Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

Lin Yi and Gulu stepped through the ravaged passage, their boots crunching over the sticky blood, and headed toward the heavy metal door deep inside that separated the inside from the outside.

From the spaces on either side of the corridor, which could barely be called "rooms," faint sounds of suppressed breathing and subtle trembling could be heard.

Several pairs of eyes were timidly peeking at the two uninvited guests through the gaps in the curtains or the holes in the broken boards.

Their eyes were cloudy, filled with the marks left by long-term hunger and fear.

Those were women who had been abducted by the Black Tooth Gang and kept like objects, mostly traded with other forces as commodities.

As their gazes cautiously swept over the corpses of several Black Tooth Gang members lying in the passageway, a chilling sense of relief seeped out from their deep-seated fear.

At the very bottom of this desolate land, the logic of survival has long been stripped of all pretense of civilization, leaving only the naked law of the jungle.

Those who have been stripped of everything are often left with only the instinct to brandish their claws at the weaker, in exchange for a moment's respite or a meager ration.

Just as Lin Yi and Gulu were about to reach the metal door, a corner of the tattered oilcloth that served as a curtain in a low, almost cramped cubicle on the right was slightly lifted by a withered hand.

A pale, emaciated woman, clutching a swaddled baby, knelt timidly inside the symbolic threshold.

She dared not cross that invisible boundary, but simply lowered her body deeply, her forehead almost touching the cold, dirty ground, as if she wanted to embed herself into it.

The baby in her arms was breathing as faintly as a candle in the wind, its skin an unhealthy bluish-gray, and its small chest barely rose and fell—proof of a long period of extreme hunger.

Lin Yi hesitated for a moment as his gaze swept over the woman and the barely perceptible pulse of life in her arms.

His face was expressionless, showing neither pity nor disgust. The next moment, two perfectly sealed cans of milk powder appeared out of thin air in his hands.

He stood a few steps away, and with a slight flick of his arm, the tin can traced a short arc before crashing heavily onto the cold, dirty ground in front of the woman.

"Thump...thump..." Two dull thuds were unusually clear in the deathly silent passage, like stones thrown into an ancient well, stirring up invisible ripples.

All the eyes that had been peering out instantly focused on the two cans of milk powder.

The woman suddenly raised her head, her cloudy eyes initially blank, her pupils dilating slightly, as if she couldn't comprehend the strange object that had suddenly appeared before her.

Her gaze lingered on the milk powder can for a few seconds, as if she was trying to make out what it was.

Then, her confusion was ignited by an unbelievable light, followed by an overwhelming joy and gratitude that almost completely engulfed her frail body.

An uncontrollable sob escaped her throat, the sob stuck in her chest, turning into broken gasps.

She stopped speaking, and her forehead slammed heavily against the ground again and again, making soft "thump" sounds.

"Godfather, why don't you help me out?" Gulu's voice carried a hint of mockery. Her fingers deftly twirled the dagger, her eyes sweeping with interest over the prying cubicles, clearly unconcerned about Lin Yi's actions.

"Get lost."

"Zha, let's get out of here." Gulu replied in a drawn-out tone, a hint of amusement on his face, his gaze then turning to the huge metal door in front of him.

She bent her knuckles and knocked on the heavy metal door. The dull metallic echo spread through the silent passage, carrying a sense of weight.

The sound didn't come from the surface of the door, but from deep within it.

The door is much thicker than it appears, reaching at least an astonishing three meters. Its internal structure is complex; it is not a simple solid metal block, but rather composed of multiple layers of high-density alloy and a complex internal support structure, resembling a meticulously forged steel fortress.

It's not impossible to break through with pure brute force, but that would take time.

In this unknown environment, time often means uncertainty.

A few seconds passed silently.

The stench of blood in the passageway, the prying eyes, and the suppressed sobs of the woman behind me all created an unsettling background noise.

Gu Lu's small nostrils twitched slightly, a hint of impatience flashed in her eyes, and her fingers unconsciously traced the dagger.

She dislikes waiting, especially when she senses her prey is close yet separated by a hard shell; this stillness almost makes her feel physiologically restless.

Just as Lin Yi was pondering a better solution, an extremely faint female voice drifted from another compartment behind them: "...Right...right side...under the door frame...near the ground...there's...something..."

Lin Yi and Gulu turned their heads at the same time. From the source of the sound, a naked woman covered with old and new whip marks and bruises was curled up in the shadows.

Her body was a map recording endless torment; the purplish-blue, bruised, and scabbed wounds were particularly glaring in the light.

The two men's sudden turn clearly startled her. She quickly lowered her head, her long hair falling down to cover her face, her teeth chattering slightly. She stared intently at the ground, unable to meet their gaze: "...The password...is...it's a ten-digit number...They...they often pinned me...to the door...I...I secretly memorized it..."

During the time she was treated inhumanly, she was repeatedly dragged roughly into this cold, hard metal passage.

Those Black Tooth Gang members didn't treat her like a human being at all. Their dragging was rough and barbaric, causing her body to slam against the walls and the ground repeatedly, leaving new wounds.

Her face was pressed hard against the dirty, cold ground by the guards. The rough texture of the metal rubbed against her skin, causing a burning pain. The strong smell of rust and filth filled her nostrils, and the feeling of suffocation was accompanied by endless humiliation and despair.

In those countless moments when she was forced into close contact with the ground and her vision was restricted, her gaze was just able to catch the password input panel, which was installed in an extremely tricky location.

It was embedded in the lower right corner of the heavy metal door frame, almost flush with the ground, with its edges fitting perfectly with the door. It would be difficult to spot unless you were lying on the ground looking for it.

In those dark and painful days, she had nothing to cling to and could only focus her attention on these subtle sounds.

Like grasping at the last straw, she forced herself to concentrate her remaining spirit, to remember those chaotic numbers and sequences, repeating them silently every time new pain and humiliation struck. It became a kind of self-protective mantra, a humble act of resistance to prove that she was still "thinking" rather than completely becoming a numb object.

As for why she spoke to two strangers who exuded a dangerous aura, it was because she saw Lin Yi throw away the two cans of milk powder.

In this hellish place, no one will help others for no reason, and the Black Tooth Gang takes pleasure in bullying them.

That dying baby was not only that woman's child, but also a faint miracle of all the women here feeding it with their remaining milk and despair.

They saved their already meager food and fed it to the baby bit by bit, watching him grow day by day. It was the last glimmer of humanity that had not been completely extinguished in this hellish place.

Lin Yi's help to the baby gave them a glimmer of hope.

Lin Yi's gaze lingered on the trembling woman for a moment, his eyes remaining calm, as if assessing the credibility of her words.

He nodded slightly, still saying nothing, but took something out of his personal space again.

This time, what suddenly appeared on the ground in the middle of the passage was no longer a lone iron can.

Instead, there were bags of rice, fresh vegetables that smelled of earth, and several large bags of vacuum-packed, dark red meat.

These supplies, considered luxuries in the lower levels of the slumbering city, were piled up like a small, abrupt hill on the dirty ground.

Instantly, from behind the gaps in the doors on both sides of the passage, a series of suppressed but uncontrollable gasps rose up as countless greedy eyes burned at the precious food as if they were real.

However, Gulu's behavior just now, and the still-warm corpses in the passage, firmly held them back.

They witnessed firsthand Gulu's cruelty and the fate of the Black Tooth Gang members. Fear was like an invisible chain, binding their bodies.

Gulu's gaze swept over the supplies, then glanced at the trembling woman in the shadows. The corners of her small mouth turned down almost imperceptibly, revealing a mixture of boredom and slight annoyance, as if she found this "transaction" extremely uninteresting.

In the end, she simply turned her gaze back to the metal door without making any attempt to stop it, thus tacitly agreeing to this silent exchange.

With clear guidance, Lin Yi's gaze fell on the lower right corner of the metal door, near the ground. He discovered an extremely inconspicuous square metal panel, its edges almost perfectly flush with the door, its presence only revealed by tiny gaps in the buttons. Embedded in thick metal, its location was peculiar; without prior knowledge, it would be extremely difficult to spot.

"despair."

The last button was pressed.

A brief moment of dead silence.

immediately--

"Om-!"

A powerful hum came from inside the door, followed by the dull hum of heavy machinery starting up.

The heavy metal door began to rise slowly, stirring up the dust and small debris that had accumulated on the ground.

The door rubbed against the frame, producing a heavy rumbling sound, demonstrating its astonishing weight.

The scene behind the door was gradually revealed.

The space inside the door was not large, but it was well-lit, even a bright yellow that was somewhat dazzling, coming from several overpowered spotlights on the ceiling.

The spotlights shone directly down, making it difficult to open one's eyes, illuminating everything in the room clearly without any shadows.

The overly bright lights illuminated the thick plush carpet underfoot—it was stained, its edges were badly worn, and even traces of dried dark liquid were visible.

Several sofas inlaid with cheap reflective metal pieces and cracked artificial leather occupy the center of the space, creating an insincere reception layout.

The sofa armrests were covered in scratches and tears, and the artificial leather had cracked, revealing the foam underneath.

Several oil paintings depicting vulgar scenes of pleasure hung on the wall, their brushstrokes clumsy and their colors so gaudy as to be unpleasant.

This place is like a nouveau riche with low taste, who has crammed his so-called "luxurious" living room into a steel fortress deep in the sewers, exuding a sense of self-numbing extravagance.

The room's layout is full of contradictions; it aims to appear luxurious, yet it also exudes cheapness and decay.

Three people stood inside the door, their expressions shifting dramatically from shock to fear the instant the door opened.

The leader was bald, wearing an old-fashioned suit that had been washed to a pale color but was trying to look presentable. The collar was askew, revealing his fleshy neck. The fat on his face was twisted and deformed due to extreme fear, making him look particularly ferocious.

On the left was a tall, thin man wearing a white coat stained with unidentified yellowish-brown dirt and thick glasses. His eyes behind the lenses were wide open, and he was tightly gripping a crudely made pistol in his hand.

On the right is a muscular, bald, strong man with a face full of scars, his hands tightly gripping a buzzing, gleaming high-frequency chainsaw.

The moment the door opened, the man in the white coat, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, was overcome by instinctual fear.

His mind went blank, leaving only the most primal fear response.

Before he could even get a clear look at the figure at the door, he reflexively pulled the trigger on Gulu.

"Zi——!"

A blinding blue beam of energy shot out from the crude muzzle, carrying a scorching heat and a faint crackling sound of electricity, and shot straight at Gulu's face at extremely high speed.

This energy weapon travels at speeds far exceeding those of traditional warheads; almost the instant the trigger is pulled, the deadly beam is already upon the target.

Although its power is not great, it is enough to cause fatal damage to a person at such close range.

Just as the beam of light was about to touch Gulu's skin, a semi-transparent shield instantly appeared in front of her.

Tsk-!
The energy beam slammed into the pale gold shield, producing a soft, bubble-like sound.

The raging energy instantly lost its direction, disintegrating into countless scattered blue light particles, like popped soap bubbles, which flickered briefly in front of the shield before completely disappearing.

Gulu's fingers tightened slightly as he gripped the dagger, his killing intent instantly locking onto the white-robed man.

Lin Yi stood half a step behind her, his eyes sweeping over the three people in the room, as if the potentially fatal sneak attack was just an insignificant farce.

This failed attack became the final straw that broke the psychological defenses of the three.

"Pfft!"

The gang leader in the old suit and the man in the white coat almost simultaneously buckled at the knees, as if all the bones in their bodies had been removed, and collapsed heavily onto the stained carpet.

The bald man's forced composure vanished, replaced by a trembling, leaf-like shaking. His bulky body shuddered like a leaf in a storm, and sweat soaked through the front of his starched suit.

He frantically rummaged in his pocket, his fingers moving erratically from nervousness, nearly dropping what he was holding several times.

With a sob in his voice, he pulled out an open black metal box, and with all his might, he held it high above his head. His arms trembled so much that he could barely hold the box, which swayed in his hands.

"Spare me! My lord, spare me!" The bald gang leader's voice was hoarse and distorted, filled with heavy sobs.

He practically crawled forward two steps, his knees scraping against the carpet, as he desperately offered the open box to Lin Yi and Gulu as if it were a sacrifice. Inside the box, on a red velvet lining, lay a... helmet.

But the appearance of this helmet makes it impossible to associate it with words like "precious" or "powerful".

It was roughly pieced together from some cheap metal with dark red rust and cracked black hard plastic, with rough welding marks and a few exposed wires visible on the edges.

Several dim indicator lights flickered on and off as if there was a malfunction. The helmet lining was made of dirty, yellowed sponge, emitting a smell that was a mixture of sweat and engine oil.

Its overall design is bulky and ugly, exuding a cheap and dangerous feeling that it might fall apart or short-circuit and explode at any time.

"A dream-entering device! This is a dream-entering device!" The bald gang leader's voice trembled violently, his words flowing like a torrent, as if afraid that a second's hesitation would cost him his head. "The most precious thing in the City of Sleep! Our Black Tooth Gang... no, it's me, I finally managed to get my hands on it! I offer it to you two lords! I only beg you to have mercy and spare my life! I am willing to submit! I am willing to serve you two like a slave! Everything in this base belongs to you!"

He spoke incoherently, repeatedly pleading for mercy, hoping to move Lin Yi and Gulu.

While professing his loyalty, he kowtowed repeatedly, his forehead striking the thick carpet with a dull "thump-thump," each impact causing the fat on his face and the beads of sweat on his bald head to shake violently.

The man in the white coat next to him also kowtowed frantically, making indistinct pleas for mercy, his glasses slipping down to the tip of his nose but he didn't bother to fix them.

Gulu's gaze swept over the tattered helmet, then landed on the bald gang leader who was kowtowing repeatedly: "Are you sure this isn't trash?"

Gulu felt that wearing this thing into the Nightmare Realm would probably just blow his brain to smithereens.

Lin Yi's gaze lingered on the helmet for a moment. The helmet was extremely crudely made, using the lowest quality scraps of materials, and was simply unable to withstand the impact of energy.

The design of the internal energy circuit is ridiculously rudimentary, with messy and chaotic wiring, full of unstable factors and fatal hidden dangers.

It's less a key to the nightmare space and more a time bomb with absolutely no security.

Its energy conversion efficiency is extremely low, and it is extremely unstable.

Even if such a thing manages to be activated by chance, each use is tantamount to playing Russian roulette with the user's brain as the stake, and the risk is immeasurably high.

If the user is not careful, they will die on the spot or become an idiot.

Clearly, the Black Tooth Gang, struggling at the very bottom of the Sleeping City, could only access these inferior, discarded items that weren't even considered garbage. (End of Chapter)