Chapter 148: Convergence (Two Chapters Combined)

(PS: This is a large chapter at noon, nearly 7,000 words, counting as two chapters combined.)

Su Xing’s injuries were not severe; most of them were sustained in the intestinal tract at the weak point of the Veil, primarily corrosive damage.

Compared to that, jumping off a hovercar traveling at over 300 kilometers per hour was terrifying in both speed and height, yet he only suffered slight dislocations in a few joints.

This was simply incredible!

One must know that at 300 kilometers per hour, falling from dozens of meters high would leave an ordinary person unable to even react. Hitting anything would result in a "splat" into a pulp of flesh; never mind putting it back together, even with tweezers, you couldn't assemble a complete human form.

Yet after this whole ordeal, he only had dislocated joints. Such a situation would have been impossible even before the outbreak of the Fourth World War in the 29th century!

One must know that carbon-based nano-unit human restoration requires a certain percentage of brain tissue integrity!

Su Xing stared blankly at Wu Pifu, who had already stopped circulating his internal energy. The mist erupting from his body dissipated. In Su Xing’s eyes, Wu Pifu was completely unscathed, his skin so smooth that pores were invisible, carrying a strange jade-like luster, unlike human skin.

"...You, have you become a Nightmare? But why do you still have your own consciousness and thoughts?" Su Xing asked in a deep voice.

Wu Pifu was silently feeling the various mysteries of "Holding the Dan and Sitting on the Crotch." Hearing this, he was stunned and said, "What do you mean? Become a Nightmare?"

Su Xing stared closely at Wu Pifu’s expression. After a few seconds, he exhaled and pointed at his skin. "You took that gunfire head-on, and even Gauss-level long-range sniper rifles. I saw with my own eyes that they hit your flesh. This isn't something that can be solved by extraordinary power, yet you are unscathed. And looking at your body now, it has a jade-like or glazed quality, you can't even see the pores. This is definitely no longer a human body!"

Wu Pifu said "Oh" and directly displayed his title: "The reason long-range attacks can't break my defense is because of the effect of my title..."

Su Xing exclaimed, "What? You actually have a title? Why didn't you tell us before? You actually have a title!?"

Wu Pifu, on the contrary, was full of astonishment. He wondered if Su Xing was making too much of a fuss.

Not to mention others, Chu Minghao had three titles. And Hao Cheng, whom he met in the Demon Castle, also had a title that, while its meaning was unclear, was extremely powerful in every sense. Wasn't this thing standard equipment for senior maintenance personnel?

Wu Pifu ignored Su Xing’s fussing. He continued to point at his own skin and flesh and said, "This is caused by my cultivation technique. This is National Art. I have practiced it to the realm of 'Holding the Dan and Sitting on the Crotch,' crossing from external martial arts into the internal level. If we speak from the perspective of National Art, I have actually begun to transform from human to immortal. After the first 'Changing the Tendons and Cleansing the Marrow,' my body is gradually approaching perfection. It looks like it has a jade luster, but it is still skin and muscle."

However, there was something Wu Pifu didn't say: besides National Art, he also practiced Human Immortal Martial Dao. If National Art was still the skill of an ordinary mortal, then Human Immortal Martial Dao was truly an extraordinary realm that transcended the limits of mortals. Even though he had only practiced it to the point of skin and flesh perfection, and the tendons and membranes had just begun, his blood and energy were no longer like a human's, far beyond what the simple National Art system could imagine. This was the source of his greatest foundation.

Su Xing said nothing, but after hearing Wu Pifu’s words, he breathed a sigh of relief. Unexpectedly, Wu Pifu asked again, "I'm asking you, why did you say I became a Nightmare? What does that mean?"

Su Xing could only briefly introduce the problem of the contamination of Dream World cultivation techniques.

The stronger the technique, the greater the contamination; the deeper the practice, the greater the contamination. Maintenance personnel with excessive contamination either collapse and die or mutate and die. Only a small portion of maintenance personnel transform into Nightmare-like existences, but they are not completely Nightmares. They belong to that kind of monster whose body and consciousness have been twisted, but they will not self-destruct in a short time, making them even more dangerous and terrifying.

Wu Pifu knew absolutely nothing about this information, which left him in a state of shock.

Because he had successfully practiced the three major techniques: National Art, Human Immortal Martial Dao, and the Iron Refining Record. Even the National Art had been practiced to a very high realm, yet he had not felt any so-called contamination...

However, as he thought about it, Wu Pifu fell into silence.

No, there was contamination, he just subconsciously didn't think in that direction!

At first, when he obtained the Tiger Demon Technique, he would become irritable as soon as he practiced it, experiencing various auditory and visual hallucinations. But it just so happened that the introduction to the Tiger Demon Technique mentioned distracting thoughts and demonic thoughts, so he thought this was the negative effect of the Tiger Demon Technique. But thinking about it carefully, mere distracting thoughts and demonic thoughts wouldn't be this exaggerated. So... did he accidentally practice the Tiger Demon Technique to completion and develop the "Sleepless Spiritual Light," which is why he was immune to the negative effects?

It might not just be that; there was also "Death Return." This effect was likely extremely powerful, causing his soul to directly reach the second rank.

Wu Pifu was silent for a long time before saying, "Regardless, I am definitely a human."

Su Xing smiled bitterly, "No, you can no longer be considered human, okay?"

Wu Pifu was speechless. He looked at the large number of searchlight beams in the distance and said, "What should we do next? Looking at the situation, the rebel army has completely imposed martial law. Those maintenance personnel from the New Human Revolutionary Army must have hidden as well. Is there any way to find them?"

Su Xing had also collected his emotions by this time. He simply snapped his dislocated joints back into place before standing beside Wu Pifu and saying, "It’s a bit troublesome. Originally, according to the plan, we were supposed to arrive secretly and then find a way to contact some figures in the rebel army, while simultaneously finding the hidden personnel or locations of the government army. This would allow us to quickly locate the King. But now that things have turned out this way, many of the original plans have been disrupted."

"Hey, don't blame me for this." Wu Pifu immediately cried out, "We crashed directly into the weak point of the Veil. If I hadn't fought, you would have been dead for sure. And when we landed, I was forced to fight; it’s not like I wanted it to be this way!"

"No, I'm not blaming you."

Su Xing said seriously, "On the contrary, I want to thank you for saving my life. And this information is very important. It is likely that our car didn't just happen to crash into the weak point of the Veil—after all, the probability of that is too small. The most likely scenario is that our car itself became a weak point of the Veil... We must tell everyone this information immediately!"

Wu Pifu looked at Su Xing. Su Xing thought for a moment and said, "Let's find a safe and hidden spot first. When it’s white, there will be a lot of things to do..."

The two of them disappeared into the small alley.

On the other side, the various maintenance squads, maintenance teams, and individual maintenance personnel who had arrived in this capital basically knew about this sudden battle. Unlike what the people of this world guessed—that it was a super-small anthropomorphic mecha—they naturally knew that the technological level of this world could not yet build such mecha or robots. So the direction they guessed was basically all the same... Nightmare!

A Nightmare had penetrated the weak point of the Veil and arrived in the present world!

"...Based on currently known information, the Nightmare has the following characteristics."

"First, the Nightmare possesses a physical body and belongs to the humanoid monster category. Its contamination, corrosiveness, and deformity are unknown."

"Second, the Nightmare possesses extremely exaggerated speed and strength and is suspected of having spatial characteristics. See the screenshot at the third second of the video: it collided with a building wall from a high-speed falling state, but the wall was not pierced; instead, it underwent an angular deflection. This is suspected to be a spatial characteristic."

"Third, the Nightmare possesses defensive strength beyond the limit. From the video and screenshots, it can be seen that conventional weapons and Gauss-level sniper weapons cause no damage to it. They don't even break the skin, simply sliding across it. It is currently unclear whether this defense is targeted at technological weapons or also at extraordinary powers."

"Fourth, the Nightmare is suspected of possessing deformation, parasitism, corruption, or similar special attributes. From the human it is holding in its hand, it can be seen that this is likely the Nightmare's bait."

"Synthesizing the above characteristics, this Nightmare should be a Level 3 Nightmare, possessing intelligence, derivative attributes, and extreme power!"

Gao Zhanggong held a conference call with other reachable teams and squad maintenance personnel, reporting the situation and making some agreements. However, regarding how to solve this Nightmare, everyone was at their wits' end.

After discussing for a long time, everyone had only one choice... temporarily remain silent and wait for the New Human Revolutionary Army maintenance personnel to make a move. In this way, not only could they let the Nightmare and the New Human Revolutionary Army clash head-on, but whoever won or lost would be beneficial to them.

And the goal of all teams and squads shifted collectively from searching for traces of the New Human Revolutionary Army to searching for the whereabouts of the King, Prince, and Princess, as well as searching for individual maintenance personnel in the capital, telling them the situation, and gathering them to form a force.

"...This is our current plan." Gao Zhanggong said to the four maintenance squads under his command.

These four maintenance squads came from four districts. Gao Zhanggong’s squad was in District A, Sector 666. He had opened a quarantine wall on Gaia, eliminated some monsters in the surrounding area, and liberated sectors 667, 668, and 669. Currently, he was the commander-in-chief of these four squads.

Gao Zhanggong ordered, "Squad 666 has the strongest overall strength and experience, so they are responsible for investigating the whereabouts of the King, Prince, and Princess. Sector 668 will be the base camp, and Hao Yunfeng will be the deputy commander... Hao Yunfeng! I seriously warn you, stop drinking! It was fine before, but you understand the situation now. One mistake and we all die. A Level 3 Nightmare! Are you going to fight a Level 3 Nightmare with a sword!?"

Hao Yunfeng also had a serious expression. He nodded solemnly and said, "Fine, I guarantee I won't drink during this emergency, and I guarantee the safety of this base camp!"

Gao Zhanggong stared at Hao Yunfeng for several seconds before nodding in satisfaction. He continued, "Squads 668 and 669 will execute patrol missions, using the entire capital circle as patrol points. First, observe the rebel troops; second, pay attention to all individual maintenance personnel. After making contact, lead them to the camouflage point, and I will personally contact them to confirm their faction affiliation and whether they are qualified. That is all!"

"Everyone, move out!"

The mission was clear, and the four teams began their actions.

Among them, Squad 669 was the team just liberated by Gao Zhanggong. The maintenance team in their original area had long been wiped out, and the area had been occupied by Nightmare-like creatures. It was only after Gao Zhanggong liberated it that the maintenance personnel in this sector were awakened. So their strength was very weak, and there were many newcomers. Among the six people, two were entering the Dream World for the first time.

The six of them acted together, disguising themselves as three couples, consisting of one man and one woman, two men, and two women...

It wasn't that they wanted to divide themselves this way on purpose; it was just that the two newcomers were very difficult to lead, so they could only have the two oldest veterans in the team lead the two newcomers. The result was this bizarre combination.

Among them, the combination of one man and one woman looked the most natural, so their patrol points were closer to the city center. More than half of their attention was focused on the rebel army. At the same time, both of them carried pinhole spy camera devices, which could record the movements of the rebel army and other things that might be needed at any time.

Then, at noon, they encountered a sudden incident.

Two men were targeted by a rebel patrol squad, while they themselves seemed unaware, just walking into a small alley. Three secret agents of the rebel army followed them into the alley.

This kind of thing was happening all the time throughout the capital. The rebel secret agents were out in full force like crazy, searching for all information about the royal family. And these two men were wandering aimlessly, without the cover of tourists or couples, so being targeted was a matter of course.

The two from Squad 669 were sitting on the side, affectionately feeding each other sweets. Both of them saw this scene, and the man said, "Use your peripheral vision, don't stare directly, be careful. There is a secret agent at seven o'clock."

The woman was clearly a newcomer. She immediately lowered her head and said "Mm."

The man said, "This kind of thing often happens during wartime... I have seen the Fourth World War with my own eyes. Everyone went crazy, and human life was the least valuable thing. We can't do anything about it, so don't look or think about it. Just focus on completing our mission."

The woman said "Mm" again.

Then...

The two men walked out of the alley in a swaggering manner, while the three secret agents seemed to have disappeared.

The man and woman from Squad 669 were stunned for several seconds. Then they saw secret agents around reporting something, and then walked toward the two men. The two men entered the alley again... When the two men came out of the alley for the fifth time, there were no more secret agents around, but instead, the whistles of the rebel patrol squad sounded in the distance.

"Maintenance personnel!"

The man immediately said, "These two are maintenance personnel. They are probably trying to find the whereabouts of the New Human Revolutionary Army. Stupid! Won't they be easily surrounded and killed like this? Let's go, find a way to notify them and lead them to a safe point!"

The man and woman immediately took action. They quickly left the square, secretly following the two men from a distance. The two men also left the square area, avoiding the encirclement of the patrol squad, and then they found another alley and began to perform their clumsy, sneaky act.

The man and woman looked at each other. Taking advantage of the fact that no secret agents had arrived in this block, they quickly entered the alley. As soon as they entered, they saw one of the two unknown maintenance personnel wave his arm slightly and walk toward them.

The man from Squad 669 immediately said, "Gaia!"

The two in front were clearly stunned for a moment. The man from Squad 669 ignored it and said directly, "I have a car, get in. We'll talk later!"

Very quickly, the man drove a small car to the nearby block. The two did not hesitate and quickly got into the small car. Before the secret agents could discover them, the man drove the small car away quickly.

The man and woman from Squad 669 breathed a sigh of relief. The woman immediately said to the two in the back seat, "You also came from Gaia, right? We are too."

The two men looked at each other. One said, "Let's introduce ourselves. Wu Pifu, and the one next to me is Su Xing."

The man said, "Aslan."

!

The woman said, "Xiao Tianbaihe."

Wu Pifu looked at the two with a speechless expression, and Su Xing immediately asked, "Do you have any progress on your side? Have you found any traces of the New Human Revolutionary Army maintenance personnel? What about the royal family of this country?"

Upon hearing this, Aslan said with some resentment, "Not much progress, but... there’s no one like you guys, running directly to the street to do performance art? You actually attacked secret agents directly. What were you thinking, buddy?"

Su Xing looked at Wu Pifu with an inexplicable gaze. Wu Pifu laughed and said, "We were just anxious. The damage to the Veil has already reached one percent. Heaven knows if it was caused by this coup? I just thought that if we could solve it quickly, we should solve this turmoil as quickly as possible."

Upon hearing this, Aslan’s view of the two maintenance personnel behind him changed slightly. He sighed and said, "Having a sense of responsibility is a good thing, but you also have to cherish your life. Do what you can... However, the commander-in-chief will definitely like young people like you."

"Commander-in-chief?"

Wu Pifu and Su Xing both asked curiously.

Xiao Tianbaihe smiled and said, "The sector we are in was liberated by the commander-in-chief leading people. Otherwise, we probably would never have woken up, or if we did, we would be in a state of deformity, corrosion, or parasitism."

Wu Pifu immediately thought of his terrible card-drawing... no, awakening results. Eight spots, and in the end, only three people survived. He asked urgently, "Do you mean that when there are a large number of monster Nightmares blocked in the surrounding area, awakening newcomers will lead to deformity, corrosion, and parasitism?"

Xiao Tianbaihe and Aslan looked at each other, both seeing confusion in each other's eyes. Aslan said, "Isn't this common sense? And there aren't that many awakening spots to try."

Wu Pifu immediately sighed and hammered his legs with his hands, looking like he regretted his actions.

Xiao Tianbaihe seemed to have misunderstood something and comforted him, "Don't be sad. The dead cannot return. We still have to look to the future."

Aslan also said, "I will take you to our commander-in-chief's temporary base now. The commander-in-chief will meet you personally... He likes people with a sense of responsibility. You shouldn't talk too much about your reckless behavior before. The situation is very special now, and individual maintenance personnel are prone to accidents. It’s best to stay in our main team, understand?"

Wu Pifu naturally nodded repeatedly, while Su Xing had an expression of wanting to say something but stopping.

Regardless, they followed the two to a slum building on the edge of the city. After driving into the underground parking garage, the two took them to a room on the second floor, told them to wait there, and then left quickly.

Wu Pifu smiled and said to Su Xing, "Good people, they count as good people."

Su Xing said angrily, "They just don't know you're planning to do something big!"

At this moment, a handsome, tall, middle-aged man walked in. He was slightly stunned when he saw the two and immediately said, "Su Xing, are you Su Xing?"

Su Xing was stunned. He looked closely at the middle-aged man and then said with joy, "Is it Director Gao? How did you wake up too?"

Gao Zhanggong immediately came to the two with enthusiasm. He pulled over chairs, sat on one himself, and let Su Xing and Wu Pifu sit on the others. Only then did he say, "I am also a maintenance person, so shouldn't I wake up now?"

Su Xing was stunned again. He immediately asked urgently, "Director Gao, that shouldn't be. How did you become a maintenance person?"

Gao Zhanggong sighed and said, "During the Valentine's Day incident of the Fourth World War, I was responsible for the scheduling of the 16th Star Port. Because the Valentine's Day incident broke out, in order to save more people, I distributed Earth Star Port visas to them as much as possible within my authority. This matter was exposed after the war, and I was sentenced to deprivation of citizenship and became a maintenance person. However, I am a Level 3 maintenance person, which is a bit of face left for me by some old friends."

Su Xing nodded. Seeing Wu Pifu’s ignorant look next to him, he explained, "The promotion of titles is very difficult, at least before the appearance of the Dream World. Level 1 maintenance personnel, Level 2 maintenance personnel, Level 3 maintenance personnel, and then Level 1 citizen. Theoretically, if we complete our maintenance work and our lifespan is coming to an end, we can be promoted to Level 2 maintenance personnel. If there is a major contribution, we might be promoted to Level 3 maintenance personnel. This is a very difficult thing."

Gao Zhanggong also discovered that Wu Pifu seemed to be a newcomer. He also explained gently, "So although I was also sentenced to be a maintenance person, I am a Level 3 maintenance person. If I am lucky and Gaia arrives at the new home after thousands of years of sailing, I can return as a Level 1 citizen."

Speaking of this, Wu Pifu naturally understood. This person counted as a well-connected person, but he seemed to be a good person.

Gao Zhanggong then asked Su Xing, "So, where is Special Agent Su Xing working now?"

Su Xing smiled bitterly and said, "I am in District C, Sector 1611, living with two other teammates... also having a hard time."

Gao Zhanggong hesitated and said, "I am in District A, Sector 666, two districts away from you... That’s troublesome..."

Su Xing smiled and said, "It’s okay. I get along well with my two new teammates. They are also capable people, so there is no problem surviving for the time being."

Gao Zhanggong nodded and then said solemnly, "Since it’s you, there must be no problem. I happen to be lacking experts familiar with this experience."

Su Xing immediately asked, "How is the situation now?"

Gao Zhanggong said, "Very bad. All information about the New Human Revolutionary Army is still unknown. How many specific personnel there are, where they are, and what they want to do are currently completely unknown. At the same time, there is no news from the royal family. This is the time when I need you to take action. I have a total of four squads and twenty-something people here. I can allocate ten people to you, and you can lead the team yourself to find news about the royal family as soon as possible. How about it?"

Su Xing naturally nodded in agreement, but he still asked strangely, "Only news about the royal family? What about the rebel army?"

Gao Zhanggong’s face immediately became serious. He looked left and right, then whispered, "You and this newcomer are probably individual players, so you don't know the situation... Don't be scared after I tell you."

Su Xing glanced at Wu Pifu, thinking, what else could scare me?

Gao Zhanggong didn't notice this and said, "A Level 3 Nightmare has appeared in the capital circle!"

"Level 3 Nightmare!?"

Su Xing and Wu Pifu exclaimed at the same time.

Gao Zhanggong nodded seriously, "Yes, that's right! Level 3 Nightmare, and its destructiveness might even be above a Level 3 Nightmare! I won't go into details. Time is urgent now. We must find the royal family before the New Human Revolutionary Army does anything and before that Level 3 Nightmare erupts!"

Su Xing and Wu Pifu were both extremely solemn. Su Xing looked at Wu Pifu and said, "Can you beat a Level 3 Nightmare?"

Wu Pifu immediately shouted, "Stop joking. A Level 2 Nightmare could kill me, okay? What do you think extraordinary power is? Divine power, or invincible power?"

Wu Pifu immediately thought of the Level 2 Nightmare in the 0.8 baseline reality world where all the old seniors died. He had been almost killed by it several times in a row, and in the end, he only survived because the Mute Woman saved him twice.

A Level 3 Nightmare... even if his strength had increased so much, he would absolutely not think he could rival a Level 3 Nightmare.

Gao Zhanggong listened to their conversation and looked at Wu Pifu with surprise and appreciation, "You are also someone who has practiced a cultivation technique? Your contamination resistance is good. This is also a kind of aptitude. And this young man is right. Extraordinary power is extraordinary power, and a Nightmare is a Nightmare. Don't think that because we practice cultivation techniques, we can fight a Nightmare. That Nightmare can even ignore Gauss-level sniper weapons!"

Upon hearing this, Su Xing and Wu Pifu felt even heavier in their hearts.

A Level 3 Nightmare that can ignore Gauss-level sniper weapons within the Veil...

"Good!"

Su Xing said, "We will join your team together!"

"We must solve this crisis before this Level 3 Nightmare erupts, otherwise we will definitely die!"