Fear of food

Chapter 110 Dream Crisis, A Safe Bathroom (5k)

Watching the black and white flowers quickly take root and sprout on his body, Chen Qi did not panic, because he knew that this was just a dream.

Chen Qi plucked a small black and white flower from his arm, and immediately felt a sharp pain. Ignoring the pain, he hesitated whether to put the flower in his mouth and taste it.

Then the black and white flower bloomed in his hand, and an eyeball appeared in the center of the flower, meeting Chen Qi's gaze and even blinking.

"It looks edible."

Upon seeing the eyeball, Chen Qi no longer hesitated and swallowed the black and white flower in one gulp.

The taste was not bad, but it felt a bit hollow in the mouth, lacking a solid texture, like eating cotton candy.

Just then, Chen Qi suddenly felt a movement on his back. He glanced back and saw that the abnormality on his back was growing rapidly.

The skeletal arm and half of his body that were originally on his back have gradually shrunk after being absorbed and digested on the road these past few days, leaving less than one-fifth of their original size.

If Chen Qi wears looser clothes, it can basically cover up the problem.

If this trend continues, the anomaly will completely disappear in another day or two.

But at this moment in the dream, the abnormality on his back began to grow wildly again. The torso quickly grew into a complete form, a new head grew on his neck, and two white bone arms grew on Chen Qi's shoulders.

Those two arms moved swiftly, constantly plucking the black and white flowers off Chen Qi's body and putting them into the mouth on his back.

"Are you trying to steal my food?"

While continuing to eat the black and white flowers, Chen Qi quickly observed his surroundings.

The dream was almost indistinguishable from reality. If his teammates hadn't all disappeared, Chen Qi might not have realized at first that this was a dream.

However, based on his previous understanding, even without the threat of nightmares, there are dangers everywhere in dreams.

“That is…” Chen Qi noticed that a shadow suddenly appeared in a certain area of ​​the main road not far away, and it was rapidly approaching him.

"Dream pollution?"

Chen Qi wasn't entirely sure either. Everything in dreams is bizarre and fantastical, and dream pollution comes in many forms.

For dream thieves, all strange phenomena and various dangers in dreams can be seen as dream pollution. The common feature of this type of pollution is that it can only be seen by those with abilities; ordinary people cannot see these anomalies in dreams.

The two best course of action at this time are either to escape or to wake up!
It's like having a nightmare; you either keep running away in the dream or you're woken up in a fright.

Chen Qi took off running in the opposite direction, as if an unknown monster was lurking in the shadows behind him, relentlessly pursuing him.

"Stop eating like a madman, think of something!" Chen Qi cursed at the Nightmare Eater behind him as he ran.

After the Nightmare Eater grew arms and a head in the dream, it kept frantically feeding on the flowers on Chen Qi's body, and basically ate all of them.

“I’m eating the flower to save you,” Nightmare Eater replied.

Just then, a small black and white flower on the side of Chen Qi's lower abdomen rapidly expanded like an inflating balloon.

This was also the last black and white flower on Chen Qi's body. Chen Qi didn't notice it, and the Nightmare Eater couldn't see or reach it either.

The moment the black and white flower began to swell, Chen Qi plucked it off and prepared to throw it aside.

But it was too late. The black and white flower, which had swelled to the size of a watermelon, exploded in his hand, releasing a cloud of black and white mist.

The cloud of mist moved as Chen Qi ran, always remaining in front of him.

Black and white mist flowed, gradually forming the pattern of an eyeball; the white became the sclera, and the black became the pupil.

Then, in the next second, the misty eyeballs turned solid, and the pupils, larger than Chen Qi's head, shone with a dark brilliance.

A figure appeared in his pupils, and Chen Qi looked closely and found that it was himself running at full speed.

Just then, the image of Chen Qi reflected in his pupils suddenly opened his mouth and revealed an exaggerated smile, showing two rows of clean, white teeth.

Chen Qi confirmed that he hadn't smiled, and he hadn't shown his teeth.

But whatever... Chen Qi punched his eyeball.

Before his fist could even touch his eyeball, the figure in the pupil suddenly popped out!

Chen Qi punched him squarely in the face, denting the handsome face that looked exactly like his own.

Then he saw the head under his fist explode like a rotten watermelon, and spider-like worms crawled out of the exploded brain.

Unlike normal spiders, these spider worms are white, plump, and tender, resembling large, fat maggots with legs.

In an instant, hundreds of spiders crawled out and covered Chen Qi's entire body.

Chen Qi felt slightly uncomfortable, but quickly suppressed it.

The Nightmare behind him began to eat voraciously, its hands moving rapidly to grab handfuls of spider worms and stuff them directly into its mouth.

But the spiders began to spit out black silk threads, which covered Chen Qi's body in the blink of an eye, as if they were dressing him in black silk.

Chen Qi waved his hand to tear the black threads, but found that they were very tough. Upon closer inspection, he vaguely felt that the black threads were not like silk threads, but rather like tiny intestines!
Chen Qi suddenly felt his legs tighten, as if bound by something, preventing him from taking a step forward as he was running. He stumbled, lost his balance, and fell forward.

It turned out that a spider had wrapped its black silk around his legs!

Now Chen Qi is really wearing black stockings.

However, he had no time to appreciate it, because the shadow that was chasing closely behind him had already pounced on him!
Just then, a voice exploded in Chen Qi's ears like a thunderclap.

"biscuit!"

Chen Qi was startled and suddenly opened his eyes, only to find himself lying on the ground, with Peanut slapping his face and shouting in his ear.

It turned out that Peanut had woken him up... Chen Qi jumped up and touched his back, finding that the abnormality had not recurred.

Meanwhile, the three members of the Dream Thief team from Chang Le City were staring warily at a young man in front of them.

The young man's face, arms, and all exposed skin were covered in eyes! The attack that Chen Qi and the others had just suffered was clearly from him.

However, apart from having eyes everywhere, the young man generally maintained a human form.

The degree of physical mutation in parasites infected by nightmares is generally lower than that in parasites that eat nightmares.

In reality, the Nightmare Parasites are stronger.

Nightmare parasites are even stronger in dreams, and they can hide in the dream world in contaminated areas, making them very difficult to locate in reality.

"This is a domain-level parasite. His domain has the effect of pulling people into dreams. We must be careful of the hands that appear around us!" Mirror approached and reminded Chen Qi.

"Domain level..." Chen Qi suddenly accelerated and rushed towards the young man.

This wasn't the first time he'd eaten a Domain-level being; he'd already killed more than one Domain-level being.

Chen Qi really couldn't do anything about him because he had been hiding and not showing himself. But now that he had shown himself, it would be a good opportunity to see what a nightmare tasted like!
"Hey! What are you doing!"

Seeing Chen Qi rushing straight towards the eagle-eyed youth, the three members of the Chang Le City team all changed their expressions slightly. The red-haired woman cursed under her breath and pulled the trigger at the eagle-eyed youth.

With a bang, the bullet left the barrel and shot towards the multi-eyed youth, instantly piercing his body.

A bloody hole appeared in the abdomen of the multi-eyed youth, but then his body rippled like a reflection on the water and disappeared.

Having lost his target, Chen Qi had no choice but to stop for the time being.

Of the three members of the Chang Le City team, the red-haired woman had the most fiery temper. She couldn't help but yell, "If you want to die, don't drag us down with you! Our mission is to protect you, not to team up with you to fight monsters!"

The man with the buzz cut couldn't help but say, "You guys must be old enough to have survived this long, right? Don't you know that the most important thing for survival is to avoid pointless battles?"

Peanut knew Chen Qi's abilities and understood his thoughts. He began, "Before, in Jinghai City..."

The tall man who had been silent in the Chang Le City trio interrupted, "I don't care what you did in Jing Hai City before. You may be very powerful alien eaters, but this is Chang Le City, a dream-contaminated area."

"Here, if you want to survive, you must follow our orders and not act rashly."

The three were already somewhat resistant to the protection mission that had been suddenly assigned to them.

In their eyes, Chen Qi and his two companions were probably just sent by their superiors to cause trouble. They didn't think that the aliens from Jinghai City could be of any use in Kangning City.

Anyone would be furious to risk their life for something meaningless. It's normal for them to lose their temper if the person they're protecting doesn't follow orders and acts on their own.

Chen Qi didn't argue with the three of them. He simply looked around, searching for the many-eyed youth, and asked, "Can you find him?"

The red-haired woman sneered, "The three of us finally pinpointed his anchor point in the dream and were preparing to ambush him there, but after what you did, who can find him now?"

"Now nobody knows if he's gone or not, and we have to be on edge and constantly on guard against his sneak attacks."

Chen Qi thought to himself, "If you hadn't fired back then, he might have been bitten to death by me." But now was not the time to argue about these things. Jingzi took the initiative and said, "Let's go and look around in the surrounding dreamscape. If we can't find him, we must have gone too far."

When Nightmare Parasites are in the contaminated zone, they have the ability to travel between dreams and reality.

When they hide in their dreams, they often leave only a very subtle anchor point in reality.

To find them at this point, you either need to find the anchor point or actively enter the dream to search for them.

In comparison, the latter is actually less difficult.

"That's the only way," the red-haired woman said reluctantly. "The three of you go in and find someone, and the other two and I will stay here and keep watch."

As she spoke, she pointed to Chen Qi and Peanut.

So the mirror and the other two members of the Chang Le City team stood together, and soon the three of them closed their eyes and entered a dream.

"We're both entering a dream world, but the parasites only leave behind undetectable anchor points on the reality side, while we dream thieves have to leave behind our fragile bodies!" the red-haired woman grumbled in dissatisfaction.

When entering a dream, the dream thief's physical body is indeed very vulnerable and lacks protection.

However, if there is any disturbance in reality, the dream thief can actually sense it and will quickly wake up to deal with it.

Chen Qi and the other two stood back to back, wary of any changes in their surroundings.

The red-haired woman repeatedly instructed:
"If either of you see that parasite appear, don't go near it. Just leave it to me."

"I will force him back into the dream world. Then the four of us Dream Thieves will surround and attack him in the dream. Even if we can't send him to resurrection, we are confident that we can severely damage him!"

A moment later, the red-haired woman suddenly screamed and lunged forward.

That eagle-eyed youth has reappeared!

However, before she could rush forward, another figure had already pounced on her and started wrestling with the multi-eyed youth.

"It's you again! You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" The red-haired woman was furious. "I was about to start cursing, but my mouth was frozen in place halfway open."

Immediately, he completely lost control of his expression, his mouth opening wider and wider, and his eyes widening...

She saw Chen Qi actually bite the parasite directly, and in two bites he bit off its two arms covered with eyes.

The multi-eyed youth screamed in agony and quickly retreated back into the dream.

However, Chen Qi held on tightly and bit him, and was then pulled into the dream together.

In the dream, the same scene, the same road, the mirror and two other dream thieves are on edge, forming a circle, waiting for the multi-eyed youth to appear.

They did get the result, but it was quite different from what they had imagined.

When the multi-eyed youth appeared, half of his body was already gone. Chen Qi was riding on his back, clearing away the parasites.

Both the buzz-cut man and the tall man were stunned. Mirror was somewhat prepared, but it was still the first time she had witnessed this scene directly, and she was quite shocked.

In the blink of an eye, the multi-eyed youth lost all one of his eyes.

The man with the buzz cut and the tall man swallowed hard before turning their attention to the unusual thing on Chen Qi's back.

In reality, the anomaly behind Chen Qi had almost completely disappeared, and coupled with his loose clothing, none of the three members of the Chang Le City team noticed anything unusual about him.

In the dream, the Nightmare behind Chen Qi was too conspicuous; it was a living person without legs.

"Hiss..." The man with the buzz cut gasped, "What's that on your back?"

The tall man's expression also turned serious: "You are... a parasite?"

Before Chen Qi could answer, the Nightmare Eater on his back sneered, its eyes and tone filled with utter contempt:
"It is the greatest honor of your lives for you three inferior humans to have the chance to meet me—the esteemed Nightmare Clan."

"Shut up!" Chen Qi impatiently punched his back. "If you utter another word, I'll twist your head off!"

Just then, a white cloud drifted over their heads and suddenly plummeted downwards.

The white clouds instantly turned into a dark, seven-colored mass, flashing and twisting in a dazzling array of hues, as if light pollution had materialized into a physical form.

"Dream contamination! Get out now!"

As soon as the mirror finished speaking, it disappeared along with the crew-cut man and the tall man.

Only Chen Qi remained in the same spot.

Chen Qi did not have the ability to freely enter and exit the dream. As the light pollution clouds enveloped him, he could only run wildly, waiting for his teammates to wake him up in reality.

However, no matter how long they waited, they were still unable to escape the dream.

Why haven't you called me yet?

"Why are you moving so slowly?"
-
On the other hand, in reality...

Mirror and the two members of the Chang Le City team woke up at the same time. Mirror immediately looked around and then asked in surprise:

Where's the cookie man?

The red-haired woman was still in shock and asked instinctively, "Didn't you see him?"

"I saw him in the dream, but where is his body? Wake him up quickly, the dream has been corrupted!"

Peanut then realized something was wrong: "His body went into the dream!"

The red-haired woman also came to her senses: "Yes! He went into the dream with the parasite, and even his body went inside!"

"This..." Mirror and the others were dumbfounded.

The ability to move between dreams and reality is a power possessed only by those who are parasitic on nightmares.

How did Chen Qi acquire it?
The tall man frowned and said, "He really is a parasite!"

Peanut shouted sternly, "Quickly find a way to get him out!"

The crew-cut man shook his head: "This is the first time we've encountered this situation. If they are parasites, they should have the natural ability to enter and exit dreams."

“Obviously he doesn’t have that ability,” Peanut said. “There’s no point in talking nonsense. His safety is more important than all of our lives combined. Let’s think of something.”

The tall man pondered, "When a parasite enters a dream, it leaves an anchor point in reality. He should be the same. As long as we find the anchor point he left, we can naturally rescue him."

The red-haired woman shook her head and said, "Anchor points are too hard to find! There are only a handful of successful cases so far."

Mirror sighed and said, "I'll go in and see if I can get him out. You guys think of another way."

After saying that, the mirror entered the dream again.

Chen Qi was struggling to dodge the light pollution clouds when he saw the mirror appear. He immediately cried out, "Why aren't you waking me up yet? Wake me up quickly!"

"Your body has also entered the dream, and we can't find your body."

The mirror's words stunned Chen Qi.

He recalled that he had grabbed the multi-eyed youth and clung to his unusual behavior, which was how he was brought in.

So the physical body came in too?
Chen Qi turned around and ran quickly to the mirror, hugging him tightly: "Go back out now and see if you can get me out of here."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Qi grabbed nothing; the mirror was gone, and he was still standing there.

"Looks like that won't work." The next second, the mirror reappeared.

Just then, a purple halo enveloped them.

Chen Qi's expression changed: "Visible Domain!"

The appearance of a visible area in the dream indicates that a powerful nightmare parasite is nearby!
"Let's go!" Jingzi grabbed Chen Qi and ran.

The two ran wildly, and just as they ran out of the area, Mirror casually opened a door by the roadside.

"Get in quickly!"

The two hid inside, and Jingzi immediately slammed the door shut behind them.

Looking at the scene behind the door, Chen Qi was slightly taken aback; behind the door was actually a bathroom.

The layout separating wet and dry areas, the mirror broken into three pieces—everything felt familiar.

(End of this chapter)