Translator: Cinder Translations
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"Is this your final conclusion?" Hidden behind a rocky outcrop, An Xuan stared at Zuo Jing with a serious expression.
This was their agreed meeting point.
Both had shaken off their temporary teammates to gather here and exchange the information they had gathered.
"Yes," Zuo Jing replied quickly, her tone agitated. "I suspect Chen Qiang. He is the Deep Crimson infiltrating this nightmare!"
After a pause, Zuo Jing calmed herself slightly and asked An Xuan, "You were with him last night. What do you think of him?"
An Xuan stroked his chin as he recalled, "He was very calm, completely devoid of the panic he initially showed. If he's a newcomer, then his mental fortitude and potential are quite impressive."
"Not just impressive," Zuo Jing corrected, breathing heavily. "It's terrifying!"
It seemed that recalling her first encounter with the nightmare, Zuo Jing had already marked this young man named Chen Qiang as extremely dangerous in her mind.
She was certain that this young man was the Deep Crimson infiltrating their current mission.
Staring at his nominal subordinate, An Xuan frowned slightly. "Look at the state you're in," he said, his tone firmer. "No matter what you encountered or saw before, you must calm down now. Don't let fear control you."
"Also, don't judge things based solely on intuition," An Xuan added. "Use your head."
"But—"
"No buts," An Xuan cut her off.
After a moment of staring at each other, An Xuan's sharp gaze softened. His lips moved as he hesitated, then said softly, "Xiao Qing. You're not suited for this job. After this mission, I'll submit a proposal to have you transferred out of the Execution Department."
"I'm not leaving," Zuo Jing refused outright, her eyes gradually reddening.
An Xuan sighed and looked at her. "I know you joined the Night Watchmen because of your father and have been tracking Deep Crimson's trail. You could consider transferring to another department, like Intelligence. That's your expertise, and your intuition might—"
"I said I'm not leaving!" Zuo Jing clenched her teeth. "If you dare report this to the higher-ups, I'll never forgive you!"
"Listen, I'm doing this for your own good!"
"I won't listen!"
An Xuan felt a headache coming on. If it weren't for her incredibly sharp intuition, he would never have brought her along. Sometimes, it was these simple intuitions that decided many things.
One thing Zuo Jing wasn't wrong about was that the most terrifying aspect of Deep Crimson wasn't their cruelty and brutality, but their ability to hide that boiling cruelty beneath a calm exterior.
Only in the moment before they decided to hunt would they tear off their disguise and reveal their fangs.
And for their prey, that was when the nightmare truly began.
The Execution Department, being the most powerful, elite, and influential division within the Night Watchmen, faced greater risks compared to other departments.
While conducting in-depth investigations into nightmares, they also had to protect important figures and combat organizations like Deep Crimson, which relied on nightmares to carry out indiscriminate or premeditated crimes.
It was said that the history of the Night Watchmen was a dark book written in blood, and the chapter belonging to the Execution Department was the bloodiest of all.
Several of An Xuan's peers, recruited around the same time, had already gone missing.
One had barely escaped a nightmare with his life but had gone mad.
He was now housed in a hospital run by the Night Watchmen.
The most notable feature of this hospital was the almost complete absence of anything red, especially Deep Crimson.
Even blood bags for transfusions had to be wrapped in paper of other colors.
Usually, sky blue was used, and occasionally light green, as these colors were less stimulating and helped keep the mentally unstable patients calm.
Moreover, the wrapping wasn't just a single layer, to prevent patients from tearing it open and exposing the blood's true color.
The slightest hint of Deep Crimson would send the patients here into a frenzy.
And these people were An Xuan's comrades, once the elite of the Execution Department.
The only mistake they had made in their lives was encountering Deep Crimson in a nightmare, being hunted like prey, tortured, and then mockingly released.
Left to live.
To live forever in disgrace.
Every time An Xuan thought of this, and of his comrades lying in hospital beds, bound in straitjackets, their eyes vacant, drool dripping from their mouths, screaming intermittently, his resolve to eradicate Deep Crimson grew stronger.
Perhaps one day, he too would die, or be captured and tortured by Deep Crimson, ending up a madman like those pitiful yet admirable comrades.
But until that day came, he would continue down this path, just like those unfortunate predecessors, unwavering even in the face of certain death.
No more people should die in the nightmares. He had a vague intuition that Deep Crimson was brewing a massive conspiracy, though he dared not speculate on its scale.
Those caught in the nightmares saw Deep Crimson as madmen, terrified by their brutal methods. But An Xuan knew that beneath that extreme, repressed madness lay an almost perfect execution of their plans.
In his eyes, Deep Crimson was more like a group of devout believers.
But what they worshipped was certainly not Christ, Buddha, or any deities from mainstream mythologies.
Not even the devil.
The only thing that could make them bow their heads was something hidden in the deepest, darkest abyss.
What that was, An Xuan didn't know.
But he had a premonition that it was hidden within the nightmares.
Like them, Deep Crimson was exploring the nightmares, but while the Night Watchmen sought to destroy them, Deep Crimson was searching for that thing.
By any means necessary.
They cared neither for their own lives nor others'. Such individuals were the most terrifying, with no bottom line or limits, their goals purely heinous.
They were a group of self-gathered... martyrs, drawn by the scent.
What worried An Xuan more was that Deep Crimson was growing at an unimaginable rate, far faster than the Execution Department.
According to reliable intelligence, Deep Crimson had very few official members. Most were followers who worshipped Deep Crimson under its banner. They might lack Deep Crimson's intellect, patience, or skills... but their madness surpassed even Deep Crimson's.
That was the most terrifying part.
Deep Crimson was just a symbol, a sign. But around this symbol, countless bloodthirsty individuals swarmed, reveling in a feast that even Deep Crimson itself might be unable to stop.
To this day, An Xuan had never encountered an official member of Deep Crimson. Those he had killed or eliminated through various means were all followers of Deep Crimson.
Their madness left a lasting impression on him.
(End of the Chapter)
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