Ke Meng wanted to sleep. As long as he took the creature into his dream, he could crush it on the soul level.
But the struggle in his mind was too intense. That creature kept invading, and the Resistance Force kept fighting back. Ke Meng could not calm his mind, let alone fall asleep.
Those maddening, bizarre voices kept echoing in his head. The creature was not trying to lead him toward anything; it simply kept muttering, chanting endlessly like Tang Sanzang.
Ke Meng felt as though a tightening band had been fitted around his head. His skull felt ready to burst, but those voices running rampant through his mind also drove his spirituality to unprecedented heights, sharpening his perception of everything around him.
While resisting the invasion in his mind, he roamed the town, searching for the Sealed Items that held the missing team members.
Along the main road, numb-looking people sat smoking by the roadside without looking at Ke Meng.
Even the light overhead illuminating their faces could not dispel the despair in their eyes.
Ke Meng glanced at a few children as he passed. Their expressions were noticeably livelier than those of the adults.
Facing the artificial Little Sun in the sky, the children looked conflicted, as though they were rediscovering their true selves.
But they had inhaled too much Despair Mist, leaving their bodies and minds caught between despair and confusion.
The Tentacle Monster had not chosen this town at random. It seemed to have known all along that the despair here was so profound that every passerby ignored Ke Meng as he hurtled past.
"Your speed isn't normal... it's the shoes. I can sense something abnormal about them!"
"No, that's not it. Your entire body is strange."
The Tentacle Monster's voice reverberated through Ke Meng's