Contacting the Mysterious

[The corpse is perishing under the roots of the Moonlight Orchid. Welcome back.]

Subtitles from the Nursery and the Fireplace popped up simultaneously. Zhou Kai blinked, and he had already returned to the [Sanctuary].

He cast his gaze toward his inventory almost immediately...

Very good, the three pots of flowers were lying quietly in the slots.

"I brought them in."

"Not just the flowers, but the clean, uncontaminated soil as well."

Confirming that the fire in the Fireplace could last for a while longer, Zhou Kai did not delay and quickly made his way to the Nursery.

He carefully removed the three flowers from their pots, keeping them intact, and then transplanted them into the Nursery.

He even poured every last grain of the remaining soil from the pots into the black earth of the Nursery.

Both the flowers and the soil were of great importance.

In Soraka Town, almost every inch of land was contaminated by the rain; only this Nursery remained the sole piece of pure land.

Yet in the real world, "clean" soil was easily obtained...

This meant that Zhou Kai could act like an ant moving house, continuously digging up soil from reality and bringing it into the Nightmare world to expand the Nursery.

"Strengthening these special structures is, in a sense, strengthening myself."

"I can't think of any other way for the Fireplace for now."

"But the Nursery is different."

As long as there is clean soil and bricks to build with... it can be expanded indefinitely!

After finishing all this, Zhou Kai brushed the dirt off his hands and stood by the Nursery, waiting quietly for the dialogue box he wanted to see to appear.

After a few breaths, Zhou Kai's eyes dimmed.

Above the Nursery, a line of cold text flickered.

[That's not quite right. Keep looking.]

It was the same rhetoric again, exactly the same as when he was looking for fuel for the Fireplace...

It seemed that the crops the Nursery could cultivate were not just anything he chose.

"Would using experience points to force growth directly work?"

Zhou Kai muttered to himself, his fingers already touching the palm-sized Sansevieria.

[The Sansevieria has gained the ability to grow in a lightless environment, but if you want it to provide you with some special feedback, it will require more experience points.]

[You have consumed 2 points of General Experience.]

[Experience Points 17→15]

As the prompt for -2 experience points appeared, Zhou Kai immediately pulled his hand back, deciding not to continue adding points for the time being.

"It's fine to use experience to force the growth of special plants... but for now, I'd better go to the town and try my luck to see if there are any wild goods like the Moonlight Orchid."

The remaining experience points on hand should undoubtedly be saved for combat abilities at critical moments; that was the golden rule.

As for logistics work like strengthening the Sanctuary or creating special plants... those priorities would have to take a backseat.

Zhou Kai took a deep breath and turned back to the Fireplace on the first floor.

He took out another trophy from his pocket that he had obtained during the previous ambush, aside from the experience points.

["A Fragment of Memory", from The Wanderer]

"Use."

A few seconds later, Zhou Kai pulled himself out of the chaotic memory fragments with a rather intrigued expression.

"This Wanderer was actually a paperboy before turning into a monster?"

What kind of godforsaken thing could turn a twelve or thirteen-year-old kid and that postman into the same type of monster?

Zhou Kai couldn't think of an answer for the moment; this mystery could only be unearthed gradually through further exploration.

"Not bad, it turns out you can also harvest experience points from memories..."

Zhou Kai tugged at the corner of his mouth as he looked at the subtitles before him.

[You have learned Soraka Swordsmanship. Soraka Swordsmanship experience +1.]

[Soraka Swordsmanship Lv2 (5/25)→(6/25)]

That unlucky paperboy's greatest dream while alive was to join the guard of the Soraka Family.

He would often lie outside the training grounds, watching the guards train, and secretly learned a few moves.

And Zhou Kai happened to observe this memory.

One point of experience—even a mosquito's leg is still meat. He accepted it with a smile.

The Blood Tide refreshes every twelve hours, and there is still a considerable amount of time until the next one.

Although the streets outside remain fraught with danger, with monsters lurking in who knows which corner, compared to the overwhelming terror that arrives with the Blood Tide, the current period is considered a safe window for exploration.

Keeping the Moonlight Orchid Amulet close to his body, Zhou Kai gripped his axe tightly and slipped out of Soraka No. 777 without a sound.

This time, Zhou Kai's target is the higher ground of the town.

If the scum that surrounded me last time are still wandering the lowlands, then heading north should mean a lower density of monsters.

Every time lightning tore across the sky, Zhou Kai would use that brief flash of light to calibrate his position before plunging back into the darkness, sprinting at high speed.

As long as he doesn't run into tough bastards like the Chain-Hammer Armored Soldier, Zhou Kai is no longer afraid of relatively weak monsters; he even craves for them to come knocking.

The only thing he fears is being swarmed by a group.

Therefore, areas with sparse monster density are perfect for Zhou Kai's current exploration.

The house numbers in the town seem to follow no logic; near No. 777, there are houses starting with six hundred and others with four hundred.

In front of a house marked No. 454, Zhou Kai pried hard with the handle of his axe, then pulled with force, ripping the rotten wooden door and its bolt clean off.

His hunter-like eyes scanned the interior with icy intensity.

The room was empty and deathly silent.

Zhou Kai leaned the door panel back against the frame before taking out the amulet, using its faint blue glow to begin scavenging the house.

Beyond hunting monsters, the acquisition of equipment, items, and information is equally important.

Zhou Kai will not let a single detail he can grasp slip through his fingers.

The living room and study offered no spoils; the decor and furnishings were the same old style, much like No. 777, with the rotten wood emitting a musty odor.

Zhou Kai is already getting tired of looking at it.

He specifically checked the fireplace here; it was cold and dead, lacking any supernatural quality, unlike the one in No. 777.

Zhou Kai muttered, "It probably requires some kind of residency permit or something to activate."

He stopped wasting time and quickly climbed to the second floor.

In a bedroom, Zhou Kai finally made a new discovery.

There are always abnormal phenomena in the Nightmare world... for instance, finding a nearly brand-new axe stained with fresh blood in a dilapidated kitchen.

The same is true for what is before Zhou Kai right now.

In a room that appeared to be a girl's bedroom, a clean notebook sat strangely on a table covered in black and yellow mold spots.

Zhou Kai narrowed his eyes, and after confirming there were no signs of traps in the vicinity, he stepped forward to flip through it.

The handwriting in the notebook was childish and crooked, accompanied by a few crudely drawn sketches.

Could it be a little boy?

[I originally thought the new neighbors would be hard to get along with, but ███ is actually a very cute person. I like her, and we will become good friends.]

[I heard from Mom that they are also surnamed Soraka, just like Mr. Winchester...]

[Elizabeth is a strange woman. Father says she is a loose woman, and I don't know how many people she...]

[But at least she loves (likely a person's name, heavily erased), right?]

[Isn't that so?]

"The three... perhaps four residents of No. 777?"

Zhou Kai narrowed his eyes; now he finally knew who the woman scratched to shreds in those three photos was.

"The scratched-out photo is Elizabeth..."

But the doubt in Zhou Kai's heart only deepened.

Because according to the notebook owner's diary, there was someone among the residents of No. 777 who could be friends with him.

The one who could be friends with a little boy is, in all likelihood, a little girl?

"This... little girl whose name couldn't be written..."

"Is she Elizabeth's daughter? Or Lan Ze's daughter? Or perhaps the daughter of that bald man with the beard?"

As this thought flashed through his mind, Zhou Kai suddenly felt a sharp pain in his brain.

His entire body felt as if it were being watched by countless malicious gazes, making his hair stand on end.

Zhou Kai's vision went black in waves, and everything before him began to sway and distort like jelly.

The hanging curtains and the scattered rags all came to life in that moment, extending slimy tentacles.

The floorboards beneath his feet were no longer solid; they felt like mud, like a swamp.

A cold sensation crawled up his ankles, trying to drag him into the abyss...

Just then, the amulet on his chest turned searing hot!

Hiss!

A flash of ghostly blue bloomed, and the silence of the deep sea instantly drowned out the insane hallucinations.

The sensation was like someone taking a hammer to the clamorous, terrifying mirror beside his ear, shattering it into pieces.

Zhou Kai gasped for air, his head still spinning slightly, but otherwise, he was unharmed.

[You have touched upon certain secrets, Occultism EXP +5]

[Knowledge is a double-edged sword... gain more, lose more, see more, be corrupted more.]

[Hint: By leveling up Occultism, you will have the potential to gain greater rewards during exploration and combat.]