The morning at the Bureau was more chaotic than usual. Footsteps echoed endlessly through the corridors, files and dossiers were shuffled like falling snow.
Ethan was summoned to the briefing room before he even had a chance to drink a sip of water.
The projection on the big screen flickered, showing real-time surveillance from multiple cities: subway stations, schools, shopping malls… People suddenly collapsed in the crowd, their eyes rolling back, whispering unknown incantations, then falling into collective sleepwalking.
"This isn't an isolated case," the Director's voice was cold as steel. "Nightmare energy has begun to spread."
The room fell into an immediate, suffocating silence.
Karl frowned, flipping through the reports."Spread? You mean they can be infected without the rift?"
"Yes," the Director nodded, tapping the table."The symptoms are almost identical to previous hosts, but on a much larger scale. The suspected 'Nightmare Syndrome' has already appeared in six cities, and its growth is exponential."
Graphs and charts flashed on the screen, the number of cases climbing in a terrifying, near-vertical curve.
Ethan stared at the images, his spine gradually chilling. The vacant eyes of these strangers mirrored the collective sleepwalking in Dreamtown almost perfectly. The difference: this time, it wasn't confined to one area—it was spreading like a plague.
"Human society…" he whispered,"…it's about to collapse."
—
After the meeting, Ethan was assigned to accompany a task force to the quarantine zone on the outskirts of the city.
Tents stretched endlessly, cries and moans rising in waves. Medics and agents in protective suits moved among the chaos, carrying one uncontrollable person after another.
Ethan saw a teenage girl strapped to a hospital bed, limbs convulsing as she muttered strange whispers:"…the shadows are calling… the shadows are calling…"
Her mother knelt beside her, desperately grabbing an agent's sleeve."She's just sick! She's not a monster! Please, don't take her!"
The agent coldly pushed her aside and pressed his communicator."Another highly infectious case. Prepare for transfer."
Her wails tore through Ethan's chest.
He froze, feeling a weight pressing down on his heart. He suddenly remembered Xirei's words: "Nightmares are not the enemy. We are."
At that moment, someone in a doctor's uniform quietly approached, speaking in a low, urgent tone:"This isn't right. We've found that these patients have no residual rift energy—their nightmare reactions… seem artificially triggered."
Ethan's head shot up."Artificially?"
The doctor nodded, eyes wide with fear."Like someone is spreading a virus. Nightmare energy has been manipulated, mixed into food, air… even—"
Before he could finish, a scream erupted from the adjacent tent. Everyone rushed over to find a patient completely mutated: black eyes, cracked skin, their body seemingly consumed by shadows.
Agents immediately raised their weapons; psionic bullets pierced the patient's skull. Black mist dispersed, the air filled with the stench of burning flesh.
The tent fell silent once more.
The doctor's voice trembled:"Do you see now… this isn't a natural contagion. Someone is orchestrating it."
Ethan gritted his teeth, and a name slowly crystallized in his mind—
Ronan.
If all this was truly under his manipulation, then Nightmare Syndrome was only the beginning.
He took a deep breath and turned to Karl, whispering:"No matter what orders the Bureau gives, I have to investigate. At this rate, human society will collapse faster than the rifts ever could."
Karl stared at him, then slowly nodded after a long pause."Then you'd better be ready. Because what we're about to face isn't just monsters… it's the panic of the entire world."
The wind howled. Lights flickered across the darkened quarantine zone. Nightmares were no longer secrets lurking in the shadows—they were a plague devouring reality.