Immediately after, a chilling intuition washed over her from behind. She decisively grabbed Zhou Chen, ducked, and rolled forward to create some distance.

When she turned to look back, she froze, her eyes widening in disbelief.

A monster that had been flayed alive appeared there. It was a bloody mess, dripping with gore, its muscle fibers and veins clearly visible and shockingly red. It was posed to pat her on the shoulder, like an old friend about to say hello.

If Li Xiye hadn't suddenly become lucid in the dream, the Skinless monster would have already patted her shoulder, and there was no telling what would have happened.

'How did this thing get here... Fuck, did I accidentally get hit with spiritual pollution during the investigation?' Li Xiye's thoughts raced. 'This is my dream. I wonder if I can use my Extraordinary Abilities... No, I don't know enough about it. I can't fight it head-on... I need to wake up quickly and get Zhou Chen to help me clear the pollution.'

Just as she was thinking this, the bloody Skinless monster suddenly used Instant Teleportation to appear in front of Li Xiye, reaching out to pat her shoulder.

'So fast... No time to pull away...' Li Xiye sidestepped, dodging the Skinless's descending palm. In that split second, she focused her will. A cyan arc of electricity flared to life on her fist as she threw a straight punch.

BANG!

The Skinless's chest exploded as if hit by a cannonball. Flesh and blood flew everywhere, leaving a massive, gaping hole clean through it.

'So weak!'

Li Xiye was stunned. How was this thing so weak? It was as fragile as paper!

A cold smile touched her lips as she understood—the monster was still in its nascent stage. It had little intelligence, only a programmed instinct. That was why it had been foolish enough to pollute an Ascender like her.

"Killing you might just solve part of this pollution." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

A cyan glow flared and arcs of electricity gathered. Li Xiye threw another punch. With a deafening clap of thunder, a violent Power surged forth, instantly blasting the Skinless into countless fragments of flesh and blood, which turned to ash as they flew through the air.

'This monster is pathetic...' Li Xiye muttered, retracting her fist. She glanced back at Zhou Chen, who was dressed in a high school uniform. He walked up to her, his face full of concern, and asked if she was hurt.

An idea stirred in Li Xiye's heart... 'Maybe I should... continue the dream from where we left off?'

Much to her regret, because she was now lucid, the dream world was crumbling inch by inch. The next second, Li Xiye's eyes snapped open.

She took a few seconds to compose herself, then threw on a t-shirt and went to Zhou Chen's door. She knocked, and to avoid any late-night awkwardness, she immediately explained:

"I had a Nightmare. The Skinless came after me."

Soon, Zhou Chen opened the door with a frown. "What happened?"

"I suddenly became lucid while I was dreaming. I felt something strange behind me, so I dodged forward on instinct. When I looked back, I saw that flayed Skinless. It wanted to pat my shoulder. I'm guessing that's the Rule it needs to follow to activate some kind of Ability. Then, I killed it."

Li Xiye continued thoughtfully, "The image of the Skinless comes from a plot in a horror novel, manifested by spiritual pollution. I might have accidentally been infected with it during the investigation today, but the instruments didn't show any problems at the time..."

"Nightmares coming true, spiritual pollution, dreams..."

Zhou Chen mulled over these keywords, and inspiration struck. "Maybe the infection happened in the Ocean of Collective Unconsciousness, the place also known as the Dream World, the Inner World, or the Spirit Realm. That's why the instruments couldn't detect it."

"A dream infection?"

"Yes, a dream infection. It's a deeper level of spiritual pollution that occurs in dreams, during subconscious activity. Are there Dreamwalkers in this era?" Zhou Chen asked. In the year 234 of the New Calendar, pollution in dreams was handled by departments like the Dreamwalkers.

"I heard Howard mention the Dreamwalker project before. It seems to have been in operation for several years now," Li Xiye said.

"If there are Dreamwalkers, it shouldn't be a big problem. You should contact the Star Association right away and tell them what happened. They'll send Dreamwalkers to handle the infection in less than half an hour. You should do it while the source of the pollution is still weak."

Li Xiye hurried back to her room, grabbed her phone, and made an emergency call. She reported what she had encountered to the personnel on duty, then changed her clothes, preparing to go to the Star Association for a physical examination and to give a detailed report.

After she left, Zhou Chen went downstairs, sat on the sofa, and turned his head to ask, "You can travel through dreams. Why didn't you show up?"

Angela, the Cursed Puppet that was serving as a decoration on the sofa, said tremulously, "Great Master, Angela rushed to Miss Li Xiye's dream the moment I detected the dream pollution. But before Angela could make a move, Miss Li Xiye killed the monster herself."

'Fair enough, Li Xiye really is a beast...' Zhou Chen then asked, "What do you make of this dream pollution?"

"That monster was very weak. Even an ordinary person could have killed it if they just mustered enough courage. After killing it, one's own dream pollution would disappear. But... Angela feels that it was just a 'Clone'."

The Cursed Puppet said, "It's a wisp of a clone, split off from the true 'Skinless'. It's like... like pollen. These Clones will enter many people's dreams, constantly spreading the infection and drawing Fear from humans to strengthen themselves.

The Power of the Clones will feed back into the main body, making it even stronger. Through this, it will gradually break away from the illusory and become real.

The bloody handprint it leaves behind should be something like an 'anchor point'. The more people who believe in it and Fear it, the stronger and more real it will become."

Zhou Chen understood. The Skinless was originally a fictional monster from a horror novel, but it had taken form by borrowing the Power of Nightmares. Although it was still very weak, only able to act within dreams and accumulate Power by scaring people, if the pollution broke out on a large scale and the number of infected people skyrocketed, allowing the Skinless to accumulate enough Power, then it could potentially develop intelligence, break free from the illusory dreamscape, and become a real monster.

Those who were patted by the bloody handprint would, in all likelihood, be hunted as prey by the Skinless.

Most importantly, there was more than one Nightmare Monster like the Skinless.

If this wasn't handled properly and the pollution spread, it would inevitably become a disaster.

"Has the husky upstairs been infected?" Zhou Chen asked.

"Master, that dog hasn't been sleeping at all. It's been playing games the whole time. But it shows no signs of being polluted."

"..."

「Hong City Star Association.」

After her check-up, Li Xiye ran into He Qingsong in the medical department's break room. A few other new Ascenders were there as well.

They had all been attacked by Nightmare Monsters in their dreams tonight, but they had all relied on the powerful Spiritual Power of an Ascender to temporarily become lucid in their dreams and kill the Nightmare Monsters in turn.

"Sister Li, I dreamed about the Skinless from today's investigation. What about you?" He Qingsong asked.

"Same here." Li Xiye sighed. "We were all polluted during the investigation. I don't know if the Purification Matrix even worked. If it didn't, I'm afraid all the residents in the complex will be infected."

The group fell silent. Just thinking about that terrifying number of potential infections sent a chill down their spines.

"Don't worry. Headquarters has already dispatched a team of Dreamwalkers to resolve the issue."

Qian Su and a few other senior members walked in just then. They had also been infected by the dream and had just finished their own check-ups.

"Dreamwalkers?" It was the first time the rookies had heard the term, and they were quite curious.

"They walk the Spirit Realm, specializing in handling the various abnormal incidents that occur there and maintaining the safety of the Ocean of Collective Unconsciousness," Qian Su explained.

「Three hours later.」

At the Hong City Star Association, a secret meeting was convened.

The atmosphere in the conference room was silent and oppressive. The upper echelon of the local Star Association was gathered, and none of them looked pleased, because they had just received some very bad news.

—The Dreamwalker team had, without any warning, completely lost contact!