Infinite Nightmares

Under everyone’s gaze, a sickening grind of bone erupted from Zhang Wenda’s body. His muscle fibers writhed and swelled as if they were alive.

His clothes burst open as his fingers elongated, their tips transforming into enormous scythe-blades that glinted with a cold, metallic light.

In Zhang Wenda’s case, the ability was far more monstrous and oppressive than when Teacher Rabbit had borrowed it.

Seeing such a savage monster, the impostors charging from behind hastily halted their advance.

The inhuman Zhang Wenda wasted no words. His crimson eyes locked onto Saber. ’This is all his fault.’

Saber, however, showed no fear in the face of Zhang Wenda’s transformation. On the contrary, a cruel smile crept onto his face, signaling that his plan was succeeding. With a slight wave of his hand, the dozen or so silent figures behind him moved as one.

Unlike the grunts from before, they didn’t just swarm him. Instead, they spread out swiftly and systematically, forming a pincer formation that closed in on Zhang Wenda like a great net.

But before their encirclement could close, Zhang Wenda’s massive form blurred into a black bolt of lightning, charging straight for Saber. ’Cut off the head of the snake! Take out the leader first!’

Clearly, however, they had anticipated his speed and strength. The moment Zhang Wenda charged forward, the bayonets suspended in the air plunged down, descending upon him in a rain of iron.

But this did nothing to stop Wenda. He was a step faster. Just as he was about to reach Saber, two black shields instantly materialized in his path.

With a deafening CRASH, the scythes struck the shields, sending sparks flying. The shields groaned under the strain, deep cracks spreading across their surfaces as they nearly split apart. But they held against the thunderous blow, bringing Wenda’s charge to a dead stop.

The moment Wenda’s momentum broke, the surrounding men with weapons for heads swarmed in. Sharp hooks stabbed into the voids in his body in an attempt to halt his movement completely.

Zhang Wenda roared and spun, his twin scythes blurring into a maelstrom of death. The hooked chains were instantly severed, and a nearby enemy who failed to dodge was sliced in half at the waist. But his movements had been stalled, and more enemies were closing in.

Saber didn’t join the fray. He stood back like a commander, observing calmly, a disdainful smile once again gracing his lips.

"Thought Wave One is just too peaceful. There’s no real death here. A place like this can’t possibly produce any worthwhile targets. This test is completely unnecessary."

He then bared his black iron teeth and said, "Extract him from this Thought Wave. Then kill him."

At his command, the weapon-headed men pulled red monkey-themed postage stamps from their coats. They quickly began plastering them in midair around Zhang Wenda, as if trying to mail the entire area away.

The ground began to crack, and matter that didn’t belong in this Thought Wave started seeping out of the fissures. ’If this keeps up, I’m going to die here,’ Wenda knew.

As if having made a decision, Zhang Wenda took out the mushroom again and bit down hard. With a piercing shriek, the red rat reappeared before him.

"Go kill! Kill everyone you see!" Zhang Wenda screamed frantically at the rat. After shouting, he felt a weight lift from his heart.

The unseen rat became a red afterimage, darting through the air. A hole was bored straight through any living thing it touched. The battlefield instantly descended into chaos.

The red rat was mindless, attacking friend and foe without distinction. Conveniently, however, Zhang Wenda was currently surrounded by enemies, allowing its power to be used to maximum effect.

With the red rat on the attack, the pressure on Wenda instantly vanished. He tore through the floating postage stamps with ease and charged without hesitation toward Saber, who stood silhouetted against a jeep’s high beams.

"Kid, you really think you forced me to retreat last time because you were so tough?" With a wave of Saber’s hand, the weapons in the air swarmed toward Wenda like a cloud of hornets.

"If it hadn’t been for that sudden flood that washed all my equipment away, you’d be nothing!"

The falling bayonets flew wildly through the air, plunging rapidly toward Wenda’s body.

His scythes became two afterimages, frantically clashing with the bayonets and showering the area in sparks. Ignoring the weapons that embedded themselves in his body, he pressed his assault on Saber.

Just as Wenda was about to reach him, Saber pulled a bizarre-looking radio from his coat.

He then pulled a stone from his pocket and inserted it into the radio. A heavily distorted, stuttering sound began to emanate from it, like the opening theme for a weather forecast.

As the stuttering music played, Wenda’s body began to move in the same choppy, lagging way, while Saber, for some reason, moved with perfect fluidity.

Facing the lagging Wenda, Saber raised the Black Star pistol in his hand, aimed it at Wenda’s head, and gave a cruel smile. "So long, kiddo!"

The instant the gun fired, Wenda finally broke free of the stuttering effect for half a second, but it was too late to dodge.

He managed to jerk his head a half-inch to the side. The bullet entered through one of the voids on his face and exited through another on the back of his head, allowing him to narrowly avoid a fatal headshot.

However, Wenda wasn’t free from the stuttering effect yet, and his situation remained extremely dire.

Seeing the voids all over Wenda’s body, Saber gave up on using his gun. With a clench of his fist, the dozens of bayonets poised in the air suddenly merged, coalescing into a massive spiral drill that tore through the air, spinning at an astonishing speed as it bore down on Wenda.

The attack had a massive area of effect; he couldn’t dodge it just by moving a little.

’That thing! That’s the key!’ Staring at the stone-powered radio in Saber’s hand, Wenda fought through the lag and pulled a flashlight from his enamel mug.

A beam of blue light shot out and struck the radio. The device froze in place, and with a powerful swing of his arm, Wenda sent it flying, smashing it violently against the ground.

Whether the radio was broken or not, the lagging effect vanished. But now, the giant steel drill was less than a meter away from him.

The spiral drill slammed down, pulverizing the concrete, but there was no trace of blood in the wreckage.

"Huh?" Saber scanned the area nervously but couldn’t see any sign of Wenda.

He suddenly sensed something and whipped around, only to find Wenda already bringing a scythe down on him.

CLANG! Sparks flew as the saber mounted on Saber’s head was shattered into three pieces. At the same time, Wenda’s strike nearly tore Saber’s entire upper body apart.

For the first time, a flicker of fear showed in Saber’s eyes. He tried to pull something else from his pocket, but it was too late. Wenda’s scythe was already at his face.

Just as the scythe drew close enough to embrace his entire head, a familiar blue light shot out and enveloped Saber.