Chapter 109 - 104: Employee No. 3 Has Been Found

Chapter 109: Chapter 104: Employee No. 3 Has Been Found

In the end, Shi An didn’t get much of a chance to show off. Of course, he wasn’t a superficial person; compared to grandstanding, slacking off suited him much better.

"To think there would actually be a door to the Safe Zone right here in this Nightmare."

"It’s unexpected, but it makes perfect sense."

After all, excluding Shi An himself, there were twelve other Dream Descenders present. Upon exchanging information, they discovered that four of them had been to the Safe Zone before. Four Prospective Members of the Safe Zone!

With this number of people, the probability of resonating with the Safe Zone and opening a passage was indeed far greater than if one were alone. Out of the thirteen people, Shi An and one other Dream Descender fell into the category of "having heard of it but never having been there." More than half of the remaining people had never even heard of the Safe Zone.

However, this time was different from when Xi Xue and her group found it. Back then, out of over ten Dream Descenders, only Xi Xue had been to the Safe Zone. No matter how vividly she described it, the others remained skeptical. But now, with multiple people who had visited giving vivid descriptions, everyone else’s expectations had already been piqued. Even if some Dream Descenders were still half in doubt, they wouldn’t openly question it.

The first person to speak was a man in his thirties wearing black overalls and holding a pair of pliers. His codename was "Level 8 Master Mechanic," a newly advanced Control Stage expert.

"Our top priority right now is to find the Safe Zone camp while ensuring our own safety," he said. "Seeing as three other brothers here have also been to the Safe Zone, our chances of encountering it are quite high."

Among the crowd, a Dream Descender who had visited the Safe Zone looked confused.

Level 8 Master Mechanic explained, "Someone once asked Mr. Manager, and he gave a definitive answer: as long as we Dream Descenders have been to the Safe Zone once, our chances of stumbling upon the camp again are much greater than anyone else’s.

"Based on this theory, a big shot codenamed ’Bearded Old Wang’ gave it a try. He used a team-up item to invite three other Dream Descenders who had also been to the Safe Zone. They entered the Fallen Dream together and, sure enough, they found the Safe Zone.

"Today, that Bearded Old Wang is already an expert in the Member Realm."

Two Prospective Members who hadn’t known this before suddenly understood. "So there was a trick to it all along!"

Since this was a large-scale Nightmare, the Dream Descenders didn’t dare stay in one place for too long. They immediately began to move slowly, exploring their surroundings.

Shi An knew exactly where the door to his Safe Zone had opened, but he offered no hints. As long as the Safe Zone was connected to this Nightmare, the team would find it sooner or later anyway.

After all, this team’s overall strength was nothing to scoff at. Out of the four Prospective Members, Level 8 Master Mechanic and two others were newly advanced to the Control Stage, while the remaining one was at the Fusion Stage Great Perfection. None of them had ever used the Training Room; they hadn’t been able to secure a slot. But even so, these Prospective Members had all managed to conquer at least one Nightmare by relying on the Safe Zone’s geographical advantage and the three-piece guide set. That was how they achieved their breakthroughs.

This was the transformation brought about by the Safe Zone. Otherwise, they would at most be relatively senior Fusion Stage Dream Descenders.

However, there were also experts among the Dream Descenders who weren’t Prospective Members. Shi An himself was a great expert.

*Ahem!*

But excluding himself, there were two or three others around who gave off an extraordinary vibe. This was especially true for one very inconspicuous young man wearing a bucket hat and a scarf around his neck.

"Is he at the Control Stage, or the Refining Stage?" Shi An wondered.

Cheng Ping’s public identity was that of a perfectly ordinary Senior Dream Descender. In reality, he was already a super big shot in the eyes of most Dream Descenders—a Refining Stage expert. He was used to keeping a low profile and considered himself a semi-civilian Dream Descender. The reason for the "semi" was that he worked for the Countermeasures Bureau, but he had never joined their Direct Lineage department, the Dream Exterminator Team. Even within the Countermeasures Bureau, Cheng Ping portrayed himself as nothing more than an inconspicuous Fusion Stage member, rather than an expert.

Cheng Ping wasn’t even willing to give himself a codename. He felt that having a codename made one look too much like an "expert," so he simply chose an unremarkable fake name. Pretending to be mediocre was a lifelong habit for him; ever since his school days, he would often deliberately keep his grades strictly average to blend in with the crowd. The world of a Dream Descender was so dangerous that hiding one’s true strength was all the more necessary.

Even so, Cheng Ping still had his pride. He believed he was no weaker than the weakest Deputy Captains in the Countermeasures Bureau.

"Once I take another step forward and can rank among the top of the Deputy Captain Level, I can finally reveal to the bureau that I’ve stepped into the Control Stage," he thought.

At this moment, Cheng Ping was also surveying his surroundings. Large-scale Nightmares were indeed dangerous, but he could tell that this team’s strength was quite solid. "With the power of our team, surviving in a large-scale Nightmare for a few hours is more than enough. Is there really any need to risk looking for some Safe Zone?"

Cheng Ping was an expert who had been experiencing Fallen Dreams for several months now. He had been through all sorts of Nightmares, slain ghosts head-on, encountered Campfire Camps built by Lost Persons, and even seen peculiar buildings within Nightmares. Yet, in all these months, he had never once heard of a Safe Zone. Was a place he hadn’t even caught wind of really that miraculous?

Cheng Ping was highly skeptical, but his current persona was that of a Fusion Stage Dream Descender. Naturally, he wouldn’t voice his doubts. He simply followed their leader, Level 8 Master Mechanic, as they continuously explored.

This Nightmare was shrouded in gray mist, with withered trees growing throughout. Occasionally, terrifying silhouettes could be seen flashing through the fog. Spine-chilling roars echoed from the depths of the mist. At one point, a Ghost Shadow charged out from the gray fog, but Level 8 Master Mechanic and a few others combined their strength to repel it, surviving the ordeal without any real danger.

"This large-scale Nightmare seems a lot like... a lot like the Pollution Spring Nightmare that Profound Sword and the others conquered before!" Shi An thought to himself.

He already held high expectations for large-scale Nightmares. Whether it was blueprints or ghost staff, the drop rates in large-scale Nightmares were very high.

"Before the Ancient Village Region was shattered, the Safe Zone’s Dream Descenders actually conquered the Pollution Spring Nightmare a second time. It was just that, unsurprisingly, the rewards for the second clear were several tiers lower."

The "Staff: Fallen Spring Spirit" option that Shi An had been highly anticipating never appeared. He had always deeply regretted not being able to recruit the Fallen Spring Spirit back then. In the time since taking down the Ancient Village Nightmare, it wasn’t as if Shi An hadn’t received the "Contracted Ghost Staff" reward option. However, he was now quite picky when it came to ghost staff. He hadn’t been satisfied with the two ghost recruitment opportunities that had popped up in the meantime.

One was "Staff: Snot Ghost."

The other was "Staff: Drowned Ghost."

In the early days, Shi An would recruit any ghost he could get his hands on, as he severely lacked combat power and a sense of security. But Manager Shi’s most vulnerable period was over. He was no longer in a rush to add one or two more ghost staff members to his roster, which made careful selection absolutely necessary.

The Blood Hand Seal he had recruited earliest was actually not bad. Its Skill offered both offense and defense, and it could transform into a ray of Blood Mist to fly through the sky. It was basically an SSR among ordinary ghosts. Whether the Snot Ghost and Drowned Ghost were strong or weak, Shi An wasn’t entirely sure, but at the very least... their appearances were totally unacceptable!

Keep them around for close personal protection? Hard pass!

Assign them to patrol the Safe Zone? That would instantly drag down the Safe Zone’s classy vibe.

"Nether Robe was recruited from a special Nightmare, and true to form, its Ability is quite strong, and its appearance is quite presentable," he mused.

If Shi An hadn’t planned on keeping Nether Robe hidden from the public eye within the Safe Zone, it would actually be much more suited to be a shop employee than Little Blood. He believed that any ghost recruited from a large-scale Nightmare would definitely be incredibly powerful. Of course, the same couldn’t necessarily be said for their appearance. But now...

"If this Nightmare is similar to the Pollution Spring, wouldn’t I have a chance to recruit a Fallen Spring Spirit here?"

Shi An couldn’t help but look forward to it.

"Found it! That’s the Safe Zone over there!" Level 8 Master Mechanic suddenly called out in a low voice, instantly shedding more than half the tension in his body. Now that they had found the Safe Zone, this run was in the bag!

The shop stood amidst the Withered Wood Forest, looking completely out of place with its surroundings. However, the several Dream Descenders who had been to the Safe Zone before were completely used to it. Master Mechanic hurried forward and pushed the door open.

DING-A-LING!

The bell jingled.

Wu Qing, who was hosting in the lobby, was slightly surprised to see so many people arrive at once. "Welcome to the Safe Zone, everyone," she said. "Those who are visiting us for the first time can read the newbie guide first. If there’s anything you don’t understand, feel free to consult us at any time."

The Safe Zone regulars were all somewhat astonished. The Safe Zone had undergone changes again? Had the Manager expanded it? And the shop was hiring staff yesterday?

Upon learning about yesterday’s recruitment, Master Mechanic and the others pounded their chests in regret.

"If only we could have made it to the Safe Zone yesterday! What a pity, such a huge pity!"

"Yeah!"

Cheng Ping didn’t quite understand why Master Mechanic and the others were so eager to become ordinary staff members. They weren’t Lost Persons, so their reliance on a camp shouldn’t be that high. However, he was beginning to understand why the mechanics claimed that finding the Safe Zone guaranteed a worry-free Nightmare.

"This Safe Zone is indeed formidable, with deep mysteries that I can’t see through," he thought. "According to them, the Dream Descenders in the shop come from multiple Nightmare Areas, which is all thanks to the Safe Zone’s mighty power.

"In that case, the Safe Zone truly is incomparably secure. Even if a ghost managed to barge in, with so many Dream Descenders here, they could drown it out with just one move each."

Although Cheng Ping was very confident in his own strength, being outside meant constantly guarding against ghost attacks. Here, on the other hand, he could rest and relax. Naturally, he was more than happy to come to a place like the Safe Zone. He could finally lay flat and chill.

But Level 8 Master Mechanic spoke up, "Now that we’ve found the Safe Zone, the next step is to start conquering the Nightmare. This is a large-scale Nightmare! As long as we can take it down, we’ll all make a massive fortune. We might even have a chance to secure a Member spot!"

"Hold on, conquering a large-scale Nightmare? Us?" Cheng Ping and several other Dream Descenders went wide-eyed. They were going to fight a large-scale Nightmare?

But Master Mechanic acted as if there was no need to make a fuss. "This is a new era, and naturally, there’s a technique to conquering Nightmares. First, let’s find a few powerful reinforcements."