Chapter 78

The sliding cover of the adjustment chamber opened silently. The sudden brightness that appeared before Hao Ren's eyes made him dazed for a moment before he sat up. He shook his head vigorously and found that his body had not changed at all, just like the first time he had undergone body adjustment. He had lain in the coffin for a dozen seconds and it was over.

However, the brief and bizarre nightmare from just now was still vivid in his mind, and recalling it made him feel a lingering fear.

Raven 12345 was fiddling with a floating crystal panel nearby, which seemed to be the central controller for several adjustment chambers. Watching the unreliable goddess mutter to herself while tentatively pressing buttons on the controller made Hao Ren's eyes twitch. He glanced at the other three adjustment chambers, which were still inactive, and asked curiously, "Why aren't they done yet?"

"Oh, I'm giving them a physical checkup at the same time," Raven 12345 replied without looking up. "The little wolf girl is still growing, Izaak just came from another world, and Vivian seems to have issues controlling her powers. These three are all problem children. I'm taking this opportunity to check them out. Don't worry, they all seem normal so far. By the way, how do you feel?"

Raven 12345 finally looked up at the end of her sentence and gave Hao Ren a once-over. "Hmm, you look pretty good."

"I had a nightmare," Hao Ren couldn't get angry at Raven 12345's carefree expression and could only recount the brief dream he had just experienced. "At the end, I saw something floating to the surface of the water... and I woke up scared."

Raven 12345's movements paused slightly, and she looked at Hao Ren silently. "You'd better hurry up and train in the Dream Plane. Your mental strength is too low, and your psychological resilience is also an issue. If you keep this up, you won't be able to handle the big scenes in the future."

"What's the deal with the nightmare?" Hao Ren felt that Raven 12345's habit of not finishing her sentences was terrible and continued to press for an answer. "From your expression... it seems to have some deeper meaning."

"It's still the influence of the Dream Plane," Raven 12345 glanced at Hao Ren. "As soon as you come into contact with that place, it remembers you and keeps appearing in your mental world, whether in dreams or hallucinations. What you see are 'shadows' created by the mutual reflection between the Dream Plane and the real world. Many ordinary people who have survived contact with the Dream Plane are worn out by this constant erosion. So you'd better take advantage of my presence to train. This way, even if something happens, I can help. Once your mental strength is strong enough, the Dream Plane will be nothing to you."

Hao Ren slapped his forehead: The first part of what this sister said was so heartfelt and comforting, but why did the last sentence still have so much sarcasm? Can't she just stick to the goddess act?

Raven 12345 continued to fiddle with the manual, slowly adjusting the equipment in the room. Bored, Hao Ren started to wander around the room, curiously examining the advanced devices that seemed to have jumped out of a sci-fi movie. Seeing that Raven 12345 would probably take a while, he pulled out his data terminal and went online.

These past few days, Hao Ren hadn't been completely idle. Although he was a bit lazy, he wasn't lazy enough to not strive for progress. He knew that one of his most important assets in the future would be the small device in his hand—despite its quirky system, messy database, a bunch of useless programs, and an AI that liked to oppose him, it was still a treasure. Hao Ren had been working hard to learn how to control this high-tech gadget from the Xilin Empire. After several days of study, he finally made some progress: the biggest achievement was that he learned how to use the data terminal's more than a dozen network modes.

He should have realized that the terminal's most important function was to connect to the network. A device from a super-civilization couldn't possibly be a standalone unit. However, the chaotic network settings caused by the numerous plugins that Raven 12345 had installed on the terminal made it very quirky. It took the terminal's AI half a day of rebooting and restoring to get the network modes back to their optimal state. When Hao Ren saw the list of network modes, he was stunned:

Local Device Chain - Local Channel Communication Network - Local Galaxy Communication Network - Local Celestial Group Communication Network - Universal Communication Network - Macro World Civilian Communication Network - Macro World Military Channel - Special Line Network - Military Department Line...

Hao Ren suddenly realized that he had been sitting on a treasure trove without knowing it. Seeing the long list of channels on his data terminal, he truly understood the meaning of "you are not alone." He was excited to study the data terminal's network modes.

Most of the network channels were locked, which was expected. He was just a rookie who had just completed the beginner's task, and the channels with security levels wouldn't be open to him. The highest open network channel was the Universal Communication Network, which was the highest level of network he could freely connect to. The Macro World Civilian Network, despite being a civilian network, was directly controlled by the Space-Time Administration and had some military nodes involved. Hao Ren, as a low-level auditor, only had partial data access rights to that network. He could read public messages from higher-level networks but couldn't connect directly.

But this was enough. He found that just the Universal Communication Network alone was enough to keep him busy, even to the point of making him completely lose interest in studying other channels!

When the data terminal switched to network mode, the first thing Hao Ren saw was a window called "Activity Information Feed," where he could see what was happening in the distant depths of space.

"Unencrypted Message - Local Universe Channel, Origin: Kerthura III, Directly Sent to Dan-Tuin, The Kel-Rom invasion of Kerthura's main planet has ended, and the Kerthura natives have won with their own strength. Local auditor judges that this war has not exceeded the observer's alert line and does not require intervention. Addendum: Withdraw intervention request. Message ends."

"Unencrypted Message - Local Universe Channel, Origin: Chasandar, Broadcast. Chasandar's star is severely decaying and is expected to completely extinguish in 326 imperial days. This is a moderate alert-level event that could lead to the extinction of a civilization. Local auditor judges that intervention is necessary and is sending a distress signal. Please respond if your group is available. Message ends."

"Unencrypted Message - Local Universe Channel, Origin: Dan-Tuin, Relay from Suhar Satellite to Chasandar. Local auditor has available ship resources. Do you need a large-scale evacuation? There are no available colonies, but we can apply to the empire to create a new planet. See attached management area authority certificate and planet customization services. If needed, enter the dedicated channel. Message ends."

"Unencrypted Message - Local Universe Channel, Origin: Suhar IV, Broadcast. Message ends."

"Unencrypted Message - Local Universe Channel, Origin: Suhar Satellite, Directed to Suhar IV. Did you forget to input the main text? Message ends."

"Unencrypted Message - Local Universe Channel, Origin: Suhar IV, Broadcast. It was just my cat. Message ends."

As soon as he opened the data terminal, the activity information feed window flooded with a bunch of such messages, pulling Hao Ren's thoughts from the narrow and cramped little Earth. Even though they were just brief reports, they vividly presented the bustling scenes from the depths of the universe to Hao Ren.

When these messages first appeared before Hao Ren a few days ago, his surprise and excitement were understandable.

"Even though I don't understand it, it's really impressive..." Hao Ren watched the messages scroll by, marveling at the strangeness. He had no idea how to participate in such conversations, and to be honest, with his current abilities, it wasn't necessary for him to take up bandwidth on higher-level channels. But just being able to see these things gave him a sense of achievement: even if he didn't speak, he still had a presence in the channel!

"Pretty cool, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Want to get involved?"

"Uh-huh."

"But you're not sure if your little issues are worth posting, right?"

"Eh... Hey, you're done?!"

Hao Ren finally realized that the voice in his ear was Raven 12345's and quickly exited the network to stand up and greet her. But Raven 12345 just waved her hand dismissively. "Don't be so tense. It's just chatting online while working. I don't care about that. And it's good for you to get more exposure to these things. It broadens your horizons and prevents you from being a narrow-minded auditor who only focuses on the small area around your planet. Just don't get overly stimulated and start dreaming of instant success. By the way, the little wolf girl woke up first. Check the treatment effect."

Only then did Hao Ren notice that one of the adjustment chambers nearby had already opened, and Lily was clumsily climbing out.

She had already returned to human form.

(Speaking of which, Chanyeol 34 wrote a book called "Legal Time Traveler." Those in the community should know who this is. Anyway, the content is unpredictable and may be discontinued at any time, so you can go and check it out!)

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