NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 852
Long ago, people equated sleep with death.
This was because the appearance of a person in slumber bears little difference to that of a corpse.
Thus, we refer to the deceased as having entered eternal sleep, a slumber from which they shall never awaken.
So, if sleep is akin to death…
What then is the nature of the dreams we dream while asleep?
What did those ancient people associate with dreams?
…
When Anastasia opened her eyes, she found herself in a ruined city.
The metal was rusted and caked in salt, as if a colossal wave had swept through. A putrid stench and the smell of decay wafted from every corner, along with a hideously unpleasant odor she had never encountered before. Even the slightest twitch of her nose felt as though the foul scent was coating her insides.
Blink, blink.
As she propped herself up and blinked her red eyes, all she saw was ruin, ruin, and more ruin.
Rather than an eerie ambiance, the oppressive stench filled the air, imparting an overwhelming sense of disgust.
“It’s the scene I saw from the window,” Anastasia muttered to herself as she slowly began walking down the street.
Her footsteps were steady, without a hint of caution.
It would have seemed foolish if one considered that her strength had been greatly depleted while scaling the apartment building.
Yet, Ashtosh Singh, who silently accompanied her, offered no warning of the need to tread carefully. Instead, with a light gesture, he simply indicated what she should do.
With two fingers, he pointed to his eyes, and then gestured forward.
He swung his head slowly from side to side.
Even without words appearing on a monitor, Anastasia understood what Ashtosh Singh intended to convey.
“Grandfather, you want me to observe this place closely?”
Ashtosh Singh did not answer her question.
For some reason, he merely affirmed her inquiry in silence.
“Um….”
The small girl swallowed the question that bubbled up within her as she turned to look behind her.
There was nothing there.
Neither the apartment she had just climbed nor the woman in the black dress who had followed her.
And the white hair she had glimpsed through the window seemed to have faded into nothingness.
All traces of the recent past had vanished without a trace, leaving only the desolation of the ruined city behind her. The remnants of what once stood there were feebly represented by a few shattered pillars sticking up from the ground, oozing foul stains that emitted a horrific odor.
The apartment was gone.
The tower she had ascended to delve deeper was nowhere to be found.
This was a dream.
Just one of countless dreams, sliced through like an apartment.
While exploring this dream, she may eventually uncover the tower that once served the role of an apartment.
But it would not be behind her.
What could be more futile than trying to discern the nature of time and space within a dream?
Anastasia turned her body back to face the front.
Then, as if making a decision, she prepared to step into the road…
But hesitated.
“This road seems suspicious…”
Observing the strangely intact street, she decided against stepping onto it and placed her feet onto the uneven sidewalk, which was difficult to traverse as it was nearly overturned.
She cast a quick glance toward the road before beginning to walk along the sidewalk.
Could a road remain pristine amid such devastation?
If anything appeared anomalous enough to blend into the scenery, it surely bore some sort of ulterior motive.
And in this grotesquely unpleasant and loathsome city, anything ‘anomalous’ was certainly not going to be friendly. As she had encountered in other nightmares, these visions tended to move with the sole intent of leaving behind a frightful aftertaste while possessing ‘minimal plausibility.’
How long had she wandered now?
With each step she took, the landscape shifted, and with every ten steps, the block transformed. By the time she had taken a hundred steps, a familiar refreshing feeling flooded her body—only for it to abruptly change as she rounded a corner, leading her to wander within this labyrinth.
Even if dreams have nebulous concepts of time and space, this was beyond excessive.
This resembled a military formation or a maze!
As she pondered this, Anastasia continued to roam through this absurd city.
And how much longer had she roamed?
An unimaginable foul odor wafted up to her nose.
“Ugh.”
Layer upon layer of stench, marinating in disgust, like the pinnacle of unsanitariness.
Just inhaling it seemed enough to make one ill; the putrid scent evoked memories of why the medieval Europeans insisted, ‘disease comes from bad smells.’
Anastasia turned her head towards the source of the smell.
There stood a man and a woman wearing peculiar, dented helmets.
They donned bizarre helmets that looked like they had been crudely fashioned from pots, dressed in leather clothing stitched from white and black leather, sitting upon chairs.
They smiled at Anastasia.
Slowly, they raised their hands to wave, beckoning her to come closer with gestures.
Auaaa—
Aaaaah—
Things stirred in response to their motions—a swarm of black dots.
Countless flies, enticed by the stench, approached.
Having simply been sitting still until they began to twitch, the flies swarmed around them in anger, seemingly intent on venting their fury, before squeezing through the gaps in their helmets.
In any normal scenario, one would be inclined to scream and flee.
But…
Wave, wave.
As if it was a familiar occurrence, they paid no mind to the flies crawling into their helmets and continued to wave no matter what.
As if urging her to come closer.
Yet, as Anastasia hesitated to approach, they huddled for a moment, cupping their hands near their mouths, and yelled loudly.
“We’ll throw in some free meat scraps, so come on over! We’re not the sort to extort even the little ones!”
The eyes curving in a crescent shape emphasized their sense of security.
However, the horrid stench emanating from the shop completely discouraged any desire to approach.
“—.”
Seeing Anastasia remain motionless, the woman nudged the man in his side and said something.
“—.”
The man nodded as if to say he understood, stepping inside for a moment before returning with something in hand.
Aaaaaah!!!
It was the ‘meat scraps’ they had mentioned earlier.
It was essentially inedible cuts, a few pieces of meat still attached to severed skin.
When a merchant offers something for free, there is typically an ulterior motive.
Just how many flies had congregated around those rather small scraps of leather and inadequately attached meat?
As soon as the man brought it into view, the flies, which had been resting nearby, erupted into a frenzy, scattering in all directions, akin to a black fog swirling around the meat.
The man shook it in one hand, as if attempting to lure her over, like one would coax animals with bait.
“…Grandfather, that…”
Anastasia was not swayed by their temptations.
Not only was the meat they held unsanitary, but…
“…That’s a human belly button, isn’t it?”
The reason she surmised this was due to the sight of hair surrounding the belly button in the ragged piece of flesh the man held.
The ruddy skin.
The hair, which was only around the belly button.
It was evident to anyone that this wasn’t the flesh of a beast.
“…A human flesh butcher shop.”
Anastasia understood exactly why that shop emitted such a horrific stench and why flies hovered around in abundance.
With countless people being butchered, the stench of rotten blood would have permeated the air, and naturally, such a place would be fraught with ominous and loathsome vibes. In an area overflowing with ‘food,’ it was no wonder the flies were abundant.
Anastasia slowly began to back away.
“—-.”
“—–!!!”
As they witnessed her retreating, they began to frantically gesture for her to come back, only to spit toward the ground as they tossed the chunk of human flesh into a filthy plastic container.
『 Protein Block Ingredient Container 1 』
Flies swarmed over the tossed human scraps, and they closed the container once they confirmed that the flies had entered.
Then, raising their hands as if to signal her to leave.
“…This is rather unsettling.”
Witnessing them immediately shed their airs upon realizing their scheme had fallen through was utterly nauseating.
Anastasia could not help but scowl at their behavior and the gruesome scene they had created.
Despite having traversed countless nightmares, this was an incomprehensible sight.
Gasping softly in an attempt to suppress her nausea, she continued onward.
How many more steps did she take?
Something caught her eye.
‘Was there ever a building like that?’
Before her was a high-rise building.
Every window was shattered, and the walls riddled with mortar holes, looking as though it could collapse at any moment.
Yet, amidst such dangerous circumstances, there were people inside.
Oblivious to the fierce winds, those adorned in gleaming aprons hurriedly scuttled about the upper floors.
What could compel them to be so busy in a city that had fallen to ruin?
They endured the winds blowing through the crudely constructed exterior, tirelessly laboring away.
Whoosh.
Someone near the window tossed something outside.
That something, resembling food waste, plummeted to the ground with a colossal ‘splat,’ painting the floor crimson.
“…That too is human flesh, isn’t it?”
Looking down at the splattered remnants, Anastasia regarded the building with disgust.
『 Butchery Tower 』
The words scrawled across the building revealed its dreadful identity.
“…How horrifying.”
With a sigh, Anastasia resumed her journey.
“…Praise…”
“…the Lord!”
“Ah…!”
With each stride, the cacophony grew.
The colossal sounds of numerous people.
The great chorus of many individuals.
As the background shifted, the sounds grew clearer, finally coalescing into a singular form.
“Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah-!!!”
“Praise! Glory! His kingdom shall come upon us-!”
“How beautiful! We shall be grateful for the coming of His millennium kingdom!”
“Even as trials trouble us, we shall not falter. Though pain and trials seek to crush us, we shall not give up. Grateful for His guidance, nonetheless, we shall send forth our prayers.”
“Blessed! Praise Him! Let us sing His worship-!”
“Hebrews 11:5. By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death; for he was translated, so that no one could see him again. For before his translation, he had this testimony: that he pleased God.”
What entered Anastasia’s view was a multitude of people gathered within a ruined church.
Men and women kneeled, arms lifted high towards the sky in anguish.
“Those who believe shall be saved! Only those who believe shall be saved! When the time of destruction approaches, He shall lift us to the heavens, taking us to His thousand-year kingdom!”
“The Rapture shall be our salvation-!!!”