Infinite Nightmares

While Tang Xingxiong spoke, their car gradually pulled up alongside the giant mobile city, the Cavalry.

Once they were closer, Zhang Wenda realized the thing was much, much larger than it had looked from a distance. Each rotation of its massive treads was like an earthquake, nearly flipping their car over.

Just as Zhang Wenda was wondering how they were supposed to get on, a white mouse cursor flew down from above. It quickly clicked on the car, and the moving vehicle instantly froze in place.

A giant white toolbar quickly appeared before everyone. When the cursor clicked "Select All," every car present was instantly frozen.

The scene blurred for a moment, and then all the cars were instantly transported in front of a massive computer screen. The screen displayed nothing in particular, just a flurry of flickering static, like a television with no signal.

There was a hole in the bottom-left corner of the screen, from which a steady stream of static flowed out. It formed a small river of static that ran across the back of the Cavalry. Directly above this river was a small, brightly shining sun.

All sorts of crowded buildings and shacks, as well as the bizarre pseudo-humans, prefabs, and freaks living inside them, moved chaotically around the river and the sun.

Just as Zhang Wenda was struck speechless by the chaotic scene before him, a loud BANG suddenly rang out.

Zhang Wenda ducked instinctively, but he soon felt his shoulder go numb. Looking down, he saw his blue and white school uniform was slowly being stained red with blood!

As Zhang Wenda instantly pulled out his flashlight, the Cat Shield controlled by Song Jianguo rapidly appeared in front of him.

"Tang Xingxiong! What the fuck is the meaning of this?!" Zhang Wenda roared, flicking his arm and sending out a red laser.

Zhang Wenda’s heart was racing. ’She already knows my identity? Does she suspect me? Or is this just a test?’

Tang Xingxiong said nothing, just stood to the side silently smoking a cigarette. A figure with a computer for a head waved its mouse and once again raised its right hand toward Zhang Wenda.

He brought up a toolbar on his screen, then selected copy and paste. The ground began to tremble violently. Soon, grotesque monsters covered in pixelated mosaics, glitchy static, and subject to sporadic lagging and rubber-banding, clawed their way out of the Earth God. They completely surrounded Zhang Wenda and Song Jianguo.

Seeing the commotion, the other people nearby immediately started to gather around them.

When Song Jianguo saw one of the worm-like monsters, a trace of fear appeared on her face. She clearly recognized it.

"Haozi, be careful! These are all computer viruses! Don’t let them touch you, or you’ll be infected!"

"Tang Xingxiong! Fuck—" Before Zhang Wenda could finish, the surrounding computer viruses lunged at him, baring their fangs and claws.

"Hold them off for a bit! I’ll wipe them all out!" While the Cat Shield was defending, Zhang Wenda immediately raised his flashlight and began flashing it rapidly, preparing to use his Tri-Core Ability.

Against a swarm of monsters that couldn’t be touched, the Tri-Core Ability was clearly the best tool for the job.

As various lights began to flash and Zhang Wenda was about to complete his spell, the computer-headed figure in the distance gently waved its mouse cursor.

From the pop-up toolbar, it right-clicked on Zhang Wenda’s flashlight and selected "Undo." The red light shooting from the flashlight instantly vanished, and the nearly completed ritual failed in an instant.

The next second, all the grotesque computer viruses lunged at Zhang Wenda. Any Black Cat forming the shield that was touched by a virus would instantly lose its connection to the others, completely losing its defensive capability. Their bodies began to sprout extra eyes and feet.

Just as the two of them were about to be completely devoured by the computer viruses, a powerful gust of wind erupted in the next second. All the lunging viruses were sliced into several pieces and thrown back.

A ferocious-looking Zhang Wenda, wielding a scythe, stepped forward into the center of the battlefield. Now completely transformed into a scythe-wielding monster, his digitigrade legs were slightly bent, ready to spring into a fight to the death at any moment.

Just then, the computer-headed figure let out a mechanical laugh, and a smiley face appeared on its screen.

"That’s right. This is how it should be. A student has no value in the Big Circle! Only the you right now does!"

"Here in the Cavalry, you can freely show your true self. No more need to hold back."

As he spoke, the figure walked over, casually raising its white-gloved right hand as if they were old friends.

"Hello, newcomer. I’m Qianxi. You’ve demonstrated your value. I’m very happy to have you join the big family of the Big Circle."

Zhang Wenda looked at the outstretched hand and swung his scythe down upon it. The blade, which could slice through iron like mud, failed to sever the hand and instead struck it with a shower of sparks.

With a quick click of his mouse, he selected all the surrounding computer viruses. Then, with a gentle flick, all the computer viruses on the field were sent flying high into the air, falling toward a giant recycling bin in the distance.

Then, Qianxi studied the transformed Zhang Wenda with great interest for a moment before turning his head to Tang Xingxiong and saying, "Crow, you handle the onboarding for this new kid. I have other business to attend to, so I’m leaving."

"Yes, boss." Tang Xingxiong tossed her cigarette aside.

Qianxi clicked on himself with his mouse, and with a double CLICK, he vanished from before Zhang Wenda.

However, Zhang Wenda’s expression didn’t relax in the slightest. Whether that had been a test or something else, he could tell that this computer-headed man named Qianxi hadn’t used his full strength at all.

If that person had truly wanted to kill him, both he and Song Jianguo would have died here. ’I absolutely cannot let them find out my identity. If they do, I’m completely finished.’

"Come on, how about I introduce you to the others first?" Tang Xingxiong said with a smile.

Zhang Wenda nodded and followed her down along the river of black-and-white static. "Was that our boss? The boss of the entire Big Circle?"

"No, he’s just my boss. He’s also the master of this Cavalry. Don’t worry, he’s actually a pretty nice guy. This is the Big Circle’s welcoming gift; they pull this on every newcomer."

"Is that so?" Zhang Wenda said thoughtfully. He then looked down at his own body and thought to himself, ’Teacher Rabbit isn’t here. Without its help, does this mean I can’t change back?’

He knew the Big Circle let him join because they valued his abilities, and he had long been prepared for that. But using this power came at a price. According to Teacher Rabbit, the longer he remained a monster, the more like a monster he would become.

He didn’t know if this was an overt scheme by Qianxi, but he was certain that from the moment he transformed into a monster, his mission was now on a time limit.

At this moment, Zhang Wenda’s heart felt heavy. It was as if an invisible fuse was burning above his head, ready to explode at any moment. As for how much time he had left, he had no idea.