After sending Miku back home, Naga returned to her room and felt even more exhausted than if she had worked all day.
Fortunately, the result was not bad. Her mother's satisfaction with Miku was almost overflowing; her enthusiasm and affection made Naga a little jealous. Her father, though still taciturn, hadn't given Naga that approving look in a long time. As for her younger brother, Hoshina, he showed envy for the first time. He had recently mentioned a young girl working part-time in his lab, expressing considerable fondness for her. It seemed that the girl was quite different from Miku; otherwise, the competitive Hoshina wouldn't have expressed such open envy.
Of all the affirmations from his three relatives, Hoshina's envy was the part that made him the most proud. It even gave him the feeling of finally experiencing what it's like to be the eldest brother for the first time today.
Unexpectedly, just as he was about to go to sleep, there was a knock on his bedroom door.
He opened the door, and his younger brother, Bao Ke, stood outside, looking at him earnestly. "Brother, I... have something I want to discuss with you."
Discuss? It seems like this younger brother hasn't used that word on me since he was five. Could it be that bringing home a future sister-in-law today has changed his personality? Naga stepped aside, which was habitually blocking the doorway, puzzled. "Oh, come in and talk."
Seeing his exceptionally talented younger brother in such a rare state of embarrassment, Naga naturally wanted to savor the moment a little longer. He pretended not to notice and simply chatted with Hoshina.
The two brothers didn't have much in common. Naga was interested in anime, novels, games, and various websites, but Hoshina had almost no interest in them. What Hoshina was an expert in was like gibberish to Naga.
When the conversation about Miku had to come to an end due to a lack of topics to discuss, an awkward silence fell over the bedroom.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Naga turned on the computer and sat down in the computer chair. "Alright, Hoshina, if there's something you need to say, say it like a man. After all, I'm your brother, so don't be embarrassed."
"Ah... It feels so good to be able to say that," Naga said, turning his chair around and laughing with his back to Hoshina.
"Um, okay." Hoshino tugged at his collar, his voice low and somber with dejection. "Brother, how much savings do you... have at your disposal?"
"What's going on? I remember you had quite a bit of savings, didn't you? What happened?" Naga frowned, turned around and looked at her younger brother, asking in confusion.
"I... do have an urgent need. It's that girl I mentioned at home, the one named Jia Wumeng."
"Oh... I remember her. What happened to her?" Because the pronunciation of her name was similar to that of Yui, and her surname was rather strange, Naga could easily recall her.
"I have to help her." Bao Ke raised his head firmly. "Her family owes a lot of money to loan sharks. Her father committed suicide because of it, and her mother is missing. She's probably been sold to South Asia. She's been hiding for so long, but she's still been found out. Brother, I… I really like her. From the first time I saw her, I felt that all the girlfriends I've had in my life were mistakes I regretted. I have to help her. I've used all my savings, and I'm still short. Brother, can you help me?"
"It might... require around five million. How much do you have? Lend it to me, and I can figure out the rest later." Hoshino lowered his head in frustration, his hands clenched into fists. He clearly didn't want to ask his parents for money, which was why he came to Naga for help. But even Naga, who had risen through the ranks so quickly, shouldn't be able to come up with such an amount all at once.
However, that kind of estimate only makes sense for employees who earn a normal salary. His collaboration with Asami brought Naga far more than just a woman's beautiful body. With that extravagant second young lady providing him with extra income whenever she was in a good mood, his disposable yen had already approached the eight-figure mark last month.
He was in a state of lacking desire for money; more than those cold, hard numbers, Naga wanted to see his younger brother owing him money. He smiled, got up, and patted Hoshina on the shoulder. "You don't need to think of any more ways. Pay me back slowly later."
After agreeing on the time to transfer the money the next day, Naga fell asleep contentedly. Even before falling asleep, the grateful look on his younger brother's face still made him smile.
However, he did not expect that the Dream Eater's ability would activate after he fell asleep.
I wonder if I've hit a plateau, because lately Naga has only been able to peek at things. This time is no different.
From the very beginning, he felt that the dream was incredibly heavy and sluggish, and his body felt immense resistance with every centimeter that his consciousness moved forward.
When he finally escaped from the swamp-like void, he found himself in a winding, labyrinthine courtyard.
The obstacles were clearly beyond the subconscious's ability to protect itself. He frowned, recalling his fragmented understanding of the dream eaters and speculating about the dream's owner.
There are only two possibilities: either this person is a complete madman who defies common sense, with his entire subconscious system in absolute chaos; or he also has the ability to control dreams, but not to the point of devouring them, and can only protect his own dreams from being disturbed.
Patiently circling the maze, Naga guessed that the dream's owner must have a naive side, otherwise she wouldn't have used the maze to stop intruders. After all, the flow of time in the dream was completely chaotic and blurry. As long as Naga wanted, the dream's timeline wouldn't move at all until she found the exit.
If his abilities could be further enhanced, he could imprison the people in the dream world forever without doing anything to them. However, he had never agreed with such a method, which was no different from murder, from the moment he learned about it. Even if he treated dreams as sustenance, after understanding the general idea, he was still willing to be a gentle diner.
He sincerely hoped that Nami's tragedy would never be repeated.
"Wha...what's going on?" After leaving the maze, what they saw was not the expected dream scene, but an overwhelming red, blood-red.
He waved his arms in a panic, only to find that he was as if he had been plunged into a huge pool of blood. Thick blood plasma obscured everything, and he could neither see nor touch anything.
If this was also a nightmare, then the dreamer clearly only dreamed of one thing: blood.
With a helpless sigh, Naga relaxed her focus on the dream and began to wait for the nightmare to end naturally.
Finally, the crimson world began to shatter from the center. When the entire dream broke apart, all Naga could see was still red, blood-red.