Chapter 23

Without a sound, a thin black wisp rose from the Rotten Swordsman and shot toward Lin Sheng, quickly burrowing into his chest.

Lin Sheng's head suddenly grew heavy. It felt as though a huge jumble of images and information were being crammed into a suitcase that was already full.

His head throbbed as if it were about to split, and sweat poured from his body as though it cost nothing.

After three full breaths, Lin Sheng managed to suppress the pain and scanned his surroundings.

Three more Rotten Swordsmen had appeared on all sides, slowly making their way toward him.

"Damn it!!"

He turned and ran for his life.

Before leaving, he glanced at the streetlamp. Three directions were carved into its post: Black Feather City, Ravel Manor, and Black Swamp.

After obtaining some Memory Fragments, Lin Sheng found the most convenient thing was that he could now read the writing and understand the language.

At least he wouldn't have to wander around blindly like he had at first.

In the darkness, Lin Sheng sprinted down the road toward Black Feather City.

He had no idea how many dangers he'd stirred up around him, and he couldn't afford to care. Getting through this until he finished absorbing the memories was what mattered.

After running for more than ten seconds, Lin Sheng's strength was nearly spent. At last, he finished absorbing the Memory Fragments in his head.

"Mercenaries? Women, wine, gambling?" Lin Sheng quickly skimmed the snippets of memory he had just acquired.

Unfortunately, this time, he hadn't gained much about combat. Most of it was useless information about everyday life.

The owner of the memories seemed to be a mercenary who wandered from place to place, going wherever he could earn the most.

He spent the money he earned gambling or visiting prostitutes. Otherwise, he drank and bragged.

His memories were full of nothing but useless information like that.

Lin Sheng had been full of anticipation, but now it seemed—

"I can't expect to meet someone as good as Ravel every time."

Thankfully, although there wasn't much about combat, the mercenary's memories still contained a little muscle memory, along with a few basic techniques and training methods.

"At least it wasn't all for nothing." Lin Sheng ran a little farther. When he heard nothing behind him, he finally slowed to a stop.

He was standing in the middle of a road, with darkness stretching in both directions.

A faint gray mist swirled around him. For a moment, he couldn't even tell whether his feet were touching the ground.

Blurred rows of wooden fences lined both sides of the road.

The fences were broken and dilapidated, and some had torn clothes hanging from them for reasons he couldn't guess.

Clutching the Black Sword, Lin Sheng continued forward while carefully sorting through the mercenary's memories.

Most of them were worthless, but by digging into the rare useful details, he could still uncover plenty of information.

"...A sudden cold wind and heavy fog? Everyone came down with some unknown illness?" Lin Sheng frowned.

Soon, he found another familiar name—LS Bell.

"Wasn't that the third-ranked blacksmith shop in Black Feather City?"

Lin Sheng hurriedly searched the memories for directions to LS Bell, but unfortunately, the mercenary's fragmented memories contained nothing about it.

He followed the dark road onward for several more minutes.

Gradually, a vast gray-white structure with black openings all over it appeared ahead.

"Is that a city gate?" Lin Sheng paused uncertainly. "This must be Black Feather City, the place Ravel mentioned."

He gazed straight ahead, about to continue on his way, when a faint stirring rose in his heart.

"Good timing. I need some time to dig through the mercenary's Memory Fragments."

Lin Sheng stood still and took one last look at the immense, shadowy city. Then his vision suddenly went black, and he lost consciousness.

He slowly sat up in bed.

Lin Sheng tugged at his soaked undershirt and sighed helplessly.

"I have to do my own laundry again." There were no fully automatic washing machines these days, so he had to scrub everything by hand. It was a hassle.

He got out of bed and quietly made his way to the bathroom by moonlight. Using the hot water in the thermos, he wiped himself down and changed into a clean undershirt. Then he returned to the bedroom and lay down again.

The big-eared black pig alarm clock on his bedside table showed 3:40.

Lin Sheng still had plenty of time to sort everything out properly.

"Let me take a good look. If I go through everything carefully, I'm bound to find something useful."

Lying in bed, he began recalling the mercenary's fragmented memories bit by bit.

Time passed, and before he knew it, the sky outside was growing brighter.

As Lin Sheng lay there, he unexpectedly drifted off to sleep again. In a daze, he heard his parents washing their faces in the bathroom.

He jolted awake. His mind had cleared, but his thoughts were still caught up in the fragmented memories.

"Right, it's Sunday. I don't have to get up early. I can sleep in!" Lin Sheng suddenly remembered what day it was.

Unfortunately, now that he was awake, he couldn't fall back asleep.

Lying in bed, he listened to the sounds from the living room and hallway while continuing to study the mercenary's fragmented memories.

At last, he noticed an exceedingly tiny detail he had managed to dig out.

"...In Black Feather City, mercenaries usually took jobs from the Black Feather Guild, which stood between Valen Temple and the Tax Bureau. Valen Temple?"

Lin Sheng sat up, got out of bed, and took a seat at his desk. He opened the drawer, took out his notebook, and carefully wrote down the name.

"Valen Temple."

The four Chinese characters stood out against the white paper.

Lin Sheng closed his eyes, and the memories he'd obtained from Ravel quickly surfaced in his mind.

Before long, by combining them with the mercenary's memories, he finally pieced together a shocking revelation!

"...Valen Temple is where the Temple trains novice warriors and passes down the Sacred Rune? The Sacred Rune?"

Even after combining all the Memory Fragments from Ravel and the mercenary, Lin Sheng had only been able to find that one sentence.

"Sacred Rune..." A strange gleam appeared in Lin Sheng's eyes.

"Maybe I can go there and try my luck. I might find some books or items with supernatural power. The name Sacred Rune alone sounds extraordinary!"

So far, all the Memory Fragments he'd obtained had been purely physical, with nothing to do with the supernatural.

If he could find a way to step into the supernatural at this Small Temple, then no matter how dangerous it was, he would have to give it a try! It had been his dream in both his past and present lives!

He settled on what he would do.

Lin Sheng got dressed and put away his notebook. He left his bedroom and went to the kitchen.

There was a plate of big meat buns and a cup of freshly warmed milk in the kitchen.

His parents had both gone out—to work and to open their shop.

Lin Sheng pulled out a chair, sat down, and grabbed a meat bun. After stuffing down three of them, he drained the milk in one go, changed into his tracksuit, and left the house.

He'd only taken a lesson at the Steel Scale Club yesterday, so he didn't need to go back for now.

Lin Sheng first took a bus to Rainbow Park, not far from home.

Rainbow Park was one of only three parks in Huaisha City. Since it was close to the sea and had coastal scenery like coconut palms and sandy beaches, many couples gathered there during the day to take wedding photos.

But Lin Sheng wasn't going to Rainbow Park for fun. He was going there to collect money.

As an adult who'd awakened memories from a past life, it wasn't difficult to find ways to earn a little spending money.