Fear of food

Chapter 156 Dream Chase
According to the confession of the recently subdued Nightmare Parasite, Chen Qi's father was not hiding in the interlayered world, nor did he even enter the dream.

The Nightmare Clan of Kangning City originally planned to send Chen Qi's father away directly, but they changed their minds in the end.

They chose to hide Chen Qi's father directly in the real world.

"I must say, when it comes to cunning, your Nightmare Clan is truly the most cunning!"

Chen Qi wandered around Corning City in the real world for a while but didn't see a single person. He must have subconsciously assumed that all the parasites had hidden in the dream and were playing guerrilla warfare with him.

Therefore, he thought of searching the dream world and the interstitial world, but he never thought of conducting a thorough search of the entire real world of Corning City.

This took advantage of his tendency to overlook the obvious, and considering the need to save time, Chen Qi couldn't possibly waste a lot of time searching the real world where there was no one.

If Chen Qi hadn't learned the news from these newly converted employees, he definitely wouldn't have imagined that the Nightmare Clan would pull such a stunt.

"Are you saying that my father is hidden under this river?"

Looking at the blackish-green river water in front of him, Chen Qi was full of questions.

One employee said with a forced smile, "We parasites are physically strong, so this little bit of water pollution is nothing to us. Besides, we won't suffocate even if we hide underwater and don't breathe."

Chen Qi took a deep breath: "Your Nightmare Clan is truly cunning."

Even if he guessed that his father might be hiding in the real world, he would never have guessed that he would be hiding in this biochemical river.

Even if he were to pass by this river, he could easily miss it if he wasn't paying attention.

Chen Qi leaped into the air and landed in the river.

Under the influence of the domain, the river below was forcibly cut off by an invisible force, the water flow was diverted, and the riverbed was exposed in the blink of an eye.

On the riverbed, a human figure could be barely made out, buried in the silt, motionless like a hibernating animal.

Seeing that he had been exposed, the man wiggled his limbs and slithered through the mud like an eel, trying to escape.

Chen Qi slightly raised his hand and restrained the man, forcibly pulling him up.

With a wave of his hand, the tap by the river turned on automatically, and the water rushed towards the mud-covered man, washing away the mud from his body in the blink of an eye, revealing a face that Chen Qi recognized.

It was his father!

Instead of arranging for a strong person to protect his father as Chen Qi had imagined, the Nightmare Clan allowed his father to quietly hide alone in the silt at the bottom of the river.

Upon closer reflection, there was indeed no need to send someone to protect his father.

It was hidden so well that Chen Qi would normally never have been able to find it.

Even if they discovered it, even if they arranged for several second-generation Nightmare Clan members to protect him closely, they still couldn't stop Chen Qi.

It would be better to let Chen Qi's father act alone; with a smaller target, it would be easier to hide.

The key point is that Chen Qi's father is completely parasitized by the Nightmare Clan within his body, so he will only cooperate completely, and there is no need to worry about him escaping.

But just as Chen Qi couldn't guess the Nightmare Clan's plan, the Nightmare Clan also couldn't guess that Chen Qi's Ferris wheel would have the ability to turn parasites into employees.

Using this method, he not only easily found his father, but also learned where the source of pollution in Corning City was hidden.

Seeing that his "father" was still struggling under his control, Chen Qi reached out and grabbed the nightmare from his father's body, swallowing it whole.

The next second, the father stopped struggling, but his eyes were filled with a deathly indifference, as if he had turned from a human into a beast.

Chen Qi ate the Nightmare Clan member inside his father, which only turned him back into an ordinary person from a parasite. However, his humanity was not restored, and he would temporarily become a mentally unstable person.

Chen Qi had anticipated this and immediately sent his father to a safe house, temporarily placing him under house arrest.

He will be released once he regains his father's humanity.

"My father was probably parasitized in Chang Le City, so his humanity resides in the morgue of Chang Le City."

Once things are settled in Kangning City, Chen Qi will have to make a trip to Changle City.

It's not just about my father's humanity; there are many other things that need to be settled.

After all, he and Menglong started their integration in Changle City; many things began there and could only end there.

"Next..."

Chen Qi soared into the sky and entered the interlayered world once again.

He then located the source of the pollution in the interdimensional world and finally found the source of the pollution in Corning City.

Sure enough, a small group of parasites were guarding the source of the pollution.

The source of the dream pollution in Corning City is significantly different from the source of the food-related pollution in Jinghai City.

The source of food-related pollution ultimately transforms into a bus, shuttling freely between the interdimensional world and the real world.

However, the source of dream pollution does not seem to possess such flexible mobility.

It may be possible to move it, but it's certainly not that easy.

This does not mean that the source of the dream pollution is easy to deal with; on the contrary, Chen Qi found it very troublesome.

"This source of pollution has seeped into every level of the dream world. To eliminate it, we need to trace it back to its source layer by layer, which is quite troublesome."

The source of dream pollution has a strong penetrating ability. It exists not only in the interlayered world but also in the real world, and some of its energy seeps into the layers of deep dreams.

The first layer, the second layer, the third layer... the dream has as many layers as it can penetrate.

This means that Chen Qi has to delve deeper into layers of dreams to pursue his goal.

"Let's start with the real world."

Chen Qi planned to absorb the source of this dream pollution to help him complete the third qualitative change in his abilities as a Pagan.

Therefore, upon arriving in the real world, it simply opened its mouth and began to inhale, consuming the energy from the source of pollution.

The source of this pollution is completely invisible in the real world, as illusory as a dream, and ordinary people cannot see or detect it at all.

It was just a transparent mass of energy.

After being swallowed by Chen Qi in a few bites, it seemed to be protecting itself, and the part located in the interlayer world consciously hid away.

However, it cannot move flexibly; it can only conceal its presence and blend perfectly into the background of the interlayered world.

And it is constantly transferring energy, trying to transfer as much energy as possible into the dream world.

The Nightmare Clan parasites guarding the source of the pollution also sensed it, and the group stood ready, preparing to buy as much time as possible for the source of the pollution to escape.

Although the source of the dream pollution cannot move flexibly, it can transfer energy when threatened, shifting a large amount of energy into the deeper layers of the dream. If Chen Qi wants to eradicate it completely, he can only keep chasing it deeper and deeper.

However, these ordinary parasites were no match for Chen Qi. Even the second-generation Nightmare Clan parasites could not last a single round against Chen Qi.

Chen Qi only needs to summon the safe house and place it on their heads to win.

After all, several of the employees in his safe house were second-generation Nightmare Clan parasites.

Just then, Chen Qi suddenly felt a faint sense of being spied on.

"Who?"

He looked around but found nothing.

The feeling of being spied on disappeared as well.

Chen Qi didn't believe it was his imagination; with his strength, he couldn't possibly have a misperception for no reason. Someone must have been spying on him, but they immediately hid after Chen Qi discovered them.

Chen Qi didn't investigate further. His goal was clear: after quickly absorbing the source of pollution in the interlayered world, he immediately went to the first dream world.

After absorbing some of the energy from the pollution source, Chen Qi discovered that he had developed a connection with it.

This feeling is like a hunter locking onto his prey, or a foodie locking onto the food he's taken a bite of, able to follow the scent to its destination.

"This must be the effect of my ability as a pagan."

Faced with the source of dream pollution, Chen Qi's Dream Thief ability will also be suppressed, including the various abilities in the safe house, which should be unable to affect the source of dream pollution.

However, the abilities of those who consume different things become especially useful at this time.

After entering the dream world, the originally formless and intangible source of dream pollution has more room to maneuver and can be transformed into various things in the dream.

For example, right now, when Chen Qi followed the smell and tracked down the source of the pollution, the source of pollution immediately transformed into a tank, aimed at Chen Qi, and fired directly.

Chen Qi kept in mind the principle of fighting against the source of pollution and never using the same source of power. So he did not use the safe house, but instead used his ability as a devourer. His body size increased dramatically, and he swallowed the cannonball with one mouth.

As soon as it entered his mouth, the shell didn't even have time to explode before Chen Qi converted it into pure energy and absorbed it directly.

"good to eat!"

Surprisingly, this shell tasted quite good.

Chen Qi immediately launched a counterattack, transforming into a blur before disappearing in an instant.

When it reappeared, it was behind the tank.

Tanks do not have rearview mirrors.

Therefore, Chen Qi chose to launch a sneak attack from behind.

But as he approached, the tank suddenly changed; its military green metal shell turned chocolate brown!
This tank is being "chocolate-ified"!
"This is... the food conversion ability taking effect?"

Chen Qi was overjoyed.

His food transformation ability was completely ineffective against the bus that was the source of the food-fear contamination. Unexpectedly, he was able to directly transform the source of the dream contamination into food.

If things continue like this, he'll soon have a tank made of chocolate.

But just then, that familiar feeling of being spied on reappeared!
Chen Qi pretended not to know anything, pounced on the tank, and started biting into it.

The rich chocolate flavor upon tasting allowed Chen Qi to indulge in a silky smooth experience.

“It tastes so good!”

The tank immediately turned its cannon to shoot at him. Guns and cannons don't have eyes, but the shells fired by this tank seemed to have eyes. No matter what angle they were off, they would adjust their direction and accurately shoot at Chen Qi.

However, under Chen Qi's food transformation ability, it was directly transformed into a sugar-coated bullet.

Chen Qi also became a "Pac-Man," opening his mouth to swallow one sugar-coated bullet after another.

He appeared relaxed and ate heartily, but in reality, he was on guard.

He knew someone was watching.

Finally, just as Chen Qi had completely transformed the tank into chocolate, which was also the moment when he was most relaxed, the sneak attack came!

However, Chen Qi was actually on guard all along.

Without even turning his head, the safe house appeared beneath his feet.

Chen Qi had anticipated this move.

In the dream world, the safe house remains Chen Qi's most powerful fighting tool, but it cannot threaten the source of dream pollution; however, it can almost kill everyone else.

Inside the safe house, Chen Qi was king, the master of this small amusement park.

Everything here is within his perception.

The moment the safe house enveloped the attacker, Chen Qi sensed the attacker's appearance and aura, and understood his identity.

"A generation of Nightmare Clan!"

Chen Qi finally met yet another Nightmare Clan parasite, in addition to Meng Long and A Liang!
The one who ambushed him was this very Nightmare, who possessed a boy-like figure dressed in black, like a shadow, perfectly blending into the darkness.

In his dreams, he is an elusive assassin, silently reaping the lives of his enemies.

However, he encountered Chen Qi...

Chen Qi actually knew all those methods as well, but he was too lazy to use them and disdained to use them.

He has better ways, such as simply throwing a safe house at people.

The staff inside the safe house immediately sprang into action, surrounding the boy in black.

"Get out!"

With a shout, the young man unleashed his domain, its terrifying power pressing down on all the employees.

At this moment, the Nightmare Clan's unreasonable hierarchical suppression was once again demonstrated. So many second and third generation Nightmare Clan members were completely suppressed by the aura of a first generation Nightmare Clan member, and were intimidated before the battle even began.

"Go back."

Chen Qi did not make things difficult for his employees, as it was extremely difficult for the Nightmare Clan to overthrow the ruling class.

However, he didn't do it himself. It would take some time to chew up a kilogram-force tank. He had to finish eating quickly so he could continue tracking down the source of the pollution.

Suddenly, a thunderous roar was heard, and the inflatable teddy bear in the amusement park came to life.

The teddy bear pounced, displaying an agility disproportionate to its size, and crushed the boy in black beneath it like a mountain crashing down.

The young man in black possessed extraordinary skills, yet he seemed unable to utilize them.

This is like a top assassin encountering Ultraman. How do they fight?
But it must be said that the first generation of Nightmare Clan parasites were indeed quite something.

Despite not being in the same league, the bear did not collapse quickly and still had some ability to protect itself, trying its best to hold its own against the teddy bear.

Chen Qi decided to mobilize other facilities in the amusement park to help the teddy bear.

Finally, the boy in black fled in panic, trying to force his way out of the safe house.

Just then, a bus in the middle of the amusement park suddenly started moving, and with a crash, knocked the boy in black unconscious.

Chen Qi was slightly taken aback...

Just now, the thought of making the bus hit the boy in black flashed through his mind subconsciously, but he didn't expect the bus to actually move!
"Does this mean I can control the bus to some extent?"

Chen Qi was delighted, suspecting that this was related to his having swallowed another S-level pollution source, which enhanced his own abilities.

Although he hasn't yet undergone a qualitative change in his abilities, his overall strength has been continuously improving in the process. Even the improvement in the abilities of the alien eaters can affect his control over the bus.

Chen Qi immediately ordered his employees to put the unconscious, past nightmare into the Ferris wheel.

He hasn't converted a first-generation Nightmare yet, so he doesn't know how long it will take to convert this one into an employee.

After quickly devouring the chocolate tank, Chen Qi immediately followed the scent into the second dream world to continue hunting down the source of the dream pollution.

(End of this chapter)