Chapter 79 - 76: Safe Zone Mission Platform

Chapter 79: Chapter 76: Safe Zone Mission Platform

The Safe Zone’s first batch of members were Profound Sword and his two companions.

The second batch comprised the six individuals Shi An currently thought highly of.

The first was Jiang Peng, a tutor and researcher at Baijiang University.

Jiang Peng had provided him with a wealth of information and contributed significantly to the Safe Zone’s intelligence platform.

However, Jiang Peng wasn’t a combatant. Even after experiencing the miraculous nature of the Training Ground, he only practiced casually; his true interest lay in exploring the mysteries of the Nightmare.

The second was the independent Dream Descender, Li Wei.

This young man, who had once nearly fallen below the Nightmare’s execution threshold, was now a master at the Great Perfection of the Control Stage. He had even created his own Lifebound Curse Art.

He was even stronger than Profound Sword had been a week ago.

If placed in the outside world, he would be a highly anticipated genius.

Li Wei had not yet crossed into the Refining Stage, so he couldn’t truly possess Curse Power or be exempt from the side effects of his Lifebound Curse Object. But as long as he trained his Lifebound Curse Art to the Skilled Level, facing Weirds head-on would be absolutely no problem.

Dream Descenders capable of reaching this step possessed an extremely high margin for error when clearing ordinary Nightmares.

Encounter an unexpected situation?

Just duke it out with the Weird.

Besides these two, there was Old Wang, the burly, bearded man who had won over several Dream Descenders to promote the exchange meetings; Duckbill Hat, who had performed mediocrely in previous large-scale Nightmares but had now stepped into the Control Stage; and Peaches, a rich young lady from the same organization as Xi Xue.

Peaches aside, Duckbill Hat and Old Wang had previously just been members of the masses of ordinary Dream Descenders.

But some people didn’t lack talent; they merely lacked an opportunity to unearth their potential.

Shi An had given them exactly that.

Using the same Training Ground, some people could train bitterly for hours only to reach the Peak of Fusion Stage.

Meanwhile, others directly developed their Curse Objects to 100%, easily reaching the Peak of Control Stage in just a few steps while creating their own Lifebound Curse Arts.

That was the difference.

The final member of the "Nine Great Members" was the young boy, Lin Xiao, a regular employee of the Safe Zone.

Only members were firmly bound to the Safe Zone. Otherwise, a Lost Person like Lin might get lost in a Nightmare once again during a long journey.

Beyond them, Shi An also had high hopes for old friends like K and Old Yao.

***

For Shi An, true independent Dream Descenders like Old Wang, Duckbill Hat, and Li Wei were much easier to influence and command.

Because they had no organization they truly served, they severely lacked resources, Curse Arts, and cultivation materials compared to those from major factions.

Geniuses from large organizations like Profound Sword and Xi Xue possessed power that ordinary Dream Descenders lacked.

In the "early stage," only geniuses like them had the drive and ability to conquer Nightmares.

However, with the emergence of the Training Ground and the three-piece clearing set, ordinary Dream Descenders also gained the ability to conquer Nightmares. The independent Dream Descenders could also produce their own geniuses.

"Does that mean my future focus should be on discovering and cultivating true independent Dream Descenders?" Shi An wondered.

"No, that’s not necessary."

Admittedly, the Safe Zone’s current scale was far from matching city-level major organizations like the Extreme Intent Martial Arts Hall or the Wizard’s House, but its core purpose was completely different.

Furthermore, as long as he made his Safe Zone platform big enough, scooping all these major organizations into his own bowl wasn’t impossible.

Shi An examined the Safe Zone’s current forces.

The core strength naturally lay in his two contract employees: Blood Hand Seal and Nether Robe.

Next were the shop’s regular employees like Hair Ghost and Lin.

After that came the Safe Zone members and the peripheral Dream Descenders.

But even with the most peripheral Dream Descenders, Shi An could still drive them to do many things by dangling benefits as bait.

For example, the current task of drawing Nightmare Maps.

If he wanted to conquer the large-scale Ancient Village Nightmare, he could use similar methods—by issuing Safe Zone missions.

When Dream Descenders cleared Nightmares, wasn’t one target just as good as another?

Accepting a mission from the Safe Zone meant earning double the rewards.

Moreover, missions rewarding Contribution Points were currently scarce.

Previously, Shi An had skewed some missions toward talents like Jiang Peng and Li Wei, keeping them so busy their feet barely touched the ground. Yet, they still had to thank him, Manager Shi.

At this stage, membership quotas and Purifying Water were irresistible bait for Dream Descenders.

And in the future, as the Safe Zone developed, Shi An was confident he could offer even more irresistible temptations.

Besides...

"The mission platform is still relatively quiet right now," Shi An thought. "All the high-level commissions come directly from the Safe Zone itself.

"But one day, when more highly lucrative missions appear, the platform itself will attract many powerhouses!"

When that time came, there might even be thresholds for accepting missions.

For example, requiring someone to be a Silver Member or Golden Member to accept High-Star Level commissions.

That would be a golden age.

Shi An was currently waiting—waiting for the day when a major organization would directly issue missions in the Safe Zone under their own name.

***

Meanwhile, in the Nightmare World, within the Countermeasures Bureau’s Logistics Camp.

Since the camp’s construction was completed, an increasing number of the Countermeasures Bureau’s main forces had been descending here in batches using items. However, even with items anchoring the coordinates, there were simply too many people; some Dream Descenders still ended up descending into other Nightmares.

"About 80% of our main force Dream Descenders have arrived at the camp.

"None of the Senior Dream Descenders at the Refining Stage or above directly descended into the Logistics Camp. As for how many landed in the Ancient Village Region, that remains to be tallied."

Inside the camp, a veteran Control Stage Dream Descender from the Second Detachment was in charge of overseeing the overall situation.

Among those present, he truly had the most seniority and the highest rank.

As for the others, such as Chen Baichuan, the deputy captain of the Twelfth Detachment, or external aides like the Alchemist and Rakshasa Sword, their descents experienced deviations. They often landed in the Nightmare Areas surrounding the Logistics Camp.

The higher their realm, the greater the deviation.

Once the number of Fusion Stage and Control Stage Dream Descenders reached a certain threshold, deviations would occur for them as well.

This was exactly why the Countermeasures Bureau hadn’t launched a joint operation with the Wizard’s House and the Extreme Intent Martial Arts Hall, instead only borrowing three geniuses from other organizations.

In the Nightmare World, gathering a large number of Dream Descenders in one place was inherently extremely difficult.

But looking at the thirty-plus elite experts in the camp, the person in charge was still thrilled.

This was the power of their Countermeasures Bureau.

Gathering such a formidable force to conquer a single Nightmare, they would definitely...

...win!

***

"With nearly thirty Dream Descenders gathered in one place, our Safe Zone has really blown up in popularity."

Inside the Safe Zone shop’s casual lounge area.

Four or five Dream Descenders sat around each table. It was a bit crowded, but no one minded.

Many faces were filled with excitement, thrill, and anticipation.

Today marked the Safe Zone’s second Curse Object exchange meeting.

Spearheaded by two members, an increasing number of Dream Descenders had joined in.

It wasn’t very formal; everyone was just voicing their own opinions.

But that was already enough. Many people reaped significant rewards, breaking through the bottlenecks that had long plagued them.

However, a Dream Descender who had just pushed the door open stood entirely dumbfounded.

"Is it really possible to gather this many Dream Descenders in the Nightmare World?"