Meanwhile, in the real world, a cut appeared out of nowhere on the dragon horn resting against the pristine white pillow. Blood welled from the wound and slowly soaked into the fabric.

Qiu Fa stopped short as he entered the hospital lobby and snapped his head up toward the floors above.

Isaac’s expression changed. “Sweetheart!”

Lolita knew Isaac well enough to understand what that tone meant. She glared resentfully at their employer. They had been so close to achieving their goal, only for the employer to change their mind at the last moment.

Forget it!

Bang!

The entire world, like an illusion reflected in a mirror, shattered without warning.

Downstairs in the hospital, the old woman in the VIP ward snapped open her eyes. Her gaze met the handsome old man’s green eyes beside her, and she immediately sat up.

Up on the VVIP floor, Tang Woxue opened his eyes as well. He tried to sit up without thinking, only for the excruciating pain coursing through his entire body to slam him back down. A sharp gasp escaped his lips.

Both legs were shattered. Several ribs were broken. Countless burns covered his body, and the hands he had worked almost raw through forced labor were a bloody mess…

Every injury he had sustained during Dream Slaughter had been transferred to his real body in exact detail. With injuries this severe, he could not move at all.

Inside the VVIP ward, Jing Pei slowly opened her eyes.

The candle at her bedside had burned itself out, leaving only the faint scent of medicinal herbs behind. She held her aching head as she sat up. Blood trickled down her face, and she drew a soft breath.

Were horns really this sensitive? Never mind how much such a tiny cut was bleeding. Why did it have to hurt so much?

Qiu Fa had detected an abnormal fluctuation of Atavist power coming from that ward, rather than power dissipating naturally. In the blink of an eye, he vanished from where he stood.

At 190 centimeters tall, he had a pair of long, straight, strong, muscular legs. With only two powerful leaps, he leaped all the way to the seventh floor.

The black uniform jacket draped over his shoulders settled behind him as he crouched on the windowsill. One punch shattered the Atavist hospital’s specially reinforced bulletproof window. He tore aside the curtains, and amid the surging fabric, his eyes met Jing Pei’s startled, tear-filled gaze.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and Qiu Fa froze for a moment.

Crouching there, his dark silhouette blocked most of the light from outside. He jumped through the window and straightened, straightened to his full, imposing height imbued with a brutal, feral air. Even the spacious, luxurious ward suddenly felt cramped.

Jing Pei was, after all, a mature adult in soul. She had her dignity to maintain. Crying from the pain was far too embarrassing.

She lowered her head, intending to wipe her tears with the corner of the blanket, but before her cheek could reach it, cool leather pressed against her face and lifted her chin.

A pair of amber eyes examined her face. Although she was covered in blood, he confirmed that the cut on her horn was her only injury.

“It isn’t serious, and there’s no sign of poison. You’ll be fine.”

His voice was deep and magnetic, yet gentle, as though he were comforting her.

This was the first time Jing Pei had been so close to him. Her gaze flicked over his Adam’s apple and lips before finally rising to meet his gaze.

“Mm.”

“Do you know who attacked you?”

Jing Pei shook her head.

“All right. Leave it to me.”

Qiu Fa set a basket of canned tuna on her bedside table, then left.

Jing Pei watched him walk away and pressed a hand over her chest.

How could she ever have had the heart to write his death?

He was clearly her favorite character!

Ugh. She really was heartless.

The moment Qiu Fa left Jing Pei’s ward, however, his expression darkened. He brushed past the nurse who had come running after hearing the commotion.

The nurse glanced inside the ward and cried out in alarm. She rushed next door to check on Tang Woxue, only to find him in a far more horrific state. Her scream grew even louder.

Isaac and Lolita still wore the appearances of an elderly couple, but they moved with astonishing speed. They had already reached the hospital lobby and were hurrying toward the exit.

They did not dare use their Atavist powers to leap out a window. Qiu Fa was upstairs, and doing so would be the same as announcing, We’re the culprits, come chase us.

Their only option was to pretend nothing had happened and hope they could leave through the main entrance.

However, at Qiu Fa’s command, they were stopped just as they were about to step outside. The entire Atavist hospital had been placed under lockdown.

“Isaac.” Lolita clutched her partner’s arm on her partner’s arm.

Damn it.

The handsome old man reached out to touch the security officer blocking their way.

“Excuse me, could you perhaps…”

The dressed like a perfect gentleman elderly gentleman looked so refined that others naturally let their guard down and treated him with respect. The security officer did not dodge his hand. He even seemed ready to explain the situation.

In the next instant, however, his field of vision began to sink.

His entire body was shrinking. In the end, even his ability to think disappeared.

Rather than shrinking, it would be more accurate to say he had reverted to infancy. The adult security officer became a tiny baby, buried beneath his oversized uniform. Only the faint movements under the fabric revealed that someone was still there.

Isaac’s nonhuman ancestors were a magical Atavist species. During the Great Cosmic Convergence, humans had named them the “lighthouse jellyfish race,” after the creature that made them easiest to understand. They were one of the immortal species known to humanity.

As a Lighthouse Jellyfish Atavist, Isaac possessed the ability to control the time of the human body. He could age or rejuvenate himself and others at will.

The Atavist hospital had few staff members, and only a few seconds had passed since the incident. No one had noticed yet.

Isaac and Lolita stepped over the baby and hurried outside.

The moment they stepped outside, however, they saw a dark figure standing with his back to them, waiting for his prey to walk straight into the trap.

Qiu Fa turned around.

In their eyes, it was no different from watching an evil spirit turn toward them in a horror film.

What they had done to the security officer confirmed their guilt. Qiu Fa was now certain they were the culprits.

“Sweetheart.” Isaac tightened his hold on Lolita’s hand. “Run!”

---

News of the second attack on Jing Pei spread quickly. Even Doctor Tang, whom Jing Pei had brought with her, had been attacked. The hospital director almost passed out.

How could this have happened?

Fortunately, after an emergency examination, the doctors confirmed that Jing Pei’s injuries were not serious. The bleeding had come from a cut on her dragon horn, and fortunately, the wound was not large.

If anyone was in a really miserable state, it was Doctor Tang.

What kind of Atavist would do something so vicious to an ordinary person? Had they done it just to torture him?

His hands were the worst of all. Tang Woxue was a world-renowned medical genius. Those hands were meant to perform surgery. Modern medicine could repair even damaged nerves, but what if something went wrong?

Too vicious. This was far too vicious!

This was not just an attack on Tang Woxue. It was an attack on the lives of every patient who depended on him. If Mei Yanlan’s operation had not already been completed, she might have been doomed.

“…I don’t know.”

When questioned by an officer from the Tribunal Division, Tang Woxue took a moment before answering.

“How… how is she? No, I’ll go see her myself. Please take me to her.”

“You should finish receiving treatment first…”

“No. I need to see her first.”

The nurse had no choice but to push Tang Woxue to Jing Pei’s ward in a wheelchair. Only one of his legs had been immobilized so far, and the wounds on his face had just been bandaged.

A subtle fragrance drifted through the ward.

The cut dragon horn had been wrapped in bandages, and the bloodstained pillow had been replaced. Jing Pei leaned against the headboard with her eyes lowered, still looking listless.

The faint scent of Chinese medicinal herbs lingered in the air.

It came from the sleep-inducing incense Tang Woxue had blended. Made with several medicinal herbs, it could send a sleeping person into an even deeper slumber.

He had prepared it to prevent Jing Pei from waking before he obtained her dragon horn. Since it was neither toxic nor harmful, the other doctors would have found it difficult to detect his malicious intentions.

At the sound of movement, Jing Pei’s eyelashes fluttered.

Tang Woxue’s heart trembled with them.

Her clear, jewel-bright black eyes met his own, which were as deep as an ancient well. For a moment, it felt as though they had crossed time and space. A strange sense of suspended time formed between them.

Tang Woxue’s hands curled into fists before he realized it. He could no longer feel the pain in his bloodied, torn palms.

The Nightmare Atavist had said she would not leave an “imprint.”

When she wished to torment someone with memories of a dream, she could place an imprint on them as the dream ended. Like the clack of a slate marking the end of a film shoot, it would allow the target to remember everything that had happened in the dream.

But none of them would be foolish enough to let the young heir of the Long family remember. That would only give her reason to come after them.

Sure enough, Jing Pei gave him faint but distant, courteous smile.

“Doctor Tang.”

“…Mm.”

“I’m sorry. You were dragged into this because of me.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“I don’t know why, but I feel as though I’ve become much closer to you, Doctor Tang. It almost feels like we’ve known each other for a very long time.”

She smiled as she spoke.

Her words were like a soft knife slowly carving into his flesh.

Tang Woxue’s hands clenched tighter. Blood fell from them drop by drop.

“Please rest assured and accept the best treatment this hospital can provide. The Long family will cover all expenses.”

A commotion erupted outside. The Long family members who had rushed over after receiving the hospital’s notification flooded into the room, pushing Tang Woxue out of the ward.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured from the doorway.

The nurse quickly wheeled him away.

“Doctor Tang, I’m taking you to a doctor right now. Look, your eyes are red from the pain.”

Less than a day had passed in reality, but half a century had gone by inside the dream.

His soul was no longer the same soul it had been before today.

She would never remember how she and this man had become the closest of friends, or the profound bond they had forged. Yet he would remember that strange and endless span of time forever.

Alone, he would slowly savor that pure and precious friendship, little by little, for the rest of his life.

I really hope we can become friends like that in the real world too.

His phone rang.

The nurse took it from his pocket for him. He glanced at the caller ID.

It was Yan Jinhua.

---

“Ahhhhh! Isaac, what are we going to do?!”

Lolita and Isaac fled for their lives. Behind them, the lethal and crushing killing intent of the White Tiger was so terrifying that her hair felt ready to stand on end. She did not even dare look back.

Isaac pulled Lolita along with a grave expression. A row of sharp knives had already appeared in his free hand.

“We’ll split up.”

The instant he finished speaking, a presence that made their scalps prickle appeared within arm’s reach.

The two immediately sprang apart to dodge, yet the fierce wind still sliced across their cheeks like a blade. A burning graze appeared on Lolita’s pale face.

Still shaken, they looked over.

Qiu Fa’s black-clad figure stood between them like an evil spirit. Feral power swirled in his amber eyes, which were as cold as honed blades. His gaze raked over their faces with disdain.

“Trident Mercenary Corps. Isaac. Lolita.”

His deep voice carried overwhelming authority and menace.

“Come back to the Tribunal Division with me and explain what you were planning to do to Little Dragon.”

Lolita touched her cheek and felt the wound there. Fury consumed her at once. She swept up her skirt and pulled out a machete hidden beneath it.

“You dared hurt my face? I’ll kill you!”

The machete surged toward Qiu Fa, wrapped in murderous intent. At the same time, several silver knives flew at him from another direction.

The instant they launched their concealed weapons, the two fled in opposite directions.

They knew they could not defeat a world-class expert like Qiu Fa, but surely one of them could escape. No matter how strong he was, there was still only one of him. He was not an Atavist capable of splitting himself into multiple bodies.

As long as one of them escaped, the partner who got away could find a way to rescue the one who was captured.

Then Qiu Fa’s voice pursued them from behind like the whisper of a demon.

“Whichever one I catch, I’ll execute on the spot.”

The director of the documentary Great Families had once thought Qiu Fa too righteous and upright to fit his image of an Atavist family.

In truth, that was only because he did not understand Qiu Fa.

Qiu Fa despised crime. Even if the criminal were nothing more than a tiny infant, he would execute them without mercy on the spot if necessary.

Right now, he was just threatening a pair of devoted lovers who happened to be criminals.

At his words, Lolita and Isaac both stopped at once. They turned back and glared at Qiu Fa with hatred.

Qiu Fa gave them a chilling smile.

“Filthy mercenaries.”