Fear of food

Feng Bin's disappearance and the pollution outbreak all occurred during the summer vacation.

However, quite a few college students stay at school for the summer vacation. Some are preparing papers, some are working summer jobs, and some simply don't want to go home.

Feng Bin, a perfectly healthy man, simply vanished without a trace, and no one even knows when he disappeared.

Even his roommates and classmates couldn't quite remember the exact day he went missing.

They could not say anything unusual about his behavior before he disappeared.

This situation was certainly related to the fact that it was summer vacation and there were fewer people in the dormitory.

The main reason, however, is that their relationship with Feng Bin was not particularly good.

Or rather, Feng Bin had no friends at school; he was practically invisible.

So much so that no one else would notice his absence for a while.

This is inextricably linked to Feng Bin's eccentric personality.

He's not exactly annoying, but if he were, his roommate would have noticed immediately after he disappeared.

He simply has no presence.

Feng Bin is rather withdrawn, prefers to be alone, dislikes socializing, and spends his days either eating and sleeping or glued to his phone.

When I'm not in class, I basically lie in bed playing on my phone, and I never really get along with my roommates.

Chen Qi keenly sensed that there might be more to Feng Bin's disappearance than met the eye. As the only clue he had at the moment, Chen Qi was determined to investigate it, even if there was only a slight possibility.

So he entered the dreams of Feng Bin's roommates and personally inquired about some information about Feng Bin.

By directly reading the thoughts of Feng Bin's roommates, Chen Qi quickly sketched out Feng Bin's image in his mind.

Feng Bin's roommates held him in some contempt, seeing him as a loser, a fat otaku, and a fat pig.

Every day is spent eating, drinking, sleeping and playing. She skips classes whenever possible, eats several meals a day, has a huge appetite, and is also possessive of her food.

He would accept any food his roommate gave him, but he never shared his own snacks.

Aside from eating and attending classes, he basically never gets out of bed. He lies in bed playing on his phone, and when he gets tired, he falls asleep, regardless of whether it's day or night.

They often watch videos secretly and don't share good resources.

In summary: He can eat a ton, sleep a ton, and is a master of masturbation.

"Eating, sleeping, and shivering—this perfectly matches the appetite, sleepiness, and lust of the three Nightmare Clan races. Could this guy be the one who broke into the Nightmare Clan world?"

"Is it because Feng Bin and his two human friends have very strong basic desires that they entered the Nightmare Clan's world?"

Chen Qi felt it wasn't that simple.

In fact, there are quite a few people like Feng Bin. Appetite, sleep, and sex are the three basic human desires that everyone has.

If having all three strong desires were enough to enter the Nightmare Clan's world, then who knows how many people would go in.

Moreover, although people like Feng Bin are not likable, he hasn't done anything heinous, so there's no need to demonize him.

Even Feng Bin's roommates, though they held him in some contempt, maintained a basic roommate relationship on the surface, because Feng Bin hadn't really affected them much.

"He's just an ordinary person. Is the Nightmare Clan invasion really related to him?"

"Or is it just a simple disappearance, and has nothing to do with the Nightmare Clan at all?"

Chen Qi contacted the authorities and investigated Feng Bin's information.

There's not much to say about Feng Bin's family background; he comes from an ordinary family, and his identity information hasn't been used for a long time.

His phone number, social media accounts, and other information had not been used for about seven or eight days before the pollution outbreak.

"Given his habit of using his phone frequently, it's impossible for him to suddenly stop using it, so that must have been when he went missing."

"So that means he did go missing three or four days earlier than Mo Nan and the others!"

Chen Qirang asked the officials in Wentang City about the ability users and confirmed one thing: there was no premature outbreak of pollution in other areas of Wentang City, even the area near Feng Bin's school.

In other words, food contamination in schools can break out several days in advance.

Given that the earliest members of the Nightmare Clan did indeed appear in this area, after ruling out other suspects, Feng Bin is indeed the most suspicious.

The other missing people, like Mo Nan, discovered the food mutation about three or four days in advance, and then disappeared on the day the pollution outbreak occurred.

Only Feng Bin disappeared seven or eight days before the pollution outbreak.

Connecting the clues, we can deduce that Feng Bin may have entered the Nightmare Clan's world, which then attracted the Nightmare Clan to the campus, causing localized pollution.

Then Mo Nan and the others noticed the food had changed and exhibited some unusual behavior.

Afterwards, Mo Nan and the others were also exposed to the Nightmare Clan's sight, and were controlled by the Nightmare Clan, becoming the first batch of parasites.

"Either Mo Nan has some special qualities that I don't know about, or there's something special about this area around the school."

Chen Qi understood that he wasn't a professional in this kind of tracking and investigation; the authorities certainly had more professional personnel than him.

This isn't a fight; relying on him alone is definitely less efficient than brainstorming together.

So he relayed everything he had discovered, along with his own speculations, to Peanut.

Peanut reported to the authorities, who then launched an investigation.

Just as Chen Qi had cleaned up the pollution in Wentang City, the authorities were about to take over the cleanup work anyway, so taking this opportunity to investigate would save them a lot of trouble.
-
Chen Qi did not leave Wentang City, and continued to search for clues at the school as much as possible.

On the official side, their work efficiency may seem low on a regular basis, but when the leaders pay attention, their efficiency is surprisingly high!
Various pieces of information related to Feng Bin kept being compiled and sent to Chen Qi.

This includes Feng Bin's movements, spending records, chat logs, and so on, before and after the pollution outbreak.

After sorting through the information, Chen Qi discovered that Feng Bin had made a large expense of 600 yuan shortly before his disappearance.

The money wasn't much, but it wasn't a small amount for a college student like Feng Bin. Feng Bin's main expenses were food, and the allowance his family gave him wasn't much either, so he was quite frugal.

The authorities have already thoroughly investigated where the money went.

"That day, Feng Bin made a rare trip out. He went to... Chunyu Street in Wentang City?"

"Spring Rain Street, that name sounds familiar, where have I heard it before?"

After a moment's thought, Chen Qi's face showed a look of sudden realization, which then turned strange.

If he remembered correctly, Spring Rain Street in Wentang City was famous far and wide. Even Chen Qi, who had never been to Wentang City before, had heard of its great name.

It could even be said that Spring Rain Street has enhanced the reputation of Wentang City.

To put it simply, this was a brothel, a gathering place for a large number of women who had fallen into prostitution. There was even a saying in the industry about "Rain-style service," and Spring Rain Street truly set the industry benchmark, becoming a model for many of its peers.

However, many years ago, during a large-scale crackdown on pornography and illegal publications, Chunyu Street was thoroughly cleaned up and has long since lost its former glory.

According to official data, although Spring Rain Street is no longer at its peak, it has shown signs of resurgence in recent years.

After all, where there is demand, there is a market. This kind of thing is hard to eradicate. Once the heat dies down, someone will want to make a living from it.

Feng Bin went to Chunyu Street, and with this extra 600 yuan, it's obvious what he went there for.

This is because I've been watching too many pornographic films, it's too depressing, and I want to try it out in real life.

Chen Qi wasn't interested in womanizing, but he thought that going there for a stroll might lead to some discoveries.

He had already searched the school thoroughly, inside and out, but found nothing unusual, so he could only continue to look for new clues.

Chen Qi flew directly to Spring Rain Street.

Although Chen Qi could no longer use the Nightmare Clan's domain after being separated from his body, he could now fly simply by relying on the Dream Thief's abilities.

He released the safe house directly. The area covered by the safe house was his domain, even more powerful than any other domain.

Upon arriving at Chunyu Street, Chen Qi immediately sensed that something was amiss.

Others might not be able to sense it, but he has pollution detection capabilities and is extremely sensitive to pollution energy!
It is noticeable that there is a faint but persistent polluting energy in the Chunyu Street area.

If Wentang City had been a polluted area before, this level of pollution would have been negligible.

But now that Chen Qi has cleared the pollution from Wentang City, the fact that there is still polluting energy in this area is clearly abnormal.

As far as he knew, Chunyu Street was not even a major pollution area before.

The pollution energy in those S-level pollution zones has dissipated, but some pollution energy remains in Chunyu Street.

He landed on Spring Rain Street and carefully sensed the polluting energy. The energy was very weak, but Chen Qi could sense something unusual about it.

"This is polluted energy I've never encountered before!"

Although both are forms of polluting energy, there are certain differences between the polluting energy in the dream pollution zone and the food phobia pollution zone.

The polluting energy discovered here is different from the two types that Chen Qi had encountered before.

There are only three types of polluted energy from the Nightmare Clan. By process of elimination, the answer is already obvious.

"This is the energy from the erotic contamination zone, energy from the Nightmare Clan!"

"But why would the Nightmare Clan's polluting energy appear in a zone contaminated by food-fear?"

You can't say that just because this place used to be a brothel, it's contaminated with lust, can you?
This doesn't make sense. Before the pollution outbreak, there were so many canteens and food streets around the world, and none of them produced pollution.

Only after pollution has already occurred will places with a high desire for production be more conducive to the escalation of pollution, thus attracting the attention of the Nightmare Clan.

Wentang City is a food-fear contaminated area, and Spring Rain Street, a place that mainly produces lust, is probably not valued much by the Nightmare Eaters.

In addition, Chunyu Street's "peak period" has long passed, and there's nothing special about it now. I guess there are many similar places in other cities as well.

What makes this former red-light district so special?

Chen Qi asked his Nightmare Clan employees, but didn't get any reliable answers.

This is ultimately a matter for the Nightmare Clan, and Chen Qi does not have any Nightmare Clan employees under his command.

As the saying goes, when it comes to things that require thinking, brainstorming is always the most efficient way to get ideas from all sides.

So he discussed it with the other members in the "Jinghai Foraging Group," and Peanut even sent the relevant information to the official website for everyone to discuss.

Various speculations and ideas came to Chen Qi, and one of them caught his eye.

"How long have these energies of lust and corruption existed?"

"Is it possible that Spring Rain Street at its peak created this energy?"

Chen Qi instantly had a breakthrough in his thinking. Back then, Chunyu Street was indeed unique in the country, with a great reputation and a large scale.

Chen Qi couldn't even imagine what it would be like if a place attracted visitors from all over the country to unleash their desires.

It is also uncertain whether any special changes will occur.

It is currently known that human desires can infiltrate the Nightmare Clan's world and become food for the Nightmare Clan.

Desire is also the only known thing that can penetrate between two worlds.

What happens when desires are highly concentrated in a region?

Chen Qi frowned in thought, while continuing to share his ideas and discuss them with the other members of the group.

Coffee suddenly spoke up: If these polluting energies have existed for a long time, then which is the existing energy, or the Spring Rain Street red-light district that came first?
These words immediately jolted Chen Qi awake; he had indeed fallen into a mental rut.

Yup!

Is it possible that the cause-and-effect relationship is reversed?
Why should we assume that the Chunyu Street red-light district is responsible for this pollution?
Why can't it be that this pollution created the Chunyu Street red-light district?
"The pollution of lust itself has the effect of promoting lust. People who are in it may develop lust even if they have no lust. People who already have lust will only have more intense desires."

Why was the Chunyu Street red-light district able to develop to such a scale back then?
Although there are various analyses, none of them are particularly convincing.

But if there is the influence of lust, then everything makes sense!

"So it's very possible that Spring Rain Street was the world's first contaminated area?"

"Before the Nightmare Clan invaded, many years ago, this place was already a polluted area. Under the influence of lust, it gradually became the largest and most famous trading place in the country."

Emotional pollution is different from dream pollution and food-related pollution. It does not have obvious abnormalities; its main manifestation is simply to promote human desires.

It won't cause food to mutate, nor will it make people be hunted in their sleep.

Therefore, even if someone with the ability comes here, they will simply remain unaffected and it will be difficult to detect anything unusual.

In addition, the pollution energy here is actually very weak, so the impact it can cause is limited and will not cause too exaggerated an effect.

Of course, these are all just Chen Qi and Coffee's guesses. They make sense logically, but there is no concrete evidence.

The existence of the Chunyu Street red-light district may have caused the current pollution.

Regardless of the cause-and-effect order, Spring Rain Street is indeed problematic.

Feng Bin disappeared after coming here, and then the Nightmare Clan invasion began!

Chen Qi felt he was close to uncovering the truth. (End of Chapter)