Was Lin Zhao already dead?

Lin Yu felt as if someone had smashed a heavy hammer into his head, his ears filled with a deafening buzzing noise, and even his vision blurred.

No... that's not right, it must be lying to him!

Yes, this guy must be deceiving him—the purpose was to shake his conviction.

Lin Yu looked at the black cat he was holding by the neck, gradually calming down.

"You're lying to me..."

The black cat looked at Lin Yu and sneered as it spoke, "Still unwilling to accept reality?"

Lin Yu, however, loosened his grip. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Twenty, even at your peak, you absolutely could not hypnotize this many people simultaneously, let alone include Chris and Paper Kite," Lin Yu said calmly. "And among my summoned entities, one is more skilled than you in mental manipulation, while the other possesses a status only slightly lower than that of a Chosen One..."

"From the very beginning, I felt my thoughts were constantly chaotic, difficult to calm down. The decisions I made were impulsive and emotional, almost unlike myself. So... you didn't make everyone except me enter a dream. You only made me, alone, enter the dream!"

"You hoped I would lose my judgment within this dream and then fall into despair—that's why you fabricated the death of my sister, trying to use this thing I fear most to shatter my psychological defenses."

As Lin Yu spoke, Twenty narrowed his eyes. "Lin Yu, you really are clever... This is indeed a dream."

"But... unfortunately, I didn't know from the start that your greatest worry, your greatest fear, was your sister. Frankly, in my view, someone like you might not even care about your relatives at all—this is something I discovered only after entering the dream. In your dream, the furnishings in your home deviate greatly from reality."

The black cat looked towards the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom.

"In your dream, this house is indeed filled with traces of two people living together. But in reality... this house looks completely like you live alone."

"Maybe your mind was already not normal before you entered the 'Death Game'," Twenty mocked. "But precisely because of that... you were able to create the phantom of a person already dead!"

Lin Yu looked at him coldly. "You're still trying to deceive me... Twenty, it seems you want to die by my hand again."

"Kill me again," Twenty's face showed a smile. "Do you think what I summoned using the altar was my true body?"

"Then sooner or later, I will go to the world where you are," Lin Yu interrupted him, "and kill you completely, until your soul scatters to the winds."

"I look forward to that day," Twenty said with a laugh. "However, I must remind you, you are still within the dream I wove and control, aren't you?"

"Are you sure?"

Lin Yu retorted, staring into the other's cat-like pupils.

Then, the next moment... the two appeared in Twenty's home—and Twenty also transformed from the black cat form into his original human shape.

"Thank you, Old Zheng."

Lin Yu said softly.

Twenty's expression changed drastically.

"Damn it!"

He cursed angrily. The next moment, this dream shattered.

Lin Yu opened his eyes, finding himself sitting inside the room.

Fu Luo turned around, about to step forward. "Yo—awake?"

But Lin Yu growled lowly, "Fu Luo, stay away from me!"

The next moment, a dense black Nightmare substance surged from his body, pouncing towards Fu Luo's direction.

Fu Luo grunted and also fell into a deep sleep, while the same black Nightmare substance emerged from his body.

"So that's it. The 'altar' was just a decoy. Your real 'method' of returning to reality was hidden within the dreams of the people you hypnotized!"

The demon contracted with Twenty was named "Nightmare," and Twenty had always displayed the ability to create dreams.

And to deal with this kind of thing, Lin Yu's best means were still the legacy from Vale Valetti!

The [Fear Torch] suddenly ignited, its pale flames approaching the black Nightmare substance nearing Fu Luo.

"Old Zheng!"

"I know!"

Following Old Zheng's reply, an invisible mental force tore all the black Nightmare substance from Fu Luo's soul and dream as well—clearly, both having once been [Third Tier] and now being new life forms clinging to existence after death, Old Zheng, this first-generation [Freud], indeed surpassed Twenty in toying with the mind!

Twenty being able to tamper within Lin Yu's dream after Lin Yu actively fell asleep was already the limit. Doing this right in front of Old Zheng was naturally seeking death!

The mental powers of the two clashed invisibly, and then Twenty retreated step by step.

Finally, Twenty let out a shriek like a cat being burned by fire, transforming into a burning black cat and falling mid-air.

The next second, a mass of seawater rushed in from outside the window, turning into a water prison trapping it within.

Chris and Paper Kite climbed in through the window, looking at Twenty on the ground. Chris let out a breath.

"Just made it in time, damn, scared me... where did this Nightmare come from?!"

Paper Kite's expression was grave. "This isn't a Nightmare. This is the player [Twenty]!"

Lin Yu looked at Twenty in the water prison and spoke coldly, "Although what's in this world now might be your clone, if it dies here, your true body won't feel good either, right?"

The current Lin Yu had already regained his firmness—everything in the dream just now was definitely Twenty's deception, a lie.

"To actually try to shake me with false news about my family..."

Twenty looked at Lin Yu and sighed. "I truly underestimated you again, but..."

Twenty declared loudly, "Your sister is indeed dead—no matter how much you try to deceive yourself, you cannot deny this fact!"

"Shut up, my sister is perfectly fine right outside!"

Lin Yu said coldly. A knocking sound came from outside the door.

"Xiao Yu, why is it so noisy in your room? What are you guys doing?"

Lin Zhao's voice rang out. Lin Yu laughed.

"Twenty, your methods of lying are far too clumsy!"

But... even after hearing Lin Zhao's voice, Lin Yu still felt uneasy.

And Twenty within the water prison sneered as he spoke.

"I've already told you, that's an illusion... You really are an obsessive paranoid who should go see a psychiatrist."

"The person outside the door may look like your sister, and even has a soul-like structure, but she cannot be called a 'person'—she's not even considered 'life'!"

"I know you still hold onto illusions. It's fine... Now I can convince you. Although I only just learned your sister is an illusion, the bit of memory I obtained from [Furbollo]'s mind just now has already made me understand most of the principles behind how you succeeded in doing this..."

"The answer is hidden within your own memories. This sister you cherish so much, can you recall past times with her now? Clear memories of living with her before you entered the game, when was the last time? On the day you entered the Death Game, what was your sister wearing, what meal did she make for you in the morning, can you remember?"

"Lin Yu, although I don't know where you came from, you actually used an entire '[Fate Fragment]' as the foundation supporting this 'illusion'... No wonder beings from any world or [Players] all covet '[Fate Fragments]'. So this thing actually has..."

As he spoke to this point, Twenty suddenly let out a shrill, miserable scream.

"What... what?! Ah!!!"