Chapter 338: The Dream Demon's Gambit
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 338: The Dream Demon's Gambit
Underground District.
"Seal off every passage leading up from the Underground District, including the hidden ones. Signal immediately if you spot any trace of a Dream Demon," I commanded.
The Dream Demons were more troublesome than I had anticipated. While they certainly couldn't match me in raw combat power, their ability to hide and preserve their own lives was quite impressive.
Furthermore... there were quite a few of them, and they possessed absolutely no empathy. They felt neither pity nor indignation for the fate of their kin. When I killed one of their companions, their only anger stemmed from the fact that they had lost a piece of leverage.
As I spoke, everyone present nodded in silent agreement.
This was the first time I had displayed the true combat strength of an Outsider before them. It was also my formal declaration that, as an Outsider, I now possessed the ability to interfere with both the dream and reality planes.
My combat style was fundamentally different from theirs; to them, the way I used spells seemed like Divine Arts.
Even though they possessed a Transcendent foundation in Beyonder Arts and Inscriptions, their mindset was still rooted in the development logic and strategy of the tech-side. This was evident in their heavy reliance on Beyonder Killing Weapons and Beyonder Armaments.
Moreover, this battle between the Dream Demons and me had taken place right inside the city. Too many people had witnessed combat scenes that far exceeded their understanding in the aftermath of the clash. It was a massive shock to their worldview.
But I didn't care, and no one dared to raise any objections to my actions.
After all, they knew very well what would have happened to them by now if it weren't for me.
Even if they didn't go up to the surface to Ninglan New City, it didn't mean they were cut off from information. They were well aware of the existence of Dream Demons. Those weren't minor nuisances like Nightmares; Dream Demons were truly capable of killing people.
They would even treat humans as livestock, constantly extracting nourishment from them. Such a life was a fate worse than death.
Furthermore, the Underground District Beyonder Research Base was currently short on new Beyonder Armaments, and the Ground Patrol was understaffed, making it difficult to form an effective defense.
Hadn't they sent personnel and armaments to support the surface under the assumption that the Underground District's unique geography would shield it from the disasters above?
Now, they had been struck directly where they were most vulnerable, a blow straight to the jugular. Even the Ley Lines were being threatened. How could they possibly endure this?
They realized they had made a catastrophic mistake. They had nearly doomed the Underground District and endangered Ninglan New City on the surface as well.
Thus, the only path forward was restitution.
And, of course... currying favor with Scholar Xiao Han, the one who had just rescued them from the brink of disaster.
Only now did they truly recognize what kind of existence this scholar—who usually researched Transcendent Runes and exchanged techniques with them—actually was. This shattered the information they had received from above. What was that about Outsiders only being able to exist in dreams, unable to interfere with reality?
The person standing before them had just dealt a crushing blow to that perception.
The only thing they could do now was try to please me. They had performed numerous behavioral analyses and personality profiles on this Outsider, all to understand the behavioral patterns of this ticking time bomb and keep everything controllable.
Now that the bomb had demonstrated the power to actually blow them to bits, the nature of the situation had changed.
Their only consolation was that, for the time being, I remained a "friendly" target who was open to communication.
"We should head back. And while we're at it... build some containment facilities for these few." I kicked the Dream Demons beneath me—unlucky guys I had bound with dual-layer Restraint Spells affecting both reality and dreams.
If I had wanted to contain and study the Dream Demon I caught earlier, it would have cost the base massive amounts of manpower and resources, not to mention the extreme danger involved. The base director and high-level officials likely wouldn't have agreed.
But things were different now. Once I demonstrated my strength, they adjusted their judgment accordingly. I didn't believe they were so blind as to miss the obvious. Besides, there was no downside for them in a Dream Demon research project led by me, or in direct interrogations to gather intelligence on these monsters.
Moreover... I needed them to test the limits of my Resurrection Spell and other possibilities. Without experimentation, theoretical research alone would only lead to constant dead ends. Dream Demons were excellent experimental materials.
However, given the current manpower and resources of the Beyonder Research Base, attempting to contain Dream Demons was a bit of a stretch. Furthermore, having just survived a Dream Demon attack, many scholars were traumatized, and many projects had been paused or terminated entirely.
During this period, a large portion of the base's security force had lost their combat effectiveness. After all, even warriors strengthened by Beyonder Power were still ordinary people at heart; they were prone to mental collapse when faced with attacks that defied their understanding of reality.
As for those who had sacrificed their lives in this incident, they needed to be handled properly. The Underground District had a mountain of tasks to complete.
And then there were the latent threats.
I didn't think the Dream Demons would give up their attempt to control the Underground District so easily, even with me here. This place held the lifeblood of the entire Ninglan New City. Controlling it meant having leverage over the entire city. Unfortunately for them, those Dream Demons had realized this too late.
Before the Beyonder Research Base officially contained the Dream Demons, there was one more important thing to do: squeeze some information out of them.
This interrogation would serve as a supplement to the previous rushed one. This time, I had caught three Dream Demons. Although the number made it a bit difficult to manage alone, it wasn't beyond my control.
Interrogating multiple Dream Demons was actually much easier than questioning a single one. There was a simple and effective method to make them talk: the Prisoner's Dilemma. This tactic worked even better on Dream Demons, who shared no genuine bond or affection for one another.
Combined with the information gap I currently held, I could easily manufacture misunderstandings between them.
It didn't take long before I extracted a significant amount of useful intelligence.
For instance, I learned that the "companions" of these captured Dream Demons wouldn't bother trying to rescue them.
By that logic, they should have been even more willing to sell out the others, yet they remained tight-lipped.
It wasn't until I paid a certain price to use the Resurrection Spell for some truly inhumane interrogation that I learned the truth: there were still two Dream Demons wandering the Underground District.
Including those two, the ones I had captured, and the ones I had killed, the number of Dream Demons that had descended this time exceeded ten.
And they had indeed come down through the passage Ninglan Qiuyue knew about. That fact was now set in stone.
Should Ninglan Qiuyue be blamed for this catastrophe in the Underground District?
No. It was destined to happen. Even without Ninglan Qiuyue, there would have been someone else.
Furthermore, the Dream Demons had another objective: the Nightmares contained within the Beyonder Research Base!
Those Nightmares held a vast amount of Luck, which made them targets. Initially, however, their goal was simply to seize control of the entire Beyonder Research Base and the Ground Patrol.
"Control the base and the Ground Patrol... that's a total takeover of the Underground District. Why?" I asked.
"The Ley Lines... to completely control the Ley Lines..." the dying Dream Demon before me answered.
"Hmph."
I let out a cold snort and prepared to turn away. This action was a signal that I was going to question the other Dream Demons. If their answers didn't match hers, even more brutal torture awaited her.
This question was merely a formality. After all, besides the Ley Lines, there didn't seem to be anything more important in the Underground District.
But the Ley Lines weren't something they could destroy just because they wanted to. The Ley Line energy within was so vast that even if I tried to drain it with an Over-consumption Spellbook, I couldn't empty it. Given the bearing characteristics of Ley Line energy, even I didn't have the confidence to destroy them.
Presumably, they just wanted to control the Underground District and hold the Ley Lines as leverage, using the information gap to threaten the surface.
Besides, when those Dream Demons tried to attack the Ley Lines earlier, did they achieve anything other than causing some abnormal fluctuations in the energy?
No. The Ley Lines were sturdier than anyone could imagine.
"Wait... wait..." Just as I turned, the Dream Demon called out to me. Her voice was thick with terror, yet held a hint of resignation as she spoke.
"Speak."
I spat out the word with cold brevity, my tone indifferent to their lives. Here, even death was no escape for them; the Resurrection Spell was the final straw that crushed their spirits.
"For... a trade. Help... take control of the Underground District..."
"A trade? What trade? Be specific." I stepped toward her, my voice low. I hadn't expected a routine question to unearth such a find.
"Someone... wants to unify Ninglan New City... the surface... the underground..."
"Go on."
"He helped us... come down. We... take control..."
"Ninglan Qiuyu?" I uttered the name.
"Yes..."
"He's in league with you Dream Demons?"
"Yes..."
"And what about Ninglan Qiuyun? Is he involved too?"
"Yes... no..."
"What do you mean?" I listened as the Dream Demon confirmed and then shook her head in denial. Were they in league or not?
Or was it forced?
"Ninglan... Qiuyu... begged us..."
"He begged you? So Ninglan Qiuyun was set up by his own son. Was this his own initiative, or did you induce him by exploiting his desire for the City Lord's position?"
"Does it... matter..."
"Haha... I suppose not. How fascinating."
I let out a soft chuckle, a sound of amusement at the sheer variety of human nature and shock at seeing a novel-like plot play out in reality. They say power is a seductive poison; it can drive a person so mad they'd hold a blade to their own kin's throat.
According to the intel I got from the Dream Demon possessing Ninglan Qiuyue, Ninglan Qiuyu's patricide was also orchestrated by the Dream Demons. It seemed they had planned this from the very beginning. Ninglan Qiuyu was the perfect puppet for them.
He had ambition, motive, and aligned goals, with only a gap in knowledge and perception. He was the ultimate tool—the kind who would help you count the money after you'd sold him out.
"But I still have some doubts. How did you find Ninglan Qiuyu? For your plan to seize Luck, you should have approached the City Lord first when you arrived at Ninglan New City, rather than building a scheme around Ninglan Qiuyu."
Even if the Destruction Ritual required the City Lord's son, they could have just killed the father, and the son would have inherited the position by default. There was no need for the elaborate effort of having Ninglan Qiuyu lead a rebellion.
From a bird's-eye view, all of this seemed redundant. Quite a few "innocent" Dream Demons must have died in the process.
"Does it... matter? It's all... the same..."
"I'm giving you one last chance," I said sternly.
"Coordinates! Positioning... for us Dream Demons... to descend here, we need coordinates... that... was held by Ninglan Qiuyu... initially, we could only... only communicate with him..."
"Even coming through... cost a great price... it required his cooperation, a... descent ritual... He... wasn't easy to fool..."
"Coordinates. Heh, and here I thought it was easy for you to get here."
"The Void is vast... reaching a destination requires special means..."
"So, in truth, you haven't shown that greenhorn your true horrors yet? He's still being kept in the dark, thinking he can use you and then dispose of you?" That was the most logical explanation.
If Ninglan Qiuyu wanted to use these Dream Demons to achieve his goals, it was like someone suddenly obtaining a demonic artifact that could summon beings to grant wishes. While using the demon, he would also have to consider whether he could control it.
After all, Ninglan Qiuyu wanted to be the City Lord, not a lackey for demons. He needed a deterrent to discard them once they outlived their usefulness.
"Yes... probably..."
"What do you mean, 'probably'?"
"We are... merely... using each other, plotting against each other..."
"Heh... naturally. He has the nerve. If he wins the gamble in the end, he'll be a hero, and no one will know the truth behind the game. If he fails... he'll be a criminal who might even doom all of Ninglan New City. Truly an ambitious man, to collaborate with demons from the Abyss."
To put it bluntly, the history of Ninglan New City is merely the glory written by the victors.
In Ninglan Qiuyu's eyes, failure probably meant nothing more than his own death. Once he was gone, he didn't care if the world burned.
But he could have waited. He simply couldn't help himself.
Faced with the choice between something that would eventually be his and the risk of taking it now, he chose the latter. Regardless of his internal struggle, the results didn't lie. This temperament ensured that Ninglan Qiuyu would never be a fit City Lord.
The survival of Ninglan New City required the steadfast, day-to-day dedication of a resolute soul, not a mediocre man who couldn't even suppress his own base desires—a mediocre man with ambitions that far outstripped his understanding.
But then again, it wasn't my place to judge.
I only needed to make my own choice. The options before me were clear: support Ninglan Qiuyu's actions and clean up his mess, or reject them and expose his vileness.
Now that I understood the situation to this depth, right and wrong weren't really important anymore. What mattered was stance and alignment.
People at their level were the ones who defined right and wrong. Coincidentally, I was also a very open-minded being; I wouldn't force my definitions of right and wrong onto others.
My rationality urged me to understand him. Everything had already happened; there was no need for me to impose my values on Ninglan New City. Even if they were rotten to the core, it had nothing to do with me. However, his behavior made me uncomfortable.
My sensibility, naturally, leaned toward exposing him. But the consequences of exposure were unknown and could lead to even worse, unpredictable outcomes. Moreover, the City Lord didn't seem to have a second son.
Thus, both choices left me feeling uneasy.
So, I would simply make no choice at all.
I chose to observe.