absurd deduction game.

Upon entering the dream, Yu Xing's first sensation was the damp and stuffy atmosphere around her, the sound of dripping water in her ears, and the stench of various foul and rotten smells filling her nostrils.

He opened his eyes and found himself standing in a very simple corridor. Under his feet was an uneven red brick path, and above him was a rusty water pipe that leaked water. On both sides were several cells separated by iron bars.

Looking around, these cells stretched all the way to the corner at the end of the line of sight, and the foul smell was coming from these cells.

Yu Xing randomly chose a cell to approach and peeked inside.

The cell was rudimentary and filthy, with almost nothing in it except for an iron bed welded to the floor at the very back, covered with some withered straw.

The room he looked at was uninhabited, but large patches of dark red blood had congealed on the hay, extending all the way to the ground. There was also half a loaf of hard bread lying against the wall. Two fat rats passed by, glanced at the bread with disdain, and let out a mocking squeaking.

It seems that the people who used to live here were treated worse than rats.

The wall to the side was covered with all sorts of scratches, as if different people had left messages there. Yu Xing couldn't understand them at first glance, but with the help of the system's translation, he finally saw that it was a whole wall of cries for help.

The ellipsis indicates a blank space: "Help me... there's a monster..."

Some tape recorders say: "It's coming! It's coming again! I don't want to die, I don't want to die!"

One person made a wish: "When can I get out?"

One person documented their daily life: "I'm so hungry, and the mice are gnawing at me at night, it hurts so much!!"

In any case, it was just a background atmosphere created by the nightmare, and Yu Xing was unable to extract any related emotions from it.

He could only deduce from the oppressive setting that the nightmare was creating a terrifying scene for the big banker and the unfortunate servants as a dark dungeon inhabited by monsters.

Yu Xing is an invasive species, and his mental strength is far greater than that of Nightmare. He doesn't need to experience the dungeon life firsthand. After roughly understanding the background, he "floats" up and gains a God's-eye view.

He looked down at the labyrinthine, dark dungeon.

The dungeon is a square with crisscrossing routes that seem designed specifically for puzzle-solving and chases.

The dungeon has about a hundred cells, most of which are empty. However, the layout and the pipework on the ceiling are quite scientific. It doesn't seem to be entirely fabricated by the nightmare. Perhaps the nightmare extracted a segment from someone's memory and copied it.

Yu Xing found the big banker Defit Claude and several servants in the various prison cells.

In their dreams, they are unaware that they are dreaming; they only believe that they have been captured and imprisoned in a dungeon, and that they have lost all memories of the time before they were captured.

These people reacted in different ways; the timid ones huddled deep inside their cells awaiting their terrible impending fate, while the bolder ones were already looking for ways to escape.

A blurry, enormous monster-like figure loomed in the corridor, resembling a werewolf, with a robust build exceeding three meters in height. It patrolled the dungeon's intricate pathways as if programmed beforehand; its immense size forced it to hunch over and lower its head to move freely.

When it encounters an occupied cell, the monster will intimidate the person, pretending to pull them out of the cell and eat them, and then leave satisfied after playing with them for a while.

This is the vessel that Nightmare created for itself in this dream.

Besides the still-interacting monster and living people, Yu Xing also saw two dead women.

The one dressed more lavishly—her name was Dorothy, the wife of Defit Claude and the mother of Felia Claude—was a beautiful woman of a certain age who was very well-preserved. In her dream, she was disemboweled, and when she died, her face was filled with fear and terror. She finally collapsed in the corridor.

Yes, in the hallway.

In a dungeon whose danger was unknown, this woman was the first to successfully escape. Yu Xing missed the process of her escape and only knew that now, the woman had marks on her body from werewolf claws tearing her skin, and she died with her eyes wide open in disbelief.

Was it because their escape was discovered that they died in reality as well?
Yu Xing wasn't quite sure, so he looked around for more details... and then saw strange emblems that resembled organizational symbols in some corridors.

It was a black eye with upper and lower eyelashes of different lengths, which eventually formed a circle, resembling some kind of symbol related to faith.

Yu Xing recognized this symbol.

These are esoteric symbols specially marked on the pamphlets given to the investigators.

So this dungeon must also be a dungeon of the Tantric sect? Could it be a secret base used by Tantric practitioners to imprison hostages and people?

But where did the nightmare get this scene from...?

Yu Xing sensed a subtle sense of unease. As he pondered this, he observed everyone in the dungeon.

Duffert Claude is a middle-aged man with a refined appearance and slightly graying temples. He is handsome and has a charming appearance even in old age. He also has an upright posture and a calm and composed personality.

Even in the dungeon, this high-ranking banker remained composed. Although his clenched teeth betrayed his nervousness, he still acted much braver than the bewildered servants.

He was searching his cell for anything useful when the werewolf-like monster patrolled up to his cell and growled at him in a warning tone. Deft Claude only flinched at first, then forced himself to maintain his composure and even tried to talk to the monster: "Hey, you kidnapped me, what do you want? We can talk this over."

Unfortunately, the monster ignored him, revealing a ferocious smile and blood-stained teeth before strutting away.

The cell keys were strung on its body, swaying and making a clanging sound like brass.

Duffert Claude's gaze fell on the bunch of keys. Knowing he was unlikely to get them from the monster, he turned back to the pile of hay on the iron bed and tried to fold and twist a few haystacks together to make a small lock-picking tool.

He began his experiment, inserting a hard, dry tool into the keyhole. However, this action seemed to trigger some kind of mechanism in the monster. The monster, whose hearing was not very good, paused, and after walking a distance, it let out a low growl and turned back to approach Dufresne Claude.

If he were caught by the monster, would he suffer the same fate as his wife Dorothy and be killed?

Yu Xing subconsciously thought this, then realized that it wouldn't work. If the big banker died, the church's funds would be cut off, which would also be detrimental to the cooperation between the investigators and the church.

Qu Xianqing has already notified the church. If someone were to die during this period, it would seriously damage the investigator's credibility.

Alright, let's get started.

Yu Xing's God's-eye view ended, and the next instant, he appeared in front of the werewolf-like monster that was approaching Defit Claude.

The monster was stunned for a moment when it saw him, then its pupils contracted and it almost immediately tried to run away.

What a joke! As a nightmare, it failed to detect that something else had invaded its dream, which already demonstrates the vast difference in strength between it and the intruder.

Having tasted the dreams of too many people, the Nightmare is much smarter than ordinary monsters. It knows how to assess the situation, and living in a dream makes it difficult to capture. As long as it doesn't linger in battle and abandons its false monster body in the dream, it can return to formlessness. Even the bishop of the Harvest Mother Goddess has a hard time catching it!
Because the abilities bestowed upon believers by the Mother Goddess of Harvest are not suitable for dealing with nightmares, they are better at fighting against things with physical forms.

However, the nightmare was too slow. Since it didn't escape the moment Yu Xing entered the dream, it meant it had already lost its chance to leave.

Before the invisible thing could even leave the werewolf monster's body, it sensed a mental blockade around it. The ethereal tentacles silently enveloped it, leaving it with no way out!
The nightmare transformed into a ghost and charged toward the tentacles, but the equally invisible tentacles were like an iron wall, trapping it in a "cell".

"Who are you?!" it asked in a panic.

Yu Xing squinted at the highly human-like monster, suspecting that it had been wandering around Yolikf Town for a long time and had learned a lot from people's minds.

Recalling the eye-shaped esoteric symbol, he ignored the question about the nightmare and asked instead, "Where have you seen this dungeon before?"

Nightmare stared at the shrinking tentacle "cell," a sudden thought striking him, and he found a glimmer of hope: "Can you promise to let me go?"

Yu Xing remained silent, but instantly tightened the cell formed by transparent tentacles, and the branches wrapped tightly around the nightmare's spirit. The curse power on them caused the nightmare to howl in pain.

The corrosive power of a curse is far more visceral to a monster than the terror of a nightmare.

The nightmare screamed horribly, the sound reaching the ears of those imprisoned in nearby cells, who couldn't help but tremble, fearing they would be the next to be tortured by the monster.

"I'll ask you one more time, where have you seen this dungeon before?"

This time, the nightmare dared not even think about negotiating; it shouted, "In Dorothy's head! In her head!"

Dorothy?
This was yet another unexpected answer.

The nightmare saw the scene of the dungeon in Dorothy's mind, found it useful, and copied it to imprison all its prey for the night, which means that Dorothy must have some connection with the cult.

She is a member of the cult, a cultist who infiltrated the inner circle of Defit Claude.

Is it possible that the protection the Mother Goddess left in Duffert-Claude's apartment tonight has lost its effect and is related to Dorothy?

Or perhaps Dorothy was once captured by the Secret Cult and imprisoned in a dungeon, which is why she was able to quickly find a way to escape in this dark dream and become the only one to leave the cell?
Both guesses made sense, and Yu Xingxian remembered this clue, preparing to investigate Dorothy again later. Looking at the struggling nightmare, he asked, "Why did you kill Dorothy and the maid?"

Whatever Dorothy's connection to the cult, it should have nothing to do with the Nightmare. Why did the Nightmare kill her?
"I didn't mean it!" Nightmare protested. "Who knew that she and that maid were already mentally distorted? When I scared them, their minds shattered like they were hit by a bomb. I didn't even have time to consume their negative emotions!"

Yu Xing didn't believe it and calmly said, "Dorothy has marks on her body from where you tore her."

"She exploded first! I was terrified and didn't know what was wrong. I suspected there was some other monster inside her, so I tore her open to see if there was anything inside her." Nightmare, driven by a survival instinct, swore, "She was already dead when I tore her open. I didn't torture her; I was just afraid something else might have invaded my dream realm through her..."

It choked as it spoke, glanced quickly at Yu Xingyi, and said weakly, "Just like you."

“I am already the kindest monster in Yolikef town, please, please let me go, Mr. Investigator.”

During his brief conversation with Yu Xing, Nightmare guessed Yu Xing's background, so he desperately tried to prove that he was harmless.

Fearing Yu Xing might not believe it, it gave an example: "You can see the way that maid died. I didn't touch her body, and she can prove that I'm not lying!"

The other maid did not escape from prison; she died in her cell. Yu Xingyi checked the maid's corpse in her dream, and it was indeed as the nightmare had described.

There were no external injuries on his body, but his face was filled with fear, as if his emotions had been instantly detonated in his brain, causing his brain to be unable to cope and resulting in his immediate death.

Yu Xing pondered for a moment, then asked, "Why didn't you bring Felia into your dream?"

“Felia?” Nightmare was taken aback. “Who is that? I didn’t sense her.”

"Oh?" Yu Xing tilted her head.

The nightmare didn't sense Felia, which is why Felia escaped unharmed and remained completely conscious until she encountered the addict.

She was Dorothy's child, and she seemed to be special.

Yu Xing's silence gave Nightmare the feeling that he had found an opportunity.

However, just as the nightmare was about to escape, the tentacles suddenly tightened and began to devour the invisible soul.

"Ah—!!" the nightmare screamed again, its voice piercingly mournful, "You said you would let me go!"

Yu Xing, having absorbed the ghostly energy from the nightmare through its tentacles, squinted its eyes contentedly and replied in a good mood, "I never said that."

……

After the nightmare died, the dream that had enveloped the apartment also dissipated.

Duffert Claude and his group are awakened from a nightmare to find their home invaded by monsters, and they are all dizzy and terrified.

Defit first saw his wife and daughter, one lying on the sofa beside him and the other lying on the floor, and there was also a strange man in the room.

His pupils constricted: "You're an investigator? What happened to my family?"

As he asked the question, he rushed toward his wife and daughter, trying to wake them.

Of course, the experienced banker quickly realized that his daughter was breathing steadily and had simply fainted, but his wife's chest was no longer rising and falling.

"No—Dorothy—"

Yu Xing pressed his temples in annoyance.

As a tree, he couldn't empathize with the man's grief, but he still tried to comfort him: "Don't be too sad, sir. Your wife may have had ties to esoteric Buddhism. Her death is a good thing for you."

Duffert Claude looked up abruptly, staring at him with an angry and astonished gaze.

Is this something a person can say?
Fortunately-

Before the scene became even more chaotic, the people of the Church of the Mother Goddess arrived.

A nun and a priest arrived, led by Qu Xianqing. Upon seeing the situation in the living room, they instinctively made a gesture of prayer in the form of a mother goddess: "By Mother Goddess, please accept my condolences." (End of Chapter)