Zheng Zha had indeed located Zhan Lan’s consciousness entity and successfully entered the spatial plane where it resided. That place was the very villa they had experienced in the Nightmare on Elm Street, where Zhan Lan’s consciousness was trapped, endlessly reliving the moment of entrapment—the instant her memory of her boyfriend’s malicious tirade played on repeat until her mind finally collapsed.

The demon Freddy from the Nightmare dimension possessed an extraordinarily unique mental ability, one far more potent than simple hypnosis. It could completely magnify the most fragile parts of a person’s heart. Anyone with a crack in their psyche would be dragged down into their own inner demon, sinking forever. Truly, Nightmare on Elm Street lived up to its reputation as a super-hard horror movie world designed for twenty people. Of course, for someone whose heart held no flaws, like Chu Xuan, if Freddy dared to enter his consciousness, he would undoubtedly be turned against or utterly destroyed. Similarly, those who had overcome their inner demons, like Zheng Zha, whose spirit and consciousness were already so fortified that they feared no mental attack—they were the demon’s natural nemesis.

However, these inner demons were genuine. How could an ordinary person overcome them easily? The deeper the emotional ties, the faster they would succumb; the greater the psychological flaw, the deeper they would sleep, unable to awaken. Unfortunately, Zhan Lan was precisely the person bound by the deepest connections.

Whether it was the real-world bonds she held before entering the Reincarnation world, or the bonds she developed with Zheng Zha after entering it.

It could be said that she was the most vulnerable among everyone in the entire Reincarnation world to the harm caused by inner demons.

Zheng Zha tried calling out to her constantly within her trapped consciousness space. Though he could sense her faint, ephemeral response, every time he tried to touch her awareness, the girl would instinctively recoil from him.

The sensation was as if she were actively evading him.

...That’s the basic situation.

Ptooey, ptooey... Forget I said that last sentence.

That’s roughly it. I could only manage to elevate her consciousness from its deepest layer to its current subconscious state. Though she wasn't awake yet, if a psychic controller could assist me in rousing her awareness, breaking through the inner demon would become quite simple. I will likely need to sleep for another full day and night. Then, I must go awaken Ba Wang's consciousness.

Zheng Zha recounted what he had seen and experienced in the consciousness space; the sheer strangeness of it left the others bewildered and unable to fully grasp the details. In truth, consciousness space was mysterious, unfathomable, and incredibly dangerous. It was only thanks to Zheng Zha unlocking the intermediate level of the Fourth Stage of the Gene Lock and safely passing his own inner demon trial that he hadn't lost himself there. Otherwise, if anyone else entered another person's consciousness space—unless that person was a psychic controller with extremely enhanced mental powers—they would face mortal danger, a direct assault on the very core of their being. The annihilation or madness of consciousness—that was the immense peril lurking within those mental domains.

“Let’s put it simply: you let the poor girl down, so she became disappointed in you, hahaha...” Cheng Xiao clapped Zheng Zha on the shoulder, laughing heartily.

Zheng Zha managed a wry smile and remained silent. He had already understood all of this within Zhan Lan’s mind, if not everything, then at least the essence of her feelings for him. If their relationship before had been one of vague ambiguity, of approach and retreat, now he truly couldn't feign ignorance any longer. When she awoke, or certainly before the final battle commenced, he owed her an explanation.

“No matter what, her—no, them—I must awaken them all!” Zheng Zha took a deep breath, then turned to the rest of the team. “Everyone remember, this team battle is the final engagement before the ultimate showdown. It is second only to the final battle in importance. We cannot afford to lose a single member, and we must aim to wipe out the opposing team entirely. I implore you all, never, ever allow complacency to set in. Even if we appear vastly stronger than the East Sea Team, strength is always relative. Haven’t we defeated opponents far stronger than us in the past? Therefore, this battle requires extreme caution, more caution than ever before!” As he spoke, he looked worriedly at Chu Xuan. “I cannot hand over command for this fight to you again. We cannot take risks, especially right before the final confrontation. We cannot afford even a slight loss of strength; conversely, we must maximize our reward points and side mission completion to face the Demon Reincarnation Squad with our strongest possible roster and power. We cannot use your probability-based strategies to complete this horror world in a risky manner. Provided we capture the enemy’s psychic controller, the rest is secondary. Capture as many as possible without taking unnecessary risks for the sake of capturing more. Xiao Honglu, if a fight breaks out while I am asleep, you will structure and command the battle exactly as I laid out. Wang Xia, Ling Dian, the two of you are to assist him in command. Remember, absolutely no unnecessary risks!” “I am heading into Ba Wang’s consciousness space now. If anything important comes up that isn't critically urgent, please wait until I wake up to discuss it. Remember, no risks, understood?” Seeing the nods from everyone, he finally left the cabin with a sense of relief. What he failed to notice, however, was Chu Xuan’s brief nod followed immediately by a shake of his head—a gesture reminiscent of past horror movie experiences where he’d uttered the words, “I lied to you.”

Meanwhile, in the vast ocean far from where the Central Continent Team’s destroyer lay, the weather remained gripped by that extremely rare and violent storm, churning up waves ten meters high, sometimes even higher. Ordinary vessels faced almost certain destruction in such conditions; even steel ships built with modern technology drifted like tiny skiffs in the colossal swells, utterly powerless against such a massive natural disaster.

The East Sea Team’s fishing boat suffered similarly. The storm drastically slowed its progress. The East Sea Team, which should have been near the Diaoyu Islands, had been blown off course by the storm’s intensity and shifting currents more than a dozen hours earlier. Although they had corrected their course afterward, their arrival time would be delayed by another twenty-four hours, even without accounting for the storm’s ongoing effects.

...No, this ship’s speed is too slow! I wonder if we can catch up to the Central Continent Team before they reach the Senkaku Islands?” Inside the largest conference room on the fishing boat, thirteen members of the East Sea Team were seated. The person who had just spoken was a tall, muscular bald man covered in scars, his eyes gleaming with malice—clearly not a benevolent character.

As the bald man finished, the others let out soft sighs. The sword-wielding man whose face was covered in black runes also sighed. After a long silence, he spoke again, “That is the reality. There is a high probability that the Central Continent Team will catch up to us. I suggest we use the device Adam gave us. What does everyone think?”

The instrument Adam provided was a peculiar and ancient artifact of Western alchemy. It could not be exchanged from the ‘Main God’ nor created in a short time. The East Sea Team had obtained one such device, along with another team, after surrendering early in a horror movie world where they encountered the Celestial Team and agreed to join their alliance. This device was supposedly a satellite unit capable of connecting to a central master unit. Even across different realities, it could pierce the fabric of space-time to communicate. As long as the master unit remained with the Celestial Team, the East Sea Team could contact them in any predicament.

As he spoke, the man pulled a small, cube-like object from his robes, resembling a Rubik's Cube.

(Did the Celestial Team find some ancient treasure in a horror movie world? And it seems like a magical fantasy horror world. According to the Main God’s dating analysis, this device is at least ten thousand years old, maybe much older. They certainly didn't build it themselves. And they had so many satellite units they could casually hand them out to us and other teams. They must have gained far greater benefits, right?)

As the device was brought out, the others fell silent again. Only one person, a girl with delicate features dressed in a kimono, sat quietly, head bowed in thought.

The man with the sword and black runes gazed deeply at the group. “Then let’s vote on whether to contact the Celestial Team. This device can only be used three times. If we use it now, this will be the second time. The remaining use must be saved for the final battle to ensure we can contact the Celestial Team. However, if we don't use it now, we can use it twice in the final battle, significantly increasing our chances of quickly locating the Celestial Team. So, let’s vote: should we use this communication device in this fight against the Central Continent Team?”

The members exchanged glances. As the first person slowly raised their hand, everyone else—except for the man with the runes and the kimono-clad girl—gradually raised theirs. The fastest to raise his hand was the scarred, hulking bald man.

“Then, let’s use the instrument.”