Fine, You Win

(This chapter is free.)

Huh? What did you say? Goddess, are you messing with me? No matter how you looked at it, this plot development was way too ridiculous, wasn't it? Even for an unreliable dream, this was far beyond necessary, wasn't it?

Though by now, I no longer dared to regard this world as an ordinary dream...

Although I was filled with doubt and shock, the unidentified glowing entity across from me gave me no time to question her. She simply continued, "The World Arbitration Organization has made the most appropriate determination regarding your identity and corresponding authority. According to the Database's most recent update..." At that point, the projection across from me suddenly flickered, and her voice instantly became unusually urgent. "Anomaly detected in the highest-authority individual. Pan-spatial connection disrupted... Failed to recalibrate connection coordinates... My apologies, Emperor. The absolute spatial distance between us is too great. The virtual connection is about to be severed... We will... proceed to... provide assistance..."

The projection before me began to shake violently, like a television image distorted by severe signal interference. At the same time, her voice suddenly changed into a language I couldn't understand, startling me.

"Hey! What's wrong? Don't tell me you broke down?"

No one answered me. The projection flickered a few more times before finally disappearing completely. At the same time, the entire world instantly returned to silence. The only difference was that it was no longer merely gray—it had become filled with all kinds of colors.

"A Jun? What's wrong?"

The anxious call in my ear snapped me back to my senses. I shook my head and discovered that I was standing at the school gate. The students around me were panicking over someone at the scene suddenly "spontaneously combusting," while Xu Qianqian was vigorously shaking my arm and anxiously calling my name.

Seeing that I had come around, Qian Qian finally breathed a sigh of relief. "A Jun, what happened to you? Why were you suddenly standing there without moving? You didn't react no matter how we called you."

"Oh, it's nothing. I just zoned out for a moment..."

"Zoned out? Can zoning out be that serious?" Qian Qian clearly didn't believe me, but she didn't press further. Instead, she pulled me toward the school. "Come on, we'll be late if we don't hurry."

I followed obediently, but my mind was racing.

Obviously, although so much time had passed in the dream, only an instant had gone by in reality—there was nothing strange about that. What concerned me more was the content of the dream.

The ancient one who had appeared in the dream, and the things that mysterious girl had told me, seemed to have pushed my exploration of that dream forward by a huge step. Yet in truth, I had only gained more questions. What exactly did that dream that had troubled me for so long mean? What was that supposed thing? What was today's attack? A superpower? A supernatural phenomenon? Everything had become a fog of mystery, leaving me utterly confused.

At this point, there was no way I could continue treating that world as a simple dream.

"A Jun, what's wrong with you? Why have you seemed so absentminded all day?" Qian Qian asked worriedly on the way home.

"Nothing." I flashed a brilliant smile. "You know I usually space out a lot."

"Really just spacing out?" Qian Qian looked suspicious. "Are you sure you weren't thinking about some pretty girl?"

"...Pick another topic."

"Oh, then for the next topic, what's that pretty girl's name?"

"Xu Qianqian, satisfied?"

"Hmph, at least you have some sense!"

It was really strange. Words that should have been flirtatious banter between a couple somehow carried none of the proper feeling when they came from us... Was it really because we knew each other too well, to the point where our relationship would forever remain something almost like family?

My sister had to handle company matters today and wasn't expected to return until very late. After eating dinner alone, I went back to my room and began sorting through everything that had happened today.

After thinking for a long time, the mysteries remained unresolved. I decided to try calling out to that "dream" world again.

Perhaps because my several successful connections had strengthened the link between me and that world, I smoothly sensed that subtle feeling of connection this time.

The first thing I did after establishing the connection was immediately ask about it.

"Shilin Mother Planet has received an external command set... Authority confirmed... Entering remote command mode... Uploading consolidated command set."

Strange. What the voice told me this time seemed a little different... But then again, that world seemed to be in the process of awakening. As it gradually woke up, it was normal for the information I received to change, but...

Wasn't the specific information I received this time a little too abnormal?

Zenith Remote Space Strike System. Got that one, pass.

Shilin Legion Teleportation System. What the heck was that?

Pasville Psionic Recharge System. What did that even mean?

Shilin Directed Star Annihilation Cannon? Hey, hey, hey, what was with something that sounded illegal just from its name alone?

Pandora Military Fortress... Was this something a healthy, well-adjusted young man ought to be researching?

Pan-Spatial Ethereal Oscillation Matrix... Was there not even one thing I could understand? No matter how I looked at them, these sounded like the stuff used by big-headed aliens in third-rate sci-fi movies.

But as more and more information entered my mental world, I gradually stopped having the energy to mock those bizarre and deeply inappropriate terms.

The massive torrent of information finally stopped flowing into my mind like a calm little river. The explosive surge burst through its banks and poured in madly, making me feel as though I had fallen into a swamp, powerless as I was gradually submerged beneath the sludge of information. At the same time, it felt as though I were trapped in a storm, buffeted by information until I was on the verge of collapse. Gradually, my brain completely gave up analyzing the data flooding in and merely absorbed the vast amount of information blindly. At first, I could still feel waves of stabbing pain from my brain, but numbness quickly took over my senses. I swayed within the torrent of information, left with only one thought: If this keeps up, I'm going to turn into an idiot...

I had no idea how long had passed before the transmission finally ended. My mind was already on the verge of collapse.

What an absurd amount. I felt as if my brain had been stuffed full of all kinds of random junk. I probably shouldn't expect to remember anything else for the rest of my life...

I soon discovered that the information flooding into my brain did not exist freely in my mind like ordinary memories. Instead, it had been strictly categorized and compiled, stored in my head in perfect order, allowing me to access it anytime, anywhere. This method of storage was like... files on a computer hard drive!

Forget it. My nerves had already been tempered a thousand times over. No matter what happened now, I wouldn't be surprised.

This kind of memory storage naturally had its advantages: it was convenient to search, safe and reliable, and there was no risk of mixing things up or forgetting them. But its drawbacks were equally obvious. You had to know in advance that a certain piece of data existed in this Database before you could retrieve it. Unlike normal memory, where you could recall something through association or a sudden flash of inspiration, you simply had no way of knowing what these files contained unless you accessed them deliberately!

It seemed I would need to conduct a full search of this data... Or should I call it a full scan? Why did it feel as though my brain had been transformed into something rather subtle?

Fortunately, only this external information was stored in that manner. My original human memory system had not changed. At least I didn't need to worry about becoming some kind of humanoid machine...

Still, the amount of data was far beyond my expectations. After searching through less than a third of it, I had already lost interest in the things I couldn't even understand. So I directly focused on the very end of the data, the final piece of information transmitted.

"Based on comprehensive analysis of the above factors, the current confirmed non-executability rate of the command set is 99.999999 percent..."

That was a lot of nines!

Damn, wasn't this just screwing with me?! After going through all that effort, transmitting so much stuff to me, and nearly killing me in the process, you were telling me this was actually a list of defective products?!

I didn't care what you were—if you dared mess with me like this, I...

Apparently, there was nothing I could do... My only connection with it was the projection in my dreams. Aside from that fleeting burst of energy at the school gate, it had never even appeared in the real world...

Hm? Speaking of that energy attack, it seemed to have been on that unusable command list just now, hadn't it?

...Fine, you win...