Chapter 107 - 102: Ghost Race

Chapter 107: Chapter 102: Ghost Race

"Isn’t this the headquarters of the Wan Meng Group?"

The car had parked in the Wan Meng Group’s parking lot.

However, the Baijiang Headquarter of the Countermeasures Bureau was not here.

At this moment, K was absent. Aside from Shi An, the group consisted of Old Song, Li Hao, Jiang Yilu, and Zhang Yuning.

Zhang Yuning was also a Dream Descender. Li Hao seemed to have some background and was well-informed. The only ones who had truly never been to the Headquarter were Shi An and Jiang Yilu.

Song Qiming looked at him and Jiang Yilu, smiling mysteriously. "The Countermeasures Bureau Headquarter exists in a place unseen by ordinary people. It’s your first time here, so you’ll definitely be blown away."

Shi An had originally been quite looking forward to it. He had long heard that the Headquarter possessed many wondrous elements. But it seemed he didn’t even need to experience it; he already knew where the Headquarter was "hidden."

He wielded the Excellence Level Curse Object, the Mask of Night Shadow. Even though it was daytime, any place with a shadow around him served as a springboard for his extended perception.

He had already found it.

"BEEP, Employee Card!"

"Level 1 clearance. Verification passed. Access granted."

Following Old Song, the group passed through the turnstiles and arrived in front of an escalator that looked just like a subway entrance.

Jiang asked, "Is the Headquarter underground? I suppose that makes sense."

But the few who had been here before just smiled mysteriously.

The group rode the escalator all the way down, but as they stepped out of the escalator passage, what appeared before their eyes was...

A vast, open plaza!

Several hundred meters away stood a magnificent silver-white skyscraper. This was the true location of the Baijiang Headquarter of the Countermeasures Bureau.

"The Headquarter exists in reality, yet it’s situated in an independent space, almost like a Dream Realm of a Nightmare?" Shi An deduced.

Old Song was surprised, wondering, "Brother, if you’re so calm, how am I supposed to show off now?"

Song Qiming and Li Hao both felt a bit stifled.

Following Old Song, Shi An and the others arrived at an interrogation room inside the Headquarter.

Inside the interrogation room were a few youths with youthful faces. They were the very targets they needed to guide on this trip. Moreover, Shi An actually found these people somewhat familiar.

"It’s... the teenagers who were surrounded by the Withered Wood Ghost yesterday!" he thought.

When he arrived yesterday, he had seen the powerhouses of the Countermeasures Bureau clashing with several bizarre entities. These boys and girls were the very first people to be discovered by the anomalies. No wonder the Bureau judged that they were bound to experience a Fallen Dream.

They had come into direct contact with the anomalies. Even though more than half a day had passed, a thick, gloomy, and cold aura still lingered on them. Under these circumstances, even if the Bureau sealed their memories, it would be impossible to prevent them from being entangled by Nightmares.

"What are their identities?" Shi An asked.

Old Song went inside to ask about the situation and quickly came back out.

"Just a few ignorant high schoolers," Old Song said. "They seemingly went to explore some remote village and even started a livestream. It appears they accidentally broadcasted an anomaly, which caused quite a stir.

"However, after interrogating them overnight, the Bureau discovered that these teenagers are just pawns. They were intentionally guided to that village.

"This matter seems to involve a highly secretive cult organization, which is beyond our jurisdiction. We are only responsible for comforting these youths and guiding them onto the right path."

The teenagers were still being temporarily held here.

Shi An and his team were merely here to complete an ordinary work assignment, so they soon left.

As they were leaving, Shi An saw two burly figures from afar. A formidable and fierce aura permeated from both of them.

"They seem to be top-tier powerhouses from our Countermeasures Bureau! I recognize the insignia on their clothes; both of them are Deputy Captains of their respective teams!" Li Hao, being quite knowledgeable, remarked. "However, I’m not sure exactly which teams they are the Deputy Captains of."

But Shi An recognized them.

One of them was bald with several scars on his face. It was precisely the Headquarter powerhouse he had seen last night, Black Tiger. The other person’s appearance was unfamiliar to Shi An, but...

"This person is a member of the Safe Zone. There is a very clear connection between members and the Safe Zone, so I can recognize them even in reality," Shi An thought. "And this person seems to be..."

The Deputy Captain Level powerhouse, Long Niu!

Inside a small conference room, Long Niu, Black Tiger, and a few other powerhouses were burning with indignation.

"According to that teenager Ding Lin’s description, the person who tricked them into exploring Xikou Village and livestreaming it had a bizarre pair of eyes tattooed on the back of their hand. Without a doubt, that’s someone from the Nightmare Sect!

"These damn Cultists, traitors to humanity! Our Baijiang City’s situation is already precarious enough, yet we still have these bastards dragging us down!"

The so-called Nightmare Sect consisted of Dream Descenders who advocated for embracing Nightmares. They believed that the Nightmare’s engulfment was an inevitable trend that shouldn’t be resisted. Only by surrendering to the Nightmare and embracing the Nightmare could one achieve eternal life.

These were naturally the thoughts of fools, of absolute madmen!

These Cultists of the Nightmare Sect weren’t particularly strong, and the Countermeasures Bureau had executed batch after batch of them. Yet, these guys were like the cockroaches of Celestial South Province—they could never be fully exterminated. They were disgusting, and their ability to stir up trouble was not weak either. If their Countermeasures Bureau dared to be careless, there was no telling what kind of massive incident these Cultists might orchestrate.

"But the Cultists didn’t just trick those teenagers; they also helped them bypass the patrol teams and made it so the network monitoring group didn’t notice anything amiss until a while later. That level of capability is quite impressive."

"Exactly! Since when did Cultists have this kind of ability?!"

They had already investigated it last night. Their colleagues in the network monitoring group hadn’t been negligent in their duties, yet despite that, a loophole had still been exploited. Where exactly the problem lay had yet to be uncovered.

"Moreover, there seem to be more and more of these Cultists. I can’t shake the feeling that there’s a hidden force operating right here in Baijiang City," Black Tiger said, frowning.

His Eighth Team was primarily responsible for patrolling the outskirts of Baijiang City, and he had faintly felt that something was off over the past two months as well.

A tall and slender man walked into the conference room.

This was the Captain of the Ninth Team, Xia Yuxiu. He was primarily responsible for internal patrols within Baijiang City, apprehending and executing rogue Dream Descenders, as well as hunting down anomalies prowling the city.

Xia Yuxiu lit a cigarette before saying, "It’s the Ghost Race. Cultists are indeed nothing to worry about, but what if there’s a Ghost Race supporting them from behind?"

Black Tiger, Long Niu, Chen Baichuan, and the others couldn’t help but stand up, their eyes widening.

"The Ghost Race? Captain Xia, did you discover traces of the Ghost Race?"

"No," Xia Yuxiu replied. "I have no evidence to prove that a Ghost Race exists around Baijiang City. However, this Nightmare Sect business is inherently related to the Ghost Race. Not to mention...

"There was an unexpected accident at the end of your recent raid on the Ancient Village Nightmare," he continued, looking at Long Niu. "That accident, unsurprisingly, was also related to the Ghost Race."

They had long known that there were individuals among the anomalies that had awakened intelligence. This wasn’t even an uncommon sight Deep in the Nightmare. As long as it wasn’t a Leader anomaly capable of commanding other anomalies, an anomaly possessing intelligence wasn’t a big deal. This was because, even if an anomaly awakened intelligence, they were still mostly unable to defy their basic instincts. Intelligent anomalies slaughtering and devouring each other was an everyday occurrence.

But the Ghost Race was different.

"Only intelligent anomaly groups that have formed a community, possess organization, and have the ability to reproduce... or rather, the ability to create descendent individuals, can be called a Ghost Race," Xia Yuxiu stated.

Among the Captain Level powerhouses, some had personally seen the Ghost Race Deep in the Nightmare. However, that was in a place very far from Baijiang. The existence of the Ghost Race had virtually no impact on Baijiang City.

But if there was a Ghost Race near Baijiang City, then...

Xia Yuxiu said, "There is a high probability that the Ghost Race cannot step into our Baijiang City, but there’s no guarantee they won’t use special methods to influence and destroy our city. If the Ghost Race is truly lurking in nearby Nightmares, Dream Descenders will need to be even more careful."

He puffed on his cigarette, his mood Heavy. The other few felt the same.

Baijiang was an isolated island that had already fallen into the Sea of Nightmares, constantly enduring the impact of the gray fog tides. Inside the city, Nightmare erosion appeared from time to time. Outside the city, batches of anomalies invaded alongside the tides. Dream Descenders faced relentless pursuit from Nightmares.

Now, there was even a Ghost Race eyeing them covetously.

The group couldn’t even fathom where the way out for Baijiang City lay! The situation was purely despair-inducing! But if even they gave up, what would become of the three million people across Baijiang’s three districts and six counties?

They had to grit their teeth and endure it!

Long Niu said, "The Safe Zone... Is it possible that the Manager could be our hope?"

Xia Yuxiu shook his head. "I don’t doubt that this Manager is very strong, but our Baijiang City is an isolated island gradually being swallowed by the tides. This kind of situation cannot be changed by just one or two top-tier powerhouses. Personal strength is extremely limited when it comes to an entire city."

In his view, if Baijiang City wanted to hold on long-term and not be swallowed by the Nightmare, it needed to meet at least the following conditions:

It must possess the ability to raid Nightmares on a massive scale!

It must raid a Nightmare Core at regular intervals!

It must cultivate more powerhouses capable of suppressing the anomalies and Cultists flooding into the city at any given moment!

For all of these, Baijiang as a whole still fell drastically short. Moreover, as Baijiang sank deeper into the sea, cultivating powerhouses was becoming increasingly difficult—they now experienced Fallen Dreams far too frequently, and even Captain Level powerhouses were constantly being hunted down by Nightmares!

Difficult! Difficult! Absolutely difficult!

"Speaking of which, the stability of the Safe Zone camp is indeed enviable," Xia Yuxiu sighed.

He truly was somewhat envious of those Dream Descenders who could peacefully survive their Nightmares by relying on the Safe Zone. After obtaining a membership, experiencing a Fallen Dream was completely worry-free and relaxing.

Unfortunately, he could only be envious.

The Safe Zone obviously could only guide Dream Descenders in the Shallow Area, whereas he was a High Tier Refining Powerhouse deeply entrenched Deep in the Nightmare. Even if the main body of the Safe Zone camp existed Deep in the Nightmare, the deep layers of the Nightmare were incomparably vast. He would never encounter it, and even if he did, it would be useless.

Membership guidance couldn’t possibly be effective across the expansive deep layer regions. Not to mention, the Safe Zone was just a small camp. The number of Dream Descenders it could influence was limited, merely a drop in the bucket for the overall situation.

Xia Yuxiu firmly believed that Baijiang City could only rely on itself, and must rely on itself. The Manager wasn’t even a local of Baijiang City. How could they pin their hopes on an outsider?

Just then, a call came in from a core operative who had just returned from the Nightmare World.

"Captain, the Safe Zone has expanded again! They’ve now built a new hotel building. I heard living in there is incredibly comfortable, no worse than a five-star hotel in reality!"

Xia Yuxiu was dumbfounded. "???"