Chapter 28: The Nightmare Bubble Layer

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Yuan Zhu, a temporary worker, felt no connection to the Fire Fang faction and decisively chose to ignore them, pretending not to hear. The others ceased discussing the benefits of freely discarding trash—a practice both environmentally friendly and cost-saving.

The pink-haired university student continued sharing her thoughts: “I believe that the residents from Taixi and Runing gathered here because of Runing’s ongoing peculiar space-time phenomena. Perhaps a new wave of temporal peaks has just arrived, weakening the barriers between worlds, causing us—due to some shared trait—to be targeted and pulled in.”

Meng Xiyue found this phenomenon worthy of study, and the “Happy Home of Mao Mao King” could serve as her college research project for the next two years.

What could be more direct than being personally kidnapped by the “Gods’ Space,” forced to participate, and frequently traversing space-time to observe its changes firsthand? She had become the most important humanoid parameter, the perfect subject for research.

Even casually writing down her encounters and memoirs afterward would provide enough material for her classmates to study.

At that moment, the pink-haired girl’s heart raced, as if she already saw herself transformed into a treasure, revered by classmates and teachers alike, studied intensely in the lab.

Clenching her fists, she cheered herself on: “I must seize this chance! As long as I survive stubbornly, scholarships, diplomas, and future recommendations will be secured.”

She resolved that once she returned to the present world, she would immediately sell herself out, securing additional funding from the school to better survive in the “Happy Home.”

However, the rainbow mohawk youth gloomily said, “What good is figuring out the reason? We’ve been kidnapped by this space; all we can do now is be at its mercy and await fate.”

The team leader, who had been quietly allowing friendly exchanges, suddenly spoke: “That’s not quite right. The ‘Happy Home of Mao Mao King’ does not unlawfully detain you or forcibly enslave you. On the contrary, we provide support within our means to help you through the toughest initial phase. In fact, ‘Happy Home’ does not restrict your movement; once you accumulate enough points, you can apply to switch teams or permanently exit.”

The leader briefly explained their situation.

The “Gods’ Space” is a loosely allied ‘interdimensional cooperative organization’ constructed by powerful demon gods, modeled after the “Main God Space” from the classic Four Great Novels’ “Infinite Dread.”

Each interested and capable demon god, in terms of strength and resources, can apply to “Gods’ Space” to create a subordinate private space for hosting exclusive squads—akin to the “Central Continent” teams in “Infinite Dread”—which is what the current “Happy Home of Mao Mao King” is.

The creator demon god holds absolute control over their space team, issuing missions and commands.

The kinder ones usually opt for single-player mode, undertaking low-difficulty, high-survivability tasks.

Others engage in networked competitions, tournaments, or war games for breeding sinister plots, simply to enjoy the brutal struggles of their “ants.”

...

At this point, it is necessary to mention a new concept called the “Nightmare Bubble Layer.”

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The Duling Star simultaneously connects to multiple external universes (eight in total), where unimaginably vast cosmic energies constantly converge.

Think of Duling as a capacitor device, with external universes serving as super energy sources of entirely different natures. Some transmit radiation, others electricity, some infuse sinister energy, others provide primordial cosmic qi—each in astronomical quantities.

Under normal circumstances, this little capacitor would ‘pop!’ in an instant, burning out and exploding into ashes.

Yet, reality tells a different story: Duling Star remains steady as ever, its vast seas calm and unruffled.

For four centuries, it has linked with one external universe after another, each governed by entirely distinct cosmic rules, greedily siphoning energy without end—a bottomless pit.

These astronomical, mutually conflicting energies and materials eventually precipitate and collapse within Duling’s conceptual framework, creating an infinitely expanding “Inner World Sphere,” a reservoir for endless storage.

The “Spirit Realm Layer” is the exclusive inner world of Duling Star, the flip side of the present world—a twisted, demon-infested extraordinary version of Duling, acting as a pressure relief valve for the main world.

Anything that exceeds the present world’s alert threshold—be it entities, powers, or phenomena—is gradually repelled into the Spirit Realm Layer by Duling Star, maintaining peace and stability in the real world, which outwardly appears prosperous and vibrant. (This weak facade has deceived one external universe after another.)

Though the Duling Star is rife with pollution, demons run rampant, and aliens roam, creating what should be an apocalyptic wasteland, why do the ordinary people still live in peace and prosperity?

Besides their unyielding mindset and incredible adaptability, the Spirit Realm Layer serves as a natural pressure valve and recycling station. It uses the present world as a template to forge another hellishly difficult new map (a garbage bin), voraciously swallowing all the real world’s waste and pollution.

The Gods’ Space explores the “Bubble Layer,” which lies beyond (or deeper inside) the Spirit Realm Layer in temporal-spatial scale. This is a fully chaotic, twisted, and unordered domain without concepts of time or space—a realm of infinite dimensions.

In reality, when a person absorbs too much pollution, triggering high-energy reactions that provoke the planet’s rejection, they get pushed into the Spirit Realm Layer to live. This phenomenon is identified by Taoist, Buddhist, and Holy Hall organizations as “Ascension” (Immortal Path: Ascending to the Spirit Realm).

Within the Spirit Realm Layer, if a high-energy pollution source continues to intensify and grow increasingly unstable and dangerous—eventually threatening the rules and order of the Spirit Realm—it will be expelled again, forced into the deeper Bubble Layer. This is known as “Secondary Ascension to God/Demon.”

The Bubble Layer is chaotic and unordered; time and space are twisted and confused, lacking cause and effect or logic. It contains numerous “Bubble Worlds,” born from unknown mechanisms where matter, energy, and laws intertwine and merge spontaneously.

These small worlds have no cause or consequence, like ephemeral illusions that may collapse or regenerate at any time; some endure far longer. The gods and demons wandering within the Bubble Layer favor inhabiting these luxurious refuges to evade storms and chaotic destruction, infecting one Bubble World after another.

Inside the Bubble Worlds, bizarre rules abound, and beings from the present world and aliens are randomly distributed. These worlds often project and magically modify the “collective dream-consciousness” of the main world’s intelligent beings, hence also called the “Nightmare Bubble Layer.”

The establishment of the Gods’ Space is a means for the demon gods entrenched beyond the Spirit Realm Layer—essentially within Duling’s infinitely expanding inner temporal-spatial domain—to efficiently explore the Bubble Layer.

Before Gods’ Space existed, outer-layer demon gods fought solo, struggling to pierce through the Spirit and Realms, painstakingly recruiting others.

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They would then wrap recruits in energy, like casting fishing lines, randomly throwing them into the chaotic Bubble Layer (a pond), hoping to hook a Bubble World for subsequent expansion.

After achieving their aim, they had to guard these increasingly experienced underlings (bait) and painstakingly pull them back, awaiting the next cycle.

Only mid- to high-tier demon gods could manage such operations; low-level demons had to follow big players, scavenging leftovers.

The founding of Gods’ Space was inspired by countless inner-layer overlords reading the Four Great Novels, jointly creating a “Main God Space”-like mechanism for space-time traversal. This allowed weaker demon gods to pay to join, manage a small space for their amusement.

With a large user base and collective strength, they could more easily breach Spirit Realm defenses to recruit from the main world, build exclusive safehouses within the Bubble Layer as transfer stations, and efficiently infiltrate multiple Bubble Worlds to plunder resources or enforce enslavement.

In short, the establishment of Gods’ Space transformed formerly solitary and fragmented exploration into a large-scale, systematic, professional operation.

This lowered costs, improved efficiency, reduced friction and conflict among demon gods, and greatly increased the utilization of the “main world fish hooks.” Each successful demon god could trade supplies within the alliance.

Previously, an individual demon god struggling to assemble a team and deploy them into the Bubble Layer faced over 60% mortality and had difficulty retrieving and converting gathered resources. Now, joining Gods’ Space boosts efficiency and helps avoid competitors, focusing on developing Bubble Worlds, with internal trade and transmission handled within the space.

Additional top-ups even offer chances to access richer, more stable high-end Bubble Worlds!

The team leader then summarized: “So, if anyone here distrusts the ‘Happy Home,’ you may consult the Space Stone Monument. Now, I will distribute the standard supplies for this mission.”

With a snap of his fingers, seven identical boxes appeared at his feet: “One per person. These are gifts from Mao Mao King, hoping you will pass your first mission smoothly. If you have free time, you may touch the Stone Monument to communicate with Gods’ Space and ask any questions.”

Judging by the team leader’s demeanor, the “Happy Home” seemed to be a relaxed, non-exploitative organization. But appearances can be deceiving, so Yuan Zhu decided to observe carefully a while longer.

As for the welcome package? Naturally, he would not miss out. While wary of the leader’s intentions, he also intended to make use of the offered sugar coating. After all, he had been abruptly transported here with nothing to defend himself—worse off than the rainbow mohawk youth armed with pipe wrenches—so he deserved some life-saving gear.

After the pink-haired student and the investigator sister each claimed a box, he slipped into the crowd behind the bread-haired girl and received his own.

Weighing it in his hands, it felt surprisingly heavy. Could there be something good inside?