Chapter 134: Upcoming Expedition
Qiu Ren’s invitation got everyone’s response.
They had to come because Qiu Ren had hostages in his hands. In exchange, they requested that they must see the hostages when they visited.
Qiu Ren agreed to this request… So, there were quite a lot of people coming to the pre-war meeting this time.
“Welcome… to my realm.”
Qiu Ren greeted the visitors with the ghost mask as usual.
Dream characters released by Qiu Ren were all back to their Dream Makers.
The research institute had sent Director Lu here. He was more like he was here to catch a student who made a mistake.
Qiu Ren also let Director Lu sit in the main seat without hesitation… When the Great Sage saw Director Lu, he became obedient like when he saw Tang Seng.
Director Lu was on Qiu Ren’s side, but he didn’t know what Qiu Ren wanted to do exactly. So, one of his purposes this time was to mediate between Qiu Ren and the hardliners of the research institute.
“You can still speak? Looks like… you haven’t been corrupted by nightmares completely.”
When a Dream Maker from World of Gods saw Qiu Ren, who was wearing a ghost mask, his first reaction was to think that he was controlled by the Lords of Nightmare.
In fact, abducting the characters in the three worlds to the Romantic Movie Universe with the Army… was enough to prove that Qiu Ren had turned to the side of the Lords of Nightmare.
“Looks like… some people need to understand… what it means to be polite… before we start talking.” Tapir didn’t like the provocation of the other party. It was these guys who set Qiu Ren up with the Army that forced him to this point.
Qiu Ren raised his hand and stopped Tapir from devouring this man alive as he said straightforwardly, “I’ll not talk about things like human minds are even more terrifying than Lords of Nightmare… that have been shown in various movie productions. However, the existence of Nightmare Seeds is indeed threatening the lives of human beings.”
Qiu Ren’s words made Suri and Lian, who came over to join in the fun, nod in agreement as they listened, but the last part of his sentence seemed a bit strange.
Luckily, Suri could understand what Qiu Ren was implying in his words. Lian, who came in the middle, wanted to say something, but Tapir held onto the armor on its shoulder with her hand.
“The two Lords of Nightmare you serve don’t seem to agree with you.”
The Dream Maker from Supernova Pictures had no good intentions either. What he said was extremely weird and was implying that Qiu Ren was controlled by Lian and Tapir.
“They certainly don’t agree because they didn’t volunteer to live in a Nightmare Seed like this. Isn’t purification… the most preferred way to deal with the Nightmare Seeds in all countries nowadays?” Qiu Ren asked.
“But a lot of the Lords of Nightmare are still treating us as their food… They’re the biggest threat,” said a Dream Maker from the League of Gods.
“Then, let me, or… the research institute behind me, handle this great threat. Who’s willing to hand over these dangerous Nightmare Seeds?”
Qiu Ren was still representing the research institute right now, so Director Lu didn’t say anything.
Even though Nightmare Seeds were dangerous, they could be sources of endless Dream Seeds if they were used well and could be treated as the strategic reserve resources for countries. However, if there were too many of them…
“It’s fine if you don’t want to answer that. This meeting isn’t about fighting for human rights for the Lords of Nightmare. They don’t need it… Just tell me something you care about.”
Under Qiu Ren’s construction, the entire meeting venue quickly underwent some changes.
Everyone was standing above Earth, looking at this blue planet in the universe.
“There have been more Nightmare Seeds coming to our world in recent years, and we finally encountered the knottiest Level SS Nightmare Seed of the Army this year.”
Qiu Ren marked the locations where all the Nightmare Seeds in history were discovered or landed and also the areas they affected according to the data given by the research institute.
No matter how large the impact of a Level S Nightmare Seed was, it could only affect an area of a city.
However, the impact of the Nightmare Seed of the Army could spread all over the world.
“According to this trend, there will be more and more Nightmare Seeds arriving in our world in the future. At the same time, the Lords of Nightmare that live inside won’t be so easy to deal with, or I should say that we’ll not be facing the Lords of Nightmare anymore, but… this kind of monster.”
Qiu Ren waved his hand again, and the Earth was gradually devoured by a creature covered in mud.
A Shadow Beast.
All Dream Makers here were experts who understood the truth about the Dream Dungeons. They certainly knew that the Shadow Beasts were the state of the Lords of Nightmare after they lost control.
“Qiu Ren… don’t beat around the bush. Just tell us about the information you got from the Army,” Director Lu said.
Director Lu was one of the earliest Dream Makers. He also knew that the world was in a dangerous state, surrounded by Lords of Nightmare.
Otherwise, Director Lu wouldn’t let the Heavenly Court operate excessively to resist the invasion of nightmares.
“The Nightmare Seeds that came to our world weren’t naturally generated, and they didn’t come by accident. Someone is intentionally spreading nightmare pollution in our world.”
Qiu Ren built another Earth… A Nightmare Seed derived from this Earth was directly thrown to the world where Qiu Ren lived.
“You gathered us here just to hear your fallacy?” someone said.
“The truth is already in front of you.”
Suri spoke this time. She dared not wear the high school senior outfit to this meeting, having changed back to that black power armor that gave people pressure.
“When we first came here, we indeed wanted to use you as the source of power, but this guy showed us new possibilities, which is why we are having this negotiation… The final target of the Army isn’t you but the creators who once abandoned us!”
Suri was trying her best to negotiate with these creators in the most gentle way, but her words still sounded threatening.
“We won’t interfere with your life in the material world anymore, so please don’t interfere with our activities in the Dream Dungeons either. The ongoing Alaina Cup and the Romantic Movie Universe don’t pose any threat to your safety. We just want to absorb enough energy to leave this material world.”
With Qiu Ren’s help, Alaina had gradually taken back control over her Dream Dungeon.
It was just a matter of time before the revival of the Army. The premise was that outsiders should stop interfering with the Romantic Movie Universe.
“How can we be sure that you’re not gaining the power to try to destroy the Dream Dungeons we operate?” the Dream Maker from Supernova Pictures asked.
Fuck! You’re the ones who like to do this kind of thing?
If Supernova hadn’t worked with the Army to try to eliminate the Great Sage, there wouldn’t be so many problems.
“I…” Suri wanted to defend herself, but Qiu Ren gently pulled her arm.
Qiu Ren knew that… Suri was too young. On the diplomacy level, she wouldn’t be able to beat these cunning people at all. Besides, they weren’t the ones Qiu Ren wanted to talk to.
“Let me be honest… The research institute I belong to is the only party I want to convince. I want to convince them to embark on a journey of discovery to another material world. And you… the European Gods and the Supernova League aren’t people I want to work with. I don’t care what you want to do.”
Qiu Ren glanced at Director Lu. Director Lu immediately made a hand gesture, as if he was saying, “Don’t stop. Keep going.”
“Also, you don’t seem to understand the situation. I’m not begging you to let the superheroes from Superhero World and the Gods from World of Gods stay. Instead…”
Qiu Ren flipped his hands up to show the superheroes and Gods, who had gone back to their Dream Makers, that they didn’t need to hesitate anymore.
The Gods were relatively hesitant about Qiu Ren. Other than the Goddess Mia served, who came next to Qiu Ren resolutely, the other Gods hadn’t had much contact with Qiu Ren. They remained where they were indifferently.
However, the superheroes of the Supernova League were different. The Flash ran to Qiu Ren without even thinking and put his hands on his hips to show his support for Qiu Ren.
“Honey! What are you doing?”
The Dream Maker of the Supernova League, Joe Finn, warned the Flash with a serious voice.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Joe Finn. My Dream Maker once taught me that I should do the right thing, things that can save more people. I believe joining Mr. Qiu Ren’s expedition to stop the invaders from outside… can realize my meaning as a superhero,” the Flash said.
“You…”
“How long do you still have to wait?”
Qiu Ren interrupted Joe Finn and asked Falcon Huntress and the other heroes next to her.
Falcon Huntress was dragged into the Romantic Movie Universe to play the female protagonist in Titanic. Before she could experience the excitement of a shipwreck, she was called to this place for a meeting.
She was still a bit hesitant when she saw the Flash fall out with Supernova Pictures, but since Qiu Ren had invited them in person, she must also declare her attitude.
“I don’t want to be completely controlled by my Dream Maker. Mr. Qiu Ren is willing to give me a way out, and in return, I can’t stay silent anymore.”
Falcon Huntress directly declared her stance… Ever since Qiu Ren was supported by the Nightmare Dungeon of the Army, he had become the best support for dream characters, who wanted to talk to their own Dream Makers, in the world.
With Qiu Ren here, Supernova Pictures wouldn’t be able to threaten this dream character with personality reset and memory deletion.
“You… are crossing the line! This is illegal! Is your country going to turn a blind eye on such an act of infringement?” the Dream Maker of the Supernova League, Joe Finn, questioned Director Lu.
“Dream Makers are not responsible… for the decisions the dream characters make,” Director Lu said calmly.
“So, are you going to allow this Dream Maker to unite with the Lords of Nightmare?”
“You seem to have misunderstood something, Mr. Joe Finn.”
Director Lu said directly, “We do interfere with Qiu Ren’s construction of Dream Dungeons. However, since he is too young and we think that he may not be able to understand the importance of the immortals of the Heavenly Court, this is more like a class from a teacher for a student. Simply put… it’s our own business. Facing the threats from the outsiders, we’ve always protected our own people.”
“You mean…” the representative of the League of Gods spoke.
“Nothing special. Qiu Ren, when you go back, hand in a thesis with more than 30,000 words on the other material world and the structure of the Army, stating the relationship between the other material world and the Army and the purpose of the Army itself. We’ll decide on our support for your ‘expedition’ based on… the performance of your thesis.”
“Okay.”
Qiu Ren accepted this little punishment. Right now, he just needed to get support from the research institute, and he would be able to go to the other material world.
As for… the Supernova League and the Gods, Qiu Ren wouldn’t force them if they weren’t willing to believe him.
What he had to do at this moment was to purify the nightmare pollution of the immortals of the Heavenly Court with the Romantic Movie Universe as much as possible and allow Alaina to absorb more energy… With more power, he would be able to start opening up the other material world.