Chapter 316 : Chapter 316

Chapter 316: The Dire Situation of the Fool's Dream

The Fool's Dream encountering difficulties was not a new occurrence.

The simplest solution was naturally to take them to the Earth Patrol Team.

After all, I had witnessed their proficiency in saying the right things to the right people.

It might not work if the Fool's Dream went themselves, but if I went, it would definitely work.

Although I hadn't been at the extraordinary research base for long, and my reputation hadn't spread outside, certain information traveled quickly in some circles.

After all, their livelihoods depended on it, so they naturally had to understand who they could provoke, who they couldn't, and who needed to be catered to.

The underground city might seem large, but for those living here, you've pretty much seen everyone at some point.

The class division in the underground city was stark, and the distribution of benefits was clear, which also meant there was a lot of room for manipulation.

Before long, I, wearing the uniform of the extraordinary research base, led the group of Fool's Dream into the Earth Patrol Team's headquarters.

Upon seeing my uniform, the person who greeted me was even more animated than if they had just seen me as a person.

"Hello, hello... Scholar, I wonder what trouble has brought you to our Earth Patrol Team?"

"There is a small problem, and I'm not sure if you can help solve it."

I directly refused the hand he enthusiastically extended.

"A handshake won't be necessary... What? I've already walked into your headquarters, haven't you figured out which scholar from the base I am yet?"

"Oh, no, no, how could that be? The new outsider scholar at the extraordinary research base these past two days, you are the hottest commodity at the base right now."

"So you do know? Then the trouble these little ones have encountered is my trouble. Help me deal with it," I said.

"Yes, yes, of course. Someone, come and help register this. Um... Scholar Yang Yuehan... right? We have some tea prepared for you here. Why don't you sit down and we can chat slowly? After all, solving the troubles of those little ones is quite troublesome."

"Mm."

Under his guidance, I walked into the reception room and unceremoniously chose a comfortable seat.

"But dealing with trouble, isn't that the duty of your Earth Patrol Team?"

"That's true, but our team can't possibly look after every single exchange here. Scholar, you probably spend all day in the lab and don't know the hardships of the common folk..."

"I know. What will it take to settle this matter?"

After all, the fact that I couldn't affect reality was an objective problem I had to face.

To get things done, you naturally have to offer benefits.

Just as it's said, the King of Hell is easy to see, but the little ghosts are hard to deal with.

Giving benefits is the most direct way to handle things.

Talking any more with people like this would just be pointless haggling.

Wasn't the whole point of my identity as a scholar here for convenience?

"Haha, what are you saying..."

After a brief discussion, we reached a consensus very quickly.

After all, I wasn't going to live here forever.

Even if I damaged the base's interests, no one would dare say anything in the short term.

As for the long term... as if I would stay here forever.

The Earth Patrol Team's request was actually quite simple.

As the armed force of the underground city, what could they want more than advanced weapons?

It was easy for me to create weapons; the only trouble was whether these Fool's Dream could execute and complete my requests.

"Let's go, little ones. Say goodbye to the big brothers and sisters of the Earth Patrol Team here."

Amidst the cute farewells of the group of Fool's Dream, the Earth Patrol Team members saw us out.

After seeing us walk far away, the relaxed atmosphere here was swept away.

"Captain, why did we agree to that woman's request? They're just a bunch of beggars off the street. Are we really treating them like treasure?"

"Heh, they're not little stray cats begging on the street anymore. Now, they're our Earth Patrol Team's little VIPs. Get to work, everyone. Go help our Scholar... find some cats."

"Captain, that scholar is just an outsider. Who knows when she'll leave? She doesn't have any faction backing her. We don't need to be so respectful, do we?"

"Why are you all so stupid? Don't you understand that less trouble is better than more? No faction, does that mean she herself has no value? It's precisely because she's not from here that she's so generous."

"By the way, have you found out which faction abducted those cats? If it's just some punks, be direct. If not..."

"Captain, it seems not. This..."

"Sigh... trouble. I knew it wouldn't be easy."

Hearing it wasn't some punks, the captain directly interrupted his subordinate and went to check himself.

"This..."

"Captain, those cats came to us about this before. We investigated and rejected them, but we didn't expect them to find this..."

"Stop, I get it. Next time something like this happens, notify me in advance. Damn it... I asked for too little. Let me make a call."

The captain, looking annoyed, took out a phone-like device and walked into an empty reception room.

After entering, he locked the door, opened the phone, and found a contact named "Ninglan Qiuyue" in his address book.

"Hello, Miss."

"What's happened? Why are you suddenly contacting me with this number?"

"I've discovered that a hand from above has reached the base's territory again."

"Is that all? Have you figured out which family it is?"

The voice on the other end inquired.

"No, but they're secretly transporting cats to the surface."

"They're into that? Then isn't this simple? Pinpoint the location, lock onto the destination. Don't tell me your territory can't even handle something like this."

"We can, of course we can. But this matter involves Miss Yang Yuehan, the one you asked me to keep an eye on. Just a short while ago, she came to us personally to ask about the cats... so..."

"Trouble... you carry on as usual over there. I'll handle the rest from my end."

"Yes, yes!"

Hanging up the phone, the captain of the Earth Patrol Team let out a long sigh of relief, as if he had just shaken off the trouble away.

But he still couldn't let his guard down.

When the captain went out, an Earth Patrol Team member in charge of the switchboard hurriedly stood up, "Captain, it's appeared again!"

"What's appeared again? Speak clearly... wait, you're not talking about the Nightmare, are you?"

"Yes! We just received a call. In District Three, there are multiple households where people have fallen asleep and won't wake up. It's highly likely to be that... Nightmare again."

"Misfortunes never come singly. Damn it... assemble the team. You come with me to appease the public. And you, you keep a close watch on those cats. There can't be any mishaps."

---

Meanwhile, I, who was leading these Fool's Dream back, had returned to the hotel.

Thanks to me, these Fool's Dream were considered special employees of the base and had been provided with housing, just in a different place from where I lived.

Their residence was a dormitory similar to those for the base's apprentices.

The internal space wasn't large, but it could accommodate many Fool's Dream.

For this reason, they would also take in homeless Fool's Dream to live with them.

It could be said that mutual help among the Fool's Dream had become their instinctive behavior, because only in this way could they prevent the number of their companions from dwindling.

Returning to the hotel, I knocked on Big Sis Bai's door, but there was no response.

It seemed she was out again.

Big Sis Bai had also been quite busy these past two days because of me, so she went to do her own things.

As for what she was doing, Big Sis Bai didn't tell me in detail, only saying that she felt there might be some kind of opportunity in this underground city and wanted to walk around.

Back in my room, during this time that belonged solely to me, I naturally wouldn't waste it.

I would continue to research and perfect the Dream Rewrite Spell.

But tracing this spell back to its source, it was nothing more than rewriting the channel through which the dream state acquires information.

The dream state would continuously acquire various information after invading reality, constantly constructing and replicating everything in reality within the dream.

This was how it was supposed to be, but there was a most special existence in all of this, and that was us, the outsiders.

Our existence was not a product of this dream invading reality, but a consciousness with self-awareness from a place far, far away.

So... this dream state was connected to my original world, including my main body.

Because information doesn't lie.

The dream state acquired information about our main bodies through some channel.

Perhaps I should go and trouble those Nightmares.

After all, all of this was their doing.

For the next few days, I did the same things as before, as if I didn't know what urgency was.

But I was also inquiring about some things, such as the matter of the Nightmares.

It seemed that there had been quite a few incidents involving Nightmares in the past two days, to the point that people at the extraordinary research base were discussing it.

This made me very interested.

Although the Nightmares carried Destiny, as long as I didn't kill them, there would be no problem.

I just wanted to use the Nightmares to try some research.

"S-Scholar Little Han... um... we're just about to get to work..."

At this moment, the few apprentices who were gathered here chatting were immediately scared and prepared to leave when they saw me walking towards them.

"Wait, don't be in a hurry to leave," I called out to them.

"What were you all chatting about just now?"

"Uh... um... just..."

These people immediately stammered and couldn't say anything.

"You were talking about the Nightmare, right? Go on, I'm also very interested in this."

"Huh? Scholar Little Han, you're also interested in this?"

"I'm interested in the existence of the Nightmare," I nodded and said.

"Really? I heard a rumor that those Nightmares seem to have some connection with the outsiders. This... I'm sorry, I spoke out of turn."

"If you know you spoke out of turn, then don't ask. Is it true that there are cases of Nightmare attacks in the districts you were talking about?"

"That's definitely true. The street I live on has been sealed off by the Earth Patrol Team. I almost came late today because I had to take a detour."

"Same here. Gosh... that whole street is dead silent, not a single sound. That Nightmare is too terrifying, isn't it?"

"Can you tell me specifically where?"

I asked.

"Huh? Wait, Scholar Little Han, you're not thinking of going over to see for yourself, are you? No, no! If you get into danger because of us, we're all finished! Don't! Please don't!"

"Please don't! I beg you. I pulled so many strings to become an apprentice here. I really can't lose this job!"

"This has nothing to do with you. What are you worried about? Just tell me the location. Just pretend you never saw me."

Then, I forcefully obtained some information about the Nightmare incidents from them.

Even if they didn't tell me, I could naturally inquire about it elsewhere.

It was just more convenient at this moment.

Today, I also left here earlier than usual.

After all, I still needed to leave some time to see the development of the Nightmare incidents.

Or rather, the Nightmare incidents in the underground city had never stopped, they had just been suppressed, or those incidents had not spread under the measures of the Earth Patrol Team.

I also learned that the Nightmare's attacks at most gave people nightmares and made them a little dazed from fear.

No one had been in a life-threatening situation so far, so this was still just an ordinary case.

The sealing of the area was just for show.

After a few days, the Nightmare would dissipate, and the people would wake up.

The Earth Patrol Team would follow the procedure to appease them, and then the matter would be considered successfully resolved, at least for the Earth Patrol Team, it was a closed case.

But the mental trauma caused to the residents here could not be erased.

"Big Sis Little Han, why are we finishing so early today?"

A Fool's Dream asked while organizing the files.

It was indeed much earlier today.

"Oh, because of some things, I'm preparing to go back early. By the way, I still don't know where you all live. Let me go and see while we're at it."

"Huh? Is that okay? Didn't Big Sis Little Han say you had other things to do?"

"That's not urgent. I'm just looking for a suitable excuse to leave early," I said with a smile.

Actually, these were all just excuses.

The Nightmare incidents were actually happening near the residences of these Fool's Dream.

This would also further intensify the aversion of those at the bottom towards the Fool's Dream.

They needed a reasonable outlet or target to vent their suffering.

I was naturally a little worried about the situation of these Fool's Dream.

When I followed these Fool's Dream to their residence, I was not surprised to see the Earth Patrol Team sealing off the scene.

There were also sounds of arguing.

"It's these things that brought the Nightmares! The city is so big, why do Nightmares frequently appear only on our side!"

"Exactly! Drive these things out! We don't welcome them here."

"Who are you trying to look pitiful for? Drive them to the surface, don't come and harm us!"

"There... there are a few more cat-people over there! Drive them away..."

At this moment, as I, leading this group of Fool's Dream, just arrived here, I saw the crowd gathered there, agitating like an angry mob.

After seeing us, they directly pointed their spearhead at us.

"My little ancestors... why did this big sister come here?"

The Earth Patrol Team members maintaining order here also complained.

Of course, they were just complaining verbally.

They were only here to mediate.

These foolish guys were just causing trouble for them here.

Now that a heavyweight had arrived, it gave them a reason to use forceful means.

Bang!

With a loud bang exploding here, these people were immediately scared and didn't dare to move.

Some directly fell to the ground and hugged their heads, looking like they were old hands at this.

"All of you, stop! Who gave you the guts to gather and charge at a scholar from the extraordinary research base!"

"Do you all want to try the methods of our Earth Patrol Team!"

At this moment, the captain of the Earth Patrol Team was holding a firearm.

With his words, these people finally reacted and realized that the person next to the Fool's Dream was wearing a base uniform.

They never expected such a big shot to come here, and were immediately scared and trembling, especially those who were at the front and those who were instigating the crowd.