"But would this really work? Sure, it's supposed to accelerate his dreaming process... yet all we've noticed is that he furrows his brows more frequently. Why hasn't he woken up after such a long time?" Jonathan asked the others in bewilderment.

The rest of them wore expressions of helplessness. Kazuki sighed bitterly, "Wang Xia's explanation was as vague as mist. He didn't mention specific timelines for waking up or what Zheng Cha should be doing at this moment. Nor did he suggest any course of action for us - we can't just sit here like sitting ducks! What if the Huangjin Lishi warriors attack while we're waiting? Won't we all die here?" The others' faces darkened as Liu Yu hesitated, "But Chu Xuan should know our situation... why hasn't he sent any frontline fighters to help us? Brother Kazuki, you said his strategies were brilliant."

"Naturally brilliant..." Kazuki affirmed with a nod. "Precisely because he's too brilliant. Compared to him, we're nothing but ants who can't even grasp the depth of his thoughts. In his calculations, these remaining Buddha statue components must weigh more than our lives. After all, this isn't about teamwork anymore - if we die here, it won't hinder anyone else..."

Liu Yu shivered involuntarily, stammering incoherently, "Brother Kazuki... would he really do such a thing? Aren't we teammates? Isn't Chu Xuan our teammate?"

Kazuki sighed again. "It's not malice, I can vouch for that. Long ago when our team was still weak, during the Ju On horror movie scenario... He even factored in his own potential death to secure critical survival data for us. That tragedy proved he valued information over life itself. Now with these statue components and Zhao Yingkong's dream world situation... it's not unfounded speculation."

Jonathan barely reacted - after all, Chu Xuan wasn't close to them either. Liu Yu's childish tears, however, caught everyone off guard. The boy had initially been thrilled joining the team, but now reality struck with terrifying clarity: survive or die.

"I want to go home... I miss my parents!" Liu Yu suddenly wailed aloud, weeping uncontrollably. "I just want to go home! I really do!"

The adults exchanged uneasy glances before Kazuki finally patted his shoulder. "Stop crying, it's not only you who wants to return home..."

They all wanted to return home... The concept of 'home' only revealed its true value when one was far from it. Zheng Cha desired home too - his real world with no impending horror movie scenarios and no sudden teammate deaths. But trapped in Zhao Yingkong's dream realm, he couldn't escape. He noted how long she must've been separated from reality as well.

Exactly half a year had passed since he arrived here. While the first month was filled with worries about Kazuki's safety and potential Huangjin Lishi attacks, time blurred into endless days as the dreamscape showed no sign of ending. With survival still intact after six months, he reasoned external time must be passing slowly. Perhaps waking up would only take a blink.

Since learning about Zhao Yingkong's assassin family heritage, Zheng Cha had been stunned by her lineage. More shocking was the connection between assassin families and the "Main God" space - proof that others had indeed escaped before. This raised endless questions: what were those escapes achieving? Were they developing fourth or fifth generation gene locks? Advanced tech? Unique abilities?

Zheng Cha's attempts to wake up from the dreamscape had failed repeatedly, no matter how he channeled his chi, bloodline energy, or third-generation gene lock simulations. Only when mirroring Zhao Yingkong's thoughts did he perceive strange interactions with her dream version - a breakthrough he was still testing.

While Zheng Cha theorized in the dreamscape, Zhao Yingkong and others remained stranded on their lonely island for six months. The assassin family had abandoned them here completely, only permitting biannual visits back to headquarters through some unknown design.

As always, Zheng Cha silently observed young Zhao Yingkong swimming among sharks with terrifying precision. Her fourth-generation gene lock abilities made fishing effortless - no tools needed when she could catch massive fish with bare hands and launch them across beaches like cannonballs.

"She's so beautiful..." he thought watching her move through the water, naked as a mermaid. Even with her developing body, it was hard to look directly. Yet each time she surfaced after catching prey, the way she controlled force astounded him - surpassing his own skill levels. How could such a small girl demonstrate such mastery?

(Why does someone so powerful become vulnerable later? And why do I remember resurrecting her when her past doesn't match this dream sequence? Was her memory altered?) These unanswered questions nagged at Zheng Cha as Zhao Yingkong suddenly collapsed on the shore, blood-red eyes burning through the sand.

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