Chapter 84: An Unremarkable Crushing

A wave of scorching heat surged forth, dispelling the lingering rain that draped the sky.

Bang!

The battered iron door atop the hospital, closed by wind and rain, was suddenly kicked open with a deafening crash. It shattered countless raindrops and crashed to the ground, raising white waves of water.

Zhang Changlin was engulfed in flames—the fiery state of the Lion's Fire, transformed from dream spirits and blood.

Heat and intensity swept away the chill of the rainy night.

Sss sss sss—

Water vaporized around him, curling into white steam.

Stepping onto the rooftop, Zhang Changlin saw a scene of carnage: blood and shredded flesh scattered everywhere, amidst shards of broken mirrors.

He fixed his gaze on the severed head of the Plague Rat.

Abruptly, he turned, looking off into the distance.

There—a familiar figure: Du Fang.

Zhang Changlin paused, startled, confused, incredulous...

"Why are you here?"

"How did you get here before me?!"

Du Fang looked at Zhang Changlin and shrugged.

It was not an easy question to answer.

When Du Fang entered the hospital, he saw Zhang Changlin trapped in a nightmare calamity. Without disturbing him, Du Fang bypassed him and moved ahead, thus arriving first.

This time, Du Fang had unexpectedly discovered he was not ensnared by the nightmare calamity. Perhaps it was because Luo Luo, anxious to find her little companion, had tugged him all the way to the rooftop. So, Du Fang had no mood to fall into the nightmares?

"Captain Zhang, what you should focus on is not me."

Du Fang pointed at Sun Yaohai, who lay slumped against the wall, lifeless, his body cold.

Zhang Changlin's gaze followed, and his expression instantly grew complex.

Sun Yaohai’s body, drenched by the downpour, lay silently as if asleep.

But Zhang Changlin knew—

Sun Yaohai was gone.

"Ah..."

"This fellow, in the end, still came to this step."

Zhang Changlin sighed, regretful.

Truthfully, when he learned Sun Yaohai was in the hospital, he already knew the outcome.

They had been rivals for years and understood each other's temperaments well.

Though Sun Yaohai never got along with him, always competing, he was undeniably a pure Dreamwalker.

He used his life to uphold the principles of a Dreamwalker.

As captain of the Silver Wolf Assault Squad, Sun Yaohai was no weakling. Foreign companies had once offered him multimillion salaries and rare forbidden artifacts to recruit him, but he always refused.

The Lion's Fire faded from Zhang Changlin’s body.

Rain poured over him as he walked step by step to Sun Yaohai's corpse and knelt down.

He examined the wounds.

"Using his soul as fuel, fusing and devouring the will of a high-grade forbidden artifact... It was a desperate gamble, burning his soul for one last fight."

"Dead, truly dead," Zhang Changlin murmured.

Rain dripped from his chin, gathering into beads, falling away.

Du Fang watched Zhang Changlin, recounting all Sun Yaohai’s final words to him.

Zhang Changlin’s face shifted between laughter and tears.

When he heard Sun Yaohai's request for him to light a cigarette, he burst out laughing.

"Shameless... Dead and still making demands. If I say no, what can you do?"

Zhang Changlin wiped his face.

He planted the broken blade in the ground.

From his pocket, he drew a pack of cigarettes, tapped it against his hand, pulled one out, and tucked it into the corner of Sun Yaohai’s mouth.

Zhang Changlin took out his lighter.

Click click click...

Shielding the rain with his hand, he flicked several times before finally sparking a flame, lighting Sun Yaohai’s cigarette.

He lit one for himself as well.

Smoke curled upward.

Zhang Changlin smoked in silence, saying nothing more.

Sun Yaohai's cigarette was soaked by rain, falling to the ground.

When Zhang Changlin finished his own, he stubbed it out and looked at Sun Yaohai's body, smiling. "Alright, the cigarette's smoked."

"Sun Yaohai—captain of the Silver Wolf Assault Squad of Jinling City!"

"May you travel well."

"From here on, leave it to me," Zhang Changlin said.

He picked up the broken blade and slowly turned.

He glanced at Du Fang.

Du Fang’s presence here was proof enough—Zhang Changlin knew, even without thinking, that Du Fang was not as simple as he appeared.

But now was not the time to dwell on that.

Zhang Changlin looked into the distance.

There, although the Plague Rat was dead, the Barbie doll, after a brief pause, still sat in the rain with a smile, seemingly beginning its work anew.

The moment Zhang Changlin looked at the Barbie doll, his ears filled with “giggle giggle giggle” laughter.

"Sequence Forbidden Artifact 091, commonly known as 'Seven Princesses and the Little Dwarf,' is a sealing-type forbidden artifact. It consists of eight dolls—seven Barbie princesses and one little dwarf. The dwarf is the primary, the Barbies secondary."

"When all seven Barbie dolls are deployed, the nightmare disaster they unleash can engulf an entire metropolis!"

"To break the seal and nightmare, you must find the controller of the dwarf doll and disrupt their control."

Zhang Changlin, cigarette between his lips, spoke gravely.

His vision was exceptional—he quickly recognized the artifact’s origin.

According to prior intelligence, Jinling City had three areas shrouded by black screens of nightmare calamity, meaning the enemy had deployed only three Barbie dolls.

Yet even three dolls could cast a nightmare over half the city!

Beside him, Du Fang raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Luo Luo, who was also giggling.

“Daddy, it’s copying Luo Luo. It wants to be Luo Luo’s playmate.”

Luo Luo repeated herself.

Du Fang patted her head, then looked at Zhang Changlin. “Captain Zhang, do you need help?”

If permitted,

Du Fang would have Luo Luo take the Barbie doll away.

After all, he sensed Luo Luo was bored with her old toy, Piggy Kiki, and wanted a new playmate.

Zhang Changlin glanced at Du Fang. He did not doubt the truth in his words.

Du Fang had arrived faster than him—not by luck.

To reach the rooftop, one had to break the nightmare calamity first.

Zhang Changlin had the aid of his sequence forbidden artifact, easily breaking through, but Du Fang had no such artifact...

So how did Du Fang arrive first?

He must have his own cards, his own secrets.

"No need. Stay here and protect yourself."

Zhang Changlin said solemnly.

Du Fang did not press further. He held Luo Luo’s hand and watched Zhang Changlin calmly.

Sun Yaohai’s death had impacted Du Fang, giving him a deeper understanding of what it meant to be a Dreamwalker.

This world was peaceful and harmonious thanks to Dreamwalkers like these.

Many people could indulge in neon-lit nights, drink and revel in bars, twist and dance, release their hormones, roll in hotel beds—

All because Dreamwalkers, unseen, carried burdens in the shadows.

Du Fang’s main motivation for becoming a Dreamwalker had always been the generous benefits and lucrative pay.

But now,

He vaguely understood the responsibility the title carried.

Beside him, Zhang Changlin paid no mind to Du Fang’s inner transformation.

His gaze fell on the eerily smiling Barbie doll.

This was not a complete sequence forbidden artifact.

But Zhang Changlin held a complete one—he had no fear.

Powerful dream spirit waves pulsed from the Barbie doll.

Zhang Changlin gripped his broken blade, his eyes cold. Sun Yaohai had given his life to halt this forbidden artifact, but fell short. Now, the rest was up to him!

He stepped forward.

Flames seemed to spread from his feet, like oil igniting on a sacrificial altar.

They stretched all the way to the Barbie doll’s feet.

Zhang Changlin moved so fast, only a streak of light could be seen through the rain. With the broken blade in hand, he swung at the Barbie doll’s head!

Nightmarish spirit surged from within him, pouring into the blade—an unstoppable strike!

“Giggle giggle giggle…”

Strange, gleeful laughter echoed.

Zhang Changlin’s strike missed.

The Barbie doll had shifted, appearing elsewhere, as if teleporting.

The rooftop was gouged by his blade, water leaking through the cracks.

Rushing water streamed down to the lower floors.

Rain continued to pour.

Zhang Changlin, wreathed in flames, glared at the shifting Barbie doll.

“A mere forbidden artifact with no controller dares to be so arrogant?”

He pointed his broken blade, tilted his neck slightly, speaking coldly.

A raging fire burned in his heart.

Sun Yaohai’s death left him low and irritable, his anger seeking release.

“Giggle giggle giggle giggle…”

The Barbie doll kept laughing.

The laughter grew creepier.

On the ground, bits of Plague Rat flesh, swept by water, began to sprout tiny legs and scurry about.

Piece by piece, the flesh stacked and fused together—

Forming a colossal mountain of meat.

The Plague Rat’s head was embedded upside-down at the center!

The Plague Rat, slain by Sun Yaohai,

Had seemingly been resurrected!

A strange aura, a terrifying will...

It was as if something revived within the Plague Rat’s mountain of flesh.

A will that could not be destroyed, even with the body mutilated.

This was not the Plague Rat’s own will.

It belonged to the Fallen God within him!

The Plague Rat was dead,

But the Fallen God’s will took over his body!

Zhang Changlin’s Lion’s Fire flared again—his life slowly draining, but anger granted him endless power.

“Fallen God’s will?”

He recognized it.

“From the Divine Core Organization?”

The Plague Rat was among the Divine Core’s Zodiac Guardians—each held a Fallen God’s will. Zhang Changlin knew these basics.

But he felt no fear.

Fallen God’s will?

It wasn’t the god itself descending.

So what was there to fear?!

The Barbie doll hid behind the reformed Plague Rat, giggling incessantly.

She seemed almost alive, possessed of intelligence.

She linked herself to the Fallen God’s will in the Plague Rat’s body—their dream spirit waves resonated, reaching a brief consensus.

“Roar!”

The Plague Rat’s mountainous body opened its maw, unleashing a beastly howl.

Rain exploded with the sound.

Zhang Changlin closed in instantly, his flaming blade whirling.

A whip, like a rat’s tail, lashed out from the flesh, clashing with his blade.

Clang clang clang!

Sparks flew, the impact sharp.

With the Fallen God’s will, the Plague Rat’s body was even stronger than when Sun Yaohai faced it.

Zhang Changlin felt the pressure.

Yet the more he fought, the wilder, the angrier he became!

Suddenly,

Zhang Changlin’s heart jolted.

He whipped his head around.

There—

The Barbie doll had somehow appeared near Du Fang, sitting on the ground, wearing her trademark smile and giggling.

The forbidden artifact’s will possessed thought and intelligence.

She sensed Zhang Changlin’s care for Du Fang, and intended to threaten him by capturing Du Fang.

Zhang Changlin’s expression turned odd.

Du Fang... should be fine, right?

Still, he shouted a warning: “Du Fang, watch out!”

He swung his blade to force the Plague Rat aside.

But the mountain of flesh did not evade—taking the hit, its flesh clamped the flaming blade tightly, blood and rain mixed and quivering.

Zhang Changlin was blocked!

His eyes blazed.

Damn!

He was being toyed with by two inhuman things!

He looked worriedly toward Du Fang.

Suddenly, his anxiety froze.

Through the pouring rain, Zhang Changlin saw Du Fang, facing the approaching Barbie doll, calmly reach out.

He grabbed the doll, whose laughter shifted from "giggle giggle giggle" to "ah ah ah ah," screaming.

Du Fang’s fingers pressed harder and harder, embedding into the doll’s head.

Finally—

Crack.

With a simple squeeze,

The Barbie doll’s head, like porcelain,

Was crushed, utterly destroyed.

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