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nTapir had already asked the staff members at Fengdu Prison for Qiu Ren’s information a long time ago.

nFengdu Prison would definitely not tell Tapir, this Lord of Nightmare, about Qiu Ren’s detailed information in reality, but they couldn’t make her dissatisfied either. So, they told Tapir some strange rumors about Qiu Ren.

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nFor example, when Qiu Ren was in high school, his classmates, especially the girls, always called him by a nickname in private.

nThat was Qiurora.

nTapir didn’t understand why Qiu Ren had this nickname in the past.

nBut now, when she sat on the bed and looked at the sleeping Qiu Ren, she kind of realized where this nickname came from.

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nLords of Nightmare had a very strange taste because most of them had a distorted personality. Some barely maintained their self-consciousness and only had endless hatred and resentment, no different from the evil spirits.

nEven for such a rational, elegant Lord of Nightmare like Tapir, a large part of the memory of her origin was also missing.

nSo, she often couldn’t understand some human behaviors, but she understood Qiu Ren’s facial attractiveness this time.

nEven though Qiu Ren’s face was slightly pale when he slept in bed, his temperament and appearance had a unique charm.

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nHowever, Qiu Ren opened his eyes from his sleep before she could appreciate his sleeping face for long.

nThis was Qiu Ren’s core dream and was also the bedroom in the villa. What would Qiu Ren dream of when he slept in his core dream?

nThe answer was… nothing.

n“Did I… faint?”

nQiu Ren turned his head to the side and glanced at Tapir, who was sitting next to him. She was still wearing the black gown and the black gauze on her head, as if she was going to a funeral.

nPerhaps she didn’t want to choke Qiu Ren. She wasn’t holding the silver cigarette she always smoked in her hand.

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n“Faint… isn’t an appropriate word. I should say… your stream of consciousness short-circuited.” Tapir’s explanation successfully confused Qiu Ren.

nBut what Qiu Ren cared more about was…

n“How about those two from the Black Mist Army?”

nQiu Ren wanted to get up from bed, but Tapir pressed his shoulders back down.

n“They left… with the prototypes… of the characters you designed. They’ll give you a reply… very soon.”

n“Then, I should also…”

n“Qiu Ren.” Tapir interrupted Qiu Ren again and asked, “How long has it been… since you last rested?”

n“Rest? If you’re talking about goofing around, I rest every weekend?”

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nQiu Ren knew what Tapir was trying to say, so his perfunctory reply didn’t satisfy this Lord of Nightmare.

n“Alright… I feel like I haven’t been relaxed for a long time. Ever since I met you, I’ve been dragged into all kinds of incidents related to Nightmare Dungeons. Besides, that troublesome Black Mist Army is onto me right now. If I don’t think of a way to make them surrender and tame them quickly, something will definitely happen to me again.”

nQiu Ren also wanted to stop, but since he met Tapir, the chain of nightmare invasions had constantly been troubling him.

nAnd now, Qiu Ren had adopted Alaina. If Qiu Ren couldn’t get 50% control of the Nightmare Seed for Alaina before the Alaina Cup ended, then… more knotty problems would be waiting for him.

nLuckily, the Hidden Court Master seemed to have accepted Qiu Ren’s recruitment invitation. Qiu Ren was now waiting to see how many friends the Hidden Court Master could convince to come and work for him.

nHowever, with the current situation of the Alaina Cup, the Black Mist Army wouldn’t just sit tight.

n“Do you… feel that… your emotions as a human are… gradually fading?” Tapir suddenly said something that made Qiu Ren a bit shocked.

n“Well, since I’ve had more contact with the Lords of Nightmare, I don’t feel scared anymore when I meet some new ones. If you’re talking about this aspect…”

n“Your other emotions… are also turning numb. All Dream Makers… suffer from this kind of negative impact, but you… the price of drawing yourself away from the realization of your fantasy… is too high. You’ve sacrificed too many… of your stream of emotions.”

nQiu Ren certainly knew what Tapir was referring to.

nWhen he created those character images with his Creation Points, the Creation Points weren’t the only things extracted from his body but also his fantasy, the emotions he put in these characters, and some other more important things. It was probably due to the popularity of these characters in his previous life.

n“Really? I didn’t feel that because I haven’t had any huge mood swings… for a long time already.”

nQiu Ren recalled and found that apart from the first time he met Tapir and Lian when he was so terrified that he almost smashed the Nightmare Seeds, he hadn’t had any huge mood swings at other times.

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nThis made Tapir’s face under the black gauze look even colder.

n“If your emotions… and human nature keeps fading… your drawing ability… and taste might be affected, directly influencing… your ability to construct dreams in the end.”

nTapir used a more high-sounding reason to remind Qiu Ren that it was time to take a bit of a rest.

n“Um… Even if you say so, how exactly should I deal with it?”

nQiu Ren couldn’t feel those symptoms Tapir talked about. For example, when Qiu Ren saw Tapir’s curvy figure underneath the black gauze gown, he would still have the reaction a normal man should have.

n“Go back to reality… and communicate with your own kind, better be… your family.”

nWhen Tapir said this, she didn’t notice the tiny change in Qiu Ren’s expression. After pondering for a while, she thought of that unfamiliar word and said, “Like… you parents.”

n“Actually, my parents passed away a long time ago before I met you.”

nThe emotions of the owner of the body didn’t remain in Qiu Ren’s body. He barely remembered and felt a bit sad about the death of the original owner’s parents. He didn’t feel any other emotions than that.

nBut it took a bit of time for Tapir to react and realize she might have said something wrong.

nShe apologized to Qiu Ren a bit clumsily. “Sorry.”

n“It’s actually nothing. My grandma is the only family I have. Because of you, I get a pretty good job and can send a large sum of money back for my grandma every month, which kind of eases the burden of my living.”

nAlthough Qiu Ren had never seen the original owner’s grandma, he remained in touch with her using phone calls and text messages. Also, Qiu Ren was sending part of his research fundings from the Central Research Institute to her every month.

n“…”

nTapir remained silent. Judging from her expression underneath the black gauze, she seemed to be thinking of a way to comfort Qiu Ren.

n“It’s nighttime in reality. Even though I don’t have a family, I can ask my friends out to go out. So, I’ll wake up now and go for dinner first.”

nQiu Ren tried not to worry Tapir about him too much. In the end, she couldn’t say anything else. She could only watch Qiu Ren disappear from the bed and wake up in reality.

nShe sat next to the empty bed and remained silent for a long time. She then walked to the living room, as if she had made up her mind. Lian, who was waiting anxiously in the living room, asked when it saw Tapir come out.

n“Is he okay?”

n“I want… the surveillance authority… of the Central Research Institute.”

n“What do you want to do with that?”

nLian indeed had the surveillance authority of the Central Research Institute, but it was overstepping the boundary. If it really gave the authority to Tapir, it would probably be the one that had to explain to the Central Research Institute.

n“Don’t ask me why. You just need to… give it to me.”

nTapir was extremely firm this time. Lian was startled by her decisive attitude, but it didn’t ask Tapir the reason. It just helped her get the surveillance authority of the Central Research Institute.

nGetting the surveillance authority of the Central Research Institute was like getting that of the three universities nearby.

nTapir soon found Qiu Ren, who woke up from the dream-entering device, in the surveillance camera.

nOnce Qiu Ren woke up, he gently twisted his neck. His body had become stiff after lying in the dream-entering device for the whole day.

nThe health administrator assigned to Qiu Ren by the Central Research Institute asked him some simple questions. When the administrator confirmed that his mind and physical body weren’t seriously corrupted by the two Lords of Nightmare, he let Qiu Ren go for dinner.

nTapir’s surveillance camera switched again. She saw Qiu Ren walk out of the Central Research Institute alone.

nAlthough some researchers who knew Qiu Ren greeted him along the way, they weren’t so close to him to the point where they could have dinner together.

nUntil Qiu Ren arrived at the entrance, he realized that he didn’t really know anyone in these three universities with whom he could go out and have dinner.

nEven the only person Qiu Ren could possibly ask, Aunt Kan, had a mission to earn points in Warzone today, so he couldn’t contact her.

nHowever, Qiu Ren had already gotten used to this kind of life that was a bit out of tune with this world.

nAfter searching for news related to the Alaina Cup on his cell phone briefly, Qiu Ren decided to go back to the dorm and order takeaway, relaxing by playing games.

nTapir watched Qiu Ren walk into the shadows of the night by himself through the surveillance camera. She realized that not only did Qiu Ren have no family to talk to in the real world, but he also didn’t have any friends.

nQiu Ren had never really integrated into this world, and it seemed that he didn’t quite want to.

n“Where are you going?”

nLian saw that after Tapir finished monitoring Qiu Ren, she was about to go somewhere with a thoughtful look. Lian immediately became alert.

nThis Lord of Nightmare had never once considered this member of her kind a good one. And now, she was monitoring Qiu Ren’s whereabouts with the cameras on purpose… She must be planning some kind of a conspiracy.

n“I’m going to meet an old friend,” Tapir said.

n“Who? That annoying woman?”

nThe Lords of Nightmare in the Celestial Empire had more or less some contact in private, so Lian also knew Tapir’s relationship with the other Lords of Nightmare.

n“Yes, I’m going… to talk to her Dream Maker. You can… come with me.”

nTapir knew that if she didn’t let Lian come with her, its vigilance and defensiveness against her would rise to another level. Although she indeed wanted to hatch a conspiracy, it wasn’t a conspiracy that couldn’t be seen.

n“Why are you meeting her Dream Maker?” Lian asked as she decided to go with Tapir, but Tapir wasn’t planning to answer this question. After all, she couldn’t tell Lian that she was looking for a friend for Qiu Ren, right?

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