Nightmare

The rain kept falling,

and the atmosphere was far from harmonious.

Outside the west gate of the stadium, the team stood with every nerve drawn taut, watching the sky gradually brighten.

That night, war had erupted throughout Rain Alley City. Explosions and roars came in waves, making everyone's hearts tremble with fear.

After three in the morning, however, the entire city gradually fell silent.

"Deathly still" would have been a more fitting description.

It was hair-raising!

"Wooooo~~~"

A low, drawn-out alarm sounded, echoing through every street and alley of the city, carrying an indescribable sense of desolation.

"It's six o'clock." Jiang Ruyi stood on the steps, looking out at the silent district in the rain.

Trees had toppled, and fences had shattered.

The traffic lights at the intersection had been broken into several pieces.

Traces of destruction could vaguely be seen on the walls of distant buildings, with shattered stones, bricks, and tiles strewn across the ground.

The heavy rain had washed away whatever bloodstains might have remained, but it could not wash away all the wreckage.

"Time's up. Your mission is over," Zhang Feng suddenly said.

"It's over?" Tian Tian stood slightly behind Jiang Ruyi, like a little tagalong.

"Mhm." Jiang Ruyi reached out with a smile and gently patted Tian Tian's head.

Jiang Ruyi was undoubtedly a highly qualified captain.

Though she herself had been trembling with fear and had spent the night living in fear, she had continually tried to keep herself calm.

Gentle yet strong, Jiang Ruyi had shaped the team's overall spirit and been Tian Tian's support throughout the night.

"Yes, it's over." Zhang Feng confirmed, "There may still be wandering demons in the streets and alleys, but dawn has long arrived. There will be no more Demon Invasion."

"Finally!" Lu Ran sighed inwardly. He leaned against the wall and slowly slid down into a sitting position.

For a seventeen-year-old high school student, staying up all night was nothing.

Who had not pulled an all-nighter in front of a computer?

Trading gunfire at the airport, laning in the canyon.

Go on, explain it to me—what exactly was tiredness?

But during the Night of the Fifteenth he had just endured, Lu Ran had kept his nerves tense the whole time and had repeatedly entered battle. It had drained both his mind and strength.

Not to mention that Lu Ran had once been abducted by a Yanzhiren and walked the razor-thin line between life and death.

Lu Ran was quite satisfied with both his own performance and the team's.

Over the past night, under Zhang Feng's proper arrangements, the team had acted when appropriate and fought Mist Realm demons.

When they encountered demons at the Stream Realm or above, they had obediently stayed behind the Moon Watchers, without causing trouble for the warriors.

They had secured every score they were supposed to earn.

Lu Ran had experienced everything he was supposed to experience—and even things he should not have experienced.

At that moment, he was exhausted in body and mind and wanted nothing more than to sleep deeply.

"Someone will come to relieve us soon," Zhang Feng continued. "You may choose to rest inside the stadium.

"If you want to go home and recuperate, we'll also arrange for personnel to escort you back."

The Demon Race that had invaded the city would not disappear on its own.

Over the three days from the sixteenth to the eighteenth, the authorities would search the entire city and ensure that no demon remnants remained within it.

Only on the nineteenth could the people in the shelters return home, and only then would society begin functioning again.

"Sister Ruyi, are you going to rest at the shelter?" Tian Tian asked softly.

Jiang Ruyi supported her forehead with one hand, pressing her ring finger and thumb against her temples, looking troubled.

"No. I'm going home."

Home was naturally more comfortable, and with a divine idol in the shrine, believers could rest without worry.

"Oh." Tian Tian answered quietly, somewhat disappointed.

After this parting, they would most likely be separated for a full three days. They would have to wait until the nineteenth to see one another at school again.

The alarm had only just stopped when a group arrived right on time to take over.

Lu Ran and the others all planned to go home. Under the authorities' arrangements, they boarded a bus with many classmates.

"Class Monitor Jiang!"

"Morning, Class Monitor Jiang! My god, what did you go through last night?"

The students greeted her all at once, their voices overlapping.

Scholar Jiang was a prominent figure at school. Wherever she went, she became the center of attention.

Jiang Ruyi merely smiled and nodded without saying much.

The student teams stationed inside the stadium naturally had no idea what had happened outside.

But every member of Team 98 looked exhausted, their clothes disheveled and still bearing bloodstains that the rain had not washed away. They had clearly gone through several fierce battles!

Lu Ran in particular was the most bedraggled member of the team!

His clothes were not merely disheveled. They were in tatters.

Seeing him in such a state, the students clicked their tongues in secret amazement.

The other students had guarded the stadium, while Lu Ran had...

"Lu Ran, what happened to you?" A boy looked at Lu Ran's miserable appearance. "Did you wrestle a demon barehanded?"

Lu Ran counted as a rising star. Ever since he had summoned a demon at the God-Worshipping Platform and taken first place in the Evil Dog Village assessment, he had made a name for himself.

Lu Ran did not know the other person, so he simply smiled without speaking.

He wore an unfathomable expression.

It fooled the students senseless!

"That's terrible. Your clothes were ripped apart. What kind of demon was it?"

"Hey, look at Lu Ran's arm. Did that huge patch of flesh just grow back? The color is different."

"Was it torn off by some demon? Damn, just thinking about it is terrifying..."

Amid the waves of discussion, Lu Ran remained silent and dropped heavily into a seat.

There was no denying that Lu Ran was truly exhausted in body and mind, too tired to speak.

But on the other hand...

There were three thousand ways to show off!

Lu Ran casually played the "silent and speechless" card, and the effect was truly excellent.

Tsk, that felt good~

Last night, I flew like a butterfly with a Yanzhiren—fluttering this way, fluttering that way, chasing each other through the air.

I nearly threw my life away. What was wrong with showing off a little?

"Vroom~" The vehicle started and slowly drove away from the stadium.

Due to the special circumstances, the students and Social Volunteers on the bus would all be taken directly to their homes.

Lu Ran was no exception. When the bus stopped at Rain Alley Home Community, he bid farewell to several teammates and entered the neighborhood under the escort of a Moon Watcher, who accompanied him all the way to his front door.

"Immortal Sheep, bless me." Dragging his exhausted body into the small bedroom, Lu Ran stood before the shrine and bowed again and again.

"Your disciple made it back alive. Last night was truly dangerous."

"Strange... tell me, do you think the Yanzhiren Clan has really taken a liking to me?"

Lu Ran muttered to himself. After reporting the situation, he went into the bathroom, took off the clothes the Yanzhiren had torn apart, and enjoyed a thoroughly refreshing hot shower.

Only after he was clean and refreshed from head to toe did he return to the small bedroom and plunge onto the small bed.

Before falling asleep, Lu Ran picked up the phone beside his bed and checked it. As expected, his mother and Younger Sister had sent several messages.

Lu Ran replied to each message, reassuring them that he was safe and expressing his apologies before falling into a deep sleep.

He fell asleep incredibly quickly and slept exceptionally sweetly.

By noon, the deeply sleeping Lu Ran shifted slightly, and his expression became increasingly ugly.

It seemed that he was having a nightmare.

"Where is this?" Lu Ran frowned tightly as he looked over the dim surroundings and this fog-shrouded world.

Wait!

Lu Ran's expression froze. Why did this place feel so familiar?

I think I've been here before?!

Lu Ran was shocked!

Memories buried in the depths gradually surged into his mind.

That was right. He had been here before.

After the Evil Dog Village assessment, he had dreamed the same dream. In that dream, he had seen the souls of dozens of Vicious Hounds.

He had also seen the gigantic statue of the Demon Race—Vicious Hounds!

"Urgh." Lu Ran held his head with one hand.

Why?

Why, after waking from that dream, had he remembered absolutely nothing that happened here?

Was this truly a dream?

Filled with doubt after doubt, Lu Ran slowly began walking.

After only several dozen meters, Lu Ran stopped.

This world was dim and shrouded in thin mist, leaving little visibility.

The reason he had suddenly stopped was that, within this deathly silent world, Lu Ran had seen a familiar figure.

"Yanzhi... Yanzhiren?"

Lu Ran's eyes widened as he looked up at the sky.

Within the wisps of mist, that graceful figure stood suspended in the air.

Honestly, if he had not known she was of the Demon Race, then based on her peerless beauty alone, Lu Ran might have respectfully called her "Immortal."

"This..." Lu Ran's thoughts churned violently.

Was this the Yanzhiren whom Deng Yuxiang had beheaded last night?

"Hm?" The Yanzhiren standing quietly in midair seemed to have noticed the arrival of the tiny human.

She slowly drifted downward, her Great Red Xiapai fluttering lightly, beautiful beyond compare.

Lu Ran's mouth opened slightly. Unlike last night, the Yanzhiren now appeared as an illusory Soul Body.

Her deathly pale yet gorgeous face was a little blurry.

"Eeeek!!"

The Yanzhiren finally revealed her true face. A shrill scream burst from between her red lips.

Her eyes fixed tightly on Lu Ran, burning with such intense desire that it seemed ready to overflow!

"Whoosh!"

The Yanzhiren shot toward him, pouncing directly at Lu Ran.

Lu Ran retreated again and again, but his feet tangled beneath him, and he landed hard on his backside.

"Eeeek!"

Another scream rang out, and the Yanzhiren's lunging figure abruptly stopped.

Her body trembled and struggled, as if imprisoned by invisible shackles, unable to move another inch.

Lu Ran's face turned pale as he watched the Yanzhiren fly backward.

The mist dispersed somewhat, and Lu Ran's eyes suddenly widened!

He saw a gigantic demon statue.

It was the statue of the Demon Race—Yanzhiren!

Its sheer size and majestic aura exerted immense pressure on Lu Ran!

She was strange, yet seductive.

Her face was pale as paper, but her expression was charming and alluring.

The Yanzhiren's Soul Body was sucked into the gigantic statue's red lips and disappeared without a trace.

Deathly silence returned between heaven and earth, and the shrill screams were gone.

"Where exactly is this?!"

Lu Ran screamed inwardly.

He did not believe this was merely an ordinary nightmare.

Suddenly, a gust of cold wind swept past, sending chills down Lu Ran's spine.

"Gulp."

Lu Ran swallowed and slowly turned his head to look behind him.

A gigantic Pitch-Black Sheep Head came into view.

Yes, it had no body—only a Black Goat Head floating in midair!

"Whoosh~"

Black flames flickered.

The enormous, pitch-black sheep head burned eerily with black fire.

Those horizontal pupils perfectly embodied the term "Dead Sheep Eyes," horrifying to the extreme.

"Immortal Sheep?" Lu Ran called out tentatively.

What kind of creature was this?

In Lu Ran's store of knowledge, neither the divine races nor the Demon Race had such an existence!

A Black Goat Head burning with swaying black fire?

What kind of joke was that?

Lu Ran addressed it as "Immortal Sheep" because he was attempting to call upon his own deity.

At the same time, a faint thread of hope stirred in his heart.

What if this Black Fire Goat Head was Immortal Sheep, who was always changing faces?

"Baa~"

A goat's cry came from the Black Fire Goat Head's mouth.

Lu Ran's hairs stood on end, and he even stopped breathing.

It was only a goat's cry.

Could it really be this eerie?

"Whoosh!!"

Lu Ran had no time to react before the Black Sheep Head came crashing down!

Tiny human,

was completely swallowed by the black sea of fire.

Thanks to Yu Jin Da Meng for the hundred-thousand reward. Boss, that's generous—thank you for the support!

The boss was generous, handsome, invincible, and utterly badass!

There would be bonus updates after premium launch, haha. (`) Heart gesture