New Gods of North America

With a loud rumble.

Lightning flashed across the sky, and outside the window, the downpour continued relentlessly.

Macon Reeves looked around and realized he had once again entered the "dreamscape."

From his perspective, this was a luxurious mansion, large enough for hundreds of people to play "hide-and-seek" inside.

The mansion was based on the "home" he had once lived in,

but he also knew that it was mostly made up of imagined elements.

Many "characters" once lived here, with various names like "Washington," "New York," "Georgia," "Cannes," and so on.

Among them, the most notable was another "Macon Reeves,"

who, like a coward, needed to be constantly cared for by others.

Macon Reeves didn't have his own "name" here because he had never appeared in front of others. He felt that in this world, he was simply "me" and didn't need other characters to dilute his "importance."

Unfortunately, he could only exist here like a ghost, watching new characters appear one after another, all treating that coward as the master of this place.

"Washington" looked like an elegant politician from a newspaper, "New York" was a young businessman who made his fortune through wisdom from a magazine, "Georgia" seemed like a selfish and vicious sister who would at least occasionally say a word or two for him, and "Cannes" was like a wild but dashing bounty hunter from a story...

However, none of them could truly help "Macon Reeves" after his father's death.

His mother always skillfully and promptly changed the subject, ignoring it completely, while his stepfather seemed to always pull out his belt after the servants were dismissed, then close the door and approach "Macon Reeves."

Before his stepfather died, it seemed like every day in his memory was like this.

So "Macon Reeves" always hoped the house could become bigger, bigger, and even bigger, so that "Macon Reeves" could find a safe place to hide and not be discovered by his stepfather.

And he, as if nailed in the shadows, could only watch the scene of being "found" repeat itself again and again.

He was furious.

But he could only watch.

Although the pastor in the academy church seemed friendly, he was actually the first to notice the other party's malice.

Only the foolish "Macon Reeves" would obediently drink those disgusting potions again and again.

But those potions seemed to be truly life-saving drugs.

He slowly realized that he was also beginning to have a "physical body" here, gradually changing from a "shadow" that could pass through internal walls and ceilings to someone who could pick up daggers and axes.

Then he began to clean up those useless wastes.

Once he cleaned up the mansion and became "himself" again, the next step would be to return to that so-called "home" during the holidays and eliminate more scourges.

He had practiced it many times here, and that kind of thing was not difficult.

Enjoying the quietness of the mansion, Macon Reeves walked briskly towards the cellar.

That was his secret space, and none of the others here knew about it.

Ah,

to be precise, they all eventually knew.

He had kindly dragged them one by one to the slaughter table where "Macon Reeves" had been tied up.

Anyway, as long as he woke up, their fragmented limbs and splattered blood would disappear, as if they had never appeared in the dreamscape.

Macon Reeves walked down the stairs, pushed open the cellar door, and then his pupils suddenly dilated.

The place had completely changed its appearance at some point, empty as if it were another world.

This world was almost completely bright "pure white," seemingly without a top and seemingly without boundaries.

Only a twisted human figure floating in mid-air was a pitch-black shape that was difficult to discern in detail, only allowing one to make out its outline.

Walking in a little further, he could see sticky black liquid constantly overflowing and dripping from the twisted human figure.

Drip, drip, drip.

Like a burning candle, slowly dripping wax.

Macon Reeves couldn't stand his space being invaded by foreign objects and turned around to leave, intending to find a handy weapon in the mansion.

"Why are you here?"

The twisted human figure began to tremble, and an aged voice buzzed like a bee, echoing in this world as understandable words.

Macon Reeves reflexively took two steps back, only to find that the pure white ground was like freshly painted paint, sticky and "fading."

On the bright pure white, his footprints were stained black, and eventually his feet were completely stuck in place, unable to lift his steps anymore.

Macon Reeves listened to the tone he had only recently become familiar with, "T-Teacher, is that you?"

The pitch-black twisted human figure was silent for a moment, then slowly "opened," turning into a twisted shape that Macon Reeves couldn't describe.

The buzzing voice rang out again, "You've come at the right time, otherwise I wouldn't know how to find you."

Many twisted "vines" slowly emerged, slowly stretching towards Macon Reeves, whose feet were frantically struggling.

The space that those "vines" swept through gradually began to turn "pitch black,"

like a slowly tightening noose, or like the hammer of a gun that is slowly pulled back when the trigger is slowly pressed.

As if his life would be taken away at any moment.

No—

Macon Reeves wanted to escape in horror, then lost his balance and sat down on the ground.

His hand, which he subconsciously supported himself on, was also firmly stuck, and his buttocks could no longer move an inch, leaving only his right hand waving in the air,

both wanting to drive away those "vines" and involuntarily posing in a defensive posture of "blocking."

Just at this moment,

as if with a "crack,"

this pure white world suddenly developed huge cracks like a broken white chocolate bar, and then was quickly divided in two.

Macon Reeves suddenly sat up, like a drowning person returning to the surface of the water.

He held his breath and looked around, this was an unfamiliar room, and one of his hands was chained to the bed frame.

A blonde beauty who seemed to have appeared in the academy spread her hands, explaining to another silver-haired beauty next to her: "It was fine when I looked at it just now, it only broke after it got into Wayne's hands."

Following the silver-haired beauty's gaze again,

Wayne, who used to live in the same dormitory as "Macon Reeves," was now holding a chain in one hand, with the pendant that had recently returned to his side for some reason at the bottom, and catching below the pendant with the other hand.

The once smooth, round amber pendant had completely shattered, revealing the mysterious symbols inside made up of inverted triangles, crosses, and lamb-headed V-shaped totems.

Macon Reeves recalled the theology courses he had taken and realized that it seemed to represent the forbidden symbols of a heretical god.

Noticing Macon Reeves' movement, the embarrassment on Wayne's face quickly faded.

He honestly put the pendant back in place, trying to put on a stern face, "You're awake? Tell me, why did you secretly meet with that murderer last night?"

The silver-haired beauty next to him silently picked up the pendant chain again, examining it carefully from a distance.