Infinite Nightmares

Zhang Wenda didn’t press Tan Yougen on his evasiveness. Even though the matter concerned him, it was pointless to keep pestering if Tan Yougen didn’t want to talk.

He arrived at the Archives Department, one of the eight departments of Bureau 507. After showing the note to the guard at the entrance, he was led into a reception room to wait.

Just as Zhang Wenda was wondering why Tan Yougen had sent him here, he saw a person with a computer for a head walk in from outside.

"Qianxi?!" Zhang Wenda’s fur instantly bristled. A scythe shot out from his rabbit paw, and he was about to pounce when the person’s terrified, feminine scream stopped him in his tracks.

This wasn’t Qianxi. It was a woman with a computer head.

After the misunderstanding was cleared up, she shook Zhang Wenda’s hand somewhat awkwardly. "While I’m honored you mistook me for Qianxi, I’m afraid I’m not him."

"Are you related to him? Why do you look so much like him?"

"I didn’t ask to look like this, but this is what I became after coming out of Thought Wave One. What choice do I have? In this world, we don’t get to choose how we look."

A resigned-looking emoji appeared on Ding Xiaojin’s screen.

But she quickly composed herself. "Anyway, let’s not get into that. What did Director Tan send you to me for? Do you need to retrieve a file or look something up?"

"Neither. I’m here to ask you about something. It’s about a dream." Zhang Wenda then gave her a brief summary of the situation.

After hearing his story, and after data streams scrolled rapidly down her screen, Ding Xiaojin looked up at Zhang Wenda.

"First, let me clear something up for you. Your dream last night wasn’t because someone was plotting against you."

"So it was just a dream? Are you sure?" Zhang Wenda asked, staring at her.

"Not exactly. How should I put this... First, I need to explain a concept to you: where our Third Line abilities come from." As she spoke, she rolled up her sleeve, revealing three parallel lines—red, blue, and yellow.

"When the Third Line was first established, we didn’t actually use the Tri-Core as our weapon. Instead, we used conventional weapons and some high-risk Thought Wave artifacts. It was all very crude and straightforward."

"But we found that both of those were always subject to the rules of the Thought Waves and other uncontrollable factors. So, the R&D department started thinking about how to standardize and mass-produce weapons that would work across these different worlds, each with its own set of rules."

"Eventually, we found the answer: the Tri-Core Energy that comes from within our own bodies."

She pointed to the Third Line on her arm. "It doesn’t matter which Thought Wave we’re in. As long as we’re human, we possess the Tri-Core. It’s a power that comes from within us, unaffected by the rules of any Thought Wave."

"What’s more, when these three energies work in concert, they can produce a surprising variety of incredible effects."

"Thanks for the lesson, but what does this have to do with my dream?" an impatient Zhang Wenda couldn’t help but ask.

"Of course it’s related. If I’m not mistaken, the three colors that appeared in your dream are another manifestation of Tri-Core Energy."

"Normally, once someone learns the Tri-Core Spectroscopy Technique, they start to experience some unusual side effects. What you experienced is likely one of them."

Hearing this, Zhang Wenda breathed a small sigh of relief. "So... I’m fine? It’s a normal reaction? Does everyone get it?"

"No, no, no." Ding Xiaojin shook her head. "The problem isn’t the unusual Tri-Core reaction, but with us." As she said this, she pointed a finger to where her heart was.

"You don’t need to worry about what’s happening with the Tri-Core. It comes from within us. You need to focus on whether there’s anything particularly unusual about *yourself*. Think back. Is there? Something that makes you very different from other people."

Hearing Ding Xiaojin’s words, Zhang Wenda thought about how he had lost control yesterday. He thought about the uncontrollable emotions he felt every time he faced his parents.

He knew other people weren’t like this. Only he was. But he’d never expected it to be connected to the Tri-Core inside him.

Ding Xiaojin held up a flashlight and easily projected three lines of light. She said with a sigh, "Although everyone in the Bureau calls these three energies the Tri-Core—Red Core, Blue Core, and Yellow Core—no one knows their true names. Some call them ’Life Source,’ and others have different names for them."

"Even though we can harness them, we understand very little about what they are. After all, the Thought Waves haven’t been around for long, and there’s still so much we don’t know."

"Why do we have these three energies in our bodies? What does each one represent? Why can they work in concert to produce all sorts of abilities?"

"The R&D department is full of conflicting theories. Some people even say our Tri-Core is conscious. There are countless hypotheses, but no one can convince anyone else."

After saying all this, Ding Xiaojin glanced at Zhang Wenda. "Our in-depth research on the Tri-Core is ongoing, but there’s one fundamental principle that’s very important."

"We are the masters of the Tri-Core. We are meant to control them, not the other way around."

Zhang Wenda’s mind went back to the strange dream, remembering what the blue rabbit had told him: "There’s too much red."

Although there was still a lot he didn’t understand, this trip hadn’t been for nothing. Judging by his dream and the information he’d received here, he could now be certain that the excess of Red Core was clearly linked to his emotional outbursts.

Zhang Wenda took out a scythe and pressed it against his fur, shaving away a layer to reveal the colors of the Tri-Core underneath.

He had rarely used his Tri-Core Energy since becoming a monster. Now, looking at the three lines again, he was astonished to find that his Red Core had somehow grown even longer. It was now almost four times the length of his Yellow and Blue Cores.

He knew that the growth of the Tri-Core was tied to one’s experiences. For example, back in Thought Wave One, fully immersing oneself in the experience of the snack stalls near the school could increase one’s Yellow Core.

He had been through so much since becoming a monster, but he had no idea which of those experiences had caused his Red Core to grow so long.

’Could I reduce the Red Core to make my personality return to normal? To stop being triggered by those two monsters?’ The thought occurred to Zhang Wenda. He was about to ask, but the words caught in his throat as if a hand were clamped over his mouth.

First, the Red Core increased his strength and jumping ability. Reducing it would mean weakening himself.

The truth was, Zhang Wenda didn’t want to get rid of his reaction to them at all. The very idea of erasing the hatred in his heart made an uncontrollable rage well up inside him.

’Why should I? After they hurt me so much, why should I be the one who has to neuter my own hatred for them?!’

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