All tests for this trial had been completed, and Wen Wen, flexing his fists, prepared to commence his investigation into the case of the sleeping.
He first sought out Mo Yadi and borrowed his Illusion-Temptation Heavenly Robe, which granted him a certain degree of defense against illusions, before returning to the Containment Facility to approach Delia, ready to enter her dreamscape.
According to the theories of Meivena and Mo Yadi, as long as Wen Wen followed Delia's dreamscape deeper and deeper, he would reach the true location of Delia's consciousness, and thus truly touch upon the core of the sleeping case.
Taking a deep breath, Wen Wen transformed into a wisp of smoke and burrowed into Delia's dreamscape.
Delia's shallow dreamscape was her room, where Delia sat in a chair, happily copying knowledge from another world.
Wen Wen shrugged. After activating his Nightmare constitution, he could tell at a glance that this scene before him was a fabricated dream.
Therefore, he proceeded to her deeper dreamscape, which became much dimmer, as Delia's consciousness was not located here.
In Delia's subconscious dreamscape, the world was filled with chaotic splashes of color, but this was merely a desolate world, and Delia was nowhere to be found.
Wen Wen took a deep breath and continued to delve deeper.
Wen Wen didn't know the name of this dream layer, but it gave him a very bad feeling.
The scene here was where Delia had given her speech, but all the buildings were covered in flesh-like growths, the streetlights were packed with tongues and eyes, and the lecture stage was crammed with dozens of faces.
The surrounding audience members had numb and terrifying expressions, each with a varying degree of deformity on their bodies.
Upon closer inspection, one could discover silver-gray substances secretly writhing in the corners of these people's bodies.
All the audience members present were Dream Fiends!
A normal Dreamtalker entering here would likely be torn to shreds by these Dream Fiends within minutes!
Dream Fiends were different from Nightmares; they were like ferocious beasts. Without the manipulation of Nightmares, they found it difficult to control their actions and would torment to death any creature that entered their sight with the most brutal methods.
However, although Dream Fiends were dangerous, they generally remained in the lower strata of dreamscapes. Apart from being driven by Nightmares, they usually couldn't interact with the dreamers.
Upon discovering that Wen Wen was a Nightmare, the Dream Fiends present were disappointed, shook their heads, and dispersed from the venue to roam elsewhere.
Wen Wen searched here for a long time without finding any trace of Delia's consciousness. She was just an ordinary person; if her consciousness were here, it would have long been torn to shreds by these Dream Fiends.
"So, she isn't here either. Then she must be deeper."
Wen Wen took a deep breath. This dream layer was already dangerous enough. If Delia were in an even deeper dreamscape, how had she survived?
Driven by curiosity, Wen Wen once again stepped into a deeper dreamscape.
Compared to the previous layer, this dreamscape appeared much more normal. It was still Delia's home, but everything was rendered in shades of gray.
Wen Wen walked out of the room and found that nothing around had changed, except that it seemed extremely silent, with no living creatures visible.
He flew high into the sky and gazed into the distance, his brows deeply furrowed.
This dreamscape was excessively vast; he couldn't even perceive its boundaries, and its construction was identical to reality. Furthermore, even as a Nightmare, Wen Wen couldn't distort the architecture here.
Wen Wen flew in one direction at full speed. Flight in a dreamscape was much faster than normal. As Wen Wen merely thought about it, the resistance encountered during flight transformed into thrust, greatly accelerating his speed.
After flying across several cities, Wen Wen still hadn't encountered a boundary, finally confirming that the size of this dreamscape was completely consistent with the real world.
Wen Wen stopped, his brow furrowed. "If Delia's consciousness is trapped here, finding her might not be an easy task."
However, the flight along the way was not without reward. Wen Wen finally encountered the first moving entity here.
It was a black horse with a spiraling horn on its head, and its legs, hooves, and tail were all ablaze with black flames.
This creature was also a Nightmare, but its appearance was vastly different from Meng Lan.
Wen Wen flew over and landed in front of the black horse, which immediately retreated two steps.
The hierarchy among Nightmares was extremely strict. Meng Lan was a top-tier Nightmare, possessing absolute hierarchical suppression over such minor Nightmares.
"What is this place?"
The black horse was taken aback. Had this high-ranking Nightmare lost its memory? However, it dared not refuse to answer when questioned by a superior Nightmare, and a fawning expression appeared on its equine face:
"My lord, this is the Edge Dreamscape, the very bottom layer of all dreamscapes."
"This is the origin of all dreams. All beings that delve into dreamscapes will eventually arrive here. This dream layer is shared by everyone, but it is difficult for anyone other than us Nightmares to enter, so this is our territory."
Wen Wen nodded, then continued to ask, "Recently, have a large number of ordinary people... ah, possibly close to ten thousand, entered this dream layer?"
The black horse showed a confused expression after hearing this. "That's impossible, my lord. Ordinary people can only enter the Edge Dreamscape under accidental circumstances, with only a few dozen entering the entire world in a year."
"It is absolutely impossible to enter through other means. Even 'Dreamtalkers,' super-powered individuals who have inherited remnants of Nightmares, find it incredibly difficult to delve into the Edge Dreamscape."
"Although the Edge Dreamscape is vast, if tens of thousands of different people were to come here, it would have already exploded."
Wen Wen smiled ruefully after hearing this. This was already the deepest dream layer. If he couldn't find Delia's consciousness here, where else would he look?
After leaving the black horse, Wen Wen found a place and tried, discovering that he could no longer delve deeper. This meant that this was indeed the lowest layer of the dreamscape.
"The strongest Nightmares only possess the strength of the True Order level. That entity is a Catastrophe-level existence. It's possible for him to delve even deeper than the Edge Dreamscape."
"I should go back and see first..."
Wen Wen sighed, flew a short distance, and returned to Delia's home, meticulously searching.
He believed that even if that mysterious Catastrophe could bring people into deeper dreamscapes, it would not be without a trace.
After all, he wasn't personally taking people down, but rather using his abilities to bring large numbers of people down in batches, while also disguising the upper layers of the dreamscape.
Wen Wen turned Delia's home upside down and finally discovered a slight anomaly under Delia's bed.