I created a safe zone in the nightmare world.

Shi An's gaze followed the Dreamer dressed as a witch, following her flowing silver-white hair, until she rushed into the stairwell and disappeared from his sight.

So, his gaze shifted downwards, catching up with the figure with flowing hair on the floor below.

Shi An is studying the functions of the safe zone.

He discovered that once the "invitation" was sent out, the connection between the safe zone shops and the nightmare world would deepen, and he would also gain a broader perspective.

Before the "invitation," his vision was just an ordinary one; he could only see as much as he could through the window.

—But after receiving the "invitation," Shi An discovered that he had gained a "wide field of vision," allowing him to look down on the surroundings from a high vantage point, with the gate of the safe zone as the origin.

"Perhaps it can be used as an aid to the Heavenly Eye in the future?"

"But this 'sky eye' isn't far enough away, and it can't see through walls."

Even so, the two veteran dreamers were still mostly within Shi An's field of vision.

Shi An observed carefully.

This was a rare opportunity. The details of the nightmare world, the survival of those who had fallen into dreams, and the methods of investigation... In the past, he could only imagine these things, but now he could finally see them with his own eyes.

So Shi An's gaze followed closely to Xi Xue, who was dressed as a witch.

This is definitely not because he's a pervert, nor is it because Xi Xue's cosplay outfit makes people want to take a second look; it's purely...

He's a fan of intensity.

It is quite obvious that, although both are Dreamers in the fusion period, Xi Xue is stronger than Lao Yao.

"Old Yao comes from the official Dreamers Countermeasures Bureau. Logically speaking, the official organization is indeed the most powerful, but Xi Xue seems to be a core member of the unofficial organization Wizard's House."

The word "core" is extraordinary.

Actually, Shi An didn't understand either, but Lao Yao clearly admitted that he was inferior.

"Besides, Little K is just an ordinary person, Old Yao doesn't have any special expressive abilities, but Xi Xue..."

He witnessed it with his own eyes: the girl conjured a ball of fire with her hands and claimed to have the ability to manipulate strands of hair.

He had read thousands of online novels and could certainly imagine all sorts of bizarre abilities, but imagination is just imagination; only by seeing it with one's own eyes can one understand the shock it brings.

suddenly,

"Thump!"

Shi An noticed that the light bulbs at the bottom entrance of the dormitory building went out one, two, three at a time.

If all the lights are turned off, the last trace of civilization in this already dilapidated and desolate dormitory building will be completely wiped out.

"It's lights out time," Shi An reminded him.

Newbie K was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized what was happening. He hurriedly pushed open the door and stood in the hallway, shouting down, "The manager said they're starting to turn off the lights!"

This was his mission.

If Xi Xue and Lao Yao were searching in a dormitory, they might not have noticed that the lights were being turned off.

However, this simple task is also based on the premise of having a safe zone as a backup.

After shouting, Little K turned around and rushed back into the shop without hesitation, slamming the door shut.

He was breathing heavily, both nervous and excited.

Even though he hadn't encountered any danger just now, if he had been two or three seconds slower, danger might have appeared and locked onto him.

At this moment, realizing that the lights were going out, Lao Yao quickly rushed to the sixth floor of the dormitory building.

He had to deal with the eeriness lurking in the darkness near the safe zone.

Xi Xue then hid somewhere, waiting for the bloody handprint to be stopped before she began to act.

"They're here!"

The real battle begins when the lights go out completely.

Shi An's expression was solemn.

Old Yao, acting as bait, kept making a fuss.

Xi Xue spends more time in the dark, and if the two are in similar situations, she has a higher level of hatred.

But at this moment, Lao Yao not only stood in the corridor, but was also extremely arrogant.

In just over ten seconds, a chill shot from my heels straight up to the top of my head.

"It's here!"

Old Yao took the strange candle he had borrowed from Little K and gently blew on the wick.

In an instant, the eerie candle spontaneously combusted, the flames flickering gently, spreading out specks of orange-yellow light, striving to dispel the dense darkness around it.

In the light, one bloody handprint after another spread along the walls and floor.

Old Yao took a deep breath, gripped a rusted steel bar he had salvaged from a bunk bed in the dormitory, and hurled it with a sudden thud.

"Bang!"

The entire rusted steel bar snapped on the spot, leaving a scratch on the floor.

However, the bloody handprints did not hesitate at all and continued to spread rapidly.

"So there really is no way?"

After all, even cursed objects are usually difficult to harm the supernatural, let alone a mere broken iron bar.

Only those who have mastered the art of dream manipulation to its fullest extent can confront the supernatural head-on.

Therefore,

"brush--!"

Old Yao retreated directly into the store.

But the bloody handprint spread too quickly. The eerie candle illuminated the handprint but couldn't drive it away at all. Old Yao had just thrown out the rusty steel bar when he was delayed for a moment.

Before he could close the shop door, bloody handprints spread out in front of the door.

Then, with a thud, it bumped into it.

Even if the door isn't closed, there's still an invisible barrier blocking it.

The bloody handprints continued to strike.

The bloody handprint was extremely violent.

The bloody handprint was filled with impotent rage.

The bloody handprint was forced to be abandoned.

Old Yao, who had been scared half to death, immediately straightened up.

As the bloody handprint receded, he pressed forward.

As the bloody handprint entered, he retreated accordingly.

Advance, advance, retreat, retreat. In just a few minutes, Lao Yao's advance and retreat became more and more skillful, like a tango dance, manipulating the dignified and strange creature in the palm of his hand.

"I didn't know I could be this good?"

Old Yao understood, of course, that it was thanks to the store manager. If he had relied solely on himself, he probably wouldn't have lasted more than a few seconds before being killed by the Blood Handprint.

By this time, he had held on for several minutes, and the long dark period was about to end, right?

He was under a lot of stress and it took a lot of energy.

suddenly,

Old Yao felt as if his heart had been gripped, and he staggered violently.

He looked down and a faint bloody handprint appeared on the chest of his trench coat, the mark growing deeper and deeper.

His heart was beating faster and faster, and Lao Yao had a premonition that his heart was about to be crushed.

Death looms.

But at this moment, his heart felt as if it were being squeezed, his whole body trembled, and he was unable to move.

Images from the movie flashed through my mind.

My daughter, only a few months old, was babbling away.

His wife leaned on his shoulder, her smile sweet.

Countermeasures Bureau, teammates, nightmares, eeriness... many images flashed by, finally settling on the moment he had just fallen into a nightmare.

In fact, he knew from that moment on that he would have this day.

The fate of those who fall into dreams is always tragic.

If possible, he hoped the end would come later, so he could see his daughter grow up.

But there are no "what ifs," and accidents always arrive before tomorrow.

Old Yao closed his eyes.

"Bang!"

He was suddenly dragged into the store, thrown around in a daze, and bound with ropes that had been put on him at some unknown time.

The bloody handprint on his chest disappeared, and the suffocating feeling of his heart being grabbed and crushed also receded like the tide.

Old Yao saw the store manager at the other end of the rope.

The store manager stepped in at the crucial moment.

He survived.

Like a drowning person being rescued, Old Yao was covered in sweat, pressing his chest tightly as he gasped for breath.

After a while, Lao Yao gradually calmed down.

He didn't have time to thank the store manager for saving his life, nor did he care about the nervous newcomer beside him. He realized something very important.

"Strange! Something strange is heading your way!"

Just as he was about to die, the eerie bloody handprint had already broken free from hatred.

At this moment, there was only one person in the dormitory building with the lights off.

That person was still far from the safe zone.

"Run! Run now!"

On the third floor of the dilapidated dormitory building, Xi Xue tossed her long, silvery-white hair, letting the strands flutter.

She stared in the direction of the stairs.

She could feel herself being locked onto by some terrifying presence.

Danger is approaching in the darkness!

but,

She did not back down an inch.

"Should I avoid its sharp edge?!"