Chapter 77 - 74: Nightmare Hundred Domains Map

Chapter 77: Chapter 74: Nightmare Hundred Domains Map

The tattered map carried by the young Lin Xiao recorded dozens of Nightmares, detailing their types, the locations of their passages, their primary anomalies, and much more. It was a highly valuable item—the key to survival for a wandering expert.

The only pity was that these dozens of Nightmares could not yet be matched with the Nightmare Areas currently explored by the Safe Zone. But this was normal. The dozens of Nightmares he had "overlooked" in the past were just a small corner of the massive Sea of Nightmares. There were countless other regions where Nightmares clustered together in batches of dozens.

The map Lin Xiao recorded leaned towards deeper Nightmares; out of just dozens of Nightmares, there were over ten large-scale ones. Not only that, Shi An wondered, "Does the Campfire drawn on it indicate a camp? If it’s a camp established by Lost People, could we recruit more talent from there?"

However, since the kid Lin Xiao had lost his memories, Shi An could only keep this speculation to himself, waiting to revisit it when the map could finally be aligned one day.

The Safe Zone’s "map drafting" task had already been accepted over a dozen times. Experts like Shixuan Sword, Xi Xue, and Hair Ghost could cross several Nightmare Areas at once, making them highly efficient. Even Ordinary Dream Descender squads would accept the map drafting tasks. Even if they didn’t dare to cross into other Nightmare Areas, they had the Ability to explore their current Nightmare and earn some Contribution Points on the side. As these Contribution Points accumulated over time, they would one day be able to upgrade to members of the Safe Zone.

Information continuously gathered in Shi An’s hands. Especially in the last two days, after the Training Ground opened for business, the strength of the Safe Zone’s Dream Descenders saw an explosive increase. Ordinary Dream Descenders training for a few hours were guaranteed to at least reach the Peak of Fusion Stage. If they ignited the Glow of Will, stepping into the Control Stage was not impossible either. With their strength increased and the aid of Witchcraft Flying Eyes, the efficiency of drafting maps surged accordingly.

"Over a hundred Nightmare Areas have been recorded already. However, many of them are duplicate records," Shi An noted.

Duplicate records were not without value. After all, Nightmares were constantly changing; some simply required multi-directional comparison to truly confirm their locations. After recording so many Nightmares, a fairly detailed Nightmare Major Region map was drawn by Nether Robe.

Shi An dictated, and Nether Robe drew. Don’t ask why Shi An didn’t draw it himself. He was the Manager, after all—it definitely wasn’t because his drawings looked like utter garbage. But Shi An hadn’t expected Nether Robe to actually possess an artistic Skill. These anomalies were working way too hard. He then wondered, "So, Little Blood, what can you do?"

In the Manager’s Office, Shi An scrutinized the map before him. It was like a scroll pieced together from countless fragmented puzzle pieces. It wasn’t complete, either. The total number of Nightmare Areas included in the map was over thirty, with many regions in the middle blacked out. However, at this stage, Shi An could already match it with the images in his memory.

"This is the Nightmare Black Street, where my Safe Zone first opened for business and where I made contact with the man in the black suit.

"This is the Nightmare Dormitory, though the anomaly wandering there now is no longer the Blood Hand Seal.

"This is the Netherworld Marriage Nightmare, bordered by three Nightmare Areas in total.

"And here is a large-scale Nightmare, probably the Pollution Spring. Although the environment and form of the entire Nightmare Area differ greatly from what it was that day."

The two images gradually overlapped in his mind. Shi An could deduce which Nightmare likely occupied the unexplored region above the Nightmare Dormitory. His gaze then fell next to the Nightmare Black Street. That was also a large, blacked-out region, and the Dream Descenders couldn’t find the Nightmare Passage on that side. But if Shi An’s memory served him right...

"In a certain alley of a street-type Nightmare, the manhole cover of its sewer is the passage entrance. It leads to a large-scale, Ancient Village-style Nightmare!"

That Nightmare was exceptionally massive. When Shi An swept his gaze over the area that day, he had seen a total of three large-scale Nightmare Areas. The Ancient Village Nightmare was unmistakably the largest at first glance. At the same time, it was the most mysterious one. Even when he cast his gaze upon it and stared intently, he still couldn’t see the interior of the Ancient Village clearly.

"This means there’s a problem—a huge problem."

At the Countermeasures Bureau’s conference room.

As an official organization and the one with the highest number of Dream Descenders, the Countermeasures Bureau had naturally drafted a map of the Nightmare World early on. Even though this Nightmare World was unpredictable, with Nightmares sometimes shattering like bubbles only to be reborn, the Countermeasures Bureau, with its deep foundation, could quickly complete any new Nightmare Map. The officials had a name for such a map—the Nightmare Hundred Domains Map!

A Nightmare Region often contained dozens to over a hundred Nightmare Areas. A single area was a single Nightmare. Hundreds of Nightmares clustered together to form a Major Region. These Nightmares bordered each other, making them relatively easy to cross. However, crossing a Nightmare Region to reach further places was extremely difficult. In many cases, when Dream Descenders experienced a Fallen Dream, they didn’t necessarily fall into the same Nightmare Region. Waking up and then initiating a Fallen Dream again was the easiest way to cross Major Regions.

"To shatter Nightmares, we must treat a Major Region as a whole and crush them in batches! There are three Nightmare Regions closest to our Baijiang: the Ancient Village, Hei River, and Deep Mountains. Our exploration levels for the three Major Regions are roughly the same. However, the number of Nightmares conquered in the Ancient Village Region recently is the highest, far exceeding the other two Major Regions of Hei River and Deep Mountains."

After a Nightmare was conquered, it would revive in just a few hours. But the conquests by Dream Descenders were not entirely useless; to a certain extent, they weakened the Nightmare’s own power. Conquering this Nightmare again within a short period—say, two to three days or seven to eight days—would be noticeably easier. If they could conquer the same Nightmare multiple times within a few short days, they might even weaken the Nightmare anomaly to an extremely frail state. Using this approach to completely shatter a Nightmare Area was not impossible. However, the price was too great. Locking onto a single Nightmare to allow Dream Descenders to enter frequently would consume many precious items. Along with the high cost, the returns were extremely low. What use was it to destroy a single Nightmare?

Vice Director Yan of the Countermeasures Bureau spoke up, "Since the Ancient Village Region has seen the highest number of conquered Nightmares recently, we will select this Major Region for our current operation! We will conquer the Ancient Village Nightmare in one fell swoop!

"However," Director Yan then asked, "why is the number of Nightmare conquests in the Ancient Village Region far greater than in the other two places? Do our Countermeasures Bureau’s Dream Descenders mostly appear in the Ancient Village Region when they experience a Fallen Dream?"

Bai Yu, the captain of the Second Team responsible for this matter, was also puzzled. He denied it, saying, "No, that’s not the case. Speaking solely of our Countermeasures Bureau’s Dream Descenders, the number of conquests in the Ancient Village Region is roughly the same as the other two places. But the detection results show that the number of times Nightmares in the Ancient Village Region have been conquered is far greater.

"It can’t be that civilian Dream Descenders are constantly conquering Nightmares, can it?"