Su Zimo was puzzled earlier. According to the time he entered the nightmare world, the snake should have entered his twentieth nightmare world with Liu Xu and the others. Moreover, the snake should have hated them down to his bones, so Su Zimo thought he would have come to mess with them.
But later, Su Zimo felt that since he chose to live in the nineteenth nightmare world, he would be afraid of death. It wouldâve been normal for him to hide in the transit station and not show up.
Su Zimo didnât expect that the other party would want to attack them with the intent to kill.
And when the trainers and the malicious spirits went to war⊠Didnât he even think about clearing the task and going back?!
Because the Li Gui Shroud had a characteristic that it couldnât be seen when it was in use, it wasnât until the snakeâs clothes were torn apart from Ghost Umbrellaâs attack that Su Zimo saw the text boxed belonging to the Li Gui Shroud.
âThis guyâŠâ Mu Feng narrowed his eyes and stared at the thin man. âWho is it?â
Ever since Mu Feng figured out his stance on life and death, he seemed to let go of himself and become dull, not at all like the madman from the beginning.
âItâs the guy who pretended to be Cheng Yun in that nightmare world, the snake.â Su Zimo looked at the true face of the snake. âHe looks a bit different from what I imagined.â
To tell the truth, when this guy wore Cheng Yunâs skin, although he was nondescript, he always seemed to show some crazed evil charm.
That kind of ghostly expression wasnât as good as the smile of his shopâs Umbrella.
But he always felt that this guy should have been quite confident in his appearance. He didnât feel that the Li Gui Shroud would be wrapped around an almost shriveled man. His exposed fingers, neck, and face were shriveled down to bones, and his eye sockets were sunken. He looked more ghostly than an actual ghost.
[He was almost sucked dry by the ghost tool on his body. Even if I didnât deal with him, he would have died soon.]
The voice of the ghost umbrella also informed Su Zimo about why the snake rushed so desperately into the nightmare world and attacked his teammates regardless of his own safety.
He should have been aware he was dying.
But after the attack, the snake returned to his original form?
Su Zimo took a closer look and found that the bloodstained Li Gui Shroud also had a stab wound. It should be the remnants of Ghost Umbrellaâs attack.
Looking back at the malicious spirits who were still entangled with the newspapers, Su Zimo didnât have the energy to pay attention. Ghost Umbrella shattered the wall in a rage just now, but the malicious spirits who were guarding the outside of the residential building had already discovered it and were surrounding them.
Ghost Umbrella floated to greet him immediately, but Su Zimo noticed a small problem.
Ghost Umbrella should be the type⊠the type with a single invincible attack. Every swing of that bloody blade could definitely get rid of a malicious spirit. With the power of Ghost Umbrellaâs skill, it seemed that even a yellow-eyed malicious spirit could be killed in seconds, so when dealing with random trash, the damage was almost overwhelming.
And that powerful move may consume a lot of strength. Although Su Zimo was confident in Ghost Umbrellaâs strength, he hadnât forgotten that his strength had suffered a heavy loss.
As for the newspapers and Uncle Hong behind him, although it appeared to be a very useful area attack skill, Uncle Hong himself wasnât even a yellow-eyed ghost. He wasnât even as good as A-Li, who was guarding the âFantasy Fairy Tale Bookâ ghost tool.
So the role of the newspapers was to provide them with more time to fight back. Even Mu Feng and Liu Xu had joined the battle with ghost tools.
The abilities of Old Jin and the othersâ ghost tool incarnations werenât bad. With the addition of their special abilities, it was enough to make Liu Xu and the other trainers, who had a solid foundation, become more courageous.
Liu Xu naturally had more powerful ghost tools, like the red gloves on his hands.
But⊠no matter how powerful they were, they were already on the urge of backlashing. As the holder, Liu Xu should have been aware, so Old Jin and the othersâ ghost tool incarnations were more practical.
It was an opportunity only they could grasp.
At the moment, the only thing that comforted Su Zimo was that the Treasure Hunting Doll took the opportunity to run out and begin searching the entire community.
But the small community wasnât enough, ah⊠If they could destroy the illusion thereâŠ
In a tense moment, the snake that was originally lying on the ground was able to open his eyes despite Ghost Umbrellaâs attack. It may have been because the Li Gui Shroud on his body helped him block most of the attack.
But when the snake tried opening his mouth to speak, a head with long, seaweed-like hair came out of the linen shroud. The malicious spiritâs long tongue instantly reached out, gripping the snakeâs throat and strangling it. The Li Gui Shroud on the snake then turned into a long-haired female ghost wearing the shroud and rushed toward Su Zimo.
There was a feeling of resentment as the female ghost rushed over as if she had inherited the snakeâs hatred of Su Zimo.
But Su Zimo had fulfilled so many transactions that, even if he didnât rely on his shop assistantsâ abilities, he wouldnât be caught off guard by the female ghost.
Su Zimo dodged as fast as he could, then the black umbrella instantly opened and its âstrongest shieldâ ability caused the female ghost to be tossed away.
Before Su Zimo could do anything, a bloody blade slashed in midair and split the female ghost in half, scattering her soul.
Just when Su Zimo was looking for his next fight, he happened to see A-Li, who was standing toward the back and hadnât joined the battle for some reason. At that time, he suddenly moved to open the book.
âGhost Umbrella, get rid of that book!â
Ghost Umbrella, who was floating in midair, also noticed A-Liâs abnormal movements. The red bloody blades appeared almost at the same time as Su Zimo spoke. Before A-Li could fully open the book, he accurately slashed at A-Li.
Many dedicated malicious spirits took the initiative to interrupt the bloody blades, but Su Zimoâs enhanced speed proved to be faster than that of ordinary malicious spirits. The black umbrellaâs shield attack directly forced the group of malicious spirits away, allowing the bloody blades to accurately hit the Fantasy Fairy Tale Book.
A-Li could only protect the fairy tale book with his own body, but at the last moment he chose to protect himself, dodging when the bloody blades descended.
He originally thought that hitting a book wouldnât have any dramatic effects, but the exploding bomb noise stunned all of the trainers and the malicious spirits.
In the next second, Su Zimo and the others saw the surrounding evening, the towering residential buildings, the lights in the windows, and even the beautiful residential gardens begin to crumble and shatter like broken mirrors!
In the blink of an eye, the neighborhood that was originally beautiful and tidyâŠ
Turned to ruins in an instant.
Su Zimo and the others stood on dry grass covered in trash. Even the malicious spiritsâ favorite evening turned into a cloudy day.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Treasure Hunting Doll rushed out into the wide outside world at an unimaginable speed.
But Su Zimo and the others had no time to pay attention to the dollâs movements. They only noticed the community covered in withered grassâŠ
No. This wasnât a residential community anymore. Throughout the entire barren grassland, there was only one eight-story residential building, surrounded by dead trees with branches that swayed in the cold wind.
The residential building looked similar to the one where Old Jin and the others were hiding, except the outer wall was breaking down and the glass of some windows were shattered. Just like⊠the residential building model that Su Zimo and the others in the transit station!
âI didnât expect the entire community to be an illusion.â Su Zimo and the others couldnât believe it.
However, now that the ghost tool causing the illusion had been destroyedâŠ
âXiaoqing!â Su Zimo called for Zhang Xiaoqing from the black umbrella.
Without the influence from another illusory ghost tool, Zhang Xiaoqingâs ability wouldnât be hindered in any way.
Although the other trainers didnât know what Zhang Xiaoqing did, Su Zimo could tell⊠Without any changes in the surrounding environment, Liu Xu and the others, who were attacking malicious spirits⊠changed to appear as malicious spirits!
From Su Zimoâs perspective, it was as if the malicious spirits were fighting each other.
In addition to changing their appearances, the number of âmalicious spiritsâ seemed to have doubled. The extras seemed to be exactly the same as the ones who were about to attaack Su Zimo and the others!
[Trainers, donât think this trick can fool us! When we crafted an illusion, you didnât know anything about it!] A-Li shouted angrily. He took a watermelon knife from the hand of a younger man beside him and directly struck the figure of a fake malicious spirit.
It seemed they wanted to prove that they werenât affected by the illusions.
Su Zimo called out his little friend Peng Peng who had been resting in the umbrella.
When Peng Peng opened his sleepy eyes, Su Zimo was surprised to find that his eyes, which should have been grey, had turned yellow.
It seems that the veteran shop assistant in An Yu Yi Yu had been upgraded along with the shop.
The black umbrellaâs ability couldnât put a non-ghost tool piano into the umbrella, but Peng Pengâs ability had fortunately upgraded. When his hands waved in the air, semi-transparent black and white keys floated there.
Music of the Dead, which could confuse both people and ghosts, rang out. Although it wasnât the harsher version, the effect seemed to be the same.
The cannibalistic illusion created by Zhang Xiaoqing, coupled with Peng Pengâs enchantment, made even A-Liâs eyes look a bit slack.
[Not enough.] Peng Peng, who had been playing music beside him, seemed to feel that although his music had somewhat impacted the malicious spirits, it hadnât yet reached the point where they would collapse.
At that moment, the pale yellow of Peng Pengâs eyes began to darken.
Simultaneously⊠Su Zimo felt that the child next to him who only reached his thighs began to grow tallerâŠ
In the blink of an eye, the child who had once hid in Su Zimoâs arms acting cute and playful turned into a thin and pale young man who Su Zimo had met before. He was even dressed in the blue and white patient gown he was wearing when they met.
Of course, Su Zimo hadnât forgotten that Peng Pengâs true form was this young piano player who released his soul to voice his music after death.
Perhaps the youthful form restricted Peng Pengâs abilities. The Peng Peng who had returned to his original appearance was exactly the same as when Su Zimo saw him grow older the first time. The music he played now was almost twice as powerful as before.
Under Peng Pengâs influence Su Zimo recalled Ghost Umbrella and Uncle Hong, then asked Mu Feng and Liu Xu to return to his vicinity and stay away from the war zone in the wasteland.
Zhang Xiaoqing and Peng Pengâs powers were terrifying on their own, but when their powers combined, the sudden change was enough to deal with most situations.
If anyone wanted to break through her illusions, they had to have strong willpower.
However, Peng Pengâs music destroyed the willpower of both people and malicious spirits, unless a malicious spirit was much stronger than them. Otherwise, well, Su Zimo couldnât bear to look straight ahead of him after thinking about it.
When Su Zimo saw his team had completely evacuated the war zone, he saw the malicious spirits rush out from the collapsed hallway of the residential building led by A-Li. The malicious spirits guarding the outside of the building also rushed past like A-Li and the others.
Even Su Zimo couldnât know what the malicious spirits were seeing at that moment. Maybe it was figures that looked exactly like the trainers, or maybe companions facing each other with blades and they couldnât help wondering if the other was an enemy.
With Peng Pengâs music, everything had become chaotic and it was impossible to determine. Even A-Li and the others couldnât resist hurting those malicious spirits who may be their companions. Those malicious spirits with low willpower would slash desperately in front of them. No matter how much they shouted at them to stop, they couldnât stop all of the malicious spirit from attacking.
The battle situation was getting worse. It seemed that only by relying on the cannibalism of those horrible malicious spirits would they be wiped out.
As Mu Feng and the others realized that, they looked to Su Zimo and felt like their jaws would hit the ground.
What kind of person was this, ah!
âSu⊠sir. Who on earth are you?â Liu Xu finally used honorifics. <sup>1</sup>
âIâm just an ordinary shop owner.â As Su Zimo said those words, he thought of his mother An Yu, who had walked through this wasteland.
In the end, his mother chose to be content in a corner. <sup>2</sup>
Seeing the cannibalistic group in front of him, Su Zimo breathed a sigh of relief. Ignoring what the trainers around him thought, he even hoped the battle before them would last longer. After all, Su Zimo didnât know where the Treasure Hunting Doll had gone. He hoped she could take the opportunity to search more places.
In Su Zimoâs eyes, this wasteland wasnât desolate; it was a treasure trove!
Of course, saying that would be a bit rude.
Su Zimo turned and looked in the other direction. When they stood on the highest floor and looked out of the residential building before, they saw bright, bustling streets.
But now that he looked after the illusion was shattered, although the tall buildings were there, they were already in ruins. It was difficult to find whole doors or glass windows. He didnât know what kind of battles the roads had withstood to become abandoned and covered in trash and potholes everywhere.
This was the world after being ravaged by malicious spirits?
If they let their world continue in this way, would their world eventually end up like this?
Would the world that once made his mother happy, the world with his family, become like this? At that time, what would everyoneâs lives be like?
Although Su Zimo himself had the mysterious treasure An Yu Yi Yu, he still couldnât help thinking about it.
According to Ghost Umbrella, that was what made Su Zimo different from the others, right?
âGhost Umbrella. Do you know what circumstances would cause the nightmare world to move to another world?â Su Zimo asked aloud.
[âŠâŠ] Ghost Umbrella was silent for a rare moment and didnât answer immediately. After a long time, he said. [I know.]
[When the last trainer selected by the nightmare world dies, the nightmare world will feel that the current world no longer has any value and will move on to another world.] The answer Ghost Umbrella gave was so specific that it surprised Su Zimo.
From what A-Li said before, he didnât seem to know that the nightmare world was leaving because there werenât any more trainers in the world. If even a malicious spirit who had stayed in this wasteland of a world for over ten years didnât know about thisâŠ
How did Ghost Umbrella know?
When Su Zimo looked at the wasteland with a curious and regretful look, Ghost Umbrella kept watching Su Zimo, as if he held no regret or nostalgia for this place.
Su Zimo looked oddly at Ghost Umbrella, then another thought floated through his mind.
âRight.â Su Zimo suddenly remembered. âA-Li seemed to have mentioned it before. Why didnât he join Dawn Organization?â
âEn?â The other trainers looked over.
Because Su Zimoâs ears were used to mentions of Dawn Organization, he hadnât reacted when he heard A-Liâs words. He only then realizedâŠ
If A-Li knew about Dawn Organization, then the organization that the survivors had betrayed and eventually turned into malicious spirits â it really was Dawn Organization!
âMr. Su, what do you know?â Liu Xu couldnât help but ask.
âNothing.â Su Zimo knew about it but couldnât say much for a while. Fortunately, Mu Feng and Liu Xu werenât members of Dawn Organization, so they didnât need to know much.
But at that moment, a muffled hum suddenly came from amongst the trainers!
Su Zimo and the others turned back and saw that Uncle Chen Long of Dawn Organization had covered the upper part of his heart, as if he was suffering through a lot of pain, and slowly crouched in discomfort.
If Su Zimo remembered correctly, thatâs where Chen Long wore the Dawn Organization badge⊠Could it be thatâŠ
âMr. Chen, whatâs wrong?!â Mu Feng hurriedly walked over, still fond of the simple and honest veteran.
âItâs the badge.â Chen Longâs expression was ugly as he slowly moved his hands away.
At that time, Su Zimo and the others could see at a glance that the Dawn Organization badge that originally had a bright sun had turned into a round badge with a white background and a large circular mark on it.
Su Zimo had never seen such a badge, but he had seen something similar. Something that had the same black and white color⊠a slave medallion!
Itâs just that the slave medallion had a white background and black dots the size of a grain of rice as numbers. On the badge on Chen Longâs chest, the black circular mark was very large, as if many black dots were superimposed upon each other.
âIt seems to be better now.â After Uncle Chen Long took a few deep breaths, he seemed to think his physical condition was better and stood up straight again. âIsnât this ordinary plastic? How could it suddenly change?â
âMr. Chen, can you try removing that badge?â Su Zimo asked with a frown.
Then everyone watched Chen Long repeatedly try to remove the badge but fail every time. Chen Longâs face became ugly and pale.
âWhatâs going on!âUncle Chen Long obviously had a bad feeling about the strange situation.
âI have a very bad idea.â Su Zimo paused. âIâm afraid that Dawn Organization has just been a conspiracy from the start.â
âConspiracy? Whatâs the point of that?â Mu Feng didnât understand. âThe organization provides trainers with a lot of information about the nightmare world. Some stuff is very useful and you can check it out even if you donât join the organization.â
âThat also makes the size of Dawn Organization unprecedented, doesnât it?â Su Zimo continued. âNow that the badge on Mr. Chenâs chest looks like this, I suspect⊠It was just an ordinary plastic badge at the beginning, but it may have become a slave medallion!â
âSlave medallion? How is that possible?!â
âI said itâs just a suspicion.â Su Zimo couldnât explain much. âBut please think about it. If the badge on every Dawn Organization memberâs chest turned into a slave medallion, what would that mean?â
Everyone was silenced in an instant.
The answer to the question appeared in everyoneâs mind in almost the same moment.
If the countless members of Dawn Organization wore slave medallions on their chests, it meant that the âpersonâ wearing the ânumber oneâ medallion could control half or maybe more than half of their worldâs trainers!
After all, although it was difficult to become a leader or a team leader in Dawn Organization, simply wanting to join or becoming a lower level member was just a matter of registering an account on the Dawn Organization forum!
The number of Dawn Organization members might be more than they had ever imagined.
The owner of the ânumber oneâ medallion could even order all the Dawn Organization members to self-destruct at any second!
<ol>Liu Xu usually doesnât refer to Su Zimo in a respectful manner. He called him âèâŠâŠć
çâ (Su-xiansheng, Mr. Su) this time Pun on An Yu Yi Yu, An can mean safe, but it can also mean content/peaceful</ol>