Infinite Nightmares

Inside the room, Zhang Wenda looked up at the two bowls of noodles across from him. Chopsticks were stuck upright in the center of each. Two stools were placed there, but they were empty.

"I’m not eating. I’ll be leaving soon," Zhang Wenda said to the two empty stools, as if he could see people sitting in them.

"I came back today because I wanted to talk to you two about something. Please, stop tormenting me with the rules, can you? It hurts. I’m miserable," Zhang Wenda said earnestly. But there was no response in the empty room.

Zhang Wenda sighed, lowering his head in resignation. "Say something," he muttered in a low voice.

He snatched one of the bowls with his right hand and slammed it onto the floor. "SAY SOMETHING!"

Zhang Wenda shot to his feet, glaring viciously at the empty stools. "I’m not going to the ’adult world’ today! I know you can hear me! If you want to talk, then come here and talk to me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the folding table shuddered violently, as if someone had slammed their hand down on it.

"Heh." Zhang Wenda laughed at the sight. They hadn’t said a word, and there was still no one there.

’There’s no point in talking anymore,’ he thought. ’Nothing will ever change. If I want their respect, I have to defeat them.’

Zhang Wenda lowered his head once more. When he looked up again, he grabbed the folding table with both hands and, with all his might, flipped it over.

"You want to slam the table? Huh? I’ll give you something to slam!"

Drinks and soupy dishes flew high into the air. The moment they landed, the entire room was thrown into utter chaos.

Even though they weren’t in the same Thought Wave, Zhang Wenda heard a roar cut through the air. He savagely whipped out his flashlight and roared right back at them.

As he roared back at the unseen enemy, Zhang Wenda, who had been holding everything in, instantly felt a wave of relief.

"Come on! Bring it on! If you’re monsters, then stop pretending to be human! Today, we’ll see who kills who! You kill me, or I kill you!" A red light shot out from Zhang Wenda’s flashlight, but that wasn’t enough.

"Red Qi Charging the Left Assistant—Three Reds Break the Void! Yellow Evil Suppressing Right Assistant—Two Yellow Soul Cutting Base! Twenty-Faced Crystal Grid Shattered Pentagram, Focal Domain Collapse Feeding Gluttony!"

A slash from a scythe nearly cleaved Zhang Wenda in two. He raised his flashlight and swung it hard to his left. Three beams of different colors—3 red, 2 yellow, 7 blue—flashed in the gloom as he quickly cast the Three Jiao Light Vein Order.

When the spell was complete, Zhang Wenda suddenly reversed his grip on the flashlight and jammed it into his palm. All the light in the vicinity—from the TV, the lightbulb, even the light of the rising moon outside—was sucked into the flashlight.

Spiraling streams of dim, multicolored light coiled out from the gap between the flashlight and Zhang Wenda’s palm, illuminating the dark surroundings.

Not only that, but under the glow of these spiraling pillars of light, the surroundings began to rapidly shift through scenes from the past. And in this light, two blurry, grotesque humanoid figures materialized before Zhang Wenda.

The conjoined scythe monsters, permanently invisible in Thought Wave One, were finally revealed.

In Thought Wave Two, they were small giants, three to four meters tall. Here in Thought Wave One, they were clearly shorter, but still stood two meters high.

They stood before Zhang Wenda, brandishing blood-stained scythes and roaring at him hysterically, their eyes devoid of all reason.

Just as they raised their scythes to charge, Zhang Wenda lifted his flashlight and aimed it directly at them. This time, it shot out a beam of blue light.

The blue light enveloped the two monsters, freezing them in place. Originally, this was a move only 2826 knew, but Zhang Wenda had learned it as well. It was the second technique he’d acquired from the black market.

With a powerful swing of his flashlight, Zhang Wenda used the beam to yank the pinned scythe monsters through the air, smashing them hard against the world map on the wall.

Zhang Wenda roared at them as they lay on the floor. "Come on, you monsters! Come on! MONSTERS!"

With an even louder roar, the scythe monster swung hard. Two scythes chopped down in a cross pattern, and Zhang Wenda rolled out of the way. The wind from the blades swept over the TV stand, instantly dicing the pig lungs that were sitting there.

The next second, roaring, the scythe monster blurred into an afterimage and shot toward Zhang Wenda, appearing before him in an instant.

Zhang Wenda shot another beam of blue light at them, but this time, their scythes sliced the light itself.

The sharp blades split the beam of blue light in two and continued straight for Zhang Wenda’s head.

The blue light instantly switched to a red pillar of light. The two forces collided with a heavy CRASH, sending sparks flying.

The immense force pushed Zhang Wenda backward until he was pinned against the wall.

As they were locked in a stalemate, another mouth suddenly shot out from the black hole in the scythe monster’s abdomen—ROAR!—and began to tear savagely at Zhang Wenda’s chest.

"You motherfucker! You motherfucker!" The pain only fueled the rage burning inside Zhang Wenda.

Glancing at his dwindling reserves—only 12 units left in the Blue Core and 16 in the Yellow Core—Zhang Wenda unleashed the final flashlight ritual he had learned in the black market.

Zhang Wenda’s roar echoed through the small room: "Dodecahedron Melting Cauldron Fire—High-Dimensional Body Refining Ziwei!"

The glass lens of the flashlight in his hand instantly spiderwebbed with cracks. The energy of the Blue and Yellow Cores erupted from it like ruptured blood vessels!

The scythe monster’s second mouth was tearing at Zhang Wenda’s collarbone, its fangs already scraping against gleaming white bone.

But just then, a SIZZLE like melting metal came from inside the monster’s abdomen. Deep within the wound, Zhang Wenda’s blood, now illuminated by the green light of the mixed Blue and Yellow Cores, was transforming into a different substance.

"Urk-AH?!" The mouth on the monster’s abdomen recoiled in pain. What dripped from between its teeth was no longer Zhang Wenda’s blood, but molten steel!

"We’re not done yet!" Zhang Wenda grinned savagely, his own face a mask of blood.

The flashlight in his hand completely shattered! Propelled by light that had become almost solid, the flying shards of glass rained down, burying themselves in the monster’s body.

THWIP THWIP THWIP! The scythe monster let out an inhuman shriek. It tried to block with its scythes, but the light-infused glass shards ignored physical matter, plunging deep into its flesh.

For the first time, the monster let out a wail of agony, its conjoined body trembling violently. It instinctively swung its scythes at Zhang Wenda.

But under the glow of the light, not only his blood but his very skin had changed color and become preternaturally tough. When the scythes came down, they sent blood flying but also produced the sound of metal on metal.

In the ensuing melee, the once-cozy room was utterly destroyed. What little furniture remained was smashed to pieces in the crossfire.

But now, neither combatant was aware of anything else. They roared madly at each other, eyes filled with a hatred that promised death.

Empowered by the Blue Core, Zhang Wenda was finally on even footing with the scythe monster. He wouldn’t run this time. This time, he would end this for good!

Just as a blood-soaked Zhang Wenda was thrown hard out the door, he charged back into the room with a low growl and without a moment’s hesitation.

Blood from his forehead dripped into his eyes, blurring his vision, but he couldn’t have cared less. Through a red haze, he attacked the scythe monster madly, again and again.

In the heat of their battle, neither of them noticed the spiraling light begin to dim. The time for the Three Jiao Light Vein Order, the spell that had forcibly dragged the enemy into his Thought Wave, was almost up.

The moment the light vanished, Zhang Wenda suddenly saw a hideous, blood-soaked monster standing to his left. It was covered in black holes, its empty eyes filled with endless hatred.

Acting on pure instinct, Zhang Wenda threw a punch, his entire being consumed by rage.

"Die! Die! Just fucking die, die, DIE!"

With a loud CRASH, under the force of Zhang Wenda’s blow, the terrifying scythe monster before him was instantly covered in cracks. It was a mirror.