Luo Tianchen stared blankly at his phone screen. As Dream vanished, the persistent sense of unease in his mind finally dissipated. It seemed he had returned to reality.
Beside him, Bingying remained absorbed in examining the photos, seemingly oblivious to the recent anomaly. Did this mean only Luo Tianchen could see the Loli?
Luo Tianchen touched his forehead, still recalling the lingering sensation of the girl’s kiss. ‘It wasn’t a hallucination after all,’ he mused. ‘What an incredible Loli.’
Though he didn’t understand the method, Luo Tianchen genuinely felt his operational capabilities with the “Eye of the Void” had increased. If reality were an online game, it would be akin to a character’s skill proficiency rising and new abilities being acquired.
First was “Information Translation.” By comparing against a vast amount of real-world data, he could now simply interpret some data within the information world. While not deeply profound, it allowed him to discern enemy attack patterns or impending ultimate moves.
This was a vast improvement from before, when he had to rely solely on intuition to judge the meaning of data, essentially operating in the dark.
Next was “God’s Eye View,” a branch of “Information Translation.” By interpreting spatial data within a certain radius, he could generate a panoramic map centered around himself.
Finally, there was “Data Scan,” an ability to simply quantify the strength of organisms before him, much like checking monster attributes in an online game. This, too, was a branch of “Information Translation.”
Luo Tianchen decided to test this last ability, scanning his own status.
Name: Luo Tianchen (Weakened State)
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Age: 17
Strength: 0.7
Constitution: 0.5
Agility: 0.6
Intelligence: 10.7
(Note: 1.0 represents the average human value. Intelligence here refers purely to information processing speed, not logical thinking. All four attributes are interconnected.)
‘This feels… quite peculiar,’ he thought. ‘Why are they all support abilities? Am I a healer? I was hoping to gain an ability like Ryougi Shiki from *The Garden of Sinners*, to “directly perceive death.” But perhaps matters of life and death are still too advanced for me right now.’
‘Well, if I had to fight now, I probably couldn’t beat anyone,’ he mused. ‘The physical disparity is just too great.’
Curiously, Luo Tianchen then checked Bingying’s data, and what he saw startled him.
Name: Bingying (Witch Seed Parasite)
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Age: 17
Strength: 7.5
Constitution: 4.1
Intelligence: 3.1
Agility: 5.8
‘GM, I want to report a cheater!’ he mentally exclaimed. ‘What’s with these insane stats?’ Only then did Luo Tianchen truly understand that her promise to protect him was no joke.
“Hmm? What is it?” Bingying asked, noticing his gaze, a strange look on her face.
“No, it’s nothing,” Luo Tianchen replied. “If danger arises, I’ll be counting on you.”
“I don’t really get it, but you can leave it to me!” she cheerfully confirmed.
Another half hour dragged by as they painstakingly compared hundreds of photos. The result, however, was unexpected.
“They’re completely identical,” Luo Tianchen murmured to himself.
“Um, could we have missed taking a photo somewhere?” Bingying suggested. “Should we go search again?”
Luo Tianchen shook his head. “There’s no need. We’ve been thorough enough in our search; it’s highly unlikely we missed anything.”
“Huh? In that case, are we missing some crucial condition?” Bingying stretched, gazing out at the setting sun’s afterglow. “It’s getting late. Why don’t we just head back for now? Coming back tomorrow wouldn’t be too late, right?”
Indeed, it wasn’t impossible. Dream had mentioned earlier that they had arrived “too soon,” suggesting that vital clues might exist elsewhere. However, if her words were true, they couldn’t simply leave this place to slowly level up elsewhere.
Still, it was worth a try. Ultimately, Luo Tianchen harbored doubts about Dream’s existence. Who was she? Friend or foe? Why did she always appear omniscient, emerging precisely when he felt lost? What kind of scheme lay hidden beneath her seemingly benevolent transactions?
Furthermore, what did her phrase “you haven’t changed at all” truly mean? Had they met before?
‘…He had no clue,’ he thought. Regardless of her intentions for now, at least what she had given him was real, and there were no physical abnormalities. For the time being, he couldn’t discern what impact taking a portion of his “love” had on him.
“Alright, let’s go.” Seeing his silent assent, Bingying immediately stood up. Though it wasn’t apparent on the surface, she was likely quite afraid of this eerie place, simply choosing not to show it. Luo Tianchen quickly followed her down the stairs and into the hall.
Up until this point, everything remained perfectly normal; nothing strange had occurred.
‘Had he been overly cautious? Or had Dream deceived him?’ He immediately dismissed the latter. ‘No, with her abilities, there was no need to lie to him, even if it was to trade and take his “love.” She wouldn’t resort to such easily exposed falsehoods.’
‘Something, something must have gone wrong, preventing them from leaving this place.’
“Ah, it’s almost dinner time. Hey, Tianchen, where do you want to eat tonight? I have a great place I want to recommend; let’s go together. Tianchen… what… what is this?” Bingying let out a frightened gasp.
White.
A world of pure white enveloped them.
Everything outside the school building vanished, leaving only a white expanse and themselves within the building.
“What’s going on? Has the world ended? If so, then President, Xiaowu, Yang Mingzhi, everyone…”
“Calm down,” Luo Tianchen said, pulling back Bingying, who was stumbling precariously towards the edge of the hall. That area, too, had been assimilated by the pure white world, and falling into it could lead to unknown consequences.
‘So this is what Dream meant by “you can’t leave”?’ he realized.
“What exactly happened? Just a moment ago…”
“Calm down!” Luo Tianchen roared. Bingying flinched, finally regaining a semblance of composure.
Left with no choice, he shared some of his theories with her. “If I’m not mistaken, it’s not that something happened to the outside world. Rather, we’re trapped in this space. Unless we find the key, we won’t be able to leave.”
“…Then, will we be stuck here forever?”
“Don’t worry,” he reassured her. “I’ll definitely find a way out.”
“…Yes, I believe you.”
Afterward, Bingying remained dispirited, so Luo Tianchen told her to wait in any classroom she chose while he sought clues to their escape. After all, no matter how physically powerful she was, mentally she was still just an ordinary seventeen-year-old high school girl who had lived a peaceful life until now.
Compared to her, Luo Tianchen was far too unique; even he had been startled by the pure white space, so her ability to regain composure was already quite remarkable.
Luo Tianchen entered Classroom 6-6 on the left, casually scanned the interior, and then pulled up a seat at the front desk. This was the last classroom. He had now thoroughly explored the entire school building once more, yet still found nothing.
With his memory, he was confident he hadn’t overlooked a single item, confirming once again that the left and right sides of the building were indeed perfectly symmetrical mirror images, without any differences.
‘But this is troublesome,’ he thought. According to his theory, there had to be something unique on one of the floors, and that would be the key to their escape.
‘Was his guess wrong? Or was it hidden somewhere?’
Speaking of which, Dream had also given him a hint: “both real and fake.” Literally, it meant “sometimes real, sometimes fake.” What could that possibly mean?
Luo Tianchen turned his head towards the window. Unlike the beautiful sunset earlier, only a blank expanse remained outside. Was this a trap triggered because they tried to leave? Or had it been a disguise from the very beginning?
If he had known, he wouldn’t have gone down to the hall; at least then he could have gazed at the sun and idled away the time.
Just as he was lost in thought, his phone suddenly rang. “Hello, Bingying? What is it now? Are you scared?” Luo Tianchen wondered. It was truly impressive that Xia Luohua’s phone had reception even here.
If it had signal here, could he also call the outside world? Before he could test this, Bingying spoke.
“I’m not scared at all! I just wanted to ask if you found any clues yet?”
“None at all,” he joked. “Looks like we might actually be stuck here forever.”
“If it’s with you… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.”
“Hmm? What did you say? Speak up, I didn’t quite catch that.” Luo Tianchen scoffed. What a terrible phone; he had just praised its signal, and now it was suddenly spotty, making Bingying’s words sound like static.
“N-nothing at all!”
Luo Tianchen felt a little baffled. From her tone, it seemed she was upset again?
Before long, Bingying’s voice grew subdued. “Hey, am I really that useless?”
“You already said that in the chapter before last,” he pointed out.
“What was that… I’m not joking with you,” she retorted. “I just feel so useless. I finally resolved to fight, but in the end, I’ll probably just cower and tremble in a corner.” Bingying chuckled self-deprecatingly.
“Well, you’ve done well enough,” he said, trying to comfort her by playfully slandering his best friend. “If Yang Mingzhi saw this scene, he’d probably wet himself.”
Bingying let out a giggle. “If it were him, that’s entirely possible… But Tianchen, aren’t you scared at all?”
“Well, I’ve seen plenty of things like this,” Luo Tianchen said, shrugging.
“Seen plenty? Do you encounter these kinds of things often, Tianchen?”
“Ha, thanks to my old hag of a master, I’ve seen quite a few things beyond common sense.”
“Old hag… master?”
“Is it strange for me to have a master? I’m not some monster born with innate knowledge; of course, I have a teacher.” He continued, “Calling her an ‘old hag’ doesn’t mean she’s actually old. It’s just that I was only four at the time, and she was around seventeen, so she seemed ancient to me. After that, ‘old hag’ just became a habit, and I couldn’t be bothered to change it.”