America: The Cremator

Su Long summoned his control panel and began to carefully read the descriptions of the newly appeared terms.

[Fear and Deterrence (Broken)]

Category: Blessing.

Description: Your gaze is imbued with a strange power, capable of directly intimidating other creatures with your eyes, causing them to experience instinctive fear on a spiritual level. (This ability is extremely weak.)

Comment: His body trembled, exuding an aura of dominance!

[Nightmare-bound★]

Type: Curse.

Introduction: The Smiling Virgin Mary has left her mark on you. Every night after falling asleep, you will fall into a spring dream woven by her, and at the climax of the dream, you will be instantly switched to the deepest nightmare.

Review: An Inch-Stopping Challenge!

Note: Continuing to burn or incinerate the Smiling Mother will increase the star rating of the entry.

A highly promising ability to control, and an extremely disgusting sleep-disrupting effect.

Su Long's mind raced as he assessed the gains and losses of this confrontation.

In the early stages, fear intimidation is far more effective than the Rain Lady entry. If you can complete it, you can gain the upper hand when facing most bizarre creatures that act on instinct.

While the curse doesn't directly threaten life, the continuous sleep deprivation is far from a pleasant experience.

It seems he must eliminate this anomaly, not only to get a good night's sleep, but also for the alluring fear-inducing keywords.

Su Long closed the system panel and turned to look around him.

Stella struggled to sit up from her unconsciousness, supporting herself on the muddy ground with one hand. She stood up and slowly brushed the mud off her expensive protective suit before immediately walking toward Hannah, who was lying on the other side.

Su Long's gaze followed, and he once again channeled the power in his eyes to look at the girl who was still unconscious.

This time, the red, thread-like mist that had been present around Hannah's young face was no longer visible.

Stella's voice trembled slightly, as if she had just survived a close call. She knelt down to check on Hannah's condition: "Suron, can you still enter her dream now?"

"It's no use," Su Long's voice was muffled. "I can't find that feeling I had when I first entered you. She might have been dragged deeper."

“The Smiling Mother is a highly psychologically aggressive and eerie entity,” Stella’s tone turned serious as she looked up at Suron. “The prey that is dragged into its deep nightmares will have their souls rapidly digested, eventually becoming an empty shell devoid of consciousness. The whole process usually takes no more than three hours.”

She paused, her gaze returning to Hannah's bloodless face.

"Depending on the past experiences and the depth of psychological trauma of the person being devoured, this speed may be accelerated. The fact that Hannah completely succumbed within a few tens of minutes indicates that there is a huge gap in her mental defenses, and the current situation is extremely dangerous."

Listening to her analysis, Su Long silently stared at the curled-up body on the ground. After a moment, he slowly asked, "Is there any way to save it?"

"I have a way to get you into her dream, but of course, I must inform you of the risks involved beforehand."

"Once the prey sinks into the deepest nightmare, the Smiling Mother will choose to reveal its true form in the dream in order to digest the soul more efficiently. This means that once you enter, the difficulty of awakening and the dangers you encounter will increase dramatically."

She paused for a moment, seemingly giving Su Long room to think and choose.

"I will not force you to put yourself in such danger, Mr. Suron. The choice is entirely yours."

Sulong's attention was firmly drawn to a certain phrase in her words.

The true nature is revealed.

This means that entering that bizarrely constructed false world could actually provide an opportunity to confront the core of the Smiling Mother.

If he were facing a C-level anomaly with powerful physical destructive capabilities, he would definitely choose to turn around and leave. However, this type, which focuses on illusions and mental erosion, might not be without a fighting chance with the boost from his newly upgraded 10-point Spirit Vision and Primal Flame.

Risk and reward always go hand in hand.

"What should I do?" Su Long asked.

Stella didn't seem surprised by his choice.

"The environment here is too poor to carry out the ceremony. Let's get her in the car first."

Su Long didn't say anything more. He bent down and picked up the unconscious Hannah in his arms. Her young body was much lighter than he had imagined.

He and Stella walked out of the rotting tent, one after the other, and stepped back onto the muddy path leading back to the parking lot.

"Do you need my help?" Stella looked at Suron, who was carrying someone but still walking steadily, and was somewhat surprised.

"No need, just walk faster."

The two quickly walked out of the edge of the green belt and returned to the black Ford crematorium parked in the park parking lot.

Stella's car, a modified black Jeep Wrangler, was parked not far away; its rugged lines and huge tires exuded a sense of reliable security.

Sulong and Stella each took off their bulky protective suits, and the car's heater dispelled the cold, dampness clinging to their skin.

Then, Sulong removed Hannah's protective suit, which was also covered in mud, and laid her flat on the spacious back seat of the Wrangler.

Stella took a half-full Coca-Cola plastic bottle from the trunk of the car. However, the bottle did not contain the dark brown carbonated beverage, but some kind of completely transparent liquid.

She unscrewed the bottle cap, pulled down the collar of Hannah's sweatshirt a little to reveal the fair skin below her collarbone, and then poured the liquid from the bottle directly onto her.

The clear liquid instantly soaked through my clothes and skin, and then the water droplets clinging to my skin began to bubble like soda water.

"What is this?" Surong looked at this strange scene.

"Holy water from St. James's Cathedral," Stella replied, her tone as flat as if she were introducing an ordinary bottle of mineral water, "except the container is rather plain."

As soon as she finished speaking, she took out a black folding knife from her pocket, deftly unfolded the blade, and slashed directly across the area of ​​skin below Hannah's collarbone that was soaked in holy water.

A cross-shaped wound instantly formed, and bright red blood seeped from under the torn skin, but was firmly contained by the surrounding bubbling holy water, preventing it from flowing out.

"What are you doing?" Su Long frowned.

Stella did not answer his question. She climbed out of the car and handed the half-empty bottle of holy water to Suron.

"Drink it."

Su Long took the bottle, tilted his head back, and drank the liquid, which had a slightly rusty taste, in one gulp.

Then, Stella made him extend his left hand and used the sharp blade to cut an identical right cross wound in his palm.

"Straddle her," Stella commanded, her voice devoid of emotion, "so that the wounds on your hands completely overlap with the wounds on her chest."

Sulong paused for a moment. He glanced at Hannah lying in the car, then at Stella's serious face, and finally climbed into the back seat as instructed, straddling Hannah.

Oh, what a terrible position.

He gently placed his palm over Hannah's chest.

Beneath my palm, Hannah's skin was delicate and cold, with the unique moist touch of holy water. A slight burning pain came from where the two wounds overlapped.

"Close your eyes," Stella's voice came from outside the car, "and focus on the feeling in your hands."

Sulong closed his eyes.

All the surrounding sounds seemed to fade away, leaving only the increasingly clear burning sensation in my palm.

A thin stream of heat emerged from the overlapping wounds and spread upwards along his arm.

The darkness before him instantly deepened, completely engulfing his consciousness.

When Su Long opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in a long corridor.

The corridor's architectural structure has a distinct Christian church style, with the walls on both sides evenly divided by narrow stained glass windows. However, no light can penetrate through the windows; there is only deathly darkness.

The walls of the corridor are adorned with many exquisitely framed oil paintings, but the content of these paintings has nothing to do with religion. They record the childhood of a brother and sister with a warm and delicate touch.

The first few images are vibrant yet gentle in color. Sunlight filters through the leaves, illuminating the bright smiles of two children as they chase butterflies together on the grass and share a sandwich by the river.

Until one of the paintings, everything in the picture lost its color and turned into a somber black and white.

Sulong stopped in front of the painting.

On the screen, an overturned car is billowing black smoke, with broken parts scattered all over the ground. Two small figures are kneeling in the cold rain, while their parents are lying on a stretcher not far away, covered with a white sheet.

From this painting onward, all subsequent paintings lost their color.

The black and white strokes depict the scene of the siblings being bullied by other children in the orphanage, portray the nights when they huddled together for warmth on the cold bed, and record their past when they had to rummage through the trash can because of hunger.

In the last scene, a pair of old, wrinkled hands reach out to them and lead them into a magnificent church.

Su Long breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, from the deep darkness ahead in the corridor, a faint, deliberately suppressed sobbing sound came from the front.

It was the sound of a girl crying.