In Wang Dingshan’s hand, the scratch appeared like the hide of a dark red monster, slowly opening its drowsy, flat diamond-shaped eyes.
{Three times daily, one person each time, thanks for the kindness: 1N principal.}
{Two more scratches available today.}
“Right, I’ve already used my one chance.” Wang Dingshan slapped his own head. “So only you two can draw.”
“I don’t care, I’m first!” Qiong An’s eyes sparkled as she locked gazes with the monster, pulling a coin from her shorts pocket.
A curious twinkle shone in Yang Zicang’s eyes.
The Scratch Card demonic nightmare’s gaze suddenly landed on Yang Zicang. After looking him up and down, it exclaimed in surprise:
{Oh, the box-pushing master is here.}
Hearing that somewhat familiar voice, a string of ellipses crossed Yang Yuan’s mind.
“Exactly 1N Virtual Zero Sequence coin.”
The coin Qiong An flipped up transformed with a swoosh into a dark golden light, suspending itself before the Demonic Nightmare Scratch Card. It blinked its eyes, swallowed the light in one gulp, and slowly spat out a glowing energy card with a texture akin to a “contract boost” document. It looked just like a small, genuine lottery ticket.
Yang Zicang looked at the girl, who stood about 1.6 meters tall, and asked, “What was that coin of yours?”
“Oh, that thing. It’s a privilege for our company employees. Once you receive your salary, you can pull them out of any pocket, bag, drawer, or similar places when you meet people, but you can’t manifest them out of thin air. It’s like a magician trick.”
While answering, Qiong An took the ticket, sensed the information on it, and excitedly began scratching the film with her fingernail, making a “shhh shhh” sound.
“What prize is it?” Wang Dingshan and Feng Ming both leaned in their heads.
——Thanks for your patronage.
“Ah, what a crappy prize.”
Qiong An tossed the ticket onto the ground, where it quickly dissolved into sparkling specks of light upon landing.
“Who’s next?” Wang Dingshan looked at the remaining two.
Yu Yusheng shook his head. Feng Ming glanced at the group, chuckled, and also pulled out a similar coin.
“Come on, you Scratch Card seller, let’s see how my luck is today.”
Feng Ming scratched the card and glanced at it.
——Third prize.
——Congratulations! You’ve earned a free extra scratch.
——Daily limit reached, please try again tomorrow.
“Damn, this thing is a scam, isn’t it?”
{Place your bets, step away, no trouble-seeking.}
Wang Dingshan spat, “Don’t hurt our Lele’s feelings.”
Feng Ming tucked it into his pocket: “But it’s not bad to get one more scratch tomorrow. See you, I’m heading west.”
“I’ll take my leave too,” Yu Yusheng said.
“Hey, I don’t believe it. Yang Zicang, weren’t you the second-place winner? I’ll just see who’s luckier—the lucky boy or the beautiful girl.”
Qiong An insisted on sticking by the two of them, and Wang Dingshan couldn’t drive her away no matter what.
The fragmented city ahead, full of exotic vibes, stretched about ten li—it was once a great city. Within it stood residential areas, plazas, and towering ruins of unknown large structures.
“This is what remains of the ancient alien realm.”
Yang Zicang gazed at these exotic, massive creations and could sense their former glory.
The three chatted as they walked, encountering only a few slime-like monsters along the way, easily dealt with. But not long after entering the city, the ground suddenly trembled, clearly because some massive creature was charging toward them.
“Watch out.”
Boom!
Gravel flew in all directions as a twisted figure, the size of a house, smashed through the building at the corner ahead.
Its body contained various large and small rocks, whose force crashed against buildings and the ground, producing a thunderous rumble.
“Such a terrifying giant!” Seeing the rock beast’s ferocious momentum, Wang Dingshan immediately turned around.
“Run!”
Qiong An and Wang Dingshan turned and ran, but after two steps, they saw that Yang Zicang wasn’t following. Clenching her teeth in frustration, she turned back and grabbed Yang Zicang’s arm.
“What are you spacing out for? That thing’s impact force is fierce. If it hits us, we’ll lose the initiative. Dodge its strong side first.”
But Yang Zicang stood firm on the ground, unmoved.
“Move it!” Wang Dingshan ran back too.
“Thirty meters.”
“What?”
“Twenty-five meters.”
“Be extra cautious in the cleanup crew. What if the creature you see turns out to be a psychic attack? By then, it’ll be too late to escape! Hey, Wang Dingshan, give me a hand. Let’s carry him.”
It was like several giant trucks piled together, hurtling toward them with a massive body. At such speed, standing firm against it was out of the question—even just standing by its side would be tough.
The two gripping Yang Zicang’s shoulders…
“I won’t die.” The model on Yang Zicang’s chest flickered.
[Because I am the Great Quadrilateral, I can amplify by four times! 10000N!]
[Graviton Arc!]
Just as the monster drew near, a black dot flashed in the air, and a crimson streak fell from the sky, tracing a trail of light down to earth.
Boom! The ferocious giant monster burst apart as if struck down by divine punishment. A shockwave swept through, scattering countless rubble into the air.
[I offset 1000N.]
[Trajectory Dispatch.]
Faced with a scene reminiscent of that ancient bridge, although the sheer number of exploding rocks couldn’t be completely avoided, Yang Zicang remained composed. The situation was like that month, yet he was a different person now.
Boom, rumble, crackle, crash…
“Uh!” Amidst the shower of gravel and debris, Wang Dingshan turned his head and closed his eyes, but his hands skillfully pressed together to draw a rippling field of sinking red force. The sonic force field completely blocked the powerful impact of the oncoming blast wave, but the rubble pierced through.
[Position Expansion, Hundred-rank!]
[I canceled 3R, 1R, 7R…]
Qiong An also braced herself, drawing back her fist and lifting her leg, preparing to kick away the large chunks of rock shooting toward them.
However, the vast quantity of debris instantly flew past the two of them, exploding on the ground to either side, forming a blast wave that skirted around all three.
Their preparations proved to be of little use.
As the dust and smoke raged, Yang Zicang naturally proceeded forward with his hands in his pockets. From the scattered rubble, he pulled up a certain object—the only thing still standing upright.
Wang Dingshan fanned the ash away from his face and turned to look. Amidst the choking dust was a meticulously crafted long spear.
“Hey. Did you do this? *Cough, cough*.”
Qiong An rushed over, unable to calmly survey the scrape marks on the ground.
“Damn, I was wondering why you had such good luck. Seems like there’s skill backing it up,” Wang Dingshan said, shocked.
{Yang Zicang earns 4 points. Facing a giant beast with good mental fortitude, not bad.}
Captain Fu’s voice rang out.
{Wang Dingshan earns 2 points. Qiong An did nothing, 0 points.}
“Ah, I simply didn’t have time!” Qiong An’s head drooped.
She really hadn’t done anything.
But on her lowered face, her eyes shot a glare at the grinning Wang Dingshan.
“It’s all your fault with that lousy Scratch Card, jinxing us.”
“Hey, I’m not arguing with a woman.”
Turning the street corner, there were six or seven monsters similar to the ones Qiong An had attacked earlier. They were likely the minions following that giant creature.
Upon noticing the three of them, these things charged at varying speeds.
“I’m not losing this time!”
Qiong An’s long, powerful legs moved with agility as she darted forward.
Wang Dingshan barely managed to trail behind her.
As for Yang Zicang, the silver long spear in his hand contracted into a Graviton Arc, then reappeared in a flash, thrusting out beside the monsters.
Thump, thump, thump—three figures were pierced through.
“Whoa, that’s cheating!” Qiong An was furious at the sight of the spear appearing from a distance. How could she snag points this way?
Wang Dingshan chuckled, “I told you not to follow. Ah, I get it—you’re just unlucky tagging along. There’s nothing here for you.”
“Just you wait. I’ll give you a beating when we get back.”
Qiong An threatened Wang Dingshan, but inwardly mused that maybe there really wasn’t much for her to do here.
She truly shouldn’t have come.
Yang Zicang didn’t finish off all the monsters, though.
Walking to the end of this street, I had already earned 22 points, while the other two had 12 and 14 points respectively.
……
Department of Historical Documents.
Han Mingxiao lifted his gaze from a volume densely packed with mathematical symbols and formulas.
He took a brief moment to assess, then closed his eyes.
At the same time, Zorro, who had just pulled a book from the shelf, suddenly noticed a man standing beside him like a ghost—his hair combed back and his face shaped like an oval.
“It’s almost eleven o’clock, and you’re still here reading this late?”
“I can’t sleep. It’s a habit I picked up in the Lost Frequency Zone.”
Han Mingxiao paced and nodded. He stopped and looked at Zorro warmly, “He hasn’t come these past few days. Did you not inform him?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Han.” Zorro closed the book, which he had just flipped to the title page, and said, “I asked several Group Leaders and Section Chiefs, but none of them knew about anything called a Dream Synchronization Device. So I couldn’t pass that information on to him.”
“I see.”
Han Mingxiao smiled.
“That’s fine. Kids these days are more cautious—it’s a good thing.”
He looked up at the bookshelf in front of Zorro, “Did you take a little walk around first before coming to this shelf again? Still haven’t found what you’re looking for? What are you curious about? Some kind of microfilm recording past scenes? Or those scrolls with secret techniques?”
“I’m just wandering around for the sake of it, nothing else.”
Han Mingxiao chuckled, “You’re not being honest.”
“However, the so-called Lost Illusion Company is not as harmonious as it appears on the surface. Wherever there are people, it’s the same—how could I not know that.”
He turned toward the other end of the bookshelf and disappeared behind it after just a few steps.
Zorro watched his figure gradually walk into the distance, his brow furrowing. A silver ring lit up on his chest as he considered asking his group leader about this person, but then remembered that everyone was resting at this hour.
Suddenly, the book cover twitched like an animal’s muscle, startling Zorro, who looked down at the book in his hands.
Nothing happened.
“An illusion?” he muttered softly.
Han Mingxiao’s walking figure passed through the bodies of the two people in the aisle, but the two engrossed in reading saw nothing.
He abruptly stopped in his tracks and turned his head toward a row of bookshelves.
There stood a girl with a slightly cute appearance but also a hint of charm, especially her slightly upturned eyes, which were lively and pure, evoking a strong sense of affection.
Jiaoma turned her head to look at the man gazing at her.
“Hello, my name is Han Mingxiao.”
This person gave a slight nod toward her.
“Han… um, hello, may I ask if you are the Steward?”
“What makes you say that?”
“I saw the Steward once before. He had a cloak made of this same fabric, just like yours. I’ve never seen it anywhere else, so it left a deep impression on me.”
“I see. Girls really do have sharp eyes.”
Han Mingxiao walked toward Jiaoma.
“Fate brings us together. Here, this is for you.”
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