Infinite Nightmares

After saying this, Zhang Wenda reached out and cupped the young woman’s cheeks, studying her face intently. He couldn’t remember who she was, but he had a feeling that she was very important to him.

He remembered a Black Cat, a Black Cat that could conjure many things, but he’d already forgotten its name.

Zhang Wenda knew he couldn’t delay any longer. If his memories continued to fade, he was afraid he’d forget even what he was supposed to do.

"Maomao, it looks like I won’t be able to hold out for reinforcements. Take her and go, now. Stall for as long as you can." Zhang Wenda extended his sharp claws and quickly carved a bloody message to himself on his forearm: he had to stay behind and cover their retreat.

"I’m not leaving! You think I’ll just leave because you said so?" the young woman beside him cried out anxiously.

Hu Maomao reached out and tapped her on the head. The young woman’s body immediately went limp, and she collapsed.

"Alright, I’ll take her!" She gave Zhang Wenda a firm nod, then wrapped her arm around Song Jianguo and drifted unhesitatingly out of the Dream Circus.

Standing in place, Zhang Wenda could feel large chunks of his memory vanishing. His mind was becoming increasingly empty.

And as his memories faded, Zhang Wenda’s mind descended into chaos. He couldn’t seem to remember anything. Thankfully, the pain in his arm and the bloody words carved there reminded him what he had to do next.

’Hold the rear? Yes, that’s right. I have to hold the rear,’ Zhang Wenda muttered to himself, watching the circus clowns that were curiously gathering around him.

’Have I forgotten all my memories? Is there anything that I could never forget, even if I wanted to?’ Just as these words left Zhang Wenda’s mouth, a great red chasm tore straight through the first to the sixth levels of the Old Cortex Layer, a spectacular sight like a crimson waterfall.

Zhang Wenda stared at the massive vertical scar that had suddenly appeared before him, a flicker of understanding crossing his vacant expression. ’That’s right. This is something I could never forget, no matter how hard I tried.’

"Can you take me over there?" Zhang Wenda asked the Little Black Cats around him.

The Little Black Cats nodded, carrying Zhang Wenda, who could barely even walk, closer to it.

As they drew nearer, it looked even more spectacular. ’It’s hard to imagine how this thing managed to pierce the entire Old Cortex Layer. How was that even possible?’

"Why is it all red? How did this thing appear?" As Zhang Wenda asked this, he reached out his right hand to touch it.

When he made contact with the red expanse, it flowed from the spot he touched, through his skin, and into his body. That small patch grew much dimmer.

Seeing this, Zhang Wenda froze for a moment. He recalled something someone had once told him. He’d forgotten who the person was or what they looked like, but their explanation and description of the color red were now crystal clear in his mind.

He didn’t remember who that person was, but he remembered they were very patient. Though they spoke little, they were always guiding him.

Recalling everything that person had said about the color red, Zhang Wenda looked again at the scene before him.

"So... this entire thing is ’red’?"

Zhang Wenda stared, dumbfounded, at the great red chasm. ’Why do I have so much of this "red" inside me? Where did it all come from? It must be painful to have this thing stuck in here, right?’

As he gently placed his hand on the red chasm again, almost as a reflex, all the "red" within the chasm began to pour into Zhang Wenda’s body.

As the "red" poured in, some blue appeared in response. Then, he suddenly remembered something. ’Painful? Of course, it’s painful!’

’If this thing can cause me pain, then it can naturally cause *him* pain! This is a weapon!’

At that moment, Zhang Wenda’s eyes lit up. He’d figured out how to fight the enemy he was supposed to be holding off!

"Maomao!! Come back! Bring the cat-girl back!" Zhang Wenda yelled frantically in his mind, the shout so loud that the retreating Hu Maomao finally heard it.

Hu Maomao froze, but then everything in Zhang Wenda’s mind was laid bare before her. She immediately turned and rushed back.

Just as the Angel acting as a scout appeared in the Dream Circus, a scythe-wielding monster several hundred meters tall, formed from endlessly replicating Black Cats, rose up.

Under Zhang Wenda’s control, the "red" inside the Black Cats surged. The giant creature grabbed both sides of the red chasm and, with a unified effort, pulled hard.

As the chasm began to peel away from the Old Cortex Layer, a heart-wrenching pain erupted in his mind, so intense that Zhang Wenda nearly passed out.

"Keep going! Don’t stop!" At his cry, the Little Black Cats, the circus clowns, and even Hu Maomao all worked together to tear the enormous red chasm completely out of the Old Cortex Layer.

The chasm, formed from "red," was wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, like an incredibly long and broad spear. Yet for something so monumental, the moment it was pulled free, it was astonishingly light, as light as a feather.

As the "red" from it continuously poured into Zhang Wenda’s body, his out-of-control emotions were replaced by pure excitement.

"Let’s go! We’re moving out! Forward!" Amidst Zhang Wenda’s excited shouts, he landed a heavy jump that nearly collapsed the entire circus. The chasm, now held horizontally, almost split the entire pink island in two.

But the current Zhang Wenda paid no mind to any of this. The giant Zhang Wenda shouldered the red chasm and headed back the way he came.

Lakov, who had just arrived at the bottom of the Prefrontal Strait, hadn’t even had time to react before the giant red spear pierced straight through two Angels and continued forward without hesitation.

It passed through the water, through the Prefrontal Strait, through the Old Cortex Layer once more, and finally pierced through to the outside of the island.

In mid-air, Zhang Wenda raised the red chasm high and roared at the ground before him, "So the Inner World is a personal ideation, huh? Threshold Realm 03, is it?"

With a soul-tearing roar, he took the massive, ancient scar he had found in the depths of his own mind, and using it as a weapon, viciously plunged it into Lakov’s Inner World.

As a streak of red light flashed by, the entire personal ideation began to shake violently. A blood-red fissure that connected heaven and earth was torn open. As the black void shattered like glass, the ruins of the Tower of Babel once again appeared before everyone.

"Wenda, we’re out!" Hu Maomao said excitedly.

"Wenda? Who’s Wenda?" Zhang Wenda was now completely lost.

He might not remember, but Song Jianguo did. With no time for explanations, she quickly had the Black Cats drag Zhang Wenda through the newly opened fissure to escape.

Not long after Zhang Wenda left, Lakov, who had been passively ejected from his Inner World and had collapsed to the ground clutching his head in pain, stood back up.

He stared furiously in the direction Zhang Wenda and the others had fled. Fuming, his breath coming in ragged gasps, he was about to step into the folded space to give chase.

But after just two steps, he stopped again. The bright, furious light in his pupils faded as the Angels behind him gradually dispersed.

After a moment, he looked in the direction of Zhang Wenda’s departure, and the left corner of his mouth curled into a slight smile. He raised a fist and thumped it against his chest.

"I salute you, my student. You managed to claw your way out of my grasp with your life intact. Congratulations, you’ve graduated."