The girl transformed, multiplying infinitely. My numbers have become a disaster.

No method.

Instead, her mind drifted back to the book she'd discovered outside the bubble earlier.

Chapter 20: Injure the Enemy a Thousand, Harm the Self...

"Answer me. Was it you who attacked our Insect Blood Society people?"

As soon as the man's lips moved, Ye Qian felt some force compelling her to tell the truth. But he clearly didn't know that she was fully awake right now—there was no way she'd reveal the truth.

"What's the Insect Blood Society? I don't think I've attacked anyone." Ye Qian put on a bewildered, helpless expression.

"Someone in a black robe, right here."

The man pointed, and the scene behind him suddenly shifted to the area near Ye Qian's home.

Ye Qian shook her head. "I don't remember anyone like that."

"Damn it."

The man punched down.

Boom!

"Ah!"

Having braced herself mentally, Ye Qian naturally couldn't feel any real pain in the dream, but she still let herself be sent flying, tears blurring her eyes as she hugged her head and trembled, putting on a pitiful look. "Boo hoo hoo..."

"Tch, why is this chick so cute?" the man muttered, starting to doubt himself. "Could I really have gotten it wrong? The positioning locked onto here, and the Dream Entry ritual is usually foolproof—unless she's a Transcendent, there's absolutely no way to resist in a dream. Maybe I should go check the depths of her subconscious."

Watching the cowering, frightened version of Ye Qian, the man walked to the door and began pacing back and forth.

Then the surrounding scene began to change, turning into a familiar sight.

Ye Qian's real eyes narrowed slightly.

"I don't think I can handle him. Even though this is my dream, if it came to a real fight, I'd still lose to him."

She even started to wonder if this was still her dream. He seemed to be using some powerful will to interfere with her, effectively hijacking her dreamscape to a degree.

This quaint little town had clearly been conjured up through that method.

Hiding in the distance, Ye Xin recalled the book from before and felt a sharp ache in her head.

"If there's no other way, I'll just have to try this."

The stone slab.

That thing—the boy covered in mouths and the girl covered in eyes... Damn, can't think about it, head hurts.

Ye Xin took a deep breath and began considering how to make him see it too.

Maybe...

Just carve it directly on the wall?

But obviously, the act of carving would also deal heavy damage to herself.

Still, thinking it over, she had so many clones' minds as anchor points—given time, she might be able to recover. But this guy, if he got hit by a sudden attack, probably wouldn't have time to react.

I could even just read it out loud.

Too bad she couldn't create bystanders. She steeled herself, directly carving words onto the surrounding walls while preparing to recite them aloud.

The man paced outside for a while, then turned back to look at Ye Qian, who was wiping her tears while sitting on the ground.

"Girl, let me see your subconscious."

Some kind of force began calling out to Ye Qian's thoughts.

The scene around them shifted, turning into a familiar town.

Seeing this image, Ye Qian's heart stirred.

This was a small county town from her memory—her hometown before she'd crossed over.

The man also looked at the scene with curiosity.

But soon, he suddenly noticed that the surrounding walls were covered in complex writing.

"Oh? Interesting."

Instinctively, he looked at the content and read it aloud: "His body was covered in mouths, his head... Ssss—ah—Holy shit!!! Aaaaaahhhhh!!!"

Just one sentence in, a violent, searing pain flooded his entire body from head to toe. The man clutched his skull and screamed, "Damn it, what the hell is this?! Aah, how does this girl's subconscious have something like this in it?!"

"It works."

Ye Xin's eyes lit up. Bearing the negative backlash, she shouted in a cold voice:

"His body was covered in mouths, the eyes on his forehead gazing up at the sky. Locking gazes with him was a girl covered in eyes, her feet pointing upward as she looked down at the boy on the ground, their faces about to collide."

"His body was covered in mouths, the eyes on his forehead gazing up at the sky. Locking gazes with him was a girl covered in eyes, her feet pointing upward as she looked down at the boy on the ground, their faces about to collide."

"Aaaaaahhh!!! Stop! What is this? Damn it!"

His form suddenly twisted into a monster, countless mouths and eyes sprouting from his body. Ye Xin, mid-recitation, stared dumbfounded at the sight.

The intense pain stabbed at her nerves, feeling almost unbearable. She clamped her mouth shut and directly clutched her forehead.

And without a doubt, the man suffered far more horribly than she did.

In the end, as if unable to endure it any longer, his body completely dissolved and left this world.

Near the house, in the abandoned building where Alice sensed the Insect Blood Society members had gathered.

"Ahhh—"

A piercing scream rang out abruptly. Someone lying on a wooden plank sat bolt upright, then clutched his head and rolled around on the floor.

"What's wrong, Third Brother?"

The person beside him was startled and rushed over immediately.

"Save me. His body is covered in mouths—ahhh—the eyes on the forehead stare up at the sky. The one who met his gaze is... ahhh, can't shout, can't shout!! It's over, I can't hold it back, help... my whole body is sprouting eyes..."

As the words left his mouth, eyes and mouths began to grow all over the man's body. Something inside him seemed to be trying to burrow out, radiating a terrifying aura.

And those who heard his words let out pained cries at the same instant.

"Damn it, cover your ears!"

The leader among them shouted.

Everyone clamped their hands over their ears. After a while, the awakened man gradually calmed down, but he lay on the ground like a writhing mass of flesh, trembling nonstop, with over a dozen mouths and at least twenty eyes growing on his body. Some of those eyes even wept blood.

"Save me—save me—"

All the mouths spoke in unison.

The underlings were terrified: "Third Brother, he..."

"He seems to have come into contact with a Taboo. This level... it's probably involved in some secret incident related to those beings."

The leader's expression was extremely grim.

"How is that possible? Didn't he go into the target's dream?"

"Even if you ask me, I don't know. Let's wait until Third Brother is in better shape."

Staring at the thing on the ground, twisted into something unrecognizable, the group felt a chill run down their spines.

A moment later...

"Third Brother, how are you? What exactly did you encounter just now? Hiss—damn it, my eyes hurt. Don't look at him."

"Dream... don't go. Into the dream." The dying Third Brother opened his mouth.

"Dream?"

There was no more sound. Third Brother had completely lost consciousness.

But if someone leaned in close, they could hear the mouths on his body still muttering eerie whispers.

The people on scene exchanged glances, all feeling a deep dread.

"Why is this happening? Is there something wrong with that person's dream?"

Alice, watching this scene, was stunned.

"How terrifying."

Goosebumps rose all over her skin.

After barely recovering, Ye Xin hurriedly checked her own body, relieved to find no eyes or mouths appearing.

"Unbelievable. They're all words I can read, but they can produce such a terrifying effect? Is it because these words touch upon some kind of existence? If a person casually blurts out this kind of content in everyday speech, would something go wrong?"

She recalled that word "He"... in the supernatural world, it often represented a being close to a deity.

"Sigh, just forget it all. I'll stop messing with this kind of thing from now on."

Ye Xin had already erased the text, but her mind involuntarily kept flashing those contents. She was affected from moment to moment, but overall, it wasn't as extreme as what happened to that man.

6

Chapter 21: Identity

Ye Xin withdrew from her main body's dream.

Because of this incident, she knew the Insect Blood Society enemies hadn't given up on targeting her.

"These guys don't care about the Shadow Bureau at all? Even after one of their strongholds was taken out, they still dare to come after me?" She sat by the bed, nursing a headache.

At this point, those people had already left temporarily, also disposing of the corpse of the man who had collapsed and died earlier. Since it was beyond three kilometers, Alice didn't bother to keep monitoring.

"It looks like I have to take this organization seriously. The Shadow Bureau is starting to pay attention to them too, but the higher-ups of this kind of evil group probably have some tricks up their sleeves. Dealing with them will be tough." Ye Qian sighed.

They didn't even need to see her face-to-face—from that far away, they could launch a Dream Entry attack on her main body in the hotel. That was no ordinary danger.

And thinking it over carefully, Ye Qian believed she currently had no ability to go head-to-head with them.

"I need to find a way to advance quickly."

Thinking this, she closed her eyes, ready to rest.

The night passed under the watch of rotating guards.

In the early morning, Ye Xin steamed some small buns, brought a bottle of milk, and delivered them to the hotel where the original body was staying. After they finished eating together, she left with peace of mind.

"Mm."

Patting her stomach, Ye Qian took out her phone and checked the time.

"Having too many clones makes things inconvenient sometimes. I need to find a way to get them identities."

This wasn't entirely impossible.

She could rely on Shi Jing!

As a member of the Shadow Bureau's team, he only needed to use a bit of his minor authority to grant a legal identity to someone without one.

Of course, there were still risks in actual operation.

Shi Jing did have a relatively reliable method in mind... enrollment!

In the Kingdom of Order, ninety percent of people could only attend school for six years. Completing those six years made one a standout among commoners, able to find many jobs to support themselves, and even buy a house many years later.

But note, having the qualification didn't mean one could finish.

In reality, the attendance rate for basic middle school among commoners was only about thirty percent.

Society's division of personal status always required the majority to take on lower-level work, which meant that even commoner schools weren't accessible to everyone.

However, from another angle, if a noble or wealthy person had an illegitimate daughter without a legal identity, those nobles would certainly find a way to get her one.

And the legal solution for that was enrollment.