Chapter 138 - 129: The Captains Arrive at the Safe Zone

Chapter 138: Chapter 129: The Captains Arrive at the Safe Zone

Shi An found a chair and sat to the side, watching the Alchemy Workshop churn out products.

Of course, he was also involved in the process.

At the very least, when the workshop was refining Potions or crafting Alchemy Creations, the Materials needed to be added manually.

The Frenzy Potions were the first to come out.

The first batch of ten Potions yielded two of Fine Level, but no Perfect Level ones yet.

’This Frenzy Potion can significantly boost a Dream Descender’s Curse Power for a short time. Although they’ll fall into a weakened, listless state after it wears off in about ten minutes or so, it’s still...’

’For an Ordinary Dream Descender, it could be a lifesaver in a critical moment.’

’Not to mention, my members can just hide in the Safe Zone during the weakened period to avoid the Potion’s side effects.’

’I can make this Potion a flagship product. The main reason is that the raw Materials aren’t expensive—the primary ingredient is just an Incomplete Level Curse Object, and it’s not even picky about the type.’

’As for Life Potions, though...’

Recovery-type Treasure Medicines were among the more expensive of their kind, and they were also rare.

Furthermore, one stalk of Treasure Medicine could only be refined into a single Potion—of course, the ’Exquisite Alchemy Workshop’ had a special effect that had a chance to return the raw Materials, which could significantly reduce his refinement costs.

Even so, Shi An estimated that with the Materials he had on hand, he could only refine thirty to forty Life Potions.

This was already an astonishing number.

But he still felt it wasn’t enough.

’Thirty or forty Potions isn’t even enough to give one to each of my members. Am I underestimating their purchasing power?’

’And I need to keep some for myself.’

’I can post a few more acquisition quests for Treasure Medicines. I just need to offer a high price.’

’But even with acquisitions...’

’At most, I’d only get one or two stalks at a time, maybe three or four.’

’It’s too little, too slow, too tedious.’

’Of course, who knows, maybe one day a member will discover a medicinal valley full of Treasure Medicines deep within the Nightmare World.’

But that kind of situation is extremely rare. Even if it happens, it would just be an unpredictable windfall.

Shi An wanted a more stable source of Treasure Medicines.

’Control a medicinal valley in the Nightmare World and develop it into a base?’

’Or maybe... conquer a related Nightmare Area in the hopes that a building like a Medicinal Garden drops as a reward?’

Shi An felt the latter was entirely possible.

’The Safe Zone is already more than just a single shop. Getting a Medicinal Garden or some other even more extravagant building would be perfectly reasonable, right?’

As he pondered, Potions were refined one after another, like a flowing stream.

[Prompt: The workshop has refined a ’Fine Life Potion’.]

[Prompt: The workshop has refined a ’Perfect Life Potion’.]

[Prompt: ...]

...

「Around the same time.」

With the construction of Tower One and the footprints of more and more Safe Zone members spreading across the Shallow Area, the Safe Zone’s Random Gate began to appear with increasing frequency in the deeper parts of the Nightmare World.

Finally, it officially welcomed its first top-tier Dream Descender, who had been ’randomly invited.’

Lu Qing, Captain of the Fourth Team!

’Finally, I’ve found the legendary Safe Zone. Let’s see if this place is as miraculous as the rumors say.’

’Hmph. As long as it’s half as amazing as the rumors claim, all the effort I spent looking for it won’t have been in vain.’

Finding the Safe Zone was partly due to luck.

But it was mostly because she had put in a great deal of effort to find it.

She knew how the Safe Zone manifested and what its entrance looked like.

She had even used a Witchcraft Flying Eye, taking advantage of the aerial view to search over a wide area.

Even so, Lu Qing had still searched for a long time before she happened to find the Safe Zone’s gate.

’However, although the Safe Zone’s entrance appears randomly, there is a certain pattern to it. This pattern is probably no different from the intelligence department’s analysis—it tends to appear in relatively safe areas.’

’It seems the entrance doesn’t attract the attention of the aberrations.’

’Even so, the gate won’t appear where aberrations gather in swarms.’

’That’s very logical.’

Lu Qing pushed the door open and entered.

She had disguised herself, arriving here looking like an ordinary rookie Dream Descender.

No one recognized her.

After all, while her title as Captain Lu might be renowned throughout Baijiang, not many people had actually seen her or knew what she looked like in the Nightmare World.

Most of the Countermeasures Bureau’s Elites only knew her appearance in the real world.

A clamor of voices washed over her.

It wasn’t nighttime yet, but quite a few Dream Descenders had already gathered in the hall in small groups.

People were discussing Nightmares and debating Curse Objects.

The place was similar to a tavern, but the Dream Descenders here did far more than just shoot the breeze. For them, rather than wasting time bragging, it was better to use the opportunity to think about how to conquer Nightmares and discuss how to improve their Curse Arts.

Discussing such things here could lead to real gains.

’No wonder the Bureau said they’d detected an increasing number of conquered Nightmares recently. The number of Nightmares the Safe Zone’s Dream Descenders conquer in a single day probably exceeds that of my entire Bureau now.’

’All of Baijiang owes a debt of gratitude to that Manager. The Manager is truly incredible, to have been able to spark such a craze for conquering.’

The existence of the Safe Zone was certainly an advantage in itself, linking one Dream Descender to another.

But simply having a spectacular building and special advantages wasn’t enough to make Dream Descenders spare no effort to conquer Nightmares.

Conquering, after all, involved risk.

Even a Refining Stage expert could end up severely injured or even dead from a single mistake if wounded by an aberration.

And seeking gain while avoiding harm was, and always would be, human instinct.

’But the Safe Zone introduced its "conquering trifecta," and used numerous benefits as incentives, guiding Dream Descenders from merely daring to conquer Nightmares to gradually becoming accustomed to it. And now, the Safe Zone has cultivated an atmosphere of conquest, and even fostered a new philosophy—Advance, Conquer, Pioneer!’

’With this atmosphere and philosophy in place, new Dream Descenders who arrive here are influenced and join the frenzy of conquest. Incredible! Truly incredible!’

’However, one can only imagine that the Safe Zone has also paid a tremendous price for all this!’

When someone conquered a Nightmare, the Safe Zone awarded them Contribution Points.

The benefits the Safe Zone itself provided to Dream Descenders were even more numerous.

None of this brought any direct profit to the Safe Zone itself.

The more Lu Qing thought about it, the more she felt that her Countermeasures Bureau was falling short.

The Safe Zone was more qualified to be Baijiang City’s Countermeasures Bureau!

Since she was already here, she decided to experience the Safe Zone’s various facilities for herself.

A few minutes later, Lu Qing’s expression was grim.

The training rooms were full! She had to wait in line.

The inn was also full!

’What did the intelligence department say? "The Safe Zone is less crowded during the day, and the training rooms will be available. If possible, go during the day to avoid the peak times with other Dream Descenders."’

’But that’s not the reality at all!’

’It was the same last time, too. How many Refining Stage experts had emerged from the Safe Zone before the intelligence department even noticed? If it hadn’t been for the sudden disaster in Baijiang City, where many Safe Zone Dream Descenders took action, my Bureau still wouldn’t know the Safe Zone had influenced so many people.’

But the people in the intelligence department had their own grievances.

The Safe Zone changed from one day to the next, and transmitting information between the Nightmare World and the real world was incredibly difficult.

Unless there was an emergency, the liaison office wouldn’t send back information every single day.

The intelligence department felt they were blameless.

Lu Qing could only sit in the main hall to rest her feet. She had been exploring the Nightmare World cautiously before this, and her Spirit was indeed exhausted.

Just then, two figures covered in blood burst into the Safe Zone.

One of them was being carried on the other’s back and appeared to be unconscious.

"More injured people have arrived!"

"Looks like they’re pretty badly hurt."

"Did they fail to conquer a Nightmare and get seriously wounded by an aberration?"

The Dream Descenders murmured among themselves.

Wu Yue, who was patrolling the hall, walked over with two temporary employees.

Injured people were not an uncommon sight in the Safe Zone.

After all, the Safe Zone’s Dream Descenders took pride in conquering Nightmares and did so frequently. Even though they usually only attempted to conquer a Nightmare when they were confident of success.

But accidents always happened.

With such a large number of conquest attempts, accidents were bound to be more frequent.

But then, Lu Qing’s eyes suddenly widened.

’Old Xia and Old Mo?!’

Xia Yuxiu, Captain of the Ninth Team, and Ran Mo, the Deputy Captain... how did they get so badly injured?

The former was at the Peak of the Third Refinements Realm, the latter at the Peak of the Second Refinements.

Both were highly experienced veteran experts. While they couldn’t exactly run rampant in the deeper parts of the Nightmare World, survival shouldn’t have been difficult as long as they avoided the high-danger zones.

But now they looked like they were on the verge of death.

Lu Qing rushed forward like a gust of wind.

At that moment, Wu Yue was at a loss.

She had been trained and had a standard procedure for handling this type of injury.

First, administer first aid, such as bandaging the wounds and having the person drink Purifying Water.

The Purifying Water wasn’t free, but the Safe Zone would provide it first in an emergency. Even if a Dream Descender couldn’t afford it, they would just end up with an IOU. And the IOU was interest-free.

Most of the time, after drinking Purifying Water, the injured person’s condition would improve significantly.

But this time, after he drank it, the Dream Descender’s injuries actually seemed to have gotten worse.

"He’s too badly injured! And it’s not from corrosion, it’s from blades! Massive blood loss, a ruptured kidney... he needs emergency surgery!"

Xia Yuxiu’s face was grave.

He himself was also seriously injured. His Battle Garment was torn, and the gash on his chest was a full thirty centimeters long.

But he could still hold on.

Old Mo, however...

Lu Qing rushed over at that moment, immediately taking out the Life Potions issued by the Bureau and pouring them down Deputy Captain Ran Mo’s throat.

After he finished one bottle, she started on the second.

She only carried these two Life Potions; it was the standard quota for someone of Captain Level.

But even after two Life Potions, Ran Mo’s condition didn’t improve much.

Xia Yuxiu said, "I already used the team’s remaining three Life Potions on Old Mo earlier. It stabilized his injuries slightly, but it wasn’t enough."

Old Mo’s Life Force was still draining away.

The more Life Potions he consumed, the less effective they became.

The good news was that they had made it to the Safe Zone and no longer had to worry about surrounding dangers.

But even so, Xia Yuxiu wasn’t confident that Old Mo could hold on until he returned to the real world.

The Safe Zone was, after all, a base within the Nightmare World; its facilities were nowhere near as comprehensive as those in reality.

Lu Qing said, "I’ve heard the inn at the Safe Zone has a slight healing effect. If we move Old Mo there, we might be able to stabilize his condition."

"The inn is full right now, but if we have to, we can buy a room from someone else at a high price."

’Can he be saved?’ Lu Qing didn’t know.

At that moment, the Hair Ghost walked over. "Our Safe Zone has Life Potions for sale. Do you need any?"

Xia Yuxiu shook his head slightly. "We’ve already used several Life Potions. If we keep using them, they probably won’t even have a minuscule effect."

’In truth, even a minuscule effect would be better than nothing; it would at least do *something*. But Life Potions also have side effects. With their limited effectiveness and negative corrosive properties, it just wasn’t worth using any more. Otherwise, money wouldn’t have been an issue for him.’

The Hair Ghost paused, stunned for a moment.

It seemed to receive a message, because a moment later it said, "What about a Perfect Level Potion? You know, the kind that’s much more effective and has no negative side effects."

Captain Xia: "!!!"