Infinite Nightmares

Just as the other person finished speaking, an awkward smile on their face, Zhang Wenda pressed down with his right hand and instantly transferred the wound to their neck.

Then, to the sound of the person choking on blood, he stepped onto the words floating in the sky and sped toward the Heaven-Reaching Tower.

As he stepped across the various words in the sky, Zhang Wenda looked down and saw that the Internet World had descended into utter chaos.

He saw that it wasn't just people from the Third Line and the Big Circle. Other factions in matching uniforms seemed to have joined the fray, escalating the massive brawl even further.

Pitch-black holes periodically appeared across the landscape, and combined with the words flying everywhere, the entire world seemed on the verge of collapse.

'Is the Internet World going to completely collapse?' Zhang Wenda thought uneasily, looking down at the chaos below.

Hu Maomao said nothing, her youthful face filled with worry.

"Is Old Tan really that important? Isn't he just a deputy director? The Third Line has to have at least a few deputy directors, right?"

"It's different. Do you think all deputy directors are as capable as Director Tan? The entire Third Line intelligence department used to be under his command. He only retired to a less active role because of his age. Besides..."

She paused for a moment before continuing. "Besides, I don't think it's that simple. Director Tan was willing to use himself as bait. That's a tactic you only use as a last resort in a dire crisis, which proves that the situation has become more critical than his own life."

"Ever since you retrieved that intelligence from Tang Xingxiong, Director Tan has barely been home. I'm really afraid we're heading for another situation like the first Thought Wave War."

"Don't jump to conclusions." Zhang Wenda hoisted Hu Maomao higher onto his back and quickened his pace.

"You don't understand. For someone like me, these premonitions I get aren't random. They're... omens."

"Omen or not, who cares. We're here now, so we'll deal with whatever comes our way." Zhang Wenda leaned forward, stomped hard with both feet, and leaped high into the air.

As Song Jianguo's whistle echoed, a pair of black wings unfurled from his back, carrying Zhang Wenda as he glided swiftly toward their destination.

"There are three of us! We're three masterminds, not just three guys with their heads together!"

With the gliding wings, Zhang Wenda's speed increased. After just a dozen or so minutes, he could already see the collapsed Tower of Babel in the distance, its ruins like mountain peaks.

"Strange. Why is it so quiet out here? There's no one around," Song Jianguo's voice came from the mouth of a Little Black Cat perched on Zhang Wenda.

"They're all in there." Zhang Wenda's brow was furrowed as he pointed toward a faint glow coming from behind the ruins of the Heaven-Reaching Tower.

As he drew closer, Zhang Wenda didn't dare to fly straight in. That would be far too conspicuous; it would be asking for death.

After confirming there were no traces of floating red in the vicinity, Zhang Wenda finally landed and approached with caution.

Zhang Wenda spoke as they walked. "First, let's be clear on our objective. We're here to rescue Tan Yougen, yes, but his life is not more important than ours."

"If it comes down to a real threat to our lives, we prioritize saving ourselves. Absolutely."

Even though there were three of them, and he himself had obtained the color blue, Zhang Wenda wasn't arrogant enough to think he was invincible.

"Okay, I'll listen to you this time." Hu Maomao spread her arms and closed her eyes, sensing the surroundings for any possible thoughts.

As Zhang Wenda slowly neared the toppled Tower of Babel, the shadows of its colossal fragments—so large their tops were out of sight—completely enveloped them.

Nothing had even happened yet, but Zhang Wenda could already feel the pressure mounting inside him.

The Tower of Babel was not a friendly place. Even setting aside the conflict between the Third Line and the Big Circle, it was extremely dangerous on a normal day.

Some of the rifts that had originally caused the Tower of Babel to collapse were now manifesting in tangible forms.

Zhang Wenda remembered the old man who had pointed at Ahava and said, "I want the foreigners dead." If your ideals clashed even slightly with these rifts, they would attack, and they were impossible to kill.

While staying vigilant for all sorts of dangers, Zhang Wenda was also searching for a certain trace of yellow from his past.

Ever since Pan Dongzi, "yellow" seemed to provide guidance in a way completely different from "red" and "blue," and that seemed to include this time as well.

If he could find "yellow" while also helping Old Tan, it would be perfect. The mission's success rate would increase dramatically.

"Should I get down?" Hu Maomao asked, feeling a little embarrassed to have been on Zhang Wenda's back for so long.

"No, stay there. It lets you use your abilities to their full potential. And if we run into something we can't beat, it'll be easier to escape."

And so, Zhang Wenda walked slowly into the ruins, carrying Hu Maomao in her yellow loafers on his back.

Once he was actually inside the ruins of the collapsed Tower of Babel, Zhang Wenda realized just how vast the area was.

Shards ranging in size from mountains to houses were scattered about in a chaotic arrangement, turning the place into a complete labyrinth.

Looking at the fragments, large and small, Zhang Wenda found it difficult to imagine just how tall the Tower of Babel must have been before it fell.

But the quiet atmosphere was soon broken. A corpse lay sprawled in front of Zhang Wenda.

It was a green Lizard Person, its body covered in scales. It had been severed at the waist, and a large, white lotus flower was blooming from the wound.

Just as Zhang Wenda was hesitating about whether to touch it, he felt a tap from Hu Maomao. Her voice immediately surfaced in his mind. "Someone's coming."

Zhang Wenda vanished among a pile of rubble with incredible speed. He had barely hidden himself when he heard footsteps gradually approaching from the distance. TAP... TAP... TAP...

As the sound echoed, all three of them held their breath, their hearts pounding in their throats.

"A Thought Wave Strong Person," Hu Maomao said, adding another layer of tension to the oppressive atmosphere. The Black Cat on Zhang Wenda's body stared wide-eyed, not even blinking.

Fortunately, the footsteps didn't linger. The sound began to recede into the distance.

But just as the footsteps were about to fade completely, the hidden Zhang Wenda suddenly moved, striding out from his cover.

"Stop! Zhang Wenda! Have you lost your mind?!"

Ignoring Hu Maomao's anxious cry, Zhang Wenda caught up to the familiar footsteps.

When the one-armed, one-legged man slowly turned, revealing his scalped head, Zhang Wenda was overjoyed.

He hadn't been mistaken. He was all too familiar with that gait—he'd listened to it for over two months. This was the Soviet who had first led him down this path.

"Teacher, what are you doing here?"

Despite Zhang Wenda's elation, the man's expression remained as placid as ever.

He merely swept his empty, eyeless sockets over Zhang Wenda before turning to continue deeper into the ruins.

"Leave. This is not a place you should have come to."