Chapter 177

【【Yanan 3.2 Trial Ground】 is the official designation that reminds you when you arrive via normal procedures.】

Through psychic hacker guidance, Aomo, who got here on his own, obviously won't receive the initial welcome treatment anymore, let alone the member treatment of automatic transmission after segmented challenges.

After discarding those 'game-like' elements, the trial ground actually has some of the feel that a 'Bloodborne world' should have, especially the architecture in this dream, and even the modeling and rendering inside the buildings are well done, with no laziness just because the 'client' is unlikely to go there.

Aomo, who directly took off and went via the broken window shortcut, still quite appreciates this thoughtfulness.

Although no NPCs were set up in the room, the sense of life is well done; the wardrobe still has quite a few slightly dusty outfits, perfect for changing the blood-soaked Aomo.

It's been almost an hour, right?

Only the big moon hangs visible; Aomo sees no moving clock, so he can only estimate time by bodily feeling.

As the dream prototype of Yanan Town, or rather the Bloodborne world, it's a story within the dream—a long dream, and also a long night.

Perhaps this dream world also pays homage to that; Aomo doesn't expect it to show obvious time progression, he simply brings Dazhenhan's phantom and takes a shortcut relying on this place's freedom.

Extend one's senses outward from Yanan Town.

To the church, to the big bridge, to the village, to the church——

——The church now has a new Ludewweixi, proving that this world either underwent a reboot or is fundamentally on another server node.

Just as online games set up multiple servers to reduce load, the dream world can likewise be divided this way, but here there isn't actually such resource scarcity.

One would think that the original self also saw no one else, so Aomo guesses that probably each entrant gets their own separate server.

After all, this is the so-called trial ground, a place to test ability.

At the same time, one must remember that Zhouri Ningjing originally called this place the 'research institute,' not the trial ground.

This naming conflict either means Zhouri Ningjing's information is wrong, or there are still secrets here that he initially couldn't access.

He leans toward the latter, after all last time he was kicked and rushed, completely clueless the whole way, and even in retrospect he couldn't grasp definite information, only able to confirm that the management is like a nascent entity.

In fact, he can only proceed with that as the premise.

Because if it's the former, then this clue is broken. He should now leave this place that is either madmen or werewolves, even aliens and monsters, and instead go to the public dream server to search for a Bloodborne kart and hit the gas immediately!

Karts aren't as fun as motorcycles… Why don't I try falling asleep while touching a Beta motorcycle, then bring the motorcycle into the dream?

Aomo had trains running through his head, and he swapped out that hunter coat reeking of blood.

His hands still had no weapon.

He didn't even have that moonlight greatsword.

Because he didn't kill Ludwig again.

Not only did he not kill it, he didn't even make direct contact; after confirming its existence, he retreated back with the phantom of the horse girl.

He retreated back to Aonan town, waiting for the main actor of this trial.

Yes, he saw it.

In this trial ground, not only are there trial-takers, but that trial-taker even uses dangerous live ammunition firearms.

It's far more outrageous than the style of flintlock guns.

But thinking that Ludwig here would spray lasers, and the little monster's meat-saw blade occasionally mixes with a chainsaw axe, Aomo thought maybe this young guy is the one who truly understands the version.

The trial-taker whose skin tone is as pale as his hair carried no cold weapons; he appears to be a young gunner specializing in shooting, yet his movements are extraordinarily agile, and he is not lacking in close-quarters gunfight experience.

His perception is also quite keen; at one point he sensed Aomo's spying, but couldn't determine the direction and failed to catch him.

After all, Aomo observed him while he was besieged by monsters, and they were over two hundred meters apart, with many ruins obstructing the line of sight.

But there's a big problem here: this trial-taker shouldn't be appearing in the suspected plague village.

Aomo's spawn point when he first came was Aonan; if the other wasn't, after a round of combat he should have been teleported away, but Aomo saw him handle enemies casually without being teleported.

Instead, he was being wary and searching for himself.

This young guy's treatment seems different.

He wears a hunter vest and gloves, but lacks the matching boots, coat, and even hat, as if he, like me, had explored the area a bit but not fully.

Surely he didn't, as a Bloodborne enthusiast, put together a reissue set himself?

Or perhaps he dislikes the full set?

That's not important; what matters is that afterward this person rushed nonstop to the 'Enhanced Plague Village'...

This doesn't make sense… How did he get transferred here?

Hunter gear isn't hard to come by, but its main 'source' isn't here, and this place is quite remote; Aomo couldn't figure out this guy's route of action, and after widening the distance he continued observing for a few minutes, arriving at a rather subtle conclusion.

He's a directionally challenged person.

The trial-taker isn't wandering aimlessly; he has often looked at empty air, which is clearly the motion of looking at a light screen.

Aomo is confident that he likely received some message or instruction, frequently checking.

Then he just kept circling the broken village.

There's something.

Being this lost, Aomo even suspected he was baiting him, so he chose to leave a surveillance spell, then withdrew with his phantom.

A magic-eye-like power eyeball hovered in midair, watching him continue circling; Aomo meanwhile wandered and explored elsewhere in this dream world, again confirming that the trial ground's management is a novice.

This place still has an invisible wall!

You can't get into the church interior, the underground passages are impassable, the way back to Aonan is cut off, and even taking flight can't reach the road sealed within the fog.

I can hit fireballs, yet with the modeling I'm not allowed to pass!

The problem with dreams constructed by others is that their boundless imagination belongs to them, not me; I can only get a bit of creativity under their tolerance, yet I cannot resist their rules.

It's not that I can't charge, but I'm not sure if I can swim, let alone he's infiltrating; being discovered would also be troublesome.

But after he confirmed those, he discovered that the trial-taker, though having left the plague village, had wandered into a cave and then started circling again.

You're really damn impressive!

In the end, Aomo still couldn't hold him, so he simply left hints along the way, using the traditional short combo phrases from the Souls series to guide him back to Aonan, heading toward the church.

These can be done without being on-site; Aomo has always been walking ahead of him.

Even if he had just broken into a civilian house, changed clothes, and leisurely made his way to the living-room window sill, giving a slight nod to the Dazhenhan phantom that had been obediently standing by the window per orders, he could still see that he hadn't left.

On the street below, illuminated by moonlight and torches, a slightly thin figure was slowly walking toward the 'Bonfire Party'.

He held a case containing a combined firearm.

This scene looked rather subtle.

A slender young man walked toward those tall, fierce men; his weapon looked as frail as a breeze, but Aomo had personally seen how exquisitely crafted that case was used.

It is a composite weapon that can draw a pistol, submachine gun, sniper rifle, and even extend into a large laser cannon—a high-risk weapon both cool and threatening; those beastified men of only tall builds could hardly withstand a few hits.

It's just a matter of how much trial counts as being on the right track.

Aomo gazed at the one-sided massacre-like tragedy below, watching him soon look toward the sky; this time he turned into a streak of light flying off from his spot, toward the place he had walked through.

"Come up."

A hand transformed into claws slapped open the window; Aomo patted the horse-girl phantom beside him on the back, continuing the way he had previously moved her.

Although he is a Triple Crown horse-girl phantom flying above while the phantom chases below and could keep up, the commotion is truly too great.

The urgent task is still to quietly follow the opponent.

Let me take a look—what exactly will the normal follow-up procedure be?