The social order of the real world is actually very vulnerable to extraordinary powers.

Invisibility, phasing, and shapeshifting can render security forces anywhere useless.

Even a low-level charm skill can cause massive damage.

Not to mention the unpredictable witchcraft and Gu techniques that can easily kill someone from thousands of miles away, or even more direct abilities like summoning wind and rain, or moving mountains and seas.

If billions of demons with bizarre powers were to swarm out, even the Special Affairs Bureau and the Global Supernatural Alliance might not be able to control the situation.

Xing Hechou's description was definitely not alarmist.

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became heavy.

Wanli Fengdao's fingers gripping the sword hilt turned white.

Liu Wudai frowned in silence.

Li Ang rubbed his palms and fell into contemplation. "Billions of monsters, huh? If we could develop some kind of Poké Ball, and have the world's seven billion people play a live-action version of Pokémon, that would be spectacular.

Bulbasaurs, Pikachu... just thinking about it is exciting."

"..."

Xing Hechou's eyes twitched. The ecosystem within the Prisoner Demon Cave was extremely complex, with countless species of demons.

There were indeed some docile monster species at the bottom of the food chain with the potential to be domesticated—the research department had a series of projects slowly underway.

Besides the low-level monsters that humans might be able to utilize,

the first few levels of the Prisoner Demon Cave also contained humanoid demons with higher intelligence, who had established small and medium-sized tribes in the harsh environment, perhaps for the Special Affairs Bureau to use.

This information wasn't relevant to the current situation, so Xing Hechou didn't elaborate. He returned to the topic and continued, "We have identified the demon tide as the highest-level apocalyptic disaster.

Although we don't know when it will erupt, as long as the Prisoner Demon Cave exists, it will always be a threat to all of humanity.

Our colleagues stationed on the outskirts of the Prisoner Demon Cave are prepared to go down in flames, taking any measures necessary to contain the disaster."

Xing Hechou solemnly said, "Of course, before that, what we can do is increase the exploration of the Prisoner Demon Cave and do everything possible to strengthen ourselves."

Li Ang narrowed his eyes. "Let me guess, this method of strengthening ourselves wouldn't be related to the current dream of the Sheng Nan King..."

"Unfortunately, yes."

Xing Hechou said with a wry smile, "When the exploration team was conducting surveying work in the Prisoner Demon Cave, a bizarre monster found them.

That monster had the body of a horse, the trunk of an elephant, the face of a lion, the forehead of a rhinoceros, the tail of an ox, and the feet of a tiger."

Liu Wudai subconsciously said, "Mo."

"That's right. The mo (貘), with an elephant's trunk, a rhinoceros's eyes, an ox's tail, and a tiger's feet, lives in the southern valleys. Sleeping on its skin wards off plague, and drawing its likeness wards off evil. It lives in the southern kingdom and eats nothing but iron."

Xing Hechou recited a passage from Bai Juyi's "Ode to the Tapir Screen," and said in a deep voice, "The mo, also known as the dream-eating tapir. It comes from ancient legends, and it is no longer possible to verify whether it is related to the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*.

During the Tang Dynasty, there was a custom of depicting tapirs on screens, said to prevent the owner from having nightmares or catching a cold and falling ill.

This custom spread to the Japanese islands, where the Japanese interpreted 'avoiding nightmares' as the tapir being able to eat bad luck, regarding it as a good omen, and adding some secondary settings.

That dream-eating tapir, which dwells in the Prisoner Demon Cave, took the initiative to find the exploration team, claiming that it was born in the Han Dynasty and had been imprisoned for more than a thousand years. It wanted to represent itself and cooperate with the Special Affairs Bureau."

"Wait,"

Li Ang couldn't help but ask, "The setting of the prison is that the stronger the monster, the greater the restrictions, right? How can a dream-eating tapir born in the Han Dynasty still maintain a clear mind and be able to move freely?"

"According to that tapir, although it was born a long time ago, it is not strong.

The dream-eating tapir's natural ability is to wander through various dreams, feeding on dreams. Powerful dream-eating tapirs can even abandon their bodies and use dreams to construct their own reality."

Xing Hechou spread his hands and said, "The Mirage Dragon, as a prison guard, relies on dream illusions to suppress demons. The dream-eating tapir, with the same ability, can move freely to some extent.

Over such a long period of time, it has learned enough about the Prisoner Demon Cave's operating mechanisms, and can occasionally exploit loopholes to extract a part of itself into the real world, drawing dreams from the outside world to obtain information.

We don't trust it, but it proposed a very interesting plan: using the inexhaustible commoners' thought power in the real world to create artificial urban legends,

making it a stable trial field that can be recycled,

constantly providing real-world players with experience, equipment, and props.

If the plan can be carried out smoothly, players don't have to wait for abnormal events to slowly form tasks. They can go directly to the trial field to train and level up. The benefits can be said to be endless."

Wanli Fengdao subconsciously widened his eyes. "That dream-eating tapir can do that?"

"It definitely can't do it by itself."

Xing Hechou shook his head and said, "In fact, what it said was also found in the ancient Heterodoxy Society's books. Those cultivators had long confirmed that 'thought power affects reality.'

However, out of various considerations and confidence in the Heterodoxy Society itself, they never pushed for the implementation of artificial legends."

Wanli Fengdao frowned and said, "The dream of the Sheng Nan King, could it be..."

"It's not."

Xing Hechou seemed to have guessed what Little Blade was thinking and shook his head to explain, "The ancient Heterodoxy Society's concern was that the thoughts of all living beings were too complex and vast. Even if legends were used to integrate them, they could easily lose control.

The Special Affairs Bureau held dozens of seminars on what the dream-eating tapir said, and never decided whether to conduct small-scale experiments.

However, before we could discuss the results, the urban legend of the Sheng Nan King spread in the real world.

And that dream-eating tapir, which had been with the front-line exploration team since it was discovered, also disappeared."

Li Ang stepped on the extremely realistic ground and asked in a deep voice, "Did it cause all this?"

"It can't be determined yet."

Xing Hechou shook his head and said, "The Heterodoxy Society's estimates are that the dream-eating tapir itself is not yet able to break free from the Prisoner Demon Cave's restraints and stir up trouble in the real world.

Moreover, urban legends must have a source.

Being able to guide it into an abnormal event in such a short period of time, there must be a pusher behind it."

Speaking of this, Xing Hechou's tone sank, and he said in a low voice, "The Sheng Nan King has become an abnormal event with an unknown degree of danger. As employees of the Special Affairs Bureau, we must not retreat here no matter what.

I implore you to lend me a hand, find the main body of the Sheng Nan King, and find out the pusher behind it."