Master of Kaidan-Chapter 593: Ten-Year Nightmare

Tianlin City’s nights always seemed a bit noisy, even at midnight, the streets were still brightly lit.

But this hubbub did not belong to the blue-collar workers; the blue-collar workers had long since gone to sleep.

Their apartments, like cages, seemed like charging stations, replenishing the necessary but insufficient strength for the parts that had worked all day.

But just when they lacked the energy to even turn over in bed, a voice suddenly broke the silence—

"You are the fake one!"

Accompanied by an outcry, a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties sprung up from the bed, blankly wiped the sweat that had seeped out on her forehead, and her eyes rapidly focused from a vacant stare.

"Another nightmare? But this time it seemed a bit different?"

Lin Jiaxin rubbed her chest, trying to recover more quickly from the palpitations brought on by the dream.

Ever since that car accident ten years prior, this persistent nightmare had tormented her; every night, she would return to Tianlin City’s train station, board that train, and then die for various reasons.

As one of the survivors of the major K7 train accident, she felt trapped in that seven-day journey.

What was simply an indulgent trip after university graduation had become the root of her nightmares.

She thought that time was enough to dull everything, but with each midnight dream return, the brief seven-day experience—from train robbers and terrorists to snow-blocked roads and finally the crash that nearly wiped out ninety percent of the passengers—remained undiminished. It even became clearer with each nightmare, to the point where even the trash cans, train windows, attendants, and birds flying past the window had become lethally powerful.

Even initially insignificant details had started to emerge, to the point where the shape of the spurting fluids from Xu Ruyi’s head, crushed by the overturned train, and the cadaverously sweet smell were astoundingly clear.

"Ugh..."

Lin Jiaxin, who subconsciously recalled those details, felt a surge of nausea, and as before, she rushed into the bathroom, retching violently until the memories faded slightly. Then she turned on the tap and started rinsing her mouth.

"Huff huff, huff huff..."

Her heavy breathing, like pumping a bellows, she lifted her head and looked into the mirror. Her expression remained stern, although the face reflecting back at her seemed somewhat somber, unchanged from ten years ago.

For a woman, ageless beauty might seem worth any pursuit, yet she did not appreciate this "gift."

"Maybe, as those people online say, my time really did stop ten years ago."

Lin Jiaxin looked at her face, which despite being over thirty still lacked any trace of wrinkles, and she frowned slightly.

She had stared at this face for ten years, but today, it felt a bit unfamiliar.

"How does it feel prettier?" Lin Jiaxin furrowed her brow, wanting to tell herself this was just psychological, but as someone whose appearance had not changed in ten years, she could not possibly misrecognize her own face.

"The eyes are less intense, the corners of the eyes have lifted a bit, and the bridge of the nose has narrowed... Was it that odd dream I had today?"

Lin Jiaxin stood in front of the wash basin, carefully searching for changes in her reflection while recalling the absurd dream from earlier that day.

Unlike the past dreams which, although ever-changing, followed a fixed sequence of events, tonight’s dream was especially bizarre. Not only did a man appear in the private room that usually contained only three women, but there was also this strange process where taking someone’s business card meant being sent off to school.

Although it’s normal for one’s thoughts to suddenly change the scene in a dream, over the course of more than ten years, and over three thousand six hundred nights, Lin Jiaxin’s nightmares never once left that train.

And as today’s dream progressed, it grew more and more bizarre, such as the carriage suddenly filling with many versions of herself. What was particularly strange was that when she awoke, she could remember every single perspective of herself, as if she were arguing with her own reflections over who was the fake one.

But what was stranger than that was that, in the latter half of the journey, she had turned into a man! Not only did she have that kind of encounter with the ghost that pressed down on her in bed, but she also stuffed a whole carriage’s worth of passengers into sacks. She even transformed into a Masked Rider, stormed the train’s engine car, hijacked the train and even cast spells!

"How come I feel like this is the kind of bizarre dream a pubescent boy would have?" The more Lin Jiaxin recalled, the more bewildered her expression became, but her eyes, which were dull from long-term nightmares, began to brighten slightly.

"Could it be, these changes are a sign that I’m gradually breaking free from that nightmare?"

Lin Jiaxin’s face even began to show a hint of ecstasy. She reached for her phone, not minding that it was midnight, and immediately dialed a number.

She wasn’t the only survivor of that year’s train crash, but after the incident, all the survivors had gained eternal youth and nightmares that came punctually every night.

Over these ten years, there had been no shortage of people who couldn’t withstand the torment and attempted suicide, but they all lived, merely existing.

Paralyzed, comatose, ischemic necrosis of body parts— even fasting would only lead to a gaunt appearance...

Just thinking about those who had tried to take their own lives but ended up living in agony made Lin Jiaxin shiver.

This even led to many outrageous claims on the internet—some said they were actually long dead, merely moving corpses. Others theorized they were living in place of the two hundred-plus passengers who had died, not to die themselves until they had used up those passengers’ lives. Even Lin Jiaxin herself had cooperated with medical research, but aside from compensation that ensured she wouldn’t have to work herself to death like a corporate slave, she got no results.

"Hello? Xiaolin? What is it?" The phone call connected, and hearing the voice at the other end, Lin Jiaxin immediately said,

"Sister Wang, did you experience any changes in your dreams tonight?"

"You dreamt about something else too?" Sister Wang asked instinctively, then the two of them fell into a brief silence, until after more than ten seconds, Sister Wang said,

"Hold on, I’ll ask the others. Judging by the time, everyone should be awake now."

Being survivors who shared a common plight, Lin Jiaxin and the others naturally kept in touch, and that "too" from Sister Wang rekindled the spirit of a Lin Jiaxin long numb to hope.

"Could the curse really be lifted?" Lin Jiaxin poured herself a glass of water, trying to calm her excited heart while bracing for potential disappointment.

However, just as she lowered her head and unconsciously glimpsed her reflection in the glass, she was suddenly startled to see, next to the blurry image of herself, the reflection of another figure.

It was a man, the very man who matched the one from her odd dream that night!