Chapter 8

Wu Pifu brought the little mute to the hillside.

There was a wild peach forest here, but unfortunately, it was late autumn, and no peach blossoms were to be seen.

But next year, this place would surely be covered with peach blossoms. If the little mute were buried here, she would surely be very happy.

"I said I would take you away. I didn't do it when you were alive, but even though you are already dead, I will definitely take you away."

Wu Pifu murmured and staggered. His physical strength had been exhausted, and he had established an event-type sanctuary, so he could leave this Dream World at any time, but he still had things to do.

By the side of the peach forest, Wu Pifu tied a piece of wood to his arm and began to dig a pit with his feet and hands.

Blood spilled all over the muddy ground. The little bird flew up from time to time, landed on his shoulder from time to time, and landed on the ground, leaning against the little mute.

This little bird indeed had some spirituality, as if it knew life and death and knew sorrow.

Wu Pifu dug very slowly. His only arm didn't even have a wrist, and his body was covered in multiple fractures and bruises, and even his internal organs had a lot of damage.

He dug from morning until afternoon. Many passersby saw him, but he was covered in blood, and because the Tiger Demon Art had entered the hall, he had his own momentum, so these passersby didn't dare to stay long and hurried away after seeing him.

After the large pit was dug, Wu Pifu carefully placed the little mute into it and filled it with soil.

There was no coffin, no tombstone, and finally, he could only move a large stone to place on the grave.

"Little mute, you just wait for me... This place is too shabby, but there will definitely be a grand funeral later. I just don't know if you like it or not..."

Wu Pifu coughed up blood and said with a smile. At the same time, he looked at the little bird, and the little bird also tilted its head to look at him.

"Will you follow me from now on?" Wu Pifu asked after a moment of silence.

The little bird chirped twice, and Wu Pifu nodded and said, "Then I have to give you a name..."

"Chirp... chirp..." The little bird continued to chirp softly.

Wu Pifu thought for a long time and said seriously to the little bird, "Then let's call you Gou Dan (Dog Egg), it's easy to raise."

"Chirp! Chirp!!" The little bird slammed into Wu Pifu's face in anger, pecking at his face incessantly.

Wu Pifu said helplessly, "You mean you don't want to be called Gou Dan, you only want to be called Chirp? But Gou Dan... or Wang Cai? Lai Fu?"

The little bird chirped angrily, "Chirp! Chirp!!"

"Chirp? Not bad..."

Wu Pifu took the little bird's name, and he took the little bird toward the hillside. Some passersby who had been watching him from afar saw the one-armed man with a little bird on his shoulder slowly disappear into the smoke and rain of the sunset...

"You have established a Rank Two Sanctuary."

"You can carry life (non-human, non-Nightmare) back and forth between the sanctuary and the real world."

"You have obtained one full random lottery (Rank One Sanctuary) reward."

"You have obtained one personal attribute promotion (non-breaking limit) reward."

"You have obtained five quotas for waking up sleepers (non-citizens)."

"You need to return to the world where the sanctuary is located every 30 days and stay for 7 days."

"You need to achieve A%#、*... to upgrade the sanctuary to Rank Three. The Rank Three reward is a personal information data interface for this world and another designated world."

"Return? Carry the little bird (strange) back? Draw rewards, use promotion rewards? Wake up sleepers immediately?"

"Confirm."

Wu Pifu closed his eyes and opened them again. When he recovered his vision, he had already returned to the future high-tech ship cabin.

This is the real world, this is Baseline Reality 1.0. Unfortunately, because of '?', this place has long become a place infested with Nightmares, perhaps even more terrifying than the Dream World.

Gaia, District Z, Zone 6123.

Wu Pifu is a maintenance worker who woke up in the 117th shift of this zone. The personnel of the previous 116 shifts have all died, or fallen into a situation worse than death, such as becoming derivatives, parasites, or 'strange' things of Nightmares.

The entire Zone 6123 now has only one living person. The last two survivors of the previous shift, Wang Xiuting and Li An, his seniors, died at the hands of a Rank Two Nightmare.

The entire Zone 6123 is very large. According to the blueprints, it includes three blocks, two maintenance main stations, six medical unit systems, twelve internal security systems, and eighteen entertainment centers configured for maintenance personnel for rest, play, health, and sleep.

But now, the only places Wu Pifu can go are one maintenance base station and the hibernation chamber in front of him. All other areas have been completely blocked by the Mainframe because those areas are full of Nightmares, strange things, terrors, and bizarreness. Once the blockade is opened, Wu Pifu will have to rely entirely on luck to bet whether he will die in the next second, or be unable to seek life or death.

Of course, he can't open these areas because his permission is insufficient. He is not a citizen, and to open them, multiple maintenance personnel must start the opening command at the same time... and the permission level required for each area is different. Some core areas, such as the passage to the Mainframe, require hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of citizens to vote to open.

Wu Pifu can now wake up five maintenance personnel, but he didn't do it immediately. Instead, he walked from the hibernation chamber toward the only open passage.

After coming to this world, Chirp was very curious about everything, flying and pecking, but it didn't leave Wu Pifu's three-meter range. When Wu Pifu walked toward this only passage, Chirp stood on his shoulder again.

Wu Pifu walked all the way, his steps becoming more and more staggering, and bloodstains kept coughing out of his mouth.

He was too heavily injured, so heavy that even using National Art to circulate blood couldn't suppress the injury. He was walking toward death. If it were the environment of the 21st century, his best result would be to be admitted to the ICU, with a certain possibility of survival, or to survive as a vegetable.

Fortunately, it is already after 2877. Humanity has experienced the Fourth World War, and technology has developed to a distance of 500 light-years. In terms of medical means, as long as a head remains, and the brain damage does not exceed 30%, and the time of death does not exceed half an hour, the technology of this era can rescue him.

Wu Pifu walked through the passage. The passage was not long, only twenty meters or so. At the end of the passage was a room full of debris and a small amount of machinery... the maintenance base station, which was also the place most frequently used by maintenance personnel if the Dream World distortion hadn't occurred.

In the center of this maintenance base station was a transparent chamber with multiple mechanical arms. This was the destination of Wu Pifu's trip, the universal medical chamber.

"Wu Pifu, Rank One maintenance personnel, work ID... confirmed, available."

The synthetic sound rang out, and the medical chamber opened. Wu Pifu said to Chirp, "Don't come in, wait for me outside."

Chirp flew to a shelf nearby and tilted its head to look.

Wu Pifu then walked into the medical chamber. After a light scan, a series of damage tables and repair suggestions immediately appeared.

Wu Pifu didn't care about these data, he just immediately looked at the final number.

"Mainframe, how many carbon-based nano-units are left?" Wu Pifu asked.

The information appeared directly in Wu Pifu's mind: "There are currently 2.6 carbon-based nano-units in this base station."

Wu Pifu frowned and looked at the final number on the treatment table, which showed 2.1.

This 2.1 was for a complete treatment for him, including his broken arm, the palm of his other broken arm, internal injuries, skin injuries, and many neuron damages, even including the hidden injuries accumulated from practicing National Art.

After treatment, there would be 0.5 units of carbon-based nano-units left...

Wu Pifu looked at some of the options, then his mind moved, and those options began to be canceled, and the remaining number kept changing.

He found that the most consumed was one arm, which consumed 0.8 carbon-based nano-units, while the palm only needed 0.2 carbon-based nano-units.

For a time, Wu Pifu fell into deep thought. He suddenly said again: "Mainframe, display the attributes of that black sphere."

"Buddha Mud."

"Legend has it that there is a wonderful soil in the world where the Buddha is, named 'Merit Eight Treasures Mud,' which can be molded into all living beings in the world. This mud is a lower-level imitation of the Merit Eight Treasures Mud, possessing the ability to improve life potential, transform fantasy organ limbs, and bestow life with 'supernatural' power."

"The defect is that it will significantly improve life inspiration."

Wu Pifu looked carefully at the attributes of the Buddha Mud, especially its negative effects.

Significantly improve life inspiration...

This inspiration is not the inspiration for research, art, or learning, nor is it the so-called spiritual sixth sense.

This inspiration is actually a very terrifying negative state.

In the Dream World, terrors and Nightmares have information-level pollution capabilities. According to what Wu Pifu learned from his seniors, some terrifying existences are enough to turn life into distorted pollution just by knowing or chanting their names. The inspiration described here is the perception ability for these higher-level terrors. The higher the inspiration, the faster you die!

"But it improves life potential, transforms fantasy organ limbs, and bestows life with 'supernatural' power... If I integrate this Buddha Mud, I can reshape my arm and significantly improve my strength. As for the negative effects brought by the improvement of inspiration, my Tiger Demon Art can just happen to restrain it. Perhaps this negative effect is a positive effect for me?"

Wu Pifu pondered secretly for a while and finally made up his mind.

His Tiger Demon Art advanced to "entering the hall" in this life-and-death struggle. At the same time, he established a Rank Two Sanctuary and had an attribute promotion opportunity. He could completely promote the Tiger Demon Art from "entering the hall" to the next stage, "out of the ordinary."

Entry-level, entering the hall, out of the ordinary, reaching the peak, supreme manifestation—the five stages of the Tiger Demon Art. He could immediately reach "out of the ordinary," which would significantly improve his resistance to demonic thoughts, distracting thoughts, or external alien thoughts.

Moreover, the Tiger Demon Art itself takes a different path. The more demonic thoughts and distracting thoughts, the more negative consciousness, the more feedback and strength after suppression.

At this moment, Wu Pifu directly activated the deep treatment of his whole body. Except for the broken arm, he would perform a whole-body repair, consuming a total of 1.3 carbon-based nano-units, leaving 1.3 carbon-based nano-units. This was the life-saving medicine for the future. Unless he could open the passage to other maintenance base stations, or even maintenance main stations, or medical units, he would completely lose these treatment magic arts once he consumed them.

After the repair was completed, Wu Pifu finally had time to organize the harvest of the Rank Two Sanctuary!

One full random lottery of the Dream World, one non-breaking limit attribute promotion, and...

The awakening of five newcomers!!

(End of chapter)