Chapter 394

What the hell are you doing?

Seeing the suddenly deferential and unexpectedly friendly Scorpio Director, Li Ang felt a faint unease stir in his chest, his whole body growing awkward.

Had he been visited by another nightmare again?

But he had just touched the Dream-Eating Exotic Armor—it was clearly real. Even the King of Nightmares himself couldn't simulate its data, could he?

"Don't overthink it."

Looking up at the night sky over the capital, then at the dream-world creatures frozen by the pale doll, the tall, thin man lifted his still-dripping slender sword and cleanly severed the doll's head, killing hundreds more elite nightmares that had broken through the blockade. He then clasped his hands behind his back, tilting his head with majestic composure and said:

"My quarrel with Olivia is personal—it won't involve you cleaners. Personally, I do admire your courage… If I'm not mistaken, the King of Nightmares is about to appear. Stay close to me, or I might not be able to save you."

"..."

If you'd insulted me less earlier, I might actually believe you now...

Though the sudden shift felt deeply unnatural, Li Ang recalled his own director's warning: before the King of Nightmares appeared, staying near this man was safe. He said nothing more, merely nodded and cautiously moved closer.

"Come, stand beside me."

Gesturing to Li Ang, who lagged half a step behind and gazed upward, the tall, thin man picked up the doll's severed head and, with a pleasant tone, advised:

"Remember, the Abyss of Fallen Souls has merged with reality. Though it strengthens dream-world creatures, those that manifest here now possess true flesh—unlike before, when they existed only in consciousness. Now, they're easier to kill."

"But conversely, since the dream-world operates differently from reality, we must also guard against being dragged into it."

"After all, this is their domain. Clinging too tightly to your own body and soul will make you no match for dream-world creatures. Yet if you abandon your self-perception and align with the dream-world's rules, you risk losing your own identity… Hm?"

As he spoke, the tall man suddenly noticed something amiss. His brow twitched slightly as he plucked at the antennae of the queen insect on his chest.

"Sii! Sii! Sii!"

The sharp insect cries rose again, and as the queen called, the swarm of offspring spreading across the capital echoed back—three clear, resonant responses.

But strangely, though their numbers continued multiplying, the cries of the Dream-Eating Exotic Armor's offspring were rapidly diminishing. If the first wave had been as loud as ocean tides, the second was reduced to the lapping of shore waves.

As for the third and final wave...

"Sii..."

Watching the last remaining Dream-Eating Exotic Armor, perched limply on Li Ang's shoulder, responding weakly to the queen's call, the Scorpio Director's expression turned visibly grim.

"Don't move."

After calling out to the bewildered Li Ang, the Scorpio Division Director pinched the beetle from his shoulder, flipped it over, and revealed a hair-thin wooden spike, driven deep into its abdomen—from the forehead's human-face pattern straight through.

All wiped out...

Looking at the beetle in his hand—its movements fading, black fluid seeping from its belly, nearing death—the tall man drew a sharp breath and said, his face dark:

"Exotic Genesis... the Water Bearer is still alive!"

Water Bearer?

Hearing the tall man's words, Li Ang's expression shifted slightly. He extended a finger and lightly touched the wooden spike embedded in the beetle's belly.

【Name: Sub-Body of the Insect-Exterminating Wooden Spike (Wish, Insect-Extermination, Chain)】

【Appearance: A slender wooden spike with a faintly reddened tip. Too fine to identify its wood source, but likely some cheap, fast-growing timber.】

【Ability: Kill beetles, eliminate insect infestations, chain-kill insects.】

【Cost: Too minuscule to matter.】

【File: Created by the former Water Bearer Director of the Cleanup Bureau. To handle the rapidly splitting Dream-Eating Exotic Armor, he used the King of Nightmares' intense desire to erase the armor as material, infused it with a drop of a true god's heart-blood, and forged this lethal exotic object—no provisional designation assigned.】

【After killing one insect, it traces the connection between identical sub-bodies and simultaneously exterminates all others within a wide radius. This effect works only on the Dream-Eating Exotic Armor.】

【Evaluation: An extremely targeted exotic object, devastating against crustacean insects. Its slender, resilient wood also makes it excellent for toothpicks.】

【Contamination Level: 0. 】

"..."

The Dream-Eating Exotic Armor, once breeding nearly a billion and driving the Cleanup Bureau to despair, had been wiped out by a single toothpick?

After reading the file on the Insect-Exterminating Wooden Spike, Li Ang instinctively reached for his cufflink, intending to use the Unfair Snake Pact to swap it in and restore the Dream-Eating Exotic Armor's functionality.

But remembering his Unfair Snake Pact had never been exposed, and the Insect-Exterminating Wooden Spike's "cheap" material, he let his hand drop and turned to the Scorpio Director:

"Mr. Edward, can you still revive this last sub-body?"

"I could revive it."

Looking at the beetle gasping its last breaths, the tall man frowned:

"But what good would it do? The Dream-Eating Exotic Armor requires time to split into sufficient numbers. The Water Bearer has already prepared a targeted exotic object."

"No matter how many Dream-Eating Exotic Armor sub-bodies have split, as long as he finds one, all others die simultaneously. This thing is useless now."

"Still, revive it."

Li Ang insisted:

"You've already given one command to the mother. You can never use it again. To trigger the mother to produce controllable offspring, you need sixty Li Ang Points. Better to keep a few just in case."

"True..."

The Scorpio Director nodded, retrieved dozens of nearly dead beetles from nearby sleeping passersby, sliced his finger, squeezed a drop of blood into each, then placed the revived beetles in a vial and handed it to Li Ang.

"Take it! If you get hypnotized by nightmares again, let them eat your dreams and forcibly expel the nightmares."

"But to prevent them from going rogue, I've deliberately engineered these adult beetles with extremely short lifespans—only about a week. After that, they'll die on their own. Don't forget."

"Thank you. I'll remember."

Carefully stowing the vial containing the Dream-Eating Exotic Armor and tucking away the Insect-Exterminating Wooden Spike (Sub-Body), Li Ang looked up at the increasingly blood-soaked sky and asked, voice tinged with concern:

"Mr. Edward, how long until the King of Nightmares appears?"