After the first wave of fear and despair, being killed so many times gradually left Lin Qingzhou numb.
To keep himself from going completely insane, he forced himself to calm down.
He used the brief time he remained alive after each rebirth to listen closely, pick out the chaotic voices, and observe everything in this bizarre battlefield.
At first, the voices were a jumble, impossible to make out. But as he was killed more and more often, his mental power seemed to develop a resistance. He lasted longer and longer on the battlefield, and gradually, he could make out more of what was being said.
Later, when Lin Qingzhou reviewed everything, he drew on the original information about the Douluo Continent, along with his own reasoned conjectures.
His mental power hadn't developed a resistance. Instead, it had been slowly growing under this immense pressure.
So that's how it is. Mental power can grow this way?
Mental power wasn't something only Soul Masters possessed. It was more like the strength of one's soul. Ordinary people were simply a little weaker than Soul Masters, and might never have the chance to improve it in their entire lives.
After that, every night he was dragged onto the battlefield for four hours. Dying hundreds of thousands of times during that period became the norm. But this endless torment wasn't without its rewards.
Those nightmare-like whispers finally began to grow clear. He did everything he could to record, organize, and piece them together, until he reached a conclusion that chilled him to the bone:
This terrifying battlefield had once been a super Divine Realm at the height of its power. But after a cataclysmic civil war, it had ultimately fallen into ruin.
And now, this destroyed Divine Realm was somehow inextricably bound to his mental power.
"Holy crap, how is this so much like the Dragon God in the original story?"
"Could this Divine Realm also have been trying to become a God Star?"
Lin Qingzhou made a reasoned guess about the Divine Realm, and his doubts only grew deeper.
But this secret was too shocking to reveal. Lin Qingzhou didn't dare let a word slip, so he wrote it down in Blue Star Chinese in this leather-bound notebook, for fear that anyone in this world might discover it.
"The Fool never deceives me."
Lin Qingzhou murmured, remembering the words he'd once read. He'd never imagined that one day he, too, would use this method to guard his greatest secret.
Back when he'd read Lord of the Mysteries, Klein had used this method. He never thought that he, too, would one day find himself in the same boat and resort to it.
Lin Qingzhou shook his head, feeling helpless, and gave a bitter smile.
On the Douluo Continent, anything related to gods would invite frenzied competition and prying eyes. If his secret got out, it wouldn't take two days for various factions to seize him and turn him into a test subject, forever at their mercy.
"I am the end. I am the calamity..."
Lin Qingzhou's index finger tapped the tabletop absently. His brow furrowed as he stared at the words he'd just written in the notebook, lost in thought.
This phrase appeared over and over in the whispers, and Lin Qingzhou was almost certain it had something to do with him.
But the problem was, the other words were either telling a story or expressing grief and indignation. This one line was the only one that sounded like someone showing off.
The thought made Lin Qingzhou laugh at himself.
"Creak—"
A faint sound of a door opening abruptly interrupted his thoughts. He snapped the notebook shut with a reflexive smack.
Clutching it tightly in his hand, he turned toward the doorway, his eyes instantly wary and sharp as tension seized his whole body.
"Big brother, does your head hurt again?"
A childish voice, tinged with worry, came from the doorway, breaking the taut silence in the room.
Out of the corner of his eye, Lin Qingzhou saw someone standing there. His body stiffened, but only for a moment before he recovered. He quickly got up and strode to the door.
A timid little girl stood in the doorway. He instinctively raised a hand, gently ruffled her soft hair, and spoke in an especially warm voice, patiently soothing her.
"Don't worry, Na'er. Your big brother's fine."
It was Na'er. Her silver hair fell softly over her shoulders, and her violet eyes were clear and bright. She wore a fluffy duck-print pajama set and clutched a penguin plushie tightly to her chest. Her small face was full of unconcealed worry as she stared at Lin Qingzhou without blinking.
But Lin Qingzhou's casual reassurance did nothing to ease Na'er's concern.
Over the years, she'd seen him kept awake at night by nightmares, his head aching as if it might split. She'd lost count of how many times it had happened.
Na'er's big, watery eyes gazed straight at him, as if she wanted to pierce his outward calm and see what was really troubling him.
Lin Qingzhou sighed silently. Looking at Na'er, whose eyes were red and who seemed on the verge of tears, he couldn't quite make sense of what he felt.
But this matter was simply too secret. He couldn't let a single word slip to anyone. Even with Na'er, he had to harden his heart and keep it all to himself.
Lin Qingzhou was still very afraid of Gu Yue. No matter how "wise" she might have been in the original story, right now she was someone he couldn't afford to provoke.
Lin Qingzhou's face remained calm as he looked at her. He showed not the slightest hint of anything amiss, as though the sudden pang of dread he'd felt had never happened.
They stood there in silence for a while. In the end, Na'er couldn't get him to open up. She lowered her eyes and muttered, "All right, then. Get some rest soon."
With that, she tiptoed quietly back to her room.
Only after watching Na'er's small figure disappear at the end of the hallway did Lin Qingzhou finally let out a quiet breath of relief.
He carefully shut the door, turned the lock, and only then let go of the tension he'd been holding inside. He exhaled deeply, then slumped heavily into his chair.
Na'er's sudden appearance had startled him badly. He couldn't help berating himself: life had been too peaceful lately, and he'd let even his most basic vigilance slip. He'd even forgotten that Na'er lived in the house.
He wasn't in the mood to puzzle over what that strange phrase meant anymore. He picked up the notebook from the desk, put it in the drawer, and locked it away carefully. The room fell silent, enveloped in a heavy stillness.
Lin Qingzhou had never imagined he'd get involved with the protagonist group of the Douluo Continent, much less that he'd live under the same roof as Na'er, the other half of the Silver Dragon King.
The change had all begun on that night of torrential rain.
That night, Evil Soul Masters launched a surprise attack on Aolai City, and the entire city fell into chaos. Lin Qingzhou couldn't say whether he'd been lucky or unlucky. Fleeing from the Evil Soul Masters in a panic, he stumbled into a cave in the outskirts.
He'd even brought several days' worth of food, planning to hide in the cave for a while and wait for things to die down before coming out.
Who would've thought there'd be a hidden mechanism inside the cave? Before he could react, a force sucked him into a strange secret realm.
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