Rustle—
Inside District 8's [Nightmare], a light drizzle still fell, pattering against rows of uniform blue-brick tiled houses.
There was no daytime here. It was always night.
At this moment, every winding alley was "infested with ghouls." Each ghoul shadow held a "Black Umbrella," wandering through this domain aimlessly like game NPCs.
In one alley, [C] Cen Liu stood beneath a black umbrella, while [A] Ai Li sat nearby, rubbing the deck of Tarot Cards between his fingers.
In this Dungeon, the "Tarot Cards" seemed to be his entire life. Nearly all his attention was focused on them every day.
"Different [Nightmares] and Dream Core Ghouls naturally hate each other. Will District 7's Corpse Sewing Shop really obediently repair the Black Umbrella?"
C still sounded worried.
Ai Li stared at the cards in his hand and replied casually, "No matter how deep that hatred is, Dream Core Ghouls must obey the Acting Nightmare Lord's orders."
"No one understands the hidden rules of [Nightmare] better than I do."
"Or rather, no Chess Player knows the Final Battlefield better than I do."
C watched Ai Li, who had yet to look up, her eyes flickering as she noted, "The Tarot Cards told you all this information."
"[A], is this your exclusive talent?"
Even among allies from the same faction, few knew much about the codename [A]. C had always wanted to know how Ai Li obtained it.
After all, before Ai Li, the codename [A] had always been unclaimed...
Ai Li kept his head lowered and answered blandly, "Yes and no."
"The umbrella has been sent into the Corpse Sewing Shop. With the Black Umbrella Night Woman missing, I'm worried those Black Chess Players might surface at a time like this..."
Ai Li said lightly, "No need to worry. There's still the