Infinite Nightmares

Hearing 2826’s sarcastic remark, Zhang Wenda chuckled. "Useful, of course you’re useful! If anyone dares say you’re useless, I’ll be the first to step up and smack them down!"

stood up. "Let’s go. The Friendship Store closes pretty early."

"Alright!" Zhang Wenda immediately shouted toward the bookstore, "Jianguo! Teacher! I’m heading out with 2826 for a bit!"

He had just finished speaking when Song Jianguo scrambled down with a group of cats. "Where are you going! I’m coming too!"

"Didn’t you say you didn’t want to hang out with me?" Zhang Wenda asked, surprised.

"I want to hang out with that big purple rabbit even less. Do you know what he just tried to do?" A trace of lingering fear appeared in Song Jianguo’s eyes.

"What did he try to do?"

"It actually tried to give me a lesson!"

"Actually... a lesson wouldn’t be so bad."

"Cut the crap, let’s go, let’s go!" Song Jianguo hurriedly pushed Zhang Wenda away.

After walking for about thirty minutes, Zhang Wenda arrived at the International Store under 2826’s guidance.

The storefront was different—the door was actually made of glass, giving it an exceptionally high-class look.

It was even more so upon walking inside. Zhang Wenda felt as if he had entered a high-end luxury boutique. Rows of glass counters displayed all sorts of items, large and small, arranged neatly within.

The attendants wore uniforms and had their hair styled in big waves. What struck Zhang Wenda as most peculiar was that there wasn’t a sign on the wall forbidding the unprovoked beating of customers.

Faced with this unfamiliar environment, Zhang Wenda was a bit lost. He had never been to a place like this before.

"Should we find a place to exchange the Oil Bab for money first?" Zhang Wenda asked.

"Over there. That’s the purchasing counter," 2826 said, pointing to a corner. "With money and the foreign exchange certificates I gave you, you can buy things here. They sell things you can’t get outside, and more importantly, some of the items bought here can also be used in certain Thought Waves."

Zhang Wenda nodded and started walking toward the counter in the corner. He was only halfway there when someone blocked his path.

Zhang Wenda jumped when he first saw the man. Although he had seen plenty of strange people in Thought Wave Two, he had never seen anyone like this.

The man’s bald head was bizarrely elongated, curving backward like an ivory tusk. His features looked foreign, but his pupils were black.

He was wearing a T-shirt with four large words printed on it: "I am a foreigner."

The pointy-headed man spoke to Zhang Wenda in a strange accent. "Young man, please wait a moment."

"You are...?"

"Ahava Kan. You can call me a foreigner. I am a Mayan, from the beautiful Central America." The man was quite talkative, launching into a long explanation before Zhang Wenda could even ask.

"Ma... Mayans?" Zhang Wenda’s mind struggled to process this. He wracked his brain but couldn’t recall a country named Maya. Then it hit him—they were an extinct indigenous people from the Americas. And he was looking at a living one.

"So, are you an American? Or a Mexican?"

"No, I am a Mayan. You can also call me an American."

"An American?"

Hearing Zhang Wenda’s question, the man looked exceptionally proud. "Yes, an American! A genuine, pure-blooded American! You must remember this, young man. People who look like me are the real, pure-blooded Americans. Those green-eyed, blond-haired people... in the words of your capital city, they’re just stinking outsiders who came to our land to beg."

"Uh... okay. Well, may I ask why you stopped me? If there’s nothing, I’ll be going." ’This guy and his country are both weird, but it has nothing to do with me. I’m not here to make friends.’

"Forgive my forwardness, but is that thing in your hand the Oil Bab, which can only be found in the mysterious East?" the Mayan asked, his eyes filled with longing as he stared at the asphalt-like Oil Bab in Zhang Wenda’s hand.

"That’s right. I was thinking of bringing it here to trade for something useful."

Hearing this, the man became even more excited. "I have things! I have things! I’ll trade you for whatever you want!"

The man walked toward a suitcase by the distant counter. As he turned to leave, Zhang Wenda saw the large words printed on the back of his T-shirt: "I DON’T HAVE FOREIGN EXCHANGE CERTIFICATES."

"This guy isn’t a scammer, is he?" Zhang Wenda asked, a little worried.

shook their head. "No. As long as you don’t trade outside, all transactions inside here are guaranteed. It’s much safer than the black market. It’s buying things over *there* that’s unsafe."

"That’s good to hear." Reassured by 2826, Zhang Wenda immediately followed the man toward the counter.

When they arrived, they saw the woman with the wavy hair smiling and speaking to him. "Of course, Mr. Ahava. Here is the suitcase we were holding for you. You’re welcome, it’s our pleasure."

"Thank you, thank you." Ahava had just taken the suitcase and stepped back when Zhang Wenda reached the counter.

The moment he arrived, the attendant, who had been all smiles just a second ago, instantly changed her expression as if switching masks. Her face fell. "What do you want! Spit it out!"

Zhang Wenda was speechless at the sight. ’Holy crap, are you kidding me? Sucking up to foreigners includes the Mayans, too?’

"Young man, young man, look! I have everything here. Whatever you want, we can negotiate!" The man held up a fist-sized gold coin shaped like a human head and presented it to Zhang Wenda.

"I don’t want money. I want something that can increase my strength. Do you have anything like that?" Zhang Wenda asked.

"Something to increase your strength? Yes, yes, I do!"

The man started rummaging through his suitcase. "Young man, isn’t this what you people call fate? If it weren’t for the zombie outbreak in Wuhan, we wouldn’t have settled down here, and we would never have met."

’Wuhan? Zombies?’ Zhang Wenda couldn’t even connect the two words in his mind.

"This!" He pulled an Obsidian Blade Battle Staff, clearly much taller than the suitcase itself, directly out of it.

It was a 1.8-meter Hardwood Giant Sword, with thin slices of obsidian embedded along its sides. The edges were as sharp as glass, and it radiated a primitive and dangerous aura.

"A Makawit! A powerful weapon that only an Olgart can possess! The blessing of Kukulkan makes this weapon insane!"

Seeing how the man could barely hold it with both hands, Zhang Wenda looked down at his own skinny arms and legs. ’That thing would crush me. How am I supposed to use it?’ "Do you have anything smaller? Also, you used that idiom wrong."

"Smaller? Smaller." The man went back to rummaging, butt in the air. Soon, an Obsidian Dagger with a golden handle appeared before Zhang Wenda. The moment he took it out, the faint smell of blood began to drift through the air.

"The Copan Sacrificial Knife. It allows you to offer up a human heart to gain the Gaze of Kopan."

This time, before Zhang Wenda could even speak, the attendant at the counter spoke up. "Sir! Items like this are prohibited from being sold or traded here!"

When Ahava heard this, he quickly put it away to avoid having it confiscated. "Wait, please wait! I’ll look for something else."

Song Jianguo, who had grown bored on the sidelines, said to Zhang Wenda, "This guy’s stuff is so weird. It’s all useless. Why don’t we just see what this store has?"

"Sigh, you’re right. All this foreigner’s things feel really strange." Zhang Wenda was about to look at the nearby display cases when he suddenly noticed a faint glimmer inside the foreigner’s suitcase.