Outside the warehouse in the outskirts of Jiangbei New Town in the other material world.

It was still raining gloomily. Agents of the Dream Hunting Bureau and official police force from all directions had the old warehouse surrounded.

​​

"Has the rating result come out?"

Zhao Yanqing got out of the car and took a report from another colleague of the Dream Hunting Bureau, looking at the warehouse by the river far away under the raindrops falling from the sky.

The warehouse was shrouded in black mist. Only the outline of the warehouse and the cars in the mist could be seen vaguely.

"The preliminary report shows that it's a Level A nightmare pollution. The radius of the polluted area is about three hundred meters. Seventeen agents have been dragged into that Nightmare Dungeon."

Zhao Yanqing's assistant gave him a report on the nightmare pollution. He took the report and carefully read through it.

"The source of pollution is a 21-year-old university student…"

Zhao Yanqing had the report about Qiu Ren in his hands. Basically, everything about Qiu Ren in this world was reported, including where he attended kindergarten.

"He must be possessed by a Lord of Nightmare. Captain Zhao, you should be more experienced than I am in dealing with such a situation," that assistant said.

"I know, but the order I received this time is a bit special."

The order was to capture Qiu Ren and his sister alive… But he couldn't ask about the reason behind it.

According to the intel he had, Qiu Ling's real identity was a critical component of the current world of "Dynasties."

Qiu Ren's real identity and where he came from was still a mystery for the Dream Hunting Bureau. They could only consider him a highly dangerous nightmare consciousness.

"Captain! The black mist has lifted. The agents trapped inside seem to be waking up gradually."

"I saw that." Zhao Yanqing stopped a new agent, who wanted to rush over to save the others, with one hand as he put another hand on the holster on his waist. He stared at those agents slowly climbing up from the ground.

Those agents climbed up very stiffly, as if they were being infected by something. However, Zhao Yanqing soon released his hand on the holster.

"Rescue team!" Zhao Yanqing shouted at the armed rescue team on the other side. They had been prepared a long time ago.

The members of the rescue team in heavy chemical protective clothing quickly ran to the agents, who had already passed out for almost twelve hours next to the old warehouse.

After these agents woke up, basically all of them had physical damages caused by their death in the nightmare dungeon.

Most agents spat out the blood stuck in their throats when they woke up. Some of them were even choked by the blood. It would be impossible for them to survive until they woke up if they didn't rely on oxygen.

Among the seventeen agents, an agent with a minor injury was carried to Zhao Yanqing's side on a stretcher.

"Vincent, what happened to you in the nightmare dungeon?" Zhao Yanqing asked.

"Dragons… Captain, many terrifying dragons…" That agent said with a weak voice. After that, he suddenly woke up in shock, as if something came to his mind. He grabbed Zhao Yanqing's collar and said, "The dream consciousnesses… Our combatants all rebelled! All… Ahem, ahem…"

Before he could finish talking, he passed out from fatigue.

The combatants had rebelled. This news was much more terrifying than a Level A Nightmare Seed appearing in the city center.

Zhao Yanqing didn't fix his messy collar. Even though the black mist far away had started to dissipate, this also meant that "Qiu Ren," who was controlled by a Lord of Nightmare, had been awakened.

His next mission was to arrest this Lord of Nightmare.

"Wear your protection and be prepared to go in," Zhao Yanqing said to the agents of the Dream Exploration Bureau next to him after loading the gun in his hand.

…

"Do you want to keep this body?"

Qiu Ren knelt next to Qiu Ling's unconscious body. He was talking to Qiu Ling, who was in the Nightmare Dungeon of the army.

It seemed that Qiu Ling had decided to stay in the world of Monster Hunter, visiting the other Dream Dungeons occasionally and continuing her simple life just like that.

Then, her body in this material world didn't seem to be useful anymore?

"Um… Yes!"

Qiu Ling struggled for a long time. She didn't seem like she wanted to be dragged into the nightmare strife in this world, but she had accepted the body of the real Qiu Ling's for so many years already. She couldn't just give up.

So, after Qiu Ren's question, Qiu Ling's consciousness returned to her body. She opened her eyes again.

"It looks like I'll have to make some small changes to my plan. You should stay in this warehouse for a while. I'll ask those agents of the Dream Hunting Bureau for some daily necessities."

"Ask those people for daily necessities? They'll directly shoot you to death!" Qiu Ling wanted to warn Qiu Ren how dangerous those guys from the Dream Hunting Bureau were.

However, Qiu Ren was already standing at the entrance of the old warehouse.

This time, the officials' outfits were obviously more professional when they confronted Qiu Ren again. Seeing their heavy armor, he even thought he was in a sci-fi Dream Dungeon.

Qiu Ren was watching them and they were watching Qiu Ren… Qiu Ren soon found the leader among this group of agents, someone he was familiar with, Zhao Yanqing.

Having the demeanor of a protagonist, he didn't wear a helmet like the other agents.

"You don't have any hostages anymore! Give up your futile resistance and come out!"

Zhao Yanqing pointed his pistol at Qiu Ren. If it weren't for his orders, he might have directly shot Qiu Ren, the source of nightmare pollution, to death.

That would save a lot of ordinary people.

"There's nobody for me to take hostage. Captain Zhao… I let them out because I don't need them, not because I'm surrendering to you."

Qiu Ren took off the mask on his face. After such a long time, the officials of the Dream Hunting Bureau should have known his real identity. Hence, this mask made of black mist would just get in the way.

"A defense array has already been set up nearby to restrict the spread of nightmares! You can only hold us hostage now," Zhao Yanqing said.

"Really? Looks like… your defense array against nightmares isn't working."

As Qiu Ren spoke, he had already started dispatching help from the secret society.

With Tapir's power, her nightmare territory wouldn't be able to spread too far in this world. However, the secret society was the most dangerous Lords of Nightmare organization in this world. The nightmare territories they gathered directly broke through the blockade set up by the agents.

The entire warehouse was shrouded in black mist again. This time, the black mist didn't envelop just a small area but swept the surroundings like a blizzard, covering the sky and the ground. It even spread towards the city area on the opposite side of the river.

Zhao Yanqing looked at the black mist that was coming right at him and was about to devour him completely. Before he could say the two words, "oh no," in his mind, the black mist dissipated and faded again quickly, going back to Qiu Ren in the end.

The moment the black mist lifted, the agents next to Zhao Yanqing wanted to shoot Qiu Ren, but Zhao Yanqing stopped them.

"Stop! This guy isn't any Level A nightmare threat! It should be… Level S!" Zhao Yanqing looked at the nightmare blocking devices around him that had become scraps because of the load. "It's also possible that… he's the first Level SS Lord of Nightmare we have encountered in history. If we eliminated his body here…"

Zhao Yanqing paused and couldn't continue. He only wanted to ask his seniors to evacuate people in the entire city.

Once Qiu Ren ran wild, almost three million residents in this city would be trapped in a nightmare.

"Captain Zhao, your intuition has always been very sharp. You're also very smart and have extremely strong adaptability."

Qiu Ren gently clapped and wanted to take the opportunity to relieve the nervousness of the agents.

However, he was a terrifying monster in their eyes, so his claps were as horrifying as sharpening his claws in their perspective.

"What do you want?" Zhao Yanqing understood that he could only negotiate with Qiu Ren. He had to try to stop Qiu Ren from moving forward.

"I want… a warm bed, some food, and everything that makes someone's life more decent. As for me… I hope to meet a Dream Maker on your side."

Some requests Qiu Ren made at first were quite easily fulfilled. However, toward the end, the expressions of the agents and the guards outside changed.

"Do you know that among the 'Dream Makers' you mentioned, there are some people whom you can't threaten even if it means annihilating the entire city?"

The ones Zhao Yanqing referred to were the Dream Dungeons that constructed the base Dream Dungeon of the country.

Qiu Ren's request was akin to a group of terrorists who had hijacked the entire airport and were asking the government to give them the authority to launch nuclear bombs.

The senior officials of the government might directly… drown these terrorists in a toilet without hesitation.

"The person I want to meet isn't that kind of heavy hitter. I want to see the Dream Maker or the original writer of 'Blossoming Love' and the production team behind this Dream Dungeon. This shouldn't be too much of a request."

What? Blossoming Love?

Zhao Yanqing frowned slightly when he heard this name. His first reaction was that Qiu Ren wanted to invade those Dream Dungeons that were regarded as the foundations of the country, Dream Dungeons that belonged to the national defense category, like "Dynasties," "Heavenly Court," "Iron Battlefield."

But what was Blossoming Love?

"Captain, it's a harem anime that's still ongoing. I guess this Lord of Nightmare is going to threaten the writer. The plot has not been quite good lately. It used to be pretty amazing when it was released two years ago. Woohoo, my Hana."

The newcomer was probably too nervous, so he kept mumbling and exposed the fact that he was a fan of that production.

Zhao Yanqing glanced at him and remained silent. He soon gazed at Qiu Ren again with doubt in his eyes.

He didn't get it. He truly didn't get it… He spent so much effort to take the residents in the whole city hostage only to invade… an unimportant romantic Dream Dungeon?

This was like the group of terrorists suddenly didn't want the authority to use the nuclear bombs anymore. Instead, they wanted a KFC Family Big Box delivery. Even though the portion would be terrifyingly large, the senior officials would be satisfied even if they cleared the KFCs around the whole country!

Was there something very important hidden in "Blossoming Love"? Zhao Yanqing felt a little confused in his mind.

"What do you think, Captain Zhao? If you're willing to accept my suggestion, you can arrest me." Qiu Ren reached his hands out to them. "You just need to take me to the original writer of 'Blossoming Love.' I want to have a chat with the writer about the plot development in the future."