Chapter 1 Though it's a Lingering Thought

"Although they're called lingering thoughts, judging by their appearance, they seem to be asleep. As long as we don't wake them, they pose no threat to us." Men Nan was quite confident. At the end of the day, they were just lingering thoughts. Even if all the lingering thoughts in this building were to awaken, it wouldn't be a big deal for them.

"We can't be careless. This is just one building. But there are already dozens or hundreds of lingering thoughts. Who knows how many lingering thoughts there are in this city?" With billions of people on the planet, if all the memory fragments or lingering thoughts formed from memories accumulated in this city, let alone eight Red Specters, even eighty, eight hundred, eight thousand… couldn't guarantee their safety.

"Are you calling these human-head balloons 'lingering thoughts'?" Jiang Xuan asked, looking at the floating human-head balloons.

Chen Ge nodded, not hiding the fact. Jiang Xuan had answered many of his questions before, and this wasn't a secret. Telling Jiang Xuan was fine, "When a person dies, they become a ghost, and ghosts have varying strengths. Lingering thoughts are just ordinary ghosts. Above them are Vengeful Ghosts, and then those who transform from despair, dyeing their entire bodies red with blood, the Red Specters. As for what comes after Red Specters, there are unspeakable Calamity-Gods!"

"Unspeakable Calamity-Gods?" Jiang Xuan stroked his chin, falling into a brief silence, "In that case, these Calamity-Gods you speak of are very similar to those beings I mentioned that created the restricted areas, beings that cannot be described. Perhaps they are originally on the same level, just with different names."

Chen Ge nodded in agreement. He thought so too. And according to what Xu Yin wanted to express before, there were definitely Calamity-Gods in this deep dream, and definitely more than one!

"I wonder if Zhang Ya has encountered any danger." Chen Ge frowned. Although Zhang Ya had the strength of a Calamity-God, the terrifying existence that could easily pull her into the deep dream must be even stronger, perhaps even above Calamity-Gods, in that unfathomable realm.

Therefore, he couldn't be sure if Zhang Ya was safe.

"It seems there's nothing worth searching for in this building. Let's continue to advance into the depths of the city." The most dangerous thing in this building was the many human-head balloons in the lobby.

But clearly, in front of the eight Red Specters, they couldn't make any waves, and naturally couldn't provide them with any useful information.

Having said that, they didn't stay in the building any longer, quickly leaving this unique building and continuing to move in a certain direction.

The deep dream was intricate and interconnected. This place was like a maze, making it difficult to find a way out. So, it was definitely unrealistic to find the way out all at once.

Previously, Chen Ge and the others had also recorded part of the map of this area on the eighth floor of the building. And now, they were going to the tallest building in the nearby streets.

After wandering around for a long time, they finally arrived in front of that building. The complex and intricate roads converged here. What was even stranger was that they couldn't see a single human shadow within dozens of meters of this building.

The building in front of them was also very tall, but it didn't resemble a commercial building used for offices in the real world. It was more like a prison, with light black exterior walls, small windows all fitted with burglar bars, and barbed wire wrapped around the higher floors. The entrance to the building was also relatively narrow, only allowing two people to enter side by side.

Xu Yin and Red High Heels led the way, followed closely by Chen Ge and the others, and then the Boss trio. Now, they were all terribly frightened. The impact of the human-head balloons would be hard for any normal person to calm down from.

Behind them were Bai Qiulin and the others, walking at the end, always on guard.

Upon entering the building, they also discovered its strangeness. This building was completely different from the previous one. Each floor was made up of countless cubicles, and behind the cubicles were piles of various and messy things. There was all sorts of things, not like a building at all, but more like individual small spaces. Behind each door was something strange and bizarre. Without opening the door, you would never know what was behind it.

There were also many thoughts in this building, far more than in the previous one, and the higher the floor, the deeper the color of the doors, as if they were gradually being soaked in ink.

"Someone's coming." Bai Qiulin walked up from the back, his brow furrowed. Chen Ge also listened carefully, and faintly, he could hear footsteps, as if someone had just entered the building. Chen Ge immediately signaled everyone to enter one of the cubicles, and then used his Yin Yang Vision to look out through the crack in the door.

Before long, he saw a figure. It was a man in a suit, holding a long blade in his hand. The blade shone with a pure light, as if all the goodness in human nature was in this blade.

However, the person holding the blade was wearing a hideous beast-face mask. His soul was as ethereal as a mist, and as deep as an ocean.

"Above Red Specter?!" Chen Ge was shocked. Although Yin Yang Vision wasn't very strong, it could still barely see some of the soul aura of ghosts, even for top-tier Red Specters like Xu Yin, he could see a thing or two.

Only beings like Zhang Ya, who had transcended despair, completely transformed, and become a Calamity-God among ghosts, would have a soul that was a cloud of mist.

Yet this man in front of him was the same. That mist-like soul made his heart tremble.

"Such a familiar figure." However, looking at this figure, Chen Ge felt like he had seen him somewhere before. This man didn't seem like a native of the deep dream at all. He seemed to be a dream visitor like him.

Moreover, besides him, Chen Ge also saw many figures, every single one of them was at least a Vengeful Ghost. Among them were also two female ghosts, who seemed to have broken the boundary between Vengeful Ghost and Red Specter, but their bodies weren't dyed red. Instead, their souls were burning with a black fire, as if filled with endless hatred. Just looking at them made Chen Ge feel extremely uncomfortable.

"The architecture here is really bizarre." A deep, enchanting voice sounded. The man seemed to be muttering, tightly gripping the blade in his hand, opening the doors one by one, just like Chen Ge and the others had done before.

Chen Ge and Jiang Xuan and the others heard the voice and also stood ready, raising their skull-smashing hammer and baseball bat, ready to swing with all their might as soon as the door was opened.

"Bizarre, fantastical, strange… This city is even stranger than the world behind the mirror, reminding me of a legend." The voice of a middle-aged man came.

"Mirror God, do you know what this place is?" The masked man at the lead spoke again, actually calling the previous man "Mirror God."

This made Chen Ge and the others tremble in their hearts. But when he saw the man called Mirror God through the crack in the door, he couldn't help but frown. That figure was clearly just a Vengeful Ghost, at most a Half-Step Red Specter. The title "Mirror God" was clearly too much for him.

"The city we were in before, whether it was the plastic surgery hospital or the amusement park, were actually just fragments of unspeakable memories." Outside the door, the Mirror God explained, "And you, accepted the task of inheriting the shrine. If you succeed, the unspeakable memories will also disappear."

"Mm…" The masked man nodded, "But this has never happened before. A city falling, except for the plastic surgery hospital and the amusement park, all turned to ashes. I completed the task, but I couldn't leave the memory fragments, and instead fell into this strange city."

"That's right. Normally, you would have completed the shrine task and become the new owner of the shrine. But do you remember that last time you accepted the shrine task from my main body, the memory fragments merged with you in the end. But this time it's different. After you completed the task, the memory fragments didn't merge with you. So tell me, where will that piece of unspeakable memory fragment go?" the Mirror God said slowly.

"Are you saying… this is the final destination of memories?" the masked man said. Listening to his words, Chen Ge and the others also understood some things.

The one called "Mirror God" was likely a real Calamity-God, but that was his main body. The one in front of them was probably just a remnant thought of a Calamity-God.

But undeniably, this was an old antique, and definitely knew many taboos and secrets.