And the dream shrouded in gray mist still existed.

Chapter 6 Ruins

Logan Smith instinctively looked around and saw the familiar tables, chairs, bookshelves, wardrobe, and bed.

This was his bedroom, but it was enveloped in a faint gray mist.

A lucid dream? Am I having a lucid dream? Logan Smith's pupils instantly dilated.

A lucid dream refers to dreaming while retaining the ability to think and remember as if awake. It's a rather rare state, and people with special training can trigger it with higher probability.

Previously, in order to uncover the secret of Logan Smith's gray mist dream and help him completely eliminate this hidden danger, Audrey Miller had tried many times to create a lucid dream using different methods, but none had succeeded.

But now, Logan Smith had inexplicably regained lucidity within the dream.

After a brief moment of shock and confusion, Logan Smith collected his thoughts and considered a possibility:

“Was it that Tarot card representing the ‘Seven of Wands’ that caused this?

“That woman said this card would help me unravel the secrets of the dream...

“So, its function is to let me enter a lucid dream state, so I can truly explore this area shrouded in gray mist?

“Hmm... Compared to my previous impression, the gray mist now seems much lighter, much...”

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Logan Smith turned his body, quickly walked to the slanted chair, placed both hands on the desk pressed against the wall, and leaned out to look through the window.

What met his eyes was not the familiar scene he knew.

This dream did not replicate his life in Cordu Village.

Beneath the faint and thin gray-white mist, the most striking thing was a towering mountain peak, composed purely of brown-red stones and reddish-brown earth, stretching twenty or thirty meters into the sky.

Surrounding this peak were ring after ring of buildings, some collapsed to the ground, some charred black by fire, making it impossible to tell what they looked like when intact.

From where Logan Smith stood, they looked like ruined tombs, arranged in imperfect rings.

And the entire area—the ground was pitted and uneven, littered with rubble, not a single blade of grass.

In addition, the mist in the high sky grew denser and whiter. Logan Smith could not tell if there was a sun; he only knew it was unusually dim here, as if it were a night lit only by starlight.

After carefully observing for a while, he muttered to himself:

“Is this the entire scene of the dream?”

This dream that had troubled him for so many years—was this its true state?

After a brief daze, Logan Smith began to consider more practical questions:

“Where is the so-called secret of the dream hidden?

“On that mountain peak, or inside one of the ruined buildings?”

Logan Smith did not rush to leave the bedroom and enter that area to explore the dream. He remained where he was, scrutinizing every place he could see.

Suddenly, he felt as if a figure flashed by among the ruins of the buildings surrounding the mountain peak.

Because the house he was in had only two floors and was not high enough, and although the gray mist was thin, its presence was still significant, Logan Smith could not be sure whether he had hallucinated.

After a while, he slowly exhaled and said to himself in his heart, “Don’t rush, be patient, don’t rush, be patient.

“It seems this dream really does have quite a few secrets. It doesn’t seem to belong entirely to me. Blindly exploring could be dangerous...

“Hmm, tomorrow morning I’ll go find that woman and see if I can get more details, then decide what to do next...”

As his thoughts swirled, Logan Smith withdrew his gaze, preparing to leave the dream and get some real sleep.

But in his lucid state, he suddenly didn’t know how to actually wake himself up.

After repeatedly failing to suggest it to himself, he lay down on the bed, trying to let his mind become muddled, simulating the state he was in when he used to fall asleep.

Unconsciously, he didn’t know how much time had passed before Logan Smith suddenly sat up and saw the pale golden sunlight filtering into the room through the curtains.

“Finally awake...

“Sure enough, falling asleep in the dream restores that muddled state, and then you can get out...”

Logan Smith let out a sigh of relief and silently muttered to himself.

Just then, there was a knock at the door—thump, thump, thump.

“Audrey Miller?” Logan Smith's heart tightened, worried that something bad might happen.

“It’s me.” Audrey Miller’s voice came into the room.

Logan Smith rolled out of bed, quickly walked to the door, grabbed the handle, and pulled it open.

Sure enough, it was Audrey Miller outside the door. She was wearing a white silk nightgown, her long golden hair softly draped down her back.

“How are you?” She seemed quite certain that Logan Smith had just woken up.

Logan Smith didn’t hide anything and told Audrey Miller everything that had happened to him.

Audrey Miller nodded as if in thought:

“So the card’s function is to let you have a lucid dream...”

She then asked, “What do you plan to do next?”

Logan Smith responded with a “hmm”:

“I’ll grab something to eat in a bit, then go find that woman and see if I can get more information, figure out her true intentions.”

“All right.” Audrey Miller did not object.