up with a handkerchief in one hand:

Bang!

"Um?"

The black liquid quickly covered the handkerchief, and the handkerchief quickly grew larger and harder, blocking Shade's sword like a shield. The light fragments of the silver moon were scattered everywhere, and cracks appeared on the surface of the black handkerchief, but it quickly returned to normal.

"After all, it is a monster related to the dream owner, so it is normal to have some special abilities."

The doctor's voice came from behind. Shade nodded. He held the sword in his right hand and pressed the opponent's handkerchief. After his feet landed, he put his right foot on the ground, twisted his waist and kicked his left leg forward, kicking away the handkerchief and shield. . The right hand waved the sword again, and as the arc of the moonlight fell, sloping silver lines appeared on the monster's body, and then scattered into black ashes, blending with the black silk in the air.

"Um?"

Shade frowned again in the sea of ​​fire.

"What's wrong?"

The doctor also caught up, and both of them saw that the handkerchief shield, stained darkly by black liquid, did not disappear immediately.

The thick liquid gradually exited the handkerchief, and the handkerchief turned into black ashes in the sea of ​​fire. The liquid itself did not disappear, but slowly penetrated into the floor.

"What?"

The strong sense of familiarity made Xia De take two quick steps:

"Silver Moon!"

He stretched out his fingers, and the light from his fingertips illuminated the black things, causing them to evaporate in the light.

"Doctor, is this also something that appears in dreams?"

After doing this, Shade turned to look at his companions and asked very uncertainly. He suspected that he just encountered the same kind of things, but it was not actually what he thought.

The blue-eyed doctor pursed his lips, raised his head and said:

"Negative emotions are just materialized substances. I see them often, so don't worry about them."

But then he said:

"But it looks like it might be a little dangerous up there. I'll walk in front of you on the next road."

With that said, he took the lead towards the stairs on the third floor.

Shade looked at the burning floor, then looked at Dr. Schneider's back suspiciously, frowning deeply:

“The materialization of negative emotions?”

Look up to the top of your head:

"Is it an illusion? No, it's better to be cautious and be prepared."

Thinking in his mind, he quickly followed Dr. Schneider. However, Shade was not prepared to tell the doctor about Ivan Darkness before confirming his suspicion.

He wants to avoid the meeting between Dr. Schneider and the devil as much as possible.

The light in the stairwell on the third floor is dimmer, but the flames are also more fierce. These two opposite scenes make the weird feeling on the third floor even more serious.

And on the stairs connecting the second floor to the third floor, a new monster appeared. This time it was no longer a hand pushing the person down, but a stack of flying gold pounds with wings.

These monsters are darker than real banknotes, and their attack method is to launch burning banknotes. Those sharp banknotes can even be embedded deeply into burning walls.

The doctor took the lead, using a transparent shield summoned by thaumaturgy to resist the attack. Shade was behind him, using Moonlight Slash to counter the attacks of those sensitive creatures.

"Detective, common sense is that the closer you get to the dream owner, the more the image of the monster guarding the dream will fit the dream owner's thoughts. Therefore, the truth behind this fire is probably because of the money."

The doctor still had time to explain the current phenomenon to Shade before moving forward. Probably in his opinion, this nightmare exploration was not the most dangerous.

But the blazing dim flames have already made the skin feel scalded and painful. Although the flying banknotes are easy to deal with, after the death of these monsters, just like the headless eight-armed monster just now, there will also be residual pus that is suspected of being a demon. Mark of.

Although Shade maintained the moonlight, when the traces fell to the lower level through the cracks in the stairs and walls in the fire, he was unable to stop them at all. Fortunately, the amount of black pus was extremely low, and it seemed to be deliberately avoiding the two people and not trying to contaminate them, so it did not cause trouble for the time being:

"The appearance is so similar but not offensive. Is it really a coincidence?"

When they defeated the last wave of gold pound monsters that flew out of the flames and reached the third floor, the untouchable black silk wadding in the air was as dense as the scattered snowflakes. At the same time, the light of the flames was completely weaker than the light of the silver moon at Shade's fingertips, which meant that if the moonlight at the fingertips was not maintained, the visibility on the third floor would be far lower than normal.

Shade and Doctor Schneider were originally prepared to encounter more powerful enemies on the third floor, but after arriving on the third floor, they discovered that except for the same fire as downstairs, there were no monsters guarding the dream.

But the integrity of the third floor was the worst among all floors. Fallen furniture, cracked floors and collapsed ceilings blocked the corridors, making it almost impossible for them to move forward.

Shade could only use the moonlight sword to slash in front to clear the way. Under the doctor's command, the two came to the door of the second room on the left on the third floor. In the entire third floor that was on fire, this room was the only one whose door was not completely blocked by the collapsed ceiling.

"Accounting office?"

The house number was half burned, but the complete word could still be guessed. The burning door was closed tightly, and the black component in the flames almost completely overwhelmed the bright yellow.

"Detective, the target is inside. We need to find the image of Luther King Weiss in the dream. After catching him and performing a ritual, we can extract the soul crystal."

said the doctor, his voice muffled by the crackling sound of burning. He reached out and held the door handle. The door was locked as expected, but the doctor did not let Shade come forward to open the door this time. Instead, he whispered to the door:

"We brought more gold pounds."

A click sound that was almost lost in the fire meant that the door was opened from the inside.

"You see, this is the correct way to get through the locked door in the dream."

The doctor turned to look at Shade, and after signaling him to be ready, he opened the door and walked in, with Shade following behind.

When both of them completely entered the room, there was a sudden loud bang behind them.

Shade and the doctor immediately turned around and saw that the ceiling of the corridor at the door collapsed in the flames. With the dust and heat waves raised, the road outside the door was completely blocked.