Returning from a Nightmare

The blazing afternoon sun scorched the earth.

Dragon City Ninth High School, Grade 12 Class 6.

The classroom was as stifling as a steamer.

The students were all drowsy.

The teacher waved an Alloy Battle Blade in one hand and held a ferocious specimen in the other, shouting himself hoarse from the podium:

"Look at me! Look at me! If you don't look at me, how will you know what monsters look like?"

At the back of the classroom, a messy-haired boy suddenly jolted awake with a scream.

Both the students and teacher were startled. "Meng Chao?"

Deep red sleep marks still lingered on Meng Chao's face. He looked utterly terrified, as though he had just awakened from a long nightmare.

He scratched his hair and looked around in every direction.

When he saw the blackboard, his dazed gaze suddenly froze.

The blackboard was filled with densely packed secrets of blade techniques.

Analysis of the lever arm and torque behind wielding a battle blade, the speed, angle, and depth of a thrust, the maximum strength of monster carapaces, and all kinds of intricate formulas.

All of them were compulsory questions on the National College Entrance Examination.

Two large lines were written on the blackboard as well:

Fifty days until the final battle of the National College Entrance Examination!

Study hard every day, raise Earth's might, and dominate the Otherworld!

"This is... my Grade 12 classroom?"

Meng Chao's mind reeled. "Wasn't I dead? How did I return to Grade 12, with the National College Entrance Examination just around the corner? I'd rather be dead!"

In an instant, his head felt as though it were splitting apart.

Countless fragments of memory surged into his mind like raging floods and savage beasts.

What? Dragon City had fallen?

I failed the National College Entrance Examination and endured society's beatings for decades before barely becoming a Third-Rate Expert?

Yet my little sister had been exceptionally gifted and obtained the Night Demon Bloodline, becoming the legendary Black Night Witch, one of the most terrifying boss-level powerhouses in all of Dragon City—no, the entire Otherworld?

Meow meow meow, what kind of insane plot twist was this?!

Meng Chao felt as though five thunderbolts had struck him at once.

When he tried to recall the details, the nightmare rapidly dispersed, leaving only scattered flashbacks.

In his daze, a familiar dark face leaned close.

Meng Chao blurted out, "Teacher Yan, you're still alive?"

"..."

The whole class fell silent at first, then erupted into an uproar.

Everyone admired Meng Chao's death-seeking courage to the point of prostration.

After all, Yan Dongxing, the teacher lecturing on the Hundred Battles Blade Technique, was the feared "Devil Yan."

Rumor had it that he had been a famous Iron-Blooded Instructor in the military, and killing monsters had been as easy as chopping dumpling filling.

"You even dared to flirt with Devil Yan. Truly worthy of the former fiercest man in Class 6. Meng Chao, we'll give you a proper burial."

The students shed tears of sympathy.

Yan Dongxing's face, black as the bottom of a pot, instantly burned bright red.

"Student Meng Chao, explain yourself."

His large hand gripped the monster skull specimen, and beneath his calm tone lurked killing intent.

"This is bad."

Meng Chao's pupils contracted.

At that moment, his perception of killing intent was ten times sharper than that of the students around him.

Stimulated by that killing intent, he quickly recognized reality.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Yan. I was too tired from studying last night, so I nodded off just now and had a... nightmare?"

Meng Chao tried desperately to grasp the flashbacks in his mind and said uncertainly, "I seemed to dream of Otherworld creatures filling the skies and covering the earth. They were all especially brutal, howling wildly as they surged toward Dragon City like a flood. We couldn't stop them at all. Our century-old home was destroyed in an instant. I was shocked and woke up in fright.

"Then, uh, Teacher Yan, you were extremely heroic in my dream, a martyr revered by all. I had just been deeply mourning your appearance and voice in the dream when I suddenly opened my eyes and saw you walking over. It was such a delightful surprise that I couldn't help myself..."

"Wait."

Yan Dongxing raised his brows. "In your dream, Dragon City fell, and I died too?"

He smiled without really smiling.

The monster skull creaked in his grasp.

"Well..." Meng Chao scratched his head.

Having returned from a nightmare, his desire to survive was strong. "Don't worry. You died without any pain. Very peacefully."

Meng Chao had not lied.

He vaguely remembered that Devil Yan had been eaten by a Hundred Teeth Giant Worm.

He had been torn to pieces in two or three seconds.

He had not even had time to let out a scream.

There probably hadn't been much pain, right?

Crack!

Yan Dongxing crushed the monster skull in one grip.

"Dragon City will fall? What a joke!"

The Iron-Blooded Instructor flew into a towering rage, his eyes bulging wider than the monster's. "I won't even mention your usual loafing around, and I can't be bothered to care if you sleep in class. But Student Meng Chao, what exactly is stuffed in that brain of yours for you to dream that Dragon City is destroyed?!

"Go stand against the wall! Head up, chest out, stomach in, butt out! Tell me loudly: fifty years ago, when Dragon City crossed into the Otherworld, there was no coal, no oil, no electricity, nothing at all. There was only rampant plague and zombies everywhere. Back then, did Dragon City fall?"

Meng Chao said awkwardly, "Teacher Yan, how am I supposed to stick my butt out while standing against the wall?"

"What?"

"Reporting, Teacher Yan! Dragon City did not fall!"

Meng Chao shuddered and instantly rediscovered the feeling of being seventeen. He stuck out his butt, his face full of determination.

"After the zombie crisis came the descending mist and the appearance of monsters. Countless martyrs shed their heads and spilled their blood, carving out living space inch by inch from between the monsters' teeth."

Yan Dongxing continued roaring. "In the first ten years of the Monster War alone, we lost one-third of our population! At the worst point, monsters broke into the city center every single day. Humanity fought monsters in every mall, every residential complex, every toilet—tell me, did we submit? Did Dragon City fall?"

"Reporting, Teacher Yan! We did not submit, and Dragon City did not fall!"

Facing the Iron-Blooded Instructor's spray of spit.

Meng Chao looked upon death as though returning home.

Yan Dongxing's anger subsided somewhat as he said solemnly, "Very good. Whether it was 'crossing into the Otherworld,' 'zombies everywhere,' or 'monster attacks,' none of these crises that failed to destroy us did anything but make us stronger. After half a century of struggle, Dragon City has firmly gained its footing in the Otherworld today.

"Compared to when we first crossed over, Dragon City's area has tripled and its population has increased fivefold. Many citizens have reached the level of elite special forces soldiers and Olympic champions on Earth, while the one-in-a-hundred Transcendents possess astonishing combat power.

"We have upgraded ancient martial arts, restored powerful industry, and ignited entirely new technology. Dragon City's iron cavalry sleeps with weapons beneath their pillows every night, ready for battle. Once the mist clears, our Iron Torrent will descend like a tiger from the mountain and spread the brilliance of Earth Civilization across the entire Otherworld.

"How could a Dragon City like this possibly be destroyed by some mere Otherworld creatures? And they're fucking brutal? Let me tell you, in this world, only us Earthlings are the most brutal!"

The Iron-Blooded Instructor could not help swearing.

The students' blood boiled as they listened.

The class monitor, Zuo Haoran, stood up.

With swordlike brows, starry eyes, and a tall, upright frame, he truly lived up to his name, carrying an air of awe-inspiring righteousness.

The class monitor glanced at Meng Chao and said seriously, "Teacher Yan spoke wonderfully. The long night has already passed, and ahead lies the dawn of victory. Born into such a radiant age, young people of our generation should study diligently, train hard, strive to become Transcendents, and contribute our own strength to Dragon City's rise in the Otherworld.

"How could we fear the enemy as though it were a tiger and spend all day pondering Dragon City's destruction?

"Of course, I believe those timid as mice are ultimately few in number. Most students share the same conviction—Dragon City will win! Earth will win! Civilization will win!"

Led by the class monitor, the students all grew excited.

"Dragon City will win! Earth will win! Civilization will win!"

They waved their fists and shouted, wishing they could cast aside their pens and join the army at once to sweep through the Otherworld.

"The class monitor is so handsome!"

Quite a few girls cast admiring looks at Zuo Haoran.

In sharp contrast, their gazes toward Meng Chao naturally became strange.

Some even whispered among themselves:

"Meng Chao really has been pretty degenerate lately. He's always sleeping in class."

"You can't blame him entirely. He made a mistake in training and suffered serious injuries, falling from first in the class to dead last. Wouldn't you become degenerate too?"

"Even so, he can't curse Dragon City to be destroyed!"

Damn it, picking a fight!

Meng Chao narrowed his eyes. Do I have a grudge against you?

Thinking carefully, huh, it seemed that he really did.

The class monitor, Zuo Haoran, had been Meng Chao's nemesis throughout high school.

Staring at that handsome yet righteous pretty-boy face, Meng Chao's head hurt as memory fragments came flooding in. Scene after scene flashed swiftly before his eyes.

Meng Chao suddenly realized that in the nightmare just now, his failure in the National College Entrance Examination seemed to have something to do with the class monitor.

While he had fallen off the list, the class monitor had entered a prestigious university, soon become a Transcendent, and soared into the sky in a single leap.

But that bastard had been a hypocrite through and through.

When Dragon City had been slaughtering its way through the Otherworld and winning battle after battle, Zuo Haoran's fortunes had risen with the tide as well. He was gilded with a heroic halo and showered with flowers and glory.

At their high school reunion, seven or eight female classmates, fierce as wolves and tigers, had pounced on him.

Meng Chao was a man with a strong sense of justice.

He had immediately been jealous—no, disgusted beyond belief.

However, when Dragon City encountered a true Otherworld Civilization and became bogged down in bitter fighting, this guy had actually fled before the battle, causing the entire front to collapse.

After Zuo Haoran received judgment from the war tribunal, he simply went all the way and betrayed Dragon City, defecting to the alien race and selling out Earth's secrets!

"A traitor—what are you so smug about?

"Who exactly is the one who fears the enemy like a tiger? At least I fought until the very last moment and lived and died with Dragon City.

"You little punk, first you sabotaged my National College Entrance Examination, then you acted like a hooligan at the reunion, and in the end you betrayed Dragon City? I'll make sure you don't die easy!"

As though by instinct, battle plans churned through Meng Chao's mind one after another.

He stepped forward half a pace.

Zuo Haoran instinctively became wary.

"Class monitor, that was wonderfully said. I've been truly educated and deeply moved."

Meng Chao wore a thoroughly sincere expression and even bowed slightly. "Thank you, Teacher Yan and class monitor, for your guidance. I have deeply recognized my error. I'll change. From now on, I will definitely stand firm in my convictions, train diligently, and devote all my strength to Dragon City's rise in the Otherworld. Words are useless—please watch my actions!"

"..."

Zuo Haoran shivered.

He felt that Meng Chao's gaze had suddenly become bizarre, as though he were a completely different person from before class.

"Enough. Class monitor, sit down. Continue the lesson."

Yan Dongxing did not waste words either. He pointed Meng Chao toward the corner. "Be conscious. Hibernating Dragon Stance until class ends."

The words "Hibernating Dragon Stance" triggered a chorus of sharp breaths.

Dragon City's compulsory education system, from kindergarten through high school, spoke of the "Nine Great Stances."

Three lying stances, three sitting stances, and three standing stances. Combined with the Breathing Technique and Meditation Technique, they could absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, stimulate cellular activity, break through genetic shackles, and embark upon the path of becoming Transcendental and Saintly.

Yet the Hibernating Dragon Stance was a tenth stance training method beyond the curriculum.

It was also the most difficult stance to practice.

Not to mention high schools—even many junior colleges did not teach the Hibernating Dragon Stance.

Only the legendary Undergraduate Program, a sacred ground dedicated to cultivating Transcendents, practiced the Hibernating Dragon Stance.

A new book was setting out on the road and desperately needed the care of all brothers and sisters. Please move your fingers to recommend and bookmark it. Your support is my motivation—let us carry Earth forward together, charge!