Game Objectives:
One Star: Successfully escape the Old Building of Tenth Middle School. Completed.
Two Stars: While escaping yourself, uncover what exactly happened at Tenth Middle School. Completed.
Three-Star Hidden Objective: Save those who should be saved. Completed.
Game Rating: Three Stars.
Countdown refreshed: Current Death Countdown—"Fifteen Days." Timer stopped.
Ability obtained: Night Cultivation Law (If you cannot sleep at night, you might as well continue cultivating spiritual energy. Nighttime cultivation progress +40%.)
Reward ability obtained: Mental Shock.
Note: I am willing to prove that all those who act nobly, kindly, and uprightly can therefore bear hardship.
—Ludwig van Beethoven
This game was finally over.
Su Wen saw the final prompt light up on the computer screen:
Extraordinary Appendage (Painting) has been stored in the Storage Box and may be accessed at any time.
The Dead Domain lay on the boundary between reality and illusion.
Which meant...
The little girl he had saved had truly left him a gift in the end.
He took the thin sketch from the Storage Box.
Outside the window.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps between the late-summer leaves and spilled into the room.
It also fell upon the paper in his hands, covering it with a soft halo that swayed gently beneath the caress of the breeze.
It felt very warm.
This was a gift worth cherishing.
He decided to act immediately.
Su Wen looked at the framed certificates and letters of commendation hanging in the old house.
In the end, he chose to take down his precious certificate for placing three hundred and seventy-eighth in the Round-the-Island Cycling Race.
After all, there had been three hundred and eighty participants at the time.
Excluding the two unlucky fellows whose bicycles had gotten flat tires.
He had earned the title of "champion."
It truly was quite precious.
It was also after that "battle" ended.
That his old bicycle gained an extra modifier and became a dilapidated old bicycle.
Su Wen replaced the certificate for three hundred and seventy-eighth place with the simple portrait.
He placed it where the sunlight could stream through the window.
Then he leaned against the bed and fell asleep.
Until three hours later.
Three thirty in the afternoon.
The door to his home was gently knocked on by the only young lady who ever visited.
Su Wen felt as though he had slept wonderfully, as if even his soul had been nourished.
He opened the door.
Before he could speak.
He received the answer.
"You didn't reply to my messages, so I stopped by to take a look."
The girl spoke in a cool voice.
"I've decided on the topic: an analysis of the storm stress model for Lighthouse Number Forty-Three.
It happens to fit the fluid-like opening report you did before."
"Not a bad idea.
The problem is that hurricane season is less than two months away. You might not encounter another meteorological disaster as terrifying as Ewiniar."
He replied calmly:
"We can only apply to the school for a wind tunnel simulation environment and conduct the model analysis there."
"You don't need to worry about that. There are still large sections of the Deep Sea Ruins that have yet to be conquered, so resources are currently being directed there."
"Come in and sit. I just woke up and haven't tidied up, so it might be a little messy."
At those words, a faint smile appeared in the girl's eyes.
"When I saw you hadn't replied, I already knew."
"Couldn't there be another possibility? For example, a dream one doesn't want to wake from?"
"A nightmare?"
Su Wen shrugged.
After helping the girl brush away a fallen leaf from her hair.
He smiled gently.
"Forget it. Let's just treat it as a beautiful dream."
Five days passed.
Ten o'clock at night.
After the receding tide had long since smoothed away the footprints left by daytime travelers on the white sand.
The tranquil moonlit night quietly descended.
Along the shoreline, only nearly invisible ripples gently lapped at the beach, producing echoes like soft whispers that were almost impossible to hear.
As if everything had already fallen asleep.
Sinking into peaceful dreams.
Three tall law enforcers in dark blue uniforms pushed open the glass doors of Schlote Heavy Industries' office district.
Over the past few days of investigation.
The Mental Review Bureau had confirmed the source of the construction materials for the Lighthouse 43 shelter.
The overwhelming majority came from exploration machinery destroyed during the electromagnetic explosion at the Deep Sea Ruins.
After rigorously comparing the data in the database.
Officer Zhu Yu arrived here under the cover of night.
At first, the security guards at the entrance tried to stop them.
But once he displayed the Mental Review Bureau credentials.
Every procedure became remarkably easy.
After all, in a certain sense, the Mental Review Bureau was no less terrifying than hearing a strange sound behind you while walking alone down an empty road at night.
The middle-aged manager of the BHX District wiped the unceasing sweat from his bald head.
At the same time, he immediately connected to Mars-William, the person in charge of the Asia-Pacific region.
On the screen.
Under soft pale-yellow lighting.
Mars-William reclined on a genuine leather sofa.
Before him sat a Victorian Era double-tiered engraved silver serving tray from the famous Palm Pavilion.
From time to time, he took out some exquisite food.
And fed it to the cheetah with Extraordinary Characteristics that he had specially found in Africa.
Ever since the Einstein-Rosen Bridge had warped from Congo to the World Tree.
It had become somewhat easier for extraordinary life in the African rainforest to break through into the first-stage budding phase.
Even so.
Mars-William's actions were enough to prove just how wealthy Schlote Heavy Industries was.
"Schlote Heavy Industries conducted illegal construction operations in violation of Border Regulations ETR-03. I will report this truthfully."
Zhu Yu said calmly:
"I suppose Schlote's Mars Exploration Project and Lunar Surface Project, which it has been prioritizing recently, will need to be reassessed."
"Interrogator, I believe there must be some misunderstanding between us."
Mars said with a smile.
He waved his hand.
Detailed personnel charts for the BHX District appeared in the teleconference.
"I sent people to investigate the database. There was indeed a record of retrieved materials being transferred out of storage.
But after checking the identities of the relevant operators and the surveillance footage, all data happened to show up as 'blank' during the twenty-four hours when Ewiniar struck."
"You mean someone with higher authority erased the evidence in secret."
Zhu Yu sneered.
"Do you think that after reading your Employee Regulations, I would believe testimony so incredibly 'coincidental' and so heavily biased in your favor?"
"I admit that there are procedural vulnerabilities at the BHX District recycling station."
Mars-William took a sip of coffee, then continued with a smile:
"But at least the outcome was good, wasn't it?"
At that moment.
A prosecutor standing beside Zhu Yu interrupted:
"Night Watch has discovered Dead Domain contamination spreading.
The medium is dreams.
But the Hecate Lantern only showed a ripple for an instant.
Afterward, no changes in shallow dreams were detected. For that reason, the Lightspot-Karen Edge Array could only lock onto an approximate area."
"Anything involving the Dead Domain is more important. We're leaving."
He made the decision immediately.
But before leaving.
Zhu Yu calmly glanced at the elegant European gentleman on the other end of the televised conference and left behind one final sentence:
"Mr. William, I merely came to give you a warning.
This matter concerns the Abyss Border and the Deep Sea Ruins. A higher-level bureau will make the final ruling."
Meanwhile.
Along with the dispersal of a very small number of dream fragments.
Lin Xiqing also accidentally entered a dream.
At the edge of the dream.
She saw a badly damaged school sign:
Binhai City Tenth Middle School
Before you continue