I created a safe zone in the nightmare world.

"Ding-dong~!"

"Ding-dong~!"

who is it?

Shi An looked at the door.

There are some people in Baijiang who know where he lives, but the only one who would come to his door without sending a message or making a phone call is probably Hajiru.

The doorbell rarely rings at Shi An's house. Apart from Haki Lu, most of the time it's just takeout, takeout, and more takeout.

But it's early morning now.

Oh, it's not particularly early, it's almost time to go to work, but...

"Hello, this is a community survey."

This announcement sounds just like a water meter being delivered when the door is opened.

Shi An suddenly realized something.

Or rather, he realized this possibility when he learned more information from Lao Yao, or even earlier when he went to Lao He's residence to investigate.

official.

Shi An had long suspected that the authorities were blocking all information about nightmares, and he was even more certain of this after hearing from Lao Yao and Xiao K.

"Nightmare information must not be disseminated to ordinary people, because the more you know about nightmares, the more likely you are to be plagued by them and fall into a nightmare world!"

Not only the authorities, but the vast majority of people who suffer from nightmares consciously suppress the spread of information about their nightmares, limiting the information to their small circle.

Shi An pondered for a moment, then stepped forward and clicked open the door.

It's no use not opening it.

Of course, the tactics of the Countermeasures Bureau can be glimpsed from Lao Yao and Xiao K. Shi An had already devised some countermeasures after anticipating that this situation might occur.

"Click."

Shi An opened the door.

Outside the door, there were no burly men in black trench coats or black suits as he had imagined; instead, there were only two people dressed very casually.

The man leading the group looked to be around thirty years old, with a kind face.

The person following them, however, had a youthful face and looked like a high school student or even a middle school student.

This combination would be odd if it were a community outreach survey, but it would be just right and reasonable if it were a countermeasures bureau.

Moreover, Shi An also vaguely sensed an ominous aura emanating from the young man.

That's the aura of a cursed dream!

Shi An invited the two to sit down and poured them two glasses of water.

"Hello Mr. Shi, my surname is Song. We are here to conduct research on..."

"It's about nightmares, right?"

Before Song Qiming could finish his carefully chosen words, someone else spoke first.

Is that correct?

Is this reasonable?

The normal procedure is as follows: they point out the nightmare, the person experiencing the dream goes from disbelief to unease to acceptance, then they erase the person's memory of the nightmare, stop the nightmare information from spreading, and then they can finish their job and move on to the next client.

Song Qiming was an experienced clerk who had handled similar matters many times. He had encountered people who refused to cooperate or even violently resisted, but he had never seen anyone as calm and even in control as Shi An.

"It seems Mr. Shi knows quite a bit about nightmares, which makes our work much simpler. We've discovered that Mr. Shi has been paying close attention to Mr. He Sinan's disappearance recently, and we can indeed tell him that Mr. He Sinan's disappearance is related to nightmares. Moreover, Mr. Shi should be able to guess that all information related to nightmares is strictly prohibited from being leaked."

This was exactly what Shi An had expected.

He was just an ordinary person from beginning to end, never plagued by nightmares. The only person he was associated with nightmares was Old He!

He had been to Lao He's rented apartment. It wasn't a secret that he and Hajiru were focusing on nightmares; if someone were to investigate, it wouldn't be a secret.

It's not surprising that a big shot in the Countermeasures Bureau could find out here.

"So, you're here to block information about the nightmare?"

Song Qiming nodded. "The leak of nightmare information is not a good thing for Baijiang as a whole, nor for Mr. Shi himself. Mr. Shi probably doesn't know this yet, but the more ordinary people know about nightmares, the more easily they are plagued by nightmares. There have been several large-scale disappearances in Baijiang because of the leak of nightmare information."

"To exaggerate a bit, Mr. He Sinan's disappearance might also be due to him hearing news of a nightmare somewhere, subsequently being plagued by nightmares, and then disappearing..."

He stopped there.

The nightmare world and the dreamers are clearly more cryptic information.

Although Shi An already knew.

Song Qiming continued, "According to regulations, we will erase Mr. Shi's memories related to the nightmares. This erasure is harmless; it will transform the memories into the form of dreams and gradually fade them from his mind. It sounds incredible, but it is indeed possible. We have handled hundreds or thousands of similar cases."

This is naturally the power of the cursed dream object.

The Countermeasures Bureau possesses a high-level artifact called "Dream Without Trace," which has numerous abilities, including the ability to process memories without leaving a trace.

Of course, these clerks only possessed tokens, which allowed them to borrow a small portion of the cursed object's power.

Even so, erasing the memories of ordinary people is a piece of cake.

Shi An was not surprised that the Countermeasures Bureau had such methods.

He felt that his memories were probably not so easily erased. Of course, Shi An didn't want to risk gambling on that possibility.

He has several strategies.

One method is to impersonate someone who has fallen into a dream.

He could indeed be a Dream Faller, pretending to be plagued by nightmares and resisting the initial nightmare. Naturally, since he's already plagued by nightmares, the Countermeasures Bureau wouldn't come to erase his memories; at most, they'd sign a confidentiality agreement.

But Shi An considered this strategy to be a poor choice.

If it were in front of Contract Employee No. 1, Shi An would most likely choose to deceive them and allow himself more time to stay in the dream.

And now...

He asked, "There must be some way to avoid erasing memories, right? It's impossible to say that all ordinary people are unaware of nightmares."

After all, the clerk in front of him, surnamed Song, was just an ordinary person.

Song Qiming hesitated for a moment.

That is certainly true.

The young man next to Song Qiming nudged his arm. "Brother Song, aren't many departments in the bureau short-staffed?"

The shortage of personnel is not just for those who have fallen into dreams, but also for a great many clerks.

Nightmares cannot be shared, so clerks often have to choose from those who have been in contact with them, and this is a high-risk position.

Song Qiming said, "Ordinary people usually only know about nightmares in two ways. One is that the person experiencing the nightmare is a close relative of the person who is already suffering from nightmares. This is something that cannot be hidden from them."

"Secondly, there are ordinary staff members in various organizations."

"Our Countermeasures Bureau is certainly recruiting employees, and the salary and benefits are quite generous, with a monthly salary of 2+ NTD, including five social insurances and one housing fund. The bureau also provides employees with additional high-value insurance. However, the recruitment requirements for our Countermeasures Bureau are not low, and most people cannot pass the selection process. Even if they are hired, many people will regret it in the end."

Song Qiming had encountered similar situations before.

In other words, those who are aware of nightmares join the Countermeasures Bureau to avoid having their memories erased. Initially, these people are excited about contacting mysterious forces, but as their understanding of nightmares deepens, fear and regret arise.

After being haunted by nightmares and narrowly escaping death time and again, they were filled with remorse and even went insane.

Song Qiming didn't really want to recommend anyone to the Countermeasures Bureau anymore. He didn't want to hear again in the future that someone he had recommended had disappeared or died in a nightmare.

But the boy next to him felt that people should have the right to choose.

Shi An didn't hear much of what was said after that; he only heard that the monthly salary was 20,000 yuan with five insurances and one housing fund.

That's very tempting!

Of course, he, the store manager, is not such a superficial person; he just wants to make a contribution to world peace.

His main reason for preferring to join the Countermeasures Bureau as an ordinary, slacking-off employee was:

He has already encountered nightmares, and will likely continue to do so very frequently in the future, along with related people and events. Therefore, the likelihood of him remaining under the continued scrutiny of the Countermeasures Bureau is quite high.

If it keeps appearing in the sights of the Countermeasures Bureau, anyone would start to suspect that there might be something wrong with it.

in addition,

"I still lack basic information about those who fall into dreams and the objects that curse dreams. As an official department, the Countermeasures Bureau should have no difficulty finding this information once I enter. Isn't that much easier than figuring it out bit by bit on my own?"

Entering as a regular peripheral employee requires a more discreet and inconspicuous approach than entering as a Dreamer.

The plan is in place.

You can fire the manager.