Reality Hit Harder Than Any Showdown

Survival? Death? Darkness? Trial?...

Then... and then he couldn't remember. He tried hard to recall, but his mind was a Chaos, as if covered by a thick layer of frosted glass. The most crucial part seemed to have been wiped away by an invisible hand, leaving behind a sense of loss and bewilderment.

He frowned, trying to concentrate, as if something important was about to emerge from the edge of a gap in his memory...

"Squeak--"

The bedroom door was pushed open rather roughly, interrupting his thoughts.

His mother walked in with a stern face, threw a folded piece of printed paper at him without a word, then turned and left, the heavy sound of the door slamming shut echoing in the small room.

Ye Xu silently picked up the paper, unfolded it, and his gaze skipped over the details of each subject, landing directly at the bottom:

Total: 398.

It's not a ranking, it's an achievement.

This is the most Goushi result ever. If you're 100 points lower, you can just give up and give up. If you're 100 points higher, you have a chance to fight your way into a top university.

But the worst situation is being stuck in limbo.

"... Grass."

He stopped thinking, shut his mind, and a familiar numbness washed over him like a tide.

He remembered that it was almost the end of May, with only half a month left until the college entrance examination. This was the result of the last mock exam.

After an unknown amount of time, Ye Xu mechanically got up, pushed open the door, and found himself at lunchtime, with his parents and himself each occupying a corner of the small dining table.

The air was stagnant, like glue, with only the occasional soft clatter of bowls and chopsticks adding to the suffocating silence. Time ticked by, second by second, in an unspoken, oppressive atmosphere.

After finishing his meal, Ye Xu silently picked up his school uniform jacket from the sofa, preparing to leave. Just as he turned the doorknob, he heard his father's deep voice behind him, as if he were only talking to himself:

I remember... you used to have pretty good grades.

"What are you doing?"

The job fair was bustling with activity. An acquaintance squeezed next to Ye Xu, looking at the thick stack of resumes in his hand.

"Submitting resumes, looking for a job."

Ye Xu answered expressionlessly.

It seems like just a blink of an eye, and university life vanished like a smooth pile of excrement, disappearing without a trace down the drain.

"Go back. These job fairs are just a formality. They've already decided internally; they won't actually hire anyone."

An acquaintance offered a suggestion, patting him on the shoulder with a knowing air of someone who's been there.

"I know, I know I can't find a job."

"Oh? So you came back?"

Ye Xu shoved a resume into the already overflowing mouthful of food in front of him and casually replied:

"Because everyone is here."

Have you ever been the subject of someone's fantasies?

After hearing this somewhat suggestive question, Ye Xu, a middle-aged man, thought for a moment and said seriously, "Yes. When I was a child, my parents dreamed that I would be successful when I grew up."

My colleague across the table. "..."

"I'm leaving. I'm about to exceed the parking time limit. My hourly wage is almost less than the parking fee. I'm not even as good as a parking lot." Ye Xu started to put on his clothes and left.

"It's okay, you're still better off than the parking lot. Parking is free after eight hours, so you're in the same boat," your colleague comforted you.

Ye Xu: "..."

There's a second level.

Back home, he was faced with the same old scene day after day: his mother's eyes gleamed as she watched the hype surrounding health products on the TV shopping channel; his wife held his hand, repeatedly asking, "If I turned into a butterfly, would you still love me?"; and his child babbled incoherently, unable to utter a complete sentence.

Just then, his phone rang. It was the company number. He took a deep breath and answered the call.

"Ye Xu, you don't need to come to the company tomorrow."

Ye Xu was startled.

"Come again the day after tomorrow," the other person paused, then added.

Ye Xu felt a sense of relief. "Is it a holiday?"

"It's not a holiday; you've been fired. Come in the day after tomorrow to prepare for labor arbitration. We need to discuss the specific losses your previous work mistakes caused the company, and the corresponding compensation."

"Damn, I can finally die."

Ye Xu lay on the bed with a blank expression.

"Children, come to the front."

"As your father... I struggled my whole life, and finally managed to scrape together a million. But don't worry, debts are settled when you die."

"Old Deng, the new regulations... immediate family members... have an obligation to inherit and settle debts..."

"There's nothing we can do about it. This million is a treasure your father left you. When you're paying off your debts, your father will be watching over you from heaven."

Ye Xu closed his eyes peacefully.

"I used to think... I had an unhappy childhood... But as I grew up, the more I recalled it, the more beautiful it seemed. This isn't a romanticization of memory... but rather that life afterward... felt like a lump of mud that couldn't be plastered on..."

"In this life, what's most frightening is living in limbo, but what's even more terrifying is constantly being stuck in the bottom..."

Before his consciousness completely vanished into eternal darkness, he vaguely saw a deep, pure black flame ignite out of thin air, silently engulfing him and the entire Goushi- like world he had experienced...

"Consultant Su, it seems to be having little effect. The purpose of our experiment is to plunge him into despair, to cultivate an extreme desire for power at the depths of despair, so that we can observe the patterns in how his subjective consciousness influences the 'random' rules of Talent, and even guide his desire for specific items..."

At the edge of the Dreamscape, Su Luo and Han Song were watching Ye Xu's Dreamscape, with Han Song transmitting information through his mind.

"What's the rush? The formal experiment hasn't even started yet. This is just an adaptation test and data collection," Su Luo said calmly.

"But... judging from his appearance, he rarely shows any intense emotional fluctuations, let alone despair. Most of the time, he's in a numb, resigned state. If this continues, it will be difficult for him to develop the strong obsession we expect with 'power'," Han Song said, pointing to the shattered Dreamscape.

"It's alright, it's only natural. Watch me."

Su Luo casually pulled Ye Xu over, and Black Flames Burn his soul, beginning to Burn the helplessness, numbness, and resignation he had just accumulated. The flames leaped and began to erode the memory connections related to this experience.

"Just burn that part of his memory, it just won't be able to be restored."

Han Song nodded blankly.

Did you see the operation process just now?

"I saw it."

"I originally thought of many Doomsday scenarios filled with despair, but in the end I found that those Doomsday were not as intense as reality, so I decided to let him confront life first." Su Luo's consciousness did not wander, and she burned earnestly.

For those whose hearts are already empty, the psychological impact of many fantasies of the Doomsday may not be as oppressive as a predictable, mundane, and ultimately unsuccessful life in reality.

"I became completely numb..."

Su Luo threw Ye Xu aside and then summoned three more orbs of light.

These three orbs of light were all formed from Su Luo's Subconscious.

"The first orb of light's core function is to manipulate the flow of time within Dreamscape..."