I created a safe zone in the nightmare world.

Shi An angrily rubbed the blood-stained dog's head. The blood-stained dog's little hands twitched and waved, but unfortunately, they couldn't resist the shopkeeper's authority.

Whether the Blood Handprint had been redeemed or weakened was unclear to Shi An for the time being, but he thought the Blood Handprint's appearance was quite good. After all, it was his employee, and he would be spending a long time with the Blood Handprint. If this number one employee were a hideous monster dripping with blood... Shi An would find that very unsettling.

He's a normal person, after all.

and,

After signing the contract with Employee Number One, Shi An obtained additional information.

"Employee: Bloody Handprint"

"Abilities: Blood Hand Brand, Blood-Hidden Body"

"Note: This upgrade costs 100 Faith Points and can be used to upgrade one of the abilities."

He can add points to the Blood Handprint.

Adding points requires a large amount of faith points.

So here's the question: if the boss has to pay out of his own pocket for employee upgrades and advancements, then why does he still have to pay salaries?

"Ah! Ah!"

The bloody handprint stretched out its hand, its gaze fixed intently on him.

Shi An paused for a moment, then said, "Okay, so you actually know to ask for your own salary. Not bad, not bad." At least you're not stupid!

What could he do? Of course, he'd give it to it.

A ray of light emerged from Shi An's fingertips and disappeared into the blood-stained handprint.

It squinted its eyes, looking very comfortable, and Shi An didn't object to petting it anymore.

This includes the nickname Shi An gave it.

From now on, you'll be called Little Blood.

"While I'm away, the safe zone is in your care."

Shi An's biggest concern before was that if he was not in a safe zone when he entered a dream, would he still be unable to enter even if someone who had fallen into a dream was lucky enough to encounter a safe zone?

After all, without his "invitation," the safe zone might not be open for business, and the mechanism simply wouldn't be triggered.

But Shi An can't stay in the safe zone forever.

He's a realistic person; to put it simply, even this dignified leader of the safe zone is still struggling with money issues.

Even those in power have to bow down for a pittance.

"The supervisor I asked for leave today seems quite unhappy. If he asks for it again, he'll probably be fired."

"Difficult, difficult, difficult."

But now, Xiao Xue can take over the shop.

After giving instructions regarding the bloody handprint, Shi An left the safe zone and returned to the real world.

……

Another place.

"You conquered a nightmare?"

"Xi Xue, as expected of you, you have lived up to your teacher's reputation."

"It's not just a matter of not disgracing anyone. There aren't many Dreamers who have conquered Nightmare during the Fusion stage, let alone our Xixue who has only been in Nightmare for half a month. Her future is promising."

"I'm very smart, but this isn't just my achievement; the store manager also played a part. The store manager is definitely an expert."

"A Dream Faller codenamed 'Shopkeeper'? That's the first time I've heard of that. But in the Nightmare World, Dream Fallers often die, and new masters rise from time to time, which is normal."

To say nothing of the distant past, their wizarding family's descendant, Xi Xue, has boundless potential.

This potential refers to the potential to develop and integrate cursed dream objects, and of course, it also includes personal qualities.

And now, Xi Xue is also quite lucky.

The organization has higher expectations for her now.

……

"You mean, you conquered a nightmare?"

Inside the countermeasures bureau, Lao Yao also reported that he had conquered Nightmare.

He belongs to the Third Dream Squad of the Countermeasures Bureau and is a core operator of the Bureau. Of course, he is just an ordinary core operator.

The captain looked very surprised.

"Don't misunderstand, the main thing is that this matter is indeed surprising. The last time I conquered Nightmare was a long, long time ago."

Old Yao: "..."

After listening to the captain recount his experience for quite some time, he had to interrupt:

"Although we conquered Nightmare, we were basically just carried by the game. The real decisive factors were the shopkeeper and the newcomer from the Wizarding House."

He recounted in detail the process of conquering the nightmare.

This is also a regulation of the Countermeasures Bureau. The abilities of the dreamer and the items used to curse dreams can be kept secret and do not need to be fully disclosed, but details about the nightmare world, especially the methods of navigating it, need to be compiled and filed after the nightmare ends.

Especially regarding strategies, only by integrating enough information can the Dreamers increase their chances of conquering nightmares.

Of course, the Strategy Bureau will also give certain rewards to those who provide valuable strategies.

Old Yao's strategy guide has little reference value; it relies purely on the personal abilities of the Dreamers of the Wizard's House and the shopkeeper's safe zone's ability to block out the eerie and dangerous.

The captain's expression became much more serious after hearing this. He stroked his chin and said, "I've heard a little about the Wizarding House's rising star. He's their third newly admitted student, so his performance isn't surprising."

"But the 'store manager'?"

After pondering for a moment, the captain said, "This safe zone is likely a special and powerful artifact used to curse dreams. The shopkeeper used this artifact to carve out a special space within the dream realm. He used this space to protect those who have fallen into dreams and resist the invasion of the dream realm."

After all, he was a man of great experience, and he immediately offered his guesses about things that were enough to shock Lao Yao's worldview.

This is not unusual.

It can be considered a field.

The captain was curious about how strong a strange invasion this "store manager's" domain could withstand. To dare use the word "safe" in its name showed a lot of confidence.

Safety and nightmares are always contradictory.

Even if the shopkeeper's safe zone can protect other dream sufferers, what about the shopkeeper himself? Fighting nightmares and maintaining the cursed dream items is a difficult, energy-consuming, and costly endeavor.

Given such a high cost, how can we talk about safety?

Despite thinking this way, the captain also heard the gratitude and admiration in Lao Yao's words.

He is indeed a person of high moral character.

Provide shelter free of charge.

He saved lives at a critical moment.

They regarded the spoils of war as dirt.

Even as the captain of the countermeasures bureau, he felt inferior to them.

What he found most regrettable was:

"It would be great if we could recruit this store manager into the bureau."

But this shop manager seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, and none of the Dreamers he had in mind matched up.

If we happen to meet again in the future, I'll try recruiting them then.

……

Achoo!

Shi An woke up from her dream, rubbing the tip of her nose. "Ordinary people's bodies are still too fragile. If I became a Dream Faller, I wonder if I would still catch a cold?"

"No, even those who have fallen into dreams are not immune. With the side effects of using cursed items, most of them might be even weaker than ordinary people."

Shi An felt that his current problem was still figuring out how to use the cursed dream item.

It's not difficult for him to obtain a cursed object now; the difficulty lies in using it safely with minimal side effects.

What he wants more is to use it in a harmless manner.

However, regarding the Dreamers system, Shi An strongly doubts that there is any way to become stronger without side effects.

As he was pondering, a WeChat notification sound suddenly rang.

Shi An glanced at it and finally realized something more important.

"If I don't go to work soon, I'll be fired."

"Cultivation is important for those who have fallen into dreams, but without money, they can't even survive."

If I don't find a job soon, I won't be able to pay the rent in two months!

He could work before opening the shop and still work after opening it; wouldn't that mean he opened the shop for nothing?

Just as Shi An was debating whether or not to talk to her supervisor, the doorbell suddenly rang.