Chapter 14

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Chapter 14: Resurrection Overture (XIV)

That night, Qi Leren tossed and turned. Several times he wondered if the letter he’d written to Ning Zhou was too simple, only telling him about his resurrection. Maybe he should write more and say that he misses him very much? When he’d started writing, a shyness made it difficult for him to write. He only dared to write a response to him at the end of the letter: “I like the grass ring very much, and I want to give it back to you.”

This sentence alone had burned all his courage and he’d had to run away from Chen Baiqi’s smiling eyes, and then he stayed up all night.

In the dark, Qi Leren counted the ticking of the analog wall clock and opened his eyes several times to look at the life crystal on the bedside.

It glowed slightly in the dark and rotated slowly. In the absence of all the light sources, it had become more and more crystal clear and dreamlike. The bright spots of gold and silver that surrounded the drop of blood were like the many satellites of a large planet, constantly revolving around it.

As Qi Leren watched, he finally felt tired. His physical strength had been exhausted from the whole day’s training. The ups and downs a few hours ago had consumed too much energy, and his brain was no longer working, but he stubbornly refused to allow himself to close his eyes.

He thought he was afraid. Afraid to dream about the scene before his death, and also afraid to dream about Ning Zhou. He always felt that he owed too much.

But if he dreamed and that dream should be like Ning Zhou’s, wouldn’t it be a beautiful dream?

Sleepiness struck, and the extremely tired Qi Leren finally fell into a deep sleep.

Early the next morning, Qi Leren was woken up by Dr. Lu’s knocking on the door. When he woke up, the alarm clock was still ringing on his bedside. He hadn’t heard it!

Qi Leren quickly climbed out of bed, seeing Dr. Lu who seemed to be armed to the teeth as if he was about to go into battle when he was actually only going out for his morning run. Because he was wearing too many clothes, he looked like a chubby teapot: “I’m ready to go out for a run, haven’t you gotten up? Run quickly, or you’ll be late!”

With a bitter face, Qi Leren rushed out of Dr. Lu’s clinic without looking back.

Because of the speed of his 100-meter sprint, Qi Leren was lucky not to be late when he ran to Chen Baiqi’s house. Chen Baiqi, who was waiting at the door, sighed regretfully. The three-headed hellhound squatting at Chen Baiqi’s feet whimpered in disappointment, and Qi Leren’s heart finally fell back to its original position.

After buying breakfast as usual, Chen Baiqi had Qi Leren continue diving practice.

Today’s training ground was near Undead Island. Qi Leren remembered that the Prophet of the Court had told him to find a blind man living behind the mountain on Undead Island when he was free. Qi Leren asked Chen Baiqi casually.

Chen Baiqi asked doubtfully, “How do you know about him?”

“Er… The Prophet told me,” Qi Leren answered.

“I happen to know him. Well, I’ll take you to see him after today’s training,” Chen Baiqi readily agreed.

It was another painful day. After diving three times in a row, Qi Leren was dying on the side of the boat: “I won’t get the bends if I come up again?”

Chen Baiqi ridiculed: “Don’t worry, you’re more resistant to exercise than you think.”

Qi Leren didn’t know whether to be depressed or happy.

“You always said to break through the limits of the body, but is that really feasible? Can you condense a half-field after breaking through your limits?” Qi Leren asked.

“No, a half-field is another realm. The Nightmare World isn’t exactly the same as the real world, especially at the limit. At present, the highest known realm is field level, followed by half-field level, and then below that…” Chen Baiqi stroked her wrist, as if thinking about how to describe it.

“Ordinary people?” Qi Leren interposed.

Chen Baiqi gave him an oblique look: “That’s the lowest level, just like you now. It’s no different from a chicken salad.”

Qi Leren was hit hard.

“But most players stay at this level until they die, and few people can ‘break the shell’.”

“Break the shell?”

“There’s no fixed name for this realm. Some people call it a 'breakthrough’, others call it 'innate’, 'out-of-body’, and some even call it a 'genetic lock'—this is probably like Terror Infinity.”

“Terror Infinity? What’s that? A movie?” Qi Leren heard a strange noun.

“A novel that was popular when I was young,” Chen Baiqi said lightly, “but no matter what the name, it contains the same meaning: this state represents that you broke through the limits of the human body. For example, if you beat your record for the hundred meter dash by 10 seconds while being chased by my dog, this would mean that you’ve broken your shell. Once you break the shell, your upper limit in all aspects will be greatly improved. But that doesn’t mean you can reach the half-field level, let alone the distant field level. Once you reach the field level, it’s a crushing victory to use your field to deal with non-field enemies. The field level is terrible enough. After that, no one knows. Maybe it’s to become a god.”

Qi Leren was a little depressed. Now he realized how far the gap between himself and Su He was, which made it even more ridiculous that he’d attempted to kill both of them through self-explosion. It was ridiculous. Su He had had to deal with someone as weak as him.

During the afternoon training, Qi Leren was always a little weak, but he did his best to complete Chen Baiqi’s assignment.

At the end of today’s training, Chen Baiqi’s boat stopped on the shore of Undead Island. Qi Leren’s two legs were already trembling and weak.

Chen Baiqi jokingly asked him if he wanted her help. Qi Leren ran out of men’s self-esteem and didn’t promise that he wouldn’t fall to that level. He dragged his lead-filled legs and struggled forward.

Chen Baiqi also smiled bitterly: “Oh, it’s not easy to climb mountains, and climb and persist.”

The mountain climbing ahead of them was really a test of blood and tears. Qi Leren had to rest several times in the middle of the path. Chen Baiqi didn’t push him but also didn’t help him, and occasionally she laughed at him with a smile. When he’d really climbed to the top of the mountain, Qi Leren was already kneeling on the stone steps with jelly legs, dying.

Undead Island has left the border of the Village of Dusk. Naturally, it wouldn’t be shrouded in sunset all day long. The afternoon sun shone warmly on the Qi Leren. This warm light seemed to have an indescribable wonderful power. As its breath penetrated into Qi Leren’s body, it wasn’t long before he felt that he had recovered.

“Can you go on?” Chen Baiqi asked.

Qi Leren nodded silently and got up from the ground.

The afternoon wind was warm and gentle, shining on this mountain. Here was already the ridge at the top of the back side of the mountain. There weren’t any high trees, only green grass and low bushes. The winding path that had been made by people and animals’ footsteps continuously led them to a bare area of exposed stone ahead, where there was a ruined chapel. There was a bell ringing in the wind, and they looked down. Under the hillside, there was a flock of white sheep grazing on the grass. The bell was rung by an old man, and a little boy stood beside him.

“So you are here.” Chen Baiqi led Qi Leren down the hillside and greeted them with a smile. “Long time no see, Xiaozhi and Teacher.”

The boy named Xiaozhi raised his head and Qi Leren was suddenly surprised—the child looked so much like the Prophet! Almost like he was carved out of the same mold!

The child seemed to be only five or six years old. He looked at Chen Baiqi eagerly for a while and whispered, “I don’t remember you.”

Chen Baiqi smiled and said, “Do you remember Sissi? She misses you.”

The little boy’s cheeks flushed as he frowned and pondered for a while, shaking his head and saying, “I don’t remember much.”

Chen Baiqi smiled helplessly: “Sissi is going to be sad again. But it doesn’t matter. Next time I bring her to see you, you’ll become good friends again.”

The little boy smiled happily: “Hmm!”

“I haven’t introduced you yet. This is my teacher, the person you’re looking for.” Chen Baiqi introduced the blind old shepherd to Qi Leren and said to him, “Teacher, this is Qi Leren, my student.”

The blind old shepherd was very old, and all of his skin was like tree bark. His eyes were closed and the lids did not hold eyeballs but instead were sunken, which was really scary when he suddenly looked at it.

“Hello,” Qi Leren said.

The shepherd nodded. “Now that you’re teaching him, you don’t need to bring him to me.”

“Teacher, I dare not compare with you. I haven’t learned a tenth of your skills,” Chen Baiqi said humbly.

“Because you’re too easily distracted. If you only pay half attention to your studies, how can you properly take in the lesson?” the old shepherd said, hating iron and not producing steel.

Chen Baiqi obediently bowed her head and listened to the instruction, and her honesty was shocking. Qi Leren was laughing in his heart. Usually, he was trained by Chen Baiqi. Now seeing someone who could train Chen Baiqi, he quickly entered audience mode. This feeling was probably like seeing his grandmother reprimand his mother, where his mother who had never been in the diminutive position was trained like a primary school student by the grandmother, while he happily ate melon seeds and candy given by his grandmother.

Chen Baiqi said with a wry smile: “Teacher, you must save face for me in front of my student.”

The bell in the shepherd’s hand kept ringing and he turned to Qi Leren, as if he could really see Qi Leren standing there with his sunken eyes: “Go back, wait for Chen Baiqi to teach you nothing, and then come to me.”

Qi Leren had climbed the mountain inexplicably, had inexplicably met a blind shepherd and a little boy who looked like the Prophet, and was driven away inexplicably.

On the way back, Qi Leren couldn’t resist the burning gossip and asked Chen Baiqi if he was the son of the Prophet. Chen Baiqi nodded calmly.

The Prophet actually had a son… This thought shocked Qi Leren, who subconsciously felt that his status and personality/hobbies had made him destined to be single all his life, but even this sort of persona had a child. And from the facial features, the Prophet and his son had pure Asian faces. Considering that almost all NPCs here had high noses and deep eyes, Xiaozhi’s mother was in all likelihood a player.

“He has a bad memory?” Qi Leren asked again.

“There are indeed some problems. He often has a disordered memory, so people in the Court generally don’t let him run around. Instead, they come to my teacher or me occasionally.”

Although curious about how the Prophet had fathered a son and who the mother was, Chen Baiqi didn’t reveal any more meaning.

When Qi Leren returned home and told Dr. Lu about today’s experience, Dr. Lu was greatly surprised: “Hey, ever since you came back from the dead, your luck seems to have improved.”

“Has it?” Qi Leren asked.

“Yes, see, you found a teacher, then the teacher took you to see the teacher’s teacher. This is like if when you’re an undergraduate, the graduate advisor trained you, and when you were admitted to graduate school, the doctoral advisor was also found. Wow, doesn’t this analogy make you feel that you’re lucky?” Dr. Lu said enviously.

Qi Leren thought about it: “It seems to be.”

Had the attribute of level E luck been abandoned with that death? Qi Leren felt as if he’d ascended to heaven, and he began to plan for his bright future with EX luck.

However, the next day he knew that E luck, that goblin, had never left him…

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The author has something to say:

The power levels of Nightmare Game from bottom to top should be:

LV1: Ordinary people (Internally, they can be subdivided into chicken dishes, ordinary ones, and those who can fight)

LV2: Broken shell (Also known as OBE/Breakthrough/Innate/Superbody/Gene Lock Level 1, which means players who can surpass the limits of the human body in some aspects) They’re probably at this level if they’re parasitized by a Seed of Slaughter.

LV3: Half-field (it takes a certain chance and luck to master it, and it is easy to break)

If you subdivide, there is a LV2.5 between LV2 and LV3, which is a player with a broken half-field, such as Chen Baiqi.

LV4: Field level (The three Devil Kings of Power, Slaughter, and Fraud, the Prophet, the Pope, Maria, and the Devestator*)

*{E/N: The old Devil. I think he’s only been mentioned by this title once or twice so far}

In fact, there are strength differences between field levels (because some field-levels are not upgraded by the holder themselves, but are piled up through inheriting the field. This kind of field-level usually can’t compete with a filed-level who upgraded by themselves, but it will 100% crush the non-field level, and it doesn’t need to be done seriously at all (see in “The Dream of the Holy Nun with Su He VS Nightmare Witch, the Nightmare Witch knelt as soon as they met each other. Unless they are in a copy task that forbids fields, then the situation will not be a loss, but injuries may still occur)

LV5: ???

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