Thriller Night Talk

Chapter 164: The Second Method

Translator-Rhapsodite

Editor- Koneko, Proofreader- Spring Flower

Friday, August 27th, at 9:34am.

Everyone had gathered in Bei Quan’s study room.

Bei Quan held an electronic tablet in his hands but, like an old antique who was over 650 years old, he hadn’t kept up with modern technology trends. Usually, the device stayed in the drawer and Zhu Ling used it when needed.

Regarding this, Wei Fuyuan once asked Bei Quan why he didn’t use a computer, let alone a smartphone. It was as if you were being disconnected from all of society, right?

Bei Quan sighed in response.

He explained that he might have too much negative energy in his soul and his aura clashed with high-tech products.

No matter how good the machine was, it would mysteriously have problems once his hands had touched them. After changing four phones in a year, he completely gave up and joined the Nokia brick party.

After hearing the explanation, Wei Fuyuan sighed deeply and said that the occult world was a truly fascinating one.

He generously promised that his phone would be Bei Quan’s from now on and he could use it whenever he wanted. Bei Quan just smiled and gently brushed his lover’s cheek to show his gratitude.

This reaction also made Young Master Wei a little disappointed. He secretly regretted that the old antique didn’t understand the meaning of his promise to be wholeheartedly devoted to him!

This time, because the clues of the case were on the internet, Zhu Ling asked them all to meet in the study room before opening the computer, clicking on one of the web pages.

“The post has indeed been deleted.”

Zhu Ling slowly scrolled the mouse, allowing everyone to roughly browse through the content of the post. “Now, the only thing that we can find is the cached records in the search engine.”

Bei Quan’s reading speed was very fast. He quickly scanned through the dense text without even needing to pause.

Just like the way it was described in [Thriller Night Talk] by the teenager, the writing style of the post was terrible.

It was difficult to make sense of the subject, verb, object, and modifiers within a sentence, easily losing the interest of the readers who came across it. The post also included a picture taken with a mobile phone, depicting a pattern that resembled a double ring, with the words “Two Pole Gate” written next to it.

“I also found their forum’s anonymous section.”

Then Zhu Ling clicked on another web address and said, ‘Plus, I even created an account and posted a thread half an hour ago.’

The forum’s server was overseas, so a VPN was needed to be used, or mirror link to access it. The registration process was simple, just to create a unique username with a secure password with a basic email verification: there was no proof of identification needed.

Zhu Ling quickly showed Bei Quan, Wei Fuyuan and Jiang Nan’an the general concept of the forum.

“This forum is a global paranormal discussion board, being quite large in scale. It’s divided into map sections based on the seven continents, with each section having various categories and subcategories, roughly organized by country.

Zhu Ling clicked onto the Asian section, found the option for ‘China’, and scrolled through a long list until she found the Two Pole Gate in the ‘Mysteries of the Immortal Realm’ subcategory.

“’This is it,” Zhu Ling said with her finger pointing at the information presenting itself to her.

In the post, Zhu Ling played the role of a 21-year-old female college student, who was also a “newcomer” to the Two Pole Gate after dreaming about it for the second time.

She mentioned that she learned about it from her younger brother, initially thinking it was just a story, but it turned out to be real.

After expressing her shock and uneasiness, Zhu Ling also remarked that it was comforting to know that others had shared similar experiences, which made her less afraid.

In just half an hour, there were already over thirty replies to the post.

The replies to the post were all congratulatory, with some people saying that the girl was cute: they all wanted a female college student as our senior or junior, but unfortunately, the forum rules prohibited the sharing of photos.

Zhu Ling replied again, expressing her fear and questioning if dreaming about the “Two Pole Gate” was a good thing.

She wondered if there could be any danger or if the things behind the “gate” could in fact be terrifying.

Soon enough, someone comforted her, assuring her that the world behind the “Two Pole Gate” was beyond imagination and that entering the gate would lead to a transcendent and immortal path.

There was another user who claimed to have entered the “Two Pole Gate” and came out to share their experiences.

They said that there was no danger behind the gate and that they could cultivate immortality in their dreams every night.

“I tried adding their ID as a friend,” Zhu Ling mentioned, referring to the user who claimed to have entered the gate.

“They accepted,” she added.

The forum had a simple private messaging function, so Zhu Ling sent a private message to her newly added friend.

Bei Quan quickly read through the conversation between Zhu Ling and the other person.

[Brother, I’m still a little scared. This whole thing feels too mysterious~~~ ]

[It’s okay, trust me! I won’t lie to you, sis!]

[Can you secretly tell me what’s behind the gate? Just a little hint, I promise I won’t tell anyone~~~ ]

[Sorry, I can’t tell you! It’s the rule of the “Two Pole Gate.” Once you say it, you can’t enter again!]

The two of them went back and forth, one pleading desperately and the other firmly refusing.

Completely different from her usual cold and indifferent demeanor, Zhu Ling displayed an incredibly skilled technique of being coquettish and silly online.

She called him “brother” repeatedly, accompanied by crying and heart-shaped expressions. She appeared to be a soft and easily deceived innocent girl.

Wei Fuyuan couldn’t help but glance at Zhu Ling a few more times, suspecting that this beautiful spirit had a dual personality.

Zhu Ling replied to him in a casual manner, “Just acting.”

Unfortunately, despite Zhu Ling’s outstanding acting skills, the “brother” on the other side still refused to reveal what was behind the “Two Pole Gate.” He only told her not to give up and assured her that if she ever entered the gate, she wouldn’t regret it.

[Brother is waiting behind the gate for you.]

That’s how the other party replied.

Unable to do anything else, Zhu Ling could only settle for second best and pretended to be very excited, then asked for the trick to enter the “Two Pole Gate.”

[Actually, there’s no trick. It depends on individual talent.]

The “brother” replied:

[Based on my personal experience, as long as you constantly think about the “Two Pole Gate” during your daily life, you will have a higher chance of dreaming about the gate when you fall asleep.]

[In short, think about it more, preferably all the time!]

[As long as you have determination, you will eventually be able to enter!]

—————————–

“The information that we can currently find is pretty similar to this.”

After the three had finished reading the private messages, Zhu Ling closed her laptop.

“I still don’t know how the ‘Two Pole Gate’ appeared and what’s behind it.”

She shrugged at Bei Quan, “And also, what does it have to do with the Hui Gui?”

Bei Quan was also at a loss.

After all, the information on the internet was limited, and the “Two Pole Gate” only existed in the dreams of a few people, leaving no trace in reality.

It gave them a feeling of not knowing where to start the investigation.

Bei Quan: “……”

He pressed his finger to his lips and furrowed his brows, pondering to himself for a brief moment. “Now, there are two ways.”

Wei Fuyuan and Jiang Nan’an asked, “Oh? What are these ways?”

Bei Quan raised his index finger.

“First, we can go to find the ‘brother’ who claims to have been inside the gate and use empathy to see what he saw inside.”

“Wouldn’t that be a waste of time?”

Jiang Nan’an didn’t quite agree.

“This forum is hosted overseas and we haven’t done anything illegal. We’re not professional hackers either, so even if we hire someone to help us investigate, it would take a lot of effort!”

He paused for a moment, “And, what if that person is far away or not even in the country? Do we really have to make a special trip?”

Jiang Nan’an clicked his tongue in frustration, “When will we be able to actually solve this case then?”

Bei Quan nodded, “You’re right.”

He pointed out another more serious issue, “And also, we’re not sure what actually lies beyond the ‘Two Pole Gate’…”

Just like playing a video game, even if you use someone else’s account and watch their gameplay videos, it doesn’t guarantee that the crucial information that can help the user clear the game in the parts not played yet.

“So, we might have to try the second method.”

Bei Quan raised his second finger.

Wei Fuyuan and Jiang Nan’an urged him together, “What method?!”

Bei Quan smiled and said, “That’s right, we can personally go and explore this ‘Two Pole Gate’.”

Wei Fuyuan and Jiang Nan’an widened their eyes, looking confused.

Bei Quan continued to explain, “It’s simple, we can use the same method that Mint or Long Er used… and what the others have tried.”

Wei Fuyuan blinked, “You mean, dreaming?”

Bei Quan nodded.

Thinking carefully, they have already met the same conditions as those who dreamed of the “Two Pole Gate”.

The three read the post that first introduced the concept of the “Two Pole Gate”, looked at the pencil illustrations, and obtained more clues from others. The only thing missing was actually “dreaming”.

“So… what should we do?” Jiang Nan’an hesitated, “I’ve seen people online saying that it depends on talent, it’s not as simple as just thinking during the day and dreaming at night.”

“Why not give it a try to find out if it works or not?”

Bei Quan shook his finger, “And, I believe that rather than testing ‘talent’, it’s more about the differences in each person’s mental strength.”

He smiled slightly, “Sometimes, ‘believing makes it possible, doubting makes it impossible’ can be quite an effective technique.”

Jiang Nan’an swallowed hard and asked, “So, how can we ‘believe’ then?”

He looked at Bei Quan with anticipation, “Do you have any spells that could be useful? Like, hypnosis or memory implantation, similar to those used in legends?”

“How is that possible!?”

Bei quan coldly shattered Little Jiang’s fantasy.

“Instead of hypnosis and memory implantation, you’d be better off looking at that post and the pencil drawings a few more times!”

——————–

The author has something to say: “The inspiration for this case comes from the urban legend ‘This Man’.

‘This Man’ is translated as ‘”Dream Man’ in China.

Basically, in 2006, a woman in the United States told her psychologist that she had been dreaming of a strange man and drew a portrait of him from her dreams, calling him ‘This Man.’

A few days later, another patient saw a picture on the doctor’s desk and said that they often dreamed about ‘This Man’.

Afterwards, the doctor intentionally placed this painting on the table, with more and more people claiming to have dreamed of ‘This Man’. According to statistics, more than 2000 people claimed to have dreamed of ‘This Man’ at that time.

After the news spread, someone launched a massive activity search online and even created a search notice, which was forwarded to various corners of social media to see if ‘This Man’ could be found.

Later, for further investigation, someone created a website called ‘This Man’ specifically to collect stories about ‘Dream Man’ from around the world. The website counted about 4000 people worldwide who said they had seen this person in their dreams.

But so far, no one had found him in reality.

Of course, this is all just an urban legend. Interested readers can search for the keywords ‘Dream Man’ and see what? ‘This Man’ looks like.

~(Don’t worry, it’s not scary!)