I created a safe zone in the nightmare world.

"Newcomer orientation area?"

"That's right, this department has always existed, but it was small in the past. Its main responsibility was to find those who had just been plagued by nightmares, guide them through their initial nightmares, and discover the talents among the new nightmare sufferers."

The speaker was none other than Lao Song, an old acquaintance of Shi An from the Countermeasures Bureau.

Lao Song was also transferred to the Newcomer Guidance Department this time. Because of his seniority and the fact that he had worked diligently and without making any mistakes in the past, this can be considered a promotion.

The Newcomer Guidance Office itself wields considerable power, and its benefits far surpass those of peripheral departments. According to Lao Song, if he hadn't performed exceptionally well in the previous "sudden intrusion incident," he wouldn't have been placed in such an important department so soon after joining the Countermeasures Bureau.

……

After hanging up the phone with Lao Song, Shi An opened the panel and started checking.

"Safe Zone"

Level: LV2

"Employee: Bloody handprint, (pending contract)"

"Architecture: Purifying Spring, Wizard's Alchemy Workshop"

"Blueprints: Wizard's Alchemy Workshop, Training Grounds"

"Cursed Dream Object Template: Shadow Giant Cut - Complete, Dripped Faucet - Complete"

"other:……"

Three days have passed since the safe zone was upgraded to level two.

In these three days, although no major nightmare events similar to the previous ones occurred, and no exceptionally talented dream sufferers arrived, but...

After all, the base number is there; the number of Dreamers in the safe zone has increased significantly during this period compared to before.

Of course, there were still some strong individuals who managed to conquer the nightmare.

There are three in total.

The efficiency may not seem high, but it's just a random team after all, and everyone is only a Dreamer in the fusion stage, so the actual results are already pretty good.

Even with a master player leading a fixed team, it's not guaranteed that they can conquer a typical small nightmare.

The three nightmare walkthroughs also brought Shi An three separate loot selection rewards.

Unfortunately, there was no option to convert employees, and the loot was of relatively low quality.

Ultimately, Shi An chose "two membership cards", "one membership card", and "training ground blueprints".

The training ground blueprints are one of the most valuable spoils of war, and the construction requirements have now been met.

how...

"There are no vacant building spaces left."

"Although I can dismantle the workshop, this wizard alchemy workshop has a great use. It can produce several very practical items, and its importance to the safe zone may even surpass that of the training ground."

After all, no matter how practical the training ground is, it is still a facility that takes time to build.

The time that a person who has fallen into a nightmare can spend in is inherently limited.

There's so much free time left—to explore and conquer nightmares, to rest, and to connect with others.

Shi An coveted this training ground, mainly because he wanted to build it for his own use.

"There are still too few building slots. Apart from upgrading the safe zone to obtain a new area, I don't know if there are any other ways to open up building slots."

……

Countermeasures Bureau, Anping District Branch.

Shi An arrived here on his electric scooter and met his colleagues from the Countermeasures Bureau.

One of them was Lao Song.

Lao Song is the leader of their group.

Besides Shi An, there are four other people in the group.

Li Hao, a corporate slave of similar age to Shi An, is overweight.

Jiang Yilu, a female college student currently doing an internship, wears a pair of round-framed glasses.

Zhou Luokai, a high school student, part-time worker, and an old acquaintance.

Zhang Yuning, a young girl, is a dreamer.

The group consisted of six people. Li Hao and Jiang Yilu's backgrounds were unclear, but Zhang Yuning was a genuine Dream Faller, and Lao Song was a veteran who had worked in the Countermeasures Bureau for more than two years.

Zhou Luokai, codenamed Little K, is a rising star that the Countermeasures Bureau is vigorously cultivating.

Just by looking at the lineup, Shi An could see how much the Countermeasures Bureau valued the "Newcomer Guidance Department".

Or rather, they pay particular attention to the expanded departments.

Shi An was able to guess the reason.

"It's probably related to the increased frequency of nightmares."

"I saw in Lao Yao's fragmented memories that the Countermeasures Bureau had adjusted its strategy to select and cultivate a group of elite Dream Fallers."

"Aside from the few elites secretly trained by the Countermeasures Bureau, the rest will indeed have to be selected from the general public."

However, Shi An still had some doubts.

The Countermeasures Bureau possesses the most resources and information, and also holds the orthodox position. It shouldn't be difficult for them to gather the vast majority of the Dream Fallers in Baijiang City, right?

He was also wondering why Little K had ended up in the logistics department.

Lao Song said, "Xiao Zhou is still just a high school student. Apart from the Nightmare Walkthrough, the bureau won't assign him too many tasks."

Xiao Zhou said, "I heard that Brother Shi An was here too, so I came over."

He never thought of himself as a genius.

We stumbled and bumped our way through the initial nightmare.

The first real nightmare, although I cleared it directly with a walkthrough, was still guided by the shopkeeper, Miss Xixue, and Uncle Yao.

Despite this, he was still terrified.

Brother Shi An, however, was able to enter and exit the nightmare-invaded area seven times with the body of an ordinary person.

He admired him greatly.

Lao Song said, "Although our Newcomer Division is an important department, it's actually quite quiet most of the time. We only go out when there's a message from another department. On weekdays, we can go out and look for clues, sit in the office and slack off, or go to the training ground to train, whatever we want."

"Just be present when there's a mission, but we don't have any urgent missions here."

Shi An: Brilliant! Brilliant!

Is there a better job that allows you to access important information and also slack off?

"So what are we doing today? Do we have any tasks?"

"Today, let's all get familiar with the office, and then go out for lunch. We have plenty of funds to organize it."

As expected of a seasoned veteran who became a group leader despite being an ordinary person, Lao Song's skills in slacking off and managing funds have reached a level of perfection.

So, after slacking off for a morning, the six members of the group went to Wanmeng Shopping Mall, which was not far from the branch office, for a big meal.

The organization has ample funding.

After eating and drinking to their hearts' content,

Li Hao suggested, "Let's go to karaoke."

Zhang Yuning: "How about we go play a murder mystery game? The six of us can form a team."

Shi An: "..."

Although he came to the Countermeasures Bureau with the intention of slacking off, he felt that his colleagues here were even better at slacking off than the rest of them.

This policy is doomed.

Lao Song coughed lightly. "It's still a bit inappropriate, after all, today is a workday."

Shi An suddenly thought, "Wanmeng City Shopping Mall... I saw in the information that there's a black market for Dream Fallers, right? Is it located here? Why don't we go check it out?"

Going to the black market seems no different from going shopping.

However, it can also be seen as a form of market research and getting to know the circle of people who have fallen in love with dreams; it is part of the job.

The boss will definitely give them a few words of praise when they find out.

Little K strongly agreed: "+1+1, I've never been to the black market before."

The other three didn't have any objections; they were just killing time anyway.

Lao Song thought for a moment.

It seems possible.

Although the black market has the word "black" in its name, it is actually under the supervision of the Countermeasures Bureau. At least this black market located in the downtown area is safe.

"In that case, let's go."