Infinite Nightmares

"Stop. Whatever you are, just stop. No more killing," Zhang Wenda said to the red mouse in front of him.

He was speaking to the mouse, but it felt as if he were also speaking to himself.

But the mouse floating before Zhang Wenda seemed to be nothing more than an animal completely consumed by hatred, incapable of understanding a word he said.

The mouse had been able to communicate through body language before, but now it was completely unable to communicate with Zhang Wenda, just like the two scythe-monsters back home.

The mouse let out a terrifying roar at Zhang Wenda, then transformed back into a red bolt of lightning and shot toward the few remaining enemies.

A barrage of gunfire erupted once more. The enemies were well-armed, but against a red mouse they could barely even see, their weapons were useless.

One man had just raised his gun, yelling as he prepared to fire, when the mouse shot down his throat. Amidst his screams, it burst out of his chest, drenched in blood.

It reveled in his screams, freely indulging in the thrill of the kill.

In a matter of moments, no one was left alive in the forest. But the creature still wasn’t satisfied. It set its sights on Song Jianguo, who was casually watching from the sidelines.

Like a bolt of red lightning, it shot toward Song Jianguo’s yawning mouth.

Seeing this, Zhang Wenda’s blood boiled. The mouse’s despicable act was utterly sickening; right now, he wanted nothing more than to destroy it.

"Jianguo! Close your mouth!"

Zhang Wenda shot after it, his right hand reaching for its back.

As the barbs on the mouse’s back stood erect, they scraped against Zhang Wenda’s scythe, creating a shower of sparks.

"Get over here!" Zhang Wenda roared, his sharp scythe scraping past the spines and hooking deep into the creature’s fur.

The instant his scythe dug into its fur, Zhang Wenda felt a sharp pain in his own back.

But Zhang Wenda had no time to worry about that. He gave a powerful tug, yanking the red mouse directly in front of him as his other hand lunged for its throat.

His sharp scythe-hand easily sliced into the mouse’s flesh. At the same time, the sharp barbs on its body stabbed into Zhang Wenda’s arm and palm, while its fangs pierced the web of his hand.

As Zhang Wenda gradually applied more force, the mouse’s eyes rolled back in its head from being choked, while Zhang Wenda’s own face turned red, veins bulging from the strain.

The hatred and bloodlust, previously suppressed by his reason, surged back to the surface, beginning to consume his thoughts.

Just as they were about to kill each other, the rabbit appeared at Zhang Wenda’s side. He gently placed his right hand on the back of Zhang Wenda’s. "Relax. Just relax. I’m here now. It’s alright."

As the rabbit repeated the words softly, the hollow voids on the two-meter-tall Zhang Wenda’s body began to close. His scythes morphed back into fingers, and the hatred and bloodlust in his heart slowly receded.

As the transformation receded from Zhang Wenda, the mouse’s red glow faded as well. It stared up at him, its two small, beady eyes filled with curiosity.

Breathing heavily, Zhang Wenda shook his head and took two steps back, his heart still pounding with residual fear.

’It was like I was being controlled by someone just now. Like I became a completely different person in that moment.’

"Teacher, did you see that? I feel like I just became a different person."

The rabbit looked at him and said, "It’s fine. In the future, try not to turn into a monster if you can help it. If you do it for too long, you’ll really start to believe you are one."

"Right," Zhang Wenda nodded.

While the two were speaking in low voices, 2826 flew into the forest, the propeller on its head spinning rapidly. It came to a stop, hovering above the corpses.

After observing for a moment, it quickly reached a conclusion. "Something’s off about our attackers. Their skill level doesn’t match up. They don’t seem like they’re from Big Circle."

Its voice caught Zhang Wenda’s attention. Forgetting about what had just happened, he quickly walked over.

"It wasn’t Big Circle who ambushed us? Are you sure? Who else holds a grudge against us? And who else has this many weapons?" Zhang Wenda asked, kicking a gun at his feet.

"Why not? When did Thought Wave One ever give you the impression that it was safe? Getting a few guns in Thought Wave One is nothing."

Now that he had calmed down, Zhang Wenda also realized something was off. ’This was all too easy.’

’Even with the red mouse’s surprise attack, there’s no way people from Big Circle would be this easy to handle.’

’That gang operates across all the Thought Waves; they’re bound to have all sorts of bizarre items. But these guys, aside from making the treehouse sprout legs and run, only used conventional weapons.’

’It couldn’t have been a robbery, either. Who robs kids? Every part of this ambush feels wrong.’

He crouched down and started searching the bodies, hoping to find more details. After a moment of searching, he found something unusual.

"Is this a cassette tape?" Zhang Wenda looked at the familiar yet strange object, almost not recognizing it.

"This thing is a storage tool unique to Thought Wave One." 2826 took it, inserted its fingers into the tape’s reels, and with a hard pull, yanked out handfuls of the thin black ribbon inside.

After it held up its phone and took a few quick pictures of the black ribbons—CLICK! CLICK!—a grating voice suddenly blared from the device.

As they listened to the rest of the tape, everyone’s expression turned ugly. The ambushers were indeed not from Big Circle, but the situation was now even more complicated.

"This is Saber of the Big Circle Gang. Some little shit from Thought Wave One pissed us off a while back. So I’m making it official: I’m putting a bounty on his head. Whoever kills him can take their pick of our more... taboo merchandise!"

Hearing this, the rabbit’s expression grew grim. "This is going to be trouble. A direct bounty... This way, they won’t lose a single person, but they’ll cause all sorts of problems for us. Wenda, who on earth did you two provoke?"

But 2826 was thinking further ahead. "It’s not just that. I think they’re using these people to wear you down while also testing our strength."

It looked up at Zhang Wenda. "After you killed five of their men at once, they must have been unable to gauge your true strength. That’s why they came up with this plan. Once they have a complete picture of your capabilities, they’ll come for you themselves."

Hearing this, Zhang Wenda immediately looked around, but he didn’t see anything.

Just then, Song Jianguo clapped Zhang Wenda on the shoulder and pointed to the sky.

As Zhang Wenda looked up, he saw a plane the size of a grain of rice circling high in the distant sky.

He didn’t need to think to know what it was. It had to be a domesticated aircraft raised by the Big Circle Gang. They had seen everything that just happened on the ground.