Chapter 55: Go to Hell!

"Tingting, look closely. Are the hands on the Pocket Watch moving faster?"

Tingting widened her eyes, her pupils tracking the movement of the Pocket Watch. Tick, tick, tick... The crisp sound of the moving second hand reached her ears.

"It looks like... it really is moving faster. This is great, big brother!"

"Then Tingting needs to watch carefully. Don't let time slack off."

"Mhm." Tingting nodded vigorously. "Tingting will definitely watch closely and won't let time slack off."

The minutes ticked by. At some point, Su Mu had taken off his Tinted Glasses, and a barely perceptible gleam radiated from his deep eyes.

Invisible mental energy surged out.

He was trying to hypnotize Tingting. This was the most difficult part of the entire plan, and even he didn't know if the hypnosis would succeed.

After all, Tingting was not human, but a Nightmare Creature.

His previous attempts to hypnotize the villagers and the shadow had all failed, but Su Mu felt he still had a chance. The villagers were clearly nothing more than controlled walking corpses, and hypnosis had no effect on the dead.

As for the shadow, that nightmare monster was far from simple. It could construct a Dark Illusion Realm, a feat his current mental energy was completely unable to match.

Only Tingting was different. She was the core subject of the dream, an entity with her own independent consciousness. Even though her mental energy was stronger than his, he still had a chance to succeed because Tingting had the mind of a child and harbored no defenses against him.

The essence of hypnosis was never about crushing the target's spirit, but guiding it—drawing the other party's mind into his own rhythm.

This was a massive gamble. If he won, he would return to reality. If he lost, he would die in the Nightmare World.

Fortunately, Su Mu won the bet.

He found that his mental energy could invade Tingting's body. Tingting's mental energy was incredibly strong, far stronger than his own. This was normal; after all, Tingting was the core subject of this Dream World.

However, Tingting's mental energy was very peaceful. It was like a calm ocean without a single wave—azure, clear, and utterly pure.

Su Mu only needed to gradually guide Tingting's mental energy, thereby altering the dream.

As he slowly worked at this, Yang Dongqing and the others finally arrived. They saw the raging fire Su Mu had started.

Yang Dongqing and his group did not disturb Su Mu and Tingting. They already knew Su Mu's plan, so they quietly stood guard in the distance.

Gradually, Yang Dongqing and the others were surprised to discover that this realm seemed to be undergoing an indescribable transformation.

"The... the sky..." Zhao Chaoyao stared up in shock, his mouth hanging wide open. For a long time, he couldn't speak.

Yang Dongqing was no better, thoroughly dumbfounded.

The changes in the sky were truly terrifying. The once-azure sky was now covered in web-like cracks, looking exactly like a shattered mirror.

Not only that, but the surrounding trees also began to twist and distort. They blurred unnaturally, as if covered by a layer of pixelation.

They looked toward the distant houses, only to see them being fiercely crushed by an invisible, giant hand. Buildings collapsed one after another, kicking up clouds of dust. The ground began to tremble, and the farmland was torn apart, revealing bottomless ravines.

"Su Mu is going to succeed!" Yang Dongqing exclaimed in ecstasy. "This must be the precursor to the Nightmare shattering!"

Roar!

Countless inhuman roars interrupted Yang Dongqing's wild joy. The group's expressions drastically changed. Turning around, they saw one villager after another crawling out of the nearby woods.

The appearance of these villagers was even more horrifying. The skin on their faces was melting like wax, dripping onto the ground in thick splatters.

"These bastards!" Seeing the villagers appear, the anger Yang Dongqing had suppressed for so long finally erupted like a volcano. Bloodshot veins surfaced in his eyes.

"Fuck you all! Every single one of you is going to die!!"

Roaring, Yang Dongqing charged toward the hundreds of villagers. Zhao Chaoyao and the others remained near Su Mu, standing guard to prevent any stragglers from disturbing the Leader.

Bolstered by Heart of Steel, an unprecedented metallic luster erupted across Yang Dongqing's body. Every single muscle looked as if it were forged from steel, brimming with terrifying power.

"Argh!!"

With that furious roar, he stomped heavily on the ground, instantly fracturing the earth beneath his feet. Propelled by the force, he smashed into the surging crowd like a cannonball.

"Go to hell!!"

Yang Dongqing swung his iron fists like falling meteors, filling the air with bone-chilling whistles. With every punch, a villager's head exploded like a watermelon, sending brains and blood splattering everywhere. His legs swept horizontally like a giant dragon whipping its tail, carrying tremendous force. Wherever he struck, the villagers were snapped in half at the waist. Severed bodies flew through the air as internal organs spilled across the ground.

For a time, a storm of blood and gore raged through the crowd.

Having grown stronger, Yang Dongqing's strength had clearly risen to another level. Even though he was heavily surrounded, those villagers found it extremely difficult to break through his defenses.

He violently grabbed a villager, hoisted them high above his head, and ripped them apart with both hands. The body was torn completely in half, sending severed limbs and internal organs raining down.

However, while it was hard for the villagers to break his defenses, that did not mean they couldn't restrict his movements. The villagers' strength was not weak either.

A few villagers with only their upper halves remaining clung desperately to Yang Dongqing's legs. Caught off guard, Yang Dongqing tripped and fell. Immediately after, the surrounding villagers swarmed him, pinning him firmly to the ground. Countless blood-soaked maws began tearing and biting at every part of his body.

Yang Dongqing struggled with all his might, but two fists were no match for four hands, let alone the sheer number of villagers pressing down on him. Gradually, his steel body also began to sustain injuries.

Meanwhile, Zhao Chaoyao and the others were completely unable to step forward and help. They were locked in combat with a few stragglers. However, as ordinary humans, how could they possibly be a match for nightmare monsters?

In just two or three strikes, Zhao Chaoyao and the others were sent flying by the villagers. The creatures paid no mind to the people on the ground; instead, they charged straight toward Su Mu.

"Protect the Leader!!" Zhao Chaoyao screamed wildly.

At that moment, a fearless subordinate unleashed the final potential of his life force. Dragging his heavily injured body, he charged at the villagers, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Long live the Leader!!"

He threw himself onto one of the villagers. Using his own body weight, he pinned the creature down, and together, they plummeted into a massive rift that had torn open in the ground, disappearing from sight.

Seeing this, the remaining subordinates followed suit. Their mortal bodies were indeed no match for the nightmare monsters, but they could choose to die alongside them!

For the Leader! For the faith in their hearts! These mortals, insignificant as ants, unleashed the final roars of their lives. Surging forward one after another, they lunged at the villagers, dragging them down into the abyssal cracks of the earth.