Chapter 353: Nightmare’s 18 Techniques to Induce Sleep (1)

Chapter 353: Nightmare’s 18 Techniques to Induce Sleep (1)

Humans in this world have it pretty rough.

Five centuries ago, the Nightmare Clan appeared.

Nightmares thrive on human negative emotions in dreams.

With enough energy, they craft dreams to stir human fears.

Human fear in dreams fuels Nightmares, making them stronger.

Too much fear in dreams leaves humans dazed, almost senseless.

Some, overwhelmed by fear, take their own lives.

Thus began a 500-year struggle between humans and Nightmares.

To fight Nightmares, humans avoid sleep, their feeding time.

Yet, sleep is a basic human need.

So, humans turned to strong tea and coffee to stay awake.

Today, people rely on double shots of iced Americanos or strong tea to keep alert.

Those who must sleep ask loved ones to wake them if they sleep too deeply.

Less sleep has shortened human lifespans.

Now, humans live only to 40 on average.

With less human sleep, many Nightmares starved, unable to feed on dream fears.

Now, only about a hundred Nightmares remain.

Jiang Zhuxiu, the antagonist, stands as the most powerful.

He uniquely feeds on both negative and positive dream emotions.

He’s the mutant of the Nightmare Clan.

Yet, by Nightmare tradition, he’s never consumed positive emotions.

He still thrives on fear.

As the battle raged, humans either lost their minds in dreams or died young.

Many Nightmares starved, leaving only Jiang Zhuxiu.

In the end, Jiang Zhuxiu invaded millions of dreams, killing them all.

The world was doomed.

Song Chuyi pondered, “Am I here to grind coffee?”

He thought he’d excel at it.

Xiaotong said, “Host, you’re a programmer here.”

Song Chuyi sighed regretfully, "If I started grinding coffee, I’d be a hit for sure."

Xiaotong: "So, host, are you quitting your job?"

Song Chuyi was about to say "Yes," but when he quickly scanned the host body’s memories, he spotted the antagonist.

"Huh," he muttered in surprise, "Jiang Zhuxiu actually made it into the human world?"

Wasn’t the new minister in the host body’s memories the antagonist?

"The antagonist’s my boss now; I can’t quit," he said to Xiaotong. "I didn’t expect Jiang Zhuxiu, a Nightmare, to turn human."

Xiaotong: "Well, he is a mutant."

Song Chuyi: "..."

"True."

A powerful, mutated Nightmare turning human isn’t that surprising.

But he wondered, would Jiang Zhuxiu, in human form, eat human food?

His alarm went off, reminding him it was time for work.

Song Chuyi turned it off and got up to get ready.

He’d probably find out soon enough.

————

At StarTech, Song Chuyi rushed into the elevator and checked his phone for the time.

7:59!

He was just one minute away from being late!

"Come on, come on," he muttered, not noticing the black-haired man in the corner.

The man wore a black suit, with icy eyes, thin lips, and pale skin that looked like it hadn’t seen the sun.

He held an iced Americano, watching Song Chuyi step into the elevator, his eyes locked on Song Chuyi’s empty hands.

His eyes darkened briefly before returning to normal.

The elevator opened at eight, and Song Chuyi bolted out, clocking in with barely a second to spare.

He sighed in relief and headed to his desk.

StarTech was big and treated its employees well.

Each employee had their own desk, and for someone like Jiang Zhuxiu, who’d climbed to minister and head of R&D, the office was even larger.

Song Chuyi sat at his desk, catching his breath, when a coworker leaned over.

"A super energizing coffee shop just opened downstairs. Wanna grab some at lunch?"

The coworker suddenly noticed and asked, surprised, "Why didn’t you bring coffee today?"

Song Chuyi: ...

He couldn’t just say he was a coffee tree that didn’t need sleep, right?

"Lately, I’ve been so stressed at work that I can’t sleep," he explained.

His colleague shot him an envious glance.

"I’m jealous that work stress keeps you awake."

"Not me, though—when work gets stressful, I just crash."

The colleague sighed, "I wish I couldn’t sleep from work stress too."

"I’d be pulling all-nighters, no overtime pay needed."

Song Chuyi cleared his throat, "It’s just temporary."

The colleague nodded understandingly, "No wonder you skipped the iced Americano today."

He grabbed his iced Americano and took a huge swig.

The colleague dove back into work, while Song Chuyi straightened up his desk.

In the director’s office, Jiang Zhuxiu cradled a cup of iced Americano.

He sipped it slowly.

A shadow crossed his cool, composed expression.

By 10 a.m., the office was alive with the sounds of sipping iced Americano and stifled yawns.

Song Chuyi, at his desk, suddenly craved coffee too.

"Song Chuyi, the director wants to see you."

A colleague passed along the message.

Song Chuyi’s eyes brightened, and he sprang up, heading straight for the office.

A cool voice responded to his knock.

"Come in."

Song Chuyi stepped in, "You wanted to see me, Director?"

Jiang Zhuxiu looked up at him, a frosty iced Americano sitting on his right.

"I hear work stress has been keeping you up lately?"

Song Chuyi was surprised his offhand comment had made it to Jiang Zhuxiu.

But he nodded casually, "Yeah."

After all, in this world, insomnia was a badge of honor—his colleague even envied him for it.

Jiang Zhuxiu’s eyes flicked up, and for a moment, something ominous gleamed in them.

"In that case, put together a presentation."

Song Chuyi: Huh???

"A sharing report?" He looked up in confusion. "What report?"

Jiang Zhuxiu's voice was cold. "The secret to staying awake."

He acted as if he were a real human, seeking the secret to sleeplessness.

If Song Chuyi didn't know that Jiang Zhuxiu was a major Nightmare, he might have been fooled.

But now Jiang Zhuxiu wanted him to do a sharing report—was it to figure out the reason, put him to sleep, and then do something bad?