Chapter 13 - 10: Harvest

Chapter 13: Chapter 10: Harvest

In the darkness, Xi Xue remained quite calm. She simply opened her pocket watch, took a glance, and quietly closed it, slipping it back into her embrace.

After all, the pocket watch had to be returned to the Manager later. She couldn’t afford to accidentally lose it.

She was already aware that Old Yao had nearly encountered a fatal accident on the sixth floor. Next, the Blood Hand Seal in the dark would inevitably come straight for her.

Stall for time?

Indeed, the lights-out period was almost over. But if she was only going to stall for time, what was the point of even trying to conquer the Nightmare?

Xi Xue glanced at the object in her arms, an item she had just scavenged from one of the dorm rooms.

"The formula for victory has been confirmed. As for the rest, I just need to get it done!"

She stared intently into the distant darkness. Rubbing her thumb and index finger together three times, she suddenly ignited a spark.

WHOOSH.

The flames leaped up, illuminating her solemn, serious face. It also lit up the darkness, revealing the blood-colored handprints rapidly Spreading up the stairs and across the floor toward her.

SLAP SLAP SLAP!

The handprints landed with rhythmic slapping sounds, as if they were striking directly against a person’s heart. It was terrifying and suffocating!

"The power displayed by this eerie Blood Hand Seal has grown stronger!"

In many Nightmares, as time passed, the story progressed, and the battles dragged on, the eerie anomalies would exhibit increasingly terrifying power. This was exactly why such anomalies could not be defeated by brute force.

SWISH!

Xi Xue’s silvery-white hair spread like spiderwebs, wrapping around the guardrails of the higher floors and hoisting her upward.

But in the next moment, the Blood Hand Seal defied all logic. Print by print, they appeared in midair, subsequently climbing up the walls of the fourth floor.

The Blood Hand Seal was still in pursuit.

However, Xi Xue’s silver hair was also growing wildly. The power of her Dream Curse Object, her stamina, and even her Life Force were being frantically squeezed dry. The strands of hair fell like snow! Like a waterfall! They coiled into a massive white sphere in midair within the Nightmare Dormitory.

Yet, Xi Xue’s speed of escape ultimately couldn’t match the Spreading speed of the Blood Hand Seal. The silvery-white strands of hair blocking her front melted into pools of bloody water the moment they touched the handprints.

Couldn’t escape?

No, she wasn’t going to escape!

She had never planned on escaping. She merely fixated on the time displayed on the pocket watch, silently chanting a countdown.

"Seven, six, five, four..."

When she counted to four, she manipulated her silver hair to toss out a tattered notebook from her embrace.

It was a diary. The pages flipped wildly in midair.

This seemed to have triggered a crucial plot point. The endlessly Spreading Blood Hand Seal suddenly halted. In the darkness, a blood-colored silhouette faintly emerged.

Even though its facial features hadn’t even been outlined, Shi An actually saw confusion radiating from the bloody figure. Following the confusion came conflict and struggle.

Its Bloodthirsty nature gradually suppressed the confusion. The bloody figure reached out, intending to tear the diary to shreds.

But at that very moment, the lights came on.

The lights across the entire dormitory building snapped on all at once. The warm, tangerine glow washed over the blood-colored figure. It seemed to be caught in a memory.

The diary, the dormitory, the lights...

Scenes from the past unfolded before its eyes like a painted scroll. The bloody figure revealed a smile of profound relief. Its silhouette faded away, bit by bit, into the light filled with memories.

Shi An remarked, "This must be a puzzle-mechanic kill. I can imagine there’s a whole ten-thousand-word saga of love, hatred, and grudges hidden behind this."

Shi An knew absolutely nothing about the plot and couldn’t quite wrap his head around the cause-and-effect logic. He only saw the diary and the lights, and then the invincible Blood Hand Seal melted away. He had skipped the cutscenes, but that didn’t matter. Conquering the Nightmare was the most important thing.

"Did we really conquer the Nightmare?" K asked.

"Yes, we really did."

Old Yao was even more shocked than the newcomer. He watched the ominous aura of the outside world recede. Although this dormitory building remained dilapidated, the lights were visibly brighter, and that eerie, unsettling atmosphere rapidly dissipated.

They had actually conquered a Nightmare!

CLINK.

A crisp sound echoed from the spot where the Blood Hand Seal had melted away. It was a Dream Curse Object dropping onto the floor. This was the greatest reward for conquering a Nightmare.

Of course, the benefits extended far beyond that. For a short period after a Nightmare was eliminated, this Dream Realm would become a Safe Zone. Dream Descenders could not only take this opportunity to catch their breath but also thoroughly scavenge the entire Dream Realm. More often than not, they could find a few special Materials.

And these were things they could never obtain through their usual survival method of stalling for time.

"Manager, let’s head out too. A chance to scavenge a Dream Realm is incredibly rare."

Shi An only shook his head slightly. It was absolutely not because he didn’t dare step out of the Safe Zone.

"But..."

Old Yao really wanted to say, "Manager, you and Xi Xue are the real MVPs. The two of us were just along for the ride."

But Old Yao also realized that the Manager probably looked down on such loot. Indeed, scavenging the Dream Realm was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them, but for someone as mysterious and powerful as the Manager, it was probably no different from digging through the trash.

He shook his head, banishing the thought. But even if the Manager didn’t care for it, Old Yao planned to set aside some of the loot they brought back as a fee for borrowing the venue.

With that in mind, he eagerly led K into the dormitory building.

Shi An gazed at the dormitory building outside. To say he wasn’t curious or envious would be a lie. However, he had already obtained what he wanted. More than he had imagined, in fact.

DING!

...

The Nightmare Dormitory wasn’t very large, after all. It didn’t take long for the three Dream Descenders to turn the place upside down.

"One Dream Curse Object—a Blood-Colored Mud Seal left behind after the eerie Blood Hand Seal melted away. In addition to that, there are two Incomplete Level Dream Curse Objects."

Incomplete and complete—these were the grade classifications for Dream Curse Objects. Most of the time, the Dream Curse Objects that Dream Descenders obtained after escaping their Initial Nightmare were naturally Incomplete Curse Objects.

The Ghost Candle was an Incomplete Curse Object. But even incomplete, they were still Curse Objects capable of manifesting all sorts of eerie Abilities.

Shi An mused inwardly, "Speaking of which, the ’Shadow Giant Scissors’ template in my hand doesn’t have an ’incomplete’ label. Does that mean... the Shadow Giant Scissors are actually a complete Dream Curse Object?"

He felt that complete Curse Objects definitely varied in quality as well. The very description that the Shadow Giant Scissors could sever shadows was enough to highlight their extraordinary nature. The man in the black suit was definitely a Fusion Stage Dream Descender too. Armed with the Shadow Giant Scissors, he had likely been a Senior Dream Descender even stronger than Old Yao.

Even so, that man had died without causing so much as a ripple.

The two Incomplete Dream Curse Objects consisted of a stubborn black stone and that tattered diary. It seemed that after fulfilling its mission, the diary—which had merely been a prop—had also sublimated into something more. However, the specific functions of these two Dream Curse Objects remained temporarily unknown.

Dream Descenders didn’t possess any appraisal systems; the Abilities of Dream Curse Objects had to be figured out through gradual trial and error. But using a Dream Curse Object came with risks. With both Veterans, Xi Xue and Old Yao, in poor condition, they naturally wouldn’t rashly attempt to test them right now.

Even without activating the power of the Dream Curse Objects...

In Shi An’s eyes, all three Dream Curse Objects were shrouded in wisps of black smoke, signifying ominous energy. The black mist diffusing from the Blood-Colored Mud Seal was the densest, while the mist from the two Incomplete Curse Objects was considerably sparser. Even so, Curse Objects were still Curse Objects, radiating eeriness and bad omens.

If Ordinary people held them, they would suffer from depleted Spirits in the best-case scenario, and face all sorts of fatal accidents in the worst. Even just leaving them in one spot for too long would gradually exert subtle, negative influences on the surroundings.

Until he figured out how to control and use Dream Curse Objects, Shi An had no intention of touching them. After all, the power a Dream Descender could exert when first using a Curse Object was quite limited, making them barely any stronger than Ordinary people.

In his eyes, Dream Curse Objects might be Treasures, but they were also poison.

"You can divide them among yourselves."

Shi An indifferently pushed back these Dream Curse Objects that ordinary Dream Descenders would consider priceless. There was not a trace of attachment in his eyes.

Old Yao marveled inwardly, "Truly worthy of being a big shot! Such Treasures really can’t catch his eye. But... we clearly relied on his strength, yet he doesn’t want a single cut... The Manager is just... I’m going to cry!"

CLACK CLACK CLACK.

Xi Xue slid the rest of the valuable scavenged items over. Before Shi An could refuse again, her body began to fade.

The Nightmare’s duration was nearing its end.

Xi Xue flashed a sly smile. She thought, "This is my brilliance at work, haha."

Suddenly, her smile froze as if she had just remembered something. At the very last moment, she hastily shouted, "By the way, Manager! Will we have a chance to visit the Safe Zone again?"

But before she could hear his reply or learn if she could ever chance upon the Safe Zone shop again, her entire being returned to the real world.

In reality, a fellow member of the Wizard’s House saw Xi Xue return completely uninjured and couldn’t help but smile.

But in the next moment, she heard...

"Why did this Nightmare have to end so quickly!"