Chapter Five: Peering into the Dreamscape

The hand that had just reached out froze instantly.

Ye Feifan did not lay a hand on the servant because he witnessed a far more intriguing scene— the dream of the young master of the Zhang family had shifted.

Through his sunglasses, Ye Feifan saw everything within the dream. Simply put, he could see the dream the Zhang family’s young master was having.

Perhaps everyone harbors a tender heart deep down. The young master’s dream was a paradisiacal retreat. As the protagonist, he was lying on a deck chair by a pond, with Lavender beside him holding a tray, gently picking up peeled orange slices to feed him.

Enjoying the intimate act of being fed, the young master occasionally snapped a whip at Ye Feifan, who was fishing, snarling, “Kid, if you don’t catch a big fish by noon, you won’t eat.”

Witnessing this, Ye Feifan’s anger nearly erupted. How could the dream be so frustrating? It was practically daring him to intervene.

Attaching the purchased basic dream bait to the dream hook, Ye Feifan followed the instructions to wield the causality dream rod. The fate fishing line vanished, and the dream hook appeared inside the young master’s dream.

The dream bait was a swirl of green light, which paused momentarily upon entering the dream before transforming into a delicate girl in sheer fabric, her figure faintly visible beneath, exuding an irresistible allure. This surprised Ye Feifan.

The girl was none other than Lavender.

Dreams cannot be altered by the dreamer themselves; the dream bait served as an external force capable of changing the dream's plot. With the bait’s presence, the real Lavender beside the young master disappeared.

Sensing Ye Feifan’s wrath, the fate fishing line that had vanished reappeared briefly, and the version of Ye Feifan fishing by the pond in the dream vanished without a trace.

“What?” Ye Feifan was stunned. Just moments ago, he had seen the dream’s Ye Feifan’s fate fishing line sever a faint, translucent thread—he hadn’t expected the person to vanish entirely.

“To sever one’s fate within another’s dream and erase all memories of oneself from that dream—that’s powerful.”

Lavender and Ye Feifan’s disappearance dimmed the young master’s dream. Though Ye Feifan wasn’t sure what would happen next, he sensed the situation was far more complex than he had anticipated.

The figure in sheer fabric drifted toward the peach grove outside the pond and moved slowly toward the young master.

“What’s wrong?” The young master seemed to have forgotten everything that had just occurred. He groggily opened his eyes and saw his goddess, the one he had longed for day and night, unfastening her clothes as she approached.

The young master’s mouth fell open. The goddess, half-undressed, appeared to be teasing him—every frown and smile radiated temptation, as if waiting for his favor.

“Lavender…” Ignoring whether it was real or not, he leapt from the deck chair and ran toward the dream bait.

Watching all this, Ye Feifan muttered to himself, “My apologies...”

His childhood sweetheart was a scheming girl, but she was still his childhood sweetheart. This made him somewhat unsettled. He decided to observe how things unfolded before deciding on a surprise for the young master.

The dream bait seemed intentionally provocative, maintaining a close distance to the young master, coaxing him to chase. Whenever he faltered, she would emit surges of energy, spurring him onward.

Previously, Ye Feifan hadn’t understood these dreams, but now it was clear: the bait’s seduction dimmed the young master’s dream, yet the dreamer remained oblivious—completely unaware and not waking, as if the dream were developing in a particular direction.

---

At last, when the young master could run no longer, he feigned exhaustion and lay down. As the dream bait passed by, he suddenly sprang up and embraced her.

The moment he held the dream bait, she vanished with a sinister smile, replaced by a massive fishhook. The young master’s face fell, but at that moment, his clothes caught on the hook, and an invisible force restrained him, rendering him immobile.

“Gotcha!”

Ye Feifan’s eyes gleamed. He swiftly raised his rod and fiercely reeled in the dream hook.

The dream hook detached from the young master’s dream. The young master, still caught on the hook, transformed into a fish, connected to the dream by a faint white thread.

Ye Feifan frowned but noticed the fate fishing line and causality dream rod emitted a faint glow. The white thread on the fish silently severed itself, and the young master’s dream gradually vanished.

“What’s going on?”

Reeling in the dream hook, Ye Feifan caught the fish.

The fish looked bizarre, resembling the abstract drawing of a three-year-old child. It didn’t move. After removing the hook, the fish nearly slipped back into the dream world.

“In you go!” Ye Feifan threw the fish into the Drunken Dream Bamboo Basket with force. The fish struggled briefly, then went still.

“Congratulations, host. You have caught a white dream and earned one hundred points!” The system announcement rang out.

After some thought, Ye Feifan’s face brightened with a faint smile as he murmured, “So this is what a dream fisher really is!”

A faint white thread still clung to the dream hook, seemingly severed by the fate fishing line and causality dream rod. Its purpose was unclear.

“This is residual dream energy. The host can have the sunglasses absorb it to view the dreamer’s current real-world condition.”

“That’s useful!”

Without hesitation, Ye Feifan followed the system’s instructions and absorbed the thread into the sunglasses. His vision shifted to an unfamiliar room where the young master lay on a luxurious bed, filled with grief and anger.

The young master was restless. Just moments ago, he had been playing a game of tag with his goddess in the dream, only to wake at the critical moment—a frustrating twist of fate.

Ye Feifan saw that the young master’s waistband was damp… a nocturnal emission?

Impressive, dream bait.

The young master got up to change clothes, swaying as if drained of strength. After only two steps, he collapsed.

He struggled greatly just to change his underwear, then lay back on the bed, dazed.

“What’s wrong with me?” he wondered, utterly unaware of what had happened or why his body felt so weak.

---

Sleep was inevitable, especially as faint smoke—unseen by him—was exerting an effect. He soon drifted back into a hazy slumber.

Ye Feifan now fully comprehended the terrifying nature of dream fishers: they snatch others’ dreams away, disrupting the dreamer’s mental state in reality. What consequences would follow, he was not yet sure.

The young master had dreamed of making him a slave to fish for him—and now it had come true. Truly, one does not court disaster without consequence; it seemed like fate.

Soon, the young master sank into a deep sleep.

Ye Feifan shut off his real-world vision and saw a dim dreamscape appear in the dream realm, merging with the dreams of the servant, the young master’s father, and others.

The effect of the Dream Summoning Incense was still active!

Seizing the advantage, Ye Feifan eagerly attached a third of a basic philosophy drug to the dream hook and cast it into a servant’s dream.

The drug transformed into a gold ingot that the servant picked up. The servant seemed to merge with the dream, and the entire dream turned into a fish that fell into Ye Feifan’s hands.

“Host’s strength is insufficient to fish the entire dream; unable to collect this dream.”

The servant’s dream did not disappear, leaving Ye Feifan troubled. Having caught the entire dream but unable to use it, he pondered and asked, “Can it be placed into another dream?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

The drugged fish glowed red as Ye Feifan placed it into the young master’s dim dream.

The dim dream brightened slightly. Using the same method, Ye Feifan caught another servant’s dream, transformed it into a fish, and placed it into the young master’s dream. The remaining third of the basic philosophy drug became a spiritual herb that inadvertently found its way to the young master, who consumed it.

Thus, the dream brightened.

The three dreams overlapped, and under the drug’s influence, some irreversibly eye-watering scenes unfolded. Ye Feifan could hardly watch and severed the Dream Summoning Incense from this merged dream, banishing the fused dream to the dream world.

“Sweet dreams, young master of the Zhang family…” Ye Feifan smiled slyly. Revenge waits for no night. The crueler, the better. He was thrilled and planned to deliver such philosophical dreams to the young master every day henceforth.

Next up was the young master’s father. Ye Feifan was curious whether he could similarly outwit this formidable figure.

[PS: Prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony; freedom, equality, justice, rule of law; patriotism, dedication, integrity, friendship.]