Infinite Nightmares

"Stop right there! Liu Jianming, do you hear me?! If you don’t stop now, I’ll kill Hu Maomao!"

Zhang Wenda shouted at Liu Jianming, who was speeding through the sky, while holding Hu Maomao hostage.

Liu Jianming stopped. Seeing Hu Maomao captured by Zhang Wenda, surprise flickered across his face. ’So even a capable teammate like her could slip up.’

Just then, Zhang Wenda spotted Song Jianguo and her mangled left shoulder. Fury surged within him. "You dare hurt her like this?!"

"Huh?" Liu Jianming looked completely baffled. "I didn’t touch her."

Hearing this, Song Jianguo boiled with rage. She pointed at her own wound and snarled, "This is from your invisible rats! Can you get rid of that useless mushroom of yours already?! All it does is attack your own teammates! You’re pissing me off!"

The auntie beside her also pointed accusingly at the hole bored through her own stomach.

Zhang Wenda felt a bit awkward hearing that. ’So it was friendly fire all along.’ He ignored Song Jianguo’s fuming and looked up at Liu Jianming again. "Let them leave, and I’ll return Hu Maomao to you safely!"

As he spoke, he dug the sharp claws in his hand a little deeper. Crimson blood began to trickle down Hu Maomao’s slender neck.

Seeing that Zhang Wenda wasn’t bluffing, Liu Jianming started to get nervous. "Whoa, whoa, bro, no need for all this. We’re all on the same side, no reason to make things so ugly! You can have the kid."

"Just don’t do anything stupid. If Hu Maomao really dies, you’ll have crossed the point of no return!"

After watching Liu Jianming fly a safe distance away, Zhang Wenda shot Song Jianguo a look. At once, Song Jianguo and the auntie holding the child hurried over.

"You two take the kid and go. Wait for me at the gate where I put that collar on you."

Without a moment’s hesitation, Song Jianguo and the auntie hurried away, leaving Zhang Wenda to stare at Liu Jianming in the sky.

"That was a low blow, kid. Daring to attack your own people just to hog the prize for yourself?" Liu Jianming said, sizing Zhang Wenda up.

"Why not? Crow told me that in the Big Circle, anything goes. So why can’t I take it all for myself?" Zhang Wenda replied, bullshitting with Liu Jianming to stall for time.

’He didn’t know what Liu Jianming’s tracking range was, but the longer he could stall, the better.’

"What? Tang Xingxiong really told you that? How can she be so damn reckless? Even if anything goes in the Big Circle, you still need some basic rules."

"The second I joined, you guys dragged me into a mission. I haven’t heard a thing about any rules in the Big Circle."

As he spoke, Zhang Wenda popped the last lollipop into his mouth. The wounds on his face began to heal.

’He was planning his escape. Liu Jianming was an expert at tracking blood, so he had to stop his own bleeding first.’

They continued to bullshit back and forth like this. After about twenty minutes, Zhang Wenda suddenly put all his strength into his arms, lifted Hu Maomao, and hurled her toward Liu Jianming.

Without bothering to see if she was caught, Zhang Wenda activated his Red Core Energy, his body blurring into an afterimage as he bolted in the opposite direction.

Once he’d put some distance between them, Zhang Wenda unhesitatingly activated the Yellow Core, shifting directly into the adult world and immediately starting to weave left and right.

People on the main road stared, dumbfounded at the sight.

While running, Zhang Wenda found a small river, quickly washed the bloodstains off his body, and then switched back to the child world.

In this way, by rapidly moving through both physical space and the different worlds, Zhang Wenda traveled for nearly an hour before finally stopping.

Even with his monstrous physique, such a long, fast sprint had nearly broken him. He was gasping for breath, and with every exhale, puffs of white steam shot out from the holes that riddled his body.

After hiding in place for a moment and seeing no sign of bats in the sky, Zhang Wenda finally got his bearings and headed toward the entrance of the old Youth Palace.

"What took you so long? I was getting tired of waiting!" Song Jianguo complained impatiently at the entrance to the Youth Palace.

Zhang Wenda ignored her completely, walking over to Wang Dayan, who was looking up at him with an innocent expression, and crouched down.

He wasn’t in a hurry to take the child to the Xinhua Bookstore. There were some things he had to get straight first.

"Dayan, when you came out, did you see a sea that was hanging upside down?"

"What’s a sea?"

"It’s lots and lots of water."

Wang Dayan thought hard for a moment, then nodded vigorously. "Yeah! I saw it!!"

"Really?" Zhang Wenda’s pupils contracted. But he quickly had another thought. He tightened his grip on his scythe and carefully lifted the boy with his left arm.

In a movement so swift it was almost imperceptible, Zhang Wenda’s right hand flashed out and back. A small cut instantly appeared on Wang Dayan’s arm, slowly beginning to ooze blood.

"Oh no, you’re hurt! When did that happen? Did that bat-guy do it just now?" Zhang Wenda asked, pointing at the wound with feigned surprise.

Wang Dayan thought hard, then nodded vigorously. "Yeah! Yes, he’s the one who did it!"

"..."

"So, that sea you saw... was it yellow or red?"

Wang Dayan thought hard for a moment before saying, "It was red! You’re right, that sea was red."

"..."

"Then... did you burn down the Yuanming Garden?"

"What’s the Yuanming Garden?"

"A really big garden. Have you forgotten? You were there. You led the way for the Eight-Nation Alliance, and you were the one who lit the first fire."

Listening to Zhang Wenda speak with such certainty, Wang Dayan thought for a moment before replying, "Yeah! I guess I must have been the one who burned it."

’Holy shit...’ Zhang Wenda finally got it. Hu Maomao was right. A four-year-old’s grasp on reality wasn’t solid at all; they were incredibly easy to fool.

’He’d have to figure out just how much of the boy’s story was true and how much was fabricated.’

’But it made sense,’ he thought. ’Only a kid this young would believe that men and women look the same down there.’

"Is this kid an idiot? How can he believe everything people tell him?" Song Jianguo muttered, leaning closer.

"That’s just how kids are. You weren’t any smarter when you were three or four," Zhang Wenda replied, turning his attention back to Wang Dayan.

’At this point, he felt that at least eighty percent of what Hu Maomao had said was probably true. Besides, he didn’t think the Third Line was capable of something so heinous. If they were, his own grandfather could never have worked there his whole life.’

’He didn’t know much about the Third Line, but he knew his grandfather’s character. He could believe the old man was a man of high principle, but he would never, ever believe he would be an accomplice to something like this. Never in a million years.’

"Let’s go. I’ll take you somewhere safe." Zhang Wenda said, but as he lifted his foot to leave, a loud rumbling sound from a stomach stopped him.

Zhang Wenda glanced at Wang Dayan clutching his stomach. He bought a few roasted sweet potatoes from a nearby vendor and fed them to the boy, one small piece at a time.