Nightmare Despair

Chapter 121 The World Outside the Window

The entire perimeter of the Xinhui Industrial Park has been cordoned off.

The news report mentioned a hazardous chemical leak. Nearby factories had already stopped production, and most residents within a two-kilometer radius had been evacuated to official temporary shelters to await the situation to calm down.

So, what is the real situation?

There was no pungent chemical smell in the air, only a strange odor mixed with the stench of blood.

The danger here is that even after the core is destroyed, one is still trapped in the nightmare of reality on the first floor.

Of course, this only applies to dangers for ordinary people.

Qi Tong, Xu Kuang, Lian Huan, Li Mingcheng.

Four members of the Special Operations Team One of the Xishan Strange Events Bureau, fully equipped with tactical gear, stepped into the area once again.

"What would Blue Leopard Stream's three realms need a low-level Nightmare core item for?"

Lian Huan was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, and she was nimble and looked about the same age as Qi Tong, around eighteen or nineteen years old.

Qi Tong shrugged and said, "Who knows? Maybe he's just a collector... But did he really take it?"

Qi Tong narrowed his eyes: "We'll have to go inside and take a look to know."

Li Mingcheng, the oldest and most composed, adjusted his glasses and reminded Qi Tong, "Director Zheng means that we should try our best to confirm the identity of that Nightmare Walker and figure out the reason for the oversight..."

“I know. Find out the cause, submit a report, and close the case,” Qi Tong replied.

“That’s the most important thing,” Li Mingcheng emphasized.

"Of course." Qi Tong grinned. "But, a low-level nightmare anchor point, just thrown away for nothing?"

"Old Li, how many times have you been forcibly drafted? Can you still hold on?"

Upon hearing this, Li Mingcheng's eyes behind his glasses dimmed, and he sighed almost imperceptibly, shaking his head.

The situation is clearly not optimistic.

Although young, Qi Tong possessed a commanding presence befitting a captain. He patted Li Mingcheng on the shoulder: "The real world will be dragged into a nightmare for another two or three days. Xishan is currently a mixed bag; if we don't take it... and let outside martial arts schools take it, wouldn't that be a complete waste?"

Lian Huan nodded vigorously beside him.

Nightmare items are weapons and tools with special effects for martial artists and enhanced individuals, and also serve as a medium for them to combat the erosion of nightmares.

But for these Nightmare Walkers, the role of the props is a bit more complicated.

That was... a ticket.

Those props are the embodiment of special buildings in the nightmare, and even the power of the traveler himself.

Obtaining them is equivalent to acquiring a temporary Nightmare Walker identity, allowing one to briefly travel between the corresponding nightmares.

Using this technique, the travelers were able to evade the initial nightmare's unreasonable forced conscription and extend their survival time by any means necessary...

"I glanced at it briefly that day. The werewolf killed the Nightmare Core and took it out of the Nightmare... but the anchor point that the Nightmare Core corresponded to before its death should still be here."

Qi Tong's face darkened. He raised his left hand, grasped his right wrist, and gently twisted it.

"Click."

A soft click of a mechanism unlocking. He removed his right hand, along with the outer casing of his forearm, revealing the stark white bone that gleamed with a cold, inorganic light. There was no flesh or blood; it was as if his arm had always been a mere component.

stab-

The arm bone, sharp as a blade, sliced ​​through the wall, tearing a gap large enough for passage, as easily as cutting tofu.

The four of them chatted as they filed in.

"I still don't understand why the special buildings corresponding to the Nightmare Walker also become ineffective every time the Nightmare Walker dies."

"If we could keep them here, these low-level nightmares wouldn't just be a temporary refuge, they'd be a second home..."

Qi Tong clicked his tongue in regret as the severed arm bone rapidly extended and deformed, transforming completely into a grotesque longsword.

The bone knife slashed a deadly crescent moon in the darkness.

With a few muffled thuds, two puddles of rotting flesh, still twitching, landed at the three people's feet, filling the air with a stench. They were two nightmare monsters that had somehow appeared out of nowhere.

Before it could even get close, it was instantly shredded by Qi Tong, who had keen senses.

Xu Kun frowned slightly as he looked at Qi Tong's bone knife, which was still dripping with viscous fluid.

Although one's own martial arts will produce strange phenomena on the surface of the body when activating true qi, the path of a martial artist is completely different from that of a Nightmare Walker.

Most of the Nightmare Walker's transformations are unreplicable, filled with twists and madness, ultimately a crooked path.

None of the four were enhanced individuals, so in this low-level and collapsing nightmare reality, they were not afraid of being eroded in a short period of time.

Qi Tong gave the order, and the four of them immediately split into several groups to search carefully.

At the fortieth minute, Xu Kun smashed a huge glass room with a few claw strikes.

boom!
The moment the glass shattered, the entire nightmare environment jolted, and the surrounding scenery became slightly more realistic.

The four of them met up later.

Watching Xu Kun smash the mess on the ground.

Lian Huan looked puzzled: "Are you kidding me... a petri dish? A glass chamber?"

"Can someone who isn't human become a Nightmare Walker?"

Lian Huan exclaimed in surprise, then chuckled to herself.

He was clearly amused by his own foolish idea.

Nightmare syndrome has always been a disease that affects only humans... There has never been a precedent for it even among highly intelligent mammals such as monkeys and whales.

How could it possibly be bacteria or mice?

"I understand, it's probably one of the employees in this lab... Make a note of this, and we'll compare it again when we get out."

Lian Huan instantly found a reasonable explanation.

Qi Tong scoffed and said, "If even cats and dogs could be targeted by nightmares, then humanity would have been doomed long ago, and the entire planet would have been dragged into it within six months."

"Besides, how can someone become a traveler if they don't even have intelligence? Don't be ridiculous, that's absurd."

Lian Huan: "That makes sense."

Having determined the importance of this location, the key Nightmare item is most likely nearby.

Another search ensued.

All eyes were drawn to the pile of broken glass on the ground.

Xu Kuang's fingers, covered in calluses, were unfazed by the crumbs as he reached out and pulled out a yellowed sticky note from among the fragments.

The words that can be vaguely seen are written on it.

[***Bacterial lipid...culture medium, date: June 6.29th, b11...]

The power emanating from it was chilling and sinister; the yellowed paper seemed not to be an inanimate object, but a living…frozen piece of flesh. Without a doubt, this was a nightmare artifact.

"A nightmare prop that looks like a tag, this is the first time I've seen one like this..."

The four looked at each other, then put away the sticky notes, their expressions varying.

After a moment of silence, Qi Tong said, "Go back the way we came, take the path I opened."

"Breaking this room and taking away the Nightmare artifacts will accelerate the speed at which people are dragged into that world."

"If I wander off and get lost, I might never be able to get back to reality..."

The four hurried downstairs, glancing out the window only occasionally along the way.

The world outside the window is bizarre and wonderful, with scenery that is sometimes near and sometimes far, constantly changing.

Everyone knew that it was a region from another nightmare world.

Some may be struggling to survive now, some may be slowly eroding from thousands of miles away, and some may have long since faded into oblivion in history.

But in the nightmare world, these areas are vibrant and parallel.

Here, time and space are not linearly constant.

For these travelers who had already used various means to evade the initial nightmare's forced conscription, being stranded in an unknown nightmare was second only to facing their fate head-on.

……

For some reason, the nightmare collapsed at an unusually fast speed this time.

As soon as everyone arrived at the door, the entire factory began to fade, tear, and shrink.

At the last moment, Qi Tong, who was covering the rear, was caught in a sudden rift that bit half of his body! "Come back!"

Xu Kuang let out a low growl, grabbed Qi Tong's arm, and instantly his muscles stretched out. His arm, which wasn't particularly thick, was extremely powerful and tensile, and he actually pulled Qi Tong out of that gap.

When Qi Tong emerged, half of his body was charred and emitting black smoke.

Seeing Qi Tong's miserable state, Lian Huan couldn't help but ask, "Captain, did you go to an A-level Nightmare to check in? How come you're half-dead in an instant..."

Qi Tong, who looked somewhat dazed, took a while to recover before speaking in a hoarse voice.

"Maybe... What a weird thing."

The young man's still somewhat childish face was full of shock. He frowned and said, "You can burn me even from a hundred meters away... Aren't you supposed to be able to hardly see anything glowing in a nightmare?"

After hearing Qi Tong's explanation, everyone's understanding was somewhat refreshed.

Unexpectedly, in that brief moment of less than half a second, Qi Tong found himself facing a terrifying monster engulfed in flames in an unknown dream.

The crimson light stretched for hundreds of feet, scorching intensely.

Even from a distance of over a hundred meters, Qi Tong was burned...

"What level of nightmare would it take to raise such a monster?"

Lian Huan couldn't help but raise her hand and clutch her heart.

The four people stood or sat in front of the factory, watching helplessly as the building in front of them underwent irreversible changes.

They had witnessed the process of reality being dragged into the nightmare world more than once, but each time they watched it, an indescribable sense of rejection would rise in their hearts.

It's as if the space they depend on for survival is being polluted, and the existence of light is being irresistibly eroded right before their eyes.

As children of the real world, and as part of the world of light.

That aversion to the abnormal is instinctive.

About half a minute later, the entire factory building completely faded, leaving only three lifeless colors: black, white, and gray.

If you were to find a precise adjective... it would be like a paper house waiting to be burned in front of the deceased's grave, old, dilapidated, and colorless.

Rumble…

Not long after, the factory building, which had been built less than three years ago, collapsed with a crash, as if it had weathered a century of storms, stirring up a cloud of cold dust.

Qi Tong and the other three covered their mouths and noses and hurriedly left.

There was no intention to turn back.

Because, with the departure of the nightmare, part of that factory was also dragged into another world, leaving behind only ruins and debris, nothing more.

……

Perhaps due to his increasingly strong willpower, Zhou Kai no longer enters dreams within dreams after escaping nightmares.

The cold sweat that used to frequently seep from my body has not been seen for several days, and it will probably never happen again.

But Zhou Kai sat on the sofa, expressionless, showing no sign of joy...

"My normal dreams also disappeared along with the dream within a dream."

Zhou Kai has always slept little and doesn't oversleep, which is why he only realized this problem today.

"As for... whether it's good or bad?"

Oh, whatever.

Zhou Kai took a few deep breaths, and the discomfort from the nightmare quickly faded away.

The progress achieved in this dream was quite remarkable, remarkable enough that Zhou Kai was willing to relax for half a day.

"Having reached two realms in one night, that's a good harvest. The practical training was also thorough. Now, it's time to rest."

Zhou Kai got up, walked to the bed, and lay down.

Once under the covers, I entered a deep sleep within a few breaths.

If Zhou Kai uses equipment to monitor his sleep, it's not hard to see that a normal sleep cycle consists of three stages: deep sleep, light sleep, and REM sleep.

He was completely out of control.

From the onset of nightmare syndrome, the REM sleep phase gradually disappeared.

Since becoming a traveler, my light sleep time has decreased to almost imperceptible levels.

This allows Zhou Kai to regain his full energy in just two or three hours...

next morning.

Zhou Kai went to the Morning Star Club to check on the situation.

Sure enough, once they started throwing money at the problem, the other party didn't dare to let their guard down.

The once empty floor is now piled high with building materials, and the air is filled with the smell of freshly cut pine and plaster dust. No fewer than twenty construction workers are busy working amidst the noise.

Zhu Li, the owner of Lisheng Home Furnishings, was also present to personally oversee the event.

Upon seeing Zhou Kai arrive, Zhu Li hurriedly pulled out an unopened dust mask from his pocket and eagerly handed it over.

"Mr. Zhou! What brings you here..."

"Look, almost all of my men are on the job. I guarantee it will be done for you before the deadline!"

Julie seemed a little excited; his chubby face, covered in construction dust, turned red with joy.

Zhou Kai didn't take the mask, but simply grunted in response, looked down at Zhu Li, and said calmly, "Do a good job."

After speaking, he vanished as if he had come silently.

Julie breathed a sigh of relief, only to realize that his back was soaked. He watched Zhou Kai's figure disappear into the distance, but dared not say anything more.

Over the phone, he thought this was some rich kid who had run away from somewhere, clueless about everyday matters, but incredibly wealthy.

But if he actually saw it... Julie couldn't say for sure.

He just instinctively... didn't want to get close to that young man. The guy's calmness didn't seem like a pretense; it possessed a kind of intimidating, intriguing quality that was hard to pinpoint.

……

The club will be completed within three days, after which it will essentially become a place for him to settle his relatives and friends.

Together with the hotel, they formed two organizations that complemented each other, creating two forces that Zhou Kai could gather and utilize for his own purposes.

Everything is moving in a positive direction.

Zhou Kai went downstairs, and Huang Le slowly pulled up beside him in his car.

After a few dozen breaths, Zhou Kai was stroking the high-purity silver ingots in the car, which was heading towards the Wang family's residence in Xishan.

"Let's deal with the Wang family and Pippen together."

With his powerful abilities activated, Zhou Kai's right hand, glowing faintly, reached for a four-kilogram high-purity silver ingot beside him.

Click.

A faint tearing sound and a crisp cracking sound occurred simultaneously.

Pure silver, which is not very hard and is highly malleable, felt like a cold, wet lump of mud in his hand, which shimmered with a faint glow.

With a flick of his fingers, Zhou Kai easily broke off a piece, kneaded it several times in his hand, and casually rubbed it into silver scraps and pieces.

Zhou Kai's hands were only slightly red.

"Is this considered silver flakes?"

Zhou Kai grinned. Unless he used a weapon, he couldn't make the pure silver any finer.

"What kind of thing is Hu Yuan doing? Why did he have to make such a big piece? Is he going to use it as a brick to hit someone?"

Shaking his head, Zhou Kai stuffed a handful of silver scraps into his pocket, deciding to figure out what to do next when the ceremony took place.

Huang Le was focused on driving when he accidentally glanced up and saw what was happening in the rearview mirror.

His eyes suddenly shrank to the size of pinpoints.

'Silver... in Mr. Zhou's hands it's like putty... how powerful and terrifying must that be?'

Huang Le studied physics in college. After doing some mental calculations, he muttered something to himself.

"He's practically a superman."

(End of this chapter)