Please ask the dream.

Chapter 383: Widespread Influence
"Perhaps you are right. This technology is indeed similar to that of our Yae family..."

Yae Yayo was just halfway through her words when the communications personnel who were mobilizing the Qingyun Ethnic Suicide Squad suddenly seemed to have heard some news. The whole person was stunned, and then immediately looked up and said:
"Commander-in-chief, the latest news is that a riot broke out at the bottom of the Dreamland, affecting more than 20 registered Shadow Cities, including K, L, and J. All of our exploration teams have suffered varying degrees of mental trauma. According to the descriptions of a few of those with less severe injuries, before they were hit, a large area of ​​the Shadow Cities they were in had experienced heavy rainfall, accompanied by singing..."

(Note ①)
“How could it be?” Yae Yayoi’s eyes widened. “Even if it’s a large nightmare… No, this is indeed something a large nightmare can do, but generally speaking, even if a single large nightmare is triggered, it won’t cause such a large-scale impact! There is not only one large nightmare in Shadow City, isn’t it afraid of causing a siege?”

"I don't know about this for now... Oh, sorry, please wait." The reporter said, and suddenly connected the communication. Ten seconds later, he spoke again:

"The latest news is that it's not just our people. In several residential areas around the high-tech zone and entertainment zone, many low-level architects have developed mental disorders. However, the impact does not seem to be that great. We have sent people to inquire about the specific situation."

"Low level? What level?" Yae Yayoi frowned. Although Shadow Chasers could be considered low level for Dreamers, except for a few Dreamers still on the plane, all the people present were Shadow Chasers. If they were any lower, they shouldn't have entered...

"Dream seekers, and even two soul-searchers."

"That's impossible!" Yae Yayoi denied it categorically:
"It is impossible for this level to enter the bottom layer of the Fantasy Dream Realm. They can't even pass the three tests, let alone when the Shadow Chaser was severely injured and only... wait... if they are not at the bottom..."

Although they were separated by a screen and the other party was wearing makeup, everyone present still clearly noticed the extremely ugly expression on Yae Yayoi's face.

"Did you think of anything, Ms. Yae?"

Seeing that those with lower positions did not dare to speak, and those with higher ranks were too embarrassed to ask for advice, Yun Zaoxun sighed and asked anyway.

Yae Yayoi sorted out her thoughts, then nodded and said:

"Considering that this incident affected more than twenty Shadow Cities, this impact is probably not just a flat surface. It may even have broken through the limit of the number of levels in the Dreamland and affected the upper areas."

"How could this be? Is this a sign that a massive nightmare is about to occur?" The gloomy man on the other screen immediately became alert, but his appearance gave people the feeling that he was planning to run away immediately.

Upon hearing this, Yae Yayoi just shook her head and said:

"If they were planning to descend, the outbreak point shouldn't be at the bottom of the Fantasy Dreamland. But if all this is really the work of that Yellow Robe Nightmare, then what is happening may be even more terrifying than a direct descent."

"You are an expert, so just speak directly. This matter may involve a super-large structure that threatens the entire Hongying. As the general manager of Jingbin City and the first commander of the Yunzao Brigade, I ask you not to hide anything."

Yun Zaoxun showed his military identity. After hearing him speak like this, Yae Yayoi also became serious. She hesitated for a moment before speaking:

"This matter involves some secret structures of the Yae family. I will try my best to avoid the core issues when explaining it. In addition, I will inform the family about this matter and send more professionals over. Of course, if you are not satisfied with my actions, you can submit an application to the Creator."

Yun Zaoxun also knew that this was the limit. While thinking about how to write the report in her mind, she said as if to give in: "You tell me what you can say first."

"Okay, you may not know much about the ecosystem of nightmares, so I will give you a brief overview." Yae Yayoi was relieved to see Yun Zaoxun give in. With a wave of her finger, a beaker was constructed. While she constructed liquid in the beaker, she explained, "As we all know, Shadow City is the crystallization of the Dreamland. This is not just a simple description. In fact, it contains a deeper metaphor."

As she spoke, Yae Yayoi pinched a handful of dust and sprinkled it into the beaker, then used the structuring technique to construct pieces of rapidly growing crystals.

"Just like in the crystallization experiment, adding seed crystals to a supersaturated solution can accelerate the precipitation of crystals. At the bottom of the Dreamland, the Shadow City, as a crystal, is more likely to gather emotions, cognition, thoughts and other things. Because they are all of the same kind, they will form the so-called rules under the interaction.

“These things are not only the blood and bones of the Dreamland, but also the food for the growth of the Dreamland residents. Therefore, any Dreamland residents with a certain level of thinking ability will instinctively gather towards the Shadow City in order to obtain those emotions from the Shadow City.

"However, the density of resources in Shadow City is far greater than that in the shallow layer of Dreamland. Just as humans must use their imagination to obtain resources from Shadow City, Dreamland residents also need to use specific behaviors to make Shadow City regard them as part of Shadow City, so as to absorb resources from Shadow City. This is why both Nightmare and King follow the rules in Shadow City."

These contents are not secret knowledge to the dreamers, but most of Hongying's architects are typical Yu Wushuang. They will not check these knowledge which are not helpful in improving their strength even if they are made public.

Therefore, until Yae Yayoi explained, except for a few civilian staff with research qualifications, everyone else had an expression as if they had just realized what was going on.

Yun Zaoxun thought about this theory for a while and then asked:

"According to what you said, the Yellow Robe Nightmare violated the tacit understanding of this role-playing. Could it be that it found a faster way to obtain resources?"

"You could say that." Yae Yayo glanced at the staff member who was in charge of communicating with the frontline suicide squad. Seeing that there was still no new information coming back from him, she could only express her thoughts -

"These nightmares may be cannibalizing each other, and they are cannibalism between large nightmares!"

"This 'eating each other'... does it mean what it says literally?" Yun Zaozhengxun swallowed and asked in disbelief.

Yae Yayoi nodded heavily and said:

"Apart from two large nightmares fighting each other, it is hard for me to imagine what other possibilities could cause such a large-scale turmoil in the bottom of the Dreamland."

At this point, Yae Yayoi noticed that everyone's faces were calm, and then he realized that others didn't seem to understand the horror of cannibalism. He picked and chose among the family's secrets, and finally found something to talk about, and said:

"Nightmares that can appear in the same Shadow City must have similar rules. You can think of them as representing one aspect of the core rules of the Shadow City. The stronger the nightmare is, the more important the aspect it represents is. When it comes to large nightmares, it's not an exaggeration to think of them as half of the Shadow City. If nightmares of this level devour each other, in a sense, it means that they are likely to devour the entire Shadow City."

Having said this, Yae Yayoi paused for a moment before saying:
"You may not understand what I mean. Let me put it another way. Why do you think that some of them are large-scale nightmares that can be suppressed by ordinary dreamers, while others can cause irreversible damage to monsters like the third generation of Qingyun Creator?" (Note ②)

(End of this chapter)