Chapter 120 - 115: The Disaster, Returning Members

Chapter 120: Chapter 115: The Disaster, Returning Members

The Present Realm, Baijiang, Countermeasures Bureau Headquarter.

Ever since the Ancient Village Nightmare was conquered, the tense situation in Baijiang City had eased.

"Over the past week or so, the frequency of Nightmares invading reality has dropped significantly," said Director Wei, who was in charge of disaster monitoring. Sitting across from him were Bai Yu, Captain of the Second Squad, and Lu Qing, Captain of the Fourth Squad.

Bai Yu smiled. "That’s exactly it. It proves our tactical objectives were precise. Things have been much easier around the bureau these past few days."

Director Wei hesitated to speak. He couldn’t help but feel that the frequency of invasions had decreased far more than their models predicted. Could conquering just one Nightmare Region really have such a noticeable effect? In the end, he voiced his doubts.

"Could it have something to do with the Safe Zone?" Lu Qing suggested.

She had heard two of her own team members talk about the Safe Zone; they claimed it was incredibly miraculous. Recently, she had even been listening to her younger brother chatter about it every day, rambling on about how the Safe Zone was the strongest camp out there. Her foolish brother didn’t have much worldly experience, but putting aside this so-called ’strongest camp’ business, a Safe Zone that could earn so much praise from so many people surely had its formidable aspects.

"I heard that under the guidance of the Manager in the Safe Zone, many civilian Dream Descenders have been working together to continuously conquer Nightmares," she continued.

However, Lu Qing, Bai Yu, and Director Wei had never actually been to the Safe Zone. Though they had caught wind of it, it remained mere hearsay. Besides, most of those who had visited the Safe Zone were Middle-Low Tier Dream Descenders. With their limited horizons, they tended to exaggerate things.

Take conquering Nightmares, for instance. In the eyes of Ordinary Dream Descenders, forming a small team and successfully taking down a Nightmare in a few hours was highly efficient. In reality, however, Dream Descenders couldn’t dance with death every single day. They couldn’t risk their lives constantly to conquer Nightmares. Unless, of course, they truly possessed a large group of experts at the Refining Stage.

Bai Yu said, "Since the frequency of Nightmare invasions has dropped, we should free up our hands to wipe out the Cultists in the city. We also need to root out any traces of the Ghost Race that might exist around Baijiang City. Otherwise, I won’t have peace of mind."

Lu Qing agreed. "Right, this is a rare window of opportunity. We must—"

Before she could finish her sentence, an alarm suddenly blared through the disaster monitoring department. Not far away, a red dot surfaced in a specific area on the massive 3D city model used to monitor Baijiang City. Blinding rings of red light radiated outward from it.

"A Nightmare invasion? I’ll handle it!" Lu Qing immediately set off.

With a Captain Level expert stepping in, resolving this Nightmare would naturally be a piece of cake.

But shortly after Captain Lu departed, a second alarm rang out in the monitoring department. Another Nightmare invasion had appeared.

"Something’s wrong," Director Wei said. "This is too frequent!"

Bai Yu glanced at the location of the disaster. "This is in the main urban district. Every second delayed will result in massive casualties. I have to go deal with this first. Director Wei, keep me updated on any new developments."

Just as expected, following Captain Bai’s departure, a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth alarm sounded in rapid succession. The entire Countermeasures Bureau Headquarters sounded a Level 1 alert, and all the black-trench-coated personnel still in the Present Realm sprang into action. At the same time, the Countermeasures Bureau contacted the Wizard’s House and the Extreme Intent Martial Arts Hall, requesting they dispatch their experts to assist. Director Wei was also frantically contacting the bureau’s own experts.

However, one after another, the Captain Level and Deputy Captain Level experts either had crucial guard duties they couldn’t abandon or had recently descended into a Fallen Dream. Right now, the number of experts who could actually lend a hand was pitifully few. But this was also the norm. Because a Dream Descender’s descent into a Fallen Dream was entirely unpredictable, and Baijiang City had numerous areas that required rotational guard duty... The Baijiang Strategy Headquarter nominally boasted twenty-four top-tier Dream Descenders, yet when a disaster actually struck, being able to field even four or five was considered lucky.

"Keep trying to contact them," Director Wei ordered. "If any Captain or Deputy Captain returns, let me know immediately."

Meanwhile, at the Anping District Branch, Newcomer Guidance Department, Team One Office.

Song Qiming received a phone call, his expression turning grave. "We have a mission. This time, we need to head to White River Beach to maintain order!"

He briefly explained the situation. Their duty was solely to set up a cordon around the perimeter, but the fact that even support staff like them were being deployed highlighted just how dire the emergency was.

"Multiple Nightmare invasion disasters have erupted, and many experts from the Headquarter are currently in their Fallen Dream stage. All we can do for now is lock down the areas."

Shi An wasn’t sure exactly how severe the disaster was, but Nightmares swallowing Baijiang was absolutely the last thing he wanted to see. He knew the true situation facing Baijiang. Once the number of invading Nightmares in the city increased, the impact would stretch far beyond the few—or even a dozen—areas directly shrouded by the Nightmares. It wouldn’t just be about the anomalies leaking out, either. Instead, the entire Baijiang City could become like a leaking ship, slowly sinking into the abyss!

Shi An furrowed his brow, wondering if Baijiang City truly lacked experts. Were the few experts from the Countermeasures Bureau Headquarter still in the Present Realm stretched too thin? Should he step in himself? No, acting personally was a poor plan with extremely low efficiency. The truly efficient solution would be...

Sitting in the car, Shi An sank his consciousness directly into the Safe Zone. He assigned Zhuo Ling a task.

Soon enough...

DING!

The members still inside the Safe Zone received an emergency notification. It wasn’t a quest. It was an alert.

"A Nightmare erosion disaster has erupted in Baijiang City! Multiple areas are under attack!"

"What? Something happened in reality?"

"Hurry, hurry! Let’s head back! Now is not the time for Cultivation!"

"Someone from the Countermeasures Bureau updated the information. The disasters are happening at White River Beach, Dragon City Plaza, and a few other places."

Almost all the members had experienced the devastation of a Nightmare invasion before. Some had lived through these disasters when they were still weak and fully understood just how terrifying they could be. To ordinary people, or even Middle-Low Tier Dream Descenders, they were lethal. If a rescue was even a step too slow, the number of casualties would multiply exponentially.

"I lacked the Ability to face these disasters in the past, but now, it’s my turn to fight!"

"Exactly!"

The prerequisite for intervening, of course, was returning to reality. But that was easy. After all, it was currently daytime. The members of the Safe Zone were almost entirely relying on Dream-Dropping Pearls to extend their Fallen Dream durations. Some members had even stretched what would have been a three or four-hour duration into four or five days. They had already spent plenty of time in the Nightmare World. At this point, as long as they extracted their Dream-Dropping Treasure Pearls, it wouldn’t take long for them to return to reality.

In the quest hall, one Refining Stage expert after another began to gather. Their expressions were solemn as they waited in silence. The bustling hall underwent a rare moment of complete stillness.

Suddenly, the first powerful member returned to reality. Closely followed by a second, a third, and a fourth.

One member, sensing the impending signs of his return, laughed. "Brothers, I’ll see you in reality. Let’s show those anomalies the true power of the Safe Zone’s experts!"