Thud, thud, thud.
The sound of Ling PingAn's footsteps could be heard going up the stairs.
On the counter downstairs, the unknown cloud of mist was already pervasive in the air.
Balls of light were surrounding the phone on the counter.
Within the posters, deep groans like that of whispers gradually intensified.
In and out of the bookshelves, the asphalt-like liquid progressively thickened.
Octopus-like tentacles began extending outward from the books.
Ravings that seemed to come from a bottomless abyss or the endless starry sky echoed from between the books.
Finally, the eyeball on the glass door opened.
Light undiscernible by the human eye dispersed layer after layer.
Brighter than the sun, brighter than all of starlight.
The spheres of light surrounding the phone scrambled into the webpage on the phone screen.
...
Chu Weiwei opened her eyes. She discovered that she was now in a strange environment.
She immediately jumped to her feet. The bell that she wore on her hand was jingling nonstop, but the Taoist robe she was wearing didn't move at all.
She turned to look at her surroundings.
This place was seemingly a wooden house, narrow and simple.
There was a clock on the wall.
Ticktock, ticktock...the clock's hands moved slowly.
In the center of the wooden house, there was an old television set. On the screen, snowflakes kept on flashing.
When Chu Weiwei looked toward that old television, lines of text appeared on its screen.
"Welcome to the Realm of Nightmare!"
"This is the hall of killing!"
"And also it is a paradise for evolution and adventure."
"Everyone who enters the Realm of Nightmare will be given a unique number."
"Your number is 1,433…"
"When you are in the realm of nightmare, by chanting this number, you will be able to connect with the Space..."
Subconsciously, Chu Weiwei said silently in her heart, "1,433."
Immediately, an interface similar to that of games she'd played before emerged in front of her.
The first tab was the character pane with all the information and data about Chu Weiwei, including age, weight, date of birth, and even her menstrual cycle.
Beside the character pane was the mission tab and the item tab. Between them, there was a line of text that said: When you enter the Realm of Nightmare or when you're performing missions in the nightmare world, your body will be digitalized.
On the character pane, something like a health bar and a mana bar really did appear.
Chu Weiwei's frown got deeper.
"What the h*ll is this place?" She mumbled to herself, "And how did I end up here?"
Some memories finally cropped up in her groggy head.
"So…"
"I came here after I fainted in the office of Beizhou's Ministry of Home Affairs?"
She remembered that she had seemingly followed her captain to Beizhou's Ministry of Home Affairs. After her captain had left for a meeting, she'd been sitting, playing games on her phone in the office alone…
That's right…
I was playing a game!
Back then, she had downloaded a mobile game by the name of Legend of Nightmare.
She had downloaded it from a link that had been sent to her mailbox.
"Who sent that link?" Chu Weiwei thought about this, and she immediately got goosebumps.
Because she'd remembered who had sent it.
The link was from the intranet.
The sender's name was…
...Zhang Yu!
A major in Blackguard!
A rising star of the Federal Empire!
The Blackguard was an organization that was entirely different from other federal agencies.
In Blackguard, strength meant respect, and the eminent were made officials.
Except for the members of Blackguard who had retired or were retired due to injury, the strength of all the other Blackguard members directly corresponded to their titles.
The lowest rank in the Blackguard was sergeant.
However, every sergeant in Blackguard possessed the capability to escape a squadron of armed policemen unscathed.
Above sergeant was Second Lieutenant.
Second Lieutenants in Blackguard wielded the power to face an entire infantry platoon alone.
While majors in Blackguard…could at least escape a mob consisting of an infantry battalion without a scratch!
From joining the Blackguard to becoming a major, it had only taken Zhang Yu a little bit more than four years.
Hence, he had been hailed as a miracle.
The higher-ups of Blackguard in the capital even thought that he might be promoted to the rank of general in the future, getting the opportunity to be in the presence of His Majesty the Emperor and be bestowed the title by the Emperor himself.
"You woke up…" A deep male voice came from behind her.
Chu Weiwei turned around and saw a young man in a black uniform gradually taking shape in her sight.
It was Zhang Yu!
Deputy Director of the Guangnan Branch of the Federal Empire's Blackguard.
A major who overlooked an entire region!
A living person who could match up to 10,000 enemies.
Zhang Yu shook hands with Chu Weiwei like a gentleman. "We meet again, Miss Chu!"
"Major Zhang…," Chu Weiwei looked at Zhang Yu with a curious expression, "...shouldn't you be on the mainland?"
"Huh, huh…" Zhang Yu chuckled, "I am on the mainland…"
"And the almighty Realm of Nightmare can traverse space…"
"So, here we meet again!" As he spoke, Zhang Yu once again kowtowed.
"Major Zhang, what's the meaning of this?" Chu Weiwei was on guard.
She'd been born to the top family in the art of Taoism in the Federal Empire, the Chu family on Qingcheng Mountain.
Her ancestor, Chu Ming, was a general who had served the founding Emperor of the Federal Empire. Chu Ming had three sons. His youngest son, Chu Feng, adored the art of Taoism from the time when he was young and had hence become a disciple of Grand Master Zhang on Dragon Tiger Mountain.
During the reign of Emperor Taizong, Spirit Aura recovered, foreign species emerged, and demons became rampant.
Emperor Taizong recalled Chu Feng and ordered him to create the Blackguard. He became the Blackguard's first governor.
Chu Feng had lived in seclusion on Qingcheng Mountain in his autumn years, and the Chu family had taken root there ever since.
For more than 200 years, the Chu family had always stood firm. They were at the top in terms of wealth in the Federal Empire. During their peak, the Chu family had seven Lords in their clan and three generals from each sub-family unit.
Today, although the Chu family was no longer as strong as it had been back then, they were still some of the few top wealthy aristocrats who had lasted from the founding of the country to the present.
Naturally, since childhood, Chu Weiwei had had to participate in various social activities.
Hence, she had met Zhang Yu a few times.
But she really couldn't understand what exactly was going on now?
"Why don't you speak your number again, Miss Chu?" Zhang Yu said with a smile. "He will give you the answer."
Chu Weiwei looked hesitant.
Zhang Yu smiled as if he had already known the answer a long time ago.
Of course, he might actually not care about this at all.
He sat down on a broken sofa, crossed his legs, and said while looking at Chu Weiwei's beautiful face, "Miss Chu, you don't have to think about using the Blackguard's communication talisman to report to the Blackguard!"
"The splendor of the Realm of Nightmare isn't something you can fathom."
"Here, all props and techniques are restricted."
Chu Weiwei let go of her hand, and a communication talisman that had been hidden in her hand fell to the ground.
Indeed, as Zhang Yu said, here in this strange place, the communication talisman customized by Blackguard had no ability to transmit communication signals at all.