That night, IKEA's store was in utter chaos. A much larger number of employee monsters than before swarmed into Return Town like a tidal wave.
No one knew why this was happening. Doraemon had specifically used his gadgets to check the returned materials, ensuring there were no traces of employee monster remains.
But for some unknown reason, the past two nights saw an increasing number of these monsters attacking—now reaching into the thousands.
The monsters came in all shapes and sizes, with hundreds towering over several dozen meters tall.
On the side of Return Town, there were only about thirty people left.
After Doraemon and the others discovered an exit, many people insisted on leaving, even if the destination wasn't their home universe. Anything was better than staying in this place, constantly living in fear.
Only a few people, unwilling to leave, or feeling that there was no point in going to unfamiliar places, chose to remain.
The sheer difference in numbers made it impossible to hold off the employee monsters.
If it weren't for Doraemon, Bruce Wayne, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro, Return Town would have fallen long ago.
Currently, Gaara was using his sandstorm powers to block a large group of employee monsters.
"Could it be that they sensed the danger we're in and sent so many monsters?" Kankuro speculated aloud.
"Very likely," Temari nodded and then glanced at Doraemon and Bruce Wayne, who were both glued to the screen, intently watching.
"Hey, what's wrong with you two?" she asked.
"You can't see the screen? Our world is in big trouble right now," Wayne's face was grim, his emotions clearly unsettled. He was worried that Gotham City might face even greater problems.
Even though Diana was there, the fact that he wasn't on-site made him anxious.
"Ah, what's Nobita going to do?" Doraemon covered his head, distressed, not knowing what to do.
In hindsight, he regretted not waking Nobita up before coming here and giving him a few gadgets for self-defense.
Now, he could only watch as Nobita faced danger, powerless to do anything about it. Doraemon couldn't help but repeatedly hit his own head, calling himself an idiot.
In Doraemon's World
Nobita was still sound asleep, completely unaware of the situation.
Three invisible Dream Killers surrounded him, greedily absorbing his sleep energy.
Nobita could be said to have the strongest sleep ability in this world, making his sleep energy incredibly potent.
For the Dream Killers, it was an irresistible temptation, and they relished every moment of absorbing it.
They were also curious—what would it be like for someone like Nobita to never be able to sleep again?
Their grotesque faces twisted into sickly smiles as they imagined Nobita's mental breakdown from insomnia.
However, a few minutes later, something strange happened.
All three Dream Killers suddenly collapsed to the floor, fast asleep, their invisibility vanishing.
"Uhhhhh!"
After a brief nap, the Dream Killers woke up in a panic, shocked as they glanced at each other. Then, they quickly turned their gaze to Nobita.
To their astonishment, Nobita was still soundly asleep, completely unaffected by their attacks.
Seeing this, the Dream Killers couldn't help but gape.
Any sleeping human should have been unable to continue sleeping in their presence.
But they had never encountered someone like Nobita—despite them absorbing so much of his sleep energy, he continued to sleep soundly, and even made them feel sleepy.
The three Dream Killers quickly shook their heads, trying to clear the drowsiness from their minds.
What a joke! They hadn't even finished tormenting their target, and they were the ones falling asleep!
Determined to uphold their dignity, they resumed devouring Nobita's sleep energy. But after just a few more seconds, they felt drowsy again and nearly collapsed once more.
Slap!
The three Dream Killers slapped themselves hard to stay awake, exchanging horrified glances.
They had never encountered anything like this before!
What kind of human was this? How could he make them feel this way, while he slept peacefully?
Grunt grunt grunt!!
One of the Dream Killers, growing more frustrated by the second, rushed to the window and let out a strange cry, more like a transmission of electromagnetic waves than a normal voice.
Not long after, three more Dream Killers climbed through the window.
The first trio quickly gestured wildly to explain the situation. The newcomers, baffled, turned their heads to look at Nobita, tilting their heads in confusion.
Could this kid really be that troublesome?
The six Dream Killers began simultaneously absorbing Nobita's sleep energy.
They believed that with six of them working together, they could surely wake Nobita, leaving him in a state of perpetual insomnia. But to their disbelief, the opposite happened.
All six Dream Killers collapsed to the floor, falling asleep and even snoring.
People watching the screen couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Tony Stark: "Wait, what's going on with this kid Nobita? He still hasn't woken up?"
The Ancient One: "That's quite an impressive ability to sleep."
Natasha: "He's even making the Dream Killers fall asleep. How does an elementary school student have this kind of sleep energy?"
Luffy: "Wow, he's almost like Zoro!"
Usopp: "No, I think Zoro's lose. Zoro wakes up at the slightest disturbance, but Nobita seems completely oblivious."
Luffy: "Ah! So Zoro would lose to Nobita in a sleeping contest!"
Zoro: "Hey! What kind of competition is that anyway?!"
Doraemon: "I didn't realize Nobita's sleep was so strong..."
Either way, seeing that Nobita was safe, Doraemon let out a sigh of relief. But what would happen next? Eventually, either Nobita or the Dream Killers would wake up.
What should they do then?
"Uh?"
At that moment, Nobita finally woke up, groggily staring at the ceiling.
"Strange, I felt like someone was bothering me while I slept," he muttered, sitting up and looking around.
When he spotted the six Dream Killers, he froze in place.
Rubbing his eyes and pinching himself to make sure he felt pain, he looked again.
Yep, six strange creatures were lying on the floor in his room.
"I must be dreaming," Nobita decided, lying back down to sleep again. He yawned and stretched before getting up once more.
When he glanced back at the floor, the six Dream Killers were still there.
Nobita's face turned pale. In a panic, he slapped himself hard!
Smack!
The slap was loud, and the stinging pain confirmed that this was real.
"Ahhh! What are these things?!"
Finally realizing the situation, Nobita screamed in terror, his hair standing on end.
(End of Chapter)