Stronger with Crimson Modifier

Chapter 371 - 334: Deceitful Painting Fragments (Part 1)

His gaze locked onto the bizarre, phantasmagorical scene before him, an imperceptible ripple disturbing his expression.

The deep dreamscape.

According to the information he had obtained, this was the final resting place for all the negative, dark thoughts of every living being—a land of the bizarre and the absurd.

The Nightmares ordinary people experienced were nothing more than scattered images glimpsed through the cracks at its edge, a brief taste of something terrifying.

But once one accidentally stepped into this deep dreamscape Domain, it was like falling into a giant, invisible net, with almost no chance of escape.

In the real world, the explanation for this deep dreamscape was that it was like a peculiar Alternate Space with its own consciousness, one that looped back on itself.

Like an endless labyrinth, whenever you felt you were about to grasp that glimmer of dawn that signaled waking, or find the slightest clue to an exit, the surrounding scenery would shift and reorganize.

New obstacles would materialize out of thin air like phantoms, trapping a person within this illusory cage.

However, all of that was secondary.

In reality, the most dangerous things in the deep dreamscape were the monsters constructed from the dark thoughts of all living beings.

"Mister! Do you want to buy a balloon?"

A childish voice suddenly rang out from the side.

An eleven- or twelve-year-old boy had appeared at some point.

The boy’s lower body was normal, no different from an ordinary child’s.

But his head was huge, twice the normal size.

His face, which should have had a full set of features, now had only a single eye and a mouth.

His massive, single eye glowed with a faint red light like a blood moon, taking up half his face. And within his gaping mouth, a row of fine, sharp teeth was densely packed, glinting coldly in the dim light.

The boy was tightly gripping a bundle of balloons.

These balloons were actually human heads, each with a different expression.

Some of the heads were twisted in agony, others were contorted in savage laughter.

And the strings used to tie the balloon-heads were, horrifically, thin strands of intestine, faintly stained with wet blood and reeking of a pungent, metallic stench.

Hu Qi merely gave it a passing glance, his pace not faltering in the slightest as he walked straight ahead.

"Mister, why are you ignoring me?"

The boy’s voice rang out again. His figure teleported like a phantom directly in front of Hu Qi, blocking his path.

A greedy light burned like a flame in his single eye as he stared intently at Hu Qi.

"Mister, is it because you don’t have any money? That’s okay. How about you give me that balloon on you, and we’ll trade?"

The boy’s tone held a hint of cunning.

At this, Hu Qi stopped.

His gaze swept over the boy.

"I can have any one I want?"

"Of course!"

Hearing Hu Qi speak, the corners of the boy’s mouth lifted.

But in the next second, his smile froze on his face.

The hand that had been tightly gripping the balloons loosened involuntarily.

The human-head balloons, as if granted new life, began to laugh wildly.

Dragging their intestine strings, they rapidly ascended high into the air, swaying and drifting against the dark sky like a host of grotesque specters.

The boy, meanwhile, clutched his neck with both hands, a strange gurgling sound coming from his throat.

His body collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Only his large head was freed from his body, left hovering in mid-air.

The shock and terror on his face had yet to fade.

But without a string to hold it, the head flew straight up into the sky.

Soon, it reached a certain height and stopped moving.

Just then, the human-head balloons that had flown from his hand swiftly converged on the boy’s head.

Their faces were filled with greed as they opened their mouths and bit down on the boy’s head.

The sickening sound of tearing flesh and blood rang out.

"No... don’t... ahhh..."

A miserable scream echoed through the night sky as bits of red and white matter rained down from above.

When the cluster dispersed, the boy’s balloon-head was gone.

Hu Qi paid it no mind.

He continued straight ahead.

That thing just now was the personification of a Nightmare from the deepest recesses of the collective consciousness.

It wasn’t a Dream Eye itself.

So, killing it was pointless.

’A pity. Sometimes, even if you don’t want to make a move, the other party insists on seeking death.’

Hu Qi could only reluctantly spare some of his time to satisfy the other’s small request.

After all, he was a good person who respected the old and cherished the young.

「Along the way.」

Hu Qi was attacked by all sorts of different monsters.

However, no matter the monster, as soon as it stepped within the ten-meter Domain around Hu Qi, it would spontaneously combust and instantly turn into a pile of Ashes.

These monsters seemed to possess some level of intelligence, but not much. Even after seeing their companions die one after another, they continued to swarm Hu Qi.

After discovering this, Hu Qi directly released a trace of a Dream Eye’s aura.

He had devoured hundreds of Dream Eyes, so even revealing a mere trace of their power was terrifying.

In an instant, the monsters vanished completely, as if they had seen something horrifying.

After sensing Hu Qi’s aura, they even began to give him a wide berth.

After that, his path was unobstructed. He headed toward the anomaly he had sensed.

「Soon.」

Hu Qi arrived at the city center and entered a large building.

The building’s interior was dim and gloomy, with only the elevator emitting a ghostly, blood-red light.

The nearby stairs looked relatively normal.

Anyone of sound mind could sense the unsettling aura permeating the place.

’Anyone who has seen a horror movie knows that in a situation like this, a normal person would never choose a confined space like an elevator. If you ran into danger, it would be difficult to escape...’