Dream of the World-Transcending Moment

I was Zhuang Cheng.

More than four years had passed since I awakened my superpowers, so I took another look at my current level.

To evaluate my level, I first had to establish the criteria. The concept of "superpowers" covered a vast range. If someone's superpower was "mind reading," then "how sturdy a material they could destroy" would hardly be a suitable standard for judging their strength. My superpower, however, excelled at destruction and combat, so I would use the level of enemy I could contend with as the basis for this hypothetical assessment.

Suppose an entire army from the cold-weapon era appeared before me, fully armed and rigorously trained, determined to fight me to the death. I thought that whether the army numbered a hundred thousand or a million, I would be the only one left standing in the end. Even if the armies of the entire world gathered together, I could not imagine how I might lose. That was simply the nature of my superpower: straightforward physical attacks could not possibly injure me.

What if it were a modern or near-modern army, primarily equipped with firearms? I still did not think I would lose. Bullets, artillery shells, missiles, chemical weapons, biological weapons, and the like were all useless against me. Even a nuclear bomb could not kill me.

That said, I had never actually been hit by a nuclear bomb, so I lacked some confidence in that conclusion. Perhaps, as some science-fiction stories claimed, the human soul was a kind of electromagnetic field, and a nuclear explosion could disrupt electromagnetic fields and thereby destroy the soul.

Besides, the wisdom of scientists was not to be underestimated. Monster movies occasionally featured seemingly flawless ultimate life-forms whose fatal weaknesses were discovered by human scientists. Sometimes, I could not help putting myself in the monster's position. If I really believed my superpower was invincible, I might suffer a Waterloo in some completely unforeseen situation.

As for what would happen if I faced another superpowered individual, I truly found it difficult to judge. As I had said earlier, there were simply too many kinds of superpowers. If my enemy could attack my soul directly, how would I defend against that?

I was not some violent man with nothing but battle on his mind, but in an "adventure beyond reality," conflicts with others—even conflicts with my own kind—had to be anticipated. Many fantasy stories featured similar situations.

I thought that if a superpowered individual genuinely skilled at mind reading existed and frequently read my thoughts, they might develop a question: why did I always mention "fantasy stories"?

Or rather, how exactly did I define an "adventure beyond reality"?

I often clearly distinguished in my mind between "pursuing supernatural things" and "pursuing adventures beyond reality." That was because, in my mind, "beyond reality" did not necessarily require the "supernatural."

Everyone's reality was different. People from thousands of years ago would have considered modern airplanes beyond reality. A fool who knew nothing about science might consider quantum-mechanical phenomena beyond reality. People living in peaceful countries might also find the chaos of war-torn countries entirely different from the reality they experienced. To me, an "adventure beyond reality" was an unpredictable, incredible adventure that transcended my own experience and life.

That was why, not long ago, when Maza had merely collapsed in front of me, covered in blood and carrying a real gun, I could not restrain myself from taking her home—even though she had yet to display any supernatural signs.

Yes, adventures beyond reality did not necessarily exist only in fantasy stories. They certainly existed in the real world as well. There were war correspondents who risked their lives gathering material in war-torn countries, explorers who traversed mountains and jungles, mercenaries who lived from one day to the next with their lives constantly on the line, and even criminals who disrupted social stability... Even without superpowers or bizarre phenomena, the real world still held many people who were undergoing absurd adventures.

There were legends in the battlefields of politics and commerce as well. Even if the reality I faced was dull and tedious, that did not mean everyone in the world faced the same kind of reality.

I had actually understood this principle when I was fourteen, but...

I had a dream.

It was a dream I had shortly before awakening my superpowers. Among all the dreams I had experienced from childhood onward, this one was not particularly special. I dreamed that I was standing in a long corridor, with gray concrete on all sides—left, right, above, and below.

It looked like the corridor of an abandoned building. There were not even any light bulbs, yet, like a character in a horror game, I could somehow see the area around me. Only the nearby area. Farther away, I could see nothing. Both ends of the corridor were dark, like the mouths of abysses.

A vague premonition surfaced in my heart, and I walked forward. Before long, I found an iron door beside the corridor. When I opened it, I saw an empty room. A wooden table and chair stood in the center of the room, the chair facing the doorway. Someone was sitting in it.

Perhaps because this was a dream, I could not describe the person's exact appearance or clothing. I only knew that he was a man. After seeing him, my premonition grew stronger. This strange man could grant my wish.

"Do you want power?"

The strange man asked me that.

"Power?"

I asked in return.

"Yes, power."

"Power you've dreamed of, the power of fantasy, the power that matches the adventure beyond reality in your heart."

The strange man tempted me like a devil.

I wanted to firmly reject him. I had already seen the truth clearly: an adventure beyond reality did not need to be pursued in a dream.

The real world had its own wonders. All I needed to do was abandon my fantasies, recognize reality, and work hard to reach that place.

However, my younger self must not have been strong enough yet...

More than four years later, I had this dream again and returned to that dark, dilapidated corridor.

I recognized it as a dream I had once had. I could even recall every detail of my previous conversation with the strange man with perfect clarity. This time, there was no wondrous premonition guiding me. Relying on my memories, I walked down the corridor and quickly found the iron door from before. Then I opened it.

The wooden table and chair from that time sat alone inside the room, but the strange man was no longer there.

I entered the room and casually closed the iron door behind me. Then I sat down at the wooden table and chair and idly observed my surroundings.

A moment later, footsteps sounded outside the door, approaching from far away.

Someone opened the door and walked in.

It was a boy of about fourteen. He had a face both familiar and unfamiliar to me, wary eyes, and tense movements that revealed his rejection of others.

He was me—the other me, the me who had still not grown up.

His gaze settled on me, silently urging me to state my name.

I did not introduce myself. Instead, I recalled my conversation with the strange man from back then and threw out the question.

"Do you want power?"

"Power?" he asked in return.

"Yes, power..." I deliberately used a seductive tone. "Power you've dreamed of, the power of fantasy, the power that matches the adventure beyond reality in your heart..."

Upon hearing this, he fell silent, seemingly caught in an internal struggle.

I said nothing more and silently awaited his answer, hoping he would give a different answer this time.

However, this time, I never got his answer.

For some unknown reason, gray mist appeared inside the sealed room.

The mist quickly thickened until it became impossible to see clearly. I could no longer see that familiar yet unfamiliar boy, nor could I even see my own body.

My vision gradually sank into darkness amid layer upon layer of mist.

Until I opened my eyes and awoke from the dream.

-

A day had passed since the death of the real Fallen Demon Hunter—Agent Kong.

Toward the end of my fight with Agent Kong, I had no idea why he had suddenly let out a devastated roar of "Impossible! I refuse to accept this!" or something to that effect. However, since he had finally used a rather ingenious move, I had gotten carried away and could not resist countering with a more powerful attack.

Calling it a "move" was a bit much. I was not particularly elaborate in how I used my power. I had merely concentrated a great deal of fire together and blasted it out. The result, however, was that I accidentally split the unfinished building in half. The shock wave that spread outward seemed to have shattered the windows of nearby buildings as well.

Such a huge commotion naturally attracted Zhu Shi, who was still dealing with the rooms on the Fifteenth Floor some distance away.

I could only tell her that Agent Kong was dead, then collect most of the corpses that had been shattered and scattered by the explosion. Fortunately, the lingering warmth of my flames remained on them, so they were not too difficult to find. Actually, this should not have been caused by my attack. I had deliberately held back, but who could have expected him to fly backward and then blow himself up in midair? The whole thing had been utterly baffling from beginning to end.

The self-destruction was one thing, but his remains had actually reverted to human form. It looked exactly as though I, having lost control, had murdered the innocent Agent Kong. At first, I did not even know how to explain this to Zhu Shi, so I could only tell her the truth.

Fortunately, Zhu Shi did not suspect me. She carefully examined the fragments of Agent Kong's remains. The intense concentration in her eyes reminded me of the last time she had determined that my superpower did not originate from the bloodline of monsters or demons. After a while, she seemed to reach a conclusion and acknowledged that Agent Kong really was the Fallen Demon Hunter. Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.

As for the other things I told her, she reacted with an expression of shock that was difficult for her to digest.

"So... you were the one who split this building apart. You can also transform your body into flames, and even if your head is cut off, nothing happens to you. Even when Agent Kong ambushed you from behind, you were completely unharmed..."

"That's right." I nodded. "Can I join Luoshan now?"