Chapter 65 - 62: Nether Robe

Chapter 65: Chapter 62: Nether Robe

Even after conquering this Netherworld Marriage Nightmare, the spoils of war remained a choose-one-out-of-three, rather than a choose-three-out-of-five. Exactly as Shi An had anticipated. He pondered, "This is still just a small-scale Nightmare, slightly lower in Tier than large-scale Nightmares."

Moreover, "small-scale Nightmare" (Ordinary Nightmare) and "large-scale Nightmare" were just the usual terms used by Ordinary Dream Descenders. In their world, there were at most these two types of Nightmares. But Shi An had long heard that in the deeper layers of the Nightmare World, there were many more Nightmares of higher Tiers and far greater peril. Those Nightmares were also much more massive; some were truly akin to a miniature world. Because of these terrifying Nightmares, even experts at the Refining Stage, Third Refinements Realm, or even High Tier ones never dared to drop their guard when experiencing a Fallen Dream.

Shi An looked at the rewards.

[1. Special Item: Paperman x3]

[Description: A consumable item that summons a life-sized Paperman to fight and follow commands. The Paperman possesses basic water and fire resistance, boasts strength surpassing that of an ordinary adult male, and can exist for up to six hours.]

—

[2. Dream Curse Object: Red Wedding Dress (Rare Level)]

[Description: A bright red wedding dress. It is rather difficult for ordinary people to use directly, but wearing it grants resistance to water, fire, and sharp weapons. Other Abilities are yet to be developed.]

[Note: Wearing the Red Wedding Dress for too long carries the risk of Assimilation, turning the wearer into the Bride of the dress.]

After clicking open the detailed information of these two spoils, Shi An had to admit he was rather tempted. The former was a consumable item, a life-saving Treasure in the eyes of the vast majority of Dream Descenders. He was only moderately tempted by it. But the latter...

"It’s actually a Rare Level Curse Object," Shi An murmured. "Being Rare Level is one thing, but this Red Wedding Dress clearly boasts an impressive defensive Ability."

Actually, under normal circumstances, no matter how impressive the Red Wedding Dress’s defensive Ability was, it would still be somewhat of a white elephant. The defense only took effect when worn. Was he, the great Manager Shi, supposed to wear a Red Wedding Dress? That would be cross-dressing. To make matters worse, the negative effect of the Red Wedding Dress meant that cross-dressing for too long would actually feminize the wearer! However, with the Power of Containment, he could harness the power of the Red Wedding Dress without needing to wear it.

Shi An was genuinely tempted. Unfortunately, he had already decided to choose the ghost employee. "The Red Wedding Dress is indeed the defensive Curse Object I want, but contracting a new ghost employee means I’ll have a ghost protecting me for a much longer time in the Present Realm, which better guarantees my safety," he mused.

The Blood Hand Seal was, after all, the Safe Zone’s mascot... the symbolic shop assistant. Many Dream Descenders who had visited the Safe Zone were already aware of its existence. Under these circumstances, it wasn’t very convenient for Shi An to summon the Blood Hand Seal to the Present Realm. In the real world, he was just an ordinary corporate slave at the Countermeasures Bureau; he absolutely could not be equated with the great, imposing, and righteous Manager. Once he contracted Employee Number Two, as long as he didn’t let it show its face in the Safe Zone, he could use it freely in reality.

Just as planned~!

He looked at the information for Employee Number Two.

[3. Special: Red Robe]

[Description: Transforms into a special Life form, the ’Red-clothed Ghost’, and contracts it as a Safe Zone employee. The employee is under the jurisdiction of the Safe Zone’s manager, but the manager must pay a daily salary. Current salary for the Red Robe: 0.5 Belief Value/day.]

[Skill: Red Sleeve, Candle Shadow Flash, Senluo Red Silk (Click for details)]

[Note: The current Safe Zone Level is Level 2. One more employee can be contracted and recruited.]

Three Skills! One more than the Blood Hand Seal. No wonder it demanded a higher salary than Xue.

"And these Skills..." Shi An muttered.

The first Skill, ’Red Sleeve’, was the very Skill the Red-clothed Ghost had used to attack the Safe Zone previously. It allowed the clothing on one’s body to extend and expand, imbuing it with formidable Curse Power. The second Skill, ’Candle Shadow Flash’, was also an Ability the Red-clothed Ghost had used before.

"No wonder my eyes couldn’t catch its figure. It turns out it really is Instant Teleportation! And it allows for multiple consecutive Instant Teleportations in a short period of time!" Although the distance of a single Instant Teleportation wasn’t long, the Red-clothed Ghost’s travel speed wasn’t slow, not to mention that the greatest advantage of this kind of Instant Teleportation lay in short-distance maneuvering.

The description for the third Skill, ’Senluo Red Silk’, was a bit profound, and the Red-clothed Ghost hadn’t seemed to use it before.

[Senluo Red Silk: The red silk can shrink or expand, and is capable of storing objects, holding people, and transforming. Objects and Life forms covered by the red silk can be brought along during a Candle Shadow Flash Instant Teleportation.]

"This Skill..." Shi An stroked his chin. "Perhaps I could develop a usage similar to the Red Wedding Dress Curse Object just now?" After all, the true form of the Red-clothed Ghost seemed to be exactly that—a red wedding dress.

With that thought, Shi An confirmed his choice and summoned Employee Number Two within the Alchemy Workshop. In an instant, a white mist descended. A figure looking nearly identical to the previous Red-clothed Ghost gracefully walked out from the fog. She... It wore a red wedding dress with clearly visible embroidery. A red veil covered its face, and its cuffs were empty, showing no hands. However, compared to the former Red-clothed Ghost, the figure before him no longer had blood dripping from its dress, nor was it surrounded by any eerie, terrifying, or ominous aura.

It walked up to Shi An and bowed slightly.

"Since you’ve returned from the Netherworld and gained a new life, then you shall be called Nether Robe."

***

"The Red-clothed Ghost has indeed dissipated. The ominous presence of the Nightmare World is fading."

The three met up at the altar. Following the demise of the ghost and the dissolution of the Nightmare, the items on the altar had also undergone changes. Under the influence of the rules, some things transformed into items. But the most precious was what remained after the ghost vanished...

"A Red Veil. From the looks of it, this is a Complete Level Curse Object. However, the Curse Power contained within it is surging; it’s top-tier even among Complete Level Curse Objects," Jiang Peng observed. "There are a few items on the altar. One is a Wedding Dress Paperman. I’ve seen this kind of item elsewhere. It’s very practical, and the Paperman can last for about an hour.

"This coffin is also a Complete Level Curse Object, though its effects have yet to be explored.

"There are also a few more ordinary Materials and items: Yellow Paper, Nether Wood, Incense Candles...

"I can only say it truly lives up to the reputation of a special Nightmare. We haven’t even searched carefully, yet we’ve already reaped such a bountiful harvest."

Jiang Peng and Researcher Wang were from the Baijiang Research Institute after all, so they were quite wealthy themselves. Their main source of income didn’t come from conquering Nightmares, but from research and development. Jiang Peng immediately stated that they could give up most of the spoils here, but he wanted to examine and research all the loot firsthand.

Hair Ghost thought for a moment before replying, "Sure."

The Manager had given him full authority to handle things. Clearly, the Manager still looked down on these spoils of war, which only further convinced Hair Ghost that this entire operation was merely a test. From the looks of it, he had probably passed.

"Besides this, I have one more request," Jiang Peng added. He paused before asking, "Um, is it possible to do a little research at your camp?"

"Camp? What camp?" Researcher Wang asked in confusion. What was there to research about a camp? It wasn’t as if they had never seen one before. Was it really worth trading away the spoils of war just for that?