Chapter 16 The "Sleeping Beauty" in the Steel Jungle: A Nightmare Descends

Abandoned City No. 03.

The sky presented a sickly lead-gray color, with thick clouds pressing down on the head, as if one could reach out and touch the suffocating haze.

This place was once a bustling commercial CBD, but now it is a dead, silent steel jungle.

The glass on the exterior walls of the cloud-piercing skyscrapers was shattered, revealing dark, hollow steel skeletons that looked like the fangs of a decaying giant beast.

Rusty car wrecks lay across the streets, and in the cracks of the asphalt road, mutated wisteria spread like blood vessels, eerie and dangerous.

The air was filled with the smell of decay, rust, and a faint scent of Demonic Beast excrement.

"So this is the actual combat exam site..."

Su Qingyue gripped the Qingshuang Sword in her hand, her cold, clear eyes scanning the surroundings vigilantly.

As a Genius key-cultivated by the Su Family, she could clearly perceive the countless murderous intentions hidden beneath this silence.

"Jiang Chen, according to the map, the commercial district is to the front left, and the residential district is to the right. The commercial district has dense Demonic Beasts but high points, while the residential district has complex terrain suitable for guerrilla warfare..."

Su Qingyue was analyzing the tactics, but when she turned around, she found that the space behind her was completely empty.

"Jiang Chen?"

Her heart tightened, and she turned around abruptly.

She saw that guy, carrying a mountain-like mountaineering backpack, squatting at the entrance of a shop a few dozen meters away, staring blankly at a faded sign.

Su Qingyue ran over helplessly: "What are you doing? This is an abandoned zone; there are Tier 1 and even Tier 2 Demonic Beasts everywhere!"

"Shh—"

Jiang Chen raised a finger and pointed at the sign—【Royal No. 1 · High-end Home Textile Experience Center】.

"Classmate Su, your tactical literacy still needs improvement." Jiang Chen said solemnly, "In wilderness survival, the first priority is not killing monsters, but building a nest. Although this place is a bit broken, this sign tells me that there might be the Divine Artifact we are looking for inside."

"Divine Artifact?" Su Qingyue was stunned, "Are you saying there are leftover Advanced weapons inside?"

"No." Jiang Chen yawned, his eyes unfocused, "It's a latex mattress. The top-tier kind with a seven-zone support System and independent pocket springs."

Su Qingyue: "..."

She took a deep breath and told herself to stay calm. This guy was a freak who could slap someone onto a wall in the arena; his thought process must have deep meanings that ordinary people couldn't understand.

"Let's go, let's go inspect the goods."

Jiang Chen swaggered inside.

The shop lobby was a mess, with broken glass and dust everywhere. But in the VIP warehouse on the second floor, Jiang Chen indeed found a few brand-new mattresses still wrapped in thick plastic film.

"Good luck."

Jiang Chen's eyes lit up, and he skillfully sliced open the plastic film. The white mattress appeared exceptionally pristine in the dim warehouse.

He lay on it, his whole body sinking in, and he let out a satisfied sigh.

"The resilience is moderate, and the support is good. Although there's a bit of a musty smell, in this kind of ghost place, this is the standard of a presidential suite."

Jiang Chen patted the spot beside him and beckoned to Su Qingyue: "Come, School Beauty Su, sit closer."

"W-what?" Su Qingyue's pretty face flushed slightly, and she subconsciously hugged her sword tightly, "Although we are teammates, but... but it's still broad daylight..."

"What are you thinking?" Jiang Chen rolled his eyes, "This place has too much Yin Qi, and the System... cough, I feel that my Mental Energy recovery is a bit slow. You are warm, like a large Wifi, so if you sit closer, my signal will be better."

Although Su Qingyue didn't understand what Wifi was, she generally understood that he needed to borrow her phoenix blood aura.

She bit her lip but still obediently walked to the bedside and sat down with her back against the edge of the bed. At this position, she could just block the doorway and act as a guard.

As Su Qingyue approached, a pleasant fragrance accompanied by a warm aura drifted over.

【Ding! Harsh environment (Abandoned City) detected.】

【S-rank sleep companion component (Su Qingyue · phoenix blood activation state) detected and connected.】

【Environmental Debuff neutralized.】

【AFK benefits increased to 300%!】

【Temporary Buff acquired: Crisis Perception (Intermediate).】

Jiang Chen closed his eyes comfortably, and his breathing instantly became long and steady.

However, this tranquility did not last long.

Suddenly, a burst of noisy footsteps and frivolous laughter came from downstairs.

"Boss, the drone just captured it; that Su Qingyue from the Third High School is on this floor!"

"Hehe, Su Qingyue... those legs, that waist, just looking at them is exciting. I heard she teamed up with that soft-rice-eating man, Jiang Chen?"

"Perfect! We'll waste the guy and grab the points, and as for the girl... in this blind spot of the surveillance, even if we just get a little hands-on fun, who would know?"

Five male students wearing First High School uniforms, holding weapons, crept up to the second floor with greedy looks on their faces.

The leader was a burly man with a face full of flab named Zhang Hu, at the Eighth Layer of the Qi and Blood Realm. He was the head honcho of the First High School and was known for his underhanded methods.

When they rushed to the second floor and saw the scene before them, their eyes went straight.

In the dim warehouse, Su Qingyue sat with her sword across her lap, her figure graceful, like a white lotus blooming in the ruins.

And on the mattress behind her, that legendary pretty boy Jiang Chen was lying on his side, sleeping soundly.

"Yo, isn't this the cold and aloof Su, the Campus Belle?" Zhang Hu licked his lips, his gaze wandering unscrupulously over Su Qingyue, "What's the matter, brought your pretty boy to this wilderness to open a room? Is this mattress comfortable to test?"

"Filthy!"

Su Qingyue's pretty face turned cold, and the long sword in her hand let out a clear chime as a sharp chill instantly spread.

"Quite a temper." Zhang Hu sneered, "Brothers, this place is a signal-shielded zone. As long as we don't kill him, even if we break this pretty boy's limbs, no one will care. As for Su, the Campus Belle... let us brothers have a good 'exchange' of feelings with her."

"Attack!"

Four lackeys grinned and rushed up. Two of them entangled Su Qingyue, while the other two bypassed her and lunged straight at Jiang Chen, who was lying on the mattress.

"Kid, stop pretending to sleep! Get up for me!"

One of them raised the alloy rod in his hand and smashed it fiercely toward Jiang Chen's knees.

If this blow landed, Jiang Chen would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Su Qingyue's expression changed drastically; she wanted to go back to help, but was tightly entangled by Zhang Hu.

"Your opponent is me! Su Qingyue, watch how your little lover becomes a cripple!" Zhang Hu laughed loudly.

The alloy rod was about to fall.

Jiang Chen on the mattress frowned slightly.

【Warning! Low-level noise and malicious interference detected.】

【Dream defense mechanism activated.】

【Mental Energy consumed: 20 points.】

【Skill activated: Nightmare Descends (Visual Deception Edition).】

In reality, Jiang Chen just turned over and waved his arm seemingly casually, as if swatting away a fly while sleeping.

But in the eyes of the two lackeys who rushed up, the world changed instantly.

The young man who was originally lying on the bed suddenly twisted and expanded.

Where was there any Jiang Chen?

That was clearly an indescribable monster crawling out of the abyss!

The bed turned into a pitch-black swamp, and countless pale arms reached out from within, grabbing their ankles tightly.

And the hand Jiang Chen waved turned into a huge tentacle covered in barbs in their eyes, striking fiercely with a nauseating, bloody stench.

"Ghost! There's a ghost, ahhh!"

The boy holding the rod suddenly let out a shrill scream, and the rod in his hand dropped to the ground with a clatter.

He scratched his face frantically with both hands, as if it were crawling with bugs.

The other one holding a dagger was even worse.

He widened his eyes in horror, watching the "tentacle" strike, and was so scared that he plunged the dagger directly into his own thigh, trying to use pain to wake himself up.

"Ahhh—!!"

"Don't come over! Don't eat me!"

Two screams rang out almost simultaneously.

One of the two was rolling on the ground holding his head, and the other was kowtowing frantically to the air, his crotch instantly becoming wet.

Immediately after, an invisible wave of Qi erupted along with Jiang Chen's "waving" action.

Bang! Bang!

The two were like being hit by an invisible truck, flying backward and slamming heavily against the wall, fainting on the spot.

The whole scene was dead silent.

Zhang Hu and the other two who were besieging Su Qingyue were stunned.

What the hell is this situation?

Jiang Chen clearly hadn't even opened his eyes, and hadn't even touched the two of them, so how did they go crazy?

"So noisy..."

Jiang Chen on the mattress frowned and sat up slowly. He still had his eyes closed, his hair was messy, and he had the look of Waking Up Anger from not being fully awake.

"Don't you know that making noise is prohibited during nap time?"

He lifted his head slightly. Although his eyes were closed, in the perception of Zhang Hu and the others, it was as if a pair of huge eyes burning with purple flames opened in the Void Realm, coldly looking down at them.

That was a shudder from the level of the Soul.

【Nightmare Deterrence: Activated.】

"Run... run quickly! This is a monster!"

Zhang Hu swallowed his saliva, his legs starting to tremble. As an expert at the Eighth Layer of the Qi and Blood Realm, his intuition told him that if he didn't run, he would really die!

"Since you woke me up, then stay and help me sleep."

Jiang Chen yawned and gently gripped the air with his right hand.

"Kneel."

Boom!

A terrifying pressure of Mental Energy descended from the sky.

Zhang Hu and the three felt as if a red-hot steel needle had been thrust into their brains, causing excruciating pain.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The three of them knelt on the ground in unison, their kneecaps hitting the floor with a crisp cracking sound.

"Get lost."

Jiang Chen waved his hand again.

An invisible storm of Mental Energy whipped up a physical wave of Qi, directly sweeping these three burly men weighing over a hundred jin like garbage and throwing them out of the broken second-floor window.

Bang, bang, bang!

The sound of heavy objects hitting the ground and a few weak groans came from downstairs, and then it became completely quiet.

After solving the trouble, Jiang Chen fell back onto the mattress, pulled the quilt over, and spoke in a muffled voice:

"Su Qingyue, don't let such dirty things in next time; it affects the magnetic field here."

Su Qingyue stared at this scene blankly, the sword in her hand still trembling slightly.

Five experts of the Qi and Blood Realm, just like that in an instant... some went crazy, some flew away?

And he hadn't even lifted his butt off the mattress!

Is this his true strength? Relying on neither blades nor swords, nor fists nor kicks, but just in a single thought, the strong enemies were wiped out.

Su Qingyue turned to look at Jiang Chen, who was already snoring softly again. The tension and fear in her heart had vanished without a trace, replaced by an inexplicable, unprecedented sense of security.

The corners of her mouth curled up slightly. She walked gently to the bedside and sat down, tucking in the corner of the quilt for him, her eyes so tender they could drip water.

"Understood, Lord Sleep God."