I created a safe zone in the nightmare world.

Before him was an empty hallway, somewhat similar to the corridor of the apartment he rented.

Dim, desolate, and deathly silent.

The air was filled with a chilling and terrifying atmosphere.

Shi An squinted, realizing that he wasn't particularly surprised or frightened.

possible……

It must have been anticipated and prepared for in advance.

"Understanding nightmares can significantly increase the likelihood of being plagued by them."

"Contact with and use of cursed objects greatly accelerates time. Not to mention, I recently experienced a nightmare myself."

From the moment I learned about Zhuimeng, only three and a half days had passed.

However, Shi An has also gone from initially being afraid of nightmares and resisting them to now...

"I'm actually starting to feel a little excited."

Apart from a slight increase in heart rate when he fell, Shi An had now regained his composure.

He looked around.

The corridor lights were brighter than those in the nightmare dormitory building, and the building itself wasn't dilapidated. It felt as if he were truly in the corridor of an apartment building, with closed doors visible on both sides.

Shi An stepped forward and saw that the door was still an electronic lock, just like the room he rented.

But when he touched it, the electronic lock did not respond.

Even if you knock on the door or even bang on it, it feels like you're hitting a solid wall.

Shi An stroked his chin. "Initially, the entire nightmare world is often not very big. Even in some seemingly empty scenes, what actually exists is only a small corner nearby."

"My first nightmare was undoubtedly this stairwell, and the surrounding rooms were probably just a backdrop."

Demolition?

It's worth a try, but Shi An doesn't have high hopes.

Walls and rooms are essentially the barriers of the entire nightmare world.

While the Dreamers might be able to defeat the supernatural through mechanics, Shi An had never heard of anything like breaking through the barriers of the Nightmare World.

At most, it's just finding a crack or exit in the nightmare world, through which you can access another dream realm.

While pondering, Shi An walked forward.

He glanced at the identical doors as he passed by, noting that the only difference was the room numbers, starting with 401 and continuing downwards.

The hallway was very long, and apart from the room door, Shi An did not see any passageway or elevator for going up or down the stairs.

However, this was within his expectations.

"Nightmare Boy isn't very helpful; he can't even make the textures big enough."

Finally, the passageway forked, one branch pointing diagonally to the left and the other to the right.

Shi An randomly chose a spot and strode forward.

After walking for a while, a second fork appeared. He randomly chose one to proceed until he encountered a third fork.

"really."

"A maze, right?"

Shi An glanced to both sides. The only change in the surrounding environment was the room number, which had evolved from 401 to the present: 441, 442, 443...

It can cause people trapped in nightmares to subconsciously ignore what's wrong and simply think that the building is too big.

However, upon closer inspection, something still seemed off. He had clearly passed through two forks in the road, and there were many rooms in the other corridor, so why were the room numbers still so regular, extending downwards one by one?

When he realized this—and showed that he was aware of it—the house number stopped changing.

It stays on number 444.

Every door leads to room number 444.

The entire nightmare started to stop acting out.

Then he won't act anymore.

……

"The entire initial nightmare is actually a process of constantly putting psychological pressure on the person who is falling into it."

At the Wizard's House, the experienced Dreamer "Pen" is giving a lecture.

He was facing three individuals, handpicked by their organization, who were about to be plagued by nightmares and were destined to fall into a nightmare state.

There are many types of people who experience dream-induced delusions.

Most people are simply unfortunate enough to be plagued by nightmares, and even if they manage to escape their initial nightmares, they can only become ordinary dream sufferers.

However, the Wizarding House is one of the top organizations in White River City, and it only trains elites.

The elite are often selected from the very beginning, before they are afflicted by nightmares.

By building physical fitness, training mental resilience, and cultivating a mindset for tackling nightmares, you'll have a better chance of performing well during your initial nightmares and the relatively easier ones in the early stages, allowing your success to snowball.

The most crucial scene, of course, is the first nightmare.

"We can't predict what kind of scene the initial nightmare will be, or what kind of eeriness we will face, but..."

"In the initial nightmares, the bizarre logic of the murder is often as follows: apply psychological pressure to cause panic in the dreamer, and fear is the opportunity for them to strike."

"In other words, as long as you can control your emotions, there is a 98% chance that you can break free from your initial nightmare."

It's easy to say, and everyone understands the principle, but in reality, fear is often beyond human control.

Of course, the three prospective brides present were all carefully selected by the organization and had undergone rigorous training.

For them, controlling their fear and breaking free from nightmares is not difficult.

But the wizarding house also has higher requirements for them.

The pen said, "You need to break free from the initial nightmare more quickly, ideally within three days, or even two. Only then can you obtain a better, more complete cursed artifact."

"You should know that the initial nightmare is an opportunity for the person who has fallen into the dream. Not only will they be guaranteed to obtain a cursed dream item, but this cursed dream item is often very suitable for the person who has fallen into the dream."

"To achieve this, calmness alone is not enough; you need to take the initiative, find the exit from the nightmare, and escape directly."

At this moment, someone below asked, "Teacher, teacher, I heard that our organization's strongest newcomer, Miss Xixue, broke free from the nightmare in just one day. Is it possible that we not only need to break free from the nightmare, but also eliminate the monsters within it?"

The pen chuckled silently.

Escaping a nightmare in one day is not that different from escaping it in three or two days.

Xi Xue is not the only one in the Wizarding House who can do this.

Ke Xixue's title as the strongest rookie is truly well-deserved.

Few in the entire history of Baijiang have been able to serve as the main force in defeating the Nightmare Fallen Ones during the third Nightmare.

As for...

"Conquer the First Nightmare?" The pen shook its head. "Don't even dream about it. The First Nightmare is special. Unless you have the ability to confront or even defeat the eerie thing head-on, don't even think about it."

"But if he's just an ordinary person who experienced the initial nightmare, where did he get the ability to contend with or even defeat the bizarre?"

……

Nightmare Corridor.

Staring at the ever-expanding room number 444, Shi An sighed softly.

He reached out and lightly touched the electronic lock on one of the doors. The electronic lock had quietly transformed into a brass handle, and the arched door, crafted from dark brown wood, had replaced the previous merely decorative door number 444.

Shi An grasped the handle and pushed the door open to enter.