…[Please note, the player is not allowed to maliciously cause the death of NPCs in the area.]
[Please note, the player is not allowed to instigate NPCs to illegally smuggle themselves into other instances.]
…
The moment the teleportation began, the system popped up a bunch of rules and regulations. Zhou Qi’an only remembered one or two key points.
Noisy sounds came to his ears, the familiar cries of vendors filling the air.
“The Vegetarian Restaurant is celebrating its third anniversary! 12% off everything in the store! Welcome new and old customers to come and taste!”
“There’s a magic show at the Grand Theater tonight! Buy one ticket, get one free!”
“Have you found a job today? For those interested in working in the Ghost Market in the short term, we can provide arrangements for migrant work.”
A sharp cry suddenly came. Zhou Qi’an had just regained consciousness, and he felt not only his eardrums but also his cranial nerves twitch:
“Mr. King of Drama!”
Someone had thrown flyers that were flying around randomly. On the bustling street, all the residents of the ancient city looked over. The street fell silent for a moment, with only the rustling of the flyers. After a moment, someone was the first to react: “Waaah—”
The new city lord is back!
The new city lord’s face has turned white! Whiter and more translucent than before! Where did he buy that powder? I want a proxy purchase.
Upstairs, on the street corners, the homeless man crawling out of the sewer… countless pairs of eyes stared over like cameras.
Zhou Qi’an, who had just opened his eyes: “…”
What’s the difference between this and the museum? Isn’t it all about being stared at?
There were even more eyes in the ancient city.
He tried his best to comfort himself. At least he didn’t have to shine blindingly in mid-air.
He looked up, and the golden light reflected from a tall building in the distance made Zhou Qi’an’s eyelids tremble.
Shielding his forehead with his hand, when he squinted to see, he found a sparkling building standing in the city center ahead.
No, not a building, but a sculpture taller than a normal building.
…A clay body with a real gold plating.
The image of the golden body was carved exactly according to the fortune teller Zhou Qi’an had played when he first came to the ancient city.
The sculptor’s craftsmanship was superb. Even the retro sunglasses with small round lenses were perfectly replicated. Under the sunlight, it shimmered from top to bottom.
Zhou Qi’an looked at it quietly for a moment and slowly spat out three words: “You. Grand. Ass.”
This divine statue looked more valuable than the real person.
He couldn’t hold back a curse. A resident of the ancient city immediately said, “Please do not use profanity under the divine statue. It will be considered disrespectful.”
Zhou Qi’an was silent for a moment. “Do I look like a divine statue to you?”
What’s wrong with me muttering under my own statue?
“The statue was built in your image. It is your incarnation, of course it looks like you.” The resident said with conviction, “But the acting city lord has already written into the “Laws of the Ancient City” that one cannot be disrespectful to the divine statue. Everyone must abide by the law.”
Zhou Qi’an was stunned upon hearing this.
“Huagu City has laws?”
When did you guys secretly advance without me?
The residents of the ancient city began to explain animatedly, “Before, there was only a confidentiality agreement.”
“Now we have everything. The first was the “Commercial Law.””
“Right, right, and the “Trade Circulation Law,” “Labor Law,” “Anti-Unfair Competition Law”…”
Under the massive amount of information, Zhou Qi’an finally understood. Miss Qi’s business in the Ghost Market was booming, so a series of legal articles had been specially formulated. In the past, these were useless, but now that the ancient city was developing rapidly, the importance of legal constraints had become apparent.
Correspondingly, the people of Huagu City now held Zhou Qi’an, who had allowed them to work outside, in high regard.
Although he wasn’t dead yet, a statue had already been specially built to commemorate his contribution to the ancient city.
“Really… thank you all.”
Zhou Qi’an managed a weak smile upon hearing this. “Go on with your work, don’t mind me.”
A polite sentence, and the crowd instantly dispersed.
The residents of the ancient city were just curious about the new city lord’s arrival. Anyway, looking at the statue daily was enough, and the statue could even glow.
They each returned to their posts to continue shining and generating heat.
Zhou Qi’an fell silent again.
For a few seconds, he lost the desire to communicate with this world. He remembered the few clusters of light that had appeared at the end and began to check his backpack.
Before opening the panel, he was a little nervous. Without a clear answer from the game, the result might not be satisfactory.
There were a few more relics in the inventory slots.
[Magic Mirror: A relic from the Silent Museum, will be reclaimed in thirty working days.]
[Coin Sword: A relic from the Silent Museum, will be reclaimed in thirty working days.]
…
The game was as stingy as ever, noting that these things would be taken back soon. But before that, he had enough time to release the souls inside.
After being re-employed as the city lord, besides the usual channel for submitting instance scripts to the game, Zhou Qi’an’s panel had an additional [Information] function, which could be used for a dedicated line of communication with the high-level staff of Huagu City.
He thought for a moment and sent a private message to Miss Qi, asking her to return soon, preparing to consult her on how to better settle the released souls.
Miss Qi replied quickly: [Estimated to take another three days.]
In the re-employment contract, traveling back and forth between the new world and the ancient city required prior reporting to the game. The process was a bit troublesome. Zhou Qi’an planned to wait for Miss Qi to return and arrange everything before going to the new world.
“The others should have been teleported out of the museum instance by now.”
He hoped everything went smoothly on Ying Yu’s side. Once the Health-Nurturing Pouch was in place, the problems with his mother and his superior could be resolved.
Still needing a place to stay, Zhou Qi’an did not return to the private residence of the former King of Drama. That back garden, intertwined with blood and thorns, was not suitable for mental relaxation just after a instance.
He considered for a moment and finally chose to go to the church.
————
The gloomy and terrifying church, filled with false light. Every carving was said to be a symbol of faith.
Without a priest, the church was poorly cleaned, and bloodstains of unknown origin still remained on the floor.
Zhou Qi’an sat on a pew, looking up at the murals and the cross, piously contemplating whether he had any unfinished grudges along the way.
“I can’t leave any behind.”
Otherwise, if he suddenly remembered it late one night, how upsetting would that be?
In the end, he only remembered someone called Visca or Scavi, not knowing if the other was still alive. On second thought, he had already made the person die once in a biogas explosion, so it seemed there was no need to be too calculative.
Directly in front, the few doors under the mural were still there. The chaotic lines had reassembled into the shapes of animals.
Zhou Qi’an looked at the door with the white dove, and for a moment, his thoughts seemed to return to the time of the Huagu City instance.
He sat for a while, and gradually, drowsiness uncontrollably came over him. He wanted to resist this sleepiness, but there was an indescribable feeling, as if some dust deposited in his brain was being swept away, and something hidden deeper was surfacing.
Unlike the feeling of being guided by the Soul-stealing Bell, this time there was no head-splitting discomfort.
With tenacious willpower, Zhou Qi’an insisted on looking at the panel. The current brain state showed that the paralysis was continuously being lifted.
“As expected…”
It was the game unsealing him.
The murmur from his mouth was drowned between his lips and teeth.
Then, a deeper weariness swept over him.
The cold white light in the church shone on his body. The young man sitting on the pew slowly lowered his head. His thin body sat very straight. Looking from behind, it was as if he were praying.
…
Like ice melting and snow thawing, like dead wood sprouting new branches, the moment the floodgates of memory were finally opened, the bits and pieces hidden inside began to revive.
I want to remember you.
The subconscious inclination brought by these five short words made Zhou Qi’an’s memory nodes first arrive at some special moments, which could even be said to be the beginning of some stories.
Through a white glare, he saw himself from two or three years ago and felt a bit of strangeness.
Those eyes were far brighter than now, with a strong sense of purpose.
“I have already submitted the development report on the Holy Relic proposal,” Lu Yiyuan knocked and came in, talking about the instance’s planning concept. Halfway through, he subtly introduced the topic: “I heard that some players have been doing transplants recently.”
“Transplants?”
“It’s about grafting monster organs onto oneself. It sounds absurd, but I don’t think it’s necessarily impossible,” Lu Yiyuan analyzed. “For players who haven’t fully evolved, doing this is seeking death. But the body of a fully evolved person should be able to withstand it.”
The magic of memory lies in the fact that even for things you have personally experienced, when you look back, there is a sense of both strangeness and familiarity.
In the past, Zhou Qi’an hadn’t noticed, because he didn’t pay much attention to Lu Yiyuan.
Now, looking from a bystander’s perspective, he belatedly realized the probing in these words. Lu Yiyuan’s divination skill made him feel that he would have a way to qualitatively improve his life here.
“This is stealing a monster’s ability. In the end, it’s easy to become neither human nor ghost.”
Hearing the answer, Lu Yiyuan smiled instead. “What if you transplant the organ of a ‘monster’ that doesn’t think?”
“Even if it doesn’t think, it’s still…”
However, Lu Yiyuan seemed to have already had an idea and didn’t listen to him finish, walking out in a hurry.
After Lu Yiyuan left, the version of himself in the room stared at the Holy Relic proposal on the table for a long time, lost in thought.
The Holy Relic was a guarantee for the future. Before his power disappeared, perhaps he could make some other plans.
“What were the ten legendary monsters again…”
Leaning back in his chair, the younger version of himself tapped his fingertips on the armrest. A moment later, he seemed to remember something: “The Heart of Nightmare.”
An instance he had been in before, its theme revolved around the Heart of Nightmare. That was the only instance he had almost died in so far.
Many instances in the game had traces of legendary monsters. It just depended on who was unlucky enough to encounter one, like the wild Taisui meat.
Lu Yiyuan had mentioned not long ago that he was constantly applying to the game, wanting to design an instance with Taisui meat as the theme.
He wasn’t interested in these. It wouldn’t be long before the more important plan began.
The authority of a gatekeeper could be used to do some other things, such as determining which instances had nightmare elements. In the future, he could ‘visit’ this legendary monster by retroactively going to these instances.
“The Heart of Nightmare can actively parasitize.”
This was much more advanced than any grafting or transplantation.
The memories of time were still flowing slowly. Everything afterward proceeded in an orderly manner according to plan.
As the memory moved forward, he saw himself successfully exploiting a bug to prepare for retroactive travel, saw the angry teammates before the travel, questioning and denouncing his betrayal, saw the himself of that time just being silent, without a single word of explanation.
The day he cleared the instance, when the others joyfully accepted the olive branch thrown by the game, everything was already destined.
The memories of the past continued to enrich. Today, when Zhou Qi’an looked at the Whalers’ Association again, there were almost no emotional fluctuations.
However, soon, his state of mind was stirred again.
That was the first instance he had retroactively traveled to. He had successfully discovered the nightmare’s main body and, using the rules, had imprisoned the clueless main body.
“Calling the main form, calling the main form!”
“Great Mr. Nightmare, if you can hear me, please answer. I want to make a deal with you.”
Until the end of the instance, the Nightmare did not respond. Only the boss, who was unaware of his own main body identity, looked at him as if he were a madman.
In the second retroactive instance, another main body hidden among the players was accurately found again.
“Mr. Nightmare, please grant me a meeting.”
As expected, no response.
The Nightmare could turn the virtual into reality. Not just monsters, but every blade of grass and every tree seen in the instance could be an incarnation of a main body.
But for a determined person, any small detail could become a clue to be scrutinized.
Not long after, he watched himself pick up a stone by the roadside in the afternoon and hold it up to the sun: “Mr. Nightmare, please grant me a meeting.”
“…”
The stone did not move.
Without getting a verbal response, he began to ‘write’ a record:
“On X year, X month, X day, in the Illusory Sea instance, I met with the stubborn stone transformed by Mr. Nightmare. I look forward to meeting with you.”
If the instance had laws, this behavior would at least be judged as stalking.
Forced to relive everything, Zhou Qi’an couldn’t help but blush a little.
He could roughly guess his thoughts at that time.
Anyway, monsters can only kill people using the rules. There’s no such thing as offending or not offending. How would you know if you don’t try? To meet the Nightmare, you can only use the most primitive and crude method.
Stroke by stroke, after finishing the carving, he didn’t forget to come to a summary analysis:
“There was no stone near the tent yesterday. Today there’s one. Did you come specifically to laugh at me?”
To laugh at him for saving a player on a whim, only to be immediately backstabbed.
“It doesn’t matter. Saving people or sending them off are both casual matters.”
Although he was in a hurry to get revenge, and had already walked a few steps, he couldn’t help but turn back.
The smooth side of the stone was quickly touched.
“Mr. Nightmare, this version of you is quite nice to hold.”
“…”
The next second, the stone disappeared from his hand and moved more than ten meters away.
Regarding the quality of being true to his word, Zhou Qi’an had not changed from the past to the present. He said he would send them off, and in the end, not only did he use entrapment, he also made the betraying player shine before his death.
When he came back, the stone was back in its original position.
Although it had no facial features, when the memory replayed, Zhou Qi’an strangely felt that the stone had been staring at him.
After that, every time he entered a instance, this smooth stone would appear on his necessary path.
Others entered instances and became stronger and stronger.
But the game, as if to torture the bug-exploiting player, sealed the power in his body bit by bit, causing the residual power to run rampant from time to time.
Dragging that sickly body, the younger version of himself was still happily playing hide-and-seek.
Once again, the silent stone was pulled out from the loosely covered earth.
“Mr. Nightmare, let me hold you for a bit.”
“…”
The stone was about to move back, but for the first time, it was proactively put down.
“According to the clues I’ve collected, there will be a meteor shower tonight.”
The setting of this instance was that the meteorite’s radiation caused mutations. Other players would avoid it at all costs and would not come to enjoy the night view.
“Let’s watch it together. There’s a saying in our world that wishing on a shooting star is very effective.”
As he was speaking, on the half-slope of the mountain, an arc crossed the sky, and for a moment, the starry sky was lit up.
“Mr. Nightmare, isn’t it beautiful?”
The stone moved unnaturally but still did not respond, as if it had no reaction to this question.
Zhou Qi’an could clearly perceive his own mood at that time.
The Nightmare isn’t looking at the sky, but it did get a little closer. Is one step also progress?
“I almost forgot, you’re a bit short now. Can you see more clearly like this?”
The stone didn’t speak, but it also didn’t move around after being picked up, quietly nesting in the warm palm, enjoying the falling meteorites.
…
After the meteor shower, a subtle change seemed to have occurred in their relationship. The stone began to appear in much more conspicuous places each time.
“Mr. Nightmare, since our last meeting, you’ve moved zero point three five meters closer to me.”
“…”
“It’s my birthday today. Let’s light candles and make a wish together. I don’t have a fire. Mr. Nightmare, can I use you to strike a fire?”
The surface of the stone darkened a little.
“Mr. Night…”
“…No.”
For the first time in a long time, the stone responded. Its voice was as cold and hard as its material.
Hearing the silent stone speak for the first time, even Zhou Qi’an was stunned for a moment, let alone his younger self.
At that time, his eyes widened slightly, and he was still holding the stone, repeatedly checking to confirm. It’s not possessed by some demon or monster, is it?
After a long while, when he had held the stone until it was getting a little impatient, he smiled and continued to ask for a fire.
The noise of using an explosive prop to start a fire was too loud. He could only borrow.
“I want to make a wish.”
There was only silence in the air.
After waiting for a while, confirming that it was impossible, he prepared to pull out the colorful handmade candles.
A stiff voice suddenly came: “Go find some soft wood and a bow-shaped branch, and some hemp rope.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll teach you how to make fire by drilling wood.”
“…”
As if detached from the memory scene, Zhou Qi’an felt a little strange. No wonder he was so proficient at making fire by drilling wood and burning down the Good Night Villa later, succeeding in one go.
So the real culprit was here.
Fragments of memory continued to flash.
After the iron stone spoke, the scenes of their conversations also began to increase. Occasionally, when the Nightmare was in a good mood, it would even tacitly allow the presumptuous ‘head-patting’ behavior.
Every day in the instance was thrilling. He couldn’t teleport back to the new world, and before the retroactive travel ended, he couldn’t return to the real world either, so he could only seamlessly enter the next instance.
Not long after, he was dragged into an escape instance. In a instance where combat power was half the factor, his disadvantages were fully exposed.
He inexplicably became the target of several people teaming up against him, and was finally forced to hide in a corner of an abandoned building. In a half-dark state, despite trying hard to suppress his cough, blood still flowed out with his occasional light coughs.
The stone did not appear in this instance.
“Did you oversleep?”
A pity…
He’s going to miss my most miserable state.
The yin wind whistled into the leaky building. The blood loss brought a faint weariness.
Time passed minute by minute, and every second leading to dawn was torment.
Suddenly, the empty sound of footsteps came from the stairwell. The silent, dark midnight was terrifying.
In his heavily injured state, he immediately gripped his dagger, his body swaying slightly as he moved back, staring intently at the corner of the stairs.
A strange figure came up.
The person had overly perfect features, and a pair of grayish-white eyes that were strange and dark, making people afraid to look at them for long. The hair blown by the wind was the same dull color as his eyes, yet every strand seemed exceptionally sharp.
In this instance, no player had such an aggressive face.
In comparison, the person holding the knife had a fierce gaze but was like a paper tiger.
Zhou Qi’an quietly gazed at himself trying hard to control his fear, yet his body trembled slightly, and the small action of gripping the knife handle even tighter.
‘Still too young,’ he shook his head.
Unable to fully control his emotions.
“Who are you?”
The question received no answer.
The man approached step by step. The yin wind lifted a corner of his clothes, and the color of his shadow was much lighter than a normal person’s. The whole person was like a powerful ghost that had climbed up from hell.
After walking a few steps, the man lowered his head slightly.
The surrounding temperature instantly dropped, and the speed of blood flow slowed down with it. The cold yin energy was all-pervasive.
When the man bent over, his long neck was exposed. His pale skin was thin, as if it could be fatally cut with a light stroke.
With empty hands and a casual posture of bending over, he looked completely unguarded.
In the dead silence, the person finally spoke—
“Haven’t you always wanted to see me?”
A very familiar tone of voice, so familiar that the unease he had been trying hard to suppress turned into surprise.
“Mr. Nightmare?”
This surprise seemed to please the other party.
Monsters were always direct. The man asked very casually, “You went to great lengths to see me. What do you want to get?”
A simple sentence, yet it carried a full sense of pressure.
What do I want to get?
Seeing this, Zhou Qi’an’s expression was a little dazed.
Back then, Lu Yiyuan’s words had given him some other ideas, and he had set his sights on the Heart of Nightmare.
After research, he found that the closer an instance was to the real world, the higher the probability of a main body appearing, especially in an instance dominated by the Heart of Nightmare, where he discovered that this legendary monster was studying how to seal its own power.
Both of these things pointed to one conclusion: the Nightmare might be a little tired of the game environment, or felt bored, and wanted to see the real world.
For a somewhat bored, empty-nested old man, anything that could arouse his interest was precious.
So he kept trying to attract the Nightmare’s attention, hoping to get a chance for a conversation, and then use the known information to make some deals.
However, all his words were stuck in his throat.
The air fell silent.
The moonlight outside the window was like an unstable old light bulb, flickering in and out as the dark clouds covered it.
Through a hazy light, Zhou Qi’an suddenly realized that he was no longer looking down at everything from a bystander’s perspective. At some point, he seemed to have floated onto the heavily injured body and merged with his younger self.
When he came back to his senses, he had uncontrollably reached out, his long, slender index fingertip poking at the hard chest.
The man could have easily dodged, but the next second, he stopped.
“I want your heart.”
Weakness made his voice slightly hoarse, as if coming from a distant space and time.
The moonlight poured in, and the man’s light-colored pupils constricted slightly.
