246: Chapter 245 Returning the Dream

"The child doesn't have to die."

Just as Zhao Hongchan's fingers, transformed into flames, were about to touch the infant's grotesque brow, Chu Xuan's voice suddenly rang out.

Immediately after, a palm covered in Black Flame grabbed and tore at the infant's skull. In an instant, a shrill scream erupted.

Zhao Hongchan looked up abruptly, seeing a distorted face emerging from the mass of Black Flame in Chu Xuan's palm, bearing a sixty to seventy percent resemblance to the infant's previous appearance.

Chu Xuan clenched his fist, and the shrill scream dissipated along with the Black Flame, earning him 20 spirituality value points, offsetting the spirituality value consumption of [Nirvana Stripping].

When Zhao Hongchan looked down again, she was stunned to find that the infant's face had returned to being white and tender. It was crying loudly, and the fangs in its mouth were long gone, with tender red gums clearly visible.

"Thank you, thank you..."

Zhao Hongchan was streaming with tears. The crimson color on her fingers vanished, and she gently touched the infant's toothless gums. The sobbing stopped, and suddenly, it giggled.

"Baby, the next time you have no teeth, it will be decades from now, right? By then, Mommy won't be able to see it. Who will help wipe the drool from the corners of your mouth? I hope you can have a child in this world, and I also hope your child can treat my child well..."

Zhao Hongchan gently wiped the drool from the infant's mouth. She was smiling, but tears flowed ceaselessly. She looked as if she were crying and laughing at the same time, her eyes filled with reluctance and nostalgia, speaking incessantly as if she had endless words to say.

Until the very end, when half of Zhao Hongchan's head, composed of crimson flames, dissipated, her voice stopped abruptly, but the infant's crying grew even louder.

At this moment, Zhang Qiang's body, composed of Smoke, was also becoming increasingly thin.

"Old Zhang, can you not die?"

Tang Zheng had just consumed a vial of potion and his condition was rapidly recovering, but his expression now looked extremely desolate: "You beat me up several times these past few days using the excuse of training me. I haven't had the chance to beat you back yet, how can you die?"

"You think you can beat me?"

Zhang Qiang suddenly laughed loudly: "You brat, you won't have the chance in this lifetime! Besides, you should call me Uncle Qiang..."

Amidst this loud laughter, the parts of Zhang Qiang's body composed of Smoke became fainter and fainter until finally, they dissipated completely, leaving no sound.

Tang Zheng stood stunned and speechless.

Chu Xuan looked at the corpses covering the ground, equally speechless.

"Brother Xuan, let's send them back to the Research Base first..."

Qin Shaowu walked over at this moment and said softly: "I have already contacted the survivors at the Research Base. Now that the Domain has dissipated, communications have returned to normal. The command center is actively operating. We still need to find a way to restore order first..."

"Research Base?"

Chu Xuan's body shook. He suddenly thought of something and immediately ran toward the armed helicopter nearby.

Accompanied by a violent roar, the helicopter soon ascended and flew toward the Research Base.

Looking down from high altitude, Chu Xuan took in the full view of Haicheng. He saw thick Smoke billowing from dozens of places; fires were breaking out.

The Night Demon was dead, and the Domain had dissipated, but the disasters and far-reaching impacts it brought were far from over.

There was wailing and crying everywhere. From time to time, one could see groups of people frantically killing and smashing things, while others had already suffered mental breakdowns and chose to escape through suicide.

"Daddy, Mommy..."

Through the window of a residential building, Chu Xuan saw from afar a little girl lying beside two corpses in the living room, crying heart-wrenchingly. The entrance door seemed to have been broken open by a heavy object.

The helicopter sped along, passing three iconic buildings by the river. The hundreds-meter-tall buildings were engulfed in raging fires. People on the high floors were constantly crying for help, and many had been forced to jump to their deaths.

Under the scorching sun lay a scene of hell on earth.

Chu Xuan's heart sank. He pushed the helicopter to its maximum speed, and a few minutes later, arrived at the living quarters of the Research Base.

This place was remote and blocked by high walls, so the situation was slightly better; no werewolves had come here, but there were still sporadic Specters that had crossed over through the S-rank Domain.

Although Chu Xuan had killed quite a few, there were clearly still some that had slipped through the net.

On the way, Chu Xuan saw a few mangled corpses, which staff members were dealing with. The scene appeared very chaotic...

The aircraft landed outside the villa where he lived. When he saw that the main door had been broken open, Chu Xuan's heart sank, and he rushed inside immediately.

The smell of blood assaulted his nostrils.

The scene inside caused Chu Xuan to freeze abruptly.

In the living room.

An old woman wearing gray-brown grandmother clothes with graying hair was lying on the ground, continuously "munching" on flesh and blood.

Her Flower Cotton Jacket, stained with blood and filth, still had flesh residue on it and had been dyed deep red by blood. Beside her lay a Copper Mirror, also soaked in blood.

And beside this Copper Mirror lay a headless monster corpse.

Seeming to hear Chu Xuan's footsteps, the old woman who was greedily munching on flesh suddenly raised her head, her split mouth stuffed with flesh.

But when she saw Chu Xuan's face, the old woman's grotesque expression suddenly froze, revealing a hint of Confusion. After a long while, a hoarse sound like metal rubbing together came from her mouth.

"Son... ah..."

Her movements appeared incredibly stiff. She trembled as she walked toward the kitchen, and before long, she brought out a white porcelain bowl containing a bowl of white porridge that was still steaming.

"Son, eat..."

The old woman's movements were jerky, her expression alternating between grotesque and dull. It took her a full half-minute to cover the distance of less than ten meters to reach Chu Xuan.

"Son, eat..."

She offered the white porridge stained with scarlet blood, her eyes filled with longing.

[You are using Eye of Insight on the target, you consumed 10 spirituality value points.]

Name: Li Guifen

Species: Strange Creatures

...

"There is no saving her..."

Chu Xuan muttered, his hand suddenly covering itself with a layer of Black Flame. He brought it down over the old woman's head. The flames instantly raged, burning everything into nothingness.

Crack!

The white porcelain bowl lost its support, fell to the ground, and shattered, the warm white porridge spilling out.

Chu Xuan bowed his head, looking at the white porridge on the ground that was still emitting a faint warm breath. He watched it for two full minutes, an inexplicable emotion churning in his chest, before it dissipated.

"Is this the kind of world [Future Tang Zheng] faced? I imagine it was thousands of times worse than this..."

Chu Xuan muttered softly.

[You feel some sadness. Although it is not much, you feel the world should not be this terrible. You want to change all of this...]

[You are thinking, how nice it would be if this were still a dream...]

[But you are very clear that the dream has awakened; you cannot change all of this. Your sadness deepens.]

[Your Talent "Precognitive Dream" is strongly infected by your emotions and has broken through the restrictions of the Dark World. You are now able to use "Dream Return".]

[Dream Return: Each of your Precognitive Dream instances is an anchor point setting. You can return to the time you woke up from your last Precognitive Dream by consuming rule fragments and spirituality value, turning everything that happened during this period into a dream. When you use this skill, you can make the following choices: 1. Your various attributes, skill states, and items in your Exclusive Space remain the same as when you last woke from the dream. 2. Consume an additional 1000 spirituality value points to retain your current state (retaining various attributes on the panel, including items in the Exclusive Space). Note: Only effective for the current world. Can only be used once at the current rank (Current usage requires consuming 10 rule fragments and 5000 spirituality value).]

"Dream Return, returning to the dream... Is it similar to Tang Zheng using the Fighting God Talent to hear background music, yet different? It requires 10 rule fragments, and the reward for this mission happens to be rule fragments. The world's game..."

A stream of information flooded into his mind. Chu Xuan gained a flash of insight and knew how to use the skill, so he muttered softly:

"In that case, then..."

"Dream Return!"