Chapter 1

Qiuren sat on a bus, looking out the window at the scenery.

After a careful calculation, Qiuren realized he had been in this world for three days.

This was a world similar to Earth, but with a very strange feature.

Qiuren looked at the GG signs along the street, which should have displayed movie posters, but instead read...

"Famous dream architect Christopher Nolan's new dream movie 'Interstellar Leap' is now showing"

And there were also signs like... "Multiplayer online dream game 'Swordsmen' launches today, all young heroes are invited to continue the adventure!"

At first glance, they seemed like ordinary movie and game ads.

But...

Dream dungeons, dream architects.

Qiuren spent some time understanding what a dream architect and a dream dungeon were.

According to the original owner's memory, in this world, everyone would awaken a dream dungeon space when they turned eighteen.

Anyone could create characters and stories in their dream dungeon space.

Of course, this required a resource called creation points, and the initial dream dungeon space had size limitations, with a maximum of ten square meters upon first awakening.

The existence of dream dungeons also gave rise to the most popular profession in this world... dream architects.

As the name suggests, dream architects create various novel story experiences in dream dungeons to benefit the public.

The two pillars of human entertainment, movies and games, were also directly transferred to dream dungeons.

Although traditional movie and game industries still existed in this world,

More people preferred to enter the beautiful dreams created by dream architects, personally playing the roles of characters in movies, embarking on thrilling adventures, and experiencing the thrill of being a hero.

"This world is really strange, it hasn't become seriously competitive yet."

Qiuren sighed again.

"What kind of egg roll?" The person sitting next to Qiuren suddenly asked.

"Nothing."

The person sitting next to Qiuren was the original owner's desk mate and part-time friend, Xusheng.

Now, Qiuren's identity was that of a senior high school student, a senior about to face the dream architect college entrance exam.

"I still don't understand why you, Qiuren, chose to apply for the Nightmare Purification major."

Xusheng had been nagging since they got on the bus.

The school had arranged an extracurricular activity for Qiuren and some of the students in the class.

It was already unusual to have such an activity during the intense period of senior year, but the most unusual part was that the destination... was a prison.

And not just any prison, but one that specifically housed death row inmates!

"Maybe because it pays well?"

Qiuren answered Xusheng casually.

There weren't many students on this extracurricular activity, mostly those who, like Qiuren, had applied for the 'Nightmare Purification' major.

And there were also those like Xusheng, who just didn't want to attend class and came to see the world.

"High pay? But I heard that the death rate for dream architects in the Nightmare Purification major is extremely high. You might be swallowed by a nightmare one day," Xusheng shivered.

Where there is light, there is also shadow.

Dream dungeons provided a platform for people in this world to explore their own and others' fantasies.

But along with it came 'Nightmare Dungeons.'

As the name suggests, Nightmare Dungeons were dream dungeons that brought death and fear, capable of taking a person's life on a mental level.

As for what specific Nightmare Dungeons looked like and how to purify them, Qiuren didn't know.

The original owner had directly chosen the high-death-rate Nightmare Purification major when applying for college.

The reason was... this foolish child was so poor that he wanted to choose a major that paid well.

"Don't think too much, the high death rate might just be a rumor," Qiuren said.

"Rumors are true! Anyway, I would never choose this major. I'm only here today for the sake of classmate Wanxiang."

Xusheng lowered his voice and sneakily glanced at a girl sitting at the back of the bus.

She was quietly reading a small novel that could be held in one hand.

Lin Wanxiang...

Just like in every class, there was always a girl who stood out in terms of beauty.

Lin Wanxiang was the one who raised the average beauty level of the entire class.

Qiuren felt that this girl would still raise the average beauty level of the entire university even in college.

Coincidentally, Qiuren could also do this, but for the boys.

Unfortunately, before Qiuren and Xusheng could admire this girl for long, the bus stopped in front of a heavily guarded building.

"We have arrived at Fengdu Prison. Students, please follow the teacher after getting off the bus and don't wander around, or you might be caught by the prison guards!"

The homeroom teacher made a joke to ease the tension among the students on the bus.

Fengdu? Fengdu?

Qiuren thought the extracurricular activity to a prison full of death row inmates was already eerie enough, but the name of the prison was even more eerie.

There weren't many students on the bus, only about forty, the total from ten college entrance exam classes.

Most were like Xusheng, who didn't want to attend class and came for the experience, with only a few applying for the Nightmare Purification major.

When Qiuren got off the bus and stood at the entrance of the prison, his first impression was... this place didn't look like a prison.

It looked more like a research institute, a high-tech research institute.

When Qiuren followed the excursion group into the prison, this feeling became even stronger.

The floors and walls exuded a clean, efficient technological feel.

"Students, this is the outer area of Fengdu Prison."

The tour guide was a young woman, dressed more like a civil servant than a prison guard.

"You may be curious why we are bringing you to visit a prison for the Nightmare Purification major. Please look through that window."

The female tour guide pointed to a transparent glass on one side of the corridor.

This made Qiuren think he was at a zoo, but the scenery here was much more terrifying.

On the left side of the corridor was a huge floor-to-ceiling window, clearly bulletproof.

Outside the window was an open space, like a reservoir, deep and bottomless, requiring a telescope to see clearly.

Qiuren used one of the telescopes and saw a mechanical container at the bottom of the space, containing a rotating black cube.

"Is that the Nightmare Seed?" a student asked curiously.

"Exactly. Nightmare Seeds come in various forms, and that one is the most dangerous S-class Nightmare Seed. The current purification progress is less than half," the tour guide patiently answered the students' questions.

S-class Nightmare Seed?

You're showing such a dangerous thing to students?

While Qiuren was still puzzled, he suddenly noticed a group of people gathered around the cube.

They were wearing prisoner uniforms, clearly death row inmates. These inmates gathered around the Nightmare Seed and fell into a deep sleep.

Soon, one of the inmates suddenly woke up, screaming in terror, and then spat blood and fell to the ground.

This scene made the students who thought 'Nightmare Seeds are so cool!' tremble.

"What... What happened to them?"

Xusheng watched as more and more inmates woke up, most of them spitting blood and unconscious, while others went into a frenzy.

Several prison guards had to work together to subdue them.

"They were killed in the nightmare."

The tour guide smiled.

"Purifying low-level Nightmare Seeds involves two steps. The first step is to send personnel into the nightmare to kill the monsters or other things that represent the nightmare. Of course, dying in the nightmare can cause severe mental trauma. You might survive the first time, but not the second."

"Then... then applying for the Nightmare Purification major... isn't that the same as these death row inmates?"

Xusheng, looking at the gruesome scene of the inmates with blood streaming from their seven orifices, turned to Qiuren with a fearful look.

He was almost grabbing Qiuren's collar and saying, "Brother, please change your major! Don't choose this eerie major!"

"Of course not. The responsibility of the Nightmare Purification major is to construct nightmares, which is the first step."

The tour guide still smiled.

"Nightmare Seeds are inherently chaotic and need dream architects to construct nightmare scenes."

"But Nightmare Seeds are also conscious. The job of dream architects is to construct nightmares that satisfy the Nightmare Seeds. How to satisfy the Nightmare Seeds while minimizing the casualties of the dream explorers is a test of the dream architect's skills."

Qiuren understood what the tour guide meant.

In essence, if a dream architect tried to create dream dungeons like 'My Little Pony,' 'Pokémon,' or 'Teletubbies' in a Nightmare Seed, they would face backlash.

On the other hand, creating dream dungeons like 'Resident Evil,' 'The Conjuring,' or 'Saw' would greatly please the Nightmare Seeds.

But the dream explorers in these dungeons wouldn't be so... happy.

"Students who enjoy horror games or movies can consider applying for this major. Of course, nightmare dream architects also risk being consumed by nightmares and might end up even worse than the dream explorers."

After the tour guide finished speaking, most of the students in the class wanted to quickly escape this eerie place.

Qiuren also understood the purpose of this extracurricular activity: to discourage students from applying for the Nightmare Purification major.

It seemed that this major was a brainchild of the higher-ups, so the professionals below were trying to dissuade these young students from entering this dangerous field.

"Alright, let's not talk about scary things. It's lunchtime. We have prepared a lot of delicious food for you. Please come this way." The tour guide stopped scaring the students.

As she led everyone to the other side, an alarm suddenly sounded in the prison!

"What's happening?" Xusheng was instantly startled.

"That cube... the Nightmare Seed..."

Qiuren noticed that the Nightmare Seed was emitting light, and in the moment he noticed it, it also noticed him.

A huge eye suddenly opened on the cube.

The moment Qiuren made eye contact with it, he felt his consciousness being torn into the Nightmare Seed!

The last thing Qiuren heard was the shouts of his classmates and teachers.