I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but ever since entering this twisted and weird “forest”, Agou has been acting a bit sentimental - he has been sentimental about many things, and he also recalled some past events that he hasn’t mentioned for a long time. There are some things that even Shirley herself doesn’t remember, but he still remembers them very clearly.

After hesitating for a moment, Shirley decided to express her feelings.

"Sentimental? Me?" After hearing what Shirley said, Agou was stunned at first, and then he became confused, "Really? I've been feeling sentimental and reminiscing all the time?"

"Yeah," Shirley nodded repeatedly, "Although you occasionally talk about the past like an old lady, or recite a bunch of truths to me, but you have never been so... sentimental. I feel uncomfortable listening to you."

Agou gradually stopped walking, and finally he became aware of the slight effects he had been subjected to. After a moment's thought, he tilted his head, and his hollow and terrifying eyes scanned the gloomy forest, with a bloody light slowly flickering in his eyes.

"The forest is affecting us... It's some kind of emotion," it said in a deep voice, "There's a low and depressing 'atmosphere' lingering in the whole forest. It makes me unable to help but have wild thoughts, just like... It's like being immersed in a huge mind, constantly disturbed by it..."

Shirley's eyes widened nervously. "Ah...ah? You mean, this forest is...sentient?! You've been affected by it? Is it serious?"

Agou shook his head left and right. "No, it shouldn't be this forest, it should be this dream... Don't forget its name, the Dream of the Nameless. The dream itself is something created by the mind... But don't worry, it's not serious. This influence doesn't seem to be targeted, it's just a passive interference caused by the environment. Shirley, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Shirley pointed at herself, with a puzzled expression on her face. "Yeah, even you are affected, how come I'm fine... maybe it's because I'm more heartless?"

"If only it were that simple," Agou muttered in a low voice, "Don't let your guard down. Subliminal influences are the most dangerous. The more you think nothing is wrong, the more likely something will happen. If you suddenly feel depressed or nervous and panic, be sure to tell me immediately."

"Yeah," Shirley nodded quickly, then frowned again, looking at the forest that seemed to have no end with some uneasiness, and whispered, "You say... when will the captain find us? We shouldn't be so unlucky that we are trapped here forever, right?"

"No, don't let your imagination run wild," Agou said immediately, "Didn't you feel a faint call in your heart just now? That means the captain already knows about this matter, and he should be thinking of a solution. We just need to protect ourselves during this time."

"oh."

Shirley agreed obediently, but at this moment, a strange, sticky sound, as if something was gradually melting and flowing, suddenly came from not far away, interrupting the communication between her and Agou.

This chilling sound instantly made Shirley's hair stand on end. She tugged at the black chain beside her: "Agou! This time you heard..."

"I heard it. There's something nearby—"

Agou said quickly, turning his head to look in the direction where the strange sound came from. Almost at the same time, an incomprehensible scene appeared in his and Shirley's vision -

A patch of shrubs suddenly began to grow wildly, and large tracts of pitch-black matter gushed out from between the dense leaves. In the blink of an eye, countless limbs were formed that fluttered in the air, and at the ends of countless limbs, fine, eye-like cracks opened up. The towering trees next to them seemed to "melt" and fall down in a series of strange noises. The thick trunks flowed down like silt. The canopy that covered the sky and the sun lost its support, but gradually grew towards the sky. In the twisted light and shadow like an illusory flame, it was stretched and deformed into countless pale flocs that fluttered down. The earth was surging, as if it had suddenly turned into a layer of soft and sticky skin, and as if something terrible was drilling in the soil and was about to break out of the ground...

The next second, all kinds of chilling noises suddenly broke out. The illusory sound of burning, the sticky sound of squirming and the hissing sound filled with noise in the blink of an eye. The mutated trees spread to every place in sight almost in the blink of an eye. Everything in front of the eyes seemed to come alive suddenly, and showed the deepest nightmare in its crazy and twisted growth!

Everything is changing, everything is distorting, everything is impacting the boundary of perception and reason - right in front of Shirley and Agou, the dream surged, and dark and malicious things finally drilled out from the earth. It was a flowing shadow, and the shadow was shrouded in shapes and things that could not be described in words. There seemed to be countless eyes and fangs piled up in the squirming mud. Shirley only took a look at them and realized the only thing she should do.

"Run!"

She only had time to shout once before she turned and ran out, running in a direction that seemed "stable" for now. The rugged woodland kept rolling and undulating under her feet. Every step she took was like stepping on cotton, or the skin of some soft creature. The touch was disgusting and terrifying.

The body strengthened by the symbiosis with the Deep Demon unleashed its greatest potential at this moment. She felt that she had never run so fast in her life!

The dark and hideous chain was stretched straight in an instant, and Agou was dragged by Shirley and flew directly into the air, rising and falling in the air as the latter ran.

Shirley dragged Agou along and ran all the way out of the forest. However, after running for a while, she looked back and saw that the surging nightmare was still chasing her. So she shouted at the top of her voice: "Switch!"

Before she finished speaking, she swung the chain in her hand forward, and Ah Gou was thrown forward directly——

Agou had already adjusted his posture before landing, with all four paws firmly on the ground. Then, without any delay, he continued to run forward with the momentum that had just been thrown at him!

Now it's Shirley's turn to fly in the air.

And during these several relays, the constantly mutating and twisted, nightmarish "forest" always chased after them, like a nightmare dream that could never be shaken off.

It even gave Shirley a horrible illusion, as if the entire forest had come alive, and was chasing and hunting her from all directions with furious malice, as if it was determined to eat her and Agou alive!

But fortunately, just when she felt that she really couldn't escape, the "nightmare" that was chasing and spreading behind her suddenly slowed down.

As suddenly as it had happened, the distortion and corruption of the forest ceased without warning—

Shirley dragged Agou and ran forward for dozens of meters before she realized this belatedly. She came to a sudden stop beside a fallen tree in a panic, turned her head and looked at the dark corruption in the distance that had stopped spreading. She widened her eyes in surprise and said while panting, "Agou... huh... stop over there..."

Under the influence of inertia, Agou's huge body whizzed past her and crashed into a pile of boulders nearby.

After the loud roar, Ah Gou struggled to climb out from the pile of boulders, shaking his head and shouting, "What?!"

"Ah..." Shirley looked at Agou awkwardly, then pointed at the dark and twisted area in the distance that had stopped spreading, "It suddenly stopped over there."

"Wait a moment..." Agou muttered, ran to the pile of rocks and opened his mouth, "Ugh——"

Accompanied by the sound of foul-smelling corrosive substances burning the soil and rocks, the dizzy Deep Hound finally finished vomiting. Then it shook its head, slowly returned to Shirley, and looked up at the place where the horrible corruption stopped.

A clear "border" remains in the forest. On one side of the border, there are still lush and vibrant plants, but on the other side, it has turned into a chilling, indescribable place filled with strange and twisted shadows and wriggling matter.

Countless animated vines and flowing shadows emerging from the soil are still slowly wriggling in that dark area. Even though they are no longer spreading towards this side, looking at them makes people feel viscerally frightened.

Shirley didn't even dare to look over there for a few more times. She managed to control her breath with great difficulty, her voice still trembling a little: "Then... what the hell is that thing?"

"I don't know... I'm not an expert on dreams," Agou came to Shirley's side and stared at the distance with extreme vigilance, "but this may be the true appearance of this 'Dream of the Nameless'... Some deadly thing is spreading deep in this dream, but the scale of this dream is too large. The captain and his men didn't catch up last time - but we caught up."

"Why am I the only one who is unlucky..." Shirley frowned and muttered, but soon she closed her mouth and looked in a certain direction with a vigilant look on her face.

Agou also instantly withdrew his gaze from the corrupted area, let out a low growl from his throat, and stared at an open space several meters away.

A strange smell is approaching.

Although I don’t know how that strange aura appeared, it is obvious... someone is entering this dream.

Friend? Or enemy?

Shirley and Agou sensed a certain... familiar yet alarming feeling of disgust from the strange atmosphere.

The next second, as they watched, a hazy phantom suddenly emerged in the deserted space - just like the bubbles in a dream gradually becoming clearer, a human figure gradually condensed in the phantom.

A tall, thin young man wearing a dark blue coat and with a sinister face appeared in the open space.

The moment the young man appeared, Shirley and Agou both noticed a dark chain phantom flashing near the other's shoulder blade, and at the end of the chain, an ominous phantom like a bird vaguely emerged.

Shirley's eyes changed slightly in an instant, and she subconsciously pulled the chain connecting her to Agou.

The "uninvited guest" not far away also reacted instantly. After sensing a strange atmosphere at the scene, he suddenly turned his gaze away.

The girl in the black dress standing with the Deep Hound appeared in his sight.

He was surprised for a moment, then frowned:

"… Is there anyone in this area already?"