New Nightmare

After the chaos subsided, the prisoners slowly got to their feet. Dozens of mechanical prison guards entered the plaza with the whirring sound of hydraulic drives, directing the prisoners to clean up everything that had been overturned.

In the mess hall, Guo Huzhan sat cross-legged on the ground not far away, like an old monk in deep meditation.

Lin Xiaoxiao looked at the floor covered in black rubber bullets and sighed, "When gods fight, mortals suffer. The fighters walk away unscathed, but the prisoners who didn't fight are truly unlucky. Hey, Guo Huzhan, aren't rumors outside saying you're compassionate and do good deeds? How do you account for these people you've implicated?"

Guo Huzhan didn't even lift his eyelids. "You're talking about harming innocents in prison? Every single person here, count them, none of them are innocent."

"Hypocritical," Lin Xiaoxiao pouted.

"Also, I want to clarify," Guo Huzhan opened his eyes and looked at Lin Xiaoxiao. "I'm not a monk, don't describe me with phrases like 'compassionate'."

After speaking, he closed his eyes again and seriously adjusted his breathing.

Although he seemed unharmed after his fight with Li Shutong, his internal organs were actually quite uncomfortable, feeling a burning pain as if scorched by fire.

Seeing him meditating quietly, the others stopped paying attention. Lin Xiaoxiao gave Ye Wan a look, and suddenly, an invisible force field expanded around them.

Qing Chen had seen this ability before when it rained black rain from the Steel Sky; all the raindrops falling towards Ye Wan were repelled by this force field.

Seeing Qing Chen's confusion, Lin Xiaoxiao smiled and explained, "Don't worry, you can speak freely. Your voices won't get out."

Li Shutong sat by the dining table, cradling Big Cat in his arms, and then said to Qing Chen, "This morning, I saw Lu Guangyi interrogating those people during the newcomer ceremony. You instructed him, didn't you?"

"I did," Qing Chen knew the other party already knew about his relationship with the Qing Clan and that Lu Guangyi was taking orders from him, so he no longer hid it.

"Why did you interrogate them?" Li Shutong asked.

"I wanted to see what other factions were competing with me for the Forbidden Item," Qing Chen lied. He needed to find a plausible reason to explain his actions.

Li Shutong nodded. "I appreciate your honesty. But I noticed Lu Guangyi didn't abuse those newcomers this time. Was that your intention too?"

"Yes," Qing Chen said.

"But I remember when you first arrived, you didn't help the other newcomers," Li Shutong said.

"Within my capabilities," Qing Chen replied.

Li Shutong smiled and made no comment.

If he couldn't protect himself, Qing Chen would quietly watch everyone else die without helping. That was his principle.

His life had never been smooth sailing, so he had learned selfishness early on.

This was a life attitude bestowed upon him by life; it wasn't something he chose himself.

At this moment, Lin Xiaoxiao suddenly looked towards Guo Huzhan, who was not far away...

Qing Chen turned his head and saw Guo Huzhan still sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, but his long arms were now hanging by his sides.

He saw Guo Huzhan using the index and middle fingers of both hands to support his entire body, lifting himself slightly off the ground.

Then, his four fingers moved like walking, inching closer to Ye Wan's force field...

It was obvious that Guo Huzhan had realized he couldn't hear their conversation while sitting there, so he was trying to sneak closer.

This made Qing Chen want to laugh and cry. A burly man, two meters tall and covered in tattoos, who had just been fighting ferociously moments ago, was now pretending to meditate while actually trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.

The contrast was too stark.

As if sensing their gazes, Guo Huzhan, with a poker face, used his four fingers to move himself back to his original position as if nothing had happened.

This scene amused Li Shutong. "Alright, let's disperse. It's a shame we couldn't play chess today. I'm going to read."

Before leaving, Lin Xiaoxiao crouched in front of Guo Huzhan and chuckled, "If you lose, just stay put. We really don't want to make enemies with Black Spade. We know it's tough for you guys in the wilderness, but don't cause trouble for us, okay?"

Guo Huzhan lifted his eyelids. "I didn't lose to you, so why are you so smug?"

Lin Xiaoxiao raised an eyebrow. "You think I have no way to deal with you?"

Guo Huzhan calmly said, "Try and touch a single hair on my head."

Lin Xiaoxiao looked at his shiny bald head. "……?"

The rumors were indeed just rumors. This Guo Huzhan was completely different from what he had heard!

Qing Chen ignored their bickering and turned to get food from the window, then ate ravenously.

He was dirt poor in the Outer World. For two days after transmigrating, he had eaten compressed biscuits. His home had rice, flour, and vegetables, but no meat. He couldn't afford meat.

Although the food here was also mediocre, the synthetic meat at least tasted like meat.

Qing Chen felt a bit emotional. The prison food in this world was actually better than what he ate daily in the Outer World.

As he was eating, he looked up inadvertently and suddenly noticed that out of the 210 cameras in Prison No. 18, a quarter of them were silently turned towards him.

It seemed that his finding the shooting blind spots in the blink of an eye had attracted someone's attention.

But he didn't know who was behind these surveillance cameras.

After finishing his argument with Guo Huzhan, Lin Xiaoxiao stood up, put Qing Chen's tray aside, then got another tray and went to the window. He patted the counter and said to the robot inside, "The boss's orders are to give him real meat from now on, as much as he wants."

Qing Chen was stunned. "Why?"

Lin Xiaoxiao smiled mysteriously. "You'll find out soon. This might not be a good thing."

At night, as Qing Chen was brushing his teeth in his cell, he suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness and immediately sensed that something was wrong.

However, this time, he didn't fall to the ground and pass out like last time. Instead, he calmly and carefully rinsed his mouth. After he settled into a comfortable position on the bed board, he slowly closed his eyes.

The nightmare began.

In the dream, Qing Chen appeared in a desert. Two people sat on a sand dune opposite him.

In this nightmare world, sandstorms raged, and the sun was scorching.

In just a few seconds, Qing Chen felt his lips becoming dry and cracked.

One of the people opposite him pleaded, "Qing Chen, give us a drink from the water in your backpack. If we don't drink soon, we'll die."

Qing Chen took off his backpack and opened it. Inside, there was indeed a bottle of water.

He didn't say anything.

The person opposite him couldn't stand it anymore. "We won't drink yours for free. Name your price."

At this moment, a voice suddenly asked in Qing Chen's ear, "Facing your companion dying of thirst, what price would you name?"

Qing Chen looked coldly at the person opposite him and said, "I'll let the person next to you watch you die of thirst, and then he can name his price."

As soon as he spoke, the person opposite him transformed into the appearance of Lin Xiaoxiao, while the other person slowly dissipated like a bubble.

Lin Xiaoxiao said speechlessly, "Are you even human?"

"I already knew this was your nightmare, so I didn't feel any sympathy," Qing Chen found a comfortable place to sit down.

"This is truly strange," Lin Xiaoxiao said, sitting opposite him. "You can now enter a nightmare and remain completely conscious and with your memories. Then you should also be able to resist the nightmare's summons."

"Yes, I can," Qing Chen replied concisely.