Nightmare Despair

Chapter 83 Walking Alone
"hotel"

"A transnational assassin organization whose operations cover more than 90 percent of the world's countries... It is said that its headquarters were originally in Red Star, and later moved to the Lyle Federation, so its influence in these two countries is deeply entrenched."

"Almost every major city with a population of over one million has a 'hotel' branch."

"..."

Inside the taxi, Zhou Kai scrolled through the information on his phone with a blank expression.

"Old Zhou, things are bad. Wang Yuanzheng from the Wang family of Xishan has offered over two million to kill you and your senior brother."

"Hmm? This Chen Ping is a true martial arts master? Okay, you contact him, the two of you team up and settle this matter."

"I've put aside everything else for the past two days to keep an eye on things for you. I'll let you know immediately if there's anything unusual."

The above is the intelligence sent by Lin Sheng, which comprehensively analyzes the pros and cons of this matter for Zhou Kai.

Now, Zhou Kai has been receiving more and more messages from Lin Sheng.

"Those idiots at Xishan Hotel have made a move. The boss's name is Hu Yuan, and three hours later, at 3:09 AM on July 17th, the reinforcements Hu Yuan has hired will arrive at Xishan Hotel."

"A level one cyborg, a defector from the Blue Leopard School."

"I suggest you and Chen Ping go and ambush them as soon as possible, or just call in some men and ask the Vitas Group for help? Old Zhou, although you don't have long to live, I have to say, you've really made it big now."

"It's the Vitas Foundation again, and the Broken-Winged Martial Grandmaster again... Sigh, why did you have to get infected with Nightmare of all people?"

Seeing the undisguised regret in Lin Sheng's words, Zhou Kai's eyes twitched.

The good news is that being dreamless is just an abstract behavior and is harmless in itself. The Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs would be much more ruthless... and they are no longer monitoring me.

The bad news is that there's bad news coming from the surveillance network.

As long as he dares to show his face online, he will definitely not escape Lin Sheng's eyes.

Sometimes I'm really grateful, grateful that we're friends.

If someone like Lin Sheng is an enemy, or a friend of an enemy, then that's utterly disgusting.

Zhou Kai wasn't particularly concerned about Lin Sheng having information about him.

On the one hand, Lin Sheng's intention was to help.

On the other hand, the traces Zhou Kai left on the internet could not be considered true core secrets.

'The only two secrets I cannot reveal right now are the control panel and my actual progress in the nightmare. As long as I don't tell, no one else in the world can know these two things.'

'The information we searched before actually became a smokescreen, interfering with our judgment.'

Zhou Kai tapped the screen lightly with his fingertip, and Lin Sheng would occasionally send him messages.

The Lyle Federation is vast, twice the size of Red Star.

Its most prosperous east coast is almost on the other side of the earth.

It was midnight for Zhou Kai, but it was midday with bright sunshine for Lin Sheng.

For both of them, this is their working time.

"Old Lin, I know what to do. I will arrive at Xishan Hotel with Chen Ping before 2 a.m. and eliminate all threats."

"However, I need your help with something..."

Lin Sheng replied almost instantly: "Tell me, this concerns your life, I'm going all out."

Zhou Kai said coldly, "From now until four in the morning, I need all the surveillance equipment around the Xishan Hotel to be taken offline! During this period, nothing that happens in that area should leave any trace in the world!"

Lin Sheng was silent for a few seconds before replying, "Understood, it's a bit difficult... Give me ten minutes."

In Lope, the capital of the Federal Republic of Lyle, Lin Sheng hid in a corner of his workstation in an office building of a trust company. The keyboard made a series of crisp sounds under his fingers, and the data stream on the screen rolled by like a waterfall.

To most people, he was just a somewhat bookish, red-starred programmer.

But in reality, his split screen was displaying real-time data filtering results from the Xishan Strange Events Bureau, the Ninth Division of the Special Operations Department of the Lope City Alliance, and even Ye Zi's personal terminal as a member of the Xishan Dreamless Squad.

He would issue an alert as soon as any information related to Zhou Kai appeared. In the Red Star martial arts world, the highest honor in a martial artist's career was known as "King of the Century".

In the last century, this title belonged to the third-realm martial artist "Fish-Dragon Transformation - Fish Holding Longevity". In this century, it is temporarily vacant.

On the internet, they also have their own supreme glory... Lin Sheng was one of the strongest contenders for this throne of glory a year ago.

He is the candidate for King of Geeks – "PAN".

The hunter of the cyber jungle, the elusive godfather of information warfare, the leader of emerging technologies...

"Let me think, what else is my old classmate planning besides what he said he has in mind?"

"He didn't even... want me to see what would happen next."

Lin Sheng stared at the screen, his eyes flickering for a moment, before finally giving up his desire to investigate.

"Since this kid has something he doesn't want to tell me, it must be because the time isn't right yet. This world is cruel; often, the more secrets a person has, the longer they live... Zhou Kai, good luck."

Lin Sheng completely destroyed the folder named "K".

He then devoted all his energy to hacking into the Xishan local surveillance system.

……

Zhou Kai took a deep breath.

[Light Steps] were activated, and his steps became lighter and lighter until finally, he landed silently, like a ghost.

His figure swayed, like a shadow merging into the darkness.

The city's neon lights, streetlights, car lights—all the light sources seemed to be deliberately avoiding him.

From that time until dawn, Zhou Kai was no longer under the net of justice.

At one o'clock in the morning, Zhou Kai stood on the street corner opposite the Xishan Hotel, looking up at the presidential suite on the top floor, which was still lit up.

Thanks to Lin Sheng, he now has all the information he needs tonight, including floor codes, security arrangements, and personnel locations.

"A hotel?"

Zhou Kai squinted. At this moment, he seemed to have a god's-eye view, looking down at the chess pieces on the board who were unaware of their own existence.

"For some more complex purposes, and to avoid revealing my identity as a Nightmare Walker."

Tonight, I choose to walk alone.

……

……

"Do you still remember our feud? I've crawled out of hell, and I'll come back for you."

Luo Tong sent Chen Ping a text message out of the blue, and before Chen Ping could reply with a question mark, he promptly blocked his number.

After doing all this, he turned to look at Hu Yuan and another person who were talking.

His gaze was mainly focused on the tall, thin, and even somewhat hunched man.

The man's name was Wei Bao.

Hu Yuan was laughing heartily as he reached out his hand to Wei Bao.

"Brother Wei, it's been about half a year since our last collaboration, hasn't it? Judging from your complexion, your martial arts have improved again?"

Wei Bao had a gaunt face and sunken eyes, giving him a sickly, empty appearance. Yet, a sinister smile always lingered on his face, as if he were extremely satisfied with his current state.

"That's natural. At the beginning of the year, I had already mastered the basics and started practicing the advanced methods of the Blue Leopard Style... Now, I've made quite a bit of progress."

"Hmph, everyone says that it's as difficult as climbing to heaven to draw in Qi, but I feel that I'm only one step away from the second stage of Qi drawing."

(End of this chapter)