After securing the piece of paper, Li Ang heard Xing Hechou speak seriously, "Just like the psychologist Carl Gustav Jung divided the personality into three layers—consciousness, personal unconscious, and collective unconscious—the Shengnan King's Dream also possesses these three layers. We are currently in the layer of the collective unconscious, where wandering urban legends of all kinds from around the world coalesce. This layer is the outermost sediment of the King of Shengnan's psyche.

The next layer, the personal unconscious, will still consist of urban legend-style stories. According to theory, these are fragments suppressed and forgotten by the King of Shengnan—a series of suppressed, emotion-laden notion clusters.

If we can uncover the emotional core of the second layer's strange tales, we will be able to see the essence of the King of Shengnan."

Wanli Fengdao was taken aback for a moment. "Er, what does that mean? If the next layer is made up of stories like 'Home Alone,' does that mean the King of Shengnan is a prank-loving brat? If the theme is all about foolish men and resentful women, loving yet killing each other, then the King of Shengnan is a literary youth who enjoys romance novels?"

Xing Hechou was somewhat between laughter and tears. "Well... it's roughly that idea."

Wanli Fengdao sighed and muttered to himself, Let's just pray the King of Shengnan is a harmless otaku, making the next layer full of safe, everyday romantic school dramas.

Xing Hechou ignored Wanli Fengdao's murmurings, walked over to the window of the second-floor Japanese-style room, took out an ordinary tube of green-and-white-striped solid glue, and dabbed it on the window a few times, as if drawing a pattern.

Li Ang asked curiously, "What's this?"

"A special tool used by the Special Affairs Bureau for communication," Xing Hechou explained casually. "By marking this place beforehand, other Special Affairs Bureau colleagues who come to this city will be able to promptly notice the information about this house."

Wanli Fengdao raised an eyebrow. "Hm? Are we going to wait here?"

"No need," Xing Hechou shook his head. "There's more than one entrance to the third layer of the Shengnan King's Dream. It's possible some colleagues have already reached the second layer. Waiting here aimlessly is pointless. Moreover, we might attract players with ill intentions, needlessly creating trouble for ourselves. It's best to move on as quickly as possible."

Seeing that his three companions had no objections, Xing Hechou took out another A4 sheet of paper and handed it to Wanli Fengdao. "This paper has my information recorded on it. I'll go down first to take a look. If there's no danger after a while, you can follow. If I encounter danger, I will teleport away from the Shengnan King's Dream immediately. When that happens, this paper will turn slightly darker, but it will not wrinkle, shrink, or break."

"Got it." Wanli Fengdao took the paper and watched as Xing Hechou, fully armed, slowly walked to the middle of the Japanese-style room. He squatted on the floor, reaching his finger toward the water stain.

The next second, Xing Hechou's figure was engulfed by the water stain, just like the few white rabbits before.

Wanli Fengdao stared nervously at the paper in his hands. After ten minutes, there was no change.

"Old Xing should be fine," Wanli Fengdao said. "He didn't encounter any danger that would make him teleport, nor was he injured or captured." He folded the paper and looked at his two companions. "Then let's head over as well."

"Right." Li Ang nodded. The three of them walked to the center of the Japanese-style room and reached out to touch the water stain at the same time.

The moment they touched the wetness, that familiar sensation of being dragged by the soul descended once again. They were unable to control their bodies, everything went pitch-black, and they felt as if they had been dropped into a furiously spinning toilet bowl.

The sensation was fleeting. When they opened their eyes again, the three had appeared in the middle of a green lake surrounded by mountains, with about ten meters separating each of them.

The scorching sun hung high in the sky. The lake water held a hint of warmth; it wasn't very cold.

Suddenly plunging into the water, Li Ang's weight—disproportionate to his appearance—instantly dragged him towards the lake's bottom. Fortunately, Miss Chai's spirit promptly exited her body and grabbed his wrist, allowing him to float on the surface.

"Over here!" Xing Hechou's voice came from a distance. The three players turned their heads to see him standing on the shore, equally drenched.

The three players quickly swam to the shore (Li Ang was dragged by Miss Chai, skimming across the water at high speed) and met up with Xing Hechou.

Wanli Fengdao wiped the water from his face, removed a dead twig that had stuck to his sleeve, and asked, "Is this the second layer?" He complained somewhat unhappily, "Tsk, a bath right after arriving. What a way to 'brush off the dust.'"

Liu Wu Dai used some skill. Steam quickly rose from her skin and clothes, evaporating the remaining lake water in the blink of an eye and leaving her feeling fresh and clean.

She looked at Xing Hechou and asked, "Did you find any useful information?"

"This place is like the third layer; we can't use electronic products from the real world if they lack supernatural elements," Xing Hechou said. "I walked around the lake a bit just now. To the east, there's a dirt path leading to a large field of rapeseed flowers. Terraced fields are scattered over the southern mountains, but I didn't see any other humans…"

"Guests?" A man's voice came from afar. The four players, without hesitation, grabbed their weapons and turned toward the direction of the voice.

On the dirt road east of the lake, a middle-aged man with a hunched back, dressed in brown cloth, had appeared at some point. He was fixating his cloudy, lifeless eyes on the four players. "Are you here for the celebration as well?"

Celebration? Li Ang raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

None of the four players were green rookies untested by battle. Even though they had just been drenched after falling into the lake and were now exchanging information, they were by no means relaxed or negligent. They were watching vigilantly and listening in all directions; even sneaky snakes or rodents couldn't have approached them unnoticed.

How then did this full-grown man appear there without attracting the attention of the four players?

Or perhaps...

The group's expressions changed subtly. They were standing on the eastern, downwind side of the lake. As a breeze blew by, the stench of rotten flesh wafted through the air, assaulting their senses.

The source of the smell was the brown-clothed middle-aged man.

When the players didn't respond, the man, seemingly indifferent to the longbows and blades in their hands, stepped over the low grass and walked toward them.

As the distance closed, that putrid stench of rotting meat became even more overwhelming, stinging their eyes and nostrils.

The man stopped in front of the group, holding out four grey towels. "Sorry for letting the guests catch a chill," he said, his stiff face squeezing out a trace of a smile. "It's good that you came in the afternoon; the water would have been ice cold at night."

Xing Hechou's brows were tightly knitted. As the man handed out the towels, he clearly saw the middle-aged man's fingernails: long, sharp, and purplish-black, like short daggers. Their tips were pitch-black, as if rotted through, not resembling a normal person's at all.

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