Infinite Nightmares

'Guns? Why would someone be riddled with machine-gun fire just for eating a meal? A typical psycho or simpleton wouldn't get this kind of special treatment, right?' Zhang Wenda wondered.

As more and more bizarre rules about this thought trend emerged, the identity of the person sustaining it seemed to grow increasingly strange.

Judging from these points alone, this person was likely no ordinary individual.

Just then, Liu Jianming, who had regrouped with them, spat out the carrot in his mouth and said to his companion, "Maomao, enough with the pointless chatter. Can you find out where this guy is? Let's just grab him and get this over with. Hanging around this place is weirding me out."

Hu Maomao sat cross-legged and seemed to begin channeling energy again. "One moment. I can feel him. He should be somewhere nearby, not too far."

Zhang Wenda thought that was as good as saying nothing. He scanned the bustling market but saw no one who fit the bizarre rules.

Just as Hu Maomao started to fly higher, the sound of propellers suddenly filled the sky. Sharp-eyed, Zhang Wenda immediately spotted a dozen or so black silhouettes in the distant clouds, growing rapidly larger.

"Watch out! Planes are approaching!"

He hadn't even finished speaking when several figures leaped from the planes, rapidly descending toward them.

"Well now! This is getting interesting. I can finally warm up a little."

Liu Jianming hadn't even finished speaking when three intersecting red laser beams descended from the sky, vertically slicing his body into three segments.

Yet, despite being sliced into three parts, Liu Jianming was miraculously still alive. He glared defiantly at the sky. "Hah! You think I'm afraid of that? Don't you know I'm a Vampire? Don't you know Vampires have powerful regenerative abilities?"

With that, he pulled a large string of purple-skinned garlic from his clothes. Without even peeling it, he shoved the cloves into his mouth and began to chomp away frantically.

As he devoured the garlic, the three segments of his body rapidly healed back together. He then transformed into a swarm of bats and flew upward.

"Wait! Are they from the Third Line?" Zhang Wenda couldn't help but cry out in surprise as he stared at the laser-shooting flashlights held by the descending figures.

But Zhang Wenda soon realized something was off. These figures holding flashlights had no facial features—only a pitch-black void. Even more peculiar, their bodies were incomplete. For example, one was missing its left thigh, yet its left calf could still move.

They seemed less like living people and more like some sort of afterimage or reflection.

At this moment, Zhang Wenda had no time to think about anything else. He could already see three shadowy figures with raised flashlights closing in on him in a triangular formation. 'I have to take care of them first.'

Zhang Wenda could see the three were perfectly coordinated. Two of them advanced on him, wielding red lasers, while the third stayed put, flashing its flashlight at a high frequency as if performing some ritual. It was a classic two-melee, one-ranged-support formation.

Fortunately, Zhang Wenda wasn't fighting alone. A tall, red figure shot out from the side—it was Song Jianguo's aunt.

"Kid! We're here to help you!"

With each of them taking on one of the figures, the pressure on Zhang Wenda lessened considerably. His body blurring into an afterimage, he charged toward the one farthest away, intending to interrupt its spectral ritual.

Just as Zhang Wenda reached his target, the figure raised its flashlight and pressed it hard against its own palm. A spiral of light shot out from the gap between its palm and the flashlight, bathing the surroundings—including the figure's own body—in a strange, kaleidoscopic glow.

Zhang Wenda swung his sharp scythe into the figure, and with a shower of sparks, it was sent flying.

However, when the figure stood up again, Zhang Wenda was astonished to see that its body was completely unscathed.

'That's not right... It just used the Ziwei Refining Furnace! It converted its flesh into some kind of harder substance.'

'Until that spiral of light fades, conventional attacks probably can't break through its defenses.'

Fortunately, as a fellow user of the Tri-Core, Zhang Wenda immediately understood the ability's strengths and weaknesses.

He flickered forward, lunging at the figure again. As it raised a blue light to shine on him, Zhang Wenda activated his Red Core ability. With the power boost, his speed became nearly as fast as lightning.

In that very instant, he was already behind the figure. His right hand swung down, heavily smashing its flashlight.

The instant the flashlight cracked, the spiraling light vanished.

The moment its protection from the Ziwei Refining Furnace was gone, Zhang Wenda swung his right hand down, and his sharp scythe diced the figure into pieces.

The creature clearly lacked Liu Jianming's terrifying regenerative abilities. Once sliced into pieces, it collapsed to the ground like a paper cutout and lay still.

"What a pain. At least it's dealt with." Zhang Wenda hadn't even had a chance to catch his breath when his head snapped toward the sky, and he froze on the spot.

He saw a ceaseless stream of over a hundred planes approaching in the distance. Black humanoid figures were falling from them like raindrops, and each tiny dot possessed the same strength as the enemy he had just defeated.

'Something's wrong! This is all wrong! How can there be so many? This isn't right!' Zhang Wenda watched Hu Maomao and Liu Jianming launching their own frantic attacks, and then it hit him.

'It's the rules. These Third Line people *are* the rules of this thought trend. Anyone who violates certain rules triggers an attack from it.'

Having figured it out, Zhang Wenda yelled at them, "Stop using your abilities! Every time you use a power, you're breaking this thought trend's rules, and it summons more of these Third Line people! We'll never be able to kill hundreds, even thousands of them! We'll be surrounded and killed here sooner or later!"

Just as Zhang Wenda finished shouting, a sudden scream came from behind him.

'Oh no! That was Jianguo's voice!' Zhang Wenda's scalp tingled with dread. In the next instant, rage flared up inside him. He became a blur, rushing toward the area where the Black Cats were fighting.

The instant the shadowy figure turned to deal with an attack from the Black Cats, Zhang Wenda appeared behind it and tore it in two.

Ignoring everything else, Zhang Wenda rushed to Song Jianguo, who was slumped on the ground. "Where are you hurt? Let me see!"

"I'm not hurt. It just ruined my clothes," a flustered Song Jianguo said, trying to cover his exposed body with his hands.

"This is no time to act tough! Let me see!" Without a second thought, Zhang Wenda reached out and pulled Song Jianguo's hands away.

But when he saw Song Jianguo's bare torso, Zhang Wenda froze. "What? You're a man?"