Fear of food

Chapter 120 Take a bite first and then talk.

Chen Qi was already familiar with the concept of "anchor points".

The parasites of the Nightmare Clan can hide in dreams, making them elusive in the contaminated area. When they encounter danger, they simply retreat into dreams, making them difficult to harm.

Once a nightmare parasite hides inside a dream, there are only two ways to deal with it.

First, the dream thieves also enter the dream to pursue the perpetrators.

Secondly, it attacks the anchors they leave in reality.

These anchor points are usually extremely well hidden and concealed, likely blending into the surrounding environment or even floating in the air.

Unless area-of-effect weapons are used to indiscriminately bomb the surrounding area, it is difficult to locate the anchor point.

According to Sun Xuechao, the so-called anchor point is actually the small tail that the parasites stick out when they hide.

Sun Xuechao said with a hint of disdain, "The Nightmare Clan just likes to make things mysterious. A dream is a dream, it's an illusion. There's no such thing as a body entering a dream; it's just a smokescreen."

Chen Qi seemed to be deep in thought... If Sun Xuechao wasn't lying, then his true form hadn't actually entered the dream, but was simply trapped in the space between the dream and reality.

This also explains why, after he entered the dream, some things on his body disappeared, and he couldn't even observe the changes in the other body behind him.

Moreover, after he separated the body from his back, that body did not enter the dream, but returned to reality.

This is essentially a separated body that fell out of the "interlayer".

Chen Qi asked, "Then how do we get out of the mezzanine?"

"Well..." Sun Xuechao looked like he was thinking, then changed his expression, opened his mouth as if he was organizing his thoughts.

Chen Qi was certain that this guy was deliberately stalling for time.

I always switch expressions just when he's about to give in and start the process.

Finally, just as Chen Qi's patience was about to run out, Sun Xuechao spoke up: "This requires you to sense your own body in the dream and control your body to break free from the interlayer."

"Be more specific!" Chen Qi said impatiently.

"This is a special ability of our Nightmare Clan. I don't know how to explain it to you, but as long as you can sense and control your real body in your dream, you will naturally understand what to do."

Chen Qi didn't know how much truth Sun Xuechao had to say, but he could only take it as a hunch.

"What kind of place is the space between dreams and reality?" Chen Qi tried to get more information from Sun Xuechao.

"It's hard to describe, and to be honest, that's the exclusive domain of the Nightmare Clan. We know a little about it, but not much." Sun Xuechao looked helpless, seemingly genuinely knowing very little.

Chen Qi sneered, "In that case, there's no need for us to continue talking. I'll get back to what I'm doing."

"Don't rush," Sun Xuechao smiled. "Although I don't know much about 'mezzanine,' I have a lot of other information that I think you'll find interesting."

"Tell me."

"For example, how to kill the Nightmare Clan."

"Do you need to teach me that? I'll just eat it."

Sun Xuechao's expression froze, then he shook his head and said, "That's a method unique to you. What I'm going to teach you is a method that will allow others to completely kill the Nightmare Clan!"

"Completely killed? The kind that can't be resurrected?"

Sun Xuechao nodded: "The kind that's completely dead."

Chen Qi raised an eyebrow: "Explain in detail!"

Sun Xuechao began to stall for time again, pretending to ponder for a moment before speaking: "The parasites of the Nightmare Clan, like us Nightmare Eaters, have the ability to resurrect. However, in the dream world, their souls are essentially separated from their bodies and they are acting independently."

"You should know that our Nightmare Clan is one with the soul of you humans, so attacking them in the dream at this time is equivalent to directly attacking the Nightmare's true form."

Chen Qi questioned, "You mean to kill them in the dream? But that won't stop them from resurrecting, will it?"

The authorities have organized so many Dream Thieves to attack Corning City and fought countless battles with Nightmare Parasites, so they must have killed many parasites in dreams.

If this can prevent them from resurrecting, there's no reason why the authorities wouldn't have discovered this pattern.

“Simply killing them in the dream world won’t be enough.” Sun Xuechao paused. “We need to kill them in your human-exclusive dream world to prevent them from resurrecting.”

"You mean... kill them in the safe house?"

Chen Qi's pupils contracted; this was indeed new information he had never heard of before.

Dream thieves may have killed many parasites in their dreams, but in a safe house... that should be rare.

Safe houses are generally regarded by dream thieves as the last sanctuary in their dreams, their only refuge.

It's like their "home" in their dreams.

Who would deliberately lure a criminal into their home? And then commit murder there?
Even if parasites come knocking on their door in a safe house, the dream thieves will choose to leave the dream world to avoid them.

Moreover, the Nightmare Clan will obviously try their best to avoid this situation from happening.

Therefore, even if a kill is occasionally accomplished in a safe house, it is an extremely rare occurrence, and the authorities have clearly not yet noticed.

Chen Qi felt that Sun Xuechao's words were quite credible.

After all, the Nightmare Eaters and the Nightmare Clan are enemies, and exposing the enemy's weaknesses is in their interest.

But... isn't Sun Xuechao afraid that the Nightmare Clan will retaliate in the same way?

The Nightmare Eaters know the Nightmare Clan's weaknesses, and conversely, the Nightmare Clan must also know the Nightmare Eaters' weaknesses.

Chen Qi could easily play both sides and extract information from both.

unless……

He believed I had no chance to get the message out!

"Or perhaps he's certain that after I switch bodies again, I won't have a chance to escape the Nightmare Clan's control!"

Chen Qineng could imagine that after the next body swap, when he returned to his own body and the dream world of Chang Le City, he would be left with an incredibly troublesome mess.

He couldn't imagine how to escape the control of the Nightmare Clan.

Forget about escaping, he didn't even know how he would survive the next 24 hours!

How can we ensure that he won't have his memories erased the next day? Or that he won't be controlled by the Nightmare of Generation One?
Because he didn't know how to break the deadlock, he threw everything to the Nightmare Eater, hoping that the Nightmare Eater could create a miracle.

Judging from Sun Xuechao's attitude, it is very likely that if he were to switch bodies again and return, he would face certain death!

Chen Qi could roughly guess the plan of the first generation of Nightmare Eater. It was estimated that they wanted to wait until his memory was erased and he gained the ability of the Dream Thief before returning to his body.

Then we'll awaken his replaced memories, allowing him to regain his alien ghoul abilities.

In this way, he became the only human to possess dual-system abilities.

The fact that the Nightmare Eater dared to do this means he must have been very confident that he could control him.

Of course, the Nightmare Clan isn't stupid; they're not blind to the risks, so they must have their own preventative measures. However, whether the Nightmare Eaters are one step ahead in morality or the Nightmare Clan are ten steps ahead in evil, it seems Chen Qi has no chance of survival.

As the center of the conflict, he loses regardless of who wins.

"This is no longer Dou Dizhu, it's 'Run Fast', there can only be one winner, and if I want to win, I have to beat the other two."

Chen Qi pondered this in his heart, but since he was not clear about the situation there, he could not make any plans in advance.

Seeing that there was still some time, he tried to continue extracting information from Sun Xuechao.

Do you know where the Nightmare Clan's resurrection point is?

Sun Xuechao shook his head: "This thing doesn't have a fixed location, so it's hard to say."

"What about the morgue? They should have a place like a morgue, right?"

Sun Xuechao shook his head, indicating that it was hard to say.

Chen Qi suspected that he wasn't unaware, but rather that the Nightmare Eater Clan and the Nightmare Clan were probably similar in this regard, and revealing it would be tantamount to exposing the Nightmare Eater Clan's secrets as well.

Sun Xuechao deliberately delayed answering Chen Qi's questions, and some of his answers made Chen Qi feel that they were not very reliable.

Chen Qi understood that he wanted to get something out of Sun Xuechao, something that Sun Xuechao wanted to say.

Otherwise, even if Sun Xuechao was talking nonsense, Chen Qi wouldn't be able to tell the truth from the falsehood.

Chen Qi thought for a moment and asked, "Where is the source of pollution in Chang Le City?"

Sun Xuechao gave Chen Qi a deep look and said meaningfully, "If I knew the answer, I would definitely tell you. Unfortunately, even most of their own people don't know this kind of secret, let alone me."

He paused, then added, "Of course, the source of the Nightmare Clan's pollution may be hidden in reality. If you want to find it, it's best to start from the dream world. To destroy their source of pollution, you must achieve a double destruction in both reality and dreams."

Chen Qi looked at the sky. With Sun Xuechao's deliberate delay, it was getting dark.

The day is drawing to a close, and he will return to Chang Le City to face unprecedented challenges.

Chen Qi suddenly said, "Actually, I feel that the dreams of the Nightmare Clan and the illusions of your Nightmare Eater Clan are not much different. They are essentially illusions."

Sun Xuechao scoffed, "How can the Nightmare Clan's dreams be compared to our real illusions? They would barely qualify if they had to reach the second stage of dream upgrade."

Chen Qi did not refute him, but simply said to himself, "So many of the things you told me about dreams also apply to your illusions, right?"

Chen Qi had already made this speculation when Sun Xuechao first revealed the existence of the "interlayer".

However, he kept it to himself because he didn't want to arouse Sun Xuechao's suspicion.

Sun Xuechao smiled, did not answer Chen Qi's question, and simply said, "Your time is up."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Qi felt his heart suddenly start racing.

Thump, thump...

One note after another came faster and faster until they blended together and the rhythm became completely indistinguishable.

Chen Qi's vision suddenly went black...
-
This time, the darkness lasted for quite a while.

Chen Qi felt as if he were falling into an abyss, his consciousness plummeting, and a strong sense of weightlessness constantly enveloped him.

Gradually, he heard two voices, which seemed to be two people arguing with each other.

"I was here first, you shameless bastard! There's a human idiom that goes something like this... 'The cuckoo has taken over the magpie's nest,' and you're the one who's usurped it!"

Upon hearing that familiar voice, Chen Qi immediately recognized it as coming from the first generation of Nightmare Eater within him.

Another voice, with an arrogant composure, said slowly, "There's a saying among humans: 'Heavenly treasures belong to the virtuous.' This human's soul and body are now mine."

"You Nightmare Eaters are too useless; you haven't been able to subdue him for so long."

The Nightmare Eater roared, "If it weren't for your interference and meddling, I would have succeeded long ago!"

Chen Qi sighed helplessly, "So I've become a 'heavenly treasure'?"

His body was originally like a hot pot with two separate parts, with him and Nightmare vying for control. Now, with the addition of a first-generation Nightmare, it's become a complete mess.

Chen Qi didn't even dare to imagine how annoying it would be if he heard these two arguing inside his body every day.

Fortunately, one of them was about to be kicked out.

Just then, he suddenly heard Nightmare Eater shout out of the blue, "Chen Qi, this is all I can do for you!"

"Hold on, don't let them succeed, you belong to me!"

At the same time, the voice of the Nightmare was no longer calm, but filled with shock and anger: "What are you doing! Are you insane!"

Chen Qi wondered, "I wonder what tricks this Nightmare Eater is up to."

However, the Nightmare's voice did not sound again, and the darkness before Chen Qi's eyes finally lifted.

He found himself in a blank, empty world, with nothing around him except a shallow layer of water beneath his feet.

He stood barefoot in the water, each step he took creating ripples, yet his feet couldn't touch the bottom, and he couldn't feel anything.

The water, though shallow, was bottomless and reflected no light; not even his feet got wet.

These special waters artificially prop up a world that does not exist.

In this world, the only thing Chen Qi can see is another version of himself not far from him.

The man looked exactly like him, but he was in a sorry state. He was lying on the ground, curled up in a ball, and rolling around in the water.

His body was broken, missing half of it.

Upon seeing this person who looked exactly like him, Chen Qi recognized him at a glance... This was the generation of nightmares that parasitized him!
Were the wounds on Nightmare's body inflicted by Nightmare Eater?

Chen Qi was surprised and suspicious. There must be a reason why the Nightmare Eater did this; it was impossible for it to help him for no reason.

But there was no time to think about all that; strike while the iron is hot and kill him!
If we don't seize this opportunity now, when will we?

Chen Qi was worried about how to break the deadlock when, unexpectedly, the Nightmare Eater created an opportunity for him.

Chen Qi rushed forward and stomped Nightmare firmly on the ground, a primal instinct to feed rising within him.

"Eat him!"

"It must taste delicious!"

At this moment, the nightmare is very fragile, missing half of its body, and its form has become somewhat illusory.

Chen Qi lifted him up with one hand, and could bite his neck off with a single bite.

Nightmare cried out weakly, "Don't eat me! Don't fall for that Nightmare Eater's trick!"

"Stop talking nonsense, let me take a bite first."

(End of this chapter)