Chapter 1 One After Another

One after another, tall, thin black shadows emerged from the air in all directions. The rustling sound of tentacles wriggling in the dirt was enough to make one's scalp crawl. The remnants of the sun gathered, approached, and rose from the shadows, revealing their horrifying visages, and encroaching upon this dreamscape forest!

Chains whistled, accompanied by the explosive sounds of compressed and torn air. Shirley weaved through the forest clearing, charging towards each solar scrap that had just entered the dream and hadn't yet found its footing. She raised her paw and dropped it, raised her paw and dropped it, recklessly wielding the monstrous strength she shared with the abyssal demon – while wielding the abyssal demon – repeatedly knocking those not-quite-human horrors to the ground, banishing them from this dream.

However, the number of invaders continued to grow. The solar scraps she knocked down at the moment rose from the shadows time and time again!

The forest, with its interlacing light and shadow, became the perfect place for the solar scraps to move freely and reshape themselves. The corrupt flesh that was knocked away dissolved in the shadows, only to reassemble in the shadows. The tall, thin black shadows emerged from the surroundings one after another, and when Shirley slowed down even slightly, they immediately launched a merciless attack.

A sharp whistling sound suddenly rang out from behind. A spikelike tentacle emerged abruptly from the air, stabbing straight at the nape of Shirley's neck. She immediately felt her hackles rise, but it was too late to dodge –

With a soft thud of flesh tearing, the pain didn't come as expected. Shirley, who had braced herself for the attack, turned her head in astonishment, only to see a battle-axe swinging past her from behind – then the axe blade rotated, and with another upward swing, it neatly severed two more approaching "spikes."

The edge of the axe blade shimmered with a faint blue light, as if covered with some kind of scorching force field, burning and distorting the nearby air. The elven girl, "Shireen," held the strange, long-handled battle-axe in one hand, repelling the attackers and guarding Shirley's flank. She looked in astonishment and confusion at the tall, thin black figures that were still emerging and gathering from all around, and finally couldn't help but ask, "What… are these things?"

"Whatever they are, they're definitely not native to your forest!" Shirley shouted back, raising her chain and smashing a clump of shadows that was gathering not far in front of her. "These things are really damn troublesome!"

Shireen raised her axe, blocking an attack coming from another direction, but after hearing Shirley's shout, she paused for a moment, frowning subconsciously. "Those words… are rather vulgar."

"If you don't shout out the swear words, they'll rot in your stomach. How disgusting is that?" Shirley had a wanton and exuberant smile on her face. She stepped on a mass of flesh that was still wriggling and reassembling. The black mist rose from the chain in her hand, making her seem extremely happy. "I'm a clean person. I never let swear words stay in my stomach overnight..."

Shireen listened to Shirley's theory, stunned, seemingly trying to understand her logic, but in the end, she frowned and shook her head, muttering, "You're talking nonsense," while focusing her attention on the enemies around her.

A tentacle, swelling and shrinking, its surface constantly covered with eyes and sharp teeth, suddenly wrapped around Shirley's arm. She felt a tingling sensation in her heart, using all her strength to break free from the tentacle's restraint, then forced back a mass of shadows from where the tentacle had originated, and then subconsciously glanced in Shireen's direction.

A sense of doubt suddenly arose in her heart – whether it was just her imagination, in those few short minutes, this elf named "Shireen" seemed to be becoming more... distinctly human than before?

Was it because of the sudden appearance of the attackers? Was it the change brought about by fighting side by side?

Shirley remembered the situation when she first came into contact with this elf. At that time, the other party didn't seem to have so many emotional reactions. Although she had expressions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, those reactions were more like something that had been pre-programmed... she would only keep emphasizing the plan to go to the Silent Wall, and apart from that, no matter what she said, she wouldn't react much, and there were even fewer vivid "feedbacks" such as surprise, confusion, and rebuttal.

Shirley didn't understand the professional knowledge of psychology or behavioral science, and didn't know how to describe the inconsistencies she felt, but her experiences from childhood had cultivated her instinct to perceive the emotional changes of others. She could keenly perceive the changes happening to Shireen – but couldn't understand why these changes were happening.

But she didn't have much time to think about it.

After their initial confusion, the solar scraps had gradually reacted and gained a foothold here. Now, they were becoming dangerous.

A blurry shadow flashed from the edge of her vision. In her haste, Shirley only had time to retract the chain in her hand and barely dodge the attack, and in the next second, another spike that had sprung out from the shadows of the nearby ground struck her human arm.

The intense pain made her curse subconsciously. Agou immediately rushed over from the side, biting off the flesh spike that had gathered from the shadows. Shirley quickly retreated, leaving the dangerous attack range, but before she could breathe a sigh of relief, she suddenly heard a rustling sound behind her again.

She instinctively looked back, only to see a tall, thin black shadow rising abruptly in front of her. The next second, a series of tentacles suddenly poured out from the "long coat" of the tall, thin black shadow, wrapping around her arms and neck – the monstrous force from the tentacles suddenly dragged her forward, and she only had time to exclaim before being pulled in front of the black shadow.

The tall, thin black shadow raised its "head" towards her – a mass of deformed, swollen flesh drilled out of the collar of that long coat, abruptly blooming like a flower bud. Right in front of Shirley, countless eyes, countless sharp teeth, and countless wildly wriggling and swelling, tongue-like tentacles opened in the blooming flesh flower bud.

In that brief moment, Shirley seemed to hear a thousand voices exploding in her mind. Countless roars and whispers crowded into her brain in layers. The roars and whispers seemed to want to convey some kind of information to her, but just as she felt like she was about to understand those whispers, most of the information slipped from her mind without leaving a trace.

In this suddenly established "connection," her mind only recorded a vague and inexplicably meaningful phrase –

"...Find their... sun..."

Shirley seemed to fall into an endless chaos, wrapped in boundless darkness and emptiness, carried along by countless noises and rumbles. She slowly opened her eyes, staring blankly at the pile of blooming flesh flower buds in front of her. The will to resist seemed to have been stripped from her body, and Agou's voice was gradually fading away in her mind...

But in the next second, a deafening roar suddenly exploded deep within her consciousness. In that boundless darkness, Shirley vaguely saw a faint green flame suddenly flicker. The flame reflected her soul, causing a sharp stinging sensation in her mind – the next instant, she suddenly regained her senses.

The tall, thin black shadow reappeared before her. The "head," composed of filthy flesh, resembling a blooming flower bud, was trembling violently in front of her. The solar scrap emitted a series of sharp hisses and whistles, seeming shocked, unable to understand why its "pollution" had failed to invade the prey's mind – but soon, it would no longer need to be shocked.

Clusters of faint green flames suddenly floated on the surface of the countless eyeballs within the blooming flower bud, and in the blink of an eye, they transformed from the reflections in the eyeballs into real, spreading flames. Spiritual fire spewed out from the "head" of the solar scrap, burning the dream invader swiftly from the inside out.

The monster roared, convulsed, and writhed violently in the burning spiritual fire, curling into a lump of black, bizarre matter. Immediately afterwards, the flames flowing out of it began to spread to the surroundings, like predators that had caught the scent of prey, flowing towards the solar scraps that were constantly gathering around.

The fire spread like the wind. As the scattered sparks leaped, the surrounding solar scraps were ignited one after another, transforming into countless blazing torches in the blink of an eye.

Shirley watched this scene in astonishment. The terrifying feeling of almost being invaded in her consciousness world earlier now turned into a trace of icy lingering fear. However, this feeling of fear soon turned into another emotion as the spiritual fire spread – she laughed, her wanton and exuberant expression filled with triumph. She raised the black iron chain in her hand, looking triumphantly at the solar scraps that were roaring and struggling in the flames. "You little shrimps dare to try some mental pollution, huh! I'm someone protected by the Captain!"

Of course, the solar scraps wouldn't respond to her. The blazing torches fell down one by one, turning into ashes flying in the forest before they could even retreat from the dream. As for Shirley, although she looked triumphant, she didn't truly breathe a sigh of relief until the last "torch" fell. Then, she turned her head towards Shireen's direction.

But Shireen's voice reached her ears first: "Shirley, I don't feel... very well..."

A palpitation and uneasiness suddenly struck. Shirley felt her heart tighten and quickly ran to Shireen's side. The next second, she saw the... changes that were happening to Shireen.

The elven girl's feet had been gradually swallowed by the earth without her knowing. Dark structures resembling roots split out from her legs, and they were still increasing and merging into the soil. She raised her head, looking in Shirley's direction, seemingly wanting to raise her arm, but her arms were also gradually being covered by bark-like structures – gradually stiffening, gradually becoming unable to move.