Chapter 12  : The Lord of Nightmare Also Wanted to be Popular

Everything became calm.

Qiu Ren and the Lord of Nightmare, Tapir, sat opposite each other once more.

Before Qiu Ren started talking, Tapir suddenly stuck its hand inside its chest. After groping briefly for a while, it pulled something out.

At first, Qiu Ren thought it was the heart of the Lord of Nightmare. Looking more carefully, he found that it was a light blue Dream Seed.

“This is your… remuneration.” Tapir’s voice carried a bit of exhaustion.

Judging from how this Dream Seed was taken out, it should be something important. Tapir tore part of it off for Qiu Ren as his reward.

“A Dream Seed.”

Qiu Ren took the Dream Seed full of light blue luster.

When he put it in his hands, its temperature still hadn’t come down. Qiu Ren could feel that there was a powerful energy in this Dream Seed.

Looking at the seed from the outside to the inside, he could even see some traces of relics of civilization.

This was a Dream Seed of at least Level B with a genre of science fiction!

It was, in fact, not difficult to evaluate the quality of a Dream Seed. The most intuitive way of doing it was to judge from the size of space it could carry.

Every person’s first awakened Dream Dungeon Dimension had only ten square meters of space, which was really small.

It was so small that it was impossible to make a movie, let alone creating a game. Unless it was a skipping simulator or something.

In order to expand it, a person must either use Creation Points or buy Dream Seeds to develop new spaces.

In terms of area, Level E Dream Seeds, the lowest level, could reach three hundred to a thousand square meters. The higher the level of the Dream Seed, the more the expansion would be.

A Level C Dream Seed could support a dream construction of the size of an entire city.

The one in Qiu Ren’s hands could even contain a dream construction of the size of the province he was in. It should be at least Level B.

“Mr. Qiu Ren… I hope you can… become powerful as soon as possible.”

Tapir gave Qiu Ren a present. At the same time, it also had high expectations for him.

“Powerful?”

Qiu Ren didn’t think it was a word for describing a Dream Maker or for commenting on a movie director or game creator.

“The world of Dream Makers isn’t… peaceful, Mr. Qiu Ren.” Tapir patiently told Qiu Ren about the dark side of this world.

“You mean the invasion of Dream Dungeons?” Qiu Ren had also learned about this.

Dream Dungeons could invade each other!

This was originally not something a poor student like Qiu Ren would encounter.

It often happened on those Dream Dungeon Movies in the cinema and Dream Dungeon Games with public commercial operations.

This kind of invasion was sometimes a malicious business competition and sometimes a military conflict between countries.

Qiu Ren didn’t know the exact way of invasion, though.

When someone’s Dream Dungeons were destroyed by the intruders, that person would die of a mental breakdown.

This was the reason why the country put so many resources into training Dream Makers. They even included the course of Dream Maker as one of the electives for the college entrance examination.

In this world, Dream Dungeons made up of movies and games represented power. Without any exaggeration, it was another level of competition between countries.

So, all countries would spend a considerable amount of money and resources to get Dream Seeds from all sorts of channels. They would then film Dream Dungeon Movies and create games. This was the same as a military competition.

It was a real war between cultures.

“I seem to have no reason to be targeted by those potential enemies.” Qiu Ren fiddled with the Dream Seed in his hands and said, “But I don’t like the feeling of having no power to protect myself.”

“The battle royale game you built… still belongs to you, and only you, Mr. Qiu Ren.” Tapir gave the reason why Qiu Ren would likely be targeted by the potential threats. “So, if you die of a mental breakdown because of the dream, I’ll be… very frustrated.”

When I die, will the battle royale game also be gone?

Qiu Ren wasn’t worried that someone in reality would assassinate him.

After all, Dream Dungeons could be inherited.

When most Dream Makers died, they would pass the Dream Dungeons they built down to their next generation, or they would turn them back to Dream Seeds with some unique techniques.

Only through invasion could a Dream Dungeon be completely destroyed.

Qiu Ren’s senior, the builder of the death tower, must have given the ownership of the death tower to the Lord of Nightmare, Tapir, before he died.

“So, I’ll still get remunerations in the future?” Qiu Ren asked the part he was most concerned about.

“Of course, but according to the rules, this is the best reward I can give you right now… If more humans are willing to participate in your battle royale game, I’ll recover a bit faster. And now, I need to give time for those humans outside to rest before starting the next round.”

There was also some uncontrollable exhaustion in the voice of the Lord of Nightmare.

It seemed that pulling out a Level C and Level B Dream Seed from its body brought some kind of harm to itself.

But Tapir was still willing to offer Qiu Ren this reward. There seemed to be some rules—rules that every Lord of Nightmare must follow.

This was also one of the principles of nightmare purification. Although Tapir also went into the Nightmare Dungeon to absorb human’s emotional power to heal itself, the harm it suffered after giving the winning humans rewards was even larger.

And yet, this was another reason why the purification progress of the Level S Nightmare Dungeon was so slow.

The Nightmare Dungeon of eating chicken increased Tapir’s food intake, but Tapir must offer more rewards in return.

Qiu Ren remembered a book that analyzed nightmare purification. It mentioned that the most crucial thing for purifying a Level S Nightmare Seed was the balance between intake and output.

Purifying the Level S Nightmare Seed was just a secondary goal. The main purpose was to get those Dream Seeds with a lower level produced by the Level S Nightmare Seed.

This was also the primary source of Dream Seeds.

The premise was to control the risk of that Level S Nightmare Seed running wild.

The dungeon of eating chicken had already increased Tapir’s productivity, but Qiu Ren believed there was still a lot of room for improvement.

“You’re underestimating the addiction of the battle royale game. More and more people will get hooked from now on. I’m not just talking about the death row prisoners in Fengdu Prison, either. Those staff members in the prison or people from the outside may also volunteer to participate in the game and become the new parachuting recruits of the isolated island.”

Qiu Ren said as he reminded the Lord of Nightmare, “The rules of the battle royale game can be easily reproduced. I guess there will soon be someone who will create a peaceful edition to fight for popularity with us.”

Qiu Ren could now treat the Lord of Nightmare… as the operator of the battle royale game.

However, the cost of death in the version operated by this Lord of Nightmare was too high. Not mentioning the realistic pain when being shot by a bullet, a person’s body and mind would be severely injured in reality after being killed in the game.

Even though the reward for eating the chicken at the end could be used to buy a house, the first two bloody costs would probably make a lot of people hesitate.

Then, if someone created a more peaceful edition, it would likely gain quite high popularity.

“I’ve already told you, Mr. Qiu Ren.” The Lord of Nightmare, Tapir, interlaced its fingers. Its voice became extremely low, as if it was suppressing something. “The battle royale game belongs to you, and you only. I won’t allow any similar Dream Dungeon or… Nightmare Dungeon to appear!”

Are you a cop? Things like rules were difficult to protect.

But the Lord of Nightmare didn’t seem to think so. Tapir looked like it would blow the dog head of anyone who dared to make a similar Dream Dungeon.

It was the owner of a Level S Nightmare, after all. Qiu Ren believed that the Lord of Nightmare was capable of keeping his word.

So, the people in this world could only experience the excitement of eating chicken in this dangerous nightmare. Countless people would be willing to risk their lives to eat this delicious roasted chicken.

“Finally, I hope the battle royale game will truly become popular… as you said, Mr. Qiu Ren.”

Tapir also adjusted its tone a bit. Qiu Ren could hear a hint of loneliness in its words. It sounded like a pathetic woman who had been in her boudoir for too long.

It looked like the Lord of Nightmare also wanted to be popular.

“It certainly will. When the harm brought by death in the nightmare is reduced to an acceptable range, more people will be willing to come in and take the wreath of laurel for eating chicken,” said Qiu Ren.

Tapir nodded gently again. It also realized it was time to send Qiu Ren away.

“Mr. Qiu Ren, it’s time for you to wake up,” said Tapir.

“Wait. Do you have Creation Points as an option in your rewards?” Qiu Ren asked quickly.

Creation Points were also important for building a Dream Dungeon. If Qiu Ren really wanted to create a story with this Level B Dream Seed, the number of Creation Points he needed would be at least a hundred thousand.

If Qiu Ren remembered it correctly, the exchange rate of Creation Points was 1:120 right now. He had to spend a hundred twenty yuan to buy one Creation Point.

Qiu Ren didn’t have so much money!

“I’m sorry. I can’t give you that.” Tapir shook its head to show that there was nothing it could do.

There was no way the Lord of Nightmare could give Qiu Ren another Dream Seed so he could exchange it for money.

Alright… It seemed that Qiu Ren had to think of a way to get Creation Points himself.

“If the battle royale game truly becomes popular in the future, as Mr. Qiu Ren said, I’ll offer you more remuneration. But I think it’s a wild wish. It’s really… difficult to make humans fall in love with death and pain. However, the nightmare you created indeed has this… potential. I’m willing to believe you.”

What Tapir said had a feeling of loneliness. It adjusted its tone and continued, “Lastly… I hope you can use that Dream Seed to create a… popular story.”

Popularity. The audience’s recognition was a powerful and essential indicator for a Dream Dungeon. It would be like the box office in the movie industry and sales in the gaming industry.

Popularity was called “populace recognition” in Dream Dungeons.

Qiu Ren could create a character that could easily destroy a skyscraper with the Level B Science Fiction Dream Seed in his hands.

But it was useless if he was the only person who thought the character was invincible and could level a building with one hand.

The audience also had to recognize and like it.

Not only one audience, either. The more people who recognized and loved the character, the stronger the power of the character would be when he invaded other people’s Dream Dungeons or when the characters from other Dream Dungeons intruded.

Qiu Ren indeed wanted to go back and think about what kind of dungeon he should create with this Level B Science Fiction Dream Seed.

However, he was also seriously considering the possibility of operating the dungeon of the “battle royale game” in the long term!

If it was operated by a Nightmare Dungeon, which absorbed human blood, flesh, and energy, gave people a feeling of fear and disgust, made them want to escape, let them experience negative emotions like despair and pain after entering, was locked up deep inside a prison, and could only rely on sacrificing human’s lives for purification in the end…

Then, the speed of obtaining Dream Seeds would be too slow.

Fengdu Prison could turn the battle royale game into a battlefield that everyone yearned for.

In order to become the only survivor on the island, the only kind, participants would use everything they had in their arsenal. They would kill the opponents with all the cruel, cunning, and merciless ways they could think of, then step on everyone’s dead bodies and get the final victory. In the end, that person would win the delicious chicken countless people were so desperate to get and return to the real world full of honor.

Qiu Ren believed that the battle royale game had this potential. No matter how severe the side effects of death were inside, countless warriors who didn’t care about their lives… would definitely swarm the game, as long as there were great rewards.

However, if Qiu Ren wanted to operate it, Fengdu Prison must first agree to open this Level S Nightmare Seed to the public.

Was that possible? Qiu Ren had heard that the degree of danger of Nightmare Seeds was also divided into different levels. Level S represented the strength of the Nightmare Seed in most situations, but the more powerful the Nightmare Seed, the more dangerous it was.

Tapir was detained in a prison for death row prisoners. It fed on the death row prisoners, so it was definitely at the most dangerous level.

If it lost control, it would be a disaster. People within a hundred miles of the area would have to evacuate.

Nobody knew if Fengdu Prison would conduct another assessment of danger level once again.

But before that, Qiu Ren had to consider if he could leave Fengdu Prison after waking up.