Jiujiu and Return

Wu Pifu brought Little Mute to the mountainside.

There was a wild peach grove here. Unfortunately, it was already late autumn, and not a single peach blossom could be seen.

But next year, the mountains and fields here would surely be filled with blooming peach blossoms. If Little Mute were buried here, she would surely like it very much.

"I said I would take you away. I failed while you were alive, but even if you're already dead, I'll definitely take you with me."

Wu Pifu murmured as he staggered along. His strength was already exhausted. Having established the Event-type Sanctuary, he could leave this Dream World at any time, but he still had things to finish.

At the edge of the peach grove, Wu Pifu tied a piece of wood to his arm and began digging with his hands and feet.

Blood spilled across the patch of dirt. The little bird flew up from time to time, then landed on his shoulder, then on the ground, nestling beside Little Mute.

The little bird truly seemed somewhat spiritual, as if it understood life and death, as if it understood sorrow.

Wu Pifu dug very slowly. His remaining arm did not even have a wrist, and he had fractures and bruises all over his body. Even his internal organs had suffered extensive damage.

He dug from morning until afternoon. Quite a few passersby saw him along the way, but he was covered in blood, and having reached the threshold of Tiger Demon Art, he carried an imposing air. None of those passersby dared linger, hurrying away after a glance.

Once the large pit was finished, Wu Pifu carefully placed Little Mute inside and covered her with soil.

There was no coffin, nor was there a gravestone. In the end, he could only move over a large rock and place it atop the grave.

"Little Mute, wait for me... This place is too shabby. I'll give you a proper burial someday. I just don't know whether you'd like it..."

Wu Pifu coughed up blood as he spoke with a smile. Then he looked at the little bird, which tilted its head and looked back at him.

"Will you follow me from now on?" Wu Pifu asked after a moment of silence.

The little bird chirped twice. Wu Pifu nodded. "Then I should give you a name..."

"Jiujiu..." the little bird continued chirping softly.

Wu Pifu thought for a long time before seriously telling the bird, "Then I'll call you Dog Egg. It's easy to raise."

"Jiujiu! Jiujiu!!" The little bird angrily crashed into Wu Pifu's face and kept pecking at his cheeks.

Wu Pifu said helplessly, "You mean you don't want to be called Dog Egg and only want to be called Jiujiu? But Dog Egg... or Prosperity? Good Fortune?"

The little bird cried out angrily, "Jiujiu! Jiujiu!!"

"Jiujiu? That works too..."

After naming the little bird, Wu Pifu took it with him up the mountain slope. Some passersby in the distance who had been watching him saw the one-armed man, a little bird perched on his shoulder, slowly vanish into the misty rain beneath the setting sun...

"You have established a Level 2 Sanctuary."

"You may travel between this Sanctuary and the real world while carrying lifeforms (non-human, non-Nightmare)."

"You have received one fully random draw reward (Level 1 Sanctuary)."

"You have received one personal attribute level-up reward (non-limit-breaking)."

"You have received five slots to awaken sleepers (non-citizens)."

"You must return to the world containing this Sanctuary every thirty days and remain there for seven days."

"You must achieve a%#,*... before upgrading this Sanctuary to Level 3. The Level 3 reward is a personal information data interface for this world and another designated world."

"Return? Bring the kingfisher (anomaly) back? Draw the reward, use the enhancement reward? Awaken sleepers immediately?"

"Confirmed."

Wu Pifu closed his eyes and opened them again. When his vision returned, he was back inside the ultramodern, futuristic ship cabin.

This was the real world. This was Baseline Reality 1.0. Unfortunately, because of ?, this place had long since become a land crawling with Nightmares, perhaps even more terrifying than the Dream World.

Gaia, Z District, Sector 6123.

Wu Pifu was maintenance personnel awakened in Shift 117 of this sector. The personnel from the 116 shifts before him had all died, or fallen into fates even worse than death—for instance, becoming derivative bodies of Nightmares, parasitic bodies, or transforming into "anomalous creatures."

There was now only one living person in all of Sector 6123. Wang Xiuting and Li An, the final two survivors of the previous shift and his seniors, had already died at the hands of a Level 2 Nightmare.

The entirety of Sector 6123 was enormous. According to the blueprints, it included three street zones, two main maintenance stations, six medical unit systems, twelve internal security systems, and eighteen recreation centers for maintenance personnel to rest, play, exercise, and sleep.

But now, the only places Wu Pifu could access were one Maintenance Base Station and the cryogenic stasis chamber before him. Every other area had been locked down by the Main Brain, because those areas were filled with Nightmares, anomalous creatures, horrors, and bizarre phenomena. Once the lockdown was lifted, Wu Pifu would be gambling entirely on luck as to whether he would die the next second—or suffer a fate worse than death.

Of course, he could not unlock those areas anyway, because his clearance was insufficient. He was not a citizen, and opening them required multiple maintenance personnel to activate the unlocking command at the same time... Moreover, every area required a different clearance level. Some core areas, such as the passage leading to the Main Brain, required the votes of hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of citizens before they could be opened.

Wu Pifu could now awaken five maintenance personnel, but he did not do so immediately. Instead, he walked out of the cryogenic stasis chamber and toward the only open passage.

After arriving in this world, Jiujiu was curious about everything, flying here and pecking there, yet never straying more than three meters from Wu Pifu. When Wu Pifu headed toward the only passage, Jiujiu once again perched on his shoulder.

As Wu Pifu walked, his steps became increasingly unsteady, and he kept coughing up streaks of blood.

His injuries were too severe. Even circulating his qi and blood through National Arts could not suppress them. He was heading toward death. In a twenty-first-century environment, the best outcome would have been admission to an ICU, with some chance of survival—or survival as a vegetable.

Fortunately, it was now after the year 2877. Humanity had experienced the Fourth World War, and technology had advanced enough to cross five hundred light-years. In terms of medical treatment, as long as only the head remained, brain damage did not exceed thirty percent, and death had not lasted more than half an hour, the technology of this era could still bring someone back.

Wu Pifu passed through the corridor. It was not long, only around twenty meters. At its end was a room piled with clutter and a small amount of machinery... the Maintenance Base Station, also the place maintenance personnel used most often, if Dream World distortions had not occurred.

At the center of the Maintenance Base Station was a transparent chamber with multiple mechanical arms. This was Wu Pifu's destination: the Universal Medical Pod.

"Wu Pifu, Level 1 maintenance personnel. Work ID number... confirmed. Usage authorized."

A synthesized voice sounded, and the medical pod opened. Wu Pifu told Jiujiu, "Don't come in. Wait outside for me."

Jiujiu flew onto a nearby shelf and tilted its head to watch.

Only then did Wu Pifu step into the medical pod. After a burst of light scanned him, a long list of injury reports and treatment recommendations immediately appeared.

Wu Pifu did not care about that information. He immediately looked at the string of numbers at the very end.

"Main Brain, how many Carbon-based Nano-Units are currently left?" Wu Pifu asked.

Information appeared directly in Wu Pifu's mind. "This base station currently has 2.6 Carbon-based Nano-Units remaining."

Wu Pifu frowned as he looked at the final figure on the treatment chart: 2.1.

That 2.1 was the cost for a complete treatment, including his severed arm, the hand on his other severed arm, internal injuries, external injuries, extensive neural damage, and even the hidden injuries accumulated from practicing National Arts.

After the treatment, only 0.5 units of Carbon-based Nano-Units would remain...

Wu Pifu looked at several options. With a thought, he began canceling them, and the remaining balance kept changing.

He discovered that the greatest expense was one arm, which alone consumed 0.8 Carbon-based Nano-Units, while a hand required only 0.2 Carbon-based Nano-Units.

Wu Pifu fell into deep thought. Then he suddenly said, "Main Brain, display the properties of that black sphere."

"Buddha Mud."

"Legend says that the world where the Buddha resides contains a wondrous soil called Merit Eight-Treasure Mud, capable of shaping itself into every living creature in the world. This mud is a lower imitation of Merit Eight-Treasure Mud. It can enhance life potential, transform imagined organs and limbs, and grant life 'extraordinary' power."

"The drawback is that it greatly increases a lifeform's inspiration."

Wu Pifu carefully examined the properties of the Buddha Mud, especially its negative effect.

Greatly increasing a lifeform's inspiration...

This inspiration was not the kind that came during research, art, or study, nor was it some so-called spiritual intuition or sixth sense.

This inspiration was actually a terrifying negative state.

Some of the horrors and Nightmares in the Dream World possessed information-level contamination abilities. From what Wu Pifu had learned from his seniors, some terrifying existences could twist life into corrupted monstrosities merely by being known of or having their names spoken. The inspiration described here was the ability to perceive those higher horrors. The greater one's inspiration, the faster one died!

"But it can enhance life potential, transform imagined organs and limbs, and grant life 'extraordinary' power... If I merge with this Buddha Mud, I can regrow my arm and greatly increase my strength. As for the negative effects caused by increased inspiration, my Tiger Demon Art happens to counter them. Perhaps that negative effect might even become a positive one for me?"

Wu Pifu pondered in silence for a moment before finally making up his mind.

During this life-and-death battle, his Tiger Demon Art had unexpectedly advanced to the threshold. He had also established a Level 2 Sanctuary and had one attribute enhancement opportunity. He could fully raise Tiger Demon Art from the threshold to the next stage: masterful.

Entry-level, threshold, masterful, pinnacle, Ultimate Manifestation—the five stages of Tiger Demon Art. He could immediately reach the masterful stage, which would greatly increase his resistance to demonic thoughts, distracting thoughts, and external alien thoughts.

Moreover, Tiger Demon Art itself took an unconventional path. The heavier and more numerous one's demonic and distracting thoughts became, the stronger the negative consciousness, the greater and more powerful the feedback after suppressing them.

Wu Pifu immediately began deep treatment for his entire body. Aside from the severed arm, he would restore everything else, consuming a total of 1.3 Carbon-based Nano-Units. That would leave 1.3 Carbon-based Nano-Units, his lifesaving medicine for the future. Unless he could open further passages and reach other Maintenance Base Stations, main maintenance stations, or medical units, once he used them up, he would completely lose this miraculous form of treatment.

Once the restoration was complete, Wu Pifu finally had time to sort through the rewards from the Level 2 Sanctuary!

One fully random draw from this Dream World, one non-limit-breaking attribute enhancement, and...

The awakening of five newcomers!!