Chapter 275: This is the Nightmare World

"Captain, look out!" Lan He roared, throwing himself forward to shield Su Mu.

Squelch!

The Mithril Dagger pierced straight through Lan He's heart. He collapsed limply as blood poured from the wound.

"Lan He!" Su Mu cried out.

"Captain, leave me! This woman is too strong. Hurry and run!"

Dark red blood flowed to Su Mu's feet, dyeing the soles of his shoes. He stared unblinkingly at the crimson pool and at Lan He, who was still shouting anxiously, before suddenly starting to laugh.

A smile widened across his lips, growing until it escalated into downright, maniacal laughter.

"Ha... hahaha... Lan He, you died wonderfully!" Su Mu laughed maniacally.

Nangong Mengli's harsh interrogation rang in his ears. "I'll give you one last chance. Do you choose her, or me?"

Su Qing also broke out of her terrified daze and stepped to Su Mu's side without hesitation. "You crazy woman, Brother Su is mine!"

"You're courting death!" Cold light flashed in Nangong Mengli's eyes as she lunged at Su Qing. The two women instantly clashed. The once-tidy office was obliterated in seconds, reduced to ruins.

Watching the chaotic scene unfold, Su Mu laughed even harder. A faint, sickly flush even rose on his pale face.

"This is the feeling! This is exactly it! This is what I want! Fascinating! Hahaha... how fascinating!"

"Susu, who are you going to choose?"

"Brother Su, don't listen to this crazy woman's threats!"

A smile playing on his lips, Su Mu elegantly smoothed out his slightly wrinkled clothes. He looked at the two women and said warmly, "I'll choose whoever wins."

A massive battle erupted instantly, affecting the entire Bronze Coffin Company.

"Captain, you have to stop them!" Lan He urged anxiously from his pool of blood.

"Oh, you aren't dead yet?"

"Captain, you..."

"To tell you the truth, I preferred the previous gloomy version of you over this."

Bang!

A gunshot rang out, and a bloody hole appeared right in the center of Lan He's forehead.

"Captain, what are you doing!?" Wen Xuan and the others cried out, turning pale with shock.

"Tsk, tsk. For a group of cold-blooded Nightmare Apostles to show such expressions on their faces... I finally understand why I've been feeling nauseous lately." Su Mu gave a faint smile and ignored the crowd. Walking over to the window, he vaulted out and left the Bronze Coffin.

He was fully awake now, completely understanding exactly where that lingering sense of dissonance had come from.

The normally cold and indifferent staff members had actually been apologizing profusely over a damaged piece of equipment.

The habitually silent, low-profile Wen Xuan had become irritable and arrogant. Meanwhile, the lawless, utterly self-centered Su Qing had become as gentle and yielding as water.

Then there was Duanmu Qing, the most diligent among the Seven Deadly Sins, and the steady Nangong Mengli...

Everyone's personalities had changed. They were completely different, twisted beyond recognition. Even he had changed.

He had grown content with a peaceful, boring life, becoming increasingly unthinking and indecisive...

The nausea he had felt was disgust directed at himself. Acting and speaking in ways that completely contradicted his true nature had caused him intense psychological discomfort.

Fortunately, the recent chaos had stimulated him, awakening his true inner desires.

A mundane life could never fill his inner emptiness and boredom, but his twisted thoughts had forced him to believe that this mundane life was exactly what he had been pursuing.

It wasn't until the two women began fighting over him that things finally became interesting. In that moment, Su Mu was no longer empty; he reclaimed the feeling of his old self.

He remembered his true pursuits. He craved excitement, craved the unknown! He wanted to witness, experience, and enjoy this fascinating life!

On the street, Su Mu stood all alone as pedestrians brushed past him.

He pondered why everyone's personalities and even thoughts had been so severely distorted.

Why had all the other squads successfully entered the Nightmare World while his group had failed?

Once all impossible factors were eliminated, only one answer remained!

They hadn't failed at all; they had already entered the Nightmare World long ago!

This... was the Nightmare World!

"An Illusion Technique?" Su Mu muttered to himself. "It doesn't seem like an Illusion Technique. It's more like Twisted Thoughts and distorted cognition. Everyone has stopped acting like themselves."

Just then, a sudden surge of guilt welled up in his heart. It was guilt for killing Lan He, and guilt for making the two women fight.

"It's starting again. It seems that if I don't break this, my thoughts will continue to be twisted. Fascinating!"

A handsome arc lifted the corners of Su Mu's lips. He never expected the place where the First Red King had vanished to be this terrifying. He hadn't even realized he had arrived in the Nightmare World before falling victim to it.

If he couldn't break this bizarre illusion, the consequences were obvious.

What was far more terrifying than death was having one's thoughts twisted completely into those of another person.

He tried activating his mental energy in an attempt to crack the illusion, but no matter how hard he tried, it was useless.

His mental energy buzzed around like a headless fly, finding nowhere to strike.

Even invoking the Divinity of the Three Gods was useless. The Divinity of the Three Gods could ward off attacks aimed at the soul, but Twisted Thoughts wasn't an attack at all. It was more like brainwashing—a corruption on the level of pure consciousness.

If the Divinity of the Three Gods were three bodyguards, they could protect his physical safety. But if he went out of his way to browse adult websites and caused his own thoughts to be compromised, those three bodyguards would be helpless to stop it.

The current situation operated on a similar principle.

With this thought, Su Mu had a countermeasure in mind!

This was a distortion on the level of thought and consciousness, completely unrelated to mental energy. He had only been able to snap out of it just now because he had recovered a portion of his original thoughts. Therefore, to break it completely, he had to tackle it from a psychological angle.

"Brainwashing?" Su Mu smiled faintly. "What a coincidence. That happens to be my specialty."

Suddenly, he drew the Dark Golden Ouroboros Pocket Watch from his pocket. He opened his hand, letting the watch dangle before his eyes.

His method was simple. Since it wanted to brainwash him, and he couldn't alter the external environment, he would alter himself. He would simply brainwash himself.

As the Pocket Watch swung back and forth, Su Mu's gaze grew vacant. He continuously brainwashed himself, molding his mind back into his original self.

Simply put, he was instilling his original worldview, thoughts, and cognition back into his mind.

A long time later, Su Mu's pupils refocused. His eyes radiated his old confidence and composure, alongside the madness hidden in their deepest depths.

An aura of tranquil insanity radiated from him. That gentleman with a certain degree of madness had returned!

The surrounding scenery instantly shattered like a mirror.

A mountain materialized in his vision—a towering peak rising ten thousand zhang into the air. And right upon its summit stood an incomparably massive Statue, thrusting straight into the clouds!

The Statue's appearance was incredibly bizarre, to the point it could even be described as twisted. Its overall shape was humanoid, but its facial features were entirely misplaced, forming a distorted vortex. Its arms and legs were deformed and wildly overgrown, and even its chest and back were reversed.

Su Mu looked around and quickly spotted his team members.

Su Qing and the others were currently standing rooted to the spot like wooden puppets, facing the massive Statue with unfocused eyes.