Chapter 340: Endless Monsters

Su Mu instantly entered the dreamscape.

Screeech!

The giant of flesh and blood skidded to a halt, its feet plowing two long trenches into the ground. It stood frozen in a daze for a moment before shaking its massive head and lumbering on toward the hillside.

"It has no eyes, yet it can still sense my aura?"

Su Mu grew thoughtful, curious about where Mr. Giant was heading. Was there something on the other side of that hill?

He matched the giant of flesh and blood's pace, following it up the slope.

The moment he reached the crest of the hill, he froze, his eyes locked intently onto the spectacular scene unfolding before him.

Monsters! Nightmare monsters! An endless sea of nightmare monsters!

Beyond the hill lay countless nightmare monsters of every imaginable shape. There were rotting zombies, ashen-skinned ghouls, translucent wraiths, flaming sheep-headed beastmen, and grotesque infants with two oversized heads...

There were too many to take in. It was as if every monster capable of spawning in a human nightmare had gathered here for some massive congregation.

The giant of flesh and blood crested the hill and joined the horde of nightmare monsters. They all seemed to share a single destination, marching relentlessly forward.

Su Mu's presence quickly drew the attention of the monsters that possessed sight. Hundreds of the nightmare monsters closest to him roared and charged in his direction.

Su Mu had no intention of clashing with the horde. He instantly dispelled his illusion, hiding himself completely within the dreamscape.

Just like the giant of flesh and blood, the charging nightmare monsters circled the area for a moment. Unable to find anyone, they simply turned away and resumed their march.

"Where are they going? Such a coordinated march... is something ahead drawing them in?"

Su Mu was about to follow and investigate when he abruptly stopped. Just a second ago, his soul had pulsed with a bizarre sensation.

He turned to look in the opposite direction of the horde's march. Coming from that way, he could sense something calling out to him.

It was a soul connection that felt simultaneously deeply familiar and entirely alien, compelling him to draw closer.

He pondered for a moment before finally heading in the opposite direction. Compared to the nightmare monsters, he was far more curious about what within the Abyss could trigger such a profound reaction in him.

Su Mu walked against the tide across the desolate, blood-red earth. As he pressed on, he encountered more nightmare monsters. Some were incredibly weak, roughly at the Bronze Grade, while others were terrifyingly strong.

He spotted a Faceless Angel bearing pristine white wings. It was completely naked, yet devoid of any gender characteristics. The aura radiating from the angel surpassed every being Su Mu had ever encountered aside from Gods—eclipsing the Gold King, and even the Pope.

However, he soon laid eyes on an entity even more terrifying than the Faceless Angel: an Evil Buddha. Its pitch-black body towered several zhang tall, its face a twisted, hideous snarl devoid of the slightest trace of mercy. Its eyes burned like twin clusters of dark green ghost-fire, seething with endless, venomous malice.

Su Mu knew the Evil Buddha was stronger than the Faceless Angel for one simple reason: when he looked at the Evil Buddha, it looked right back at him.

He was completely hidden within the dreamscape, yet this entity could still sense his gaze. Such perception was nothing short of horrifying.

Fortunately, even though the Evil Buddha had discovered his presence, it was powerless to do anything about it. Without paying him much mind, the dark entity simply resumed its march.

Su Mu pressed onward. The throbbing deep within his soul grew steadily stronger. He could feel it—he was getting close! Closer and closer!

After cresting a hundred-meter-tall blood-red hill, his footsteps halted once again. Before him sat a massive, blood-red bubble!

He was far too familiar with this bubble. It was unmistakably a nightmare.

He never expected to find nightmares within the Abyss. But on second thought, the Abyss was known as the origin of the nightmare entities, holding countless nightmare monsters. It wasn't strange for nightmare bubbles to exist here, too.

He lingered before the blood-red bubble for a moment, then shook his head. "Not this one."

He continued his trek, passing numerous nightmare bubbles and hurrying nightmare monsters along the way. Finally, he stopped in front of a blood-red bubble about the size of a house.

"The soul connection is coming from in here. I'm really looking forward to this." The corners of Su Mu's mouth curled up, and he stepped inside without hesitation.

After a dizzying rush of vertigo, the scenery before him shifted wildly. A chaotic din of human voices and the roaring of car engines filled his ears.

He found himself standing at a bustling intersection, as if immersed in a surging ocean of people and traffic. An endless stream of vehicles rushed past, while crowds dressed in modern clothing shuttled across the zebra crossings.

Skyscrapers pierced the clouds on either side of the street. Sunlight struck the glass curtain walls of the high-rises, refracting into thousands of blinding rays. Like countless golden blades, the light sliced the prosperous city into alternating zones of brilliant brightness and deep shadow.

For a moment, Su Mu felt as if he had returned to the Real World.

"A nightmare with a modern setting?" he mused. "Then what exactly summoned me here?"

He tried to sense the connection in his soul, only to realize it was everywhere. The entire city radiated that familiar yet alien aura, making it completely impossible to pinpoint where it was coming from.

"What is going on here? Does this city have some kind of connection to me?"

Filled with doubts, Su Mu slowly rose into the air to survey the entire city from above.

The city was incredibly prosperous, much like an international metropolis. The public order was excellent, and a sense of absolute peace blanketed every corner. It didn't feel like a nightmare at all; in fact, it was more like a sweet dream. The people lived and worked in contentment, going to their jobs, attending school...

"Could it be... is this a wage earner's nightmare?" An absurd thought popped into Su Mu's head. A wage earner, forced to keep working even in their dreams—analyzed that way, it really was a nightmare.

"But what does any of this have to do with me?"

Frowning, he scanned his surroundings, trying to spot any anomalies. To his surprise, he actually found one.

He didn't spot anything strange about the city itself, but rather about the dreamscape as a whole. Because this place... had no boundaries!

Past dreamscapes had always possessed boundaries shrouded in the Black Fog, because beyond them lay the endless expanse of the Black Fog itself. Even though the Abyss lacked the Black Fog, the space outside this boundary was still that blood-red dimension. Logically, he should have been able to see that blood-red hue at the edges. Yet there was nothing here—only sheer nothingness. It was as if the scene had been heavily pixelated; it was exceptionally blurry, making it impossible to decipher anything at all.

This anomaly in the dreamscape piqued Su Mu's curiosity. He flew to the very edge of the city and plunged headfirst into the nothingness.

As he passed through the nothingness, he involuntarily squinted his narrow eyes.

Looking at the bustling city before him, the moving crowds, and the endless stream of traffic, a smirk tugged at the corners of his lips. "Interesting."

Everything here was completely identical to the city he had just entered.