Nightmare Light

Chapter 276 Red City
Lin Wang and the paper bride entered the dream world.

Dark clouds rolled in, and the earth was devoid of life.

The art style of the dream world remains the same.

Not far away, the archway of Sizhen stands as it always has.

The children of Sizhen... Do the children insist on waiting for their mother?

Lin Wang glanced in the direction of Sizhen.

But after a moment's thought, he decided not to go into town—those children had their own principles, so let them be.

Everything in the world has its own logic; just go with the flow.

Lin Wang took the paper bride off his head, put her on his shoulder, and walked eastward along the road.

To the east, on the horizon, there is a vaguely outlined, undulating shape, but it doesn't resemble mountains; rather, it looks more like the outline of a city.

Although the outline was crooked and strange.

However, considering that there are few places with normal art styles in this nightmare world, and that a city that has been in disrepair for many years could very well look like this after its buildings collapse.

After walking for about half an hour, Lin Wang discovered a problem: it was too far.

The Nightmare World is enormous; even just considering the small area Lin Wang explored, it is nearly half the size of the Chu Federation.

Judging from the downward trend of the skyline, Lin Wang believed that this was a complete, giant planet.

Measure an entire planet on foot?

This is, of course, a romantic ideal.

But to do that in real life? That would be utterly ridiculous.

It's the kind where you squeeze out the filling.

"I'll have to get a means of transportation in next time..." Lin Wang muttered to himself, then remembered that the people of Lushan seemed to have given him some property, which should include a car.

"I shouldn't have been so stubborn back then." Lin Wang shook his head and decided to ask the other party for a car when he went to Lushan.

But right now, he needs to think of another way to solve the problem of travel speed...

Lin Wang turned his gaze to the paper bride.

No, even if I throw the paper bride out, she won't have enough strength to pull me back, so the cycle can't be formed...

And she probably wouldn't be happy about it either.

Lin Wang pondered for a moment, then helped the paper girl sit securely on his shoulder.

He summoned two sturdy tree fern branches, one in each hand.

Then, Lin Wang bent down and called out, "Azhi, sit tight."

Then, he took a heavy step forward, and the ice beneath his feet instantly spread outwards, rapidly extending into the distance.

Lin Wang jabbed two tree branches heavily into the ice, pushed off the ground with his feet, and slid towards the eastern horizon!
With the immense power, Lin Wang moved forward at an extremely fast speed on the ice. The wind howled and pierced his ears, even making his face sting.

The paper was blown into the air by the howling wind.

She hid behind Lin Wang and tied more than a dozen layers of paper strips around his body, binding herself and Lin Wang together, making them look like a cartoon backpack at first glance.

The two sprinted and glided on the ice for nearly an hour, and the outline of the horizon finally gradually came into view—it was indeed a city.

only……

"What the hell is this?!"

About a kilometer away, in Lin Wang's view, a city skyline was rugged and buildings were crooked.

In the city, most buildings are constructed from a dark, muddy material, and their shapes resemble naturally formed lava flows after drying up.

At first glance, it looks as if the city collapsed and was then washed away by a black, viscous liquid, resulting in this bizarre appearance.

But in fact, it's not.

Because if that were the truth, the city would surely be deathly silent.

But the city before us is not desolate at all; on the contrary, it is full of residents, bustling about.

Lin Wang and the paper bride were still some distance from the city. Even with his eyesight, he could only see a bunch of small black dots that vaguely resembled human figures when he saw the residents a kilometer away.

But those small black dots that vaguely resemble human figures are clearly "alive".

Because when they walk back and forth, it's clear they are busily moving through the city, streets, and buildings. Unlike zombies or some other kind of monster, they don't just stand around in the streets or wander aimlessly.

There are actually living residents in this city?
Lin Wang stared in utter shock at the busy, bustling black dots.

In his original judgment, the dream world was a world that had been completely destroyed.

A completely destroyed world cannot contain any living beings. There may be some monsters, or mad gods, or "non-physical" beings like the ghost children from before.

But how can a complete, enormous city still have living people inside?

How can this be?

Thinking of this, Lin Wang took a deep breath and gently pressed the paper bride (who had climbed back onto Lin Wang's shoulder): "Paper, let's go!"

"He is my husband!" A line of comments appeared in the barrage, held up above the little paper figure's head with both hands.

"...Do you really have to emphasize this to everyone you go around?"

"He is my husband-in-law!"

"..."

The two (one person and one paper figure) walked into the city.

Upon closer inspection, Lin Wang saw that this city, with its extremely bizarre appearance, seemingly constructed haphazardly from black mud, actually had a clear and well-defined plan.

Connecting to the main road outside the city is a wide road within the city.

On either side of the road, there were two buildings, each over ten meters tall, with black, slimy, haphazardly extending structures resembling deformed sea urchins. These were likely defensive structures on the city's outskirts, and Lin Wang could see some turret-like features on them.

Between the two "sea urchins," their tentacles are connected, and a black plaque hangs below, which is probably the city's gate tower.

The plaque bears two simple, ancient characters.

Red City.

"Red...City?" Lin Wang looked at the city, which was covered in black mud and looked as if it had been soaked in oil, and then looked at the two big characters on the archway. He narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Is the city losing its color... or is there some other reason...? Never mind, I'm too lazy to think about it, let's just go in and see what happens."

With that thought in mind, Lin Wang headed towards the city.

The paper girl on the shoulder was still excitedly holding up the plaque, trying her best to keep her arm straight, as if she was afraid that others would not be able to see the words.

There were no guards or people checking people at the city gate.

After entering the city, Lin Wang finally saw some so-called "living residents" on the streets. Only then did he understand what the residents of this city were all about.

They can no longer be called living people, but rather...humanoid monsters trapped in their obsessions from their previous lives.

The "residents" in the city can be broadly divided into two categories.

One type is entirely black and red, without skin, and looks like a black and red liquid that has been forcibly condensed into a shape resembling a human.

Lin Wang referred to them as residents.

Another type looks like black mummies. They stand in front of some buildings or facilities, raising their arms and waving as if they are beckoning for business.

Lin Wang called them merchants.

Beside every merchant, there is a uniquely designed machine.

When residents walk up to these machines, they place their arms on them, and each time, the machine will draw blood from their hands.

At this point, the residents will become much emaciated.

The blood passes through the machine, making a strange roaring sound. Afterward, a dark red blood cake is dispensed from the feeding port at the bottom of the machine.

After receiving the blood cake, the residents would go to the nearest street and kneel down to pray to the statue in the middle of the street.

After the prayer, the residents would eat the blood cake.

Then, its body will return to its original "more plump" shape.

Then, the resident will go to the nearest merchant again and repeat the above steps.

It turns out that this city was already dead.

They are merely reenacting scenes from when they were alive.

(End of this chapter)