Chapter 803: I Sell Myself

"Then you're… actually pretty good…"

Facing Li Ang, who had not only successfully escaped the dream while outnumbered three-to-one, but also brought the Snow Woman out with him, the Scorpio Director, after offering a dry compliment, seemed embarrassed by his own entrapment in the nightmare and quickly added with flickering, dog-like eyes:

"Hmm… I'm nearly done too, but these six nightmares refuse to engage me head-on.

Their job seems to be holding me back, so they keep fleeing through all six dream layers; even if I manage to kill one, the other five team up to revive it…

So just wait outside for a bit—I'm moving slowly through the nightmare, slower than they are. I need to think of a way to corral them all together first."

So your problem is you can fight them, but you can't catch those nightmares?

After hearing the Scorpio Director's words, Li Ang paused briefly, then turned to look at the Snow Woman behind him.

The Snow Woman, though now damaged—having lost her core ability to erase memories and even weakened her power to summon snow and wind—was still a nightmare emissary endowed with power by the King of Nightmares, capable of moving freely within nightmares.

So if she could open a passage…

"Give up!"

Seeing through Li Ang's plan at a glance, the Snow Woman, lying on the ground, lifted her slender neck and glared at him with cold, beautiful eyes full of hatred:

"Damn human! Don't forget what you've done to me! I'll never help you!"

"…"

Come on… honestly, I didn't do anything that extreme, did I? You were the one who came after me—why does it feel like I kidnapped you?

Facing the Snow Woman's bitter, resentful gaze behind him and the Scorpio Director's increasingly strange stare ahead, Li Ang, feeling his reputation unfairly tarnished, couldn't help but protest:

"Look, it wasn't me who destroyed your nightmare core. All I did was drag you out of the dream—nothing else, right?"

"You've already done all this—what else do you plan to do to me?"

Recalling the painful experience of being dragged screaming from her dream, and her nightmare now utterly corrupted by that strange little tune—rendered as useless as trash—the unfortunate Snow Woman suddenly felt overwhelming sorrow.

…

Although nightmares are masters of nightmares, unlike humans, they cannot create new dreams every night. Most nightmares can sustain only one dream—the very dream that gave them birth, the one in which they were born, grew, and will ultimately perish.

For a nightmare, this bonded dream holds importance comparable to a harbor for a ship, a homeland for a wanderer—its significance is incomparable, and its bond is tighter than that between a plant's roots and the earth.

Being forcibly dragged out of one's bonded nightmare is like being woken from sleep, stripped naked, and thrown onto the street.

And this damned human didn't just drag her out—he completely corrupted her bonded nightmare. It wasn't just stripping her naked and dumping her on the street; he'd also picked up a brush and painted a row of wiggling little turtles all over her body! The ultimate humiliation for a nightmare!

"So just give up!"

Looking at the hateful human who had destroyed everything she had—and indirectly caused her to be "expelled from the Nightmare Registry"—the Snow Woman, eyes red-rimmed, tilted her chin defiantly and swore:

"Even if I'm roasted alive by the sun tomorrow, or killed right now, I'll never lift a finger to help you!"

"…"

Fine…

Seeing the Snow Woman's glare, as if she wanted to devour him alive, Li Ang abandoned any hope of swaying her. He reached out and tapped his cufflink, retrieving a black snake-skin scroll, a demonic hide scroll etched with grotesque patterns, and a sharp dagger.

Ding, Li Ang Lyne activated 【Unfair Snake Pact】 and initiated a transaction.

Transaction item: 【Demon Registry】 Target: the Snow Woman before him.

Transaction content: herself.

"Mmm…"

After slicing his arm with the dagger, Li Ang gritted his teeth and pressed the wound against the 【Unfair Snake Pact】. Dark red blood was violently sucked out, rapidly soaking into the snake-skin scroll.

What… what is he doing?

Sensing something was wrong, the Snow Woman on the ground gasped in alarm. Just as she opened her mouth to shout, she felt a sudden heaviness on her chest—the demonic hide scroll that Li Ang had pulled out had somehow appeared there.

"???"

Realizing she had inexplicably lost ownership of herself, and sensing a faint, eerie connection to Li Ang through the snake-skin scroll, now glowing with eerie red light after swallowing so much blood, the Snow Woman was utterly horrified.

"You! What did you do to me?"

"Nothing."

After wrapping his arm with the 【Infected Blood Band】 to heal the wound he'd made himself, his face still pale, Li Ang drew his dagger and cut the climbing rope binding the sleeping bag, then ordered:

"Get up. Time to work."

"??!"

As Li Ang spoke, the Snow Woman, in utter terror, discovered that no matter how fiercely her mind resisted, her body obeyed without hesitation—she cleanly rolled out of the sleeping bag.

As Li Ang demanded, she silently linked into the nightmare world jointly sustained by the other six nightmares and began searching for the Scorpio Director's location.

No! No! No!!!!!!

…

What the hell? Is this some kind of anomaly?

Watching the Snow Woman, whose face was clearly filled with resistance yet who was nonetheless forced to obey Li Ang's commands as she searched the nightmare world for him, the Scorpio Director gaped in shock.

Even though the Snow Woman seemed severely injured and had left her own nightmare world, making her weaker than an ordinary human, her inherent "status" and "weight" remained unchanged—she was still at Level One Cleaner tier.

And Li Ang, a Level Three Cleaner, had merely spilled some blood to forcibly suppress her will and override her, controlling a being far stronger than himself… Is this snake-skin scroll a bit too "overpowered"?

After studying Li Ang's snake-skin scroll for a moment, the Scorpio Director, unable to suppress his confusion, seized the moment as the Snow Woman opened the nightmare world and asked his question.

After hearing his question, Li Ang shook his head and replied with a slightly complex expression:

"It's not quite that overpowered… I mean, this thing has severe limitations—it's nowhere near as absurd as you think. In fact, it's fairly fair.

Nightmare beings, strictly speaking, have no souls—they're merely aggregates of memory and fantasy. In human terms, they're closer to 'objects' than 'people,' which is why they can be directly exchanged.

As for why I can override her level… it's not just blood I used to complete the transaction. It's also the demonic hide scroll on her chest.

That item is called 【Demon Registry】—an anomaly worth 42 Li Ang Points. In value, it exceeds the Snow Woman herself. The cost I paid was substantial."

(End of Chapter)