Eternal Night

Chapter 887 Confrontation
(PS: My depression flared up again last night. Even though I've been taking medication, I've still entered a period of depression. I feel terrible today... I guess it's related to the latest visa discussions on Weibo. Anyway, I'll stop here and get back to writing. You guys read your books.)
Wu Pifu sat quietly at the small table eating lunch, using a spoon and chopsticks meant for toddlers, his face expressionless, revealing a pair of dead fish eyes.

That's right, the main brain had manifested this image of Wu Pifu to him many times, but this image was much smaller than the ones manifested by the main brain, just like a kindergarten toddler.

Only his strange dead fish eyes remained unchanged. It seemed that whenever he shrunk back to his childlike state and then returned to his current personality, he would always have the appearance of dead fish eyes.

Whether it was Wu Pifu's expressionless, dead-fish-like eyes, or his cold and stern appearance, the other children subconsciously kept their distance from him, afraid to talk to him, and even started to cry when his gaze fell on them.

The entire kindergarten class was filled with crying.

"You've been naughty, Wu Pifu. I have no choice but to put you in solitary confinement."

Nightmare, or rather, the life teacher, appeared out of nowhere beside Wu Pifu. She looked at Wu Pifu with a smug smile and spoke confidently.

Wu Pifu looked at Nightmare thoughtfully, and followed her into the solitary confinement room without any resistance.

Wu Pifu had a slight recollection of this kindergarten; it seemed to be the same kindergarten his initial personality had attended when he was a child. However, this kindergarten could not possibly have any solitary confinement rooms, nor could it possibly have locked four- or five-year-old children in dark, small rooms.

Clearly, this illusionary space has been altered by the nightmare.

"This isn't some illusion space." Nightmare escorted Wu Pifu to a large iron gate. As she opened the gate, she grinned and said, "This is the Nightmare Space, or rather... this is 'reality,' understand, little one?"

Wu Pifu simply said calmly, "If you show that disgusting smile again, I'll beat you to a pulp right now."

The smile on the middle-aged, plump woman's face gradually faded, revealing a sinister look.

Wu Pifu remained expressionless and said, "Don't be too presumptuous. The reason I didn't make a move immediately is because I'm very curious about what this so-called Nightmare Space is, and why you, who are clearly a Nightmare, have reason and intelligence. Otherwise, do you think you can still stand here and talk to me?"

Wu Pifu lightly stomped his foot, and when he lifted his foot, a small footprint appeared on the cement ground.

Nightmare's face turned even uglier. She flung open the door to the solitary confinement room, which was pitch black inside. Wu Pifu stepped in without the slightest hesitation, as if walking into his own bedroom with ease.

After Wu Pifu went inside, Nightmare closed the door and walked toward the staff lounge with a gloomy expression.

In other perspectives of the nightmare, Xu Shilan, Amadeus, and even Chuchu, Daphne, and Beelzebub all appear as toddlers, and are all being disciplined in similar kindergartens. But the absurd thing is that only Xu Shilan and Amadeus are in human form, Chuchu is a fledgling bird, Daphne is a puppy, and Beelzebub... well, he's a fat maggot!?

this is not right!
Although the Nightmare didn't know exactly what was wrong, it at least knew that those it dragged into had to confront their deepest fears, and that they had to confront these fears in a state of having lost all supernatural powers. Although this greatest fear wouldn't grant any supernatural power, encountering one's greatest fear in the most terrifying place, while simultaneously losing all supernatural powers, would plunge any being into fear. Moreover, the greater the fear, the stronger the thing in one's heart would become.

This is inherently a matter of one gaining at the expense of the other.

And most importantly, its most unique ability is not supernatural power, but pollution, pure pollution.

The premise of the idea that the extraordinary is pollution is that the extraordinary is a mixture of reality and pollution, because pure pollution is absolutely fatal to any existence, and it will bring about many pollution phenomena, such as loss or dimensional reduction.

But it is a nightmare; it is essentially pollution itself, and what it brings is a specific kind of pollution phenomenon, with absolutely no possibility of exemption.

But now, it has been reverse-contaminated... That's right, it has become a human form and possesses intelligence and cognition. This in itself is a form of reverse contamination. It has become human in the space of the nightmare, which means that it has lost all the cognition it had during the nightmare.

It doesn't even know what it is right now. All it knows is that it must kill Wu Pifu in this reverse-contaminated nightmare space, and it cannot violate the rules of this reverse-contaminated nightmare space.

That's right, this kindergarten isn't the original Nightmare Space anymore, but a mutated Nightmare Space corrupted by the direction. Just as Wu Pifu instinctively knew upon arriving in this space that it forbade the extraordinary, and that the plump middle-aged woman was the Nightmare, the Nightmare also instinctively knew the constraints imposed on it by this mutated Nightmare Space. It had to behave like a human within this mutated Nightmare Space, and before killing Wu Pifu, it couldn't harm anyone else. This seemed to be based on a trainer rule called the Pokémon System…

"This is fucking ridiculous! I'm a nightmare!"

The nightmare growled in a very low, guttural voice. Then it heard Wu Pifu's voice in its ear. "So, what exactly is a nightmare?"

Nightmare trembled all over, looking around frantically as if it had encountered a ghost, but it didn't see Wu Pifu. Apart from the kindergarten children, there were only a few teachers around, and they all looked at Nightmare with strange eyes. It was these eyes that made Nightmare tremble even more violently. It shouldn't have been harmful, but it made Nightmare feel as if it was about to be completely annihilated and disappear.

It quickly put on a professional smile to cover it up, then hurriedly went to the staff break room. After making sure no one was around, it growled, "You... why do you still have supernatural powers?"

Wu Pifu's voice said, "It's just a voice, what kind of extraordinary power is that... I see, you're afraid people will find out your Nightmare identity? So you can't control this place? Similar to Nen abilities, you also have to abide by certain oaths and constraints?"

Nightmare was silent for two seconds, then suddenly exclaimed, "Wait, why can you still talk?! You..."

"You mean these things in the dark?"

In the solitary confinement cell, the entire room was pitch black. Even if Wu Pifu channeled his vital energy to his eyes, he still couldn't see anything.

But just because you can't see it doesn't mean you can't perceive it.

In this darkness, something was emerging, its shape unpredictable, but it had claws and teeth. In Wu Pifu's perception, these things were about the size of a Labrador Retriever. To an ordinary child around five years old, they would be terrifying predators, ferocious beasts.

However, for Wu Pifu, who had lost all his extraordinary energy and powerful physical body but still possessed combat experience and control over his body through martial arts, this little thing was as harmless as a newborn kitten or puppy.

In this darkness, Wu Pifu, who was about five years old, just stood quietly in the darkness. He closed his eyes slightly, stood naturally, neither too tense nor too relaxed, and moved his mouth quickly, but did not make a sound. On the contrary, in the staff lounge a few rooms away, Nightmare heard his voice.

At the same time, an unknown creature materialized in the darkness and pounced on Wu Pifu.

Wu Pifu moved slightly, twisting the inside of his foot, and half of his body turned to the side, narrowly dodging a claw attack. In that instant, he clenched his fist, flicked his elbow, and lashed out with the back of his hand. With a loud crack, the mysterious object was shattered and obliterated.

(The skills of martial arts are still there. This is something between the extraordinary and the skill. I can't sense any of the titles, I can't sense any of the personal space, and there's no response when I call the main brain. But when I attack, the effect of the title of "commoner" seems to still have a little bit left. Moreover, this space feels somewhat similar to my own space of thought, except that it's mixed with the ability of nightmares. As a result, it has become a mutated space that restricts me and restricts it? And...)
Wu Pifu suddenly jumped up and kicked out with one leg. With another loud crack, another inexplicable thing was smashed into pieces by his kick.

Then he sank his senses into the depths of his consciousness. Very well... the negative influence still haunted him relentlessly, truly never abandoning him.

"You're afraid they'll find out you're not human, right? Why are you afraid? What will you do if they find out you're not human? And how long can you keep me locked up? Ten minutes? Twenty minutes? Half an hour? Even if I was caught off guard at first and fell for your trick, resulting in this solitary confinement room, how long can you keep me locked up?"

Wu Pifu has now come to his senses, and he carefully recalled the situation at that time.

His aura instilled fear in the other children, and then the nightmare immediately appeared, saying that he had been naughty and that he would be put in solitary confinement. At that moment, he was thinking about other things, including where his companions were. Without realizing it, the subconscious thought that he would be punished for doing something wrong arose in his mind, and that's how the solitary confinement room came about.

In fact, looking back, this solitary confinement room shouldn't exist at all. Would a kindergarten put a child in a solitary confinement room for misbehaving? And a completely dark one at that? Are they trying to go bankrupt quickly?
All of this actually occurred based on the moment he identified with it. In other words, his battle with the Nightmare was concentrated in two places: first, the point of identification and cognition in each other's minds; second, when he was killed by these monsters in the darkness, or when the Nightmare was recognized by others as not being human.

This is the conclusion Wu Pifu has reached so far.

Nightmare's face grew increasingly grim in the staff break room. Now human, it possessed human thoughts and a sense of self, and naturally, various emotions that shouldn't have been present. It suddenly sneered, "Your companions are all in my hands..."

“You can’t do anything to them,” Wu Pifu suddenly said with certainty. “You can’t even hurt them, and you have to ensure their safety. I don’t know why, but that’s just how I feel. Am I right?”

(Completely correct.)
Nightmare's face was ashen, like he'd just eaten shit. Taking care of toddlers was one thing, but Xu Shilan, Amadeus, and Huang Rong, unlike Wu Pifu, didn't retain their memories and sense of self. They were truly like ordinary toddlers. Adding a bird and a dog wouldn't have been a problem, but what was with this enormous, fat maggot?!
After a moment, Nightmare suddenly sneered, "It doesn't matter... Do you think I'm the only Nightmare in the Shattered Realm? Besides, Nightmares have a hunting instinct among themselves. You're not even superior to... Wu Pifu. No matter how special you are, you're doomed. Moreover, you're too dangerous! You have to die here!"

Meanwhile, in the shattered domain...

The concentration of pollution is slowly increasing.

(End of this chapter)