Chapter 91 - 88: Level 3 Within Reach

Chapter 91: Chapter 88: Level 3 Within Reach

[Prompt: You have conquered the ’Psychiatric Hospital’ Nightmare. You obtained 30 Belief Value points. You may select your loot...]

[Prompt: You have conquered the ’Subway Line 4’ Nightmare. You obtained...]

These days, as the elites of the Countermeasures Bureau went all out to improve themselves, Shi An was not idle either.

He watched from the sidelines as his members and prospective members conquered one Nightmare after another.

[Current number of conquered Nightmares: 32]

The Nightmares conquered under the influence of the Safe Zone were not entirely concentrated in the Ancient Village Region; some of them were located in other Shallow Areas.

It was just that the majority of the prospective members were active in the dozens of Nightmares within the Ancient Village Region.

The remaining minority were also entirely in Shallow Nightmares.

"Furthermore, based on the information I gathered from Long Niu, Song Jianshen, and the others from the Countermeasures Bureau, the entrances and exits to the Safe Zone’s passages will currently only appear in Ancient Village, Deep Mountains, and Hei River—the Nightmare Areas closest to Baijiang City," Shi An mused.

"If the Safe Zone’s members can reach deeper Nightmares, could they use their Member Cards to open passages, connecting the Safe Zone to those deeper Nightmares?"

Shi An was unsure.

He figured it was because the Safe Zone’s Level was not high enough yet. After all, it was only Level 2. He guessed that the new guests who could currently spawn randomly were limited to Baijiang City or perhaps an even smaller area.

When the number of conquered Nightmares reached thirty, Shi An once again obtained an additional building slot.

However, he didn’t have any high-value building blueprints on hand at the moment.

Shi An also noticed another detail. "The number of Nightmares conquered by the members and prospective members is actually more than thirty-two. It should be thirty-five or thirty-six. It’s just that a few of them were repeated conquests!"

For instance, the Nightmare Dormitory was first conquered by Xi Xue, Old Yao, and another person. The second time, it was conquered by a different three-person squad.

This repeated conquest was not only excluded from the ’number of conquered Nightmares,’ but the loot options available to Shi An were also noticeably poorer.

It was as if his Safe Zone had already squeezed the Nightmare dry during the first conquest. When it was conquered again, there was no more profit to be squeezed out.

Every loot option had dropped by at least one tier, and even the Belief Value he could obtain was significantly reduced.

Fortunately, even if the loot wasn’t great, he could still pick up a Complete Level Curse Object for free or obtain some relatively practical items.

To achieve high returns in the future, he just needed to expand the Safe Zone’s conquest range.

He had to pioneer into new Nightmares!

Shi An opened the panel.

[Safe Zone]

[Tier: Level 2]

[Upgrade Conditions: Belief Value 810/1000, Dream Crystal 20/20, Dream Descender Guests 100/100.]

Thanks to the influx of a large number of Countermeasures Bureau elites, the previously most difficult condition—the number of guests—had already been met.

Now, what he lacked was the basic Belief Value. Shi An had consumed quite a bit of it previously when upgrading Little Blood and Nether Robe.

"The little Belief Value I’m missing can be gathered in a day or two at most. It won’t be difficult," he thought.

"Besides, even if all the conditions were met right now, I wouldn’t upgrade it."

Upgrading meant the Safe Zone would have to shut down for maintenance.

However, with the conquest of the Ancient Village Nightmare imminent, there was no way Shi An could shut down the Safe Zone.

"Conquering the Ancient Village Nightmare will definitely yield a massive amount of Belief Value. When the time comes, I’ll have an abundance of it, enough to either upgrade or construct buildings.

"Level 3 is well within reach.

"Moreover..."

When conquering this kind of special Nightmare, the Belief Value gains were just the appetizer. Buildings, blueprints, and special rewards were the main course.

Back then, the Pollution Spring Nightmare had made him rich overnight. What about this large-scale Nightmare, whose danger level was several times higher than that of Pollution Spring?

Shi An placed great importance on this Nightmare conquest.

The drones had already taken flight, taking in the sight of the Dream Descender elites gathered outside the logistics camp.

So many!

There were so many people!

In a world where Nightmares were typically conquered by small squads of two to four people, the presence of dozens of individuals at the scene could only be described as exaggerated.

"This is comparable to when we tackle invading Nightmares in reality!"

"No, this lineup is much stronger than that. When we deal with Nightmares in reality, there might be a lot of people, but most are just Ordinary Dream Descenders in the Fusion Stage. At best, they can only assist when we fight anomalies. But here today, everyone is Main Level!"

Four reinforcements who had just descended into the dream widened their eyes, completely unable to figure out where Long Niu and his team had pulled such strong backup from.

The Countermeasures Bureau elites present were well aware of where the reinforcements came from.

It was just that they had never expected the numbers to be this high.

The number of experts in the Refining Stage among them was even greater than before they had received their upgrades.

Dozens of Dream Descenders set out from the logistics camp, rushing toward the Black Street Nightmare.

The journey was not short; even taking the most direct route required traversing six Nightmares.

However, as the elites marched forward, surrounded by faint Curse Pressure, steamrolling everything in their path, things like ’traps’ and ’triggering anomaly logic’ completely lost their meaning.

Anomalies were terrifying, but that fear only stemmed from a lack of firepower.

Right now, with thirty or forty Dream Descenders gathered together, a casual combined strike utilizing their Curse Objects was enough to drown out any anomaly.

Not to mention, there were eight Witchcraft Flying Eyes escorting them from the sky. Their pupils spun in circles, scanning the area, leaving everything on the ground with nowhere to hide.

Out of these eight Witchcraft Flying Eyes, the Countermeasures Bureau had rented four using the power of money.

Among the remaining Safe Zone members and prospective members, two squads had rented another two.

The final two were controlled by Shi An himself, acting as his eyes.

Before long, they arrived at the Black Street Nightmare.

It was dead silent here. Even the local anomalies of this Nightmare were nowhere to be seen.

Shi An was not surprised.

In this battle, he would likely just be a spectator. The Safe Zone’s involvement would influence the Nightmare’s conquest to the greatest extent possible, while the Direct Lineage forces of the Safe Zone would not take action.

At the entrance and exit of the Black Street Nightmare, Long Niu shouted the order to halt their advance.

Then, he took out a Curse Object.

"This is the Rare Level Curse Object ’Blazing White Shaker’. If fully activated, it can unleash an extremely powerful, blazing white light with extraordinary lethality."

However, everyone knew that without it being their Lifebound Curse Object, a Dream Descender could only draw out a limited amount of its power.

An Ordinary Dream Descender holding it could only perform parlor tricks.

An expert in the Refining Stage could inject Curse Power to activate it, unleashing a decent amount of strength, but it still couldn’t compare to their own Lifebound Curse Object and Curse Art.

But the Countermeasures Bureau was a large organization, after all, and they had their own technology.

The Rare Level Curse Object, Blazing White Shaker, had been modified and now featured several diamond-shaped holes. Long Niu took out six Dream Crystals and embedded them one by one.

Next, he pressed his hand against the Curse Object and injected a sliver of Curse Power into it.

This served as the activation switch.

Instantly, the entire Curse Object emitted a faint glow. The energy from the Dream Crystals was extracted, and a terrifying power began to brew within the Curse Object, making the nearby Dream Descenders tremble in fear.

Long Niu counted down silently, "Three, two, one..."

He tossed the Curse Object inside.

Tossing it straight into the Ancient Village Nightmare on the other side.

There was no commotion.

Because no disturbance could cross the barrier of a Nightmare Area and transmit to another region.

Long Niu waited for a full dozen seconds before saying, "I’ll go in first. The rest of you, follow closely behind."

He activated his Lifebound Curse Object.

Instantly, his muscles bulged, his stature grew taller, and a pair of cow horns sprouted from his forehead.

He stepped into the passage.

The next moment, the world turned upside down. He transitioned from the cramped sewer entrance to the relatively open Ancient Village.

In front of him, the blazing white light was slowly dissipating. Concentric marks from the intense shockwave could be seen all around. The Rare Level Curse Object, now devoid of an energy supply, lay discarded in the mud.

Not far away, one anomaly after another was lying in wait.

They had intended to ambush the invading humans, but they had all been driven back by the terrifying white light. They couldn’t help but retreat on instinct. Even so, the bodies of some anomalies that were weak against light had partially melted away.

"As expected."

Long Niu narrowed his eyes.

Under the control of an intelligent BOSS, these anomalies had also learned how to lay in ambush.

If they had truly been blocked at the passage by these anomalies, they would have likely suffered heavy casualties.

But even if the anomalies had awakened their intelligence, how could their tactical thinking compare to that of humans?

Long Niu had anticipated the anomaly BOSS’s move.

Behind him, experts like Returning Stream, Rakshasa Sword, and Alchemist swiftly rushed out, standing guard in all directions.

The passage was narrow, only allowing one person to enter at a time.

Fortunately, by using the ’Blazing White Shaker’ to pave the way, they had already secured a firm foothold on this side.

Deep within the Ancient Village.

"Devious humans!"

The anomaly BOSS gritted its teeth. But this was its home turf, and compared to a few days ago, it was much more thoroughly prepared.

This time, it would ensure that the humans who came would never return.

A bizarre sound echoed from its mouth.

Seconds later, a loud SWISH echoed as one anomaly after another began to appear in the entrance area.

A bus anomaly, a doctor anomaly, a pregnant woman anomaly, and so on.

Locally, in the Ancient Village Nightmare, there were originally only six anomalies besides itself. But at this moment, there were well over ten anomalies present.

Anomalies were already stronger than humans, and now their numbers were almost catching up!

"Hehehehehe—"

Inside the Ancient Village, the anomaly BOSS laughed sinisterly, but its laughter abruptly ceased.

In its eyes, human elites were still continuously pouring in from the entrance.

Ten people!

Twenty people!

Thirty people!

Forty people!

The Countermeasures Bureau was naturally skilled at swarming the few with the many, using their numerical advantage in reality to corner and kill anomalies step by step.

As for the prospective members of the Safe Zone, they also preferred fighting with a numerical advantage.

After all, under the right conditions, who would want to engage in a life-and-death struggle with anomalies? Naturally, the best approach was to crush them with superior firepower.

The Manager also frequently said that conquering Nightmares required utilizing advantageous tactics: bullying the few with the many, striking the weak with the strong, and surrounding the Nightmare with Dream Descenders.

The massive battle was on the verge of breaking out.

Simultaneously, the Witchcraft Flying Eyes took flight, swiftly scouting the surrounding area. Three of the Witchcraft Flying Eyes even flew toward the center of the Ancient Village.

Staying inside the Safe Zone, Shi An had an unobstructed view of the battlefield.

At this moment, there were over a dozen Safe Zone members and numerous prospective members within the Nightmare Area.

However, Shi An was still pondering one detail. "Whether my Safe Zone has conquered a Nightmare or not seems to be... based on whether the Safe Zone’s shop has connected to that Nightmare."